Chapter 76: The Return (Part 2)
“Royal City?” The old man in the robe furrowed his brows tightly. “How on earth did they manage to sneak into the Royal City?”
That doctor fellow straightened up, looking serious at this moment.
“Not just anybody can waltz into the Royal City; that egg shell is thick enough!”
Egg shell? What egg shell…
“This indicates they must have, at the very least, someone in power within the Royal City, possibly even allies from the Church,” the Duke said.
The old man in the robe pondered for a moment before turning to Carlos. “Have you informed Queen Elizabeth?”
“I’ve already sent a letter,” Carlos nodded. “As far as I know, a shipment entered the Royal City about two weeks ago. And there are plans to send another part of the next month’s shipment over there. When you think about it, they send a shipment to the Royal City every couple of months, and it’s not a huge quantity; the last one was just five hundred grams.”
“That amount wouldn’t even cover costs… Clearly, they’re not in it for the coins,” the Duke tapped his fingers lightly on the chair, “I’ve dropped the ball this time. I never expected a longtime, trustful subordinate would pull this kind of stunt… I’ve already ordered a thorough investigation on the merchants entering the city, and next time, their shipments probably won’t be taking the Winter City route anymore.”
“Duke, you’re being too hard on yourself,” the old man said with a wave of his hand, “I’m fully aware of your contributions to the Church over the years. It’s just that these heretics are like cockroaches; they’ve infiltrated the Western Continent without a peep. Looking at the situation now, their network of connections may be much more complex than I initially thought. We’ll have to trouble you, Duke, to shut down their routes; they shouldn’t be able to set foot in the Valen Empire again.”
“Not a problem, but…” the Duke’s face looked troubled, as if he had something stuck in his throat.
Noticing this, the old man continued, “Duke, if there’s something troubling you, feel free to speak up. These pests showing up on the Western Continent is a major issue for the Church; we must find a way to eliminate all difficulties.”
The Duke nodded.
“Bishop Hobbes, rest assured. I will do everything possible to cooperate. I’ll send word back as soon as I return to my territory to tighten checks on all entering merchants. Just…” the Duke hesitated before adding, “but my territory is limited, and I’m afraid I can’t do much regarding Her Majesty. Everyone today witnessed what happened; my nephew… let’s just say he’s a bit slow on the uptake, but he is the first in line for the throne. So it’s not unlikely that heretics may have infiltrated the palace. With this incident, to be honest, I’m a bit at a loss on what to do.”
After saying this, the Duke hung his head and rubbed his face, looking quite distressed.
At this moment, I suddenly realized what he was implying and quickly chimed in.
“On the way here, I overheard someone talking about wanting to kick the Church out of the Empire.”
After my fragmented words fell out, the Duke glanced at me casually, while I remained unwavering, my bright, dark eyes fixed earnestly on the old man in the robe.
Meanwhile, I stealthily stretched out a hand, giving the Duke a gentle poke on the palm.
“Duke, Miss Silvya, you needn’t worry. I will report this matter directly to the Pope,” the old man said with a serious expression. “Whatever happens next, the Church will give you the utmost support.”
The Duke chuckled.
“Thank you, Bishop Hobbes.”
“God bless, it’s all for the sake of the people,” the old man made the sign of the cross on his chest before shifting his gaze to Carlos. “Mr. Carlos, tell us about that second route.”
“The second route is… rather vague. The lower-tier heretics know very little, but they did mention that most of the shipments are destined for the Eastern Continent, the trade capital of the Yade Federation, Nogavi.” Carlos paused and looked at me. “Little Shay, the assassins you encountered were part of those responsible for the cargo transfer. I just went to the scene where you fought; the two Truth Gate fighters you battled clearly aren’t a rabble. That’s also why we’re here. I got this info out of one assassin; their leader will be coming here today. The bl**d sacrifice people you mentioned, that’s him, right?”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded quickly. “He had a golden mask. Though I smashed it… bl**d sacrifice? What’s that?”
“You don’t know? The Sin Fire of the Truth Gate is divided into three stages by those heretics. The first stage is called Burning. In this stage, the enemies are relatively easy to deal with… Um, Little Shay, remember that batch of merchants we saw on the way here?”
“Yeah.”
“Two of them were using Infernal Fire powers; that’s the Burning stage, and they were quite amateurish—only capable of using Sin Fire to burn themselves for a significantly higher strength than regular folks, but still merely stronger than the average joes. This stage of Infernal Fire truly burns flesh. In other words, aside from not feeling pain, the flames will incinerate their skin, muscles, and eventually, even their bones turn to ash. It’s not much different from getting roasted alive.”
“And then there’s the second stage, called Revive. Once the Infernal Fire ignites at this stage, the temperature increases drastically; it can easily melt steel and also heal injuries… even fatal ones can heal in an instant, even if you chop off their limbs or slice their throats… You’ve seen it, right?”
“Yeah. I cut an enemy’s throat. Didn’t d*e.”
“Yep, that’s the power of Revive. This state continues until their bl**d runs dry… or something else, roughly like that.”
I frowned at this: “Something else?”
What’s this “something else”? It’s a bit too vague…
“Uh, something else. As for what it is exactly, I think only those heretics know. Maybe even they don’t truly know… Anyway, as for the third stage, bl**d Sacrifice.”
“When it reaches this stage, ordinary knights won’t stand a chance against them, and the enemies become terrifyingly powerful,” Carlos said, his expression unusually serious. “Extremely terrifying. As far as I know, at this stage, it’s not their own bl**d burning but others’—the more people they burn, the stronger they become. I’ve faced this level of heretic once before… it was incredibly tough.”
I jolted at his words.
Even Carlos found it tough to handle these heretics; they must be at Abyss level…
Is the Truth Gate that brutal?
Suddenly, I thought of the last strike from that ghastly-faced guy before he died. According to Valar, he forcefully elevated the Infernal Fire to the ‘bl**d Sacrifice’ stage, but his body couldn’t handle it… But that chilling temperature and power, if someone could maintain that in the Truth Gate…
Maybe Carlos is right.
“Yet heretics at this level, even if you searched the entire Truth Gate, would be rare, so logically speaking, you shouldn’t encounter them in the Western Continent.”
“Well, today, I did.”
“Are you sure that was the bl**d Sacrifice stage?”
