It felt so good to be close to the witch!

But what can someone as weak as him do?

Doubts were brewing in Roy's mind, but time would not stop.

As the sun rose and the magnificent chimes of the cathedral's bells resounded through the sky, a visible golden halo spread outwards from the cathedral, enveloping the holy city of Calron in less than a second.

Countless pale golden points of light scattered from the sky as the ring expanded, creating a scene that was both dreamlike and ethereal.

Soft prayers came from the crowd and quickly spread. Everyone, including the nineteen fourth-tier Saintly Path professionals at the front, bowed their heads and chanted devoutly.

Roy lowered his head slightly, his lips moved, but no sound came out, highlighting his "pretending to be something he's not".

The chanting lasted for a full fifteen minutes, and when the sound stopped, the pale golden rain falling from the sky also came to an end.

At the top of the Cathedral of Purity, the clear chimes rang out once more.

"clang!"

In the lingering echo of the bell's toll.

With a heavy clanging sound, a crack appeared in the middle of the tightly closed church doors, which were nearly twenty meters high, and then slowly opened to both sides.

In that instant, a pure white, dazzling light seemed to emanate from the crack in the door, forcing Roy, who was watching in that direction, to squint.

As the light softened, a figure appeared in Roy's eyes.

She was a girl who was about 1.6 meters tall and wore a long, pure white dress.

A silver hair ring tied her long, radiant golden hair, as dazzling as sunlight, into a simple bun behind her back, and her skin, as smooth as jade, glowed with a faint luminescence.

—A pure and holy woman.

With her bare feet, she walked out of the open church doors, like a goddess descending to earth. All who saw her felt an unprecedented peace, as if the impurities of their souls had vanished and they had returned to the "purity" of their birth.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the pure and holy maiden walked serenely and gracefully across the red carpet, circled the steps, and ascended the high platform.

The rising sun shone on the pure and holy maiden, as if draping her in a golden veil.

The girl's deep, distant eyes swept across the distance, finally settling on the north. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, as if in prayer, or perhaps in blessing.

"clang--"

At the top of the Pure Cathedral, the third bell tolled gently.

On the high platform, a girl in a snow-white dress began to dance.

Her movements are very simple, and even people who have never studied dance can easily imitate them, but these simple movements are full of an indescribable feeling.

It's as if the murky black mud has been cleared away, revealing the purest depths within.

The dance of the Divine Moon captivated everyone who saw it.

After the dance, the pure saint walked to the very center of the high platform, knelt down gently, and held her hands in front of her body, raising them upwards.

This is the most sublime ritual of the Pure Church—Prayer for Mercy.

The believers, having washed away their own impurities, pray for divine mercy with their purest selves.

At the moment when the Virgin Mary completed her "pity," a golden pillar of light shot into the sky from the top of the Cathedral of Purity, disappearing into the misty heavens.

The vast golden light dispersed layer after layer of clouds, revealing a clear blue sky and earth.

"Click..."

At that moment, a crisp sound rang in everyone's heart.

That was the sound of the sky cracking open.

A tree-shaped, dark purple crack spanning tens or even hundreds of kilometers appeared in the sky.

Witnessing this spectacular scene, Roy felt an indescribable shock.

Standing within this enormous crack in the sky, he felt smaller than an ant.

At the same time, this also aroused the doubts that had been brewing in Roy's mind.

The "divine descent ceremony" has now come to a near end. Next, the miracles will occur, spreading divine light and bestowing divine grace.

The success of the "divine descent ritual" was inevitable.

Therefore, his mission objective of ensuring the smooth conduct of the "divine descent ritual" is completely meaningless.

He was like a passerby, able to achieve his goal smoothly without having to do anything.

At this point, the "divine intervention ritual" simply cannot fail...

"Crack!"

A tremendous shattering sound echoed in everyone's minds.

The next instant, to everyone's horrified gaze, the sky shattered.

This is not an adjective, but rather a description of the sky as far as the eye can see, which at this moment is suddenly covered with fine, spiderweb-like cracks.

The color of the cracks was not the dark purple of the previous tree-like cracks, but a deep, extremely dark black, an extreme filth that would make anyone instinctively feel uncomfortable and want to vomit upon first glance.

A huge black heart, one meter in diameter, suddenly appeared above the golden light rising from the top of the Pure Cathedral, blocking the golden light from rising.

In the next instant, countless viscous black mud seeped out from the black cracks in the sky, turning into drops of black rain that fell to the earth.

"Tick!"

The moment the first drop of black mud hit the ground, the grass that was splashed onto it turned grayish-black in a very short time. The originally weak weeds suddenly began to grow wildly, becoming more resilient and thicker, engulfing several passersby. Accompanied by terrifying "crackling" sounds and screams, blood flowed from the gaps between the leaves.

Not only plants, but even animals, after being touched by the black rain, underwent terrifying mutations, their bodies became deformed, and they became frenzied and extremely aggressive.

All life forms, including humans, underwent horrific deformities after being touched by the black mud.

Ordinary people touched by the black mud began to wail in mad pain.

Those who couldn't survive turned into twisted, deformed monsters resembling black mud, while even those who survived either grew gray-black scales on their bodies or sharp claws on their fingers... the variations were endless.

Even those extraordinary individuals who had cultivated demonic marks did not fare much better against the black mud.

The existence of black mud is merely a symptom; it seems to have been corrupted by the magic of heaven and earth from its very source, altering its nature.

The very foundation upon which the Demon Mark exists is magic power. Once the magic power in the world changes, all those who cultivate the Demon Mark will inevitably be affected, and the higher their strength, the deeper the impact.

The first to be affected were the nineteen fourth-tier Saint-level professionals closest to the high platform.

As the group of people closest to the gods within the Demon Mark system, they are most deeply integrated with magic, and therefore undergo more drastic changes.

"boom!"

Amidst the continuous explosions, the nineteen fourth-tier Saintly Art practitioners who sensed something was wrong immediately launched an attack on the giant black heart that was blocking the golden light. However, just as their bodies took off, the giant black heart in mid-air suddenly throbbed.

"Boom-"

A ring of black pulse waves originated from the giant black heart and instantly spread throughout the entire holy city of Calron.

The fourth-tier Saintly Art practitioners, who were at the forefront of the attack, continuously exploded with blood mist. At the same time, their muscles, bones, nerves, and other physical structures grew wildly. In less than a second, the originally extraordinary fourth-tier Saintly Art practitioners were all transformed into terrifying black mud monsters hundreds of meters tall.

Their enormous and deformed forms surrounded the golden-glowing platform where the only "pure place" in this world resided—the place where the Pure Saintess was located.

The 19 fourth-tier Saintly Path professionals who underwent the mutation were the third-tier, second-tier, and first-tier professionals on the outer perimeter.

Amidst the pain and roars, all the professionals, without exception, transformed into deformed black mud monsters of various shapes!

Roy stared blankly up at the sky.

He stared blankly at the dramatic scene before him, at the golden platform surrounded by nearly 100,000 black mud monsters, led by nineteen giant black mud monsters, each hundreds of meters tall.

As a "traveler from another world" who did not belong to this world, he cultivated the battle qi system and had never absorbed the special magic power of this world. He was not directly eroded by the black mud, but the black rain falling from the sky also had a significant impact on him.

He needs to expend his battle qi to counteract this highly corrosive and destructive "black mud".

At this moment, all the deformed black mud monsters were frantically attacking the golden-glowing platform, ignoring Roy completely.

The surface of the platform was protected by a ring of golden light, but even the toughest protective barrier could not withstand such a high-quality and high-quantity offensive for long.

Three minutes later.

With a series of cracking sounds, the golden light shield finally exploded into countless points of light. The pure saintess, who had maintained a "pity" posture throughout the entire process, was covered by the hands of nineteen black mud monsters, each hundreds of meters long, in the next second.

In her final moments, the saintess of purity did not continue to maintain her posture of "pity," but instead turned her gaze northward.

Like an ordinary girl, she clasped her hands together and prayed devoutly.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the platform was crushed into powder.

After the death of the Virgin of Purity, the golden light rising from the Cathedral of Purity gradually dimmed and eventually disappeared completely.

The last hope of this world has vanished.

This realization dawned on Roy's mind.

If the Holy Maiden of Purity had not died, and if someone could break through the giant black heart in mid-air, perhaps there would still be a chance to salvage the situation.

But all of this has now become a dream.

Having shattered their last hope, the deformed black mud monsters turned their attention to the only "outsider" in the area—Roy, who still retained his human form.

Suddenly, Roy laughed.

"Haha...haha...hahahaha!"

He laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face.

Knowing that he would die and utterly fail in this opportunity, he actually became more carefree.

"I was wrong...I was wrong..."

He gazed northward, then looked up at the giant black mud hand pressing down from above.

"Next time, everything will be different!"

"Boom--!"

Amidst the roar, Roy was plunged into darkness. When the light returned, he found himself on a beach with crashing waves.

Not far away is the familiar Flower Fishing Village.

He returned to where the "dream" began.

Roy lowered his head, staring blankly at his hands. After a long while, he came to his senses and a smile spread across his face.

"Haha...hahaha!"