Due to various circumstances, Dolez City finally responded to the spreading plague. The response was late and poorly organized, but even such a limited reaction offered a small spark of hope to the refugees who had been hiding inside their homes in terror.
However, none of this concerned Punk.
Deep within the spider cave, his entire attention was focused on the spider statue and the magic within it.
With the final magical node connected, the statue suddenly emitted a dark green glow. Thin lines appeared across the seemingly ordinary rock, spreading like veins as the texture began to shift, as though the stone itself were flowing with energy.
Punk allowed the statue to float in midair. Then he calmly stepped back, positioning himself behind Golem One, watching in silence as a massive projection slowly formed within the green flashes of light.
The projection stabilized.
The "Goddess" Tishachar had arrived.
"Who dares step into my temple? Who are you?"
The voice was harsh and grating, like nails scraping across stone.
The creature before him soon became fully visible.
A gigantic spider.
Its lower body was entirely arachnid, while its upper body resembled a slender human woman. There was no attempt to disguise its true nature. Tishachar had originally been a spider, and the human torso had clearly been created through magic.
Punk observed silently.
Almost immediately he realized that he had greatly overestimated this so-called goddess.
From his magical perception, the entity before him possessed only peak formal-level power. She couldn't even maintain her projection properly; the constant green flashes around her body revealed severe energy leakage.
"Who! Who killed my most loyal servant? I'll peel them to the bone, crush their body into paste, shred every muscle, and feed it to my children!"
Soon the projection noticed the high priest's corpse lying nearby. Although the remains were nothing more than scattered flesh, Tishachar instantly erupted into hysterical rage.
"Dear Lady Tishachar," Punk said casually, interrupting her fury, "I think you need to calm down. Since you are supposedly all-knowing and all-powerful, perhaps you could answer a small question."
His eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"How exactly did you manage to gather and absorb faith with only formal-level power?"
Punk ignored the creature's screaming entirely.
At this point he was certain of one thing:
Tishachar possessed a secret far more valuable than he had originally imagined.
Despite having only Level 14 soul strength, she could channel the power of faith. Punk had already decided to uncover the truth behind this anomaly.
Whatever the answer was—
It had immense value.
"Filthy mortal! Mind your words! I am the great Goddess Tishachar. How dare you blaspheme me!"
Tishachar immediately focused on the disrespect in Punk's tone, loudly emphasizing her divine authority.
"Now then, dear goddess," Punk continued calmly, staring directly at the eight crimson eyes embedded in her forehead, "could you explain—"
"Enough! You are nothing more than a worthless ant. Kneel before me now, and perhaps I will grant you a quick death."
Her voice was filled with arrogance and madness, as though she truly believed herself to be an invincible deity.
Punk's expression remained completely unchanged.
The faint polite smile on his face slowly vanished, replaced by naked greed.
"Ignorant fool. If we're discussing gods, you're nothing but a pathetic insect—not even comparable to real bugs."
His tone turned cold.
"Since you refuse to answer, I'll simply kill you first and torture your soul afterward… just like I did with your pitiful high priest."
Punk was already losing patience. The so-called goddess's ranting had become irritating. He deliberately provoked her, hoping she might reveal some hidden magical ability.
The effect was immediate.
"Blasphemer!"
Tishachar shrieked and lunged forward, forgetting that she was merely a projection without real power.
"I am the greatest goddess in this world! The supreme ruler! Your soul will burn in flames for ten thousand years!"
Punk watched calmly as the projection rushed toward him.
Without concern, he casually summoned a trainee-level energy shield.
The attack struck the barrier.
Nothing happened.
The projection fizzled violently against the shield, its energy draining away within seconds. Less than ten seconds later, the unstable image collapsed into swirling dark green mist.
Before disappearing entirely, Tishachar's voice echoed faintly:
"You insignificant ant… you will regret this…"
Then the projection vanished.
Silence returned to the cave.
"Crazy lunatic," Punk muttered, narrowing his eyes.
But something about the situation still bothered him.
"A true lunatic shouldn't have been able to build such a hidden church. Even with the high priest's help, something doesn't add up."
He stood quietly, thinking.
Eventually a possible explanation formed in his mind.
"Unpurified faith energy carries the obsessions of believers. Those thoughts invade the absorber's mind…"
His eyes sharpened.
"Could it be that her followers constantly worship her as the supreme goddess? That obsession might have slowly eroded her sanity, until she genuinely believed she was invincible."
The theory made sense.
Perhaps the church's increasingly reckless actions were the result of this very phenomenon. The continuous influx of unfiltered faith may have transformed Tishachar into nothing more than a puppet of her believers' delusions.
Punk bent down and picked up the broken statue, still feeling the chaotic remnants of faith energy radiating from it.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Compared to this madness, the disciplined path of a mage seemed far more reliable.
Yet at the same time, Punk's curiosity had grown even stronger.
If his suspicion was correct, then Tishachar likely possessed a legendary artifact capable of absorbing faith directly, without purification.
Such an object would be extraordinarily rare—a treasure powerful enough to explain how a mere formal-level creature had managed to gather believers and form a church.
But there was a problem.
"This isn't just a matter of killing a few stray priests," Punk said quietly.
A Level 14 official mage, even a mad one, was still extremely dangerous—especially if she truly possessed legendary equipment.
Punk tossed the shattered statue aside and walked out of the cave.
The risk was undeniable.
However, he was not particularly worried about the artifact's raw power. If Tishachar truly had overwhelming strength, she would have already taken control of Dolez City.
Instead, she was hiding in the shadows like a rat.
"So the solution is simple."
A cold smile formed on Punk's face.
"All I need to do is find a few official-level 'friends' to deal with her."
Everything else—
Would simply become wealth waiting to be collected.
With that thought, Punk's resolve hardened completely.