Chapter 1 The Gorgon Temple

Before the Gorgon Temple, Suren and the others received news of an enemy attack without any surprise.

After all, the enemy was bound to come.

Moreover, since the Holy Son Frank had come alone before and was seriously injured, it was unlikely that anyone would come alone to die again.

If the enemy really wanted to come in large numbers, they would have to wait a long time.

This time was enough for them to prepare slowly.

Medusa Queen went to the temple to accept the inheritance, and there was a special engineering team to arrange the defense. The three main combat forces, Suren, Qiandiao, and Mr. Black, seemed a little idle.

Even with a big battle imminent, Mr. Black was as calm as ever. After waiting for a while, he seemed to have developed a strong interest in the history of this temple and began to look at the buildings everywhere.

They couldn't enter the temple, but there was no problem looking around.

As he looked, Mr. Black took out various professional measuring tools and began various measurements of the palace.

Soon he discovered something interesting, muttering as he looked, "Oh, that's strange. Judging from the style of this building, it doesn't seem to be a product of the Dawn Era. It looks more like an ancient style from a more distant past. I saw related archaeological records in the Luying Library before. Only the Gu Di (Ancient Earth) who are good at engineering would measure buildings with such precision."

As he spoke, he aimed his observation mirror at the building complex, and seemed to have discovered something again, exclaiming, "Oh, even after countless years, these main buildings are still so precise. This is definitely an Ancient Earth relic!"

Suren listened to this and looked over with interest.

Although he wasn't a professional archaeologist, he knew a lot about archaeology.

Looking at the style of the building, he also thought that what Mr. Black said made sense, so he continued the topic and said, "Could it be that the Gorgon clan enslaved people to build the temple? Or did the Gorgon clan occupy the original palace?"

Mr. Black smiled mysteriously when he heard this, "I prefer the latter."

He added, "If you look closely, is there a slight difference between the style of the reliefs depicting Gorgon mythology and the main style of the building? Although the craftsmen who carved these patterns tried their best to imitate them, no matter how they tried to make up for it, the Ancient Earth techniques were not so easy to touch. The difference in skills left this sense of discontinuity."

Suren listened and took a closer look, suddenly realizing, "That's really the case!"

Mr. Black had obviously seen more, and said, "Moreover, I suspect that this temple is the same as the ancient city of Atlantis we encountered in the cursed space. It may have the function of a 'temple' or a 'tomb'. The layout of the building itself has the effect of gathering supernatural power. That's why it became the ancestral land of the Gorgon clan."

Suren listened with great interest, "Is that so?"

The two of them could chat about archaeology, but Qiandiao on the side seemed a little bored.

She obviously couldn't get too interested in things that required thinking, and complained, "Ah... what's so good about studying a pile of broken rocks?"

In comparison, she was more interested in the black water pool, and casually kicked a stone into the water.

There wasn't even a "plop" sound of falling into the water. When the stone was a dozen centimeters above the surface of the water, it was corroded by the poisonous gas rising from the black water pool, making a "sizzling" sound, and immediately turned into a wisp of green smoke and disappeared.

Qiandiao raised her eyebrows and said, "What a strong toxin."

Suren glanced over and reminded, "Sister Qiandiao, don't get too close. The poisonous gas emitted from this pool can paralyze the nerves. If you inhale too much, it can be very hallucinogenic."

Hearing this, Mr. Black showed his signature kind smile and said to Qiandiao, "Archaeology is actually very interesting. It looks like a pile of 'broken rocks,' but it actually hides a lot of key information. Just like this black water pool in front of us, it's built on the central axis of the temple, which is a very special location in ancient civilizations, especially those with divine beliefs. This shouldn't just be an ordinary pool, but a special location with other uses. I suspect that there may be some kind of energy-gathering rune array underground, which is why it has condensed the poisonous miasma in the forest into a pool for countless years. Maybe there are some high-level treasures below, who knows..."

"Treasure?"

Qiandiao blinked.

She had a clueless expression on her face. *Why didn't I see it?*

Hearing this, Suren also approached the pool to take a look.

Actually, he had felt that there was something wrong with this black water pool before, but he couldn't see what was wrong.

Now that he heard what Mr. Black said, he also thought it was very possible.

However, no matter what secrets were below, they shouldn't explore rashly without the owner's permission.

The group looked around near the temple, occasionally cleaning up the moss-covered stone tablets and reading the incomplete texts left by ancient civilizations.

Suren and Mr. Black also interpreted more and more useful information.

In this way, time passed in leisurely archaeology.

Three or four hours later, the enemy's ships appeared in sight of Coco Losi Island.

…

"Mr. Suren, Observation Point Seven has observed the enemy approaching the island. There are a total of thirty-odd ships, landing from four directions..."

"The snake groups in the forest are also acting strangely. There should be high-level Lamias on the island. Be careful."

"The bombs in the target area have been installed and are waiting for the detonation order at any time."

"The Eternal Night is already in battle position, waiting for the order to fire..."

A series of messages came from the communicator.

Suren looked at the two people beside him and said calmly, "Prepare for battle."

Qiandiao, who was sleeping on a rock, jumped up, with a look on her face that said her broadsword was already eager for battle, "Ah, is the war finally starting?"

Mr. Black, on the other hand, was still as unhurried as ever. When he heard that the war was about to begin, he slowly put away his archaeological tools and said, "The enemy is a little slower than expected. It seems they should have prepared something special."

Suren also smiled and said, "That's right. Thirty ships have come together. This is a full-scale mobilization. The next battle may be a fierce one."

Qiandiao and Mr. Black listened in silence.

They had already prepared.

Those people in the Celestial Realm now knew most of the Dawn Mercenary Corps' combat power. They knew that there was the old Sword God Bartolo on their ship, and they also knew that there was Suren who could seriously injure the Holy Son Frank.

So naturally, no one would dare to come and die alone, not even an eighth-order Archmage.

The Dawn Mercenary Corps would have a greater advantage in a legion-to-legion battle.

After all, the range and accuracy of the cannons on those pirate ships could almost be ignored. They couldn't even hit the Gorgon Temple in the center of Coco Losi Island.

Only the Dawn Mercenary Corps could hit the enemy, and the enemy couldn't hit the Dawn Mercenary Corps.

So if the enemy wanted to surround and kill them, they had to land on the island.

A black crow was flying in the sky, and Suren shared its vision, only seeing a misty area.

Those Celestial Realm guys used "fog of war" when they came, making it impossible to tell the exact location of their battleships.

However, because detection devices had been set up earlier, and with the perception abilities of Tani and his mother, the Dawn Mercenary Corps had already grasped the positions of almost all enemy pirate ships.

In the communicator, Tani's report came again, "Mr. Suren, it has been confirmed that two Sea King-class battleships of the enemy are landing near marker point 46, and another one is near 77. A large number of people are disembarking. They have begun landing on the island."

Hearing this, Suren looked at Qiandiao and the others beside him, "Let's act according to the original plan. I'll go and take care of those pirate ships first to eliminate future troubles. I'll leave the temple here to you two for the time being."

Qiandiao and the others nodded.

Just as they were talking, they could already hear rustling sounds coming from the jungle. This was a sign that the poisonous snake groups had begun to move again.

Those Lamias who landed on the island were probably launching the Snake Sea Disaster again.

Originally, this was an unsolvable disaster for humans, but this time they weren't completely unprepared.

At this time, Suren and the others each took out a small glass bottle.

The small glass bottle contained a tube of light golden blood, which was [Medusa Queen's Blood of Redemption], which could immunize against various curses that were not higher than the blood itself for a certain period.

Especially against the "Petrification Curse."

This was the blood from Medusa Queen's right atrium.

It was the best item to deal with the Lamias' petrification curse.

Taking the blood itself would definitely harm her body, and it would also restrain Medusa herself. If they hadn't signed a deep cooperation alliance and had enough trust, she would never have provided this golden blood.

The three smeared the blood on their eyes, and immediately felt a burst of coolness.

Suren looked at his attribute panel, and a temporary buff state of "Petrification Curse Immunity" had been added.

In other words, even if they looked directly at the Lamias now, it wouldn't be a big problem.

Even the curse rays of high-level Lamias wouldn't turn them into stone statues in seconds.

Having this thing was also the most important reason why they dared to agree to land on the island.

Having made preparations, Suren didn't delay any longer and said to Qiandiao and the others, "I'll go first."

He pinched a Warlock seal, and his whole person disappeared on the spot.

…

Just as those guys from the Celestial Realm were landing, dense artillery fire suddenly exploded in the sky above Coco Losi Island.

The Eternal Night used the range advantage of the cannons on the ship to carry out firepower coverage on the confirmed landing locations of the enemy ships.

It wasn't about killing how many enemies, but sinking the ships first would be a big advantage.

The magic legions needed to spread out according to certain formation angles to set up super-order magic arrays, and it was impossible for several ten-thousand-man magic groups to gather together.

This gave the artillery a chance to play its role.

Moreover, according to the current intelligence, the enemy was divided into at least four landing points, and seemed to be preparing some kind of super-large legion magic array.

How could Suren let them get their way?

Naturally, he had to strike first.

The surrounding scenery changed, and he had already appeared on the coast, where a Sea King-class battleship and three medium-sized pirate ships were parked.

Legion magic shields had already been deployed, and the mages were resisting the artillery shells falling from the sky while busily landing on the island to set up some kind of magic array.

Suren held the rune black umbrella in his hand, and he immediately sensed that there were tens of thousands of people densely packed on the ship.

This was a fully staffed ten-thousand-man magic group.

The subtle spatial fluctuations of Suren's teleportation obviously alarmed the enemy.

In an instant, three fire pythons surged over from the sea.

This was seventh-order arcane magic, but Suren wasn't flustered. He pinched a Warlock seal and shouted softly in his heart, "Arcane Puppet Theater."

This set of Warlock seals was extremely skilled, and in the blink of an eye, a huge cross was rapidly condensed in the sky.

With the blessing of the alchemical holy object Philosopher's Stone, Suren's spellcasting efficiency was several times faster than before.

While casting the spell, he could also raise his hand and summon a gargoyle to block in front of him. The gargoyle spread its arms, and a spatial black hole appeared, instantly swallowing the three fire pythons into the void.

In this moment of delay, dozens of terrifyingly powerful spells were suddenly released from the four battleships in the distance. Lightning, fire snakes, hail, waves, wind blades... The legion magic condensed by a thousand-man group was released in a covering manner towards the entire sea surface.

In the past, Suren would avoid ten-thousand-man magic groups.

Especially magic groups that had condensed into battle formations, they could fight and resist, and even ninth-order professionals couldn't do anything about them for a while.

But now…

Suren's pupils narrowed slightly.

The enemy had ten-thousand-man groups, but he had them too.

Suren teleported to mid-air, avoiding the first round of magic barrage.

These magic attacks exploded on the sea surface, creating waves dozens of meters high, with terrifying power!

However, just as those guys on the pirate ships wanted to use the second round of magic alternately, he didn't avoid it, but suddenly pulled out dozens of spatial seal scrolls.

The scrolls exploded with a "bang," "bang," "bang."

Under the sunlight, the sky suddenly flickered with silver light.

Looking more closely, there appeared in the sky metallic gargoyles with ferocious expressions, burly bodies, and wings.

Not hundreds, not even the previous thousand... There were a full ten thousand of them!

These puppets spread out, a dark mass, covering the sky and the sun!

Suren summoned the Gargoyle Legion, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he shouted coldly in his heart, "Puppet Secret Technique: Ten Thousand Soldiers Formation."

The threads in the sky instantly connected the puppets, and each gargoyle seemed to come alive, the energy core inside their bodies lighting up.

Ten thousand gargoyles surrounded Suren in the center, all raising their hands, and a group of space black vortexes that distorted the line of sight appeared, just in time to meet the dozens of incoming magic spells.

The dozens of high-level magic spells of the legion that had previously exploded on the sea surface were now all silent. Most of the magic was swallowed into the void by the gargoyles.

Even if a small amount of magic penetrated the defensive battle formation and hit the metal bodies of the gargoyles with their super-high magic resistance, it didn't hurt or itch.

Mages formed legions, and gargoyles were also gathered into legion battle formations.

Looking closely from the sky, these ten thousand gargoyles also secretly matched a nine-pointed star alchemical array.

Suren had considered various combined attack functions for super-large legions when designing the gargoyles, such as how to defend and share damage, and how to release higher-order spells with combined attacks.

Today's [Ten Thousand Soldiers Formation] was not as simple as just ten thousand gargoyles.

While the number increased sharply, it also brought about a huge change in quality!

Suren's current divine power in the Divine Wandering Realm allowed him to precisely control almost every gargoyle.

After being hit by the second round of magic, the void runes on the gargoyles lit up in unison.

After these ten thousand gargoyles activated the super-large legion alchemical array, violent spatial fluctuations suddenly surged in the sky.

A large-scale spatial distortion, as if the plane was about to collapse, was a terrifying spell that even top professionals would turn pale upon seeing!

Suren's expression froze, and he shouted in his heart, "Forbidden Spell: Myriad Layered Spatial Demise!"

The Dawn Mercenary Corps had enough void materials, so the ability that was endowed most on this batch of gargoyles was the power of the void.

The average combat power of a gargoyle was currently equivalent to a fifth-order professional, so the combined attack of ten thousand fifth-orders, like the magic legion of the Celestial Realm, was enough to kill a ninth-order!

And the disadvantage of the Celestial Realm's legion battle formation was that they couldn't move at will. Once the formation was destroyed, the consequences would be even worse.

But gargoyles could stand and let magic bombard them, flesh and blood bodies couldn't.

Even if the ten-thousand-man magic group had fully supported the magic shield, it seemed pale and powerless under this terrifying spatial fluctuation.

In this instant, the nine-pointed star array in the sky had reached its peak.

Just as the spell was about to collapse and impact down, suddenly, a sudden change occurred!

Those mages knew that they couldn't stop Suren's legion alchemy, so at this time, a mysterious person wearing a cloak suddenly appeared on the deck of the Sea King-class battleship.

Even though the black cloak covered the whole body, how could Suren not recognize that this was a high-level Lamia?

It was one of those in the Snake Sea Disaster that had besieged the Dawn Mercenary Corps before. He had remembered the soul fluctuations and would never mistake them again.

Suren had discovered from the beginning that there were high-level Lamias hidden on the ship, so he was naturally prepared. Besides, he was not afraid at all after smearing [Medusa Queen's Blood of Redemption].

These guys naturally knew that they had to deal with the puppet controller in order to reverse the situation.

In that instant, the mysterious man on the deck suddenly lifted his cloak!

The sky full of snake hair looked towards Suren in the puppet group, and in an instant, gray light shot out all over the sky.

Suren was probably the first human in countless years who dared to look directly at the petrification curse light.

His left eye turned with a stream of light, vaguely understanding something, and he murmured in his heart, "God-level high-level earth laws, so that's how it is..."

Omniscient Eye identified some special law fluctuations, and understood some tricks.

But there was no time to think about it, and the gray light had already shone all over his body.

Suren obviously felt that his eyes were stiff, and his whole person seemed to be paralyzed.

But this feeling only lasted for a moment, and a more powerful force in his body dispelled this paralysis.

Suren experienced the legendary petrification curse of the Lamia family for a moment, and felt very wonderful.

As for those petrified gargoyles, Suren didn't care much.

He had tested it before. The gargoyles had restoration characteristics, and even if they were temporarily petrified, they would slowly recover, and the materials were still there.

There were ten thousand gargoyles here, only because he could barely control so many, but it didn't mean that he only had so many.

There were still many finished puppets in the Little Void Realm.

At this moment, the Lamia released the petrification ray, but it didn't stop Suren from casting the spell. The nine-pointed star array in the sky had completely condensed.

Under the confused and horrified eyes of the mages on the pirate ship, this forbidden-level spatial spell was released.

A twisted black light with a diameter of more than ten meters rushed towards the legion magic shield.

The legion magic met the legion alchemy. The spear and shield touched, and the two sides only persisted for a moment. Suddenly, there was a loud "boom," like a punctured balloon. A violent shock wave erupted on the sea surface.

Spatial laws had almost a restraining effect on all common magic. Suren had already estimated the bearing limit of the ten-thousand-man group, so this strike was bound to succeed!

When [Myriad Layered Spatial Demise] exploded, there were cracking sounds everywhere on the pirate ship. The mast was broken, and several huge cracks appeared on the deck. The ten-thousand-man group on the ship was instantly disrupted, limbs and broken arms flew around, and screams were endless.

Countless space cracks appeared, and those fifth and sixth-order mages couldn't regroup in a short time.

The ten-thousand-man magic array was broken!

At this moment, the ten-thousand-man group revealed a huge flaw in Suren's eyes!

Seeing this, he didn't delay at all. The shadow of the God of Death appeared behind him, and the faint green soul fire on his body rose. His whole person had disappeared in place.

At the same time, the gargoyle army rushed towards the collapse of the ten-thousand-man group, and then frantically tore the opening.

Suren teleported to the side of the Lamia who was still puzzled, and then slapped it with a palm.

Even if the petrification curse was useless, the Lamias had a tyrant body close to that of an eighth-order professional, and ordinary means couldn't hurt them at all!

However, [Death God's Fire] directly burned the soul.

The Lamia hadn't understood what happened, but suddenly felt its soul burning.

It wanted to escape in horror, and its head full of snake hair danced in panic.

However, how could Suren let her leave?

He completely ignored the petrification curse and grabbed the Lamia's arm, and the Death God's fire on the surface of his body poured into the Lamia's body even more frantically.

The Lamia had already felt the fear of death coming. It still wanted to struggle, and its head full of snake hair frantically released gray light in all directions.

However, this dying struggle not only didn't stop its death, but the petrification light was released indiscriminately. Those mages on the surrounding deck who wanted to surround and kill Suren were all petrified into lifelike stone sculptures.

In an instant, Suren had already felt that its soul had collapsed. With a stroke of his right hand's rune black umbrella, he pulled the Lamia's incomplete soul out of its body.

The shadow of the God of Death then took it away, and the Lamia had completely lost its vitality.

The soul dissipated, but a complete high-level Lamia corpse was left behind.

This was a top material for making puppets!

Suren's eyes flashed with joy, and he quickly put away the corpse.

He turned his eyes again, and the ten-thousand-gargoyle army had rushed into the collapse of the ten-thousand-man group, and then frantically tore the opening.