CA - Chapter 164
Chapter 164
Noah was severely injured and had lost too much blood. She didn't last long before falling unconscious again and was carried away by the Garcia witches who had come looking for her.
In order to encircle and capture the people from the grocery store who were secretly protecting Erin, Glanna had not only deployed her prepared secret weapons but was also operating on her own territory. Despite such a perfect opportunity, she hadn't managed to catch a single person in the end.
Even Erin, who had already fallen into her hands, was taken away.
Glanna was furious, but she couldn't take it out on Noah, who had caused all of this. She could only suppress her anger, secretly resolving that she would never give Erin another chance to escape.
Half of the witches in the clan went out to track Tang Qiu and the others, while the rest stayed behind in Witch City to clean up the battlefield. After Glanna roughly estimated the casualties, her already grim expression darkened even further.
She summoned a skeleton, leaped onto it, and directed it to head into the wilderness.
The Dark Array was still operating. The black clouds above Witch City showed no signs of dispersing; instead, they grew thicker and denser, with occasional rumbles of muffled thunder echoing from within.
Glanna arrived at the location of the Dark Array. She dismounted from the skeleton, nodded to the two red-robed witches guarding the formation, and then raised her eyes to study the Dark Array, whose power she found terrifying.
This was the first time she had ever seen a Dark Array of such a massive scale.
The blood-colored swamp at the center of the array was boiling and churning. A vortex had formed within it, from which black mist emerged, gradually spreading and expanding until it merged with the black clouds overhead.
The ground beneath her feet suddenly trembled. Purple lightning covered the sky like a spiderweb, followed by a clap of thunder so loud it nearly shattered one's eardrums.
Glanna took a wary step back, her probing gaze falling upon the Garcia witches guarding the Dark Array. They weren't the least bit surprised by this strange phenomenon; instead, they wore satisfied smiles.
The shaking didn't stop. Cracks split the ground underfoot. From within the black mist above the blood-colored swamp, an ashen-skinned arm stretched out, followed by a right leg, and then half a body. Glanna watched the monster emerge from the black mist, her eyes slowly narrowing.
“Can this army compare to your werewolf army?”
Noah's weak voice came from behind Glanna. Glanna turned to glance at her. Seeing that although her face was pale, she no longer needed support, Glanna looked away and said flatly, “That depends on the numbers.”
Noah let out a low laugh, her tone tinged with pride. “What if the numbers are… endless?”
Glanna raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Noah smiled and shook her head, looking mysterious as she said in a hoarse voice, “The age of darkness has arrived.”
“Is that so? Then I'm rather looking forward to it.” Glanna glanced at her and curled her lips into a slight smile. An age of darkness sounded wonderful. Of course, if Noah had said an age of Black Witches, she would have been even more excited.
The Garcia family had prepared this Dark Array for a thousand years. Once it succeeded, the entire Statu continent fell halfway into ruin.
Just as Noah had said, darkness had truly descended.
The Earth Mother's Godhead provided enough energy for the Dark Array to operate, and the Dark Arrays that appeared in various countries began to exhibit the same phenomena as the one in Witch City.
Massive numbers of monsters crawled out of the black vortexes. They had no intelligence, only a greedy nature. Flesh and blood were their food, destruction was their instinct, and their purpose was to drag this continent into a swamp of darkness.
The Gosse Church was the first to notice that something was wrong and quickly entered a state of high alert. Karen led the Holy Knights to the dead city where the Dark Array was located to investigate.
The sky was pitch black, and they could only rely on the torches in their hands to light the way. Karen cautiously scanned her surroundings. The sound of chewing came from ahead. She didn't know what it made her think of, but the expression under her silver mask was particularly ugly.
Accompanying the Holy Knights were several priests. The chewing sound grew louder, and the scent of blood spread through the air, causing their faces to darken instantly. The priests raised their staves one after another and began to chant.
White light illuminated the darkness. Karen drew the longsword from her waist and carefully moved around a city wall that was blocking her view. Under the glow of the light magic, everything ahead was revealed.
A group of hideous and ugly monsters was hunched on the ground, devouring something. All around them were severed limbs and torsos caked with dried blood. Crimson blood soaked the ground beneath their feet.
Karen's grip on her longsword tightened, and her figure vanished from the spot. In a flash of sword light, the two monsters closest to her were sliced in two.
Light spells shot out from behind her, landing one after another in the midst of the monsters. Some monsters couldn't withstand the corrosion of the Power of Light and turned to ash.
The increasing number of light spells dispelled more of the darkness, illuminating the surrounding open space. This exposed the monsters that had been hiding in the shadows, engrossed in their feast. They were densely packed, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Karen's monster-slaying movements paused for a moment. Then, she decisively retreated, ordering the Holy Knights already deep within the monster horde, “Retreat.”
This was not a number that a few of them could clear out.
Moreover, she wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but Karen felt that the strength of these monsters was uneven. She didn't know if more powerful monsters would appear later.
These monsters fed on human flesh. They had to hurry back and join forces with the empire to discuss countermeasures. They couldn't let the monsters break into the nearby cities.
The situation in the Gosse Empire wasn't even the most severe. In some small and medium-sized countries, the local churches weren't as perceptive, and a great deal of territory was overrun by monsters in the ensuing chaos.
A large number of civilians were killed or injured.
Although the country of the Holy See was not affected by the darkness, the rest of the continent had been overrun by it. Of course, the Pope couldn't have failed to notice.
Requests for aid flooded the Central Church. The hall used to receive envoys from other nations was packed with people. The Light Baptism Assembly, which the Pope had been preparing for a long time while waiting for the Holy Son to emerge from seclusion, was forced to a halt. He dispatched a Cardinal to investigate the situation.
Although the darkness had not enveloped the country of the Holy See, the Cardinals and Bishops residing there had already vaguely sensed that something was wrong even before the envoys arrived.
This was because they suddenly felt their Power of Light being suppressed.
Due to his advanced age, the Pope no longer made appearances except on important occasions. The Cardinal sent to investigate had not yet returned. Although the others were worried about the situation outside, they had no choice but to wait.
Reese was perhaps the calmest among those waiting for news. The golden-haired bishop had long ago mentioned the Black Witches' intention to make a move on the Statu continent, so she wasn't surprised by the sudden invasion of darkness.
On the surface, the collapse of the Statu continent seemed sudden and without warning, but in reality, it was only because the Holy See had never paid any attention to the movements of the Black Witches.
To the Holy See, which had ruled the Statu continent for thousands of years, the 'rats' scurrying about underground were not worthy of their attention.
But 'rats' also had sharp teeth. If you underestimated them, you could still get a chunk of flesh bitten off.
Reese returned to her manor in the country of the Holy See. Mario hurried in from outside and relayed the information he had roughly investigated to Reese.
The situation outside was much more severe than Reese had imagined. She frowned, but then slowly relaxed her brow and curled her lips into a light smile. “The Black Witches have truly given the Holy Son a grand gift,” she said.
Under these circumstances, she was curious to see if the Pope would dare to hand over his position to the Holy Son. If he did, she wouldn't mind making the Holy Son's path to succession a little more difficult.
Of course, it would be even better if he couldn't take the seat at all.
“You will go to the Gosse Empire.” Reese raised a hand to her chin and said with a smile, “Tell Grace that the time for her to return to the Holy See has come.”
Tang Qiu was currently unaware of the situation in the outside world and the reaction of the Holy See, but she had gained a preliminary understanding of the Dark Array's effects.
Rona's black vortex had teleported them to a location within the Shas Principality, right near a Dark Array. The moment they emerged, they saw monsters searching for food.
After getting far away from Witch City, Tang Qiu discovered that the dark elements in the air had increased. The Power of Darkness, which previously only dark creatures could sense, was now something even she could perceive.
“...My Light Goddess, what has happened?” Abel, who had rendezvoused with them, stared wide-eyed at the monsters roaming nearby and muttered, “No, I have to go back.”
Otherwise, his cover would be blown.
Rona understood Abel's concern. She took a scroll from her Space Gem and handed it to him. Abel took it without a word, unfurled it, and teleported away.
After watching Abel's figure disappear, Tang Qiu frowned and asked Rona, “What have the Black Witches done?”
The impact of this Dark Array was far more severe than she had imagined.
Before Rona could speak, Erin, who had been observing the monsters, suddenly spoke up uncertainly, “These monsters don't seem to have been summoned?”
The monsters summoned by Black Witches using dark magic all came from the Dark World, but these monsters didn't look like them.
Rona confirmed Erin's words, explaining, “These monsters are inferior products created by the array. They only have the instinct to eat raw flesh and blood, without much intelligence.”
“However, their strength will increase the longer the Dark Array operates.” Rona shook her head slightly. “It's very troublesome. Unless all the Dark Arrays are completely destroyed, it will be impossible to clean them up.”
While they were discussing the Dark Array, Patricia, who wasn't very interested, turned and left coolly. Tang Qiu caught her departing figure in her peripheral vision, glanced over, and followed her.
Sensing the golden-haired bishop's aura approaching, Patricia paused, her brow furrowing slightly.
“Darkness has overrun the Statu continent. The situation with the Elf Race's Tree of Life must be even worse now, right?” Tang Qiu knew Patricia had little patience for strangers, so she didn't waste words and went straight to the topic that worried her most. “Is Delphine still nourishing the Tree of Life with her own life force?”
Patricia, who had intended to leave directly, turned to glance at Tang Qiu and said coolly, “That has nothing to do with you.”
Tang Qiu chuckled lightly. “How could it have nothing to do with me? Delphine is my closest… friend.”
Patricia snorted coldly. She already had no favorable impression of people from the Holy See, and because of Delphine's unusually close relationship with Tang Qiu, her opinion of the golden-haired bishop was even lower.
The Elves' self-healing abilities were excellent, and the wounds on Patricia's arm had already healed for the most part. It was just that the numerous split-open gashes looked somewhat terrifying. Tang Qiu glanced down at Patricia's arm, took a jar of ointment from her Space Gem, and held it out to her. With a smile, she said, “Are you interested in making a deal?”
Patricia didn't take the ointment she offered, merely looking at her impassively.
“I know where the Tree of Life that the Holy See stole from the Elf Race is.” Tang Qiu shook the ointment jar and said softly, “This move by the Black Witches is truly vicious. The Holy See is bound to become more and more chaotic.”
“But this is the perfect opportunity for you to reclaim the Tree of Life, isn't it?”
Patricia stared at Tang Qiu for a moment, then lowered her gaze slightly and said indifferently, “...Why should I believe you?”
A person from the Holy See would proactively help them reclaim the Tree of Life? Patricia didn't believe it.
“This is a transaction.” A faint smile played on Tang Qiu's lips as she said nonchalantly, “I have my own motives, too.”
Patricia was silent for a moment before raising her hand to take the ointment. “What do you want?” she asked in a cold voice.
“I need the help of the Elf Race.” Tang Qiu raised her eyes to glance at the monsters wandering in the distance, her expression profound. “Regarding the disaster the Statu continent is currently suffering, I hope the Elf Race will not stand aside.”
Tang Qiu felt that the Holy See alone was very likely no longer capable of suppressing the darkness.
“Whether this continent is shrouded in light or overrun by darkness, the Elf Race does not wish to be involved.”
It was true that the Elf Race detested darkness, but the current Holy See was an existence they detested even more than darkness.
“I think you should go back and ask for Delphine's opinion.” Tang Qiu blinked and said with a smile, “Perhaps she prefers to live in a world of light.”
As if she knew Delphine so well. Patricia snorted coldly, clutched the ointment, and turned to leave, her figure gradually disappearing into the darkness.
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