Chapter 246: The Blooming Flower of Malice (3)
“I’m almost there.” The Mercenary King paused for a breath, surveying the road ahead. At that very moment, he was making his way toward the heart of the Ferderica’s Church.
The journey from the Mercenary Guild to Ferderica’s holy land was no short distance. Yet he was here, traveling alone and in haste, without a single subordinate in tow. This wasn’t a planned mission, nor was it something he’d had time to prepare for. It was a sudden impulse, an urgent decision.
The reason he was heading to the holy land was simple. News had reached him that Ferderica themselves had delivered a divine revelation and seized Ketal, bringing him to the holy land. The Mercenary King owed Ketal his life. If not for Ketal, he would have been slain by a dragon. He was alive because of that man, and now he intended to repay that debt, whatever it took.
Something is deeply wrong, he thought. How could Ketal be branded as a heretic, a sinner against the revelation?
Ketal possessed the strength of a Hero, a warrior who had toyed with even the mightiest dragons. Although the Mercenary King had blacked out after that, from what little he remembered and what he’d heard, Ketal had even triumphed over that monstrous woman who had appeared later. There was hardly a soul on the continent with such overwhelming strength.
Yet now, somehow, Ketal had been condemned as the Sinner of Revelation. It made no sense.
The Mercenary King had already sent his apologies, but he felt that wasn’t enough. So, he had set out himself, heading directly for Ferderica’s holy land, determined to plead for Ketal’s life—no matter the risk, no matter the cost. Even if it was unlikely, given that the god themselves had intervened, he could not simply stand by and watch Ketal die.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason he was coming here. He had another purpose, another task that weighed on his mind. However, above all else, he wanted to save Ketal. With that resolve, he pushed his body to its limits. As a highest-level Transcendent, the landscape blurred past him in an instant.
Please, let it not be too late, he prayed. He had rushed over as soon as he received the news, but days had passed already. Now, as he crested the final hill, Ferderica’s holy land came into view at last.
The Mercenary King reached the summit and stopped dead in his tracks.
“What...?”
A deep frown crossed his face as he stared down at the holy land. He was seeing something impossible, something no mortal should ever witness.