Chapter 506

Chapter 129: The Interval Part 2

“According to the latest message received, our battle with the Third Order Knights has reached a stalemate. The church’s resistance is strong. If the two knight orders meet in Aletheia City, the Shadow Veilers will be put at a disadvantage. Defeat might just be a matter of time.”

“If this information is accurate, then Pope Angel, Isaac the Fist of Judgment, and that…Sylvie. The time for these three to return may be much sooner than we anticipated. If that’s the case, Miss Elma…how should we respond?”

The frail old man bent his waist low, his pale head lowered. After he finished speaking, he waited quietly for the woman’s response. However, after a long while, the dance mistress named Elma did not open her mouth.

She looked at the sunset, slowly raising her hands and clasping them at her chest, assuming a posture of prayer.

“Miss Elma…”

The old man could not help but remind her.

“So far, the jester’s actions have been very smooth. With the Tear of the Goddess in his possession, the church side has not detected it. It is expected that within three days, he will sneak in here and rendezvous with us…there is no excluding the possibility that he will boldly charge in. In that case, the number of people who would die here would be several times higher than expected, but our actions would not be affected…”

“If circumstances permit, given the jester’s bold nature, allowing him to draw the church’s attention, while we secretly enter the forest with the Tear of the Goddess, might not be a bad idea…now that the southern territories are embroiled in war, with countless casualties, the jester’s brutal methods there must have already touched the church’s底线. We can—”

“Shut up.”

Suddenly, the woman interrupted him.

Her tone remained indifferent, with no discernible emotion, yet the old man trembled all over. He did not finish what he was saying, his words stuck in his throat, and he dared not say another word, bowing and standing motionless.

The suffocating oppression did not last long between master and servant. The woman spoke again: “Sebastian.”

“…Yes, miss.”

The woman put down her praying hands and turned around, looking down at the old man. After a moment, her voice was as light as a breeze: “We will all go to hell, won’t we?”

Upon hearing this, the old man shivered again, remaining silent, lowering his head even more, almost kneeling.

“We will all go to hell…”

The woman repeated the sentence.

She raised her head.

The distant sunset slowly sank between the endless mountain ranges.

Night was approaching.

In the twilight, in this desolate mountain ravine where no one came, a light whisper came from the direction of the old man bowed before her: “After this, I want the jester to die here.”

…………

At the same time, south of Woodward Forest, dozens of kilometers away.

A pale-faced man rode a horned horse, moving slowly through the valley filled with puddles and mud pits. He scratched his hair irritably while muttering curses: “Damn! That annoying little girl, these past few days she’s like an annoying glue, stinking dog poop! Always popping up unexpectedly, buzzing, buzzing, buzzing! Ruining other people’s moods, no matter how hard you try to shake her off, she always comes back. You can’t kill her, her messy swordsmanship is slippery like a mud-splattered eel, dirty and stinky! Damn it…”

“Hey, do you think she might have fallen in love with me? I mean it seriously, with that persistent pursuit attitude, either she’s fallen in love with me, or I killed her mother…but I don’t feel like killing her mother, I’m a good person, good people never kill parents, such despicable acts I cannot commit…I don’t even know her, damn!”

As the man ranted on, he became increasingly angry, scratching his scalp so hard he wished he could draw blood.

“This is the price of being kind. If you don’t kill someone’s family, they’ll find ways to kill yours…do you think good people deserve to be bullied like this?”

The men behind him exchanged glances, barely suppressing their laughter. They knew he was rambling, saying whatever came to mind. Such things were routine for them. But after a moment, someone couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing: “Mr. J, I’m not trying to cause trouble, but can a good person really talk about killing families?”

“Hahahaha—”

The laughter echoed through the valley.

Leading the group, Mr. J ignored the laughter behind him and continued cursing: “Damn, I don’t think the girl truly loves me. Maybe she’s just thirsty, wanting a man…go to a tavern if you want a man! Why come to me? Why? I will never like her, I hate her, I hate her lightning…she’s not some innocent little girl, I won’t fall in love with her…”

“That woman, is she the one mentioned by the Shadow Veiler, the one encountered at sea?” someone said.

“That’s right…”

“But isn’t she supposed to be dead? Why is she here, like a rabid dog, biting us relentlessly…damn Shadow Veiler, he actually dared to lie to me? I hate it when people lie to me. Ha! Let them all die.”

“But that woman is heavily injured. She probably won’t be able to—

Here it goes:

“They’re catching up…”

“Should I see her again, I would have to kill her entire family with my own hands…”

Mr. J kept talking incessantly in front of them, his tone as always slightly neurotic. The few people behind him smiled, enduring their leader’s rant while silently controlling their beasts to follow, looking very relaxed in posture and expression, but their eyes kept wandering around, hands always on the hilt of their knives, guarding against enemies that might come from any direction.

A few of them followed the mountain path through the valley, coming out to the open plain at the mouth of the valley. In front of them was an endless expanse of wilderness, sparse grass and shrubs, the muddy ground emitting a faint stench. From a distance, one could see a rotting corpse floating in a pool of stagnant water nearby.

“Tsk tsk, how pitiful…” Mr. J sighed slightly as he looked at the corpse, “Those hypocrites of the Holy Church, who talk about love and redemption every day, probably believe their own lies after saying them so many times. They sit in warm rooms with burning fires, eating overly sweet food, spouting arrogant words. How many people know what’s happening here? Or rather, how many people are willing to understand what has truly happened here…”

As he spoke with a mocking tone, he rode his rhinoceros out of the valley, passing by the corpse not far away.

“But this has nothing to do with me.”

The others behind him gradually walked out of the valley, looking ahead. At the end of the plain, the mountains hidden in the clouds, undulating and rising and falling, and the vast forest faintly visible in the distance, like a sea of emerald green shade covering the whole land.

“Look.”

Someone unfolded a map, pointing to the forest and saying, “That is Woodworth Forest, the place where the gods sealed the dragon according to legend.”

“Oh…”

“It looks quite spectacular, huh! Ha!”

“Emotionally stirred…”

“I see the church’s watchtower, hehehe… Mr. J, what’s our plan? Should we charge straight in?”

“Pretty much.”

Mr. J shrugged, indifferent.

“Ha! Another part, I like this…”

After saying this, the person turned to his companion, “Hacha, how many are you going to kill this time?”

“Of course, one kill for each one seen, is there even a need to ask? Are you thinking of sparing some to chat?”

“Heh, you’re really overconfident.”

“Hey hey hey, there will definitely be no shortage of knights on the other side, be careful not to mess up.”

They laughed and chatted behind him. Mr. J at the front twitched his lips, seemingly smiling, then waved his hand backward, “Before that, don’t forget our mission. Miss Elina is still waiting. You bunch of animals, don’t get too carried away when the time comes, or you might delay the main task—”

Suddenly, the smile on his face vanished, and a cold, knife-like glint flashed in his eyes.

At this moment, the man named Hacha was walking last, the iron hooves of the beast just stepping out of the valley onto the plain. He was still talking with his companions, the smile on his lips never fading. In the next moment, intense golden light suddenly blossomed from the hillside on the left rear!

Buzz—

The sound of the divine miracle lasted only an instant.

With a sharp whistling sound of the air being cut, a blazing white ray burst forth, swiftly shooting down from the top of the hill, piercing through Hacha’s head in an instant, and then piercing the neck of the heretic’s rhinoceros in front, causing the giant beast to collapse in a scream, blood and brain matter exploding out. The man named Hacha was left with only his jaw, his body swaying several times before falling off the beast.

“Acha!”

“Damn woman! I’ll chop you to pieces—”

“No! It’s not her, it’s not her!!!”

“It’s the church’s bastard—”

Chaos erupted, the rhinoceros raised its hoof and screamed, crimson karma fire shot out, carrying the wind towards the hill. In the midst of the intense explosion, soil and stones fell. Two figures moved as fast as lightning, trailing faint light, leaping out from the burning flames, making several turns before reaching the front of Mr. J and the others, stopping.

Mud splashed and fell.

Two figures, one tall and one short, stood straight and separated from the remaining five heretics by more than ten meters, blocking the way of Mr. J and the others.

The giant beasts beneath them started to become restless, the pale-faced man reached out to stroke its head, squinting his eyes, confronting the two people ahead. The atmosphere instantly became oppressive.

“Dogs of the Church!”

Suddenly, one of the heretics roared, ready to rush forward, but was immediately stopped by Mr. J’s loud shout, “Stop!”

“Mr. J—”

“I said, stop.”

The man’s eyes almost narrowed into a line, his lips twitching violently, a face that seemed to be smiling but was filled with a chilling murderous intent.

He stared fixedly at the two people, his gaze sweeping over their cloaks. From the front, the cloak was extremely similar to that of the Pope’s knight, but it was entirely black. Their faces were hidden under the shadow of the hood, making it difficult to discern their features, but one could vaguely tell that they were a man and a woman from their figures.

Mr. J stared silently at the two people for a long time.

“Ah…”

Then, he rubbed his forehead, letting out a sigh-like voice, “This is… not unexpected at all…”

“…Choir of Saints.”