Chapter 149: The Blasphemy Beast (Seeking Collection)

Chapter 149: The Blasphemy Beast (Seeking Collection)



"A Templar Knight?"

Karl looked at his opponent, his expression unchanged, as he had already guessed the reason for this visit.

Ever since the four barbarians arrived at the tower, he had been keeping an eye on them from a distance with Ana.

He had witnessed their entire battle and now nodded in understanding.

"I appreciate you coming all this way."

"It's my duty," Burke said solemnly. "As a Guardian, you guide us on the path forward. No matter how far, we would come."

"Is that so?" Karl remained noncommittal. "I thought you came to take me back to the Sanctuary."

"The Guardian must receive the holy baptism in the Sanctuary to truly receive the blessing of the deity," Burke explained. "You should return to the Sanctuary."

Baptism?

Blessing?

Karl's heart skipped a beat.

As the master of a fragment of the Divine Realm, he was well aware of the rituals of the deities.

The Moon Goddess had not completely perished, and by performing a ritual in a special place, there was a chance to establish a connection with Her.

However, he had no desire to be involved in such rituals, as once he did, there would be no escaping it for the rest of his life.

"I won't be returning to the Sanctuary," Karl stated, shaking his head. "We can discuss other matters, but this is non-negotiable."

"Guardian," Burke frowned. "The Sanctuary is the abode of the deity. As a Guardian, you should be guarding it. It's against the rules for you to stay away."

"What do you need?"

"Power, wealth, women... Whatever you desire, the Sanctuary can provide."

"I'm not interested in those things," Karl shook his head. "By the way!"

"Are there any martial arts or cultivation techniques in your Sanctuary that only Guardians can practice?"

"Yes," Burke nodded, giving an affirmative answer. "The martial arts and techniques practiced by mortals are called Battle Techniques, while those practiced by Guardians and Demigods are known as Sacred Techniques. These techniques were once exclusive to the Divine Realm, but after the Gods' War, some were lost in the mortal world, and the Sanctuary has acquired a few of them."

"If you return to the Sanctuary, all these techniques and resources necessary for cultivation will be available to you."

"Forget it!" Karl was tempted for a moment but waved his hand dismissively. "I have no plans to return to the Sanctuary at the moment."

"Swish!"

A figure, who had just killed four people, appeared before Karl. Beneath the hood, a pair of emotionless black eyes stared at him.

It seemed as if the Templar Knight was about to attack.

The Templar Knight's attitude was clear—if Karl refused to cooperate, they would take action.

"Clang!"

With a resounding clang, the Blasphemy Knight, Ana, drew her greatsword and stood guard in front of Karl.

"Ana!"

Burke growled like an enraged beast. "What are you doing? The actions of a Templar Knight represent the will of the deity. Are you going against the will of the deity?"

"No!" Ana lowered her eyebrows. "Compared to a Templar Knight, a Guardian can truly represent the will of the deity. The deity chose him and not you."

"So I should guard him, not follow the Sanctuary's orders."

"..." Burke's eyes twitched, and he glared at Ana, his face filled with disgust. "You, a sinner of blasphemy, should have been forever nailed to the deepest layer of the Undead Abyss. Now, with a chance to atone, you can't even distinguish right from wrong."

"Ana!"

"Do you think you can stop me?"

Karl's eyes flickered with thought.

The Templar Knights held a divided attitude towards the Blasphemy Knights. Despite both fighting for the deities, they looked down upon and even despised each other.

The reason was simple.

The Blasphemy Knights originated from the Pale Wing, a traitor to the Moon Goddess.

And the Pale Wing was a betrayer of the Goddess, so theoretically, the Blasphemy Knights were descendants of traitors.

The Templar Knights, who truly believed in the Moon Goddess, naturally disliked the Blasphemy Knights.

However, without the blessing of the deity, the Templar Knights struggled to become Guardians, and many tasks required the assistance of the Blasphemy Knights.

This led to the complex attitude of the Sanctuary towards the Blasphemy Knights.

"Huff..."

Burke took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said to Karl, "Guardian, now that your identity has been exposed, not only the Sanctuary is seeking you. There are others who don't wish for the Goddess to revive and won't allow you to live."

"When I arrived in Swift City, I sensed the presence of blasphemers. They won't be as reasonable as I am."

"Is that so?" Karl nodded. "Thank you for informing me of this. I believe with your protection, I'll be safe."

"Only in the Sanctuary can you truly be safe," Burke shook his head.

"Oh?"

Karl asked, "Can the Sanctuary stop the Duke?"

"Yes, we can!" Burke's answer was unexpected. Facing the most powerful title in this world, he remained unafraid. "The Sanctuary is not just any sanctuary; it is a sacred domain originally located in the Divine Realm, the abode of the Goddess."

"There, we fear nothing!"

In this world, the realm where mortals reside is called the Mortal Realm, and the realm where deities dwell is called the Divine Realm.

According to Karl's understanding, the Mortal Realm is the real world.

The Divine Realm,

on the other hand, is located in the Star Realm.

However, due to the Gods' War, the Divine Realm was shattered, and many places that were once in the Divine Realm fell into the Mortal Realm.

For example...

The Sarala Tree and the Guardian Arena.

And the Sanctuary that Burke mentioned.

The place where the Moon Goddess once resided—Karl had no intention of going there, as he didn't want to draw unwanted attention.

Karl shook his head.

"I'll say it one last time, I'm not going to the Sanctuary."

"..." Burke watched him quietly, and after a long while, he spoke in a low voice, "The order I received was to bring the Guardian back to the Sanctuary, and if necessary... even a corpse is acceptable."

Hmm?

"Attack!"

Burke suddenly waved his hand.

"Swish!"

The earth beneath the thin figure's feet suddenly exploded, and a shadow swiftly crossed the void, rushing towards Karl.

"Hmm!"

Ana coldly hummed and charged forward with her sword.

Her physical attributes were not much different from Karl's, as they had both just broken through ten and reached the mid-stage of the First Rank.

Ten points of physical attributes and nine-something points didn't seem like a big difference, but in actual combat, the gap was evident.

"Bang!"

The two rapidly colliding figures simultaneously retreated, with Ana only taking two steps back to stabilize herself, while her opponent was directly flung away, his tattered clothes tearing in the surging force.

Beneath the tattered clothes was a monkey-like creature. Its shriveled, rough skin resembled weathered rock, and its sharp ten fingers had long lost their human form. Its gray and white hair was scattered behind it, and its pitch-black eyes were filled with murderous intent.

A human?

It wasn't human at all!

But Ana sensed a familiar aura from the creature, as if it were a sister connected by blood.

"What have you done to her?"

Ana's eyes twitched:

"What is it?!"

"What is it?" Burke sneered, "Don't you feel that the blood flowing in its body is the same as yours, the Blasphemous Blood?"

"It..."

"It's your sister!"

"Nonsense!" Ana roared, her expression twisted with rage:

"What have you done? Did you experiment on infants?!"

"Blasphemy!" Burke's face turned serious, and he spoke in a solemn tone:

"We step into darkness, we descend into the abyss, our bodies and minds are tainted, all for the pursuit of that fleeting light."

"Ana!"

"The intelligent Blasphemy Knights do not meet the needs of the Sanctuary, and they... are your replacements. We call them Blasphemy Beasts."

"Roar!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Blasphemy Beast in the arena seemed to be stimulated, letting out a skyward roar. Its back muscles split open, and a pair of slimy wings suddenly unfolded, creating a gust of wind.

"Swish!"

With a light flap of its wings, it approached Ana.

"Clang!"

The two figures clashed, and this time, Ana still held the upper hand, but the Blasphemy Beast didn't lose its balance. Instead, it folded its wings and pounced again.

"Your power has increased."

Burke narrowed his eyes:

"However, for your batch of Blasphemy Knights, reaching this level of power is already pushing the limits."

"But for the Blasphemy Beasts, it's just the beginning."

"Ana!"

Watching the two figures fiercely battling in the arena, he spoke softly:

"You probably don't know that the Sanctuary's elders have passed a command to eliminate an entire generation of Blasphemy Knights. All the Blasphemy Knights born like you will be cleaned up, and these beasts are the ones who will do it."

"Second-generation Blasphemy Knights—Blasphemy Beasts!"

"The first-generation Blasphemy Knights within the Sanctuary have already been eliminated, including those courtesans favored by the elders."

"Ah!"

Ana roared towards the sky, her eyes turning almost entirely black with anger, causing her to almost lose control of her body:

"Burke!"

"You... You deserve to die!"

"Boom!"

The raging force of the attack sent the charging Blasphemy Beast flying, and Ana's body turned to pounce on Burke.

"Hmm!"

"Sinner!"

Facing the charging Ana, Burke showed no fear, only a deep-rooted disgust:

"Your eyes, your hair, the scent on your body, even the blood flowing within you—all are sins."

"You shouldn't exist in this world."

"Bang!"

The earth beneath him suddenly exploded, and two dark shadows soared into the sky, colliding with the unprepared Ana.

Blasphemy Beasts!

And these two Blasphemy Beasts each held a strange curved blade, hiding their presence until suddenly bursting out, stabbing Ana's body with the blades.

Their ability to conceal their presence was exceptional, even Karl couldn't detect them in advance.

"Ana!"

Breaking through the encirclement, Karl was about to rush to rescue Ana, when a sudden chill gripped his heart.

Hmm?

Danger!

An extreme sense of danger caused him to tense up instantly, and a rune in an activated state appeared in his palm.

Although he didn't know where the danger was coming from, this warning directly triggered Karl's survival threshold.

He was so close to disregarding the presence of others hiding in the fragments of the divine realm.

Behind him.

Suddenly, the void darkened.

A streak of blackness appeared abruptly.

Blackness, by nature, does not emit light, but this streak seemed to defy logic, emitting a faint black halo.

In just a flash.

The black streak appeared behind Karl's head, about to pierce his skull and extinguish his life force.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

"No!"

Ana, who had turned around to witness this scene, had her eyes twitching and screamed towards the sky, but no sound came out.

In the blink of an eye.

Countless memories from past lives flashed through her mind.

Since childhood, she had endured torment every moment to adapt to the bloodline of the demon god, just to survive.

Every day.

Only when the priest spoke of the deeds of the gods did the pain in her body ease.

The gods will redeem the people of the world.

Including blasphemy knights like her, who carried the bloodline of the demon god.

Countless times of mental indoctrination and will hypnosis made this statement the very foundation of her endurance.

The gods love the people of the world!

The gods!

Love their followers.

Ana's devotion to the gods was unquestionable, even surpassing that of the most devout templar knights.

'Everything I have belongs to the gods...'

And the gods,

In her heart, they had always been an ethereal existence, a spiritual refuge, never truly seen by anyone.

Until...

"The gods have their own guardians, and sometimes they will bless their guardians, who are the closest people to the gods."

"Your task this time is to protect him and bring the guardian back to the cathedral."

The voice of the cathedral elder echoed in Karl's ears, and Ana, in a daze, accepted the task, her heart suddenly jumping.

Guardian,

The one closest to the gods.

He would save the gods and save himself.

But now,

The guardian was about to die before her eyes, and the despair of the moment instantly shattered her sanity.

"Hiss..."

"Hiss..."

Streaks of black threads appeared out of thin air, like indestructible blades, shredding the six blasphemy beasts into minced meat.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled.

Ana's figure appeared as if teleported beside Karl, and she reached out to grab the black streak.

"Bang!"

A surge of energy.

Figures were flung in all directions.

Karl's face was solemn, and he shook out the rune in his hand, causing seven flames to appear around him.

Seven flames,

One more than six, indicating that the power of the rune had reached the late stage from the mid-stage of the first rank.

During this time, he had been refining runes, and by chance, a late-stage first-rank rune was born.

Of course,

His refining skills remained mediocre, mainly due to the unique materials, which gave him the opportunity to strike it rich.

"Boom!"

The seven flames smashed down.

An infinite surge of flames burned the remaining three blasphemy beasts to ashes.

Suddenly, a white arm appeared where Ana was, pulling her underground and disappearing from sight.

Diving underground?

Karl's eyes twitched, and he landed on the ground.

Events unfolded too quickly, leaving him completely unprepared.

From the start of Ana's battle with the blasphemy beasts to the appearance of six more, which dragged him into the fray.

Then, another assassin appeared.

The assassin's appearance caused Ana to suddenly block the fatal blow for herself.

At such close range, the chain fireballs should have injured the assassin.

But the assassin, hiding behind Ana, avoided most of the attacks and eventually escaped with her.

"Did you see that?"

Burke, who had narrowly escaped, roared:

"This is why the cathedral must eliminate the blasphemy knights. One day, they will turn into monsters, no matter how docile or devout they seem!"

"Hmm?" Karl narrowed his eyes:

"You mean, the assassin who attacked me is also a blasphemy knight?"

"Yes!" Burke nodded:

"I didn't notice when she was hiding, but the scent on her body is all too familiar to me."

"The existence of blasphemy gods!"

"Betrayer!"

"Guardian! Karl!" He looked Karl in the eye and shouted:

"Those betrayers will not spare you. They will never allow the goddess to awaken, so come back to the cathedral with me..."

"Back to the cathedral?" Karl shook his head, and his tense mind gradually relaxed:

"Forget it!"

Since they were both blasphemy knights, Ana should be fine. You might as well tell me about the cultivation methods exclusive to the guardian, so that when others come to kill me, I'll have the power to protect myself.

"You say so."

"Okay!" Burke nodded and suddenly made his move:

"Fall!"

"Bang!"

Someone fell.

But it wasn't Karl.

"You're overestimating yourself."

Shaking his head, Karl waved his sleeve and drew a mysterious symbol in the air.

"Do you think I can't find out if you don't tell me?"

"Master of Essence!"

"King of the Universe!"

"..."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end