The First Pope - Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Ochester was nearly twice the size of the Slade Sea Region, but due to the presence of the death swamp, it had about the same number of cities. Moreover, most of the cities were scattered around the periphery, avoiding the central area.
Teleportation arrays had not yet been established between the cities of Ochester, so providing support remained an unsolvable problem. For the sake of caution, there were temporarily only three siege teams. One was led by Cynthia, another was under the charge of Darcy and Chloe, and the last was the Anderson witch family, who had volunteered for the task.
Because the witches' offensive magic was rather weak and they themselves were quite fragile, Darcy had thoughtfully prepared a team of knights and a squad of God Race members to assist them after receiving news that they had volunteered to attack a city.
But the Anderson witches refused.
They didn't want any support. Darcy tried to persuade them a few times, but seeing them unmoved, she could only give up.
The witches of the Anderson family all had very strange personalities. For the sake of harmony within the alliance, Darcy didn't want to cause trouble over minor issues.
In the northernmost part of Ochester sat a city built amidst a cluster of mountains. Under the vast night sky, a thick, blood-red mist permeated the air above the city. The figures of fifth and sixth-generation vampires could be seen everywhere within its walls, and the powerful auras of three fourth-generation lords could be felt from thousands of meters away.
On a high mountain peak, nearly a thousand red-robed witches stood cloaked in darkness at the cliff's edge, nonchalantly gazing at the city below.
Elder Molly, the leader, caressed the staff in her hand and curled her lips into a slight smile. The silvery moonlight fell from above, casting a sinister look upon her smiling face. "The Garcia and Morgan families are always hovering around that God Race. It's truly annoying."
She raised a hand to her forehead, feigning great distress. "Since when did the witch clans have to depend on other races to survive on this continent? How shameful."
A red-robed witch beside her glanced over and said, "I wouldn't call it dependency. Aren't we allies with the God Race?"
Her voice was very soft, but her tone was thick with sarcasm.
Molly let out a soft laugh. Her red robe, stirred by the night wind, painted a deep, bloody streak across the darkness. She said meaningfully, "Allies…"
Camille, who was standing next to Molly holding a skeletal rat, tilted her head up and asked with an air of innocence, "Elder Molly, aren't we powerful? Why don't the Garcia and Morgan families hover around us?"
She had grown a bit taller, and though her features were still childish and delicate, she had lost her childlike air.
As Eunice's younger sister, Camille's appearance was growing more and more similar to hers.
"Of course we are powerful." Molly toyed with her staff, a faint smile on her face. "One day, they will know who their true allies are."
After speaking, she turned her head to look at the witches behind her. "Have the people been brought?"
A witch nodded at her, then stepped aside to clear a path. Molly led Camille through the opening, and a dense crowd of humans bound in black chains came into view.
Having been imprisoned by the vampires for a long time, the humans were extremely weak and couldn't withstand the cold, dark aura. They had all fainted after being brought up the mountain.
Molly waved her staff, and a white mist suddenly rose from the ground beneath her feet, shrouding them in moments.
She put away her staff, walked over to one of the humans, and bent down slightly, gently tidying his messy hair. Her carefully manicured nails traced a light path across the human's face. "Only blood and death can awaken the Power of Darkness."
"It's a good thing we left the Capri Plains, otherwise where would we have found so many humans," Molly muttered to herself, a dagger appearing in her right hand at some point.
With a smile, she slit the human's throat with the dagger. Warm blood gushed out, splattering all over her. The blood rushed out and flowed onto the ground, and as it soaked in, the previously inconspicuous lines of a formation on the ground slowly became clear.
After Molly made her move, the other witches also began to take out their daggers. The unconscious humans quickly turned into cold corpses, and the ground beneath their feet became a mire—a mire made of blood.
The bodies piled up, soon forming a small hill. Molly sniffed the bloody scent in the air, her red lips slowly curling upwards. She took out her staff and said softly, "Come, let's attack the city."
"Don't disappoint our allies."
Camille obediently put away her skeletal rat and took out her staff, saying excitedly, "Hurry, hurry, I want to see what new monsters we can summon."
Eunice always called the monsters they summoned trash and was disdainful of their use of the Power of Darkness.
But how could there be so many geniuses in one family?
Establishing a system of dark magic was so much trouble. Wasn't it simpler to just summon "trash" like this?
Besides, "trash" could be very powerful too.
The domain the witches had erected on the mountaintop had already exposed their presence, and the overly rich scent of blood could not be completely concealed by it. The vampires in the city below soon noticed something was wrong and came out to investigate.
The Power of Darkness used by the witches was not like the Power of Light, which made vampires wary. After confirming the witches' presence, the vampires arrogantly charged directly into the white mist.
The white mist obstructed the vampires' vision and senses, preventing them from finding the witches' hiding place. But the domain wasn't very effective against a fourth-generation lord. A fourth-generation vampire floated in the air, raised a hand slightly, and tore the white mist apart.
After the white mist dissipated, the situation on the mountaintop was exposed to the vampires' sight. The witches were gone. The blood mire in the center churned silently. A grayish-green arm suddenly stretched out from within, followed by a hideous head. The monster's eyes flickered with a ghostly green light, its cold gaze sweeping over the surroundings before finally settling on the vampire floating in the air.
As if receiving some command, it suddenly became frenzied. The monster roared and burst out of the blood mire, its body, over ten meters tall, making it look exceptionally terrifying.
The vampires were stunned for a moment, then retreated in unison. The blood mire was still churning, and one monster after another crawled out from it.
The witches, who had long since moved to the opposite mountain peak, watched from afar, their faces all bearing excited and bloodthirsty smiles.
Camille stomped her feet happily when she saw the monsters emerge. She jumped on the spot a couple of times, then suddenly remembered something and looked up at Elder Molly beside her. "Let's take the remaining humans back with us later."
They had captured too many people, but summoning the monsters had only used a third of them.
"Sister Betty will definitely be happy to know we rescued so many humans." Camille cupped her face, her smile exceptionally sweet. "I love seeing Sister Betty happy."
Molly glanced at her and let out a low laugh. "We saved so many humans. We're so kind."
The absence of teleportation arrays not only meant no support, but it also allowed the witches' crimes to be perfectly concealed. As the sun slowly rose, aside from the blood mire on the mountaintop that had long since stopped flowing, no one knew how many corpses had once been piled there.
The day of Olivia and Helen's meeting was drawing closer. But since Ochester had not yet been fully conquered, Cynthia couldn't leave for the time being. After some thought, Olivia decided to invite the Wolf Race to the Slade Sea Region.
As the first rays of morning sun touched the earth, Cynthia and Olivia had already arrived at the border of the Slade Sea Region to await the arrival of the Wolf Race.
At some point, Olivia had started to habitually bring Cynthia with her. She was the one who knew the Wolf Race, so why had she so naturally brought Cynthia along?
Olivia, who had always been a loner and sometimes disliked even bringing guards, fell into deep thought.
Olivia was bewildered by this, but Cynthia's mood was quite cheerful, especially when she noticed Olivia's often distracted state. The smile on her lips deepened.
Olivia had a cool temperament and was rarely interested in people or things outside the Elf Race. Cynthia wasn't worried about her sudden change. On the contrary, if Olivia had remained cold and distant, Cynthia's heart would have grown heavy.
Special was probably a word every secret admirer adored.
The Wolf Race arrived quickly. Just a few minutes after Cynthia and Olivia got there, a chorus of wolf howls began to announce their arrival.
Gray and white wolves rushed down the slope, surrounding Cynthia and Olivia. The few white wolves at the front transformed into human form. Helen, her eyes covered with a white gauze, smiled in Olivia's direction and nodded her head. "Olivia."
Seeing Helen, Olivia composed herself, and the coldness in her brow melted slightly. "It must have been a hard journey."
While the two exchanged pleasantries, Cynthia was observing the werewolves. She made a point of counting them and found that Helen had brought twice as many as before. Had she returned to her territory before coming here?
Cynthia was lost in thought. She raised her eyes slightly, and as her gaze fell on Helen, it suddenly met that of a werewolf beside her. Seeing Cynthia looking at her, the werewolf gave a friendly nod.
With her excellent memory, Cynthia quickly recalled who this werewolf was—the Wolf Race's vice clan leader, Joanna.
Back in Nobi City, Chelsea had asked this very werewolf to deliver her grandmother's letter to Clan Leader Helen.
However, Cynthia had only seen this werewolf from a distance at the time and had not had any interaction with her.
After exchanging greetings with Helen, Olivia's gaze also shifted to Joanna. She gave Joanna a cool nod and then said, "With both the clan leader and vice clan leader of the Wolf Race away, won't there be trouble in your territory?"
Joanna smiled and shook her head. "No, the elders are still in the clan." As she spoke, she glanced at Helen, her expression gentle. "I'm more concerned about the clan leader's safety than the territory."
Helen looked a little helpless at Joanna's words. She was about to say something but suddenly started coughing. Her pale face flushed from the coughing, and her aura became unstable.
Joanna reached out to support her by the shoulder, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"
Helen waved her hand to indicate she was fine, but the coughing didn't stop.
Seeing Helen's pained expression, Cynthia thought for a moment and cast a Healing Spell on her.
The warm Power of Light fell upon Helen, slowly soothing her pain. She reached up to rub her brow, looked in Cynthia's direction, and said, "Thank you."
Joanna was somewhat surprised by the effect of the Healing Spell. She raised her eyes slightly, studying Cynthia carefully for a few moments before saying softly, "You must be Cynthia, right?"
"Hanni has been a lot of trouble for you lately."
Why suddenly mention Hanni? Cynthia looked at Olivia in confusion. Olivia explained, "Joanna is Hanni's mother."
Cynthia was stunned. She looked at Joanna again with a new sense of surprise. Joanna and Hanni were mother and daughter?
Then why was Hanni so… simple-minded?
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