Jeremy chewed on the black bread with a pale face.
Although this food, mixed with bran and sawdust, was rough, it was barely swallowable after being soaked in water.
He needed to eat to stay alive.
Strength.
He needed to conserve enough strength for what he had to do next...
The priestess and the three officers left the cell, leaving only the short-haired officer tied to the torture rack on the other side of the bars.
The short-haired officer, exhausted from struggling and blood loss, soon passed out.
However, after several minutes, he suddenly woke up, struggling frantically.
His struggles were even more violent than when the nails were driven into his leg bones, indicating his pain was even worse than before.
Hearing the noise, the priestess entered the cell, followed shortly by the three officers.
The one-eyed officer and the scar-faced officer held down the frenzied short-haired officer while the goatee officer picked up a short knife and sliced open his stomach.
Whatever sharp substance had been mixed into the paste he was forced to drink had perforated his intestines.
The goatee officer pulled out the short-haired officer's intestines, washed them with water, found the perforations and stitched them up. Then the goatee officer cleaned his abdominal cavity and put the intestines back, beginning to sew him up.
The priestess applied the black liquid on the short-haired officer's neck, removed the cloth from his mouth, and smiled, saying,
"You have received the punishment you deserved."
Hearing this, the revived short-haired officer pleaded with the priestess,
"Please... please let me die..."
However, the priestess replied with a smile:
"How could that be? You need to bring enough fear to our sacrifice to fulfill your role."
The goatee officer picked up a red-hot iron rod and inserted it into the short-haired officer's rear, burning through the threads that had sewn the opening shut, eliciting an extremely piercing scream from him.
...
Jeremy couldn't bear it any longer.
What they said was right. Continuing to watch would eventually crush him under his own fear.
He stood up and sternly said to the priestess who was personally torturing the short-haired officer:
"Stop!"
The priestess turned to him, smiling, and said,
"You have no choice but to watch this play out, then take the stage yourself as the new lead, until..."
Boom!
Fine blue scales emerged from beneath his skin.
Jeremy took a few running steps and slammed into the edge of the iron bars, loosening them significantly.
Since entering the dungeon, he had been scouting.
He realized that this large cell was likely a combination of two cells, with iron bars replacing the stone wall between them.
The stone walls and iron doors were hard to break through, but the iron bars, inserted into the ground and walls with a gate structure, might be loosened or even knocked down.
Despite being blind, the priestess saw Jeremy's fine blue scales through the gem embedded in her forehead, and she shouted in horror,
"This is... the bloodline of the Blue Dragon, Shulrothel!"
"He has awakened his dragon blood! Kill him now!"
The goatee officer pulled out his revolver from his waist and fired at Jeremy, who was slamming into the iron bars.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang...
Ouch!
The bullets didn't penetrate Jeremy's scales, but the impact felt like being hit with an iron rod, knocking him back to the ground.
Then, the one-eyed officer and the scar-faced officer rushed out of the cell, guns and swords in hand, firing at Jeremy on the ground.
He could only roll on the ground to dodge, reducing their accuracy.
Seizing the moment when they ran out of bullets, Jeremy, despite the pain, got up and continued to ram the iron bars.
Seeing this, the goatee officer, without fully reloading, raised his pistol at Jeremy and pulled the trigger.
"Die!"
Roaring in anger, Jeremy, following his instincts, raised his hand transformed into a dragon claw towards the goatee officer.
A bolt of blue lightning shot from his palm, hitting the goatee officer.
The goatee officer fell to his knees, body trembling as if having seizures, foaming at the mouth.
Seeing this, the one-eyed officer turned to flee out of the cell.
The priestess snorted coldly, and the black gem on her forehead shone, making the one-eyed officer's body stiffen, causing him to fall forward.
Before he could get up, the priestess approached quickly with a short knife in hand.
The knife plunged into his heart from behind!
The remaining scar-faced officer didn't run away and was struck down by Jeremy's lightning hand. The priestess, who had killed the one-eyed officer, turned around and saw Jeremy continue to ram the iron bars, remarking,
"Your talent is astounding. You can actually awaken on your own in this era of thin magic... If you were born in the ancient times when magic was abundant, you could have possibly ascended to a demigod of the fifteenth level or higher!
I give you a choice. If you kneel and surrender, allowing me to brand you with the soul mark of the god of the night, becoming His secret servant. Then, you can not only live but also gain greater power!"
Boom!
Jeremy broke through the loose connection between the iron bars and the wall. He stepped forward, crouched down with his body straight, and with his dragon claws, slit the throats of the paralyzed goatee officer and scar-faced officer, his eyes firmly on the priestess,
"I don't believe you, nor will I worship a god who delights in fear and pain."
The priestess laughed and said to Jeremy, "After the gods descended on this world, most of the world's magic was reclaimed by them. Not worshipping the gods, no matter how strong your talent, is futile.
On the contrary, as long as the gods are willing to bestow power upon you, even if you have little talent, you can become strong! Now, let me show you the power granted to me by the god of the night."
Her naked skin began to show many blood marks, and soon the skin along these marks split open, falling to the ground, revealing what lay beneath...
No wonder the short-haired officer's gun and sword could only pierce her skin because beneath her skin was a layer of pale, dense bone membrane, much like Jeremy's dragon scale armor.
Jeremy raised his dragon claw palm towards the priestess, a bolt of blue lightning shot from his palm hitting her.
However, she didn't collapse paralyzed like the goatee and scar-faced officers.
"This basic first-level spell only works on mortals. I am already at the fifth level. You need at least a second-level spell to inflict a minor amount of damage on me.
Of course, for someone self-taught, being able to cast the most basic first-level spell is already quite impressive."
The priestess dashed towards Jeremy and landed a heavy punch on his right chest.
Jeremy even heard the sound of his own ribs cracking.
Another right hook hit Jeremy's side waist. Then she grabbed Jeremy's shoulders and delivered a knee strike.
Her moves were simple, not seeming trained, but they were too fast, and her strength terrifying.
Jeremy, hit by two punches and a knee, felt more pain than being shot multiple times.
"Want to continue? You cannot defeat me. The 'Bone Armor' granted to me by the god of the night is a third-level defensive spell. Only a fourth-level attack spell can break through it, and only at the fifth level can you cast a fourth-level spell."
The priestess snapped her fingers, and Jeremy's body stiffened:
"This is the second-level control spell 'Shadow Bind,' dozens of times more complex than its first-level counterpart 'Shadow Orb.' If you rely only on yourself, it would take at least a decade, because the mage who developed this spell took that long."
Jeremy covered his dragon claw hand with blue lightning and reached for the priestess's head. Almost all her skin had peeled off, leaving only her face uncovered, so Jeremy thought this might be a weak point of the bone armor.
"Forget it, no more wasting time."
The priestess was too fast. Before Jeremy's lightning claw could reach her face, she had already ducked and landed two punches on Jeremy's abdomen, followed by a series of knee strikes, hooks, and elbow strikes...
When the storm of attacks ceased, Jeremy lay on the ground, limp and unconscious.
"What a pity. You had the chance to keep your own mind and become one of our secret servants. Now, you can only be turned into a mindless dragon blood zombie by me."
The priestess knelt on one knee.She lifted Jeremy's upper body with her hands and pressed her forehead against his.