Chapter 422: Fish-Man

"Do you think this is a place you can just come to whenever you want?"

Xia De wanted to argue with Dac Dac Nisi, but the old priest, who was being suppressed by the Church's Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, suddenly spoke up and asked loudly.

Perhaps feeling insulted, its face, which looked extremely like a fish's, flushed deep red, and the three holy emblems on the back of its hand and forehead were glowing:

"Show some respect, human! What kind of place do you think this is?"

Xia De and Dac Dac Nisi exchanged a glance, and both looked at the fish-man. The old fish-man was surrounded by a transparent protective shield made of liquid, while the machinery operated by the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Creation Church was attempting to contaminate it.

"The era of humans will surely be ended by the era of the deep sea. When the light of civilization is extinguished and the world moves toward its end, all of this will return to the deep sea!"

The fish-man old priest of the Scarlet Secret Sect prayed loudly in the Delarion common tongue.

"Madman."

The witch cursed under her breath.

"You don't understand, human, none of you understand. My Lord said long ago that the world would eventually move toward destruction; all of this is destined, and none of you can escape it."

The fish-man priest shouted loudly, and the holy emblem at the end of the temple seemed to respond to its prayer; those golden rays of light made it even more powerful:

"This is the temple of the Great One, where the ancient Ocean Ruler once lingered. Heretics will only receive the fate of final destruction."

That strange pressure indeed became more obvious with its shouting. Not only the witch, the Church's Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, and Dac Dac Nisi, but even Xia De, who contained divinity in his soul, actually felt a difficulty in breathing.

"Miss, I'll help you deal with him in a moment."

Xia De said softly to the witch, stomping his foot on the floor, and fluttering snowflakes descended from the sky. The oil painting on the temple ceiling, which depicted a tragic ancient naval war, seemed to have a large hole melted through it, but behind the ceiling was not the dim, yellow, rainy sky; silver moonlight spilled down from the ceiling.

"Hmm?"

The witch looked over.

Although he could not fully use the Mystical Lock, it was no problem to create a space composed of a partial Mystical Lock. While the power of that flesh-and-blood mass was still in effect, Xia De was now equivalent to a mid-tier Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi approaching high-tier. With everyone except the fish-man being suppressed, the deployment of the incomplete Mystical Lock suppressed the fish-man and boosted Xia De.

Although this rise and fall was not enough to let Xia De defeat anyone here, he at least had the qualifications to participate in the battle. After all, his original goal was not to defeat anyone; letting these troublesome people leave this place temporarily was what he needed to do.

Xia De said to the man from the Creation Church:

"I have injuries on me now and might not be able to help much, but I think we can deal with this cultist first."

He was making excuses for himself; in this kind of battle, he could at most play a restraining role.

"The injury you sustained in Tobesk hasn't... healed. Be careful, its divination ability is very powerful."

Speaking in an unpracticed Delarion common tongue, the middle-aged man rushed toward the fish-man priest amidst the falling snowflakes. Tiny brass mechanical parts burrowed into his pores, forming a strange layer of metal beneath his skin. The old priest waved its hands, and the three spiritual runes—【Fish-man】, 【Ocean】, and 【Impact】—on the life ring behind its back flashed with spiritual light:

"Spirit of the Great Sea!"

With the trembling of the floor beneath their feet, a giant shark made purely of seawater leaped out from under the floor. But although it looked powerful, it was smashed into points of light by the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Creation Church amidst the flying snowflakes.

Steam gushed outward from his body, and the whole person was like a steam bomb about to explode. After smashing through the shark blocking his way, he hit the stunned old priest with astonishing force, but the fish-man's body suddenly turned into seawater and spilled all over the floor, attempting to burrow into the cracks in the ground.

The witch, who had temporarily ceased hostilities with Dac Dac Nisi, glanced over here and pointed a finger; the water re-condensed, and the old fish-man's disappeared body appeared once again.

"Moonlight Greatsword!"

Xia De's figure appeared above its head, and without thinking of any fancy tricks, he directly used his most destructive strike at the moment. Under the illumination of the Mystical Lock's silver moon, the power of this strike was definitely not something the old fish-man dared to face directly.

The greatsword, swung down in a jumping slash, fell viciously. The old fish-man looked up and chanted a spell, the skin on its back writhing, and dozens of slender octopus tentacles flew out from its collar, forcefully blocking Xia De's sword:

"Your power is not right? Exactly what ring are you?"

Direct contact still allowed the battle-hardened twelve-ring cultist Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi to see through Xia De's clues.

"What do you think?"

Xia De smiled, and chains extended from his sleeves with a clatter, climbing down those octopus tentacles, and then actually touched the life ring behind the fish-man. That life ring had originally been spinning at high speed, but after being touched by the chains, its speed slowed down abruptly; then, the spinning life ring tore apart the pitch-black strange chains and resumed spinning at high speed.

Even Xia De did not expect that the newly acquired sorcery would have such power. Of course, this was also related to the flesh and blood of 【Desire】 and the enhancement brought by the Mystical Lock.

The momentary weakening of the life ring caused by the 【Chain of Sin】 gave the gentleman from the Church a chance. Buzzing brass machinery glowing with light spread all around the fish-man, and after confirming that Xia De's body had disappeared again, those tiny metal parts surrounded the old fish-man and produced a violent explosion.

This was not an ordinary explosion using light, heat, or air pressure to cause destruction; to Xia De, it looked more like metal erasing matter existing in space. Rather than saying this was the ability to manipulate metal, to Xia De, it looked more like the ability to fracture space. And this was not a single-point fracture of space; thousands of tiny metal parts, each one capable of fracturing space in a self-destructive manner—this kind of sorcery was truly terrifying.

After the explosion ended, the wind generated by the change in air pressure caused the air in the stuffy temple to flow.

The sound of loud coughing came from deeper within the temple, and the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Creation Church, Xia De, the witch, and Dac Dac Nisi all looked over there. Seawater crawled out from the cracks in the ground, reconstructing the body of the disheveled old fish-man. It stared with eyes that seemed about to bleed, looking at the four humans under the falling snow.

The previous attack could be considered the Church's Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, the witch, and Xia De dealing with it together. Although there appeared to be no wounds on its body, Xia De, who was well-versed in spatial power, could feel that it definitely had not dodged the spatial fracture damage just now.

Even Dac Dac Nisi would not help it at this time. Although the two sides had cooperated, judging from the current situation, the Scarlet Secret Sect was destined to fail this time.

"You..."

The old fish-man spat blood, its body expanding rapidly. At this, everyone immediately retreated; this appearance looked very much like the opponent wanted to self-destruct. And not using a Sublimation Word to fight to the death was probably because the consumption was too great and it was truly powerless. After all, even if Xia De did not appear, the old fish-man was no match for a thirteen-ring mage.

Twelve and thirteen—that is the difference between two Sublimation Words and three Sublimation Words.

"The Sea Return is already impossible to succeed."

The Church Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi who was manipulating the brass machinery said, his hoarse and steady voice making it clear that the Church had already gained control of the situation. Unlike the Night of God's Descent in Tobesk, there would be no accidents in the Lengshuigang Shadow Incident.

"You don't understand, you don't understand, the fire of civilization is already tottering, none of you understand."

It screamed crazily, its hands and legs dancing as if out of control. But looking closely, this also looked like the primitive sacrificial dances people performed around firelight in ancient times.

This strange dance had a unique sense of rhythm, and Xia De felt he seemed to have seen something in it.

It danced, shouted, and laughed, looking at the four humans in turn:

"I saw it, I saw it, none of you will have a good end!"

But no one paid any attention to it.

"You, as a human, yet you vainly attempt to abandon flesh and blood."

The middle-aged man from the Creation Church frowned slightly.

"You, beset by darkness yet bewitched by darkness."

Dac Dac Nisi remained unmoved, the half-demon still cackling.

"You, burdened with a curse yet vainly dreaming of chasing freedom."

Although he could not see Miss Miss Feilian's face clearly, Xia De knew the other party must be angry.

"You..."

The old fish-man looked at Xia De, and Xia De also looked at its turbid fish eyes. The other party was a cult priest, a twelve-ring mage, and even proficient in divination; its evaluations of the several people just now were very interesting.

"What about me?"

Xia De asked softly.

"Do you think the audience under the stage is really the safest?"

The fish-man laughed loudly, its body having expanded more than three times since Xia De first arrived here.

"Audience..."

"You are the stupidest one; beset by desires, body broken, future void. Even if the power of the past protects you, what about the future? Your ending will definitely be more miserable than mine. Truly stupid, you are all fools; why can't you believe in the deep sea?"

It suddenly stopped, then faced the holy emblem radiating light deep in the temple, opened its arms, and roared:

"May the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral be with me!"

The flesh mass on Dac Dac Nisi's right hand expanded rapidly, and the flesh-colored structure burning with black flames formed a shield in front of him; that gentleman from the Church summoned all the brass mechanical creations he had released, then knelt on one knee and grasped the large metal shield formed by those machines; the witch snapped her fingers unhurriedly, her body shaking rapidly, the color of her body fading bit by bit until it became completely transparent.

Xia De did not think that the leaf held in his mouth could block the coming damage, so he took a step back, his body disappeared, and he returned to the corridor.

He ran back along the corridor, then lunged forward, hugged his head, and lay on the ground. Although compared to the other three, this was not dignified at all, it was at least effective enough.

Boom!

A dull sound came from behind; because his body was pressed close to the ground, Xia De could even feel the uneven, ancient old square bricks beneath him trembling.

A terrifying sound came from overhead, and rustling dust and mud chunks fell constantly.

"Cough, cough~"

Xia De coughed while standing up and brushing the mud off his hair. When he turned back to return to the temple, flesh and blood were splattered on the floor, and there was an extra small pit where the old fish-man had originally stood.

But its death was not without value; the holy emblem was also stained with the blood of the voluntary sacrifice, and that evil golden light became even stronger. The power belonging to the gods in the temple suppressed the non-believers here even more intensely.

Outside the temple, the sound of rain was violent; the Scarlet Secret Sect was making its final desperate struggle. The giant mermaid corpse was carrying huge waves toward Lengshuigang; this battle, which began at dawn, did not last long and was coming to an end.

And the witch, Dac Dac Nisi, and the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi of the Creation Church all looked around in the smoke and dust of the explosion. The witch and the thirteen-ring mage of the Creation Church were unscathed, and although Dac Dac Nisi was a bit disheveled, he did not look seriously injured.

Under the light of the evil god's holy emblem, the four people observed each other. Although Xia De was still the weakest, he had already seen the hope of success, after all—

"I am on the side of justice, I am a protagonist."