The First Pope - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Nobi City below was still a sea of fire. The surrounding air was dry and hot, but after the ice coffin appeared, the sweltering temperature instantly cooled. The coffin emanated a bone-chilling cold that even Olivia and Joanna could not ignore, a layer of frost forming on their hair.
Joanna reached out to touch the edge of the ice coffin and was startled by its piercing chill. She paused for a moment, her expression serious as she said, "Such a powerful cold. This looks like it was formed by the divine power of the God of the Ocean."
A layer of frost had already condensed on the palm she placed on the coffin, and the back of her fair hand was turning a purplish color from the cold. Joanna frowned at her hand and pulled it back, asking with some confusion, "Why would the God of the Ocean create an ice coffin?"
This ice coffin looked like it was meant to seal someone, but for a god, this kind of sealing method would only be necessary for another being of divine status.
Yet, before the gods left the Sitatul Continent, there had been no news of any god going missing.
…Perhaps this was just a whim of the God of the Ocean?
Just as Joanna was thinking this, her guess was quickly refuted by Olivia. Olivia raised her hand slightly and gently pushed the ice coffin open. Her fair, slender hand reached inside, the tips of her fingers glowing with a faint green light that protected her from the cold.
Olivia softly chanted a few words of a spell, and a cloud of white mist rose from the bottom of the coffin, transforming into a small ball of light that leaped into her palm.
Joanna's eyes widened slightly as she watched Olivia bring out the small ball of light. She spoke with some uncertainty, "Is this… a Light element?"
The white mist made her subconsciously want to draw closer. Joanna unconsciously reached out, her fingertips touching the small ball of light, her gaze deepening. "This reminds me of the Goddess of Light."
As one of the three main gods, the Goddess of Light was once, without a doubt, the most popular deity on the Sitatul Continent. Not even the Earth Mother, the continent's guardian, could surpass her status in the hearts of the various races.
Aside from the Vampires, no one felt any aversion to the beautiful and pure Light element.
If the Earth Mother's existence was to provide a stable and safe living environment for the races of the Sitatul Continent, then the Goddess of Light's existence was to bring them spiritual peace. Her light wove a beautiful and dreamlike future.
One was the present, the other the future. When the Sitatul Continent lost both at the same time, it inevitably began to crumble.
After the gods departed, Joanna hadn't seen the light on the Sitatul Continent for a very long time. It wasn't that the Light element had vanished after the Goddess of Light left, but rather that no one could wield the Power of Light after her departure.
As the favored children of the Goddess of the Forest, the Elves had been granted the ability to use nature magic since the age of the gods. That was why the Elves remained so powerful even after the Goddess of the Forest left.
But the Goddess of Light had never granted any race the ability to use Light Magic.
As for humans, the race she created with her own hands, she did not grant them great strength or endless lifespans like other gods. Instead, she gave them tenacious vitality and superior reproductive capabilities, hoping that the human race could continue to propagate, generation after generation.
It had to be said that the Goddess of Light had succeeded. In the several hundred years that the Vampires had controlled the Sitatul Continent, humans had been constantly on the run but had never faced a crisis of extinction.
On the contrary, her Wolf Race and the Elves had nearly been wiped out by the Vampires due to reproductive issues.
"Light is the only thing that can counter darkness. It's a pity that no race can wield the Power of Light to resist the Vampires' control." Joanna withdrew her hand, shaking her head with regret. "The human race created by the Goddess of Light is too weak."
If they had been granted even half the strength of her Wolf Race or the Elves, the Vampires could never have become so rampant.
"Not necessarily no one." Olivia gazed at the small ball of light in her palm and said in a low voice, "Have you forgotten the God Race?"
"The God Race?" Joanna's expression was peculiar, and her eyes narrowed slightly. "The God Race is too rare, and they don't even know their own origins."
The God Race appeared right after the gods had departed for the Divine Realm. While hunting humans, the Vampires discovered that those with silver hair and golden eyes had exceptionally sweet blood. Furthermore, the aura they emitted was distinctly different from that of ordinary humans. It was then that the title of God Race Descendants began to spread across the continent.
Although there were always rumors that the God Race was a race created by the Goddess of Light before she left Sitatul, it was never confirmed, and the God Race never displayed any astonishing abilities.
"Perhaps they're just some good-looking humans. To call them the God Race…" Joanna shook her head and smiled. Though she didn't finish her sentence, her expression showed clear disapproval.
Olivia frowned, said nothing, and raised her hand to disperse the ball of light.
As one of the largest cities near the Slade Sea Region, Nobi City was not overseen by any fourth-generation vampires, but the number of fifth-generation vampires residing there was in the double digits, and the number of sixth-generation vampires was unknown.
The information Betty and Chelsea had was inaccurate. Fortunately for Cynthia and the others, by the time they arrived near Nobi City, the battle was already over. The Wolf Race and the Elves were cleaning up the battlefield.
Standing on a hillside overlooking Nobi City, Betty's mouth fell open. She pointed at the castle below, which had been burned black, her voice rising with a hint of pleasant surprise. "The Elves and the Wolf Race are really in Nobi City."
Chelsea gazed at the white and gray wolves sunbathing on the grass outside Nobi City, her expression shifting slightly. She unconsciously touched her Space Gem and said in a low voice, "Let's go down and see."
With that, she took the lead and ran down.
Betty was about to follow Chelsea, but a glance from the corner of her eye showed Cynthia standing still. She quickly stopped, turned her head in confusion, and asked, "Aren't you coming down with us, Cynthia?"
Cynthia, who had been searching for something among the Elven ranks, heard Betty's question and habitually curved her lips into a smile. "Let's go, we'll go down together."
By the time she went down with Betty, she couldn't find where Chelsea had run off to. The Elves were inside the city, rescuing the blood slaves imprisoned by the Vampires. When Betty saw this, she led the other witches to join in.
Cynthia didn't see Olivia's figure among the Elves and felt a little disappointed. She raised a hand to tidy the hair at the side of her face. In a daze, she realized Betty had also disappeared, which made her shake her head helplessly. She walked through the streets of Nobi City, tilting her head to observe the newly rescued blood slaves sitting by the roadside.
"You…" A somewhat timid voice sounded from behind Cynthia. She stopped and turned around, freezing for a moment when she saw who had spoken.
"Um… are you also from the God Race?" The silver-haired girl's white robe was covered in bloodstains. There were clear bite marks on her neck and arms. Her complexion wasn't healthy, but her spirits seemed decent enough. She looked at Cynthia timidly, wanting to approach but hesitating.
"I… I've never seen you before."
After looking the girl over, Cynthia directly untied the cloak from her own shoulders and draped it over the girl, covering her thin body. Her long silver hair was freed from the hood, falling smoothly down her back. A slight curve appeared on Cynthia's lips. As if afraid of startling the trembling girl before her, she deliberately softened her voice to be as gentle as water. "Hello, my name is Cynthia."
"…My name is Sarah."
The heavy cloak on her shoulders gave Sarah a sense of security. She looked up, her golden eyes fixed on Cynthia, and mustered her courage to say, "I felt a very familiar aura from you, so I was wondering if you might be one of my people."
The two of them standing there had already attracted some appraising glances. Knowing that there could be ill-intentioned people even among these humans, Cynthia led the silver-haired girl out of the city. Outside, there were many open spaces, and many members of the Wolf Race were resting there, making it both quiet and safe.
"Are there any other members of our race in the city?" Cynthia found a clean stone for Sarah to sit on and then asked softly.
Sarah shook her head dejectedly, her voice still trembling as she spoke. "I'm the only one left."
Although Cynthia felt a little disappointed to hear that Sarah was the only one in the city, this small disappointment quickly vanished. Meeting a member of her own race was already a pleasant surprise. Cynthia had thought she wouldn't have the chance to meet her kin until she reached the Tallas Mountains.
Cynthia placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder and comforted her gently, "Those vampires are all dead. You're safe now."
"Don't be afraid."
Sarah tried hard to control her emotions, her eyes red as she said, "Thank you, Cynthia."
Seeing that Sarah had calmed down a bit, Cynthia sat down beside her and tentatively asked, "How did you get captured and brought here?"
"My family and I were always hiding near the Slade Sea Region, fleeing from the Vampires." Sarah pulled a grass cord from around her neck; a small white stone hung from it. "But a while ago, we received this from a human."
"It has the aura of our people on it, guiding us to draw near."
Sarah handed the necklace to Cynthia, her tone downcast. "But we were captured as soon as we found our way here."
The small stone looked inconspicuous, but holding it in her hand, Cynthia could feel a warm aura emanating from it.
This aura was incredibly pure, surprisingly similar to the white flame Cynthia had developed.
"What is this?" Cynthia lowered her gaze to examine the small stone and asked in a low voice, "Where was it guiding you?"
Sarah shook her head. "I don't know what it is either, but my grandmother said it's a Divine Stone that the God Race uses to contact our people."
"Hundreds of years ago, many of our people were scattered to escape the Vampires' pursuit. My grandmother was one of them." At the mention of her family, Sarah was on the verge of tears again. "She said the current leader of the God Race was summoning our people, so we had to go."
But unfortunately, they had failed. Her grandmother had waited for hundreds of years but was never able to reunite with her people.
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