Chapter 76
Chapter 76: The Return Journey (Middle Part)
***
“Order City?” The old man in the robe furrowed his brows, “They actually managed to infiltrate the Order City?”
That doctor also sat up straight at this moment.
“Not simple at all. Order City isn’t somewhere just anyone can enter, that eggshell is thick enough.”
Eggshell? What eggshell…
“This indicates that they must have someone in power, perhaps even from the Church, assisting them within the Order City,” the Duke said.
The robed elder pondered for a moment before asking Carlos: “Has Queen Elizabeth been notified?”
“I’ve already written a letter,” Carlos nodded in response, “Currently, all I know is that some days ago… around half a month ago, a batch of goods entered the Order City. And there are plans to send another portion in next month’s shipment. By my calculations, they’re sending goods to the Order City about once every 2 months, and the quantity isn’t very large, the last time it was 500 grams.”
“Such a quantity wouldn’t even cover the costs… Clearly, they’re not doing this for gold coins,” the Duke tapped his fingers lightly on the armchair. “This time it was my oversight, I didn’t expect a trusted subordinate of many years to be involved in something like this… Now I’ve ordered strict inspections of merchants entering the city. Next time, their goods probably won’t be routed through Winter City.”
“Your Grace is too harsh on yourself,” the robed elder waved his hand. “I know your character very well, and I’ve seen your support for the Church all these years. It’s just that these heretics infiltrate everywhere, silently entering the Western Continent for so long. Looking at it now, their network of relationships might be more complex than I imagined. Moving forward, we’ll have to trouble Your Grace to seal off their activity routes, ensuring they can’t take a single step into the Valen Empire.”
“That’s not a problem, but…” the Duke’s expression was troubled, seeming to have some difficulty speaking.
Seeing this situation, the robed elder continued: “Your Grace, if you have any difficulties, please speak freely. Now that these scourges have appeared in the Western Continent, it’s a matter of great importance to the Church. We must find ways to eliminate all obstacles.”
So the Duke nodded.
“Bishop Hobbs, please rest assured. I will fully cooperate on my end, immediately sending out messages to the territories under my jurisdiction to strictly inspect all entering merchants. However…” the Duke deliberated before continuing, “however, my territory is limited after all, and I’m afraid I’m powerless regarding Her Majesty’s situation. Everyone witnessed today’s events, my nephew… though somewhat dim-witted, is still first in line to inherit the throne, so we can’t rule out the possibility that heretics have infiltrated the palace. Now with this situation… honestly, I’m at a loss about what to do.”
After saying this, the Duke lowered his head and rubbed his face, showing a very troubled expression.
At this moment, I also quickly realized and understood what he wanted to express, then spoke.
“When coming here, I heard him, tell the heretics. He wants to, drive the Church, out of the empire.”
After these broken words came out, the Duke glanced at me inconspicuously, while I stared straight ahead, my dark and lively eyes seriously looking at the robed elder.
Behind my back, I secretly reached out and tapped the Duke’s palm.
“Your Grace, Miss Sylvia, you can rest assured, I will report this matter directly to His Holiness the Pope,” the robed elder’s expression was serious. “Whatever happens next, the Church will give you the greatest support.”
The Duke smiled.
“Thank you, Bishop Hobbs.”
“May God bless us, everything is for the people of the world.” The robed elder made the sign of the cross on his chest, then turned his gaze to Carlos, “Sir Carlos, tell us about that second route.”
“The second route… is very unclear. The low-level heretics know almost nothing, only mentioning that the vast majority of goods are to be transported to the Eastern Continent, to Norwaghe, the trade city of the Yade Federation.” Carlos paused, turning his gaze towards me, “Little Syl, those assassins you encountered were some of the people responsible for transferring goods. I just went to the scene where you fought, and the two members of the Gate of Truth who fought with you were clearly not mere rabble. This is also why we came here. I extracted from an assassin’s mouth that their leader would come here today. And the person you mentioned earlier, in the blood sacrifice stage, that must be him.”
“Mm.” I quickly nodded, “He wore, a golden mask. But I broke it… Blood sacrifice. What is that?”
“You don’t know about this… The Fire of Sin of the Gate of Truth is divided into three stages by those heretics. The first stage is called burning, enemies at this stage are relatively easy to deal with… um, Little Syl. Do you remember those merchants when we arrived?”
“Mm.”
“Two of them used the power of the Fire of Sin, that was the burning stage, and quite elementary at that. They could only use the Fire of Sin to burn themselves, gaining strength much greater than ordinary people, but only compared to ordinary people. The Fire at this stage is literally burning their flesh. In other words, except for not feeling pain, the flames will burn away their skin, muscles, and finally even their bones turn to ash, no different from being put on a stake.”
“And the second stage is called revival. Once the Fire of Sin ignites at this stage, not only is the temperature higher by more than one level, the flames can easily melt steel, but it can also heal injuries… even fatal wounds can heal instantly. Even if you cut off their limbs or slash their throats… you’ve already witnessed it, right?”
“Yes. I cut, enemy’s throat. Didn’t die.”
“Yes, this is the power of revival. This state will continue until their blood is completely burned… or something else, that’s roughly how it is.”
I frowned at these words: “Something else?”
What does something else refer to… speaking so vaguely.
“Yes, something else. As for what exactly it is, I think only those heretics themselves know clearly, or perhaps even they don’t know… Anyway, coming to the third stage, blood sacrifice.”
“At this stage, it’s no longer something that ordinary 30 or 50 knights can contend with, the enemy becomes very terrifying.” At this point, Carlos’s expression became unusually serious, “Extremely terrifying. As far as I know, this stage is no longer burning their own blood, but others’, countless people, the more people they burn the stronger they become. I once crossed hands with a heretic of this level… it was very difficult.”
I was startled.
A heretic that even Carlos would find difficult to handle must be at the Abyssal level…
Is the Gate of Truth really that frightening?
Suddenly, I thought of the final strike from the man with the rotting face before his death. According to Valarr, he forcibly raised the Fire of Sin to the “blood sacrifice” stage, but his body couldn’t withstand it… but that kind of heart-palpitating temperature and power, if someone in the Gate of Truth could maintain it for a long time…
Perhaps what Carlos said was true.
“But heretics of this level are considered rare even within the Gate of Truth. By rights, you shouldn’t encounter them in the Western Continent.”
“But today, I did encounter one.”
“Are you sure that was the blood sacrifice stage?”