The core ritual city.
An ancient castle on the outskirts of the city, at this moment, as the ritual began, the ancient castle gradually materialized from the distorted gray fog.
Myriad cultists surged in from outside, chanting the glorious name of the Great Crimson Moon.
In the deepest part of the ancient castle,
On an altar inscribed with dense and profound blood patterns, the Blood-Bearded Priest stood, holding a scepter.
At his feet, around the blood-patterned altar, streams of blood gushed out. Upon closer inspection, these streams of blood were gradually filling the empty spaces of the blood-patterned altar, until the entire altar turned into pure crimson.
That would be the moment the ritual was successfully completed.
The Blood-Bearded Priest smiled.
He was currently clad in a luxurious blue ceremonial robe, his face having returned to the true appearance of a Blood-Bearded, with a height similar to that of Blue Star humans, the same number of limbs, and a single head.
What was different was that Priest Pukala had a circle of slightly wriggling crimson tendrils around his entire head.
They resembled hair, resembling a beard, only they moved and were much thicker.
They seemed to be breathing with each extension and retraction.
Priest Pukala was also breathing. He looked towards the crimson moon hanging high in the night sky outside the castle, his face filled with piety.
And with intoxication.
Sensing that the rituals at each site were proceeding steadily, and that his power was constantly growing, he could not help but become entranced.
The legendary Mythical tier, now, he, Pukala, was within reach!
"With the aid of this ritual, my true form can forcefully enter Blue Star, and then, by the power of the ritual's blood sacrifice, achieve the seventh awakening! I have at least a seventy percent chance!"
"After entering the Mythical tier, my true form can still reside in Blue Star, and then, with Mythical tier power, I will join forces with Lord Blood Emperor. In a short period, we can push Blue Star into the Perilous Realm. Before other Evil Gods' priests can intervene, we will offer the complete Blue Star origin to the Great Master!"
"At that time, this priest will also be able to stabilize the Mythical tier realm through the Master's reward, becoming a being with true divinity!"
Within the Church of the Great Crimson Moon, he, Pukala, would truly be a significant figure.
Their Blood-Bearded race would also be elevated to a noble higher race because of him.
They would ascend to heaven in one step!
And now, only a few hours remained until ascension.
"If that old maggot were here, this priest would still worry about the ritual being disrupted. But now, mere natives of Blue Star?"
"The power alone that this priest has left at each ritual site is something these Blue Star natives will find difficult to resist, let alone disrupt the ritual."
"Seven-Awakening Mythical tier, getting closer and closer."
"Hehehehe—"
Pukala also knew that at the crucial moment, one could not be careless. Even though theoretically, his ritual had favorable timing, location, and human support, and could not be disrupted.
He still suppressed his excitement and eagerness, frequently inquiring about the situation at the six ritual sites, so that he could make timely repairs if any accidents occurred.
As a result, there was indeed a slight accident.
"The natives of this world are quite swift in their actions."
Pukala had led invasions of several worlds and witnessed countless others, including humans with far greater potential than those of Blue Star.
Some worlds had humans with strong innate mental powers.
In some worlds, the human body was more compatible with the mystical, making awakening easier.
In these worlds, after the descent of the mystical, their progress and the number of powerful beings born far surpassed Blue Star. For priests like them, these were difficult to chew bones, but also more valuable ones.
Yet, in these worlds, after the descent of the mystical and the appearance of the strange, their performance was still inferior to that of Blue Star.
Pukala had not expected that his ritual had just begun, and many awakened beings from the native forces of Blue Star had rushed to the ritual sites to stop his ritual.
Even quite a few experts had emerged.
"Fortunately, these are ultimately just natives of Blue Star."
"For that old maggot, who was also a priest, disrupting this ritual would not be difficult. But for Blue Star natives with no foundation in the mystical, once this priest's ritual is initiated, disrupting it, hah, is not so easy."
"However, to be safe, it is still necessary to quickly kill the experts of Blue Star who have infiltrated the ritual sites."
Priest Pukala issued the command.
He remained at ease.
These Blue Star natives could at most disrupt one or two ritual nodes by chance, but to find all the ritual nodes and disrupt them in order, this was impossible.
There was no need for him to worry unnecessarily.
The Great Crimson Moon favored him, so how could there be an accident?
He would just wait to be promoted to Mythical.
"Hehehehe—"
Pukala could not help but laugh heartily, but suddenly, the laughter came to an abrupt end.
A mouthful of old blood spewed out, splattering the ground.
"My ritual... how... is it possible..."
...
White Eagle Federation, Area 51.
Satellites in the sky observed from afar, clearly visible, seven dazzling blood-red pillars of light shooting up into the Blue Star world, illuminating the night sky.
However, at this moment,
Four of these blood-red pillars of light began to flicker, dimming gradually with each flash, and in a blink of an eye, they disappeared completely.
This change immediately alerted the entire Area 51.
The leader roared,
"Immediately contact our secret combat team in Wanduo Country! I want to know what just happened!"
...
White Bear Country, Ritual City.
Just a few tens of seconds ago, the cultists fighting with the Awakened from the Secret Security Bureau suddenly charged madly towards a certain direction.
Although the combat personnel of the Secret Security Bureau did not understand the reason, they immediately tried their best to intercept them.
Whatever the enemy wanted to do, they had to stop it.
It was just that these cultists were not afraid of death. This mad appearance terrified them. They could only resist with all their might, blocking a part of them.
They watched helplessly as the remaining cultists broke away from them and rushed towards a certain place within the city.
After running only a short distance, the cultists' movements suddenly became stiff, their bodies shriveled as if drained of blood, and within a short while, they all fell to the ground, their lives extinguished.
The Awakened of White Bear Country were horrified and bewildered.
The red light reflected in their vision was rapidly receding. They were surprised to find that the red moon hanging in the night sky had also disappeared. The entire city seemed to have returned to its previous state.
If one ignored the bloodstains all over the ground and the surrounding ruins.
"Did... did we win?"
...
"Ding!"
"Hint: You have completed special missions 'Cultist's Sacrifice' x4. Do you wish to proceed with reward settlement?"
"Hint: There are a total of seven special missions, 'Cultist's Sacrifice', which are related. You can also wait until all missions are completed and integrate them into a higher-level mission for settlement, at which point you will receive more generous rewards."
"Hint: Proceed with immediate settlement or defer settlement."
"Defer settlement."
Regardless of the reward amount, Fang You didn't have the mind to check any rewards at the moment.
The destruction of these four ritual sites went very smoothly, but it did not mean victory was in sight. Daifeng Novel.
"It's as I predicted. These seven ritual sites are both related and can exist independently."
"And compared to the four small cities, Mist City and Wave City, these two large cities clearly possess more ritual power and more cultists. Now, that cultist priest will no longer be careless."
"The real battle is only just beginning now."
...
"Damn Blue Star people!"
"But my ritual has not failed yet!"
Hatred filled Pukala's eyes.
Having lost four ritual keystones, his chance of advancing to Sevenfold Awakening had dropped from seventy percent to twenty percent. Fortunately, at the moment when those four ritual sites were on the verge of destruction, he had used the ritual's power to drain the blood of all cultists connected to related rituals, replenishing some of the losses.
He still had a thirty percent chance!
He still had a chance!
However, there was a shadow in Pukala's eyes. He ordered, "The rituals in Mist City and Wave City must not fail again. Kill! Kill all factors that could interfere with the ritual!"
...
Wave City,
Anderson, the 'Prince', head of the Super Combat Department and one of the top powerhouses of Wave Country, was leading an elite team to hunt down those cultists.
The Super Combat Department, in conjunction with nearby military bases around Wave City, deployed a large number of heavy weapons.
The roar of machine guns was constant, and thunderous explosions occasionally sounded.
Armed helicopters hovered in the air, and armored vehicles drove into the city.
This was Wave City, the capital of their Wave Country. Both its military strength and its awakened power were top-notch. This had always been the safest city in Wave Country.
Until today, when countless cultists appeared.
They were like locusts.
Anderson's scalp tingled. "Under our noses, how did cultists appear! We already screened them!"
He had no time to consider this question, and could only continue to fight.
It was just that there were too many cultists, and even some members of their Super Combat Department, with fanatical shouts, had fallen into evil!
More troublesome was that more and more strange beings were emerging inside and outside Wave City.
"Lord Anderson, a powerful tide of strange beings has appeared to the south and is advancing towards the central district."
"Let's go!"
Dealing with cultists could still be done with conventional weapons, but dealing with strange beings could only rely on the Awakened's own strength.
Of course, there were also awakened weapons and strange artifacts.
Anderson took two powerful strange artifacts and rushed forward. Blood and flames were everywhere. He, filled with anger, killed one strange being after another, and then suddenly stopped.
"What... what is that?"
"Is it Godzilla?"
The other Super Combat Department members were also stunned, and terror crept onto their faces.
In their line of sight, still far away, beyond the rows of towering buildings, a monster tens of meters tall, comparable in size to skyscrapers, was walking step by step towards the city center.
The earth trembled.
In front of the dark monster, those tall buildings were like toys. With a casual swipe, they shattered and collapsed like fragile building blocks.
Even from kilometers away, an immense fear still surged into their hearts, and terrible whispers began to echo in their ears.
They could not muster the courage to resist.
Anderson was much the same.
Even with powerful strange artifacts, he still didn't think he could fight such a monster.
How could anyone resist it!
This was simply not something humans could resist!
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"This damned world!"
He wanted to charge forward, but his feet felt rooted to the spot.
The dark monster opened its giant mouth and spewed out a black beam of light. Accompanied by deafening explosions, buildings in sight began to tilt and collapse under the destruction of the light beam.
Huge chunks of concrete fell.
A mother cried out, and a little girl fell to the ground, her eyes fixed on the ever-enlarging steel bars and concrete, and the increasingly tilting building.
A figure appeared in front of the little girl, black hair fluttering, eyes like water.
She squatted down, gently embraced the little girl, and covered her eyes.
A sapphire light burst from her water-like eyes, and a blackness as dark as ink spread beneath her, like a black hole leading to the underworld.
From within the hole, a giant black hand emerged, like a pillar supporting the sky, effortlessly holding up the collapsing building.
A similarly terrifying monster was at this moment, slowly awakening from the pitch-black domain of the underworld.