Chapter 693

Chapter 78 Fire and Ash Part 10

The sound of iron hooves echoed through the main street of the town as the galloping antelopes raced toward the town center. White birds soared in the sky, their wings flapping vigorously. The commotion from the battle in the east seemed to fade away. Lawrence, the knight commander, squeezed his mount tighter, running ahead. His fierce face bore a hint of seriousness.

Following the trajectory of the white birds, he led more than twenty reconnaissance knights. No longer concerned with the battle involving the Papal knights, he charged straight through the dusty road. Soon, he could smell the overwhelming stench and felt the air’s temperature rise even higher than before.

This doesn’t feel right…

For some reason, Lawrence felt a surge of panic, though he couldn’t pinpoint why.

As a knight commander under the First Knight Order and one of the key figures on the Grace Scales, despite being less than forty years old, he was already a seasoned warrior who had seen countless battles and traversed countless hells. He had faced all sorts of scenes and had organized the hunting down of many heretics. The bloodiness and heat he now experienced were merely appetizers compared to what he had seen before.

But why…

Why did he still feel this tension and unease?

When facing that troublesome female heretic earlier, he hadn’t felt this way…

Lawrence instinctively slowed down the antelope’s pace. He turned back to look at his knights, thinking he might have overestimated the situation and felt tired after the brief battle. But when he saw the familiar faces behind him, he noticed they all wore frowns, their expressions either tense or serious, mirroring his own feelings.

What’s going on?

Where does this eerie sense of unease come from…

“Knight Commander…”

Seemingly sensing Lawrence’s mood, a young knight couldn’t hold back and said, “Should we… report the situation here to Bishop Arester first? We can wait for orders before making further plans?”

…That makes sense.

His squad’s role in this operation was only to act as scouts. They had completed their tasks and just needed to truthfully report the situation in the town and orderly withdraw from this side. Once they rejoined the main force, any unforeseen incidents would not be his fault.

After all, entering the town without permission had already been a risky move. Without results, acting rashly could lead to serious consequences, and he would bear the blame.

So…

Should he do that?

Lawrence hesitated momentarily.

But the hesitation lasted only a moment. After careful consideration, he made a decisive decision: “Enzan.”

The man called his messenger knight, expressionless, and said, “Go inform Bishop Arester and the elder about the situation here. There’s only one heretic, currently engaged with Lord Apurifel. In the town center, there’s an unknown blood-colored sphere, likely a new tactic from the heretics, which should not be underestimated. The Lawrence squad is worried about potential dangers and decides to investigate first and request immediate reinforcements.”

This…

would suffice.

Lawrence was clear about what he needed to do. He couldn’t simply withdraw now. Not only had someone died unexpectedly during their previous battle, but withdrawing without results would likely lead to questioning his actions, affecting his reputation within the knight order. While this matter was indeed important, at this moment, there was another reason he couldn’t retreat.

Something more important than his own promotion…

The dignity and honor of a knight of the church.

What a joke…

They were the First Knight Order.

They were powerful warriors under the Grace Scales, the most elite combat unit from the Holy City and the Church. Whenever they entered battle, they crushed everything in their path like dry leaves.

Ahead, all enemies, when…

would they step back half a pace out of worry and tension?

Moreover, what was ahead wasn’t an incomprehensibly powerful heretic enemy; there was only a strange blood-red sphere… Knights were not the kind to retreat at the first sign of trouble. They hadn’t even figured out what that sphere was for, so there was no reason for them to withdraw on the spot.

As the knight named Enzan left upon receiving his orders, Commander Lawrence turned around, a cruel smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. He urged his beast to move faster: “The rest of you, keep following me! I want to see what that heretic woman is desperately trying to protect… What exactly is this devouring monster.”

Of course, this was just a vicious jest.

But soon, Lawrence found he couldn’t laugh anymore.

When the knights’ squad turned onto the main road and arrived in front of the widest and most fiercely burning earthen courtyard buildings in town, when he saw the huge, bizarre egg-like orb floating in the air, burning with crimson flames, and the two bone heaps piled beneath it, also burning fiercely, and smelled the nauseating, pungent stench of blood in the air…

Lawrence looked at the scene and could no longer laugh.

“Damn, what the hell is this…”

The man muttered under his breath, feeling waves of hot air hitting his face. The burning red flames licked at the orb like the sun, dazzlingly bright. The priests of the Faith Corps had to release another miracle, covering the knights with a light shield to withstand the terrifying heat from the raging flames.

They reined in their beasts nearby, stopping in their tracks. In their line of sight, that sun-like burning orb floated quietly in the air, less than ten meters above the ground, looking like a massive ball of rolling, burning blood, the fire surging, dripping continuously onto the ground, causing the yellow earth beneath to burn as well.

The spreading flames ignited the piles of corpses. The tongues of fire seemed to have life, twisting as they pulled dark red blood lines from the corpse piles, weaving a dense web in the air, flowing endlessly into the burning orb.

“Commander…”

“The people in town seem to be all here…”

“How tragic…”

“It’s such a cult…”

Someone couldn’t hold back and clenched his teeth, his voice trembling involuntarily: “These heretical beasts, even with just one woman, can do something so crazy and unreasonable…”

“They are truly… a plague upon the world…”

“Commander, what should we do?”

Someone swallowed hard and asked. Commander Lawrence stared at the burning fireball, then looked down at the two bone heaps, his face shifting between shadows and lights in the firelight, looking extremely frightening.

…What should they do?

This damned thing, neither he nor anyone else had ever seen or heard of it. How would he know what to do now!?

After some thought, he drew his longsword from his waist and dismounted from his beast.

But since they had come this far and seen this much, they had to do something.

“Regardless of what this thing is, it does seem like it might be something that eats people…”

Yet, it didn’t seem very dangerous.

Would this thing attack if they got closer?

Lawrence tentatively took two steps forward.

He raised his head, his gaze fixed on the burning blood sphere in the air, waiting quietly—nothing happened.

…Come to think of it, the purpose of this operation against the heretics seemed to be to find something from here.

What exactly that something was, as a commander, the man certainly wouldn’t know. That was a problem for Bishop Aresta and the old gentleman to worry about, and they wouldn’t tell these soldiers executing the order.

However, ambitious Lawrence, gazing at the blood-sucking orb, suddenly thought…

Could that thing be this one right in front of him?

If it was…

Now wouldn’t be the perfect opportunity for him to establish his merits?