CA - Chapter 229
Chapter 229
The Anderson Family had mobilized in full force, occupying the entire Shas Principality. Not only were Vogt and the other members of the Holy See driven out with heavy casualties, but the Black Witches also intended to slaughter every last one of them.
Tang Qiu, the Saintess, and the others used a teleportation array to travel directly into the main city of Shas, just missing the Black Witches who were hunting down Vogt’s group.
A chilling, dark energy was pervasive. Aside from Tang Qiu, the Saintess, and Reese, everyone else in the group felt some degree of discomfort.
Tang Qiu glanced down at the map, then looked up to survey her surroundings. Just as she was about to speak, the team the Saintess had sent out to support Vogt returned, looking battered and defeated.
The Saintess frowned slightly. Looking at the priest in the lead, she asked, “Why are you back?”
“...The way out has been sealed by the Black Witches,” the priest said with a grave expression. “We can’t break through.”
There were still unsealed dark arrays within the Shas Principality. The Black Witches of the Anderson Family had linked them all together, firmly blocking all paths in and out.
This move by the Black Witches was clearly in preparation for awakening the Blood Demon. Tang Qiu lowered her gaze in thought for a moment, then slowly folded the map in her hands and said in a low voice, “It seems we’re a step too late.”
“Let’s go. Time to go out and say hello to them.”
It was obviously no longer possible to find Dekava Town without alerting the Black Witches.
A black fog obscured the sky, and a bloody hue stained the earth. A fierce wind raged, and flocks of black crows landed on withered tree trunks, letting out shrill, exceptionally noisy caws.
With no need to conceal their presence any longer, the Saintess directly withdrew the barrier. She then threw out a scroll, which was immediately swept away by the fierce wind and swallowed by the darkness. But a second later, specks of golden light began to fall from the sky.
The specks of golden light transformed into a raging inferno the moment they landed. The golden flames tore at the wind, and the light domineeringly ripped open the darkness, clearing a path for Tang Qiu and the others.
The golden light enveloped the Holy See’s team, lifting them into the air. Tang Qiu caressed the staff in her hand and scanned her surroundings, her gaze finally settling on the area where the black fog was thickest.
Reese narrowed her eyes and said with a smirk, “Let me be the one to say hello.”
Tang Qiu turned her head and said with a smile, “Then I’ll send you over.”
As she spoke, she waved her staff, and a golden light shot out like a meteor, blanketing the sky above the newly cleared path.
At the same time the golden meteor flew past, several streams of black mist shot in from all directions, attempting to shatter the golden light, but they were ultimately consumed by it.
Reese glanced at the staff in Tang Qiu’s hand, raised an eyebrow, and asked with interest, “What kind of light magic was that?”
It was so powerful, yet it didn’t even require an incantation.
It was common knowledge that the more powerful a light spell, the longer the incantation.
The Saintess also watched Tang Qiu quietly, but compared to Reese’s full-blown curiosity, she was much calmer.
“It’s just an ordinary spell, but the method of casting is different.” Tang Qiu took a stack of bound parchment from her Space Gem and handed it to Reese. “The method is in here.”
Reese looked down and flipped through a few pages, her eyes flickering slightly. “This incantation is…”
“A forbidden technique,” Tang Qiu said, her tone tinged with regret. “Unfortunately, time is too tight. Otherwise, once you learned it, dealing with the Black Witches would be much easier.”
She took out another copy from her Space Gem and handed it to the Saintess.
She had been afraid that the books Cynthia gave her would disappear after she brought them back, so Tang Qiu had committed their general contents to memory before returning.
Only last night did she have the time to write them down. It was just a shame that the Black Witches had moved too quickly, so fast that she hadn’t even had time to teach the incantations to Reese.
“This is good stuff.” Reese put the parchment away and chuckled. “That old bastard, the Pope, kept this hidden away so tightly.”
The Pope was hanging on by a thread, his mind confused and senile, but he wouldn’t reveal a single word about the forbidden techniques.
He was still waiting for the Holy Son, who had gone to see the Dark God before him, to take the throne.
The sudden burst of light tore a hole in the darkness, startling the Black Witches who were toying with the Holy See’s team that had been driven out of the Shas Principality.
On a high platform built from piles of white bones, Glanna leaned against a railing, casually playing with the bone staff in her hand. Her crimson robes were like a thick smear of blood painted on the darkness.
A dozen or so red-robed figures emerged from the darkness and gathered on the bone bridge, staring at the place where the power of light had erupted behind them. One complained, “The Church’s reinforcements are here. This isn’t fun anymore.”
“It’s all your fault for dawdling. You still haven’t caught that Cardinal.” A red-robed witch clicked her tongue and said impatiently, “I’ve never tried using a Cardinal to summon a demon before.”
“If Cardinals were that easy to catch, wouldn’t we have already attacked the Holy See’s capital?”
They argued incessantly while casting dark magic at the source of the light. Glanna lowered her gaze, toying with her bone staff, and merely smiled at their bickering.
A red-robed witch who had been standing beside Glanna suddenly spoke up. “Why aren’t the Garcia witches here yet?”
They had already cleared the area for the Garcia clan. If they delayed any longer and all the Church’s reinforcements arrived, they might lose control of the situation.
“Who knows? They’re always in a hurry to summon the Dark God, but now they’re taking their sweet time.” A red-robed witch pursed her lips, her tone disdainful. “I’d like to see what kind of thing they manage to summon.”
“Enough.” Glanna spoke, stopping their argument. “Go back and guard the entrance. The werewolves will be here soon.”
“Werewolves… those beasts who only know how to fight are coming again.”
“Will I be torn to shreds by them today?”
“I certainly don’t want such an undignified death.”
The red-robed witches chattered idly. After giving her instructions, Glanna passed through their midst with her bone staff and left.
The red-robed witches fell silent for a moment, exchanging glances. One of them called out to Glanna’s retreating back, “Where are you going, Glanna?”
Glanna didn’t answer, and her figure quickly vanished into the darkness. After she left, the red-robed witches lost their interest in chatting and turned to leave as well.
With the Saintess and Tang Qiu clearing the way with light magic, Reese and her people quickly found Vogt and the others, who were surrounded by Black Witches.
Glanna had recalled almost all her forces stationed outside and launched a surprise attack on the Shas Principality while Vogt was completely unaware. She was well-prepared, and Vogt was caught completely off guard.
The Holy See’s team stationed there suffered heavy casualties. By the time Reese found them, Vogt had fewer than a thousand people left, including the Holy Knights.
“Open a path.” Reese observed her surroundings, took out two scrolls, and handed them to Mario, saying in a deep voice.
Mario took the scrolls and led some people to clear the way ahead.
Even though Vogt and Reese had never gotten along, seeing her appear at a time like this brought Vogt a great sense of relief. “I knew you weren’t dead, Reese.”
Having fled all the way from the main city, Vogt was mentally and physically exhausted. He leaned against a tree trunk to rest, looking up at Reese and saying weakly, “The Black Witches have gone mad.”
He then looked behind Reese, his brow slowly furrowing. “Did you only bring this many people?”
Reese shrugged. “The Saintess and Grace are behind us.”
“Grace is back too?” Vogt was pleasantly surprised. He signaled for a nearby priest to help him up. “Excellent. I can still hold on. Let’s wipe out these Black Witches together.”
Two instantly cast, high-level light spells opened a small path in the darkness. Reese glanced over, then smirked at Vogt. “I’m here to save people, not to collect your corpse.”
“The situation is dire. If you don’t want to die, follow me out of here first.”
Reese had never been one for pleasantries, so Vogt didn’t take offense. Although he wanted to ask what was going on, he saw that Reese didn’t seem inclined to talk and held his tongue.
The path cleared by the light magic was somewhat unstable. Reese took out her staff and cast a barrier to shield those around her. A thought occurred to her, and she turned to ask Vogt, “Did you send for reinforcements?”
Vogt nodded. “The Black Witches attacked with such ferocity, I worried they were up to something, so I sent messages to the Holy See’s capital and the other Cardinals.”
But the Black Witches had attacked as if they had a death wish, so his forces had been defeated before reinforcements could arrive.
Although Reese had Mario use the scrolls to open a path, the Black Witches clearly had no intention of letting them go so easily. Vicious, savage monsters emerged from the darkness, their grayish-green skin still stained with fresh blood.
Reese paused, raised her staff with a deadpan expression, and began to chant.
Golden flames appeared silently at the monsters’ feet, trapping them in place.
The Holy Knights fanned out, drawing their longswords to fight the restrained monsters.
Vogt rested for a while, recovering some of his mental energy. He drank a bottle of Holy Water of Light and then raised his staff as well.
But he was only halfway through his incantation when a sudden, fierce gust of wind interrupted him.
The wind stirred the darkness, and emerald-green vines shot out from all directions, joining the flames to bind the monsters. Massive white and gray wolves emerged from the darkness, let out a low growl, and pounced directly on the monsters, tearing them to shreds.
Vogt was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up. He muttered to himself, “The reinforcements have finally arrived.”
Reese watched the sudden appearance of the werewolves and elves, lowered her staff, her expression somewhat subtle.
When Tang Qiu was away, these werewolves and elves would fight the Black Witches, but they paid the Holy See no mind.
An instance like this, where they helped them fight monsters, had almost never happened. Reese highly suspected that the werewolves and elves were only doing this because they knew Tang Qiu was back.
Having such a group of ‘enforcers’ was truly wonderful. Reese was starting to feel a little envious of Tang Qiu.
The reinforcements included not only werewolves and elves but also personnel from the Holy See who had organized teams to provide support as soon as they received the news. Among them was Monica.
After leaving the Elf Race, Monica had stayed at the Gosse Church to help Jennifer. Upon receiving the message from Vogt’s messenger, she immediately joined forces with other bishops and led a group over. Because she had lived with the elves for a time and had some connections, she was able to arrange for convenient transport and arrive so quickly.
The black mist obstructed their vision, and the sounds of fierce fighting came from ahead. Monica leaped from her horse and directed the Holy Knights to go in and evacuate the wounded.
“Bishop Monica?” a voice called from behind her. Monica turned and was taken aback to see Mario. She asked, stunned, “What are you doing here…”
Mario had been clearing the path at the front, so he was among the first to get out. He glanced back at the darkness behind them and replied in a low voice, “I came with Cardinal Reese to support Cardinal Vogt.”
Monica nodded slowly. The hand hanging at her side unconsciously clenched and unclenched a couple of times as she murmured, “I see…”
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