Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Midnight.

29 Laine Avenue, Southern District.

Perhaps due to historical detours, this era, which should have been primitive and backward, was filled with things that should not have been there.

Just like this house number full of modern aura, in the city-states of ancient Greece, such an arrangement could never have existed.

Under the veil of night, Laine wore a suit of black, but his face had somehow taken on a different appearance.

This was the Hell System's first-ring Common Divine Art—Disguise Art—one that didn't restrict the object of faith; as long as you were a Godhood Practitioner who worshipped demons, you could obtain the right to use the art through prayer.

Like the most famous healing spells among Godhood Practitioners, the first-ring "Minor Healing" and the third-ring "Moderate Healing," which were Order Series Common Divine Arts. As long as the deity you worshipped was not some chaotic monster, you could use this type of divine art.

As for the effect of Disguise Art, it allowed the recipient to change their appearance for half an hour, with the duration and extent of the change depending on the caster's skill and professional rank.

So to outsiders, the figure walking through the shadows in the Southern District now appeared to be a middle-aged man whose face seemed to tell a myriad of stories. He seemed to meld with the shadows, difficult for ordinary people to detect.

Tap tap—

The sound of footsteps rose around Laine, but they did not carry to the outside world. The shadows swallowed all noise as he crossed fences, entering the garden of number 29.

There was pitch darkness inside the distant house, no sounds of breathing came through, only some cleaning servants and guards around, looking like they were in the wrong place.

'Quite alert, but still not good enough.'

Under Spiritual Vision, Transcendent forces leave traces that fade over time, but fixed realm marks do not.

Like now, Laine could clearly see that there was supposed to be a basement in the house, with magical traps set at the entrance.

And in the basement...

'...a bit presumptuous, there are still preparations inside. Ordinary people looking directly at the deity statue under a Transcendent perspective would probably not end well.'

Quickly correcting his judgment, Laine also realized something.

In this era, although many Transcendent Professionals had various methods to detect mysterious fluctuations, most people were actually afraid to use them, only high-ranking Godhood Practitioners would dare to relax their standards a bit.

After all, many things, although not very destructive when left alone, that didn't mean you could just look at them recklessly, such as the statues of deities.

'First, to get rid of these troublesome people.'

Discerning the wind direction and finding an upwind location, Laine relaxed the constraints of his divine art, letting out a faint sound.

He searched his ancient memories and finally hummed the melody of the "Goldberg Variations" in a soft voice.

Under the influence of Transcendent power, the music not only failed to raise the alarm, but silently induced drowsiness in them... After a while, feeling the timing was enough, Laine boldly pushed open the front door and walked in.

The servants on night duty had fallen asleep; they probably had no idea what their mistress was involved in.

Guided by the direction of the magical aura, Laine easily found the entrance to the basement.

"Disarming it will take time... might as well brute force it."

The best solution for this kind of magical trap was to trigger it a few times. After all, from the aura, the energy it contained wasn't that substantial.

Bang—

Bang—

Bang—
Enjoy new chapters from empire

...

Three muffled sounds rang out, not too loud; after all, this was the basement of a cult member, who probably didn't want the things she had set up to cause too much noise, or perhaps they weren't meant to guard against enemies but to deal with accidental intruders like thieves.

Seeing the trap activated, Laine flipped into the opening and, unsurprisingly, saw a lavishly decorated small prayer room.

The Lady Samer he had seen during the day was now passed out in the center of the prayer room, being an agility-focused first-rank professional, she had unsurprisingly succumbed to it.

Striding forward, Laine glanced at the deity statue—an unfamiliar image, a faceless woman with peacock feather ornaments on her head.

Confirming his guess once more, Laine approached Lady Samer and then stabbed down without hesitation.

"Ah—"

With a scream, Samer woke from her slumber.

The pain in her arm instinctively made her want to struggle, but the cold at her throat caused her to freeze on the spot.

"Good, strong mental fortitude, not acting irrationally amid fear and surprise."

Nodding, the sound created under the effect of the first-ring Common Divine Art—Illusory Sound Art—echoed from all directions, while Laine himself did not utter a word.

"...what are you going to do, hiss—better calm down, you probably don't know who we are."

Caught off guard, Lady Samer quickly grasped the reality of the situation.

She looked at the middle-aged man in front of her, trying to show a smile.

Although with the pain in her arm, the smile didn't look good at all.

"You're not here specifically to capture us, otherwise, you wouldn't give me a chance to talk. The Church of Knowledge has ways to dig secrets out of my memory, their unique trick... Could it be that we have had a conflict before?"

"If so, I can apologize to you, and I can make reparations... If you're simply here for wealth, we can give you what you want, we can even collaborate—"