Chapter 392

Chapter 323: Wounded Prayer

In a villa by the Moonflow River on the western outskirts of Tivyán.

In the secret room, Smith stood before an altar constructed from bloody bones, conversing with the eyes, ears, and other facial features formed from a pool of flesh within the altar. He was reporting to a superior about Vania’s situation.

“The situation is roughly as follows, Elder Duval. I’ve debated with that nun about the faith in the Holy Mother and the Cup Mother. As a Radiant Church member, her reaction was abnormal. She tried to confuse the Holy Mother with the Cup Mother, which is clearly a result influenced by ‘True Crimson Holy Mother.’ Additionally, she might replace Kock in charge of the Historical Records Office. This makes her quite valuable, so I’m requesting some suitable secret transmissions for her to read here, to deepen her poison recognition and corruption.”

Finally, Smith reported to the writhing ear of flesh within the altar. Afterward, he respectfully stood in place awaiting a response. After a moment, the mouth within the altar slowly opened and replied in a hoarse voice.

“Your suggestion is good… If that nun can access the library in the future, then she is worth developing… However, I need to discuss the secret transmission matter with others before replying to you. There aren’t many suitable secret transmissions for corruption in Tivyán now. I will contact you again soon…”

After the mouth in the altar finished speaking, all the ears, mouths, and eyes on the altar dissolved into writhing flesh. The secret room returned to silence.

Secret transmissions possess the ability to corrupt one’s mind. Various societies often use appropriate secret transmissions to corrupt valuable targets, but not all secret transmissions are suitable for such purposes.

Some secret transmissions are too intense, causing one to lose control easily. Others are too straightforward, making people suspicious at first glance. Good secret transmissions for corruption are subtle, with mild poisons that are hard to detect at first glance, much like a toxin mixed into cigarettes or drinks, leading people to fall into danger unknowingly…

Such secret transmissions are suitable for corruption. Compared to other secret transmissions, these are relatively rare. At least, Smith didn’t have any. To further corrupt Vania, Smith could only rely on his superiors to provide these secret transmissions.

Seeing the altar return to normal, Smith didn’t wait there. Instead, he stepped out of the secret room and sat down outside on a chair, preparing to wait. Just then, his expression suddenly tensed, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

At this moment, Smith felt his “Shadow” spiritual energy being rapidly consumed. He knew this was happening because he was being detected by the extraordinary ability of “Lamp.”

Rising abruptly from the chair, Smith frowned. Initially, he focused on using his spiritual energy to resist the detection. Then, he realized his “Shadow” wasn’t enough to withstand it, depleting quickly.

“This rate of depletion… This undetectable surveillance… It must be someone from the Church! Either a Red Tier ‘Lamp’ extraordinary being or a high-tier detection extraordinary item! Something far stronger than the Radiance Lamp!”

Clenching his fists tightly, with a serious look, Smith thought, realizing the situation was dire. He immediately stopped using “Shadow” to resist the detection.

Knowing that against a Red Tier “Lamp” or a high-tier detection extraordinary item, his “Shadow” would be depleted quickly, continuing to resist covertly would lead to his “Shadow” being exhausted, and he would still be discovered. This would put him at a severe disadvantage in battle.

After weighing his options, Smith chose to immediately stop resisting the detection, revealing himself to conserve spiritual energy for a better fight later.

After stopping the spiritual resistance, Smith began preparing for battle, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, anger surging in his heart.

“Why! Why is someone conducting high-intensity extraordinary detection nearby! The Church will find us here! What went wrong to draw the Church’s attention?”

Smith thought angrily, instantly suspecting one person.

“It’s that nun! Only that damned nun! She tricked us! She must have used some method to secretly inform the Church, exposing our location! She deceived us all! She had ulterior motives from the start!”

Smith thought furiously, feeling a surge of killing intent. His claws grew longer, black hair sprouted over his body, but his rage was directed at the nun, not the unknown enemy outside.

“b*tch… You dared deceive me… I’ll k*ll you first!”

Just as Smith was about to track Vania by scent, he caught a whiff of intense heat above his villa, rapidly descending toward him.

“That is…”

Smith’s eyes widened, and he quickly dodged to the side. Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed above him.

“Boom!!”

The ceiling above Smith burst open, showering dust and debris. A scorching flame struck where Smith had been standing, spreading flames that ignited curtains, carpets, and furniture. Smith shielded himself, his black hair catching fire but quickly extinguished against the wall.

After the flames subsided, a figure in white armor emerged from the ashes, raising a burning sword and pointing it at Smith. A muffled sound came from the helmet.

“You’re quick, wolf. Let’s see how fast you can dodge when I burn your nose off next time.”

Knight Anreyus declared proudly, seeing Smith’s transformation. Smith clenched his teeth, muttering, “Holy War Knight…”

As he spoke, Smith’s body swelled, fangs grew, and his black fur thickened. Facing a strong opponent, he began transforming into a werewolf.

Caught off guard, Smith’s plan to k*ll the nun before the fight was interrupted. But he didn’t give up.

Under his mental command, the beastmen trapped beneath the villa burst out of their cells, howling toward Smith for support. Meanwhile, three beastmen broke away and raced toward Vania’s direction.

Wolf poison created by werewolves, similar to Black Tier Beastmasters in strength, made it easy for Smith to send three to eliminate a Black Tier Healing Priest.

As his body swelled, Smith bared his fangs at Anreyus, ready for battle.

…

On the other side, in the forest, Dorothy, who was using a zombie puppet to monitor the villa, couldn’t help but curse when she saw the fireball crash into the villa.

“d*mn! They just charged in! Are you trying to rescue hostages? Don’t they fear getting killed?”

Dorothy hadn’t expected the Church knight to charge directly at the enemy leader. Following An Yin Bureau’s style, they should have used wind manipulation to counter werewolves’ sense of smell, making infiltration a better option. But the knight from the Church charged head-on, putting hostages at risk!

She noticed the White Tier Hunter captain in the sky, flustered, flying down to direct his team to attack the villa. Clearly, even he hadn’t anticipated the sudden move by the Church knight.

“Sigh… For the Church, clearing out the cultists here is the priority. Hostage safety is secondary… With this, Vania is in danger…”