Devil's Bible

"It seems that the opponent's attack must collide with other forces to generate powerful force," Phos speculated.

With this hypothesis in mind, Fass immediately devised a battle plan.

Black smoke spread, and then a large handful of soil flew up from the bottom of the pit.

The scattered soil blocked out the sun, obstructing the view.

A dark shadow flashed past from behind the soil.

However, this did not affect the opponent's attack.

The orb of light beside the black-masked priest flashed by, followed by a burst of light that merged into the normal light.

The shadowy figure was hit accurately, but no problems occurred.

Phos, beneath the crater, looked at his robes that had been thrown out and struck, confirmed that they were mostly intact, and then extended his black aura perception into the soil that had been there.

They found some small pieces of minced meat in the soil.

"It has no effect on non-living matter, but it is very effective on living things." Among the soil that Phos threw up, there were some small creatures such as earthworms and beetles.

This further confirms the nature of the Black Mask's attack—it does not cause damage to inanimate objects or those without strong energy responses.

"And it has a certain degree of penetrability; loose soil and clothing cannot form a defense." There was quite a bit of soil that flew up just now, but it did not stop the attack, and his robes were still hit.

After confirming the nature of the attack, Phos stopped waiting and asked, "You're from the church, right?"

"You appeared here and tried to kill me. Do you have a secret here?"

The black-masked figure stood in the distance, his eyes trembling slightly beneath the mask.

However, he did not stop casting his spell, and several more orbs of light appeared around him.

From now on, if Phos dares to show his face, he will inevitably be shot through.

However, Phos seemed determined not to come out of the pit and continued, "Al most likely had a mark left by Isabella on him before."

"It won't be long before Isabella leads her team to track us down."

"When the time comes, I won't be able to escape, and I will definitely point out your problems."

"How about this, you let me leave, and I'll take Al's body in another direction to draw your attention?!" Phos suggested at this moment.

However, all that greeted him was a beam of transparent light flying overhead.

Clearly, the black-masked priest rejected his offer.

Then Phos heard extremely faint footsteps.

After discovering that Phos did not leave the pit, the other party planned to approach and kill him, silencing him completely.

Upon hearing this, Phos immediately manipulated the steel balls to create a force field and began digging again.

However, he did not choose to continue drilling into a deeper pit.

In that case, his own actions would also be restricted.

I guess I really won't be able to escape from here then.

Indeed, although he had thoughts like "it would be worth it if I died now," Phos did not give up hope of living.

Although he is behaving strangely and his mental state is extremely complicated, he will never give up as long as there is a glimmer of hope.

With this in mind, Fass began his work, digging a shallow underground passage along the ground in another direction, forming a shallow underground trench.

Soil kept flying out of the pit, attracting the attention of the man in black.

However, because the steel balls can work independently, the movement of the soil cannot be used by the black mask to determine the exact location of Phos, thus slightly obscuring his own position.

Chapter 163 Martyrs

"There must be a difference between the location of that person and the location from which the sound came."

"But now I only have the power to strike at close range..." the black-masked man thought as he slowed his pace and approached.

“That’s right, that’s right, come closer, and then…” The intense mental exertion during the excavation caused the black energy around Phos to tremble continuously. After completing everything, the black energy entered the steel balls.

He was waiting to deliver the fatal blow!

The same was true for the black-masked priest on the other side.

For the sake of this great cause, he must ensure that Phos dies, utterly and completely!

Breathing and heartbeat slowed down at this moment.

Neither of them could be sure that the voices they made would become the reason for their own failure.

With this thought in mind, time seemed to pass exceptionally slowly.

The black-masked figure's footsteps then disappeared, and Phos, who was below the trench, had no idea where the black-masked figure had appeared.

But the next moment, Phos heard a noise.

And so the battle broke out in an instant.

A large number of steel balls rapidly pierced through the soil, just like tender shoots growing from the earth.

They drilled open the hole and sent the bullets flying toward the black-masked man's body one by one.

At that moment, the black mask confirmed Phos's location.

A dark shield suddenly appeared around him, enveloping him.

The steel balls landed on the shield and were all bounced off immediately.

On the contrary, the man in the black mask sensed the intense fluctuations in mental energy and the sounds of humanoid life forms moving around.

Black Mask acted decisively, and several orbs of light around him instantly emitted a burst of light.

One of the beams of light was emitted from a sphere, and it was no different from a normal light attack.

The other beam of light was emitted by several spheres of light, which were shaped like lightning and had an ominous purplish-red hue.

The purplish-red light was very fast, but it diminished very quickly.

By the time it reached its destination, it had changed from the thickness of a fist to the thickness of a finger.

Then two beams of light were emitted and intersected at a point in a certain area of ​​the trench.

The close-range collision, two similar attacks, unleashed terrifying kinetic energy.

A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, and the surrounding soil was all squeezed and flung away as if it had been struck by an invisible giant hand.

"I chose a special attack method that allows me to attack inanimate objects in exchange for attack speed and power."

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t have other ways to deal with it.” The black-masked man stood not far away, looking at the pit full of bloody mud, and roughly concluded that Phos had been blown into mincemeat by the impact of the breakthrough.

“You are the eighth, no, the ninth person I have killed in this way. I will remember you.” As Black Mask spoke, Al’s face involuntarily appeared in his mind, and then he slightly changed his own number.

The moment the words were spoken, Black Mask instinctively felt uneasy.

"Is this all the people you've killed?" Sure enough, the sudden question startled Black Mask, but it was too late to react.

A large amount of black energy spread out, forming chains that bound the black mask.

Then, Phos, who was relatively unharmed, appeared to the side.

Seemingly realizing something, the black-masked man looked around; Al's body had vanished.

The mass of flesh that had been squeezed together with the soil and turned into a blood-red pulp could only be Al.

At the beginning, Phos chose to extend the pit into trenches for two reasons: firstly, to conceal his position and increase his margin for error; and secondly, to capture Al, his 'double'.

By digging, the soil was thrown to both sides, covering Al's body with a large amount of soil, and then it was quietly taken away.

Subsequently, a lot of black energy entered Al's body, manipulating his body to emit mental fluctuations and sounds of life activity.

In this respect, Phos successfully deceived Black Mask and completed his counterattack.

"God, forgive me," the black-masked man confessed.

“Ha, devout monk.” Fass’s words were slightly sarcastic as he watched the other party release spells while removing the black mask.

The unusual feel and the sticky sound of flesh and blood startled Phos.

It was then discovered that the face of the black mask was completely glued to the mask.

Its flesh and blood had become intertwined with the mask, and its true appearance had long been replaced by the mask.

Even now, Phos is not entirely ignorant of the church.

This is something only ascetics who strictly adhere to the teachings of the Lord of the Vinaya would do.

It's just that there are too few ascetics. Order, energy conservation, discipline, rules, and boundaries—currently, even among the priests and paladins of the Discipline Church, very few can achieve even one of these.

What's more, these fanatics, ascetics, and martyrs who completely adhere to all doctrines and treat them as their own precepts!

To disfigure oneself, to conceal one's name, to eliminate all other identities—this is the order.

No longer indulging in worldly pleasures, dressed in white, and no longer enjoying any luxury—this is energy conservation.

The power selection process involves less environmental damage and only uses special light sources that collide with the extraordinary; this is a constraint.

The rule is to immediately confess and pray to God after realizing you have done something wrong.

Phos was somewhat taken aback, not expecting that the other party was indeed an ascetic.

Then they discovered that the black-masked man's spirit began to fluctuate rapidly, and then terrifying energy fluctuations emanated from his body.

Phos's black aura tried to stop it, but found that the spirit of the black mask seemed to have taken root in this area.

“Run, Phos.” Nems’ voice came through at that moment.

"This is a special spell of the church that can destroy one's own body along with the surrounding traces. The moment it is activated, it is too late to stop it."

"Limiting the dissemination of knowledge and technology is the limit."

Phos released his black mask and fled into the distance.

Black Mask died a martyr, but he did not take Phos with him. Instead, he found the optimal solution under the change of ideology.

Using boundary magic, he not only proved his resolve with his death, but also destroyed any traces around him.

If Phos doesn't want to die, his only option is to run away.

After Isabella caught up and saw the traces at the scene, although she would still have doubts, she would be more inclined to pursue Phos.

After all, boundary magic is highly related to the church, and it is a final 'self-destruction' to prevent one's soul from falling into the hands of demons under special circumstances.

Even the soul can be transformed into the most basic ether and elements due to boundary magic.

Faced with this situation, even if Isabella had doubts, she could only maintain respect, because even she might not have had the courage to do so.

At this point, Black Mask can be considered to have barely broken the deadlock.

After fleeing far away, Phos looked back at the site that had been razed to the ground in an instant and the black mask that had disappeared into nature without a trace.

The joy of defeating the steel species seemed to diminish as a result.

Chapter 164 Continues

The several shifts in his mental state caused Phos's mental state to cool down.

Of course, along with this, the state of having eyes within the body also disappeared.

“You can escape now,” Nems’ voice rang out again. “I have a way to get rid of Isabella’s pursuit of you.”

"You've provided enough data this time too."

"So you've accomplished your mission. Once you disappear and are no longer tracked, Isabella will gradually shift her attention to this area, and my other plan will be completed."

"So what do you think?"

The question left Fass somewhat bewildered.

Upon hearing Nemus say that he had essentially completed his mission, he felt a surge of joy, but this was quickly followed by an indescribable sense of melancholy.

He felt as if he were stepping off the stage.

In the previous scene, the one who received cheers and applause was not the victor.

Rather, it was the black mask that, though defeated by itself, revealed the unwavering faith of a ascetic.

Even Phos was shocked by the other party's unwavering belief.