CA – Chapter 44
Chapter 44
The dark, damp dungeon was devoid of light. The torches on the walls cast a faint glow, creating an oppressive and enclosed atmosphere where even the air felt thick and foul.
When Eva awoke from unconsciousness, the unfamiliar surroundings left her bewildered. Recalling what happened before she lost consciousness, she was instantly alert, scrambling to her feet and turning to search anxiously for Jillian.
“I’m here,” Jillian said, walking up from behind Eva, her tone grave.
Eva glanced at her, giving her a thorough look-over. Seeing that she was uninjured, Eva couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief before starting to complain, “You should have just run back then.”
Jillian had had a chance to escape the teleportation array’s range.
Jillian explained calmly, “If I let you get caught alone, you might have died.”
Eva was speechless. It wasn’t like she could be killed that easily, was it?
Still, she had to admit that Jillian’s presence gave her a sense of security. She looked around and asked doubtfully, “Where on earth is this place?”
Black Witches and werewolves had no deep-seated hatred for each other; there was no reason for them to go to such lengths to capture them, unless… they had been dragged into this.
Jillian stepped aside, revealing Erin sitting in a corner, staring blankly. “You’ll have to ask her,” she said in a low voice.
Eva started at the sight of Erin, then narrowed her eyes. She walked over and said unhappily, “Who exactly are you?”
Eva’s question roused Erin from her thoughts. She looked up blankly, her eyes flickering with emotion as she looked at Eva. Erin apologized in a small voice, “I’m sorry.”
“…I’ll get them to let you go.”
Eva frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Jillian spoke first. Looking at Erin, she said, “You’re a Black Witch.”
Her tone was one of certainty, not a question.
Erin stroked the little furball hiding in her sleeve. Its warmth slowly calmed her down. She nodded in admission, “I am indeed a Black Witch.”
“Their goal was to capture me. It has nothing to do with you,” Erin said calmly. “Even Black Witches wouldn’t want to offend the werewolves. They will definitely let you go.”
She took out the Holy Water of Light they had agreed upon from her Space Gem and said with her head lowered, “This is the payment I promised you.”
Erin’s series of actions slightly softened Eva’s expression. She glanced at Jillian, thought for a moment, then bent down to take the Holy Water of Light. “If we manage to rescue you this time, the payment will have to be doubled.”
Erin’s expression flickered. She looked up at them, and a sliver of hope rekindled in her heart. “After you get out, could you go to the Holy See…” Before she could finish, she was interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps, which grew closer and stopped outside their door.
There was a clattering of chains at the door. A moment later, the door opened, and a giant poked his head in, beckoning to Erin. “The Great Master told me to bring you over.”
Eva’s eyes flashed at the sight of the open door. In an instant, her figure had teleported to the doorway, and she threw a punch at the giant. The giant cried out in pain as his nose was struck, stumbling back several steps.
“Ah, that hurts…” Eva’s hand was repelled by a black energy that suddenly appeared at the door. The spot on the back of her hand that touched the black energy had a piece of flesh corroded away.
Jillian frowned and stepped forward, pouring a bottle of Holy Water of Light on her hand before wrapping it with a handkerchief.
Eva looked at the Holy Water of Light spilled on the ground and said regretfully, “What a waste.”
Jillian was speechless.
“There’s a dark barrier here.” Erin stood up with a sigh and walked over resignedly. As she passed Jillian and Eva, she paused and said in a low voice, “After you get out, can you find Grace to help me?”
Before Jillian could reply, Erin changed her mind. “Never mind, that might be too much to ask of her.”
Even if the blonde priest was also a werewolf beneath her surface identity, there were two other werewolves standing right in front of Erin.
And she had still been captured and brought back here. Perhaps no one could save her.
Erin followed the giant out, and the door was shut again. Eva endured the pain and stared at the door, asking in confusion, “Why does she trust that priest so much?” Weren’t Black Witches and priests enemies?
Jillian shook her head, her expressionless face fixed on the door. Through the small, blurry window on the door, she could vaguely see a figure peeking in from outside. The person probably hadn’t expected to meet her gaze and ducked away in a panic.
“…We weren’t brought here because of Erin.” A flash of anger crossed Jillian’s face.
Eva looked at her, puzzled. At Jillian’s signal, she sniffed the air. She faintly caught a scent that made her own expression turn ugly.
That damn traitor. Their suspicions were correct after all. Someone in the clan has sided with the Black Witches.
Erin followed the giant through a long, dark corridor lined with locked rooms. Through the windows on the doors, she could vaguely see that many people were imprisoned inside. She frowned. Before leaving the dungeon, she paused and suddenly looked up at the giant. “Can you let Eva and the others go?”
The giant scratched his head, looking troubled. “The Great Master ordered their capture.”
A hint of surprise flashed in Erin’s eyes. She glanced back at the dark corridor and remained silent for a moment, not repeating her request.
The giant led Erin to a stone room and left. The door was closed, and dark magic arrays covered the surroundings. She walked to a corner and sat down. The gray furball emerged from her sleeve and looked up at her blankly.
Erin absentmindedly stroked the furball, her expression dejected. All sorts of thoughts filled her mind. The heart that had been ready to give up now felt a flicker of unwillingness. After a long internal struggle, she took out a withered yellow leaf from her Space Gem, crushed it, and placed it on the ground.
She didn’t dare use dark magic in this room; she would definitely be discovered.
The furball lying beside Erin’s hand suddenly turned its head to look at the crushed leaf on the ground. Its nose twitched, and it got up as if to run over, but Erin stopped it with her hand. A moment later, a skeletal mouse burrowed up from the ground and ran to the leaf fragments.
Erin reached out and grabbed it, then took out a pen and paper. After a moment of contemplation, she lowered her head and began writing quickly, filling the parchment in no time. She folded the parchment, stuffed it inside the skeletal mouse’s body, and murmured to herself, “It must be delivered to the Bill Empire.”
The Bill Empire, the Holy See.
The day she had agreed to meet Lucille soon arrived. Tang Qiu declined the stack of banquet invitations on her desk, deliberately clearing her schedule. She had even put on her cloak and was about to head out when Jennifer rushed over and stopped her.
Jennifer was taken aback by Tang Qiu’s attire. “Are you going out?” she asked.
Tang Qiu nodded. Seeing Jennifer’s frown, she sighed inwardly. “Is something the matter?”
“Priest Monica is looking for you.”
If it were anyone else, she could have made an excuse, but not with Monica. Tang Qiu resignedly unfastened her cloak and asked curiously, “Do you know what it’s about?”
“Archbishop Reese is going to select believers.”
Tang Qiu closed the door and walked side-by-side with Jennifer. “What does that have to do with us?”
Reese had come to the Bill Empire’s Holy See under the pretext of selecting talented Light Believers. Each year, the various national branches of the Holy See would select a group of outstanding believers to send to the Central Church. In the past, this selection was handled by the bishops, but ever since Reese became a Red-robed Archbishop, this authority had become hers.
“When selecting believers, all the bishops and priests of the Holy See must be present,” Jennifer explained, knowing that Tang Qiu hadn’t been with the Holy See for long. “I’m only notifying you now because Archbishop Reese made a sudden decision to do the selection.”
Reese had always been this capricious. Tang Qiu didn’t need to think to know that Monica’s face must have been dark again.
Watching Reese select believers wasted nearly the entire day. By the time Tang Qiu was finally free to leave, the sky was already growing dim.
After telling Jennifer she wouldn’t be back that night, Tang Qiu put on her cloak and left through the Holy See’s back door. There was some distance between the Holy See and Lucille’s manor. She had only gone a third of the way when a dark figure suddenly pressed against her back, and an icy hand grasped her wrist.
A familiar aura washed over her. Tang Qiu calmly held Lucille’s arm and said in a low voice, “Back to the manor.”
People on the street were already looking at them curiously.
Lucille followed Tang Qiu silently. At a corner that was hard to notice, she suddenly wrapped an arm around Tang Qiu’s waist, and with a slight exertion, she directly hoisted the person onto her shoulder. Her figure, like an afterimage, vanished from the spot in an instant.
Her vision suddenly flipped. The light spell Tang Qiu had prepared was on the tip of her tongue, but after a moment’s hesitation, she didn’t release it.
Oh well. She was facing a vampire who had been hungry for a very long time.
The world wasn’t upside down for long. Lucille was incredibly fast. Upon entering the manor, she leaped directly through an open second-floor window, placed Tang Qiu on the bed, and immediately pressed down on top of her.
Her wrist was gripped tightly. As her sleeve slid down, Lucille knelt on the bed with one knee, lowered her head, and bit into Tang Qiu’s wrist, her dark red eyes fixed unblinkingly on the beautiful priest beneath her.
The pain in her wrist made Tang Qiu frown slightly. She met Lucille’s gaze, trying to distract herself. Lucille always maintained a sliver of composure when she drank blood, and this time was no exception. After their eyes met, she habitually averted her gaze.
“Were you waiting for me near the Holy See?” Tang Qiu lifted a hand and twirled a lock of red hair that had fallen onto her chest. She recalled the spot where Lucille had just appeared, which was right outside the Holy See’s grounds.
Lucille swallowed the blood in her mouth and said in a low voice, “No.” She paused, perhaps thinking about how “timely” her appearance was, and added, “I just arrived.”
Tang Qiu chuckled softly but didn’t expose her lie. She looked at the restrained Lucille and, after a thought, said, “I’ve prepared a lot of Holy Water of Light.”
Lucille looked at her questioningly.
“You can indulge a little this time.” Tang Qiu found a comfortable position for herself and said with a smile, “You’re very hungry, aren’t you?”
Because Lucille was looking down at Tang Qiu, blood from the wrist she held flowed down into her palm. A drop trickled through Tang Qiu’s fingers and landed on her priest robes.
Tang Qiu looked down at the “red rose” blooming on her pure white robes and was about to tease Lucille for wasting food when her palm suddenly warmed. The moist, soft sensation made her expression stiffen slightly.
Lucille licked the blood from Tang Qiu’s palm clean, then her fingers, not missing a single spot, her expression serious without a hint of amorous suggestion.
Tang Qiu looked up, her gaze on Lucille becoming subtle. Her hand instinctively curled, and when her fingertips touched something soft, she froze, not daring to move carelessly again.
She had thought that as long as she didn’t let Lucille touch her neck, she would be safe. Who knew that just biting a wrist could be so “dangerous.”
Unexpectedly teased by Lucille’s unconscious actions, Tang Qiu sighed inwardly, her thoughts a bit complicated.
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