The hot wind swept over invisible spores, scattering a green glow undetectable by the naked eye.
Marina turned to leave, waving her hand to signal her people to fire.
Sporadic gunshots rang out, overshadowed by a chorus of panic and screams. Marina’s heart skipped a beat as she gripped her submachine gun and spun around forcefully.
Her body felt heavy, as if her feet were sinking into a swamp. Trying to turn, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Marina watched in horror as fungal growths surged over her body, pale and slender, with grey-white caps marbled throughout, and their undersides etched in clear lines, as dark as ink.
Before anyone noticed, the ground had become overrun with vines that spread rapidly, entangling the soldiers’ bodies and binding them in place, rendering them immobile.
White fungal caps sprouted from the exposed skin of their faces, enveloping their ears and eyes, covering their mouths and noses.
A realm of burgeoning life in fierce competition suddenly revealed itself, sapping their vitality until their arms hung limply, their bodies completely submerged in white.
Marina raised her hand to pull the trigger and let Wayne take the blame, but she lost sight of him amidst the growing mushrooms that burst forth from her mouth and nose. Before she could struggle, she succumbed to an overwhelming exhaustion and lost consciousness.
Wayne stood in the corner, shaking his head silently. Although he knew such a scene was inevitable, as an outsider, he preferred the Bart Family to self-destruct.
At least their deaths would have some value.
Having dealt with a group of ambushers, Wayne continued on, waving away a cluster of spores, effortlessly learning to use plants to expand his field of vision.
Wayne hadn’t formally studied the magic of the Naturalism Church; based on written descriptions, he developed a few formulas on his own.
The formulas were not complicated, easily solved to produce the answer.
For Wayne, with the help of The Book of Greed, it was easy to perform magic associated with faith. For other mages, the formulas would undoubtedly be much more complex.
In the heart of the interconnected passageways, the torrid environment was like a burning furnace, with crimson walls flickering between light and dark, resembling a silent, throbbing heart.
If the complex rocky mass represented the heart, then the extension caves were like the arteries.
After countless years of silence, the flesh had turned to solid stone, with the blood settled within, its fiery vigor never extinguishing.
In the deepest part of the rocky mass, at the position denoting the heart’s chambers, intricate Magic Arrays were stacked layer upon layer, each layer a mere ten centimeters apart, accumulating to a towering nine meters.
From top to bottom, the Magic Array resembled a funnel. The uppermost layer drew in the fiery air currents, with crimson lines penetrating the layers below, condensing the purest essence of gold.
Dragon Blood Reconstruct!
The middle-aged man guarding the Magic Array wore a Black Robe. He made a deal with the Devil, not only regaining his youth but also acquiring the magical power of blood.
But at this moment, Mr. Bart bore no resemblance to youth. His hair had turned gray, his body was like a withered tree, and the searing environment had dried him out like a mummy, his bulging, jaundiced eyes void of pupils, begging the question of his very life.
The only thing keeping him from death was the power traded from the hands of the Devil.
The gnarled tree of his body was lined with dark, squirming veins, worms burrowing beneath his skin, bringing excruciating pain and unease but also providing relief from the scorching torment of his soul.
It was a case of suffering laced with pleasure.
Bart was filled with regret; indeed, he had attained his youth, and the Devil had not broken their deal, but the Devil never said he had to devote all his regained years to servitude!
Devils don’t sell remedies for regret, and with things as they were, Bart could only follow this dark path to the end, praying the Devil would fulfill the final promise.
Footsteps echoed intermittently.
Bart turned his head with difficulty, his eyelids scraping over his dry eyeballs, and saw a troop of heavily armed soldiers led by his daughter Heidi.
Struggling with the oppressive heat, Heidi discarded her coat, now in just a white shirt. She looked at the complicated Magic Array with intense greed in her eyes, then turned her gaze to the Black Robe Mage sitting desiccated.
"Father, I’ve finally found you."
"Heidi, you should not have come here..."
Bart croaked out, "As you see, this is the outcome of dealing with the Devil. I didn’t want to withhold the sharing from you, but the family needs a successor. You are the most outstanding heir of this generation. Leave now, be a good merchant, and stay away from the world of magic."
"I’m afraid that’s not possible!"
Heidi, with fervor in her eyes, ran her hand over her abdomen, "The faith of blood has coupled with me in my dreams. Give me the Dragon Blood, and I will bear the child of a god. The family will thus welcome an unprecedented prosperity."
Bart was silent, unsure how to respond. He had tried to keep his daughter from danger, but sadly, she had still found her way here.
Making deals with the Devil is like a guilty pleasure.
Everyone knows it’s wrong; the happiness is fleeting, and continuing on only brings self-harm. It’s not too late to stop, yet no one can resist that momentary temptation, the joy of each passing second.
Afterward, they all fall into a deep well of guilt and regret.
Like Bart, who longed for youth, giving the Devil an opportunity. After the trade, he learned of the Devil’s full plan and tried everything to push his daughter towards safety.
It wasn’t that he loved this daughter exceedingly; it’s just that his sons were too incompetent. To ensure the continuation of the family legacy, he had to act.
"So this is the solution to the puzzle, a regretful father who made a deal with the Devil, a daughter getting in deeper, and an Evil God that seeks to descend upon the world."
A voice interrupted the father and daughter.