Volume 4: Super-Tier Awakening & The Ancient Capital Calamity
Chapter 369
The Dark Truth: The True Red Cardinal Emerges
The air within the subterranean grand hall instantly grew viscous and biting cold, chilling the sweat beading on the squad members’ brows into microscopic ice crystals. Amidst the oppressive silence, a single sound rang out with horrifying clarity, sharp and drenched in mockery:
“Clap... Clap... Clap...”
The slow, measured applause echoed from the deep shadows behind the black jade throne, striking each person’s eardrums like a heavy sledgehammer driving against their chest.
Tang Yue, her breathing still ragged from the life-or-death battle with the Blood Puppet Monarch and her wrists trembling from residual energy shockwaves, snapped her phoenix eyes wide. Her shrill voice pierced the gloom like a warning blade:
“Stay alert! There’s another enemy hiding in the shadows!”
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Almost instantly, every member of the squad reacted with the extreme reflexes of elite mages. Team Leader Lin Wu stepped forward with solemn gravity to shield the healing and support mages, his heavy broadsword erupting with blazing orange flames that painted a fiery crimson across a corner of the darkened hall. On both flanks, Zhao Manyan erected three layers of thick earth-element shields accompanied by swirling, complex wind glyphs humming in fury. Ye Xinlan hoisted her soul-bound longbow high, an arrow gleaming with starlight locked squarely onto the darkness behind the throne, where yin Qi churned like a rising tide.
From the dense, ash-gray fog enveloping the back of the throne, a tall, slender figure slowly stepped out.
The flickering light from the flames on Lin Wu’s broadsword swept across the newcomer’s frame, sketching a scene that instantly froze everyone’s breath in their throats.
He draped a floor-length, deep crimson cloak over his shoulders—a terrifying, blood-red hue reminiscent of fresh gore drawn from tens of thousands of living souls, glaring and merciless. Across his chest, an intricately embroidered skull with exquisite detail bared its fangs and claws, its eye sockets embedded with two natural rubies the size of longans, emitting a flickering crimson glare akin to a demon’s eyes staring down its prey.
This was no mere clerical vestment; it was the imperial robe of supreme authority, the absolute symbol of the Black Vatican’s dominion across this continent!
In his right hand, a two-meter-long staff of authority was forged from an unidentifiable dark metal, its apex cradling a colossal, pitch-black gemstone known as the “Darkness God Stone.” The stone reflected no light whatsoever; instead, it acted like a black hole devouring every ray of hope, radiating a boundless aura of death that warped and distorted the surrounding air.
When the figure finally stepped out of the shadows into the firelight, even the most battle-hardened veterans shuddered. His face was stark white, utterly devoid of color, the taut skin stretched tightly across high cheekbones, making him look no different than an ancient mummy dragged straight out of a millennium-old tomb. His lips were thin as razor blades, curled into an insidious, bone-chilling smirk.
Sharlock!
The head Red Cardinal of the Black Vatican’s Divine Continent branch! The demon hidden in the darkness—the very fiend law enforcement agencies and grand holy churches had spent years hunting relentlessly across the four corners of the globe—had now brazenly appeared right before their eyes with a terrifyingly leisurely and casual demeanor.
“Sharlock!”
Tang Yue clenched her teeth so hard they ground together with a dry, grating crunch. Her gorgeous eyes were bloodshot now, a web of tiny capillaries bulging from towering wrath and bottomless hatred. The horrifying memories of Baicheng’s tragedy years ago—corpses drifting in a sea of blood, the heartbreaking wails of countless innocent souls, and the foul, blood-soaked rain shrouding the opulent Ancient Capital—all surged back at once, fusing into a pyre of vengeance scorching her soul.
Her voice trembled violently, brimming with boundless killing intent as she roared:
“It was you! The ruthless demon behind the Baicheng massacre and the Ancient Capital’s blood rain! You finally decided to stick your filthy head out!”
Facing Tang Yue’s towering fury, Sharlock showed neither panic nor anger. He halted some ten meters away from the squad, his bony hand gently stroking the pitch-black staff. He threw his head back and laughed—an arrogant, grating, and utterly contemptuous laugh that reverberated back and forth through the vast expanse of the subterranean hall, bouncing off the stone walls to create a chaotic din resembling the groans of purgatorial fiends.
“Ha ha ha... Ha ha ha ha!”
Sharlock cut off his laughter, his stark white eyes sweeping across the tense, taut faces of the squad members, his lips curling with malicious amusement:
“Miss Tang Yue, you are as naive and passionate as ever. Did you truly believe that following every clue, overcoming countless traps, and breaking through seal after seal to crawl all the way down to the bottom of this mausoleum was thanks to your transcendent intellect?”
His words struck like a bucket of ice water dumped over Lin Wu and the entire team. Lin Wu’s complexion instantly turned pale ashen, a profoundly ominous premonition surging in his gut. He gripped his heavy broadsword tighter, his deep voice heavy with wariness:
“What are you getting at? Cut the psychological games!”
“Psychological games?” Sharlock chuckled lightly, shaking his head in mock pity at his opponents’ ignorance. He took a step forward, tapping his staff against the stone floor with a dry, hollow thud. “I have never cared for playing psychological games with the dying. I am merely stating an obvious truth that your limited minds cannot possibly fathom.”
He raised a hand to point back toward the entrance of the hall—where the colossal corpse of the Blood Puppet Monarch lay motionless in a pool of dark black blood.
“That armored armor-corporeal beast was indeed formidable. It was utterly loyal to the Ancient Emperor, guarding this place for thousands of years and constantly blocking anyone who dared approach the crystal sarcophagus. I tried countless methods and exhausted immense effort, yet I could not pierce its primitive defense through brute force alone.”
Sharlock bared his stark white teeth, his smile stretching grotesquely to his ears with eerie delight:
“Therefore, I had to find sharper blades to help me clear the obstacles. And you... you were the most flawless blades I have ever wielded! I deliberately left subtle yet discernible traces, leading you step-by-step down here from the upper realm, borrowing your hands to deplete the Blood Puppet Monarch’s vitality and strip away its final layer of defense!”
“You... You dared use us as mere chess pieces?!” Zhao Manyan shrieked, his chest heaving with a mix of fury and terror. He had always fancied himself a brilliant schemer and calculator within the commercial mage circles, yet now he realized he was nothing more than a puppet dancing in the palm of this arch-fiend all along.
“Chess pieces? No, you flatter yourself, Young Master Zhao.” Sharlock glanced at Zhao Manyan out of the corner of his eye, his tone dripping with contempt. “You were merely a swarm of ants that happened to wander into my sights, bestowed with a grander purpose than your meaningless lives.”
He spun around, casting a fanatical, greedy, and demented gaze toward the central stone dais—where the crystal sarcophagus holding the Ancient Emperor’s remains radiated an ethereal, bewitching glow. Sharlock’s chest heaved violently, his panting sounding like the bellows of a forge:
“For thousands of years, the former popes of the Black Vatican have dreamed of this exact moment. The Ancient Emperor—the supreme overlord who once made all mortal existence bow in submission, the wielder of ultimate power capable of fusing life, death, and darkness. If I refine him and turn him into an absolute puppet under the Holy Church’s dominion, then this world... this weak and foolish humanity, will rest entirely in the palm of my hand!”
He tilted his face toward the hall’s ceiling, spreading his arms wide as if trying to embrace the very sky of authority he had always craved. His dark, raspy laughter echoed throughout the chamber, suffocating everyone present as though thousands of invisible hands were squeezing their throats shut.
“Never!” Tang Yue screamed until her vocal cords tore. She knew that if Sharlock succeeded in this scheme, the consequences would spell an unprecedented catastrophe in human history. Not a single soul could survive under the rule of an Ancient Emperor manipulated by a deranged lunatic like Sharlock.
“All units, listen up! Kill him! Do not let him near the sarcophagus under any circumstances!”
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Tang Yue struck first. The searing red flames of the phoenix fire erupted violently from her body, causing the ambient temperature in the hall to soar instantly by hundreds of degrees Celsius, turning the puddles on the floor into billowing columns of white steam. Waving her arm, she unleashed a razor-sharp phoenix-shaped fire trail, carrying the might to incinerate all things as it shot toward Sharlock in a zigzagging trajectory like lightning.
Right behind her, Lin Wu emitted a deep, resonant roar, slamming his heavy broadsword down into the stone floor to carve out a blazing wave of molten lava that cracked the rock face and surged forward like an armored beast to sweep away the enemy’s footing. Ye Xinlan did not hesitate for even half a second; her soul arrow, carrying a deep azure luminescence, tore through the air and locked dead-center onto Sharlock’s forehead—the fatal vulnerability of all living creatures.
Three pinnacle onslaughts from three Advanced Mages detonated in unison, coordinated so flawlessly there was not a single flaw to pick apart, sealing off every possible retreat route for Sharlock from top to bottom, left to right.
Yet, facing this destructive assault capable of flattening an entire hill, Sharlock did not even bother to blink. He stood frozen in place, his lips retaining their mocking, grotesque smirk.
When Tang Yue’s phoenix fire trail was less than a yard from his chest, Sharlock slowly lifted the staff in his hand, gently spinning it in a complete, flawless circle through the air.
Boom!
A thick, pitch-black shockwave surged outward from the “Darkness God Stone” atop the staff, forming a spherical shield that enveloped his entire body.
Crash! Boom! Bang!
The three ferocious assaults slammed into the black barrier like eggs thrown against solid rock. Tang Yue’s phoenix trail shattered into millions of microscopic sparks before extinguishing mid-air; Lin Wu’s lava wave was instantly assimilated and devoured without a trace the moment it touched the dark circle; and Ye Xinlan’s soul arrow had its trajectory warped by an unseen force, embedding itself deeply into the hall’s ceiling and sending a shower of sharp stone debris clattering down.
“What?!” Lin Wu’s eyes bulged wide, his expression painted with horrified disbelief at what he was witnessing. Just what terrifying realm had Sharlock’s power reached that he could dissolve their combined assault as casually as dusting off dirt?
“Did you truly think those scratching kittens could harm a Red Cardinal?” Sharlock coldly spat out each word, his voice carrying a terrifying coercion that weighed heavily on everyone’s shoulders, making their knees buckle and nearly forcing them to their knees. “The gap between you and me is like the abyss compared to the heavens. It is time this game ended.”
He no longer wished to waste time. His pale face suddenly turned ferocious, veins bulging thickly across his neck, his eyes rolling back to emit an evil, blood-red luminescence.
“Open your eyes wide and witness the grandest ritual in history unfold!”
Climax & Cliffhanger:
Sharlock let out a spine-chilling roar, gripping his staff of authority tightly with both hands and slamming it down fiercely against the black jade floor with terrifying force:
“Boom!”
A thunderous, earth-shaking explosion resounded as fractures erupted outward from the point of impact at breathtaking speed across the entire grand hall. And the most terrifying thing happened: Beneath Sharlock’s feet, hundreds of intricate subterranean grooves carved into the floor suddenly glowed brilliantly with a crimson red hue, as if freshly pumped with vibrant blood. Those thick, crimson streams instantly churned and surged, connecting directly from the black jade walls around the hall straight toward the central dais—where the Ancient Emperor’s crystal sarcophagus lay waiting, ready to absorb all vital energy and awaken an eternal nightmare!
The hearts of Tang Yue and the entire squad instantly plummeted to the bottom of a deep abyss. Was everything already too late, or was there still a single thread of hope left?
(End of Chapter 369)