Chapter 698

Chapter 83: Corruption – Part Four

The scarlet heat wave raged in the sky, turning into fiery streams of light that emitted dazzling brightness. The strong gale wind blew fiercely, and the hooves of the beasts stomped in chaos with the sound of whinnies. The knights on the beasts staggered and fell off due to the strong wind.

The hurricane vortex swung by the old man swept further into the sky, cutting the terrifying meteor of karma into two halves. In the explosion, it scattered into a shower of fire, as if bursting eardrums, the rain of fire poured down but was blocked by an invisible wall of wind two hundred meters above. It was carried away by the wind and blown even further, even the scorching hot air currents seemed to be swept away together.

In the end, only a few tiny sparks of fire could fall into the knight formation, some ashes slowly drifted down, landing on the armor of the knights, flickering like breath before they were completely extinguished.

“Firefly!”

As the flowing wind dissipated and the heat wave retreated, the golden aura that had not truly gathered overhead quickly vanished. The sky gradually returned to tranquility. Bishop Alersta shouted excitedly ahead, “Those with minor injuries stay here! Take a moment to rest! Second and third combat teams, step forward! Prepare to follow me into the town—”

At his command, the gold aura at the rear of the formation reappeared, gathering into streams of light that turned into green dots of light, falling from above the heads of the warriors of the First Knight Order. The large-scale healing miracle called “Firefly” rapidly healed the burning on their bodies and faces, and those who had fallen off the beasts began to rise from the ground.

Ahead of the formation, the old man sheathed his black blade, and the flowing wind wrapped around him disappeared instantly. His robe fell behind him. He exhaled lightly; his gray hair remained unruffled. Turning, he started walking back, while young Bishop Alersta looked at him, his face flushed with excitement.

“Old Master, thank you for your help! As expected, with you here, nothing can be of concern! Haha, we don’t need to wait for the scouts’ message anymore. It’s clearly a den of thieves! If we delay any longer, it might become more disadvantageous. Please accompany me into the town! May the gods bless us, we will join forces with Lord Apheil and resolve this place—”

“If you want to take people to their deaths, then go ahead. I won’t stop you.”

The old man calmly mounted the beast. His words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the young bishop’s head, causing his expression to freeze abruptly.

“What do you mean by that?”

Even at this point, what else is there to hesitate about…

Alersta was confused. He looked at the old man, whose expression remained unchanged, staring only at the direction of the town without even glancing at him. Hearing the hoofbeats of the team gathering behind him, the boiling blood in his chest quietly receded, suddenly feeling somewhat frustrated.

The situation was already very clear!

When they advanced towards the small town earlier, they saw the scout knights release the Mafa Light. Alersta immediately became alert. To ensure absolute safety, he wanted to lead the charge into the town himself. If there were heretics, he would simply kill them all. However, he was stopped by the old man, who said it was too hasty, and the matter was left to Lord Apheil to handle alone.

Apheil going is fine, but me going would be hasty?

He respected the old man and did not voice his thoughts at the time, but he understood very well that there was no such thing as being hasty or not. The old man simply didn’t trust him, perhaps thinking he was too young, lacking in strength and experience, and fearing he might hinder the mission.

Since it was the old man’s opinion, despite Alersta’s frustration, he couldn’t refute it. He could only follow the advice, leading the team to advance to the outskirts of the town, waiting patiently.

Soon, the sounds of combat reached their ears from that side.

The noise was loud, with muffled thuds reverberating over. However, the town was filled with flames, and Alersta couldn’t discern the actual situation. Adding to this, there had been no news from the knights he had dispatched to investigate. The young bishop was in a state of anxiety; he had come here to make a name for himself. In the holy city, he had gone through great efforts to persuade his brother to let him lead the expedition to the eastern continent to assist the old gentleman in suppressing heretics.

This was thanks to his outstanding performance leading the faithful followers under Sir Galaia, accompanying the Pope southward to confront the heretics.

Even though the miracle he hastily performed at the Silent Castle failed to save the mother and daughter who fell from the balcony…

This incident remained a knot in the young bishop’s heart. Nonetheless, he seized that opportunity to gain the Pope’s recognition and appreciation. His valiant attitude in battle reached his brother’s ears. If not for this, Alersta would not have been entrusted with such an important task independently.

He remembered his brother saying that this mission was crucial, determining how far the Rosethus family could go. Had it not been for handling the series of troubles after taking over the bank, his brother would have come personally. Therefore, this mission must not fail, and it needed to be executed flawlessly.

Alersta had sworn this in front of his brother.

However, the current situation was vastly different from what he had anticipated. Although he was nominally in charge, the old gentleman and Apurifel were the true leaders of the operation. Most importantly, they did not trust this young man and ignored his advice, leaving him with no room to act.

If this continued, he would become nothing more than a useless figure standing idly at the forefront, making a racket but accomplishing nothing.

How could Alersta remain calm?

Yet, the sounds of combat suddenly quieted down. For a brief moment, Alersta thought that perhaps everything was over, and Apurifel had finished everything, leaving him with no further role to play.

But when he saw the fire meteors converging in the sky and heading towards them, he realized that the situation in the town was not as he had imagined.

Heretics…

Still possessed some tricks up their sleeves.

And he still had the chance to do something.

The knight squad sent to investigate had not returned nor communicated any news. Alersta knew they must have encountered significant trouble. The heretics in the town had managed to send a large “greeting” outside, indicating that Apurifel’s situation was also grim…

Alersta understood that he was about to face formidable enemies, and this campaign would not be easy.

But so what?

He had faced even more terrifying foes before.

In Sir Galaia, facing over ten thousand heretics in the blood sacrifice stage, it made no sense to hide here. When the tide of enemies came, carving out a path with blood was the only option.

Could he just stand by and watch like now?!

“Old gentleman.”

He looked at the serene elderly man, thinking of what he had just said, and truly could not control his emotions: “Apurifel’s condition is unknown, and I haven’t heard from more than twenty knights either. How much longer do you think we should wait here?!”

“…Let us see.”

Boom—

In the next moment, another explosion sounded from the burning town ahead.

—

(Note: The last line was translated without comments as requested, but the original instruction was to translate the entire passage without comments, which has been done above.)