Kill one monster, stack one poison, and I alone will poison my way across the world!

The snake's fingers flew across the blood-stained keyboard, and lines of data, compiled from coded messages, scrolled across the screen.

"This is not a conventional formation at all..."

The snake's face was pale, and cold sweat beaded on its forehead.

He projected a core spell model that he had deciphered into mid-air.

It was a bizarre array composed of countless distorted human faces and arthropod-like runes, which was enough to make one feel disoriented just by looking at it.

"This energy fluctuation even exceeds the limit of a legendary-level array master."

The serpent took a deep breath, its voice trembling slightly, "It's 'borrowing a god.' They borrowed the power of an evil god through some kind of ritual."

"What is its mechanism of action?"

Falcon stared at the array diagram, his eyes cold.

"A large-scale forced reversal of life forms."

The viper swallowed hard and pointed to a huge vortex in the center of the array. "Once the ritual is activated, everyone in Takayama City... at least those below level 120 will be forcibly assimilated in a short period of time."

"Their bodies and minds will be shattered and then stitched back together, turning them into monsters like the mindless, flawed chimeras we encountered before."

"..."

Grizzly slammed his fist on the steel plate beside him, leaving a deep dent: "These lunatics!"

Eagle gripped his rifle tightly and remained silent.

Su Chen leaned against an abandoned incubation tank, looking at the array diagram in mid-air, his sense of danger pulsating slightly.

Forcibly turning millions of people into monsters—that's a truly ruthless move.

Even high-level professionals would be severely injured if they encountered such an unreasonable causal curse.

The thought processes of these cult members cannot be deduced using common sense.

Falcon remained silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping around the research institute.

Although there is a large amount of experimental data here, there is no core spellcasting center, nor is there a high-level cultist guarding it.

"This is just a peripheral processing plant."

Falcon drew his conclusion and turned to look at everyone. "We now face two choices."

"First, take the existing intelligence and immediately retreat to the safe zone. Report the curse and then arrange for the evacuation of the people of Takayama City."

"Second, find their real headquarters and cut off the source before the ritual begins."

Grizzly said in a deep voice, "Captain, there's no time. If we retreat now and wait for the military high command to complete the procedures and mobilize manpower to evacuate the civilians... there simply isn't enough time."

"yes."

Viper gave a bitter laugh. "Besides, if we leave, we'll have to rely on someone else to avenge Captain Zhang."

Although the eagle didn't say anything, his finger was already on the trigger, his attitude was self-evident.

The falcon nodded.

"Since no one wants to leave, let's continue. All communication here has been cut off, but the intelligence must be relayed..."

As she spoke, she made a complex hand seal in front of her chest.

A few seconds later.

Dark gray energy slowly condensed into a carrier pigeon made entirely of shadow.

"【Shadow Technique: Messenger】".

The falcon slipped a crystal card containing all the information into the carrier pigeon's claw.

The carrier pigeon nodded, its body flashed, and it transformed into a blurry black shadow, rushing back to the ground at high speed.

"The intelligence has been sent out."

Falcon drew two short swords, their blades gleaming with a chilling light. "Now, let's go dig these rats out of the gutter."

Su Chen shook the dust off the tip of his staff and quickly followed.

……

at the same time.

One hundred kilometers away from Takayama City, there is a huge cavity buried 100 meters underground.

This is one of the secret meeting points of the Doomsday Cult.

In the center of the hollow stood a tall altar made of pale bones.

Above the altar floated a dark red mass of flesh and blood that twisted and shrieked.

Below the altar stood several figures dressed in wide, dark red robes.

"Moro's life crystal... is shattered."

An aged voice echoed in the empty underground space.

The speaker was an elderly man leaning on a cane made of his spine.

Half of his face was completely covered by a gray stratum corneum, and one eye emitted an eerie green light.

He is a bishop of the Doomsday Cult, known as "The Bone Whisperer" Carl.

"He failed."

Another tall, burly man with arms modified into giant metal scythes sneered, "Can't even handle a few military scouts, what a piece of trash."

"Shut up, Barlow."

Karl slammed his staff into the ground.

"Moro was not useless; he was a great pioneer! The suture data and rejection records he left behind will be important cornerstones for our path to final evolution."

Karl looked up, a hint of pity flashing in his eerie green eyes.

"Morrow's death was worthwhile; his sacrifice in seeking a way out for all humanity will be forever etched in the sacred annals of history. His will is with us."

The red-robed figures around them bowed their heads and chanted in unison, "For the glory of evolution."

Just then.

The space around the altar suddenly began to distort violently.

A cold, malevolent black mist appeared out of thin air and condensed into a human shape in the center of the hall.

He was a tall, slender man wearing a black tailcoat.

His skin was as pale as paper, with a pair of curved black horns on either side of his forehead, and his pupils were vertical dark gold.

With his arrival, the temperature in the entire hall plummeted, and several low-ranking cult members even began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Demons..."

Barlow gripped the scythe tightly in his arms, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes.

The demon envoy dusted off his tailcoat, a graceful yet cruel smile playing on his lips.

"I apologize for interrupting your memorial service, but as your most loyal ally, I bring you some bad news."

The demon envoy strode to the altar, ignoring Karl's warning look.

"Moro didn't die at the hands of an ordinary military scout. He was killed by a... psychopath."

The messenger raised his hand, and the black mist condensed into a clear image in mid-air.

It was a young man dressed in a black robe, his face hidden under a dark purple hood—it was Su Chen.

"Su Chen".

The demon envoy slowly uttered the name, his dark golden vertical pupils flashing with a dangerous light.

"The only hidden class in SSS-tier: the Venomous Mage!"

"The abilities currently demonstrated include: true damage poison that ignores any magic resistance and physical defense, a mechanism that forces the stacking of poison layers, and a skill that summons an equal number of minions based on the number of poison layers."

The messenger paused, his voice becoming low.

"His mental attributes are extremely powerful. Deacon Moro's invincible skills are no match for his deadly poison."

Upon hearing these words, the doomsday cultists in the hall fell into a deathly silence.

Barlow's eyes widened as the scythe scraped against the ground with a harsh, screeching sound.

"The only hidden class of SSS rank?!"

"True damage that ignores defense? And it can even ignore invincibility skills? That's impossible!"

Karl's single eye contracted sharply, but he quickly suppressed his shock.

"Your Excellency, did you make this special trip just to tell us this?"

"Of course not."

The demon envoy smiled slightly.

"This man named Su Chen is an extremely unstable variable. He is not part of our plan. If we let him continue, your grand plan may very well be ruined by him."

The demon envoy looked around.

"Our demon race needs you to complete the grand ritual, so this variable must die."

"..."

The black mist surged, and the demon envoy's figure vanished into thin air in an instant.

After confirming that the demons had completely left, the atmosphere in the hall became somewhat eerie.

Barlow spat and cursed, "These arrogant demon bastards, do they really think we're their subordinates? What gives them the right to order us around?"

"Barlow, calm down."

Karl slowly turned around and looked at the twisted mass of flesh above him.

"The demons are only temporary allies. They want to use us to weaken the strength of the human front, while we are also using the abyssal resources they provide."

Karl's gaze was deep.

"Send your first clone sample over."

"The ceremony will officially begin in a few hours."

"Our real target is the millions of compatriots in Takayama who are about to be assimilated."

"Millions of people underwent genetic and soul recombination in an instant, millions of data points on living mutations, intelligence on rejection reactions, samples of mental breakdowns..."

"The data must be enormous, and we must do everything we can to collect it; everything else is unimportant."

"clear."

"For...the sacred evolution!"