Sacrifice's Rise: I Became Invincible After Entering Godslayer Temple

"This... This can't be possible!"

The Abyss Serpent Yggdrasil was utterly flabbergasted at this moment.

Its limited cognitive capacity was simply insufficient to reason out the cause of the scene before it.

That was the Shadowflame, a flame from the deepest abyss, capable of incinerating souls. 

Why couldn't it inflict even the slightest harm on the human standing before it?

"Oh, wondering why I'm completely unscathed?"

John curved the corners of his mouth, sketching out a smirk tinged with mockery.

For the first time, Yggdrasil showed a look of deep concern.

The three serpent heads looked at each other, and the one in the middle tentatively asked, 

"Who on earth are you? How can you disregard the damage of the Shadowflame?"

John cocked his head, teasing, "Why don't you take a wild guess?"

That comment left Yggdrasil in a stunned silence.

John's casual demeanor infuriated Yggdrasil.

But it no longer dared to attack John recklessly.

Black flames still encircled John's body, yet completely reined in their explosive energy.

They acted like a docile kitten, playfully circling its owner.

John stretched out his hand, casually stirring through the Shadowflame.

He molded the Shadowflame into a ball, playfully juggling it in his hand.

The sight terrified Yggdrasil and only deepened its incredulity.

"This is impossible! The Shadowflame is the endless fire from the deepest abyss, capable of hurting all races except the royals. Why is it so submissive before you?"

John lifted his hand, treating the Shadowflame as a little toy, tossing it up and down.

Curiously, he said, "Since you've mentioned it, I have a question for you. To my knowledge, only the Demon race can manipulate the energy of the Shadowflame. So, how can you release it?"

Yggdrasil's three snake heads immediately showed an embarrassed expression, and it remained silent for a while.

John already had his answer and snickered, "So, it looks like you turned thief while fleeing from the abyss."

Yggdrasil roared again, "Shut up! What do you take yourself for, daring to disrespect the great abyssal serpent?"

"I only took the Embers of Shadowflame from the abyss. How could the great abyssal serpent stoop to thievery?"

John realized, "No wonder I detected impurities in the Shadowflame. It seems you've been trying to control the Embers of Shadowflame over these endless ages... What a pity. Such a high-level energy is not something a watchdog like you can control. Instead, you've tainted the purity of the Shadowflame."

John's words cut deep, sending Yggdrasil into a frenzied state. 

If it weren't for fear of John's true identity, it would have pounced already.

John casually extinguished the flame in his hand and said expressionlessly, "Hand over the Embers of Shadowflame, and I won't kill you today."

Yggdrasil rose tall, its snake tail swept towards John in agitation, "You insignificant bug, you're courting death! The Embers of Shadowflame is not something a puny human like you can covet!"

The snake tail whipped through the air, stirring up gusts of wind.

Any other player, when faced with Yggdrasil's enraged strike, could only choose to dodge or face being flattened on the spot.

But unfortunately for Yggdrasil, the person standing in front of it was John.

John merely extended a hand, leisurely meeting it head-on.

On one side was a snake tail as fast as lightning, with the momentum of a thunderstorm. 

On the other was a tardy human.

Logically, the outcome should be lopsided.

But to everyone's surprise, a massive boom echoed...

With a casual palm, John astonishingly blocked Yggdrasil's powerful tail sweep. 

All along, he didn't even step back.

Yggdrasil was more enraged, all three heads opening their huge mouths. 

A tri-colored energy, red, black, and green, was spewed out directly towards John.

[Trichromatic Glare: the innate ability of the abyssal serpent Yggdrasil. Red signifies flames that burn enemies to ashes, black represents corrosion capable of turning steel to pus, and green signifies deadly poison that could kill with a single touch.]

John, with his Eye of Artemis, had long seen through Yggdrasil's abilities. 

Yet, he remained stationary, unwavering and unflinching. 

A joke, really - even the Shadowflame couldn't harm him a bit, let alone this Trichromatic Glare!

Indeed, when the smoke cleared, John was unscathed.

Finally, Yggdrasil was entirely out of steam. 

There was no way - its proud innate abilities couldn't even break the defense of this diminutive human. 

Its mighty physical prowess couldn't compete with this human. 

The last resort, Shadowflame, was even obedient to this human's words.

Having exhausted all its tactics, it hadn't even managed to scratch this human's clothing.

"Human, state your true intention. What do you really want?" 

John was impassive, casually stating, "I've already said it. Hand over the Embers of Shadowflame."

Yggdrasil snorted heavily, a sound as thunderous as a thunderstorm echoing in the air, "Wishful thinking! Even if I die, I won't hand over the Shadowflame to a human."

John fell silent for a moment, then suddenly broke into a mysterious smile, "What is it that makes you so sure of my identity?"

"???" 

All three heads of Yggdrasil simultaneously displayed confused expressions.

John took a deep breath, and said lightly, "In that case, allow me to show you my true identity." 

He removed the suppression effect on his aura. 

An overwhelming aura, as deep and dark as the abyss itself, silently emerged from his body.

A whirlwind spontaneously rose in the air, growing stronger and stronger. 

Gradually, everything on the ground was swept up. 

Behind John, a massive phantom slowly emerged.

"This aura... This is... the King's aura?" 

Yggdrasil opened its mouth wide, completely dumbstruck on the spot. 

The oppressive aura from a superior being made it fall to the ground, not daring to move.

Yet, its three heads simultaneously showed an excited expression, "It turns out you are a minion of the King. The King is indeed still alive. I knew the King wouldn't perish easily in the hands of those petty gods."

Yggdrasil chanted "Long live the King" in its mouth, willingly lowering its formerly proud head. 

A strange expression flashed across John's face. 

It seems this stupid serpent had misunderstood something.

However, he had no interest in explaining. 

He only withdrew his enormous aura, saying indifferently, "Now you know my identity, don't you? Still dare to call me a bug?"

Yggdrasil kept kowtowing, "Since you're a minion of the King, naturally you're of noble status. I was the one who offended you earlier."

John waved his hand, "Quit the nonsense. Hurry up and hand over the Embers of Shadowflame."

All three heads of Yggdrasil simultaneously showed a pained expression, but dared not defy John's order.

They activated their single horn on the top of their heads, flickering with a black mysterious light. 

Afterwards, it solidified into a black seed, slowly drifting into John's hand.

John looked down: 

[Embers of Shadowflame (Divine Item): A spark naturally condensed from the deepest part of the abyss, a symbol of the Demon race. When equipped, it enables the wielder to control Shadowflame, incinerating everything.]

A rare smile of happiness crossed John's face. 

He hadn't expected this at all. 

He only came to Yggdrasil for a bit of essence blood, and unexpectedly found this additional surprise.

This wasn't a common item. 

Just being a symbol of the Demon race was enough to prove its value. 

Not to mention the Shadowflame's innate attack power, which was quite formidable.

John believed that even in the late stages of Godslayer, this item would still be a highly sought-after top-tier treasure, hard to come by.

Equipping the ember, the system attribute changed again: 

[Embers of Shadowflame (Divine Item): ...] 

[Current Level: One] 

[Attributes: Rough control of Shadowflame, can perform single-target attacks or AoE damage. For single-target attacks, deals 30% true physical damage and 35% true magical damage in a single instance. For AoE, deals 15% true physical damage and 20% true magical damage to enemies within 1500 yards.] 

[Mana Consumption: None] 

[Cooldown: 30 minutes]

John frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with this data.

If other players knew John's thoughts, they'd probably be thinking about knocking him off right there and then. 

Such an outrageous ability, and he was still not satisfied?

This was true damage! 

That meant all defensive measures were ineffective against the Shadowflame's damage.

John then thought about it, the Shadowflame's current attributes weren't actually that peculiar. 

Though the Shadowflame was high-level energy from the abyss, it was currently only level one. 

Having such damage effect was already pretty good. 

As it levels up, the values should increase.