Chapter 579: God of the Abyss
"Throw them down, move quickly, and don't make too much noise."
The man calmly directed the ritual. The mouths of the pirates who had taken part earlier had already been sewn shut; they couldn't speak.
"Wait!"
Before those pirates were tossed into the well, Loren appeared in time and stopped them.
"It's you?"
The man's expression froze as he looked at Loren.
He had no idea how Loren had arrived. If Loren had wanted to kill him a moment ago, the man most likely would have had no chance to resist.
"Someone tell me exactly what's going on."
At a moment this tense, Loren's request sounded oddly casual.
Silence fell over the place. No one answered Loren; only the pirate captain let out an unintelligible whimper.
Loren then strode right up to that captain, used his knife to cut open the captain's sewn mouth, not caring whether he damaged it further.
"These people are cultists of evil gods! They capture passersby to sacrifice them. The pirates who arrived before us have already met a grim fate.
"They even destroyed our ship. They never intended to let us escape!"
The captain spat blood from his mouth and immediately spilled everything he knew.
"Enough of the nonsense. Tell me something I don't already know, like which god they worship."
The captain fell silent; he truly didn't know which god these people followed.
"Never mind, it's all the same—an evil god. They haven't done any good things..."
"God of the Pit, answer our call. Drag those who blaspheme against the gods into the Pit!"
No sooner had Loren finished speaking than he heard the man's invocation.
The next moment, a pitch-black hand, the same color as the Pit, suddenly shot out of the well.
"The God of the Pit again? Probably some roadside nobody. Likely even weaker than the Sea God, hiding in this little village..."
Before Loren could finish his sentence, the hand from the well grabbed Loren's ankle. Immediately, Loren felt an unbearable weight on his back. Even though he had converted some Intelligence into Strength ahead of time, he still could not break free.
"Throat-Severing Slash!"
Dull Light flashed from its sheath, and Loren's heavy slash struck the arm. The arm remained completely unharmed and kept pulling Loren down.
"…"
Seeing that physical attacks were useless, Loren simply activated Void-walking, stepped forward, and with a casual motion slipped free from the hand.
"Wha—"
Before the man could finish speaking, Loren's hand pressed over his mouth.
As Loren gradually increased his force, the sound of bone cracking came from the man's head.
"After being kept as mages for so long, I always wanted to try hand-to-hand combat."
Loren suddenly exerted force; the man's head slammed against the ground and burst open, brain matter splattering.
This scene did not frighten the surrounding villagers into running. Instead, they began chanting magic.
"As expected, none of you are ordinary villagers. None of you are innocent, so I don't have to test that."
By now Loren felt his body growing heavier—this was the effect of their magic.
But that added weight was nothing compared to Loren's Strength. He slammed his foot down; the ground cracked deeply, and in the blink of an eye he was in front of one of the cultists.
"Dry Mountain Dry Water Fist!"
Loren threw a punch carrying terrifying power. The cultist's head shattered like a watermelon, his body not moving an inch backward.
"A blessing from the Pit's god?"
What Loren had just used wasn't even a martial skill, only a line he had shouted at random. It shouldn't have produced such a head-exploding yet immobile result.
While Loren was thinking, several harpoons wrapped in water streams stabbed into him, tearing his Outfit before being flung off.
"Forget it. No matter. After I kill these pests, I'll go after the evil god.
"Stored Bombardment Fist!"
This was a technique Loren had invented himself; previously his Strength wasn't enough to perform it.
Mana and combat qi converged at his fist as he struck with full force. The violent shockwave turned the affected villagers into blood fog.
That horrific sight also hit the other villagers' eyes. Now they realized how far apart they were from Loren, but it was too late for them to run.
"You lot, don't run. Wait right there for me."
Loren flew up into the sky, converting Strength back into Intelligence as he warned the group of pirates.
"Yes..."
The captain immediately stopped and obediently stood where he was.
As Loren rose, plants began to grow wildly. Twisted trees instantly pierced and drained the fleeing villagers, their bodies absorbed as nutrients.
Close combat is fun, but magic is efficient.
Within seconds, Loren cleared out all the evil god cultists here and approached the remaining pirates. Veronica appeared at the same time, holding a bottle that contained Melody.
"Perfect timing. Try out a spell on them. Use Sin-Burning Flames."
"All right."
Veronica had no qualms about using living people as test subjects for magic. A small ball of fire rose in her palm.
She had improved since last time.
Veronica tossed the fireball onto one pirate. He let out a chilling scream as the flame scorched his skin, then the flame died out.
"You can go."
The pirate rolled in pain, and at Loren's command he scrambled away, a broken heap.
That gave the others hope; they completely abandoned any thought of resisting.
They didn't know that Sin-Burning Flames burns more intensely in proportion to a person's sins. The captain, thinking himself much stronger than his crew, was confident he could withstand it—and then he was burned to ash.
Only about one in five of that pirate group survived, because as time went on, Veronica's Sin-Burning Flames became more practiced and more powerful.
"Remember my name: Loren. I am The Perpetual Observer. Take this message to the whole world."
When he released them, Loren emphasized that one line.
"All right. With these taken care of, it's time to deal with you."
Loren reached the well and kicked part of its wall in.
"Don't think you can dodge punishment by playing dead. I know your true body is hiding in this well, God of the Pit."
The God of the Pit sensed danger and resolved to stay hidden inside the well. But that meant nothing to Loren.
The well was deep, but Loren's Mana was more than enough.
He raised his hand; a small sun appeared in his palm, and then Loren shoved that sun into the well.
The well water immediately began to boil, evaporating visibly fast. In the blink of an eye the sun had traveled to the well's deeper recesses.
As the well water heated, it emitted a strong stench. Loren had to use wind magic to blow the smell away.
With the water continuously evaporating, Loren finally saw the form of the God of the Pit.