Chapter 308: The Clouds Disperse and the Fog Clears, The Power to Slay Gods

The bell-ringer, struck in the head by the orc’s iron fist, flew backward. His headless torso traced a parabolic arc through the air before crashing into a nearby fishing village hut; the walls collapsed, and the mangled remains landed upon a splintered wooden table.

"Did I kill him..."

As Wang Yu’s gaze lingered for a moment on the headless corpse, he saw that no crimson blood flowed from the ruptured body. Instead, a dark, ink-like liquid began to overflow.

The ink-like substance spread across the hut, and as it drained away, the bell-ringer’s motionless body slowly faded, turned transparent, and dissipated.

"Bang!"

Stomping against the ground, Wang Yu drove the rampaging orc body forward, lunging at the remaining two bell-ringers. The expressionless orc face, combined with the blood-red fury of the berserk state, created a grotesque contrast that instilled an indescribable terror in those who faced it.

"Dong..."

The melodious tolling of a bell rang out the moment Wang Yu charged. Before the orc body could close within ten meters, the two had already erased their own existence, rendering them invisible to Wang Yu’s naked eye.

However, the Perfect Fractal Lens could already analyze the trajectories of these "cloaked" bell-ringers. The slight distortion of light, the shifting of air currents, and the abnormal vibrations of dust on the ground left these bell-ringers, invisible to the eye, with nowhere to hide.

The rampaging orc body was incredibly agile; with a few sprints, it caught up to the pace of one of the bell-ringers who had hidden his presence, following him like a shadow, clinging tightly to his back.

Seeming to realize that the orc could pinpoint his location, the bell-ringer accelerated his pace repeatedly. The translucent humanoid figure formed in Wang Yu’s vision by the Perfect Fractal Lens above his right eye climbed to a new level of speed.

It was meaningless. In its berserk state, the orc body’s speed completely crushed that of the bell-ringer. Wang Yu simply followed the target’s footsteps, not rushing to strike, but waiting for Avia’s operation to take effect.

Following at close range, the characteristics and state of the target’s concealment ability were increasingly captured as data by the Perfect Fractal Lens. The translucent figure in his vision, which had initially served only to mark the target’s position, began to move, shifting from stiff, sliding motions to fluid action.

"Caught you..."

When a green dot appeared beside the running translucent figure in his vision, Wang Yu knew the Perfect Fractal’s analysis was complete.

With a cold whisper, Wang Yu surged in speed. The orc’s massive hand, imbued with the Power of the Chariot, reached out and clamped onto the translucent figure’s throat.

He felt the touch of something solid. The target’s ability to erase its own existence was ineffective against the Power of the Chariot; if it existed, it could be touched. The "non-existence" achieved through special powers was, to the Power of the Chariot, a falsehood.

"Crack, snap, snap, snap!"

Wang Yu pinned the bell-ringer to the ground, both hands working in tandem, twisting and exerting force on various parts of the body in rapid succession—shoulders, hips, neck...

With the crisp sound of grinding bone, Wang Yu’s arms became a blur of motion. Drawing on his knowledge of human anatomy, he dislocated every joint the bell-ringer possessed in a matter of seconds, while simultaneously snapping tendons and ligaments with brutal force.

Now pinned to the ground, the bell-ringer was no different from a paralyzed invalid. His not-insignificant ranger strength found no room for expression once his joints were dislocated and his meridians severed.

"Speak. Who exactly are you people?"

Wang Yu controlled the orc’s reddened eyes, staring fixedly at the bell-ringer—who had materialized upon being captured—and asked with murderous intent.

"You... are not... that orc. Who are you?"

Though his throat was crushed and his breathing labored, the bell-ringer was unexpectedly calm, showing no sign of fear regarding his impending death.

His purple-hued face stared into the orc’s eyes, seemingly piercing through the shell to see Wang Yu, who was controlling it, as he asked the question.

"Heh. Answer my question first, and I will give you the answer. Don't you realize who holds the initiative right now?"

Wang Yu felt no surprise or alarm at being identified as an intruder in the orc’s body. He didn't care what the other party thought; getting what he needed was enough.

"We are the bell-ringers of the Lightless Secret Order. Our purpose is to prevent the God of Night from being reborn upon the remains of His own corpse. His power is too dangerous; no existence may worship Him."

"Regardless of who you are, or how many followers He has at this moment, we will reduce both His followers and Him to nothingness, severing any possibility of the God of Night’s resurrection."

Just as when faced with the orc Eamon’s questioning, the man was excessively candid, revealing their identity and purpose.

"Why? What is so dangerous about the power of the God of Night, and what are the consequences of His resurrection?"

Wang Yu memorized the name "Lightless Secret Order" in his mind and continued to control the orc’s body to interrogate him.

"It is your turn to answer my question."

The bell-ringer’s expression remained indifferent; he did not fear asking a question of the one who held the power of life and death over him.

"Me? I am a supporter of the God of Light, a friend of His proxy."

Wang Yu did not hesitate, delivering his answer smoothly. There was not a shred of falsehood in it; Wang Yu truly liked the Church of Light and recognized the God of Light as a deity, and Edward was indeed his good brother.

Of course, while the answer was honest, Wang Yu didn't know how the bell-ringer would interpret it, as it sounded remarkably like sarcasm.

"..."

The bell-ringer stared at the orc’s face for a long time without speaking, seemingly rendered speechless by Wang Yu’s answer.

Wang Yu didn't care what the other party thought; if he didn't ask, Wang Yu would continue.

"What are you planning to do next? Tell me..."

Before the words spoken through the orc’s mouth could be finished, Wang Yu felt the orc’s body begin to slip from the control of the Power of the Chariot. An invisible repulsion from within the orc’s own body squeezed the Power of the Chariot out, and the sentence died in his throat.

The things of the Misos fishing village faded away, the mist-shrouded environment dissipated in synchronization, and the surrounding scenery returned to its state before the fog had risen. The bell-ringer, held by the orc’s throat, vanished as well.

The power affecting Eamon’s soul was gone, allowing his soul to return to his flesh. The orc, now a complete life once more, pushed Wang Yu’s Power of the Chariot out of his body.

On the Tree of Night Sky, the black hand that had reached out from the darkness retracted, and the darkness itself gradually receded, revealing the original state of the tree.

The Power of the Chariot, carrying the Perfect Fractal spell, retreated from the Tree of Night Sky and returned to its source—Wang Yu’s own body.

Elliot and his party suddenly noticed that the fog obscuring their vision began to dissipate. Visibility climbed, and the small town of Misos in the distance blurred and vanished.

The stunned group was startled by a scream. The goblin Elliot, clutching the ledger used for recording names, cried out in a panic.

"Damn it, we were influenced! We ignored Eamon!"

The group finally realized that the things erased from their cognition returned once the fog cleared; they were missing an orc.

"Here."

Wenna’s urgent voice reached their ears. The keen-sensed elven ranger had already rushed out, heading toward the location where the Misos fishing village had previously stood.

The group followed Wenna out of the carriage and saw the orc Eamon lying on the ground in the distance, gasping for air weakly. They hurried toward him.

"Eamon, are you alright? Damn it, you can’t die! Drink this, it will save your life!"

Elliot, seeing Eamon’s pale face—so different from his usual robust self—panicked. He pulled a high-grade healing potion from his pouch and tried to force it into the mouth of the orc, who was being supported by the elven ranger.

"Boss, I’m fine. I was saved by His Excellency the Archbishop. This is just the aftermath of the berserk state. Also, His Excellency the Archbishop’s fighting style is too violent; the strain on the body is... really a bit much, cough, cough..."

The orc looked at his frantic boss, managed a smile, and pushed away the precious potion, explaining.

His body was racked with sour, twisting pain and stinging itches. Although His Excellency the Archbishop’s control of his body hadn't left any wounds, the extreme ways he had driven the orc’s physique were more than he could handle. He likely wouldn't be able to move for a while.

"Oh, damn it, you scared me to death. Why did that fog target you? Thank goodness His Excellency the Archbishop intervened. Praise Mr. Wang Yu!"

Elliot patted his chest, lingering in fear, praising their Archbishop—a sentiment shared by all the followers of the Lady of Night present.

"Archbishop, Wang Yu... a strange name. And that peculiar power, capable of forcibly touching those whose existence has been erased. No need to rush to erase these believers. Let’s use their path to try and make contact with this fellow named Wang Yu."

In a space overlapping with the location of the followers of the Lady of Night, three bell-ringers stood side by side. The one whose head had been smashed and whose joints had been dismantled by Wang Yu was now restored to his original state.

Peering at the conversation of the people outside, the three bell-ringers learned from the group’s words who exactly the entity that had descended into the orc’s body was.

"We are in a bit of a sorry state. We don't have any good way to deal with him. If he continues to obstruct us, it will be difficult to complete our mission. Either we find him and kill him completely, or we take another path..."

The bell-ringer, whose skull had been shattered by Wang Yu, shook his head in response

to the first bell-ringer who had spoken.

"What we are bound to accomplish must be fulfilled; the power of the God of Night is far too perilous. Since the Battle of the Abyss, He should never have persisted in this world. He is the very entity that ought to be utterly extinguished, yet, tragically, He alone possesses the power capable of slaying a god."

"Even when struck down by peerless might, a god will inevitably rise again. Only through the unique authority of the God of Night—oblivion, the shielding of existence, and the erasure of all traces from cognition and memory, so that a god is forsaken by every believer—can a deity truly be put to death."

"This is the power to commit deicide..."