The First Pope - Chapter 93
Chapter 93
The failure of the teleportation arrays was no small matter. After receiving the knight's report, Chloe immediately dropped what she was doing and teleported to Ochester to investigate.
Without the innate speed of the Vampires or the Wolf Race, the teleportation arrays were a lifeline for the God Race, a way to turn the tide in a crisis. But now, someone was trying to cut off their escape route before any danger had even arrived. This forced Chloe to be on high alert.
When Cynthia and Darcy found Chloe, she was examining the destroyed array. Not far from her, Doris was speaking to the Light Knights who had accompanied them.
Cynthia and Darcy were also escorted by a large contingent of Light Knights. With such a grand procession, it didn't take long for Chloe to notice their arrival.
Removing her hand from the teleportation array, Chloe stood up and spoke to Cynthia and Darcy with a grave expression. "The array has been completely destroyed. There's no possibility of repair."
No possibility of repair meant that every failed array would have to be completely rebuilt. Setting aside the cost of materials, the time required to inspect the arrays and then reconstruct them was the main concern.
Chloe was not optimistic that they had enough time to rebuild the teleportation network.
Cynthia and Darcy had thought of the same things Chloe had. Cynthia's brow furrowed slightly as her gaze swept the area, finally landing on Doris.
Sophie, who was always behind Cynthia to ensure her safety, saw her looking at Doris and took the initiative to walk over and get an update.
"For now, let's hurry and rebuild the arrays we've confirmed are damaged," Darcy said, her brow tightly knitted, as she addressed the knights behind her. "You all, increase your patrols. Report anything unusual as soon as you find it."
She paused. She had intended to send knights to ask the witches for help, but for some reason, she held her tongue.
Chelsea and her group happened to be here. The witches were already very familiar with teleportation arrays; with their help, the time needed to rebuild them could be cut in half.
But… could the witches be trusted? Darcy wasn't entirely sure.
On the Sitatul Continent, besides the God Race, only the witches understood the structure of teleportation arrays. For the arrays to be destroyed so covertly and irreparably, suspicion naturally fell upon them.
Darcy believed that Chloe and Cynthia had also considered this, but they had a tacit understanding not to bring it up directly.
Cynthia also had her suspicions about the witches, but her target wasn't the Morgan Family, who just so happened to be in their territory, but rather… the Anderson Family.
The God Race's power was growing daily. The few thousand witches of the Anderson Family alone posed no threat to them. Furthermore, with the Garcia and Morgan families positioned between them, it was impossible for the Anderson Family to suddenly declare war on the God Race.
Unless they had formed an alliance. But with whom? The Vampires?
Yet the Vampires didn't seem like the type to make such cautious plans.
Cynthia lowered her gaze to the teleportation array on the ground, lost in thought. Suddenly, the sound of flapping wings reached her ears. A black eagle circled in the air, pursued by streaks of golden sword energy. A net of blades tried to envelop it, but the eagle always managed to escape at the critical moment.
The sound drew everyone's attention. Cynthia glanced up, her lips moving slightly. A golden shield of light flew out and trapped the eagle, which struggled for a moment before falling to the ground.
Doris ran over with the Light Knights, pointed at the eagle on the ground, and said in a solemn tone, "It was the one that destroyed the teleportation array. It's a demonic creature."
This demonic creature could conceal its dark aura, and its strength was nearly equivalent to a Fourth Generation Vampire. It was only after Doris sensed something was wrong and sent people to investigate that they discovered many such creatures had swarmed into Ochester.
"A demonic creature…" Cynthia walked over to the eagle trapped by the golden light. She looked down, studying it carefully for a few moments before murmuring, "This doesn't seem to be one of the demonic creatures currently active on the Sitatul Continent."
Darcy frowned. "Could it have been summoned?"
Doris didn't know the origin of this creature either, but the sight of the eagle filled her with a sense of unease. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "I… I didn't foresee any danger, but I feel like something is wrong."
Chloe, who had absolute faith in Doris's abilities, heard her words and made a swift decision. "Doris, take the children of the clan and leave here at once."
No matter what happened, as the clan leader, she had to prioritize the safety of her people and preserve the God Race's bloodline.
Cynthia didn't think Chloe was overreacting and nodded in agreement, suggesting, "Send them to the Elf Territory."
Right now, no place was safer than the Elf Territory.
Doris wanted to stay and help, but seeing that both Chloe and Cynthia insisted, she could only nod in agreement and hurry off to make arrangements.
After Doris left, Chloe and Darcy also departed to deal with the teleportation arrays. Cynthia studied the demonic creature trapped by her Light Magic for a while longer. Just as she was about to eliminate it, Avira's languid voice sounded in her ear. "This demonic creature looks familiar. It's a bit like the pets of that bunch of Sethite wizards."
Cynthia paused. She turned to look at Avira, who was leaning against a tree trunk, toying with her hair. She raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Sethite wizards?"
"Don't underestimate those witches," Avira said, meeting Cynthia's gaze with a light smile. "Talia gave them quite a few nice things."
Cynthia's lips curved slightly, but there was no hint of a smile in her tone. "I never underestimate any enemy."
Avira let out a low chuckle, her expression teasing. "This is the God Race's first real challenge, isn't it? I'm rather looking forward to your performance."
Although Avira looked down on the Sethite wizards, the family had followed the Lasombra clan for a long time, and their power was unfathomable.
She was quite interested to see who would gain the upper hand when the Sethite clan and the God Race clashed.
Avira's obvious desire to watch the show left Cynthia feeling a bit helpless. She looked Avira up and down, shaking her head slightly. "You're a Second Generation Vampire, for goodness' sake. How can you be so idle?"
"Aren't you here to investigate the Blood Coffins?"
She was either pestering Cynthia or hanging around with Hanni. If Avira were half as serious as Talia, the Lasombra and Tzimisce would never have become so arrogant.
Avira shrugged, unconcerned. "We'll find them eventually. What's the rush?" She flicked her long red hair, her gaze lingering on Cynthia's face for a few moments. "Looking for Blood Coffins is so boring. Not nearly as interesting as you God Race."
Cynthia raised her staff, turning the struggling eagle within the golden light to ash. With her back to Avira, she said nonchalantly, "You Vampires are quite interesting as well."
Because they possessed absolute power, they had an attitude of having everything under control. Such superiority of the strong could certainly be called "interesting."
Cynthia's words made Avira's expression turn strange for a moment, as if she had thought of something. She pouted, her tone somewhere between sarcasm and a complaint. "Not interesting, just a bunch of boring people."
Perhaps because the gods had departed, there were no longer any races on the continent that could threaten them. So, the various Vampire clans began to unleash their true natures. There was the Malkavian clan, research fanatics who spent all day with quills and parchment recording their companions' every move; a certain Gangrel elder who, despite her high status, willingly ran off to become someone's plaything; the Assamite clan, who loved assassinations and never feared inciting internal conflict; the Ravnos clan, who were lost in their illusions and couldn't be woken up; and the Toreador clan, who held banquets and art exhibitions every day demanding praise… If the Vampire elders were more normal, Avira would definitely still be sleeping in her coffin right now, not dragged out by her sister to search for the Blood Coffins.
Sometimes, Avira felt that Talia, with her strong desire for control and constant pursuit of power, was far more normal than the rest of them.
Cynthia hadn't interacted with many Second Generation Vampires, so she couldn't possibly know what Avira was thinking. She simply smiled at her words without responding.
A pure white dove flew past the tall castle and landed on Cynthia's shoulder. A piece of parchment, rolled into a tube, was tied to its leg.
Cynthia was a little surprised to see the dove. She put away her staff, reached out to untie the parchment, and unrolled it. As she scanned its contents, her expression suddenly turned grave.
Avira's attention had been on Cynthia the whole time. Seeing the God Race member, who had been unusually calm even when learning about the failed teleportation arrays, suddenly change her expression, a flicker of confusion crossed her eyes. She glanced at the parchment in Cynthia's hand and asked curiously, "Whose letter?"
Cynthia rubbed the edge of the parchment and said faintly, "Betty's."
She scanned the contents of the letter again, a chill in her golden eyes, and the atmosphere around her grew heavy.
It took Avira a moment to remember that Betty was a young witch from the Garcia Family. She was too curious about what the silver-haired God Race had seen to change her expression so drastically, so she simply walked over and snatched the parchment from her hand.
Avira scanned the contents of the parchment, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly. Her tone was odd. "The Lasombra are going to make a move on the Elf Race?"
It seemed Talia was serious this time. But, how would a witch know about this? And she even had the specific time of the attack.
The parchment only stated the Lasombra's intention to attack the Elf Race and warned Cynthia to be careful; it didn't explain how Betty had come by this information.
Cynthia snatched the parchment back from Avira. She looked down at it again, then folded it. After a moment of contemplation, she said, "After leaving Pegel, the Wolf Race has been tracking the Vampires. They clearly stated that the Lasombra's next target was Yezreet."
But targets could be changed at any time. Cynthia's hand, hanging at her side, clenched and unclenched as her thoughts raced.
"Yezreet has things that interest Talia, but so does the Elf Territory." Avira thought for a moment, and a smile suddenly touched her red lips. "The temple of the Goddess of the Forest is within the Elf Territory. If I were Talia, I'd want to deal with the Elves first too."
If Talia wanted to achieve her goal, Olivia was arguably the hardest stumbling block in her path.
She now believed the contents of the parchment were true, and she felt a thrill of excitement for the great battle to come.
When Olivia had made a name for herself in that one battle, she had been sleeping in the Blood Domain and hadn't witnessed the spectacular fight firsthand.
Cynthia lowered her eyes, lost in thought. Avira, her interest piqued, glanced at her and offered a "kind" reminder, "Although the letter says the Lasombra plan to make their move in three days, from what I know of Talia, she's not a patient person."
"I'd guess… your Her Majesty the Queen is already being pitifully besieged."
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