Chapter 786: The Escaping Butterfly

As he descended the mountain, Xia De realized where he was.

This was the patch of forest where he and Mia had hidden on the night the Zhengshen Sect besieged the 【Truth Society】. If his guess was correct, their destination should be the once-frozen ice lake—Lake Bena.

Passing through the fog-filled woods and following the blood-red light of the two young ladies, he truly arrived at the shallows by the lake once more.

The edge of the woods was very close to the water. On the somewhat narrow beach, hundreds of figures in black robes lay prone on the ground. Slender wooden stakes stood by the lake, each bearing mummified corpses of various sizes. On the stake closest to the center, the mummy held eight supernatural items, and the Blood Thorn Scepter in Xia De's hand was the ninth.

Grace and Helen stood by Lake Bena, supporting each other as they looked toward the direction the black-robed figures were kneeling. It was toward the lake. In the fog, the water should have been crystal clear, but in the instant Xia De blinked, it turned completely blood-red. When he blinked again, it returned to its normal color.

Floating in the center of the lake was something whose shape was unclear. But upon closer inspection, it was clearly a coffin—the same coffin Mr. Bernhardt had purchased at the auction.

Above the heads of the prostrate people hovered the image of a small bat. Everyone was praying softly, praying to the blood and the blood moon.

It was ten minutes until midnight. Although thick fog obscured the night sky, looking up carefully, one could vaguely see the massive red full moon looming in the white mist.

Walking out of the jungle to the lakeshore, all surrounding sounds vanished. The lakeside was abnormally quiet and solemn; even the undead, usually seen everywhere, had disappeared. Only the overlapping whispers and prayers echoed and intertwined.

The splashing sound of the lake was the accompaniment to all this. The air held not only the scent of fresh blood but also the aroma of wine.

The space here seemed completely isolated from Mount Xikar.

Suddenly, a crisp cry broke the silence, and the birdcall spread throughout the entire Mount Xikar region. Amidst the tremors of the ground and the roaring of the mountain, the Xikar crater, which had begun erupting earlier, spewed thick black smoke once more. Within that smoke, a fiery, brilliant phoenix spread its wings and flew toward the giant cocoon above the city.

"The phoenix has come to help too. It seems we really have reached the end... Grace, Helen!"

Xia De ran over in a hurry:

"Come with me!"

The prostrate vampires did not stop Xia De, allowing him to cross the beach and grab the cold hands of the two young ladies.

They looked at the lake before them with dazed expressions, staring at the coffin in the center of the water, and did not move when Xia De pulled them:

"Mr.... you should go quickly. We know our fate."

They looked together at the calm lake surface. Every time they blinked, the color of the water changed between normal and blood-red. The surrounding white mist was being dyed blood-red more rapidly, and the blood moon in the mist became increasingly clear.

Xia De felt a terrifying gaze already fixed upon the shores of Lake Bena. If they didn't leave now, they really wouldn't be able to.

"You cannot defeat Him. We... the problem of the Ringed Shushi is about to be solved, and our mission has ended... This is the end, isn't it?"

Grace, in her white dress, asked softly.

"This is the end, sister. It has been over five thousand years. Finally, it is coming to an end."

Helen, in her black dress, said with tears in her eyes.

Xia De could not believe that the young ladies who had sworn to be together forever would give up the hope of living and willingly become bait for an evil god. Looking closely, their eyes were actually wine-red, as if reflecting the full red moon:

"This is not the end. Young ladies, I could save you thousands of years ago, and I can do it now."

Kissing the ring on his finger, the 【Yellow Moon】 spirit rune flickered with spiritual light:

"At least, at least let me try. Since the red moon can bewitch you, then the yellow moon can too—Confusion!"

The moonstone ring flashed with an ambiguous warm yellow light. Grace and Helen were startled, but immediately, the surrounding blood mist turned into scarlet shackles, binding them firmly.

"I knew it would work—Moonlight Greatsword!"

No matter how bad his condition was, Xia De endured the fatigue and the emptiness of his soul, letting the silver moonlight descend to shatter the scarlet shackles. Yet, the blood-red traces still clung to the two of them. It wasn't that a mortal ritual had easily restricted an angel-level supernatural item; rather, from the very beginning—from that banquet—the god had left its mark upon them.

"Run!"

Xia De grabbed Helen's hand with his left and Grace's with his right. There was no time to speak to them as they regained their clarity; he turned and tried to leave.

However, someone would not let the three of them leave.

The prostrate vampires continued to pray softly, waiting for midnight to arrive. From the dense forest, two high-tier vampires walked out expressionlessly:

"This gentleman, the matters here have nothing to do with you. Please leave."

Temporarily releasing Helen, the greatsword that appeared in Xia De's right hand represented his stance. Having come this far, he had to fight no matter what. Helen and Grace could not use their own power at this moment, and Xia De knew he couldn't beat high-tier sorcerers, but he had to stall for time:

"Young ladies, you go first."

The high-tier vampires spoke no more. Their eleventh-tier and tenth-tier life rings shone brilliantly in the blood mist.

The blood-red traces on the black and white dresses became clearer. Grace and Helen knew what it meant for Xia De to stay. They grabbed Xia De's shoulders; since the man before them had done this much for them, even if their souls shattered at this moment, they would give their final strength to him:

"Mr., meeting you was the most..."

But before Grace could finish, a golden light shone from the side. Within the light, the familiar voice of a middle-aged woman appeared:

"Are you giving up just like that? Go together; I will deal with them."

Appearing from the woods was a proud woman in a deep blue dress. Although she looked to be in her forties or fifties, her elegance remained.

Xia De was stunned; time seemed to return to the final banquet from years ago. And the twins looked at that figure, feeling heartache, sadness, and grief. All the grievances of this life were contained in that one word:

"Teacher!"

Meeting after two eras, tears fell from their cheeks uncontrollably.

The soul that appeared was the middle-aged witch from the Divine Banquet. After the banquet, she had become the twins' teacher. She had also participated in the great battle of Mount Xikar during the Fifth Era when the twin gods descended.

According to Miss Samuel of the Zalas Academy, she had been taken in by the Zalas Academy after that battle.

Xia De had never expected that she would appear here too.

"My students."

The witch's glowing soul looked at them with a gentle expression. Her soul was so powerful:

"To be able to wake from the long slumber of the Ringed Shushi and see you again, I am very happy. Leave with this gentleman. Although the road ahead will be dangerous, I hope you can keep going."

She picked up a tree branch and stroked it before throwing it to Xia De. When Xia De caught the branch, it actually turned into a glowing precious sword, its power almost comparable to the Night Watcher in its normal state.

In the Fifth Era, she had participated in the banquet for the sake of power. She truly had touched the highest achievement of the witch system after that.

"Mr., please protect my students well, and let the butterflies fly freely."

"Ma'am, use this."

Xia De threw the Blood Thorn Scepter in his hand to the middle-aged witch, who then faced the two high-tier vampires.

Even though they were extremely reluctant, the tearful Helen was pulled by her sister Grace, following Xia De into the dense forest.

"Did your teacher die on Mount Xikar in the end?"

Xia De asked. Helen, in the black dress, nodded:

"After the Great Battle of Xikar, Teacher was taken in by the Zalas Academy. After her wounds healed, she officially joined the academy through the introduction of Miss Samuel, a witch of the academy, and helped establish the prototype of the Zalas Academy of Literature over the next hundred years. But by then, we had already become disasters wandering the world and could not go to see Teacher. Before Teacher died, she came here and had a final meeting with my sister and me... She died in front of us."

She choked with sobs:

"Since then, apart from each reunion with my sister, I don't remember how long it has been since I last cried."

Grace gently hugged her sister. Xia De nodded silently, leading them through the mountain forest:

"We can talk about other things later. Now, let's go to the Nature Church in the city. The Nature Society has prepared for the summoning of the god. As long as we enter the church, even if He truly comes, you will be safe."

With a loud boom, the Xikar crater, spewing black smoke, seemed to erupt with something. At the same time, the mountain forest, filled with white mist, turned into a forest of withered trees in an instant, but the next moment it returned to normal, as if reality and the Ringed Shushi had completely overlapped for a moment.

"The Ringed Shushi is making its final resistance."

Grace said. The young lady in the white dress held Xia De's left hand, her sorrowful expression tinged with determination:

"Mr., the road ahead will be very difficult."

Countless strands of white mist drifted from the city and the mountains toward the giant cocoon above Mibao, like chains. On the surface of the cocoon, a huge crack finally appeared. Amidst a bizarre roar that only sorcerers could hear, a pitch-black giant hand broke through the crack and reached out from the cocoon.

Professor Pigeman and the phoenix immediately launched an attack, easily suppressing that hand, but this was only the most primitive power before the giant cocoon hatched.

Spiritual light flickered simultaneously in the city and the mountains. The 【Trace of the Holy Tree】 ritual had reached its final stage; solving this giant cocoon would mean the ritual's success. Countless streams of light flew from the mountaintop, the mountainside, and the foot of the mountain toward the sky above the city. The ritual of the Ringed Shushi was basically complete, and the main force was returning to reality to jointly defeat the final undead aggregate.

Perhaps Yin Yi Yi Lu Na was also among those streams of light, but unfortunately, Xia De could no longer participate in this final battle:

"It's okay, it will be okay soon."

He comforted the increasingly weak young ladies. Although they were far from the ritual site, the earth beneath their feet began to spread with blood color from the lakeside toward the direction they were fleeing. The blood mist followed closely, and in the mist, even a large group of bats was chasing the three fleeing people.

The silver spiritual light of blasphemy flickered in the air, and the blood color even corroded the power of the Ringed Shushi. The Life and Death Ringed Shushi was a Level 0 supernatural item, but the bizarre ritual taking place by the lake was a genuine god-summoning ritual.

The vampires were calling upon the evil god—the Blood God.

Even from the dense forest, one could observe that more limbs were reaching out from the giant cocoon above the city. Not just human limbs, but also those of animals, alien creatures, and even terrifying creatures that were hard to describe. The giant cocoon was cracking, and nearly half of the whisper elements of the Ringed Shushi were being continuously transported to the cocoon through these white mists.

The hatching of the giant cocoon was inevitable. Once born, it could be directly regarded as an subspace evil object surpassing the thirteenth tier.

The light of the Five Gods Church turned into chains, wrapping around the surface of the giant cocoon, slowing down its hatching process. Countless attacks bombarded the cocoon, weakening its power before its birth.

Not only the church sorcerers, but even witches, the phoenix, and Sister Daifulin participated in the battle—Xia De recognized the fireball in the sky. The power of the Fifth Era and the firelight of the mountains bloomed with a brilliance that should not have appeared in this era, fighting the final enemy alongside mortals.

Sister Daifulin flew in the air, her right hand still covered in the flaming 【Ash】, while her left hand held a black scythe derived from the power of the Chosen of Death. Yin Yi Yi Lu Na, holding the 【Night Watcher】, rode a translucent spirit horse in the sky, with that bone whistle hanging around her neck.

The life ring behind Professor Pigeman, the "Bai Yin Warden" and principal of Saint Byron, transformed into a silver luster. The high-tier miracle 【Bai Yin Key】 opened the forbidden space, and an invisible giant hand reaching from the void crushed the greenish-blue rotten corpse tentacles extending from the cocoon.

But he was not fighting wholeheartedly; instead, he was imperceptibly observing the city and the mountains, as if expecting something.

Inside and outside the Ringed Shushi, inside and outside the city, on the mountain and at its foot, firelight seemed to ignite in every corner at this moment. The four-element spiritual light illuminated the Mibao diocese. Time was approaching midnight, and the battle had finally reached its most intense and final moment. ===== CHAPTER 787 =====