The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 887

Chapter 886
The Death of the Lord

Information about this dungeon surfaced in Eivass’s mind.
This dungeon was called [Ancient Ruins of the Blood Altar]. It wasn’t a main quest dungeon, but rather a speed-farming dungeon that reliably produced specific endgame equipment. It was a Fallen Heavenly Envoy version, and what it produced was the final piece of endgame gear for Priests in the Level 50 version.

After the Fallen Heavenly Envoy Descended, leylines in many parts of Star Antinomy lost their Mana control. This triggered continuous earthquakes, causing many underground ruins to crack open, allowing the Prophets to pinpoint their exact locations. This led to the creation of many dungeons with “Ancient Ruins” or “Primeval Ruins” as suffixes.

Upon entering this dungeon, after clearing a round of minor monsters, you would directly face the BOSS. There were no successive early-game BOSSes like “First Boss” or “Second Boss” that served as easy prey. Instead, it was a typical “one-track” dungeon—the entire dungeon consisted of a single path leading straight to the final BOSS. The preceding minor monsters didn’t even require pausing to fight; one could simply steamroll all the way to the final BOSS room and resolve them all at once.

Because of this, there were quite a few speed-run videos for this dungeon. The process of aggroing a large group of monsters and clearing them in one go at the final door was quite stress-relieving… it felt similar to trimming hooves or cleaning carpets. Even Eivass recognized which dungeon it was the moment he saw the blood pool.

“Why aren’t you speaking, invaders?”
The noble-dressed, middle-aged, black-haired Child of the Moon asked sternly, “Were my guards killed by you?
“Do you know…”

As he spoke, the hands that were always clasped behind his back, like a leader inspecting the premises, were naturally brought forward.
They instantly accumulated a dense blood aura, which then transformed into crackling white lightning in the blink of an eye, turning the Bishop-clad Eivass into ashes!

However, that “Eivass” merely shattered like a phantom, and even Cardinal Galatea beside him vanished amidst the crackling lightning and tremors.
This wasn’t the effect of [True Summoning: Nightmare Mirror]. It was merely an illusion set up by Cardinal Galatea.
High-Tier Divine Arts took effect without requiring prayer. Therefore, long before the other party turned around, Cardinal Galatea had already hidden herself and Eivass. The location the other party saw was entirely incorrect.

“—Playing dumb, are we? Reading your spellcasting without me noticing?”
Hidden behind the mirror-like curtain set up by Cardinal Galatea, Eivass sneered.
Oh, ordinary people probably wouldn’t have seen it.
While pretending to speak, he was secretly preparing a spell.
Attacking the moment the other party was about to respond… this was something only Blood Mages and Blood Lords, who could cast spells without incantations, material components, or the display of rune circles and elemental fluctuations, could accomplish.

“For dealing with you, this card is more suitable…”
The Book of Law materialized in Eivass’s hand, and a crimson card appeared before him before burning to ashes.
“…Was it an illusion?”
The man frowned deeply, looking left and right, only to find that the invaders had disappeared.
He walked to the door, only to find no signs of it having been opened.

“—Lord Leicester, is something wrong?”
A guard’s voice came from outside the door.
“Did anyone come in from here?”
The Child of the Moon, addressed as Leicester, frowned and asked.
“No, Lord Viscount!”
The guard’s voice was quite confident. “We’ve been guarding here, and no one could have passed through!”
“…All right, remain vigilant, gentlemen.”
“Yes, Lord Viscount.”
The guard responded, followed by the sound of clashing steel and receding footsteps.
Leicester frowned deeply.
Those two sudden invaders had vanished without a trace—as if they had never appeared.
He knew he wasn’t hallucinating, but for a moment, he didn’t know which was real.
If someone were invisible or using illusion magic to hide here, he would have to use area-of-effect spells to search every inch of the ground. Otherwise, once the ritual began, he would be completely defenseless. But he was currently at a critical stage of his ritual, and disrupting it would ruin his Ritual Array’s foundation.
If that happened, it would take him several more years to prepare this sacred ritual…

“…Those two people… I felt like they weren’t fake. But they didn’t seem to have spoken.”
Viscount Leicester muttered to himself, his hand gripping the black cross hanging around his neck—it was the [Light of Hrasal], engraved with the characters “007”. This was the highest honor bestowed by the Hrasal Empire to “individuals who were not nobles but made outstanding contributions to the Empire,” and it also signified that they, of commoner origin, had been granted nobility.
This was Viscount Leicester’s most cherished honor, an indispensable part of his wealth.
He had resolved to take it with him to the grave and complete his transformation. Now, feeling uneasy and hesitant, he subconsciously clutched it.
—The price of terminating the ritual was too great, yet everything he had seen could have been a fabricated illusion intended to disrupt his ritual. Therefore, he could only pace, unable to make up his mind.

At this moment, Eivass had prepared everything.
Leah, clad in a black and red robe with four butterfly wings behind her, had fully materialized!
“Leah!”
Eivass commanded without hesitation, “Guide the Flame Stream!”
Leah raised her hands high, and golden-red flames instantly gathered into a beam, striking fiercely behind Viscount Leicester!
“Hiding cowards! I knew it!”
Viscount Leicester merely roared and turned around instantly!
He had already prepared for a sneak attack. An incomparably brilliant sapphire glow erupted from his crimson pupils—his pale skin turned ice-cold in an instant, and large patches of purplish-blue patterns appeared. An incomparably cold shell condensed on his skin’s surface, forcefully withstanding the impact of the Corrupted Butterfly’s flame stream, leaving him completely unharmed!

He exhaled a furious, chilling breath, which even blew away some of the flame stream.
“The price for interrupting my sacred ritual!”
As he spoke, his teeth and tongue began to freeze rapidly, causing his speech to gradually become slurred. “You shall pay it!”
“How rude.”
Eivass’s voice rang out leisurely, accompanied by sarcasm. “I am saving you.”
His body still remained invisible, his voice having been placed elsewhere by Cardinal Galatea.
Viscount Leicester immediately turned his head, staring at that area.
His pupils suddenly blazed with brilliance.
In the blink of an eye, the entire area of air was instantly frozen and liquefied—white frost shot out like countless white feathers, freezing the blood pool and frosting the iron pillars. The sacrificial offerings tied to the pillars, gasping for their last breaths, were also frozen into contorted corpses by the cold air.
Yet, he failed to pinpoint Eivass’s exact location. Meanwhile, the gradually intensifying flame stream could not be ignored.
He furiously exhaled a breath of cold air and clenched his fists.
Countless ice spikes, like bone spurs, pierced through his skin and emerged from his body, making his skin increasingly cyanotic—the cold aura emanating from him grew even colder.
Pure water condensed from the void, forming increasingly thick ice walls. The [Flame Stream Guide] reached its full potential after a brief three-second preheating period.
The original golden-red became even brighter, transforming into a scorching white-gold like the sun.
The flame stream scorched the air, causing visible white shockwaves that whipped up storms.
Cold and heat clashed violently within the room, yet the Corrupted Butterfly, a powerful Phantom Demon, showed no signs of retreating—the ice walls continuously thickened, and the entire room began to frost over. While resisting the fully preheated Flame Stream Guide, it even showed a slight advantage!
This was the unique combat style of the [Corrupted Blood Angel] in this dungeon!
In addition to its agile blood magic, it also possessed an incredibly exquisite ice control technique—a skill that a Child of the Moon theoretically couldn’t master. After all, the art of winter was the nemesis of the Child of the Moon’s immortality, and a Child of the Moon in eternal youth could not embark on the path of twilight.

The reason was simple…
Because Viscount Leicester had stored a sapphire with infinite power, which he had accidentally discovered, inside his own body.
He did not know what that gem represented, but touching it granted him infinite power.
To prevent it from being stolen or destroyed, he had stored the gem directly within himself!
Even though the conflict of powers caused him pain, like a clam forming a pearl…
Pain was pain, but power was real!
He extended his hand, and gripping it fiercely towards the Corrupted Butterfly!
Countless transparent ice blades materialized from all directions, stabbing fiercely towards the Corrupted Butterfly in the center!
The Corrupted Butterfly immediately entered a defensive stance, but this was meaningless to the Child of the Moon, whose attack perfectly exploited its weakness.
She was heavily injured and landed on the ground with a pained cry.
Immediately afterward, Leicester clasped his hands together.
Two ice walls materialized from either side, instantly closing in! Following that, countless ice covered them, freezing into an iceberg.
This was the ultimate ice that even Fifth Tier Extraordinary individuals could not melt!
Leicester breathed a sigh of relief.
However, he still vigilantly unleashed an ice nova—the howling cold swept out in all directions, an Envoy-level power that destroyed everything. The iron pillars were torn apart and crumbled, the corpses instantly turned to dust, and the ground cracked and shattered completely.
But he felt as if he hadn’t hit anything.
Confirmed, those two people had already left. Or rather, they had never existed from the beginning… the only existence was this butterfly-shaped, unknown Phantom Demon.
“Such powerful Phantom Demon blood…”
Leicester greedily looked at the Corrupted Butterfly frozen in the iceberg. “Such scorching blood… it must alleviate my pain…”
The ice membrane on his body, which protected him from almost all damage, silently dissipated.
This power, derived from a mysterious gem, allowed him to enter a state of true invincibility at any time. However, it also caused him immense pain—a piercing pain as if his skin were cracking, instantly numbing an ordinary person and freezing their blood. Only the Child of the Moon could maintain the vitality of their skin and blood… and therefore, he had to constantly endure the pain of being frozen.
After the battle ended, he eagerly removed the protection.
At that moment, the sensation of his neck being cut suddenly struck him.
Viscount Leicester felt his vision suddenly fly upwards—
And his body froze into ice.
The last thing he saw in his vision was a scythe.
It was—Death of Withering.
(End of Chapter)