CA - Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Vogt had long been dissatisfied with Reese and Audrey's laziness. As soon as he confirmed the news that the Divine Ruins were about to emerge, he assembled his team and activated the teleportation array in just half an hour.

The Holy See's teleportation array had a limit on the number of people it could transport. Vogt directly threw in several high-grade Light Crystals to activate its maximum capacity.

But even at maximum capacity, it would still take three separate trips to teleport the entire Holy See contingent to the city nearest the Mentos Desert.

Vogt, Reese, and Audrey were in the first group to enter the array. Tang Qiu watched them leave. Just as she was about to lead the other bishops into the array, she caught a glimpse of the people from the Inquisition coming out of the auditorium. She paused, whispered a few words to the bishop beside her, and then turned to walk toward Liz and the others.

Under Audrey's orders, Liz was about to escort Lisa and Karen back to the Inquisition. Lisa had fallen into a deep sleep due to the corrosion of dark power, while Karen seemed to have recovered well. Even with her hands tightly bound by chains, she was still trying to struggle.

Seeing the blonde bishop approaching, Liz raised a hand to signal her subordinates to halt. She watched Tang Qiu draw near with a blank expression, but a careful observer could detect a trace of hostility in her gaze.

Although it had been June who handled matters concerning the blonde bishop back at the Bill Church, Liz had also been present during the arrest.

The person she had confirmed as a traitor had not only been cleared of all charges but had also become a bishop. This was undoubtedly a slap in her face. Moreover, Inquisitor June's death was certainly connected to this person.

Tang Qiu seemed oblivious to the cold air and faint hostility radiating from Liz. She walked up, glanced at Karen, who was still looking down and trying to break free from her chains, and spoke to Liz in a friendly tone, "Inquisitor Liz, the Gosse Empire has been rather unstable lately. You must be careful on your way back."

Liz gave a cold nod. "Thank you for your concern, Bishop Grace."

Tang Qiu smiled and nodded, gave Karen one last look, then turned and rejoined the others to enter the teleportation array.

Liz watched the blonde bishop's retreating figure with a slight frown. She glanced sideways at Karen but noticed nothing unusual. Forcing her doubts to the back of her mind, she signaled for the Holy Knights to escort Karen into the carriage.

After leaving the Gosse Church, the Inquisition's procession headed directly out of the city. As the carriage moved beyond the main city limits, the population gradually thinned, and the once-dense villages became few and far between.

Behind the Inquisition's carriage, two figures followed at a distance. The one in front had brown, shoulder-length hair, and her tight-fitting clothes outlined her curvaceous figure. She leaned against a withered tree with her arms crossed, her crimson eyes staring with boredom at the convoy that was still within her line of sight.

"How much longer?" Lola licked her lips and asked impatiently.

Behind her, Erin was holding a black jar from which black mist was rising. The mist wove an image in the air, and a closer look would reveal that it was showing the scene inside the carriage.

Erin stared intently at the black mist, giving Lola a perfunctory reply, "Soon, soon."

Lola: "..."

Lola couldn't help but roll her eyes, silently reflecting on why she had gotten involved with these people. Wasn't living a free life of hunting much better?

A werewolf who became a bishop, a strange black witch, and Lucille, who seemed normal but was devoted to a bishop of the Holy See... Lola sighed. In her decades of life, she had only ever met these three strange individuals.

While Lola was lost in thought, Erin, who had been staring intently at the black mist, suddenly brightened. "It's time," she called out.

Lola collected her thoughts, glanced at the nearly vanished carriage, and with a flash, disappeared from her spot.

Erin wasn't as fast as Lola and could only follow behind, jogging with the black jar in her arms.

Lola stopped a few hundred meters from the carriage. She took out a bottle of black potion Erin had given her. Just as she was about to uncork it, the steadily moving carriage suddenly stopped. Lola's hand froze. She looked up and saw dozens of black-robed figures, who had appeared from nowhere, surrounding the carriage.

Seeing this sudden turn of events, Lola thought for a moment, then clutched the potion bottle and ducked behind a large boulder to observe the situation.

Erin finally caught up to Lola, clutching her jar. Panting, she asked, "How did it go? Did you pour the potion?"

The potion she had concocted on the spot would summon ten illusory Black Witches when poured on the ground. The Karen inside the carriage wasn't the real Karen; it was a skeleton monster summoned by Erin, with an illusion cast over it using witchcraft.

The illusion wouldn't last long. It had to be detonated before it was exposed to truly pull off the deception.

Lola waited for Erin to catch her breath before pointing toward the carriage and whispering, "Your potion might not be needed."

The potion was meant to create the impression that the carriage was under siege by Black Witches. While Liz was busy dealing with the illusions, Erin would find an opportunity to detonate "Karen." But now, those illusions were unnecessary; the carriage was already surrounded by unknown assailants.

Erin peeked her head out from behind the boulder and looked at the black-robed figures surrounding the carriage in confusion. "Who are they?"

The blonde bishop hadn't mentioned they had other helpers.

Lola stared at the black-robed figures for a while, then frowned. "Human swordsmen?"

These people all used longswords, and they didn't look weak.

Liz, at the center of the siege, had the same suspicion as Lola. She waved her staff, casting layer after layer of barriers to block the flying sword energy. As the sword energy sliced at the gaps in her barriers, she, under the protection of the Holy Knights, tried to create distance from her attackers.

However, to Liz's surprise, she succeeded in creating distance quite easily, because these people's focus was not on her.

The black-robed men cut through the light barriers around the carriage, and two of them, with the help of their companions, entered it.

A glint flashed in Liz's eyes. The light spell she was about to complete dissipated due to her pause. Noticing the questioning gaze of a nearby priest, she steadied herself and began chanting again.

Erin, who had been watching the situation closely, saw people enter the carriage. Fearing the fake Karen would be exposed, she didn't dare wait any longer. She waved her bone staff and quickly recited an incantation.

The carriage, surrounded by the black-robed men, exploded with a bang. It was blown to pieces, and the people inside, unable to dodge in time, were blasted into fragments.

Both Liz and the black-robed men were stunned by this development. The black-robed men were the first to react, grabbing the bodies of their comrades and retreating swiftly.

A portion of the Holy Knights gave chase, while a priest went to inspect the carriage's remains. Liz put away her staff and walked toward a severed arm that had landed near her during the explosion. She looked down, then gently kicked aside the black cloth covering it with her foot. A blood-stained silver sleeve came into view.

Liz's expression changed, her brow furrowing tightly.

This pattern looked like the uniform of a Holy Knight... but only Cardinals and the Pope had Holy Knights of such strength.

"Inquisitor Liz." The priest inspecting the carriage called out to her in a grave tone. Liz composed herself, silently recited a spell, and then turned to walk toward the priest.

After she left, a small flame of light suddenly ignited on the severed arm, burning the black cloth and the silver sleeve within to ash.

The carriage had exploded suddenly, and the powerful impact had blown the people inside into several pieces. After a thorough check, the priest had only found parts of Lisa's body, not Karen's.

Moreover, judging from Lisa's remains, the separation of her head from her body seemed more like it was done by a sharp blade.

Liz walked over to the priest and looked down at the reassembled body parts on the ground. "Find a place and bury them," she said in a deep voice.

The priest was taken aback. "Shouldn't we take them back for the Head Inquisitor to see?" he asked.

Liz glanced at the priest, who immediately lowered his head and dared not ask again. He instructed the Holy Knights to take the body away for burial.

Liz walked to the front of the shattered carriage, knelt down, and touched the broken wall. A wisp of black silk, like a living thing, clung to her fingertip. She murmured to herself, "Why is there a dark aura..."

Erin wasn't concerned about the identity of the attackers. After the carriage exploded, she satisfyingly put away her bone staff and black jar. "Take me to the Mentos Desert," she said to Lola.

Lola raised an eyebrow, looking Erin up and down with an amused expression. "You're so weak. You shouldn't go to a dangerous place like the Divine Ruins, should you?"

She wasn't planning on getting involved herself.

I'm not weak... Erin silently reached back to touch the little furball sleeping in her hood, then repeated to Lola, "Hurry and take me to the Mentos Desert. I need to find Grace."

Seeing her insistence, Lola shrugged, grabbed her arm, and the two of them vanished on the spot.

In Anersai City, adjacent to the Mentos Desert, the Holy See's forces had all arrived via teleportation. Due to the constant affliction of sandstorms from the desert, the city's population was small. After the Vampires and Black Witches occupied the surrounding cities, the few remaining civilians in Anersai City had also been evacuated with the help of the knights.

The border between Anersai City and the Mentos Desert was now occupied by the Elves. Reese, Tang Qiu, and the others stood on the high city wall, gazing in the direction of the sandstorms, the sound of Vogt and Audrey's argument in their ears.

All four sides of the Mentos Desert were occupied. To secure a position, they had to drive out one of the factions.

Now that the Holy See had arrived, there was no reason to cower in the rear.

Audrey suggested they directly drive away the Elves in front of them. However, Vogt disagreed. In his mind, dark forces like the Black Witches were the true enemies of the Holy See.

The correct decision was to suppress the dark forces before entering the Divine Ruins.

The two already held grudges against each other, and now they argued with sarcasm and taunts, neither willing to back down. The tension was even thicker than it had been in the garden.

Listening to their argument, Tang Qiu turned to ask for Reese's opinion. "Which side do you think the Holy See should take?"

Reese didn't answer, instead asking Tang Qiu, "What do you think?"

Tang Qiu pointed toward a distant but still visible blood-red mist. "There's a third-generation elder on the Vampire's side," she said softly. "I think that's a threat."

Although her voice was gentle, both Vogt and Audrey heard her. They fell silent for a moment, then simultaneously looked up in the direction of the Blood Domain.

A third-generation vampire... that was indeed a threat.

A consensus was reached. Reese calmly took out her staff. She raised it and chanted a spell. White light condensed before her, blocking the fierce sandstorm, and a golden light shot toward the Blood Domain like a meteor.

Vogt and Audrey also took out their staves and began to chant. Two golden flames, no weaker than the one Reese had conjured, flew toward the Blood Domain, one after the other.

The golden light slammed into the Blood Domain with a bang, causing it to tremble. The golden flames that followed immediately set it ablaze. The flames spread in an instant, and the entire Blood Domain was enveloped in a golden glow.

Within the Blood Domain, the lower-level vampires were instantly consumed by the golden flames. Vampires of the sixth generation and above all fled toward Elder Evan's castle.

Evan emerged from the castle with a dark face. He looked up at the shattered, burning Blood Domain, his eyes filled with gloom.

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