At this moment, Gary Miller's right hand, which was gripping Logan Bennett's neck, suddenly lost much of its strength, just like Corey Allen and the humanoid giant rat over there, who were pummeling, biting, and hacking at each other until they were utterly exhausted. This gave Logan Bennett a precious chance to breathe.

It was strange how Gary Miller suddenly weakened, and his strength was fading more and more, but Logan Bennett, having learned a valuable lesson earlier, did not freeze, space out, or waste time being surprised or confused. Instead, he focused his spreading consciousness and reached toward the holy emblem of truth.

The moment he touched it, Logan Bennett's mind jolted as if he had entered an ocean of holy light. Strange patterns composed of lines, circles, triangles, squares, and crosses magnified countless times appeared in Logan Bennett's senses, seemingly imbued with profound mysteries.

Upon closer inspection, Logan Bennett noticed that the cross was emanating Benjamin Wright's aura—a kind of indescribable sensation.

Curious, Logan Bennett touched the cross, which suddenly became violent, as if it had been violated. One of the strange patterns around it abruptly lit up, its brilliance gathering, vast and terrifying.

Startled, Logan Bennett quickly withdrew his mental probe, but he was still a bit too slow. A pure white beam of light shot out from the holy emblem, grazing the edge of Logan Bennett's mind, making him nauseous and dizzy, his head feeling as if it would split open. Two streams of cool, fishy, metallic-smelling liquid suddenly flowed from his nostrils.

After the beam shot out, it drew in power from its surroundings, growing larger and larger. Gary Miller seemed to sense immense danger and hurriedly tried to dodge to the side, but at such close range, no matter how fast he reacted, he couldn't escape. The pure white beam completely vaporized his right hand along with part of his shoulder, and the wound was charred black, with not a drop of blood flowing out.

"No incantation or rubbing needed to activate divine magic?" This was Logan Bennett's first thought as it flashed through his mind. Then he quickly rolled to the side, afraid that Gary Miller might still have some fight left after taking such a blow.

As he rolled, Logan Bennett realized that his own limbs felt similarly strange—weak and limp, with no strength at all. He looked toward Gary Miller as he rolled.

"This is?!" Logan Bennett exclaimed in surprise, because the scene before him was completely unexpected.

Gary Miller was lying on the ground, eyes half-open, near death, but the twisted expression and the red glow in his eyes had disappeared.

All around, the pools of bizarre, crimson blood left behind by the slain red-eyed rats had, at some point, evaporated into a faint red mist, filling the entire chamber and the nearby sewers.

Inside the chamber, that strange, humanoid plant was stretching its branches and leaves in the pale red blood mist, looking extremely content.

On the other side, the battle had taken an unimaginable turn. The one locked in a life-and-death struggle with Corey Allen was not a giant rat, but Hudson Grant—the usually silent and taciturn Hudson Grant.

Their knight swords were stabbed into each other's bodies.

Chapter 7: Harvest and Temptation

Breathing in the faint red blood mist around him, Logan Bennett's limbs felt numb and weak, his head throbbing and swelling. In his eyes, the scene of Corey Allen and Hudson Grant fighting kept shifting—one moment it was Corey Allen and a giant rat, the next it was the two of them slaughtering each other. It was as if illusion and reality were overlapping.

"Wait, an illusion?!" The moment Logan Bennett thought of this, he had a rough idea. He focused his attention, letting that tide-like sensation of his mind spread out. The scene stopped changing, the red mist stopped twisting, and everything stabilized. It was indeed Corey Allen and Hudson Grant locked in a deadly struggle. Both were bleeding from multiple wounds, and their movements looked extremely slow and labored, as if they had reached their limits.

"Is it the blood of the red-eyed rats itself that has hallucinogenic effects, or does the blood only cause hallucinations after being absorbed and transformed by that strange plant? What a clever magical trap."

Logan Bennett finally understood that both Hudson Grant's disappearance and Gary Miller's sudden attack were due to the effects of the hallucination, and that this influence likely began with the killing of the first red-eyed rat. By the time the senses were completely deceived, it was almost impossible to distinguish reality. Only because Logan Bennett later received the protection of the holy light shield and his mind had improved was he able to break free from the illusion.

The "Holy Light Strike" that had just shot out from the emblem of truth not only vaporized Gary Miller's right hand and part of his shoulder, but also pierced upward, blasting a deep hole in the stone ceiling above the chamber. Debris rained down as if the entire chamber might collapse at any moment.

The falling stones and dust dispersed the faint red blood mist, allowing Logan Bennett to recover some of his strength.

Logan Bennett didn't know if there were any more chained magical traps ahead, so even though he was temporarily safe, he didn't dare relax for a moment and quickly began thinking of a solution.

The "emblem of truth" could no longer activate any divine magic except for two light spells. He had lost his greatest support, and even his physical strength was greatly diminished due to the paralyzing effect contained in the pale red mist.

Suddenly, Logan Bennett saw that the strange plant was swaying unsteadily as it was struck by the falling debris.

"Other than creating illusions, does it have no other means of protecting itself?" Logan Bennett immediately realized this, forced himself to stand up on his weak, trembling limbs, and walked toward the strange plant.