"That’s why I gave him a City Lord’s command token. With my token, Wizard Fei is practically half a City Lord himself."

Seeing Victor look at him again, Lewis smiled and said, "You’re not wrong. I am trying to get on his good side. A Silver Tier expert is worth my investment, regardless of whether he’s a Wizard or a Hunter..."

"...or a scumbag or a villain," Victor finished.

He suddenly understood why Lewis had allowed the Immortal Church to infiltrate.

He sighed deeply. "I finally understand why you chose not to become a Faith Knight all those years ago."

Lewis chuckled. "After all, once a scumbag finds faith, he’s no longer a villain."

—

「At this very moment, in the Underground Altar.」

The sensation of the blade slicing into flesh was incredibly smooth. It paused for a fraction of a second upon hitting the spine, but only for a moment, before severing it completely.

Ferdinand’s head fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, his lips still twisted in that hysterical, savage grin.

And at the very instant the blade tasted blood, Yalilan and her group burst out from the end of the tunnel.

They emerged just in time to see Baron beheading Ferdinand, and every single one of them froze in place.

Pair after pair of stunned eyes stared at the Demon Hunter and the head of the Iron Thorn Gang’s leader at his feet.

The crowd surged forward, yet complete silence reigned.

Baron looked at Ferdinand’s head on the ground. Even in death, it was still staring fixedly at him, and he felt a sense of unease.

He fired a few more shots into the head, torso, and each of the limbs, then nonchalantly collected the three ritual items that served as the array’s eyes from the long table. He decided he would ask Yalilan for the Canaan Tree Spike coated in corroding flower liquid later.

But just as he stepped off the altar, he suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air, along with shouts of "Look out!" from the crowd of Demon Hunters.

Baron twisted his body reflexively. A flash of a blade scraped a bloody line across his face. In his peripheral vision, he saw the blade flip, and he ducked as it skimmed past the back of his head with a faint whisper of air.

He spun around to see Ferdinand’s headless corpse standing up and placing its head—riddled with bullet holes—back onto its neck.

Its muscles bulged, the wounds healed, but no blood flowed out. It was clearly an Undead!

Yalilan reacted decisively, ordering the Demon Hunters to draw their blades and prepare for battle. She then drew her own Long Saber as Alchemy Circuits covered her entire body. The Bronze Branding, interlaced with Pure Silver, spread across her face like an exquisite Silver Mask.

Her Hunting Outfit and Long Saber whistled through the air in a sharp arc, descending upon Ferdinand and the weapon in his hand—a Bone Saber he had just pulled from between his ribs!

Ferdinand snorted coldly. The instant the blade fell, Alchemy Circuits—similar to [Burning Blood] but with subtle differences—enveloped his entire body!

Baron’s and Yalilan’s pupils contracted sharply.

Just like last time, the moment the Alchemy Circuits covered him, Ferdinand’s figure vanished on the spot, his aura surging explosively.

By the time he reappeared, five or six of the pursuing Demon Hunters had already fallen, and his figure was now at the entrance of the corridor!

His movements were ghostly, as swift as wind and thunder!

Before the others could even react, in the span of a few breaths, Ferdinand’s figure disappeared from the corridor entrance.

He escaped!

"We absolutely cannot let him leave! Once he completely digests that Magic Potion, I’m afraid he’ll advance to the Silver Tier," Zod said. "Everything we’ve done will have been for nothing!"

The words had barely left his mouth when three figures shot out in pursuit: Baron, Yalilan, and Andre.

They clearly understood that letting Ferdinand escape now was tantamount to releasing a tiger back to the mountains—it would only lead to endless trouble later.

Back in the Underground Altar, Yalilan ordered the remaining people to tend to the injured Demon Hunters. Then, the moment she rushed out of the corridor, she fired something into the sky that Baron assumed was a signal flare for reinforcements.

Ferdinand was incredibly fast. He was already close to the Silver Tier, and his strength had been enhanced by the blessing that helped him digest the Magic Potion, not to mention the explosive power of [Burning Blood]... Soon, he had left Baron’s group of three far behind, until they could no longer see his back.

Baron knew they couldn’t let this continue. If Ferdinand made it back to Fude City alive and completed the Trial to digest the rest of the Magic Potion...

’...with his Pseudo-Silver strength and the dual protection of the Iron Thorn Gang, I’ll probably be the one to suffer in the end.’

’It’s impossible to rely on Stephen to restrain him.’

’First of all, Stephen is only staying in Fude City temporarily. He’ll eventually be escorted by Yalilan to Gillian’s Capital Steel City.’

’As the saying goes, even a mighty dragon can’t crush a local snake.’

’Secondly, according to Yalilan, the reason Stephen thinks highly of me is that he believes I have the potential to reach the Silver Tier. He wants to win me over to help some Chairman Liuxia, the Elector of Gillian, become Emperor.’

’But after this ritual, Ferdinand will be a Silver Tier. With a ready-made Silver Tier available... even if he’s only a Pseudo-Silver, who would still care about someone with the *potential* to reach Silver Tier?’

’Although I’m a little dissatisfied with Stephen’s attitude...’

’But to put it another way, if I want to cling to a powerful patron, I first have to get rid of everyone else who wants to do the same!’

Yalilan stopped. Before her were two diverging paths.

Before Baron and Andre could catch up, she quickly chose one path and dashed down it, telling them to take the other.

’The two of us are supposed to chase Ferdinand? Forget whether we can even catch him. If we did, based on his performance in the Underground Altar, I’d say the odds are we’d be the ones getting killed.’

Baron shouted, "He’s about to become a Silver Tier..."

From a distance, Yalilan threw a black stone over. Baron caught it—it was an Annihilation Stone.

"Andre has a copper bell for communication! Just trail Ferdinand and keep him busy! I’ll come as soon as the signal flare sounds!"

Baron glanced at Andre. Andre just snorted coldly, looking mysterious.

He was suddenly reminded of what Yalilan had said when he was entering the tunnels—that Andre was from the Blood Faction.

He glanced at the red figure disappearing into the dense woods, said nothing more, and, steeling himself, headed down the other path with Andre.

As the old saying goes, shitty luck favors everyone who doesn’t want to step in shit.

After running along the edge of the dense forest for about ten minutes, they indeed saw tracks on the ground and broken branches on the surrounding trees, but they couldn’t be sure if it was Ferdinand.

So Andre didn’t ring the copper bell.

They got closer, and Baron’s keen hearing faintly picked up the sound of footsteps skimming across the ground.

The two became cautious. Andre’s Alchemy Circuits instantly covered his body. Perhaps because he was nearing the Bronze Tier, his circuits were Black Iron mixed with a bronze color.

Then he drew his Alchemy Weapons from his back—a pair of short-bladed knives.

Baron also drew a Spear Sword and loaded it, clutching the Annihilation Stone in his other hand, ready to trigger an Instant Burst on Ferdinand at a moment’s notice.

Andre asked him, "Why aren’t you activating your Alchemy Circuits?"

He remembered L’s Alchemy Circuits were red. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

’If I activate them, with that Spiritual Power consumption rate, I’d probably be on my knees before I even saw Ferdinand. Huh? Wait, why did the footsteps stop?’

As Baron sorted through the thoughts in his head, his finger tightening on the trigger, he had just bent down to examine the tracks on the ground when Andri’s shout echoed in his ear: "Look out!"

Perhaps from being ambushed too many times, the moment he heard the whistle of air by his ear, Baron reflexively flicked his wrist. The long blade shot out from the Spear Sword’s body, and he spun, slashing.

The blade met the attacker’s weapon with a clear, metallic ring.

His gaze dropped. The weapon was a Giant Axe. A thought struck Baron. ’Doesn’t Ferdinand use a Bone Blade?’

Following the axe handle up with their eyes, both men saw the attacker’s face clearly, and their gazes trembled.

He had a broad face, leopard-like eyes, and the build of a bear. The muscles on the arm swinging the Giant Axe were knotted and powerful.

To their astonishment, the attacker wasn’t Ferdinand, whom they had been chasing, but Faraday—the man who should have been dead, who had no reason to be here!

He was still alive!

’No,’ Baron thought, his expression turning grim from the unexpected attack as he fiercely swung his blade down. ’It’s more accurate to say Faraday became an Undead a long time ago.’

Faraday, a Bronze Demon Hunter, clearly hadn’t expected Baron to be so strong. He found himself somewhat outmatched.

His face turned pale from the strain. The words "Long time no see" he had been about to say were cut short by the BANG of a gunshot.

A large hole appeared in Faraday’s forehead, and he fell backward.

He struggled on the ground for a moment, then stopped twitching, as if he were dead.

But it was only an act. Baron knew that as an Undead, Faraday wouldn’t die so easily.

He wanted to use Dragon Flame to incinerate the Undead, just like the Witch did, but he was wary of Andre being there.

Suddenly, Baron seemed to realize something.

He looked around. Carmen, who had been by his side the whole time, was gone!?