Chapter 160: Ritual Array

Naga Eve adjusted her serpent tail into an attack stance.

Luo De removed his upper garment and magical satchel, handing them to Tally, who hid behind him, to prevent them from being destroyed by the ritual's backlash.

As the countdown ended.

Both launched their charges simultaneously.

The difference was.

Luo De charged with pure physical force.

Eve let out a sharp grunt, and a white, human-shaped mist identical to her own burst from her body.

Like a soul detaching from the body.

It carried violent spiritual power and slammed into the ritual seal.

【Soul Rush】.

Luo De caught sight of it from the corner of his eye and immediately recognized it as a spiritual technique.

It was mentioned in 【Research on Native Spiritual Techniques of Alien Races】.

It was said to be a spiritual technique developed by Nagas for raiding tombs and breaching burial seals.

As a wise race obsessed with constructing grand tombs, land Nagas had many other skills born from tomb-robbing.

Some believed the treasures within their tombs were meant for descendants, and the complex, dangerous traps and protective rituals were tests for the next generation.

But the author of 【Research on Native Spiritual Techniques of Alien Races】 considered this nonsense.

He believed land Nagas were simply stupid and hypocritical.

Yet despite his deep disdain for the race,

he held great regard for 【Soul Rush】, believing it might give rise to a new sect.

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion!

The tunnel immediately shook violently!

A fierce magical backlash erupted instantly, red magic transforming into a collision of flame.

The one hit first was Luo De ahead.

But 【Dragon Scale Technique】 was immensely powerful.

He endured the damage without retreating a single step, even spreading his body to shield the two behind him.

Fortunately, the ratfolk's stable space technique prevented the tunnel from collapsing.

PUFF!

The backlash came fast and faded quickly.

When they looked again, the dust had settled.

"Sorry, I underestimated the ritual's backlash strength."

Eve, covered in dust, brushed the grit from her face.

She gazed ahead and saw the aura within the dust had not changed—perhaps she hadn't taken a single scratch.

She muttered under her breath.

What a monster.

Luo De stepped out of the smoke, completely naked.

His clothes had been utterly shredded, revealing a body of perfectly balanced, explosive muscle.

And his normal form, not in the Big Sprout Mushroom form.

"This attack's power is nearly seventh-rank."

He evaluated.

"Pfft!"

Eve covered her mouth, laughing as she pointed at him, "Just average."

Luo De snorted.

His second heart pumped instantly.

This heart's pumping force was immense, allowing him to enter battle state in an instant.

The Naga's beautiful eyes widened in shock.

Previously she'd only seen his complete form; now, evolving from normal to perfected form, the impact was anything but minor.

"This—"

"Anyway, Nagas can."

As the man slowly approached, Eve instantly realized what he intended.

She instinctively stepped back.

"What are you planning?! Here? Now?!"

"You should know I'm not someone who can resist provocation."

Upon hearing this,

she felt a large hand press against her shoulder, an undeniable force forcing her down half a body's length.

Then, beneath the soft glow of 【Brightening Technique】,

Eve looked up in stunned disbelief.

Her gaze grew distant.

Her tone softened.

"If it's just once… it's not impossible."

Behind them, Tally saw this and rushed over in panic.

"Ah! You're having food and you didn't call me!"

After saying this,

a long while later,

Luo De felt refreshed, pulling up his pants.

Tally smiled sweetly, neatly fastening his shirt and belt for him.

Eve sat coiled on the ground, coughing harshly against the floor, as if choking.

"You—you did that on purpose!"

"Of course. It's a reward. Tally loves this the most."

"Of course it is. Cough cough—she's a succubus! She has no gag reflex in her throat!"

The three stopped their nonsense.

After redressing, they continued forward.

Eve reverted to human form.

Soon after,

the narrow, cramped tunnel reached its end.

The space, cleared to the size of a room, was entirely covered with a ritual array.

At the center of the array stood an altar, upon which rested a massive ram's skull.

Moreover, around the walls and floor were inscribed countless incantations and piled with various bloody ritual materials.

Anyone could tell this was no ordinary thing.

"Ah, just a ritual array?"

Eve looked disappointed.

She stepped forward, intending to claim all the ritual materials.

"Wait."

Luo De pointed to the edge of the chamber, where a hole slightly larger than a rat's burrow led out—the array's lines extended from this opening.

It seemed this was not standalone, but one component of a larger, interconnected array.

"So what?"

The Naga shrugged—what's it to me?

I'll loot everything and leave. Connected or not—none of my business.

But Luo De couldn't think like her.

This obviously malevolent thing lay beneath Shi Ying Town, and it wasn't alone—it clearly indicated someone intended to strike at Shi Ying Town.

Combined with the prophecy from the half-deer man Xiao Ke that morning,

Luo De was certain of it.

But destroying it prematurely might alert the enemy.

Unlike the independent ritual seals outside,

this array was externally linked; if a mage checked the magical pathways, they'd immediately detect the anomaly.

Though his usual strategy was to provoke the enemy, this time was different: the enemy was hidden, and we were exposed. Shi Ying Town had countless abandoned mines—if the enemy simply stayed silent and quietly built new arrays, where would he even look?

Luo De shook his head.

Destruction was inevitable.

"But we must first have Dimea or Selina inspect the array's connections, so we don't destroy it and trigger a rerouting."

"So that means we can't take anything here?"

Eve said dejectedly.

"Whether you take it or not, you've lost—there's no treasure here at all."

"What do you mean there isn't! Look at that sheep skull, and those lizard-man hides—they're still fresh, they're all treasures!"

Luo De couldn't help but laugh.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly sensed the bacterial levels in those areas.

Thanks to his enhanced understanding of the 【Plague】 domain, he could perceive how many days these items had been placed here.

At this moment, he clearly felt they had not been here for more than a day.

Generally, arrays involving fresh flesh and blood would include spells to prevent decay.

But the sheep skull is naturally resistant to decay, so the array's creator skipped this step to improve efficiency.

That's precisely why Luo De noticed something amiss.

"Not more than a day?"

He had assumed it was at least a week old, given how well the area was arranged, and the lack of footprints or fresh magical residue along his path.

"There are small openings in the space leading outside—entry doesn't have to come through our route."

Luo De thought of Fried Argyle, the noble descendant who had just arrived last night.

Deleted some, full version later in the group

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(End of Chapter)