Crimson Lizard King let out a long, resounding roar as she soared into the sky. Her stunning form rapidly shifted, her blood-red eyes opening like two glowing Demon Moons in the air.
In an instant, the terrifying dragon's aura, accompanied by a rolling black mist, spread across the entire secret realm, filling the air with a suffocating presence.
"Dragon King!! How could there be a Dragon King here, and one that doesn't belong to any of the Four Great Dragon Clans!"
"Light God, protect your humble believers!"
"This can't be... Could the Dark Dragon Empire have sent someone here? My god!"
All the NPCs in the Blissful Sanctum looked up in panic, gazing in disbelief at the terrifying dragon figure in the sky.
"You are not true believers. You are but ants embracing death," a deep, distorted dragon voice echoed through the air, declaring that this secret realm had now become the graveyard of the departed!
Dragon's Breath of Death!
The overwhelming dragon flames surged forward like a massive tidal wave, sweeping over everything in their path. Any Imperial NPC that came into contact with the dragon's breath was incinerated, their flesh and bones turning to ash in the flood of death.
"How could this happen... the priest of the Holy Light Church is dead? He promised me he'd give me my freedom after a year..."
A female blood slave, staring blankly at the "regular customer" who had perished, murmured to herself in a hollow voice.
"You stop this... you'll kill us all! We've forsaken our ancestors, we embraced the Light!"
A blood slave with unkempt hair grabbed Orson's ankle, her face filled with both terror and anger.
"Is this what you call Light? Living on the edge of life and death."
Orson sneered mockingly, his voice cold. "Tamed beings are no different from livestock."
"This is our choice, you bastard! Stop! Don't kill them! They are our hope to survive, I don't want to die!"
The blood slave screamed desperately, painfully tearing at her own cheeks.
Except for Lili, the rest of the blood slaves kneeled, crying and begging Orson to spare the ruthless Imperial NPCs who had no humanity left.
"Hopeless."
Orson's eyes flickered with cold malice as he surveyed the scene. He could understand the blood slaves' feelings—they were no different from humans being bred as food by the Heaven Demons in his past life. Long living in despair had erased their will to resist.
Any unrealistic promises made by the Heaven Demons became their pathetic lifeline. In the end, they were only deceiving themselves.
"Your hope is dead."
Orson's expression was indifferent as he spread his arms, and with a flick of his hand, the tavern's walls were blasted open by a Chaos Magic Ball, revealing the destruction he had wrought.
Crimson Lizard King unleashed her fury, tearing up the towering bloodstained crosses and setting fire to the human-skin carpets. Every building was obliterated in the chaos.
The strongest Imperial NPCs were no match for Crimson Lizard King's devastation. This was a one-sided massacre, without any suspense.
Except for the NPCs Orson had deliberately spared, every Imperial NPC perished.
Berenice: "Time to work!"
A streak of light shot from Orson, moving with exaggerated speed as it began collecting the loot.
In no time, all the Imperial NPCs turned into experience points, residual souls, blood nutrients, and heaps of loot, which were all absorbed into Orson's inventory.
Among these NPCs, the Holy Light Church's members were the richest. These bastards were among the Empire's greatest wealth accumulators, and Orson had already collected 920,000 gold coins just from the ones he'd picked up. Each drop yielded at least one high-level hero-class item.
Additionally, he had obtained a large number of skill books, including 6 A-class ones, which could easily sell for over a million gold coins at the auction house.
"Is the drop rate for Light magic books really that low?" Orson frowned, still hoping that with so many Holy Light Church NPCs dying, he could get some A-class Light magic books, which would boost his level and awaken his abilities.
But after checking the auction house, he was disappointed. There were very few Light magic books for sale, less than a hundred B-class ones, and most of them were unimpressive. If someone wasn't rich and foolish, they wouldn't waste their skill points on them.
The prices were absurd—at least 8,000 gold coins for the cheapest one. Even the A-class Light magic books only numbered seven, and none were attack-oriented. The starting bid was an outrageous 200,000 gold coins, yet no one had placed a bid.
Light mages were incredibly rare in the mid-game. It wasn't just because the class was hard to transition into. Their damage output wasn't as direct as other classes, requiring constant buff stacking and defensive buffs like the [Blessed Shield], which overlapped with high-tier priests' abilities. This made Light mages a bit lackluster.
That said, Light mages weren't weak, but their damage against monsters and Dark-type units was greatly increased, making them an essential force against the Heaven Demons, dealing much more damage than their stats suggested. However, finding a proper skill book to match was incredibly rare.
Orson sighed. The new task details didn't include Ursula's coordinates, so it seemed he'd have to let the blood slave girl guide him.
"Let's go, take me to Ursula." Orson said, turning to Lili, who lowered her head and followed him.
Lili: "You can't go with him! You'll die at this demon's hands!"
A few short-sighted blood slaves quickly stood up to block her path, repeatedly chattering in Orson's ears, describing him as a devil with horns.
"Refuse your chance to live? I can't blame anyone but you."
Orson furrowed his brow. Since these people were so eager to embrace the Light God, he didn't mind sending them off himself.
Lili: "I'm sorry... my people are ignorant. Please, spare them, my lord!"
Lili quickly dodged past the blood slaves blocking her, her eyes filled with pleading as she looked up at Orson.
Orson hesitated for a moment but nodded. He knew if he killed them all without thinking, Lili might suddenly turn against him, causing him to fail the mission.
"Lead the way."
Crimson Lizard King landed on the ground and lowered her dragon body. Orson motioned to Lili, signaling for her to get on. Lili, trembling, looked at the massive dragon and stepped back in panic.
"Why are you afraid? She's my mount... ahem, my friend."
Orson was about to refer to Crimson Lizard King with her affectionate nickname, but she shot him a look that made him backtrack, resigning himself to her mood.
Reluctantly, Lili climbed onto the dragon's saddle, still glancing nervously at Orson, she whispered, "Excuse me... are you the legendary God-Emperor's friend, Gaedashiram?"
Orson burst into laughter, his lips curling into a grin. "God-Emperor Gaedashiram? You have quite the eye, little one. You're right."
He couldn't help but chuckle. He really couldn't bring himself to tell the girl that he had taken Celestial Fortress, the Soul Seal Sea, and even forced God-Emperor's offspring, Cain, into exile.