Lord of Prayer

Outside the private room, Zhou Chen emerged from a sudden burst of pale flame. He grabbed a nearby waitress by the shoulder as the fire raged, setting her ablaze like a human torch.

"AHH!" The waitress let out a bloodcurdling scream, her features twisting in unspeakable agony. Illusory black smoke rose from her skin as something was incinerated by the Cyan Flame, but then her body began to swell abruptly.

"Shit..." Zhou Chen cursed through gritted teeth. A surging wave of fire erupted from him, instantly engulfing the entire second floor. In the blink of an eye, all the guests, including Zhou Chen, vanished, leaving the restaurant’s second floor completely empty.

BOOM!

The waitress’s body exploded. Thousands of flesh fragments formed a crimson storm that raged in every direction. Tables and chairs were instantly pulverized. Countless gashes appeared on the floor and walls. The flesh was intensely corrosive, sizzling on contact and eating holes and pits into everything it touched.

Some fragments shattered the windows and flew outside, landing on the ground, vehicles, and trees. Lush green leaves instantly withered and died as the trees visibly decayed. Cars seemed to keen as they dissolved, their steel roofs caving in. Within seconds, the vehicles were mostly melted. Pits appeared in the ground, belching a foul-smelling smoke. The sight was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

A hundred meters away, a sea of pale flames suddenly materialized, and dozens of bewildered guests tumbled out onto the ground.

BOOM!

Another loud explosion ripped through the restaurant, shaking the ground and shattering the first-floor windows. A torrent of crimson flesh burst forth like a flash flood. Fortunately, a large fountain in the plaza in front of the restaurant, flanked by parking lots full of cars, formed a barrier that blocked most of the gushing storm of flesh and kept it from spreading onto the road.

"Get out of here!" Zhou Chen yelled at the top of his lungs. He had used a wish to gain an aura of authority, and the still-dazed guests immediately scrambled away. Pedestrians on the street hurriedly turned back, and drivers stuck in traffic abandoned their cars and fled on foot.

Zhou Chen’s expression was grim as he stared back at the restaurant. It was clear they had been attacked by "Ghost."

This was the same Flesh Bomb that Ghost had used before!

With a simple physical touch, Ghost could plant a Curse in a living being, turning them into a Flesh Bomb that could be detonated with a single thought, creating a highly corrosive storm of flesh.

The first waiter who entered the room had the unmistakable aura of a gunpowder-like Curse, matching the intelligence reports on the "Flesh Bomb" Ability. The moment Zhou Chen sensed it, he knew this was an attack from Ghost.

He had then tried to wish away the Curse in the waitress’s body, but the wish failed. It was a Darkness Curse planted by a Tier Four Ascender, and after his previous expenditures, he no longer had enough power to make a wish that could affect a Tier Four Ascender. His only option was to use Flame Teleportation to escape.

After arriving in the main hall, he found another cursed waitress. He hastily tried to burn away the Curse with his Cyan Flame, but that also failed. In the end, he had to give up and focus on moving the guests on the second floor to safety.

As for the guests on the first floor, he didn’t have time to teleport them away. They had likely all perished.

’I saw those staff members when I came in, and they weren’t cursed then. The Flesh Bomb requires physical contact to be planted... which means Ghost is here right now!

But didn’t the Knight Order leave a mark on Ghost? How could they not have sensed it was nearby? Or did Ghost find some way to block the mark’s Sensing?

And how did Ghost know our location? I was disguised, and I had the Maple City Star Association perform an anti-divination ritual before I came. I even hitched a ride with the Star Association. Even if Ghost had been lying in wait at the door, it shouldn’t have been able to spot me... Could it be that the Knights accidentally exposed their location?’

Zhou Chen’s mind raced. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he whipped his head around to look at the guests who hadn’t gotten far. ’This is bad,’ he thought. It was highly likely Ghost was hiding among them!

Suddenly, a profound darkness seeped out from the restaurant like a tide, and everything it touched began to undergo a horrifying mutation.

Pairs of bloodshot eyes opened on the leaves and branches of the trees. A twisted human face emerged on one trunk, letting out the piercing cry of an infant. Insects living in the trees swelled rapidly, as if force-fed growth hormones, becoming grotesque and misshapen.

A few people who couldn’t escape in time were instantly swallowed by the darkness, their bodies corrupting on the spot. Fruit-like tumors bulged on their skin, nauseating clusters of writhing flesh sprouted forth, and yellow pus oozed from their bodies...

The eerie mutations of the Abyss had descended upon them.

Dozens of bloodthirsty, feral eyes stared maliciously at Zhou Chen. They let out bestial roars in unison and eagerly lunged toward the fresh meal before them.

’Mutated Darkness... So Ghost isn’t in that crowd, but in the restaurant. It’s trying to ambush the Knight Order...’ At that thought, Zhou Chen raised his palm toward the lunging abominations. A pale light flared in his hand. With a roar, a torrent of Fiery Fire erupted, instantly incinerating several of the mutated creatures. The white-hot flames surged onward, crashing into the profound darkness.

The terrifying heat raged, burning the mutated trees and thousands of mutated insects to cinders.

Just then, a light shone from within the deep darkness.

A pillar of pure, holy light shot up from the restaurant’s second floor, piercing through the Mutated Darkness—it was the Extraordinary Abilities of a Church Knight.

But then, something unbelievable happened.

The Mutated Darkness fiercely struck back, like a ravenous maw devouring half the pillar of light in an instant. Within the surging shadows, the pure light became tinged with black. It was rapidly twisted by the corrupting power, transforming into a dark-light monstrosity covered in mutated limbs. With a shriek, it charged toward the restaurant’s second floor.

At the same time, the Cyan Flame that had entered the Mutated Darkness was cut off. The pale flames were eroded by the darkness, turning them gray and mutating into a Dark Fire Tentacle Monster. Dozens of its fiery tentacles thrashed about chaotically, leaving deep gouges in the ground with every lash.

Zhou Chen was dumbfounded. The corrupting power of the Mutated Darkness was so strong it could even erode and twist Holy Light and his Cyan Flame!

Suddenly, Zhou Chen instinctively tilted his head. He heard a sharp whistling sound as a fiery tentacle grazed past his ear.

CLANG!

He summoned the Dream Light and Shadow and decisively slashed down. The spear’s blade burst with an ethereal glow, severing the tentacle. His Cyan Flame then flared, incinerating the piece completely.

Losing a tentacle sent the Dark Fire Tentacle Monster into a rage. It commanded its dozens of other tentacles to swarm him, blanketing the sky. Zhou Chen could even see the hideous, writhing maws at their tips.

In that instant, the hum of a Crystal emanated from Zhou Chen’s hand. A brilliant, multicolored light flashed through the air. Dozens of the burning tentacles were severed in mid-air and incinerated into nothingness by white-hot flames before they even hit the ground.

Zhou Chen quickly retreated, luring the Dark Fire Tentacle Monster out of the range of the Mutated Darkness. The mutated monster was mindless, driven only by bloodthirsty instinct; it didn’t realize the Mutated Darkness was its greatest advantage.

WHOOSH!

Once the tentacle monster was more than twenty meters from the Mutated Darkness, the Cyan Flame flared. Zhou Chen appeared directly in front of the creature, inches away. The Long Spear in his hand spat multicolored light as he thrust it forward, wreathed in white-hot fire. With a tremendous bang, it punched a huge hole through the monster’s body.

The rampaging Cyan Flame and overwhelming Inner Force ravaged its body from within. The tentacle monster disintegrated in an instant, turning to dust.

As he killed the tentacle monster, a powerful Essence Fluctuation belonging to a Tier Four Uncrowned rose from within the Mutated Darkness. The shadows immediately began to recede like an ebbing tide.

’Wang Yaoting has made his move...’ The thought of joining a battle with a Tier Four Ascender put Zhou Chen on high alert. Just as he was about to rush over and help, he heard a huge crash. The restaurant’s roof was violently ripped open by a brutal Power, sending bricks and rubble flying.

A figure shrouded in shadows shot out from the opening, transforming into a pool of shadow as it fled.

Wang Yaoting, clad in gleaming gold Knight Armor, radiated an imposing aura and immense pressure. He gave chase like a golden meteor in relentless pursuit.

At that moment, Zhou Chen’s skin crawled. The person he presumed to be Ghost was hurtling toward him with Rapid Speed!