Chapter 349 - I’ll Cover My Own Coffin First

Just how powerful had the enemy been?To have slaughtered two Dwarves Vampires in less than a minute without even giving them a chance to escape.

Even Belinda, as skilled and bold as she was, didn’t dare to stay in place and wait for the enemy to come knocking.

However, she couldn’t just ignore the mission of the Goddess of Undead Vengeance, especially while carrying the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm that held the Goddess’s divine essence.

Though the main body of the Goddess of Undead Vengeance remained asleep, her soul would occasionally awaken, guiding her and understanding the progress of the mission through the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm.

Belinda dared not run away with the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm; that would be like carrying a bomb.

With a stroke of genius, Belinda set up a trap that would kill two birds with one stone.

She used the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm to lay down a deadly trap.

This trap was not only aimed at the Blasphemer but also at the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm itself.

If the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm could take this opportunity to eliminate the Blasphemer and reclaim the Goddess’s Undead Divinity, it would be a cause for celebration. If successful, she could complete two missions at once. If the Goddess was pleased, she might even bestow a bit of Undead Divinity on Belinda, allowing her to become a new, immortal Vampire.

Conversely, if the Blasphemer were to destroy the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm, it would mean that the enemy’s power was unimaginably great, and the Goddess of Undead Vengeance had gotten involved with a formidable entity. The situation would no longer be about escaping, but rather considering a change of faith.

Soon, a greater shock struck her; in her perception, the Holy Relic of the Severed Palm had disappeared out of existence.

Then, an uncontrollable panic spread over Belinda, giving her the illusion of being targeted by a powerful Hunter.

Since her transformation into a Vampire, she had never felt this way.

Without hesitation, Belinda twisted the Teleportation Ring on her finger and returned to the safety of her lair in the Dark Domain.

She then crawled into her luxurious gold coffin, closed the lid heavily, concealed her breath, and fell into a deep slumber.

The mainland had been restless in recent years.

Especially last year, when all the gods were cast down to the mortal realm and had to undergo a grueling trial before they could return to their Kingdom of God.

Since then, Belinda had distinctly felt a subtle change in the entire system of faith.

The already wounded Goddess of Undead Vengeance seemed to grow weaker, her injuries harder to heal.

And countless creatures were stirring, seemingly driven by greed after last year’s mortals’ Divine Enthronement, wanting to imitate them.

This year, a Blasphemer emerged to challenge the Goddess of Undead Vengeance.

Belinda felt the Goddess of Undead Vengeance was trapped in a massive vortex of conspiracy, and as a Sacrificer to the Goddess, the slightest carelessness could spell doom.

She decided not to wade into these troubled waters, opting to sleep for a decade or so before seeing what the world had become.

After all, her coffin was specially made so that, unless the Goddess of Undead Vengeance herself came, not even her oracles could penetrate it.

Gaven, leading a group of people in a hurry, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What’s wrong? Is something amiss?" Virginia, following closely behind him, asked.

"I can’t sense her presence anymore," Gaven sighed, "She most likely used some sort of teleportation ability to get away, or she’s hiding in the Shadow or Ether Plane."

Once one reaches the Transcendent level, especially as Spellcasters,

it’s not just about pinpointing her location; a slight miss and she could be gone even if she’s within arm’s reach.

"She probably left a way to observe the Land of Sealing or had a unique connection to that severed hand, and sensed something when it was destroyed," Olive speculated.

If it was her, she would run too.

After all, it’s a formidable existence that could even destroy True God’s bodies; staying here was tantamount to waiting for death.

"Without completely rooting her out, she’ll always be a problem," Gaven said, full of regret.

What truly made him regretful was not just leaving problems unsolved, but that he hadn’t had the chance to test and prove his newly acquired skills.

"Life doesn’t always go as planned. To achieve what we have today is already a tremendous victory," August was quite accepting of the situation.

For them, such events were commonplace.

Many times, all they could do was drive away evil, not completely eradicate it.

"Andrew, try to find her last lingering location," Gaven wouldn’t give up easily without seeing for himself. Since locating her directly was not an option, they had to use the original, old-fashioned way.

The Dog Demon didn’t disappoint them and quickly led Gaven to the last hiding place of the Dwarves Vampire Sacrificer.

Unsurprisingly, after scouring the simple Elven Tomb, they found nothing.

It was only then that Gaven they gave up completely and returned to the Land of Sealing.

They still had a lot of cleanup work waiting for them there.

The hundreds of humanoid corpses needed to be dealt with. Even though their souls had been utterly destroyed, their bodies remained.

And a Legendary Vampire Lord with Undead Divinity had been sealed here for who knows how many years. Although the Undead Divinity of this Legendary Vampire had been extracted and he himself had been drained of his lifeforce and died.

But this place had long been pervaded by the undead power he emanated, an unequivocal land of evil.

If these humanoid bodies were left here, it wouldn’t take long before they transformed into zombies.

On the way back to the Land of Sealing.

Aunt Olive made a determined declaration, "Leave the cleansing of this place to me. You don’t need to worry about it. I will be living here for the next while."

Regina was astonished as she asked, "Aunt Olive, if you stay here, what about the temple?"

"The temple is stable with Bin there. Most are minor matters that Bin can resolve. If something truly arises that they can’t deal with, they can notify me then. At that time, I’ll need you to take a trip there to deliver a message for me and, by the way, bring some of my personal belongings over," she said with a smile.

"Don’t try to dissuade me. It’s a rare opportunity. For me, this is a form of cultivation, an experience. I can feel that once I purify this evil land and heal this forest, my lord will bestow divine grace upon me, granting me even greater strength."

Different professions, at the same Professional Level, have different terms, and their understanding of the source of power also varies.

Priests and Holy Warriors, who are devout followers of various gods, refer to it as divine grace, believing that their power and Professional Level derive from the gods, especially when their actions involve driving out evil, and they gain greater strength.

Druids and Rangers, who are nature-related professionals, call it a blessing of nature, receiving protection from nature itself when they guard and repair nature.

Barbarians and warriors, whose strength comes from training, consider it a pathway to self-discovery.

Bards attribute everything to the joy they bring to the people, naming it the merit of music.

Gaven belonged to his own classification, positing a theory where personal growth comes from the mutual influence between oneself and the world’s laws, which encompasses all the aforementioned explanations.

Because whether it is purifying an evil land, guarding and repairing nature, protecting loved ones, or influencing others, and even the world with music, these are just aspects of this broad concept.

People who do nothing, let alone reaching a higher Professional Level, often cannot even unlock a Professional Template.

This is why the Professional Template is often referred to as the Hero Template, as heroic deeds are most likely to unlock it.

Gaven used his own experience to prove the correctness of his theory.

Thanks to this theory, not only did he have smooth sailing in his professional journey, but he even unlocked a Milestone of Destiny that was even more powerful than the Professional Level.

If it weren’t for the creation of these Milestones of Destiny, which drew away the lion’s share of his experience, he would have already become a Transcendent.

Reaching Transcendent status in less than half a year, while not unprecedented, is at least extremely rare.

But compared to the simple Professional Level, the power of a Milestone of Destiny is there for all to see.

Even if he advanced to Transcendent status, Gaven wouldn’t dare to claim he was invincible beneath that rank.

He could say it now though, and those who doubted could first withstand one of his spears.

At the current pace, with two more golden Milestones of Destiny, when he reached Transcendent status, he would be able to walk sideways beneath Legendary rank.

"If the lady doesn’t mind me sharing in your divine grace, I’ll stay here with you for a while. I also feel that I’m about to make a breakthrough," August said with a laugh.

"Congratulations, teacher," Darnell sincerely blessed from the side.

At their level, each Professional Level advancement was incredibly difficult, often taking several years.

He had just recently received divine grace and upgraded his Professional Level not long ago, after the cleansing of Weizemay Manor, in company with Gaven.

"Having a powerful Holy Warrior to protect me is my greatest honor. Even if that Dwarven Vampire Sacrificer comes back, we will be able to deal with him calmly," said Olive, her expression unable to hide her joy.

Even for her, living alone in such an evil land was a dangerous endeavor.

Even if the Dwarven Vampire Sacrificer didn’t return, this evil land could attract other evil beings or even spawn evil on its own.

"Your lofty sentiments are truly beyond our reach," Gaven praised inwardly.

He admired such selfless acts, but knew he couldn’t do it himself.

But he didn’t mind giving them a push along. "There’s a Thorn Spirit nearby that has been monitoring this group of Dwarven Vampires. Our initial information came directly from them. I can introduce you, and I believe they would be very happy to see this happen and would do their utmost to help you... You see, how people can’t help but talk, here they come..."

Gaven slightly released his own aura and called out, "Natural friends, it’s me, don’t worry, they are kind friends..."

Three nimble figures slid down from the trees, the same three Tree Spirits they had encountered before.

The leading Tree Spirit said, "You are too late. Those Dwarven Vampires left last night and have not returned yet, but we can set up an ambush here..."

Although these Tree Spirits had been keeping watch over the vampires,

restricted by the power discrepancy between them, they only dared move about during the day, and at night they had to flee far away to hide.

Therefore, they didn’t know that Gaven had already entered the vampires’ lair the night before.

"There’s no need," Gaven said nonchalantly, "Thank you, natural friends, for your help. Apart from the leading vampire who escaped, the rest of the vampires have all been eradicated by us."

"What?" The three Thorn Spirits looked incredulous. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by No(ᴠ)ᴇlFire.nᴇt

They knew all too well how powerful that group of Dwarven Vampires was, as hunters within a radius of several kilometers were either driven away or enslaved by them overnight.

Had it not been for their residence in an ancient Elf Mage Tower with its powerful illusionary concealment, they too would have had difficulty escaping the fate of being captured and enslaved by that group of vampires.

Now, people who had been asking for information from them the day before the last were telling them that the group of vampires had been eradicated, how could they believe it?