The white substance expanded at a visible rate, rapidly "filling" the portion of the Dimensional Rift in front of Herta. The process resembled continuously pouring glue into a crack.
Although the white area currently occupied only a small fraction of the rift, at this rate, it was certain to completely seal it within a day.
Seeing the smooth progress, Herta crossed her arms and muttered to herself, "Just as expected! I'll clear this world in a week!"
Simultaneously, as if triggered by a keyword, the Herta Puppet beside her adopted an expression of fervent admiration, its eyes sparkling with luminous stars. "As expected of Madam Herta! Madam Herta is unparalleled in the world! Madam Herta is so beautiful she could sink ships..."
But if nothing goes wrong, something's about to go wrong.
Just as Herta was pondering what she would do for the rest of the day after sealing the Dimensional Rift, a winged "Dark Shadow" materialized ten meters behind her and immediately launched an attack without hesitation.
The Herta Puppet, who had been praising Herta, reacted with lightning speed. Raising its hand, it instantly unleashed a spell: "Madam Herta, may your beauty rival that of a drowned beauty... Fire!"
Boom!
A pillar of flames erupted, instantly engulfing the Dark Shadow and incinerating it completely. Only then did Herta Herself slowly turn around, finally seeing the creature's form.
The monster resembled a giant bird stripped of its feathers, its entire body a bizarre, fleshy color. Thanks to the Herta Puppet's magic, it was now roasted to a crisp red. It possessed a slender, razor-sharp beak but no talons, and its wingspan stretched nearly ten meters.
From its appearance, Herta could tell this was a bird born to fly, destined never to touch the ground. But she wondered how it could soar without feathers.
The next moment, Herta paused, startled. After dying, the strange bird flipped over like a fish, its belly facing upward, and began to "fall" toward the sky.
Seemingly immune to gravity, it appeared destined to drift beyond Earth's atmosphere and plunge into the vast expanse of space.
The scene defied all physical laws, causing Herta to frown slightly. But she had no time to ponder it further. More and more bizarre birds materialized around her, as if her location had become a monster spawning point.
The Herta Puppet beside her relentlessly cast spells, instantly obliterating each bird as soon as it appeared. Despite the relentless spawning rate, a hundred-meter radius around Herta remained a "vacuum," where no creature survived for more than a second.
The result was an utterly bizarre spectacle: the corpses of the strange birds rained down incessantly, but instead of falling to the ground, they plummeted into the void of space.
Herta's frown deepened as she observed this scene. While her immediate vicinity remained clear, the entire area beneath the Dimensional Rift beyond that radius teemed with the creatures.
As more birds gradually converged from distant locations, the pressure on the Herta Puppet intensified. The so-called "vacuum" of safety began to shrink steadily, from a hundred meters to ninety, then eighty.
"Is this... a side effect of the Dimensional Rift's creation?" Herta murmured. "It's constantly birthing these monsters?"
Herta glanced up at the "white substance" continuously filling the Dimensional Rift and spreading across the sky. A realization struck her: "A desperate final stand?"
She had anticipated that repairing the Rift wouldn't be smooth sailing. Something was bound to happen.
This colossal Dimensional Rift was like a festering, suppurating wound. Attempting to suture it shut with a needle would inevitably be painful.
But a short, sharp pain was better than prolonged agony. All she had to do was endure this one wave!
"If they're only sending these small fry, it's pointless no matter how many they throw at me," Herta declared, snapping her fingers lightly. Instantly, ten new Little Herta Puppets materialized beside her.
The freshly summoned puppets immediately joined the fray, slaughtering the swarming monstrous birds.
Each puppet possessed formidable power, equivalent to a "Little Queen Elizabeth." Their coordination was flawless, as they were truly of one mind, operating as a unified hive mind controlled by a single AI.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Spectacular magical explosions erupted across the sky at an altitude of 30,000 meters. The safety zone, which had shrunk to a mere fifty meters, began expanding rapidly once more.
This wasn't a battle; it was more like a giant relentlessly stomping on ants scurrying across the ground.
But before long, a colossal figure, blotting out the sky, slowly materialized in Herta's vision. Amidst a tempest of fire magic, a towering monstrosity built from countless festering flesh fragments tore through the clouds.
Its fleshy wings, veined with black blood vessels, spanned thousands of meters. Each membrane was riddled with suppurating sores, from which thick, dark purple fluid cascaded into the cosmos like torrential rain. Its torso resembled a haphazard mountain of entrails, with a heart-like red tumor pulsing rhythmically in its chest cavity. Each contraction sent crimson waves radiating across the sky.
It resembled a massive airborne fortress, a bio-engineered cosmic spaceship. Yet the moment Herta laid eyes on this creature, strange, inexplicable knowledge flooded her mind. She knew with absolute certainty: this was a newly manifested Evil God—the true manifestation of an Evil God!
As mentioned earlier, this world wasn't solely populated by cultists of the Flesh God. Other Evil Gods had their own worshipers, though in far fewer numbers. Since their deities resided beyond this realm, their power was comparatively weaker.
Cultists devoted to other Evil Gods had toiled tirelessly for centuries, exhausting every effort to summon their deities into this world, only to be thwarted time and again by the Secret Keepers. Yet here, Herta casually performed a minor "experiment", and a Dimensional Rift spontaneously birthed a new Evil God?
I wonder if there are any cultists in this world who worship this giant bird, Herta mused. If they learned that I had "summoned" their deity in its true form, how would they react?
One glance was enough for Herta to determine that her Puppet's magical capabilities were insufficient to slay this Evil God. She immediately beckoned, and the Key embedded in the Dimensional Rift swiftly flew back into her hand. With a flick of her wrist, Herta aimed the Key at the newly manifested deity.
Though designed as a medical device to "heal" Dimensional Rifts—a kind of "Medical Suture Needle"—this Key was also the most potent "weapon" she had ever created.