The First Pope - Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Cynthia and Eunice were both powerful individuals, but they had no chemistry and were completely unable to cooperate.
The Power of Light was especially domineering. Even though the Light Fire wasn't aimed at Eunice, she still felt suppressed by it.
She restrained the stirring Power of Darkness within her, shot a deadpan glance at Cynthia, and after dispatching two vampires cleanly, she put away her staff and turned to walk into the cave.
Cynthia felt a bit helpless at her "abandonment" of a companion, but she knew Eunice's personality and had expected it. She chanted a spell in a low voice, and white flames replaced Eunice's witchcraft, continuing to block the vampires' advance.
The Power of Light's suppressive effect on vampires made them hesitant to step into the flames. The occasional rain of arrows condensed from Light power that fell from the sky also inflicted numerous wounds upon them.
This was the first time the vampires had witnessed the might of Light Magic. They were both shocked and furious, especially when they remembered that behind the flames stood a weak member of the God Race. Their rage burned even more fiercely.
The God Race... a weak race no different from humans, prey whose lives and deaths they could decide at will. And now, they had been injured by one. This brought a sense of shame to the vampires, who proclaimed themselves masters of the Sitatul Continent.
One vampire, refusing to believe it, charged into the flames, wanting to tear the silver-haired God Race member hiding behind them in two. But halfway through, he could no longer withstand the burning and corrosion of the Power of Light and retreated with a look of horror.
Seeing the vampire charge in, Cynthia's lips curved slightly. She silently chanted a spell, and a chain condensed from the Power of Light emerged from the flames, binding the vampire firmly in place.
The vampire's tragic screams made the others calm down slightly. They stood at the edge of the flames, looking at each other with hesitation.
The screams from within the fire vanished along with the vampire's figure. Cynthia raised her eyes to scan the remaining vampires, and just as she was pondering how to wipe them all out, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. She froze for a moment, then turned to see that Eunice had returned.
She was a little surprised. "Why are you back?"
Eunice's expression was dark and ugly. She walked silently to Cynthia's side and took out her staff again.
With Eunice's help, the few remaining vampires were quickly engulfed by the flames. Only one managed to break Cynthia's barrier and escape.
Cynthia stopped her spell. Watching the direction the vampire had fled, she frowned and said, "We need to hurry."
I hope there aren't any fourth-generation vampires nearby.
Eunice silently put away her staff without a word.
Cynthia looked at the somewhat abnormal Eunice, a trace of doubt flashing in her eyes. But Eunice's demeanor clearly rejected any communication, so Cynthia could only bury her confusion.
However, Cynthia's confusion didn't last long before she found the answer.
She followed Eunice into the cave, and the darkness before her quickly dissipated. Cynthia stared at the magnificent and splendid palace that appeared in her vision. Her first reaction was to turn her head; she could still faintly see a sliver of light from the cave entrance behind her.
Cynthia: "..."
From the outside, it looked like a dark and narrow cave. No one could have imagined that it held such a different world inside.
Moreover, the mountain wall outside was only a few dozen meters high at most, but here... the statue in front of the palace alone was nearly a hundred meters tall. Looking up, she could even see a dark green moon hanging overhead.
The inside of the cave was more like another dimension.
Cynthia gazed at the palace before her and finally understood why Eunice had such a dark expression. A single glance revealed that the square in front of the palace was completely empty; there was no sign of Betty or the others.
"What is this place?" Cynthia mused for a moment before taking the Divine Stone out of her Space Gem. The golden light flickering from the stone was even more dazzling, indicating that the imprisoned God Race members were here.
Stroking the Divine Stone, she stepped into the square. The entire palace was a dark green, exuding a sinister and eerie atmosphere. The flagstones underfoot were the same as the palace, with snake-like patterns carved into the dark green tiles.
The statue situated in the most conspicuous central position was also dark green. Cynthia stopped fifty meters in front of it and looked up. The statue's face was indistinct, but she could make out that its upper body was human-shaped, while its lower body was a long snake's tail.
Eunice had little interest in where they were. She stared at the Divine Stone in Cynthia's hand and said with a grim face, "Hurry up and find where Betty and the others are."
Cynthia pulled her gaze away from the statue. She scanned the palace behind it and saw that every hall door was tightly shut, making it impossible to guess which one Betty's group had entered.
The Divine Stone in her hand was growing warm. Cynthia lowered her eyes in thought for a moment, then pointed to the palace on the right, where the stone was guiding her. "They must have gone to find the imprisoned witches. If we follow the Divine Stone's guidance, we might run into them."
Eunice said nothing, striding toward the palace Cynthia had indicated with a cold expression. The two heavy hall doors were shut tight. She reached out and tried to push them, but they didn't budge. She then tried to break them with witchcraft, but that also failed.
"Can't open it?" Cynthia walked over with a puzzled look, raised her hand, and gave it a push. With a creak, the tightly shut door slowly swung inward, revealing a gap wide enough for one person to pass through.
Eunice stared at Cynthia suspiciously. Her tone laced with mistrust and doubt, she demanded, "Who exactly are you?"
Faced with Eunice's question, Cynthia remained calm and replied with a smile, "Just an ordinary member of the God Race."
She pushed the door open a little wider and gestured to Eunice with her chin. "Let's go. The vampires could catch up at any moment. We need to find Betty and the others first."
Eunice gave Cynthia a few more probing looks, but in the end, Betty's safety took precedence. She followed Cynthia inside with a blank expression.
After entering the palace, the Divine Stone's guidance became more precise. Cynthia led Eunice through various twists and turns, down a long flight of stairs, and finally arrived in a stuffy and damp underground area, where the stone stopped flickering.
The flagstones underfoot were gone. Cynthia and Eunice stood on a narrow path that clung to a stone wall, and below them was a dark, bottomless mire.
The mire churned as if it were boiling, and occasionally a thick, scaly tail would emerge from its depths.
Eunice stared down at the mire, her expression growing even darker.
Cynthia's expression was also grave. The danger here exceeded her expectations, and the fact that they hadn't encountered Betty's group along the way made her mood grow heavy.
"Susan's knights are protecting them. Even if they run into danger, Chelsea and the others should have time to activate a teleportation array." Seeing that Eunice was emotionally unstable, Cynthia tried to comfort her. But she was only halfway through her sentence when a monster, resembling both a python and a lizard, suddenly shot out of the mire below, whipping its thick tail in an attempt to knock them off the path.
Cynthia had been wary of the mire below all along. The moment she sensed something was wrong, white flames instantly appeared around her. The monster's tail was burned by the fire, and after a brief struggle, it fell back into the mire.
But soon, more monsters began leaping out of the mire.
Because Eunice hated the aura of light, she had moved ahead on her own when Cynthia used the Light Fire, staying clear of its range. But while the aura of light diminished, the number of monsters gathering around her increased.
Eunice's brow furrowed. She switched her staff to her left hand and slightly raised her right. A cold Power of Darkness materialized at her fingertips.
Black chains appeared silently amidst the monsters, nimbly entangling them together before pulling them downward.
The monsters bound by the black chains fell into the mire and never resurfaced.
The repulsive aura appeared again. Cynthia stopped chanting her spell and turned to look at Eunice, her golden eyes darkening slightly. She frowned and said, "The Power of Darkness?"
Eunice shot her a warning glare but didn't deny it.
The Power of Light and the Power of Darkness repelled each other. The two of them traversed the narrow path one after the other. Only after dispelling the Light Fire did Cynthia approach Eunice.
This was also the first time she had seen Eunice use the Power of Darkness. She had suspected it back in Hatz City when she saw her deal with the Silver Knights, but Eunice hadn't used it so blatantly then. So, while Cynthia had her doubts, she couldn't be certain.
She looked Eunice up and down, raising an eyebrow. "The witches forbid contact with the Power of Darkness. Aren't you afraid of being exiled from the witch clans if you're discovered?"
Eunice was treating an arm that had been accidentally injured by a monster. Hearing Cynthia's words, she gave a disdainful sneer and said indifferently, "If the God Race forbade contact with the Power of Light, would you obediently listen?"
"If I had relied solely on witchcraft, I would be dead by now."
Compared to controlling her own life and death, her identity as a witch was dispensable. She couldn't care less about any prohibitions.
But the Power of Light and the Power of Darkness were still different. Cynthia looked at Eunice, thought for a moment, but decided not to say this. Instead, she said lightly, "If Betty knew, she would definitely be angry."
Eunice's body stiffened. She looked up and glared at Cynthia, threatening, "If you dare tell her, I'll make sure you never leave this palace."
Faced with Eunice's threat, Cynthia just shrugged casually and reminded her good-naturedly, "Without me, you're the one who can't possibly leave this place, right?"
Eunice thought of the door she couldn't open, and her already foul mood darkened further.
Because of a door she couldn't open, someone else was in a mood just as foul as Eunice's. Susan, protected by several Silver Knights, stared grimly at the horde of monsters trying to break through their ranks. These monsters were different from the ones Cynthia and Eunice had encountered. They didn't have long tails dragging behind them, but their bodies were covered in hard scales. They were about half a meter tall with stout limbs, and their sharp teeth could easily pierce the knights' armor.
If not for Sarah and Jenny tirelessly healing the knights, the monsters would have broken through their defenses long ago.
Susan stared at the monster horde, took a deep breath, and turned to look at Betty and Chelsea's group. For what felt like the hundredth time, she asked, "Aren't you done yet? The monsters are about to break through."
Betty, busy with her task, replied without looking up, "Almost, almost."
Susan looked at the witches, speechless. She had heard those two words many times already.
Unlike Cynthia's group, Susan, Betty, and the others hadn't seen a palace after entering the cave. They had been thrown directly into the underground mire upon entry. They had been pursued by monsters while struggling to find a path, and after much difficulty, they finally found a staircase leading up from the underground. But who knew that because they couldn't open the palace door, it had become a dead end.
While patiently waiting for the witches to set up their formation, Susan turned to observe the stone pillars inside the palace. They were all carved with snake-like beast patterns.
She examined all the pillars carefully but couldn't make anything out. Instead, her eyes began to feel sore. Susan raised a hand to rub them, and when she looked down, she was surprised to find that the flagstones under her feet were also engraved with patterns.
She shifted her foot to the side and was astonished to discover two different layers of patterns on the flagstone: one was the same snake-like pattern as on the pillars, and the other was a strange black pattern.
A flicker of doubt crossed Susan's eyes, and she crouched down to observe it curiously.
While Susan was examining the flagstone, a monster somehow bypassed the knights and ran toward their group. The monster sniffed the air, clearly more interested in the witches. It charged swiftly toward Betty and the others, its mouth wide open, drooling foul-smelling saliva all over the ground.
A grayish-white skeleton emerged from the ground and grabbed the monster's limbs. Unable to dodge in time, the monster fell flat on the ground. The sound attracted the knights guarding Susan, who drew their longswords and quickly finished it off before it could get back up.
After the monster fell, the grayish-white skeleton retreated back into the ground.
This small incident didn't affect the witches. Camille, holding her skeletal rat, snuggled up next to Betty. After seeing the monster dealt with, she looked away, rested her head on Betty's back, and whispered, "I'll protect you, Sister Betty."
Betty, busy setting up the formation, didn't hear what Camille said. Seeing her leaning against her, she assumed Camille was scared, so she reached out and patted her head reassuringly before immersing herself in the formation once more.
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