Chapter 408 - 298: Prejudice in the Heart Is a Great Mountain

Chapter 408: Chapter 298: Prejudice in the Heart Is a Great Mountain

’Was that Master of Blood... being controlled by a Wizard?’

The moment this thought surfaced, the Demon God jolted in alarm. After a moment of silence, it let out a hollow laugh. As if to console itself, it said with a strained expression, "That... that can’t be true. It’s impossible. Wizards these days shouldn’t be that insane. Besides, those True Gods would never allow someone like that to exist. Yes, they definitely wouldn’t allow it!"

After reassuring itself, the Demon God turned its attention to the two Deities who had escaped, subconsciously ignoring the Master of Blood.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, the Master of Blood was known for self-preservation. He was also an Evil God. An Evil God self-destructing to cover the retreat of two True Gods...

The very idea was too surreal, too terrifying. The Demon God didn’t dare to dwell on it.

’Why would so many True Gods cripple themselves just to get in here?’

’What secrets could this place possibly hold?’

This only piqued its interest further.

Of course, interest was one thing, but it would never do something as foolish as crippling itself. It was a Demon God. Its Undying Concept was far stronger than that of a normal True God, and it had the Dimension World as its ultimate stronghold. Only an idiot would take such a risk.

Meanwhile, the moment he ordered the Master of Blood to self-destruct, Isaac had already withdrawn the sliver of his will attached to the deity, falling into deep thought at the entrance to the Underground Palace.

’The mission was a failure...’

’If only it were just a simple failure...’

It now seemed impossible to complete the Trial. Isaac couldn’t help but bite his lip. His original reason for developing the Underground Palace City—aside from researching Divine Enthronement, a Miracle Magic—was to use their power to help him clear the dungeon.

This way, he could avoid having the Demon Gods unleash their ultimate attacks the moment they saw him.

’But now, it seems I’ve just traded one dead end for another...’

The Demon Gods will unleash their ultimate attacks on sight against Mephisto and the others too!

So, the only way to complete the Trial was back to square one: he needed the power to defeat a Tier Five being head-on.

Even a Weak Tier Five, one crudely propped up by sheer Magic Power, was not something an ordinary Tier Four could defeat.

Worst of all, unlike the previous dungeons with no entry limits, the final one restricted the number of participants.

The Wolf Howl Dungeon, for instance, allowed a maximum of six people to enter at once.

Could six Strong Tier Four beings kill one Weak Tier Five and a horde of Weak Tier Fours?

Isaac felt the odds were slim...

’Or maybe... I could cultivate six Tier Four Followers?’

After a moment’s thought, Isaac sighed. ’Better to focus on the right combination of six Strong Tier Four Deities...’

’At least that seems remotely possible.’

However...

Even though he was still trying, Isaac had already more or less given up on passing the Trial. What could he do? He was a special case, and the difficulty of his mission had been elevated to a level far beyond Tier Four.

At first, Isaac had assumed everyone faced this level of difficulty. But after talking with a few others, it dawned on him that, apparently, it was just him.

And it wasn’t even that the Endless Tower was targeting him specifically.

Others had Trial missions to clear dungeons too, but unlike Isaac, they didn’t have a high probability of encountering a Tier Five Demon. Theirs were just dungeons of normal difficulty.

After all, for a Demon God, creating an Enhanced Tier Five Demon to destroy their own dungeon was a significant loss. Rebuilding it was far more trouble than having it conquered, and they might even risk being ostracized by the Boundless dungeon system, losing that resource point entirely.

Thus, very few Demon Gods would do something so irrational.

But Isaac, clearly, was no ordinary person...

"Sigh..."

Isaac once again felt a taste of the Mad Witch’s plight.

"Divine Master," said two voices in unison.

As Isaac was lost in his thoughts, Mephisto and the Fighting God flew out of the Underground Palace. They kept their heads bowed, their faces etched with shame. They had botched the first mission their Divine Master had given them, and worse, had caused him to lose such a powerful Servant Demon.

To the very end, they couldn’t understand why that fellow had suddenly rushed forward to self-destruct when he clearly could have escaped with them.

"Don’t dwell on what just happened. It was only an experiment; failure is to be expected." With that, Isaac’s figure vanished into the jagged rift of the Void behind him, returning to his laboratory to begin a new series of tests.

Mephisto and the Fighting God were left behind, staring at each other. After a moment of silence, the two deities flew back to their respective Divine Halls. A series of divine edicts were then issued through the divine network, transmitted via the power of Faith.

’This happened entirely because we weren’t strong enough!’

’If we were powerful enough, our Divine Master wouldn’t have worn such an expression!’

’So we must become stronger!’

But first, they had to settle matters in the Underground Palace City. Only then would they have enough energy and resources to enhance their own strength—which meant forging their own Divine Artifacts.

For Virtual Deities like them, this was their one and only chance to increase their power.

At least, it was their last chance for now, while Isaac had yet to fully comprehend the secrets of the Master of Blood’s Divine Artifact, the Blood Pool.

...

In his underground laboratory, Isaac waved a finger wreathed in the light of Magic Power. One by one, materials flew out and settled precisely into the corners of a Magic Array on the floor. Before long, a prayer ritual for a True God was complete.

Isaac gave another gentle wave of his hand, activating the ritual. A grand, benevolent, and deeply maternal will descended. Noticing Isaac standing to the side, the will paused for a moment before leaving a sliver of Divine Power in the center of the Ritual Array and departing in a hurry.