Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

"This is 95B27, this is 95B27. If you hear me, please respond. If you hear me, please respond."

Bai E pressed his earpiece, his voice echoing in lonely resonance.

In his own ears, and possibly in every corner of the passages.

No response.

Everyone was silent, sinking into silence, or waiting for possible rescue.

Bai E closed the channel and sighed softly.

The dark dungeon remained fearsome—every unwatched corner seemed like a writhing shadow, brewing malice in the dark.

Courage couldn't always inspire Bai E's body; the bewildered fear of the caverns invaded his body at all times.

But Bai E, not immediately overwhelmed by fear, was trying to fight against this feeling.

Once he bravely took the first step in resistance, mere emotions could no longer depress his will.

Mere drifters were not the enemy; the true threat loomed over them.

Who exactly?

He didn't know.

But going deeper might reveal the answer.

The same journey, but without his teammates by his side.

Those who had said they could be relied on in an emergency had long since fallen silent.

However, precisely because of the solitude... because there were no teammates to depend on, he had become stronger.

This time it wasn't about redemption for anyone else, but solely about his own redemption.

The target was his own heart.

Seedlings accompanied his heartbeat and spread throughout his body with his blood; Bai E could feel those evil tendrils taking root and sprouting within him.

They wanted to feed on fear, to completely corrupt him into becoming their servant.

Let's see then...

Let's see whether you make me kneel, or whether I will overthrow your reign.

Bai E moved swiftly, even more familiar with the route he had already traversed, the characteristic sand on the ground forming a clear path under night vision.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Suddenly, at a fork with many cave mouths, Bai E heard echoes coming from one of the tunnels.

Gunshots!

Teammates who had lost their ability to communicate?

Or those drifters?

"Bang!"

Another short gunshot echoed, then fell silent.

A simple emotional outburst, or a clash between two forces?

Bai E's eyes flickered, and he opened the pathfinder hourglass also at his waist. Then he cautiously stepped into the passage from which the gunshots had come.

There was no need to deal with the safety of his teammates for the moment; what the other side needed was the emotion of fear itself, and only living creatures could provide fear.

Even if he took their bodies away, it wouldn't help; their hearts... had already been linked to some strange existence.

Only by facing fear could he save himself.

And only by defeating fear could he resolve it all.

Before discovering the truth, every unexpected finding could be a small part of the truth.

The passage was pitch-black, but the night vision goggles provided a certain degree of visible field.

However, the view was filled with winding, twisting underground passages, with endless obstacles blocking the view, one couldn't even see things beyond three meters.

Only the sound could...

As Bai E stepped into the passage, sounds that were not as obvious as the gunshots but just as discernible in the quiet began to grow clearer.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Irregular thuds and vibrations like a hammer smashing a wall resounded, accompanied by... screams.

"Ahh!"

"Help..."

"He's gone mad..."

"Bang!"

As Bai E rounded a corner, two bodies appeared in the night vision.

The soldier pinned to the wall was dripping a thick mixture of saliva and blood from his mouth, his body hung on the irregular protrusions of the wall like a piece of rotten meat, his entire form mashed flat against the rugged surface.

Only his head seemed to retain its complete structure, issuing a final warning with a whisper-thin voice.

"He... has gone mad..."

He...

It was the Blood God.

The massive Blood God turned his head to look over, his blood-red eyes especially sinister through the night vision goggles—the terrifying glow piercing through the slightly distorted view and keenly perceived by Bai E.

His muscles swelled, the violent, bloody aura almost filling the cramped space.

"What are you doing!"

Bai E held his gun with both hands, questioning coldly.

The bloodthirsty Blood God pointed to the mangled body on the wall, a smile flickering across his face, "He no longer deserves to be a soldier of the empire, offering his strength to demons; only death can redeem him!"

"Demons?" Bai E squinted his eyes.

"Can't you smell it? The scent of demons in the air?" said the Blood God, pausing suddenly in mid-speech, as if waking from his intoxicated expression to look at Bai E, "Oh right... you can't smell it. You're not like them; you haven't become a part of the demon."

He extended a bloody hand, "Join me, and together we'll cut through this den of sin."

"And what about you?" Bai E stepped back unobtrusively.

Atop the Blood God's head, his identity now shone brightly—

[95A09/Blood God (Human) (Chaotic) (Elite)——Using "Lucky Strike" to kill may drop: Guaranteed (Fresh Meat*2400, Battle Experience 3500 points, Gaze: Blood's Stare); High Probability (Trait: Regenerative Blood, Mastery: Combat Specialization Layer +1, not to exceed level 6, Mastery: Agility Weapon Specialization Layer +1, not to exceed level 6); Possible (Skill: Extreme Pain Suppression, Feat: Fury's Surge).]

Even without the display of drop rates, Bai E could tell from his performance that his current state was far from normal.

He had been on a mission with the Blood God before; the towering figure only fought in silence, dutifully carrying out his superior's orders, showing not the slightest hint of the... madness, the arrogance he was displaying now.

When did the change begin?

A covert mission?

The return journey?

Or was it right now?

Fear had plunged his teammates into a dark tremor, yet this most formidable warrior used arrogance to mask his fear?

A demon?

"They haven't become part of a demon…"

They had only been temporarily invaded by a demon. Bai E raised his guns, the dark muzzles aiming at the head of the Blood God.

"The real demon incarnate... is yourself!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Machine guns are ill-suited for confined tunnels; the sound of the pistol's gunfire bounced futilely within the underground channel.

At the first sign of Bai E's attack, the Blood God's colossal body easily retreated, exploiting the terrain to dodge the bullets.

Within seven steps, a gun is quicker.

But in the cave's environment... there were no clear paths of seven steps.

Darkness, silence.

Taking advantage of the complex passages to retreat easily, Bai E lost sight of the Blood God after advancing just two steps.

The soldier's faint groans reached his ears, and Bai E, unable to bear the sight, turned his gun toward the soldier's head instead.

"Bang! Bang!"

After two shots rang out, Bai E tightened his grip on the gun handle and chased through the tunnel from which the Blood God had fled.

A demon? Let it be a demon!

It was just as he had anticipated before his departure.

Suffering is the perfect breeding ground for demonic beliefs; it's a reluctant choice for wilderness refugees with nowhere to turn.

It's just that he didn't know... the background of this demon.

The four major demons You had introduced were simply the foremost among higher-dimensional demons; even the clueless commoners might have heard of their notoriety.

But below the four Demon Gods, countless greater demons and lesser demons exist.

All extreme emotions of all sentient beings are capable of coalescing in higher-dimensional space, potentially giving rise to specific demons.

So could this demon be the one that rules over fear?

Having such a multitude of people's mental "worship," Bai E did not know whether the demon could incarnate in true form, nor was he overly familiar with the field of demonology.

What was clear was that the Blood God had already caught a demon's attention, becoming Its chosen one.

Striking down the chosen one is also a way to weaken the demon's power.

Perhaps by killing the Blood God, the chosen disciple of the demon, he could diminish the power of the current demon, thereby lessening Its control over You and the others.

It was both a rescue for his teammates and a redemption for himself.

The battle that didn't happen in the arena that night could be settled right now.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The only oddity was... why would the Blood God, the chosen disciple, invite him to slay his way through this nest?

Is it some kind of way to elevate oneself?

Or is it inherent to the demon's nature?

Or perhaps, is it just a lie to lower one's guard?

But none of that matters.

Many things in this world are chaotic and unknown, but battle never deceives.

While many things are shrouded in mystery, in the end, they still lead to an inevitable fight.

Gun in right hand, left holding a dagger pressed under the gun handle, Bai E remained on high alert while he ventured into the dark corridor.

Each winding turn in the tunnel might be an opportunity for the Blood God to launch a sudden attack.

Even though the enemy had temporarily retreated, he clearly wouldn't give up on finding him.

In this dark and complex labyrinth of tunnels, hunter and prey hunt each other, with roles possibly reversing at any moment.

"Click~"

Bai E, whose vision was limited due to night-vision goggles, kicked something squishy without noticing it right away until he looked down to inspect.

Night-vision goggles?

They lay quietly on the ground, looking somewhat distorted at the lenses.

Did they belong to the soldier who had just died?

After the sudden assault, losing this device may have been what caused him to be completely outmatched by the Blood God.

However... why haven't the soldier attacked by the Blood God turned into an immobile "stone sculpture" like You and the others?

Perhaps that was exactly why he had attracted the Blood God's attention and was specifically targeted.

But why didn't he respond to Bai E over the voice comms?

Bai E narrowed his eyes, burying these suspect thoughts deep in his heart, awaiting the final revelation.

Shifting his gaze, Bai E continued to move carefully forward.

As he walked, Bai E could feel his limbs trembling slightly.

With self-control imposed, forcibly-induced fear no longer caused Bai E's will to falter, but the omnipresent spirit of fear still stirred the seed of fear within.

It circumvented his will and deceived his own body.

Trembling, weakening...

It was inevitable.