Hero? Are You Worthy?

The originally dark green magic potion had turned into a dark red hue, faintly foreboding.

A strong stench wafted from the mouth of the glass bottle.

The smell was nauseating.

It was as if a corpse had been rotting for an unknown amount of time. Catherine and Asina both felt a bit queasy. Even with some distance between them and the stench, it made them want to vomit.

But for Rose Vesper, the smell seemed particularly fragrant.

Rose Vesper was completely unaffected by the nauseating odor escaping the bottle. Her face was even adorned with infinite intoxication, and her nostrils were flaring as she breathed in forcefully.

This was the liquid that could save Lord Jie Luo.

No matter how the smell was, in Rose Vesper's eyes, it was wondrous.

Rose Vesper seemed to be completely immersed in it, her body even trembling in excitement.

Her beautiful eyes were widened in an almost exaggerated manner, looking somewhat eerie.

Her slender neck moved subtly, producing a series of soft creaking sounds.

In the eyes of Catherine and Asina, the two women exchanged glances and could feel the numbness of fear on their scalps… Rose Vesper seemed… to have gone mad.

This appearance was hardly better than that of Wozworth, who was once corrupted by the aura of the Evil God.

"Rose Vesper, can we start now?" Asina took a deep breath and urged from behind.

Rose Vesper was shocked out of her intoxication because she had already retrieved all of Jie Luo's soul fragments and the hero's blood. Asina and Catherine no longer had any leverage over her, and the two were trapped.

Rose Vesper's attitude towards the two naturally changed, no longer as close as before. She was even dissatisfied with Asina for interrupting her reverie, but Asina was right: it was time to begin.

No longer hesitating, she retrieved all of Jie Luo's prepared soul fragments from her storage ring.

Six soul fragments shimmered with bright luster in her pale palm, as beautiful as gems.

According to the requirements of the Resurrection Technique, the soul fragments needed to be placed on the lines of the inner circle of the magic array.

The distance and angle between each soul fragment had to be even.

Rose Vesper had already taken the most precise measurements for these points. She was confident there was no error. Yet, even so, when placing them, Rose Vesper was still somewhat apprehensive, meticulously observing each soul fragment several times.

What should have been a very simple task took Rose Vesper a long time, nearly an entire hour to complete.

When the last soul fragment was placed down, Rose Vesper let out a long breath, her forehead drenched in sweat, some golden strands clinging to her cheeks, making her appear a bit untidy.

Then, without resting, Rose Vesper took a short breath, quickly picked up the prepared liquid, and quickly approached the beginning of the magic array, cautiously tilting the bottle to watch the scarlet liquid drip down.

Immediately, a weird scene unfolded.

On this giant stone plate, only the lines drawn by Rose Vesper were there, with nothing like grooves beneath them.

But when the dark red viscous liquid fell, as if summoned and guided by some mysterious force, it immediately began flowing along the lines of the magic array.

On the stone plate, the dark red color spread rapidly.

At almost the same time, deep within the Demon Territory, Demon King Nage was anxiously pacing back and forth in a newly built secret room.

This unease came from another consciousness within his body... Jie Luo's soul was wailing in near lament, enveloping Demon King Nage's consciousness in an indescribable suppression.

They didn't know what was about to happen, yet the unseen crisis grew thicker.

Like a viscous liquid, it had completely entwined their bodies and even their souls.

It was like an enormous whirlpool, from which even beings with their mighty strength struggled to escape.

It was yet another long span of time.

Longer than it took to place Jie Luo's soul fragments.

Rose Vesper had to ensure that the flow of liquid remained within a certain range, neither too fast to cause it to disperse nor too slow to interrupt it.

Nearly two hours passed, and the last drop of liquid fell from the bottle.

By now, the entire stone plate-the magic array-had completely turned into a dark red color, shimmering with an eerie sheen under the silver-white moonlight.

Rose Vesper did not stand up but knelt on one knee, pressing a hand against the magic array, and glanced at Catherine and Asina across from her.

The three women's gazes met.

In the next instant, magic power surged from Rose Vesper's palm into the magic array.

Buzz…

In that instant, Rose Vesper felt the abundant magic power within her, like a wave, being drained by half.

The previously dormant magic array was instantly activated.

On the stone plate, red light burst forth.

The ground beneath their feet trembled immediately… No, it wasn't just the ground, but the entire forest seemed to be thrown into an earthquake, causing the earth to shake.

The surrounding trees swayed, startling a flock of birds into flight.

Scarlet light shot upward like a reversed torrent, piercing the sky.

The red light seemed to connect directly to the boundless starry sky, establishing contact with certain mysterious and bizarre presences in the Void.

In the next instant, Catherine and Asina seemed to simultaneously feel something. The bodies of the two beautiful girls suddenly stiffened, beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads, and veins protruding on their hands.

They couldn't control their hands and covered their heads, the normally curious eyes filled with chaotic pain. Within their eyes, strange figures seemed to be wriggling, intertwining.

Originally beautiful and delicate faces were now twisted to the extreme, grimacing like demons.

In their ears, near simultaneously, started echoing maddening murmurs.

They couldn't understand what these voices meant, but they could feel the chaos and madness within these soul-piercing sounds...

It wasn't just one mutter.

It seemed like six.

Six different yet equally insane voices tormented their souls from different directions.

As someone who had previously encountered these, Asina immediately realized the source-these voices were from the Void.

Ahhhh…

Their bodies writhed violently, and both simultaneously emitted sharp wails. Catherine even extended a slender finger as if to pierce her eardrums with her sharp nails.

As if only by doing this, they could avoid hearing those strange syllables.

But Asina knew it was futile; the sound was not heard by their ears but perceived by their souls.

Even if she destroyed her ears, or even decapitated herself, as long as her soul remained, the sound would not cease.

The pain grew more intense, Asina's fingers pulled hard at her smooth long hair, breaking strands one by one, yet this pain couldn't offset the effects of the whispers. She even thought about choking her neck or crushing her soul.

Then came the sound of grinding, enough to set one's teeth on edge.

The bones in Catherine and Asina's bodies began to rub together in bizarre ways.

The hair that had just been pulled out was growing longer, longer, longer… And they both felt an odd sensation that they might transform into terrifying monsters at any moment.

Neither Asina nor Catherine expected such a bizarre occurrence during the Resurrection Technique ritual.

Yet Rose Vesper was entirely different.

This woman was completely unaffected by the whispers. She merely widened her eyes fiercely, her body bathed in the scarlet radiance, and let out a maniacal laugh.