Chapter 429: The Betrayal of the Prison’s Powerhouses

“What are you doing?”

The original plan was for the warden to lead the other eleven prison powerhouses, using the combined power of a set of sub-legendary artifacts to restrain the King of the North. He would then interfere with the target’s attempt to ignite the Divine Flame, after which they would abandon the other allied powerhouses and escape unscathed.

As for what would happen to those remaining legendary powerhouses in the face of the enraged King of the North, it was not their concern. After all, in the eyes of the Believers of the Lord of Dawn, these aliens were heretics—death would be the best outcome!

The combined power of these four sub-legendary artifacts was no less than that of ordinary primary legendary artifacts. After all, they were designed to forge a true legendary artifact.

If Donald had paid attention to the battlefield at that moment, he would have noticed that these four sub-legendary artifacts were almost identical to the Book of Purgatory he had obtained earlier. Clearly, they were the other parts of the Book of Purgatory.

But at this point, he had no time to focus on anything else.

As the Divine Flame within his soul grew stronger, the speed at which his soul was refined and his body transformed was far slower than the speed at which the Flame of Laws burned his soul. This caused Donald to feel an extreme discomfort, as if his soul was being scorched and on the verge of exhaustion.

Undoubtedly, if this continued, Donald wouldn’t just fail to ignite the Divine Flame—he might even lose his life. Once his soul was burned out and he lost control over the Divine Flame, only one thing would happen: his entire body would explode under the intense expansion of the flame, leaving not a trace behind.

It was said that 90% of those who attempted to ascend to divinity failed in this way, while the remaining 10% failed due to being attacked or disrupted by others.

His situation was now extremely critical, yet Donald seemed indifferent, watching calmly like a bystander. He maintained his serene composure but stopped controlling the steady flow of soul power from the Book of Truth. Instead, he suddenly increased the flow, releasing a large amount of it.

With this surge of pure soul power, the tiny Divine Flame within his soul, which had grown to the size of a matchstick, flared violently. Instantly, the processes of soul purification and transformation accelerated dramatically.

Over his numerous trips to the abyss, Donald had gathered just over four hundred thousand units of pure soul power, most of which came from demons and undead creatures. This was equivalent to the pure soul power of tens of thousands of ordinary people!

This is also the case with demons and undead creatures. If one relies on slaying or refining anthropomorphic beings such as orcs and humans, excluding those lost during the process, at least millions of people would be needed to obtain enough material. With the support of these 400,000 units of soul power, it is sufficient to maintain the current level of divine fire burning for over a dozen hours. If, by then, the divine fire still cannot be fully ignited, one can only rely on the essence of one’s own soul for a final attempt! As the body is continuously transformed by the power of laws, the soul also becomes increasingly refined. Donald gradually delved into the ocean of knowledge regarding divinity, laws, and magic. All the knowledge he had previously encountered and studied now flashed through his consciousness like a carousel. This knowledge merged with the numerous thoughts in Donald’s mind, and with each integration, his understanding and mastery of it grew deeper. Gradually, Donald realized that his understanding of the essence of laws and divinity had reached a stage where a breakthrough was possible. Different laws began to break down and combine, forming even more powerful rules and forms of divinity. Time passed unknowingly. Aside from the Truth Book replenishing Donald’s soul power several times due to its depletion, he remained in this state of neither birth nor death, with all his consciousness devoted to understanding the laws, leaving no thoughts unaddressed. Suddenly, a sound emerged from the depths of his silent soul—like the crack of broken glass, or the sound of a heart that had stopped beating for a long time restarting for the first time. All beings who held a high degree of faith or reverence for Donald heard this sound in their souls and instantly understood what had happened: their deity had become a true god! They felt overjoyed deep within their souls, and many believers’ devotion grew stronger. Those who had only admired him before became his general believers, while many of those who were merely general believers turned into his true believers. Donald felt that the divine fire within his soul was no longer burning it but had merged with its essence, becoming part of it. His once transparent and pale soul form had now transformed into a golden-lit glass-like human shape. A tiny golden flame burned quietly at the heart of this crystal-like soul form, seemingly on the verge of extinguishing at any moment, yet also possessing the sanctity and greatness of eternity, with various colors constantly shifting across its surface.

By now, Donald had finally recovered from that endless ocean of knowledge. He had previously been unable to control the activities in his mind, but the benefits gained from this transformation almost surpassed what he had achieved after a hundred years of cultivation in the House of Time. No wonder his strength after being deified was so vastly different from that of his mortal days.

It was only then that Donald had the leisure to understand the situation outside. With a mere mental effort, he saw the scene before him.

Twelve men in white robes were divided into four groups, each controlling a sub-divine artifact he was very familiar with. Together, they were restraining a powerful demi-god on the spot. Judging from the nature of the power emanating from this demi-god, it must be one of the lords under the Dawn Lord!

“Warden, how dare you betray the great God-Lord! Prince Ivan will not spare you!”

“Has the Dawn Lord ever spared us at any point in time?”

Relying on the power of their sub-divine artifacts, the warden still had the strength to mock them. As for the other three prison commanders, although they were all extraordinary legendary warriors, with the support of their eight subordinates behind them, they could only barely hold their ground.

They not only had to use the temporarily formed radiant purgatory fields created by their sub-divine artifacts to block the power of the Dawn Lord, who shared the same origin, but they also had to restrain the powerful demi-god Axse. Only the warden, being a demi-god himself, could manage somewhat more easily.

“King of the North, have you made up your mind? We can only block the Dawn Lord’s power for a few breaths—this is our last chance, and it’s also your only hope. Otherwise, if the Dawn Lord controls us all and we explode together, the force will be enough to destroy this entire region! I believe that aside from Your Majesty, no one here will survive this disaster, let alone the countless ordinary people!”

These words struck a chord with Charles. Under no circumstances would he allow the people here to die—after all, they were the pillars of Selt’s future strength! Moreover, there were tens of thousands of civilians in the entire North County. As someone sworn to protect the North, he naturally couldn’t stand by idly.

At that moment, a clear voice came from behind him.

“Hehe! I never expected the great Dawn Lord to end up abandoned by everyone. Your Majesty Charles, leave it to me!”