The battle erupted in an instant.
However, it wasn't at all what the Starfire Church members had expected. Instead of capturing their target, they were ambushed first—swiftly and brutally.
Barely a heartbeat after Troy's order faded into the night, two Starfire Cultists unleashed blood-curdling screams. Their bodies were violently torn apart, ripped into several grotesque chunks as if shredded alive by an invisible beast's claws.
What is happening?!
The same horrified thought passed through every cultist's mind, freezing them in place.
Before anyone could understand the situation, another pair of men was suddenly hurled into the air with explosive force. Their bodies twisted in unnatural angles mid-flight, and the sickening crackle of shattering bones echoed through the forest. When they hit the ground, they twitched once and then went completely still.
Troy finally reacted, panic twisting his expression.
"Something invisible is nearby! Be careful!" he shouted. His voice shook despite himself.
But his warning only served to plunge his subordinates deeper into panic.
They couldn't see the attacker.
They couldn't sense it.
They had no idea how to defend themselves—much less fight back.
All they could do was watch helplessly while their companions were torn apart one after another, limbs ripped away, bodies crushed by unseen forces. The dying shrieks around them made the night seem even colder.
In only three or four breaths, more than ten Starfire Cultists lay dead—reduced to mangled corpses scattered across the ground.
The survivors stood frozen, trembling uncontrollably. Their faces had gone pale, eyes wide in stark terror.
"D-damn it!" Troy hissed through clenched teeth. He watched another subordinate get shredded and made a quick decision. His fear turned into a desperate snarl as he spun toward Magus.
"Kill that man first!" he roared.
Ryan, standing beside him, also reacted at last. The invisible slaughter had to be related to Magus—nothing else made sense.
"Kill this guy first!" he echoed, surging forward.
But Magus remained eerily calm.
As the two men rushed toward him with murderous intent, he didn't hesitate. A flick of his wrist sent a rune gem spinning through the air.
With a sharp whoosh, the gem burst apart mid-flight, igniting into a blazing crimson radiance. A wave of flames exploded outward, rushing straight toward Ryan like a living inferno.
Ryan's battle-energy shield lasted less than a heartbeat before it shattered like fragile glass. The flames engulfed him instantly, transforming him into a roaring pillar of fire that rose toward the sky.
"AAAHHH!!"
His agonized scream tore through the night—then abruptly cut off as his body disintegrated into ash.
The Primary Grand Knight was gone in moments.
Troy felt his scalp tingle and his heart constrict with terror. Although Ryan was weaker than him, the man was still a Primary Grand Knight—yet he had been killed in a single exchange. Magus' methods were terrifying beyond belief!
When Magus' gaze shifted toward him, Troy felt a suffocating pressure tighten around his heart. Instinct screamed at him.
Run.
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and sprinted away. He no longer even pretended bravery. This opponent… wasn't someone they could handle. Even if every one of his men sacrificed their lives, they wouldn't be able to scratch him.
If he wanted to retrieve the godblood potion… he would have to beg the High Priest for help. Nothing less would do.
But the moment he looked around, he felt his blood run cold.
Every man he had brought with him—every single one—had been annihilated. The ground was littered with severed limbs and broken torsos. Fresh blood stained the forest floor like a macabre painting.
And worst of all… the invisible monster was nowhere to be seen.
A dreadful premonition clawed at his spine.
That feeling proved correct a second later.
A powerful, crushing force slammed into him from the side. It hit him with overwhelming strength—too fast to dodge, too heavy to withstand.
Boom!!
Troy's body flew like a ragdoll, hurtling through the air for nearly a hundred meters before smashing into the ground. He spat a mouthful of blood and torn flesh.
He didn't even pause to breathe.
Gasping and staggering, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted forward with everything he had.
But he wasn't fast enough.
A streak of lightning tore across the night sky, covering more than a hundred meters in an instant. It struck him squarely in the back.
Crack!!
Electric arcs exploded outward, swallowing his body in a storm of blinding light.
When the radiance faded, Troy's body had turned into charred black charcoal. He crumpled to the ground, dead without a sound.
In the distance, Magus quietly lowered his hand.
Against Great Knight-level enemies, zero-ring spells and simple manipulation of energy particles were nearly useless. His true killing power still came from rune gems.
One gem was enough to obliterate a Primary Grand Knight instantly.
If not for their extreme cost, Magus would have loved to use rune gems as his standard combat tool.
"Meow! Magus, you're amazing!"
A small figure popped out of nowhere. Amy appeared beside his feet, looking up with eyes full of adoration.
So many bad guys—and Magus had defeated them all in such a short time.
To her, he looked invincible.
"Oh, by the way," Amy tilted her head curiously, "that big guy who can turn invisible… is he your pet?"
Magus blinked, surprised. "You can see Hidden Dragon?"
"Mhm, mhm!" Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Master said my senses are really sharp. I can see many things other people can't!"
"A natural True-Sight-type ability…" Magus murmured.
Since it had been discovered, Hidden Dragon stopped hiding and revealed its massive form. Its reptilian pupils widened as it studied Amy from head to toe.
Amy instantly puffed up in alarm. With a terrified squeak, she dashed behind Magus.
"M-meow! Don't eat me! Amy doesn't taste good!"
Magus froze for a moment. Through his familiar bond, he sensed Hidden Dragon's fleeting thought: This cat looks delicious.
So Amy had sensed that?
"Can you sense other creatures' thoughts?" Magus asked.
Amy cowered. "N-not exactly… but I can feel if someone has bad intentions toward me."
So that's it.
Magus finally understood.
He had previously wondered why Amy seemed so naïve—approaching strangers without any sense of danger, answering anything without hesitation. Now it made sense. She approached only because she sensed no malice from him. That was why she had trusted him so easily.
Magus felt a chill of relief.
If earlier, when he found the godblood amber and the bell-shaped spatial treasure, he had felt greed… Amy probably would have run away immediately.
This little cat was shockingly gifted.
Spatial travel, True-Sight-like perception, malice detection… a suite of abilities that resembled spells. And she might have even more he had not seen yet.
After thinking for a moment, Magus walked over to Ryan's corpse and retrieved a small statue.
Earlier, Ryan had used this statue to confirm that the godblood amber was in Magus' possession. The cultists had located him precisely even inside the room—most likely because of this same item.
The moment the statue touched his hand, the familiar ominous whispers echoed in his mind again. Resisting the mental pollution, Magus examined the object carefully.
But it wasn't like a normal magic item with runes he could decipher. After a long study, he still couldn't understand its function.
So he simply crushed it.
Inside the shattered statue lay a godblood amber.
"That makes two."
Pleased, Magus placed both ambers into his Rubik's Cube and checked the synthesis interface.
[godblood amber, godblood content 0.1 ml. Carrying it increases attraction to energy particles. It has mild mental pollution; long-term contact may alter cognition and produce fervent belief in the godblood's source.]
The word "intense" had vanished from the "fervent belief" description.
This confirmed his theory: synthesizing items could indeed reduce side effects.
A smile slowly spread across Magus' face.
"If I gather enough godblood amber… I can synthesize an item that greatly boosts meditation efficiency."
The future suddenly looked bright.
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