Lord of Prayer

How fast is lightning, really?

Zhou Chen had never known before, but now he did.

In the instant he stood there, stunned, a piercing bolt of cyan lightning flashed past his vision.

It was followed by a deep, rumbling clap of thunder.

A searing pain shot through him. A horrifying hole had been blown through Zhou Chen’s body—a body that had devoured countless Corrupters. The steel snake scales covering his form shattered completely as inky-black blood gushed out like a waterfall. Its extreme corrosiveness ate pits into the crystallized ground wherever it landed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions erupted, sending flesh and blood flying. Twelve of the eighteen Corrupters were instantly blown to bits, leaving not a single bone intact. The remaining six were also grievously injured.

Before Zhou Chen, the double agent, could even make his move, Li Xiye had already annihilated most of the guarding Corrupters in a single exchange.

She had no intention of finishing off the battered survivors. Her body became lightning, a roaring cyan dragon streaking across the sky as she charged straight for the hole in the Light-Burning Barrier. The most important task was to get the Any Door’s locator near the Royal Tower; there was no need to waste time on these shrimp soldiers and crab generals.

Her speed was incredible; she shot through the Barrier in the blink of an eye. Below, a vast, black tide—the Corruption Legion—was spreading wildly through the city. In just a short time, it had already engulfed two city blocks. Countless survivors were being torn apart and devoured, their final moments filled with heart-rending screams of agony and despair. Even more people were staggering away in a frantic bid to escape.

Suddenly, a massive silhouette materialized in the sky. It was a golden maze bristling with dangerous contraptions: guillotines, hammers, flamethrowers... Countless deadly traps were armed and ready. Li Xiye was right in the center of its range. In the next second, the ethereal maze solidified, descending completely.

—Forbidden Object B-023: Golden Maze!

"Activating a B-Level Forbidden Object just for me? I’m truly flattered."

In a corridor of the maze, the surging cyan lightning coalesced into Li Xiye. Her face was impassive, her cyan pupils filled with a contempt that looked down on all creation. She clenched her fist and slammed it into a golden wall.

BOOM! A huge hole appeared in the wall.

"Fuck! What’s with this woman?!" Atop a skyscraper, the Receptor of Forbidden Object B-023: Golden Maze cursed in disbelief, cold sweat trickling from his temples. ’She’s actually punching her way through the Golden Maze with brute force!’

This was too bizarre!

’One of the Golden Maze’s rules is that it cannot be damaged. Anyone who tries will be targeted by the maze itself and suffer a fatal punishment. But right now, the Golden Maze isn’t reacting at all!’

"She’s a Quasi-Tier Four," a man covered from head to toe in tattoos said from beside him. "The Rule Ability she’s mastered is terrifying—it’s a ’Rule that can affect other Rules.’ She’s using her own Rule to twist the Rules of the Golden Maze."

"I’ll do my best to trap her for three minutes! The others are up to you," the Receptor of the Golden Maze said through gritted teeth as he manipulated the maze, laying all sorts of deadly traps in Li Xiye’s path.

The Tattoo Artist was silent for a moment. Then, the tattoo of a vicious, winged tiger peeled off his neck and flew down below.

"ROAR!" A tiger’s roar erupted along with a gale-force wind. The tattoo had actually come to life.

Its blood-red wings, covered in the images of twisted human faces, unfurled. Wisps of baleful energy coiled around its blood-patterned body. Its crimson eyes were filled with savagery and a wild ferocity, utterly vicious.

The moment it appeared, a corrupting Curse descended. All humans within its range let out agonized howls as they grew tusks, tails, and sharp claws, transforming into hideous tiger-monsters that began to devour those around them.

Immediately after, all the tattoos on the Tattoo Artist’s body peeled off, transforming one by one into hideous and terrifying Hellish Demons.

Bizarre creatures made of pus and rotting flesh; grafted Demon Fiends composed of countless human limbs; giant, screaming masses of meat; a stooped old man in black robes wielding an iron hook; an Evil Steel Giant as tall as a mountain...

The Tattoo Artist had released the twelve Hellish Demons he bore.

Every single one was Tier Four.

SNAP. The Tattoo Artist snapped his fingers. A nine-headed bird of bone flew to him, and he leaped onto its back. With a single flap of its wings, the nine-headed bone bird shot toward a Tier Four Ascender from the Star Association. The glass on the surrounding buildings shattered from the gale, raining down like shards of ice.

As time passed, combat squads began to arrive, but they were blocked by a seemingly endless ocean of Corrupters and incredibly powerful Tier Four demonic beasts. For now, only Tier Four Ascenders could cross the sea of Corrupters and break into the Barrier.

"The Tier Fours are for the Tier Fours to handle."

A Tier Four Ascender from the Star Association declared this as Fiery Fire erupted around him. He transformed into a Flame Divine Bull and charged, rampaging through the sea of Corrupters. He carved out a scorching, fiery path as he stampeded toward the winged, vicious tiger.

RUMMMMMBLE!

At that moment, tremendous sounds erupted both inside and outside the Barrier. The very heavens and earth trembled. The Tier Four Ascenders from both sides had officially met.

The great battle had begun!

Outside the Barrier, Zhou Chen tried to repair the hole in his chest, but arcs of cyan lightning still crackled within the wound, preventing its Recovery.

"What... what was that...?" the four-eyed Corrupter stammered, kneeling on the ground. Its body, covered in cracks like a shattered porcelain doll, bled profusely.

"It must... must have been a Tier Four from the Star Association..." The naked female Corrupter, half of her body blown off, convulsed on the ground. "We... should count ourselves lucky... that Tier Four didn’t even give us a second glance..."

"Even if that Tier Four didn’t kill us, we’re going to die sooner or later! The Star Association is already inside!" a young-looking Corrupter shrieked, collapsing to his knees and sobbing. "I just want to live... I just want to live... Why won’t they let me live?! Why...?!"

The intense resentment caused black miasma to rise from its body as the corrosion deepened. There were even faint signs that it was about to evolve again.

However, a large foot suddenly stomped down. With a wet SPLAT, like a water balloon popping, the young Corrupter’s head burst, splattering viscous fluids everywhere.

"You..." The naked female Corrupter, splattered across the face with viscous brain matter, stared wide-eyed at the demonic-looking Zhou Chen. A moment later, a dark red Steel Wing sliced through the air. The female Corrupter’s head flew from her shoulders and rolled across the ground.

Before the other Corrupters could react, Zhou Chen struck without hesitation, cutting them down one by one.

Then, consumption.

’It’s not my real body, anyway,’ Zhou Chen thought. ’And my senses of taste and touch are blocked.’ With no reason to be squeamish, he gathered all the fragments of the twelve Corrupters and swallowed them in one gulp.

Through this bizarre evolution, Zhou Chen’s body swelled another size, and he absorbed the Abilities of the Corrupters he had consumed. The only problem was the wound in his chest, which still showed no sign of healing.

He flapped his Wings and flew toward the hole in the Barrier.