Zhang Nu, manipulating the flow of time, entered the temple. This temple seemed to be constructed according to giant specifications. The temple's grand hall was enormous, rivaling a quarter of the Dark City's main square, which could easily accommodate 800,000 to 1 million humans within its walls.
Upon entering, Zhang Nu finally grasped why there was not a large number of native guards surrounding the temple. It was simply unnecessary. Inside, the temple was densely populated with a myriad of daemons and monsters, numbering in the thousands. There were at least ten Hundred-Eyed Giants, each a formidable Level 5 overlord! In addition to them, there were two hundred Level 5 lord-class beings and nearly a thousand Level 5 elites and Level 4 lords. The sheer numbers were staggering.
The situation was dire. Furthermore, the main boss within the temple was not these miscellaneous creatures. In the center of the temple, on an ancient altar, a massive floating eyeball was rotating towards him. When Zhang Nu had found the Eye of the Evil God in the sealed labyrinth within the Chaos Forest, it was only slightly larger than a human head. But this eyeball had a diameter of at least three meters, with an eerie blue-white hue.
[You are being gazed upon by an Evil God. HP -280!]
[You are being gazed upon by an Evil God. HP -280!]
[......]
Zhang Nu's head throbbed, the psychic assault was relentless. The increased intensity of its attack caused his HP to deplete even more. Although Zhang Nu could manipulate the flow of time, the psychic attack's damage remained undiminished by the altered time speed, causing significant harm. The creature was more powerful than he anticipated, and it had not fully awakened yet.
[Eye of Evil God] Level 5 monarch. HP 40,000, MP 80,000...
Skill: Domain of Fear (Innate), Sacrifice of Followers (Innate), Aura of Evil God (Innate), Evil God's Gaze (S rank), Psychic Reconstruction (A rank), Mental Domination (A rank), Psychic Barrier (A rank), etc.
Description: An ancient eight-eyed Evil God possessed eight different powers, all originating from its eight eyes. This eye represents the psychic power controlled by the Evil God... Despite not having fully regained its power, it is still not something a mere mortal can contend with.
As expected, it was a fragment of the Eight-Eyed Evil God. Compared to the other scattered Evil God fragments, Zhang Nu preferred to collect fragments from the same deity. Each Evil God's ability formed a complete whole, and only the power from the same Evil God could combine to create the strongest might. It was a new path; if he could collect all eight eyes of the Eight-Eyed Evil God, Zhang Nu would directly inherit all the divinity and abilities of the Eight-Eyed Evil God. This would grant him power comparable to a deity!
This gigantic eyeball was the second puzzle piece of the Eight-Eyed Evil God. Of course, Zhang Nu desired to obtain this eye, just as this eye desired to acquire the other eye within Zhang Nu's body.
"It's about to awaken! It has sensed my eye too..."
The pupil of the large eyeball, which had initially dilated, was rapidly contracting. This was a sign of its imminent awakening. The Eye of the Evil God usually remained in a semi-dormant state, relying on instinct to attack intruders and manipulate targets infiltrated and controlled by divine power within its domain.
It rarely awakened, but once it did, its strength would increase several times over. However, in the end, this creature was just a fragment of the Eight-Eyed Evil God. Zhang Nu also had an Eye of the Evil God within his body, making a one-on-one battle nothing to worry about.
However, Zhang Nu's cautious apprehension stemmed from his detailed knowledge of the situation. He understood that this Eye of the Evil God had been worshiped by the inhabitants of the Mountains of Madness for thousands of years. It had deeply controlled all the nearby indigenous people, transforming them into its followers. As to why did strange eyes grow on the native people? These peculiar eyes were not so much a gift of power from the Eye of the Evil God as they were a curse caused by prolonged mental contamination. It was a mark, a sign of the followers.
It was said that every time an Evil God appeared in the world, whether intentionally or not, the psychic pollution they caused would distort the physical bodies and minds of intelligent beings. Some would be completely transformed into chaotic daemons, while others retained their intelligence and developed fanatical beliefs. These fanatical followers of the Evil God had existed since ancient times. They were a group with twisted physiology and psychology, extreme mental derangement, yet retaining normal intelligence. Hence, they were referred to as the Evil God's followers.
In history, there have been instances where sealed Evil Gods were resurrected by their followers. The natives in the Mountain of Madness, with strange eyes growing on them, fanatically worshiped the Eye of the Evil God. Their minds had clearly fallen under the control of the Eye of the Evil God, making them the followers of the Evil God.
The Eye of the Evil God possessed a unique ability called "Sacrifice of Followers," which required cooperation from its followers to be executed. This ability allowed it to sacrifice its loyal followers to restore its own strength. With so many natives in the Mountains of Madness, most of whom had been transformed into followers, it meant that within this temple, the Eye of the Evil God had an almost endless supply of resources. In this scenario, it became practically immortal, almost impossible to be killed. Unless a way was found to transfer it and sever its connection with the followers, killing it was out of the question.
There was no time left. Even though time was slowed down tenfold, during the time of contemplation and observation, both the Eye of the Evil God on the brink of awakening and the numerous followers, despite their bizarre and varied forms, had already locked onto Zhang Nu.
An intense battle was about to erupt.
"This situation...It's a bit tricky, huh?"
"But as a man, I really don't want to lose in a bet with the queen."
"Well, in that case, let's try a new move!"
He took a step forward, manipulating the curvature of space. This step directly brought him to the middle of the temple, the only difference between this space manipulation and the instantaneous teleportation magic was the absence of an incantation.
"Rargghhhhh!" The monsters boiled with excitement, rushing towards him eagerly.
The Eye of the Evil God fully awakened. A chilling gaze swept through the surroundings rapidly.
"Abyssal Divine Realm!" After activating this Level 5 talent skill, Zhang Nu caused the space within a radius of several kilometers to collapse entirely. Irresistible pressure, akin to a black hole, sucked in all units within its reach.
The next moment, the temple was emptied. The Eye of the Evil God and everything inside mysteriously disappeared. If there were others present, they would undoubtedly be extremely surprised. Zhang Nu had employed a domain skill, but this domain skill was different from the rest.
A monarch-class domain skill did not truly create a new space, it merely overlaid their domain onto the existing space. It was still built upon the original spatial structure. Hence, external attacks could penetrate the domain, and people from outside could enter the domain at any time. However, leaving was more challenging than entering.
The domain skill that Zhang Nu had just unleashed was fundamentally different. It was as if he had conjured an entirely separate space. From the perspective of spatial levels, he had shifted everything away. At this moment, all the targets within the temple had fallen into this new space. It resembled an entirely closed spatial structure, appearing like an isolated island floating in endless void.
[You've activated Abyssal Divine Realm! Skill effects +100%, all stats +20%! You recover 200 HP and 200 MP per second!]
After activating the Abyssal Divine Realm, Zhang Nu's attributes were significantly enhanced. Not only did it not require any MP consumption, but it also rapidly restored his power. It could be said that this was a godly life-saving skill. When facing unbeatable enemies, as long as he took the opportunity to hide within the divine realm, unless the opponent possessed god-like abilities to break through spatial barriers and pursue him, they would not be able to harm him in any way. Moreover, during his concealment, his strength could swiftly regenerate.
Of course, the Abyssal God Domain could also serve as an offensive skill. Just like the present situation, where he effortlessly ensnared all his foes, the moment they were caught within, they were already defeated. Zhang Nu could easily leave them there and ignore them. Unless they were involved in similar abilities and used their own divine realm as a medium to escape, they would be forever trapped within.
It was a perfect refuge, a sealed space, and a place of exile.
Once Zhang Nu entered the divine realm, he overlaid it with his mythic sanctum. The floating island in the void instantly fell into pitch-black darkness, amplifying the effects of the mythic sanctum several times over on the basis of the divine realm. Within this space, all skills below A-rank were sealed and a considerable amount of HP and MP was being drained from these daemons every second. Furthermore, Zhang Nu found it much easier to control time and space here. The mythic sanctum depleted his resources, while the divine realm restored it. When the two offset each other, they almost achieved the effect of an eternally lasting sanctum.
In an instant, thousands of monsters, including ten overlord-class beings, were all immobilized within the spatial cage. Zhang Nu's current power was beyond the resistance of Level 5 overlord units. The only entity capable of opposing him was the Eye of the Evil God.
"Let's finish this immediately!" Zhang Nu decided to employ his most potent attack to eliminate all the enemies as quickly as possible. He activated the Death Sacrifice, instantly consuming all his HP and MP. Then, he unleashed a chaotic spatial turbulence. Under the combination of the divine realm, mythic sanctum, death sacrifice, and spatial turbulence, the very fabric of space fractured, resembling shards of glass strewn across the void.. Endless spatial hurricanes swept through, rendering the Hundred-Eyed Giants and other monsters utterly powerless, and annihilating all of them in an instant.
After a few minutes, the spatial turbulence gradually subsided. Zhang Nu, harnessing the flame of the Undying Phoenix and activated "Rebirth from within the Flames". It restored his HP and MP to their fullest, bringing him to his peak condition. Much to his astonishment, the Eye of the Evil God, previously shattered, also regenerated itself, now whole once more.
"Still alive!? Having divinity really makes a difference. Even being shattered by space, you can still survive. But it ends here!" Zhang Nu did not give the Eye of the Evil God any chance to counterattack. He immediately used the Death Stare.
-30242!
The Eye of the Evil God shattered into fragments once again and Zhang Nu received a notification:
[You've slain the Eye of the Evil God. Gold +10 million!]
With an almost overwhelming force, Zhang Nu swept through heaps of daemons and Evil God monstrosities. Even the monarch-class Eye of the Evil God had no chance against him."