Sacrifice's Rise: I Became Invincible After Entering Godslayer Temple

"In fact, there are many areas in Sunset Mountain, just like Twin Volcano, which are mysterious and dangerous, areas that we, abyss creatures, have not yet explored," 

The Shadowcrawler Matriarch, seemingly completely awed by John's power, spoke up without any reservation. 

Seeing that John remained silent, it continued, "The higher beings in the abyss have always wanted to deal with these dangerous areas, but the divine barrier of Sunset Mountain limits them. With our lower-level lords not strong enough, we could only bypass these areas."

Suddenly, as if a thought occurred to him, John casually asked, "Speaking of which, I've always wanted to ask you. How far has the abyss's erosion of Sunset Mountain progressed?"

The Matriarch suddenly fell silent, apparently finding it difficult to answer this question. 

John looked at it with a half-smile, his eyes full of threat, "What? Is this question troubling you?"

The Matriarch's huge head shook vigorously, "I beg you, I really can't answer that. If the higher beings in the abyss knew I leaked this information, our whole species would face annihilation."

John lifted a hand, a faint light glowing at his fingertips, "If you don't answer, your annihilation begins right now..."

The Matriarch began to frantically scramble backward as soon as John raised his hand, sensing the tremendous threat brought by that faint glow. 

However, even when facing this life-and-death decision, the Shadowcrawler still refused, "Please, spare me. I really can't tell you. Before leaving the abyss, we all made a Blood Oath. If we reveal this information, we will immediately be subjected to backlash, a fate worse than death."

John furrowed his brow. 

The Blood Oath of the abyss was indeed a troublesome thing. 

It's a contract signed at the soul level, bearing the will of order. 

Violations lead to immediate death at best, while worse fates involve the soul suffering endless torment from the collective will of the abyss. 

Even if he were to kill this bug right now, it wouldn't spill anything valuable.

Yet John particularly valued this piece of information. 

Currently, it seems inevitable that a major conflict between the abyss and the forces of law and order will occur. 

Knowing the details earlier would help him gain the upper hand when the large-scale war breaks out in the future.

After some thought, John suddenly waved his hand. A shadowy light flashed and was gone.

[You have activated the skill: Abyssal Prison!]

[Abyssal Prison (divine skill): A gift from the warden of the abyss. Upon activation, the skill can imprison a space of 1000 yards in radius, allowing the user to modify the rules of the space at will. All elements can be controlled, with the exception of space-time...]

The space around John began to distort, excluding everyone else. 

Only John and the Shadowcrawler Matriarch remained in the entire space.

"This is... Abyssal Prison?!" The Shadowcrawler Matriarch's normally tiny eyes bulged into perfect circles in shock. 

"You... you're a favored of the warden of the abyss?!" it exclaimed.

John blinked in surprise. 

It seemed the creature had misunderstood something in the past. 

But instead of explaining, John simply nodded, "That's right. I too hail from the abyss. Can you talk now?"

The Matriarch hurriedly nodded, uttering in awe, "I never imagined that the usually indifferent warden of the abyss would involve himself in these matters. Considering that you were dispatched to the humans, you must be carrying an incredibly important mission."

Growing impatient, John retorted, "Enough with the chit-chat. Get to the point. My mission is none of your business."

The Shadowcrawler obediently nodded and began to share all it knew, "From what I understand, the abyss has completed the occupation and corruption of most areas of Sunset Mountain, except for a few places imbued with divine power..."

Moments later, John waved his hand to dissipate the Abyssal Prison. 

The previous ease and joy was now absent from his face, replaced with solemnity. 

The information from the Matriarch had caught him off guard. 

The abyss's erosion of Sunset Mountain exceeded his expectations, making a large-scale war inevitable, and sooner than he expected.

The moment the Abyssal Prison ended, and order was restored in reality, the previously calm Matriarch suddenly exhibited an expression of pain and began to roll on the ground. 

The severed trees and skeletons littering the ground shattered under the Matriarch's frantic rolling. 

It howled in agony, each scream more piercing than the last, like demonic music penetrating the mind.

Adam, Blue Sea, and the others quickly covered their ears, their faces filled with horror. 

Was the Matriarch really this powerful? 

Even its subconscious cries of pain could inflict such harm on their minds.

John extended a hand, gently pressing it against Emma's ear, her face twisted in pain, to shield her auditory senses. 

He then looked at the Matriarch, now curled up and oozing fresh blood from numerous cuts on its body. 

Its giant mouth gaped open, its circular, sharp mandibles writhing, and blood pouring out.

"You... why... this is the punishment for breaking the Blood Oath..." the Matriarch's voice echoed throughout the area, broken and filled with extreme agony.

John replied flatly, "I never told you I had any relation with the warden of the abyss. It was all your assumption."

The Shadowcrawler Matriarch felt deceived, and its fury caused it to lose all sense of reason. 

Only one thought consumed the creature: to tear the damned human before it into a thousand pieces. 

The profound pain in the depths of its soul even made it overlook the substantial disparity between it and John.

Roaring, the Matriarch attempted to charge at John, but no sooner had it righted its body than it shrieked again, curling back up. 

The pain was too much! 

The punishment for breaking the abyssal Blood Oath had just begun and had already rendered the Matriarch unable to fight.

John watched with an indifferent expression, tutting with amazement, until the Matriarch was on its last breath. 

Extending a finger, he touched the creature, "Thank you for the information. 

As a reward, I'll end your suffering."

Without any visible surge of energy from John, the Shadowcrawler Matriarch collapsed lifelessly. 

Its body dissolved into a beam of white light, vanishing into the air, leaving behind only a luminous treasure chest.

Adam and the others lowered their hands, still rattled. 

Although the Matriarch was now dead, the echo of its shrill screams lingered in their minds. 

John casually opened the treasure chest, pulling out three pieces of radiant equipment: two in a violet light and one in orange. 

He had lucked out, even scoring an epic piece of gear.

John cast an identification spell, and the properties of the three pieces of gear appeared before them:

[Shuria's Crown (legendary headgear): In the ancient times, the queen of the Elf Empire, Shuria, gathered branches from the Tree of Nature and wove them into this crown. After Shuria fell in the abyss invasion, the crown was lost...]

[Requirements: Level 240 or 200 points in nature affinity]

[Attributes: +150 Agility, +80 Nature Affinity, +100 Attack Power]

[Additional skill: Wild Frenzy. When activated, you can control all nature beings within a 500-yard radius, sharing their hearing and sight...]

[Class: Druid or Archer...]

This was undeniably a top-tier legendary piece of equipment. 

Although it lacked an active attack skill, the support skill Wild Frenzy could prove incredibly useful under certain circumstances.

John glanced back to see the two high-level archers from the Genesis Guild in his party already eyeing the crown greedily. 

If it wasn't in John's hands, they probably would have tried to snatch it.

One of the female archers, taking advantage of her gender, sashayed over. 

"Big shot, would you consider selling this piece to me? I'm willing to pay any price," she proposed, casting a flirtatious glance at John. 

It was hard to deny, she was quite a beauty.

Even without knowing what she looked like in reality, her curvaceous figure was enough to set many a man's heart racing. 

John gave her an amused glance, but before he could speak, Emma voiced her displeasure.

While Emma was naive, she certainly wasn't stupid. 

The woman was practically suggesting she'd trade her body for the equipment. 

Wasn't this a blatant provocation?

Emma promptly placed herself between John and the archer, saying heatedly, "Not for sale. If you want this type of gear, go buy it at the auction house."

The female archer's eyes were seductive as she glanced at Emma, then puffed out her chest. 

A silent display of rivalry. 

Indeed, there was a noticeable difference.

With her eyebrows furrowed and eyes wide open, Emma was ready to engage. 

Just as the two women seemed ready to go at each other, Adam stepped in.

"Brother Galewind, would you consider parting with this item and selling it to me?" he asked.

John smiled slightly, "If you want it, take it. No need to talk about money for loot we got together."

Adam and Blue Sea exchanged a knowing smile. 

As Blue Sea had previously suggested, everything was understood without words.