This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 299 Administrator Number Two Gains the Upper Hand

The giant snake rose up proudly.

Above that beautiful yet terrifying head, a halo quietly appeared.

It is composed of countless fine and sharp light threads, which rotate and surge silently. Thousands of delicate light threads, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, are like waves, wings and snakes, projecting outwards from the halo to the entire manor area.

Each ray of light subtly connected to every intelligent being within its range—whether it was a panicked cultist, a servant fleeing for their life, a person in the distance experiencing the blessing of [human purity], or even a member of the Mother Goddess Cult further away using magic to spy on this place—it was as if a cold thread had been tied to the depths of everyone's soul.

The system notification appeared coldly:
You have been marked by [The Binding of Life].

[Bound by Life]: You have established a forced life link with the 'Cycle of Life and Death (Avatar)'. During the duration of the link, your life energy will randomly flow to the link source.

When the source link is damaged, the recipient link will be randomly selected to absorb it.

This effect is a high-level control effect. Players who wish to resist it must reach level 60 and possess the relevant resistance feat before a resistance test can be performed.

Level 60?!

Even Nie Weiyang, who is currently the highest level, is still struggling to reach the level 50 threshold! This means that at this moment, in this place, everyone's life and death are no longer in their own hands, but depend on the whim of that beautiful giant serpent!
The image of the snake was all too familiar to the Church of Life and the Church of Mother Goddess.

The deep blue, almost black scales, the golden lines flowing down its back, the ancient, indifferent sapphire vertical pupils… this is indeed what their doctrines describe, what they attempt to communicate with and worship—

"The principle of the cycle of life and death?"

A white-robed priest from the Church of Life was the first to let out a scream of despair. The ritual implement in his hand clattered to the ground.

He pointed at the giant snake coiled in the courtyard, his body trembling violently from extreme fear and the collapse of his faith.

"It is Him! It is the cycle of life! It is our God!!"

Another priest screamed frantically, then sank into even deeper despair, “But…why is He attacking us?! Why is He treating us like…food?!”

"The principle of the cycle of life and death!"

Almost at the same time, the Tide Singers and Tide Divers, who were observing the battlefield through a crystal ball from the Mother Goddess Manor, also cried out in alarm.

The solemnity and composure on their faces vanished, replaced by utter shock and confusion.

"Impossible! How could the Law of Cycles appear in this form?! And be controlled by that administrator?!"

"That's an avatar! A true avatar! But why would it help an outsider against its own... 'follower'? Wait, a summoned creature? Huh?"

"What...what are we really believing in? Is this the very being we've been trying to connect with that could devour us at any moment?"

beautiful.

Danger.

cruel.

Fragments of nature, naturally possessing beauty just like nature itself.

In the courtyard, the giant serpent slithered slowly, its azure ocean-like eyes coldly sweeping over the crowd in collapse and chaos. The [Binding of Life] halo above its head continued to rotate steadily, maintaining the invisible network that determined life and death.

It can take away countless lives at any time.

But the second administrator seemed to glance at it.

The giant snake froze for a moment.

...The halo stopped surging, and the threads flowed back onto it, hiding among the golden scales.

Administrator Number Two shifted his gaze with satisfaction. The manor had been reduced to ruins and a slaughterhouse. The High Priest of Cycles stood on a crumbling platform, overlooking the end he had helped create and the very thing he had brought about.

Strangely, he stopped shouting and struggling to meet societal expectations. His face no longer showed madness, but rather an almost cold calm, as if a project manager were examining a project destined to fail, but which had to be completed.

“The judgment was correct, it was a lucky accident, but it was right.” He muttered to himself, his voice not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the nearby survivors. “There is a strong connection between Administrator Number Two and the law of life and death. Our actions have successfully verified this.”

His words were so calm and collected, unlike those of a believer; they were more like those of an analyst or a forensic pathologist.

He looked at the believers struggling and screaming amidst the snakes and the white light, his eyes showing neither pity nor anger, only a faint indifference—the depletion of resources was inevitable.

"Do you all think I'm crazy?" he suddenly laughed and asked the priests around him.

The deacons were stunned, then shook their heads frantically. But the fear in their eyes betrayed them.

“Crazy… Ha.” The High Priest’s gaze fell on Administrator Number Two. He chuckled very lightly, with a calm mockery: “What is the essential difference between offering one’s soul to a greater being in exchange for power and offering one’s time and life to a huge company in exchange for salary and status?”
"It is all loyalty, it is all transaction, it is all the way."

The high priest slowly straightened up. He tightly gripped the green life crystal in his hand.

He knew that many people didn't think like him. They believed that faith should be pure and the soul should be free... but he didn't care.

He chose this shortcut to a higher level, choosing to bind himself to a greater power, believing it to be far more efficient and wiser than engaging in petty squabbles in the muddy world.

“However, every investment carries risk, and every act of loyalty can be liquidated.” He calmly concluded, as if assessing a failed deal. “I pledged allegiance to the wrong person because I lacked information. I didn’t know that you should have been my lord… Lord of the Heart! What a magnificent name!”

Then, he moved.

There were no frenzied shouts, no dramatic gestures. The old man simply and swiftly drew a pair of long, slender, feather-like curved knives.

As the blade flashed, the two closest acolytes beside him collapsed, clutching their throats, their eyes filled with disbelief and astonishment.

Their value lies in being the last available high-quality offerings.

Immediately afterwards, the old man grabbed the wildly writhing black snake by the neck with one hand, forcing it to expose its fangs.

“It’s time to pay the final ‘price’,” he whispered to the void, or rather, to the vague ‘great being’ he had chosen to serve.

He grabbed it and pressed it against his neck.

"hiss……"

Venom injected, life returns to the cycle.

Beneath the collapsed house, Gloria held her two children tightly in her arms.

Through the cracks, they watched the giant serpent, named after the god, wreak havoc like a natural disaster, watched the once-arrogant white-robed priests turn to ashes under the white light and the serpent's kiss, and watched the high priest of the cycle fall from the high building into the now-snake-free snake pit—into the corpses he had personally ordered to be thrown in.

In the sky, the Second Administrator's cloak fluttered in the radiance, like a blood-red curtain, like a banner—

"Revere the strong, revere the Black Serpent..." Gloria's whisper trembled, but it was crystal clear.

In their fear, Marley and Gomao's gazes involuntarily shifted from the destructive serpent to the figure that controlled everything.

They must revere the strong, and revere the black serpent.

The Black Serpent... Respect for the strong, respect for the Black Serpent...

Black Serpent obeys Administrator Number Two, who is a powerful being. Undoubtedly, he is the most powerful being on this planet.

...Understood, they must revere Administrator Number Two! Administrator Number Two is their god! The god of humanity!
At that moment, their logic became consistent.

(End of this chapter)