The blood mist in the sky grew thicker and thicker.
For a moment, it even gave the adventurers an illusion—
as if an ocean of blood had formed overhead.
"Look over there!"
At that moment, one adventurer's startled cry instantly drew the attention of everyone nearby.
They followed his pointing finger toward the distant palace ruins.
But when they saw what was happening there, every one of them was left gaping.
"What… what is that?"
At this very moment, the entire palace ruin had risen and was floating high in the air.
Caelan gripped his longsword and stared at the terrifying fissure splitting the ground before him.
Within those cracks, a massive, crimson blood cocoon had formed—
like the chrysalis of an insect.
Thump. Thump.
On the surface of the cocoon, a rhythmic pulsing could be seen, like a beating heart.
Caelan braced himself, ready to strike at any moment.
And then he noticed something else.
Beside the blood cocoon lay a set of sacred armor—bronze-colored, ancient, and imposing.
Caelan recognized it almost instantly.
Because in the [Shattered Memories] he had obtained earlier, this very armor had appeared alongside the memory's owner again and again, participating in countless battles.
It was obvious:
The owner of that armor was the man named Volibel.
So what was inside this blood cocoon…?
As Caelan was thinking, a crisp sound—like a bubble popping—suddenly came from the cocoon's surface.
In the next instant, a humanoid figure formed from countless blood-flesh tentacles emerged before him.
It stood over ten meters tall, its entire body covered in blood-red vines and writhing tendrils.
As it stepped out of the cocoon, the armor fused into it on its own, merging seamlessly as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The instant Caelan saw it, he went blank.
"Bro… are you seriously trying to cosplay Vecna here?"
Soon, the adventurers standing atop the city walls also noticed the monster that had emerged from the blood cocoon.
But when they instinctively tried to inspect its status panel, disbelief spread across their faces.
[Name: Corrupted Sacred Armor]
[Level: 360]
[Skills: ???]
[Rank: ???]
[Description: The armor once belonged to the strongest awakener of a bygone age. He possessed a talent that allowed his HP to increase without limit—so much so that even gods could not easily kill him. Yet after a night of conspiracy and purge, the awakener vanished, and this armor became his legacy.]
"Wait—why is my panel missing information?!"
"Not just you! I even used [Appraisal], and I still couldn't see anything!"
"So what is this thing, exactly— a monster or equipment?"
"I'm leaning toward a monster formed after the blood mist fused with equipment!"
Most of the adventurers present accepted that conclusion. But then someone suddenly added:
"Then does that mean… that earthquake just now was caused by a piece of equipment?"
"Damn—if that's true, how insane do the stats have to be?!"
"If I had a piece of gear like that, I could stroll through Instances sideways!"
Just as they were lost in their fantasies, they abruptly noticed—
the monster's level had reached 360.
Even the entire Mylanne City had no one capable of opposing an existence like that.
In that instant, many adventurers recalled a terrifying event that had once struck the Empire—
an S-rank disaster.
The damage this [Corrupted Sacred Armor] could cause might very well trigger another S-rank catastrophe!
At the thought, many of them sucked in cold breaths.
The last time an S-rank disaster appeared, it had taken the combined forces of the Empire's Ten Great Guilds and five cardinal archbishops of the Church to resolve it.
Even then, humanity had paid a horrific price:
three cardinal archbishops and two guildmasters had died in battle.
"Why is this happening?!"
"Is an S-rank disaster… really about to descend on Mylanne City after all these years?"
"Run! If we don't run now, it'll be too late!"
"I don't want to die here!"
A wave of panic rippled through Mylanne City.
At the same time, the [Corrupted Sacred Armor] suddenly moved!
Vast amounts of energy began to gather around its body.
Sensing that terrifying surge, many adventurers went pale.
Before absolute power, their resistance would mean nothing.
To put it simply—aside from the City Lord of Mylanne City and the High Archbishop, everyone else was only in the tens of levels.
Not even enough to be a fraction of the [Corrupted Sacred Armor]'s level.
If battle broke out, they would be throwing their lives away.
The flesh within the [Corrupted Sacred Armor] churned violently, and the blood mist around it shifted in tandem, transforming dramatically.
"Crimson Killing Ground!"
In the blink of an eye, with the palace ruin as the center, an endless sea of blood surged across the ground within a radius of two hundred kilometers.
But this blood sea did not rise from beneath the earth—
it condensed from the blood mist in the air.
Within the Crimson Killing Ground, no living creature could escape.
All at once, everything around the adventurers turned blood-red.
"It's over… we can't get out anymore."
"Isn't anyone coming to save us?!"
"Can Mylanne City even withstand this?!"
"Don't worry. I believe the City Lord will save us!"
"And the High Archbishop is here too. We have to have faith in them!"
"I'm so unlucky… I'm just an ordinary person. Why do I have to face something this horrifying?!"
"City Lord—say something! Please!"
Ever since the game invaded reality, every nation had been placed under massive pressure for survival.
Sudden Instance descents, monster invasions, and countless natural disasters struck without warning.
After becoming an awakener, one could at least gain a sliver of power to protect themselves.
But ordinary people—those who had never awakened a class—
didn't even have the qualification to run.
They could only wait quietly for death.
At the highest point of Mylanne City's cathedral, High Archbishop Austin stared at the figure of the [Corrupted Sacred Armor] atop the palace ruin.
"Could this be… the armor of an ancient powerhouse recorded in the holy scriptures?"
"So what exactly happened on the Night of Conspiracy and Purge?"
Too many questions tangled in High Archbishop Austin's mind.
His gaze swept across the blood mist filling the sky, and he let out a cold laugh.
"It seems those creatures hiding in the darkness… have finally run out of patience and decided to act."