Chapter 46: The Giant Tree and the Lost Holy City
“You know, the Holy Wall is on the verge of collapse.”
In a dim prison cell, a man named Ramiel said forlornly, “Have you ever seen that towering wall? It’s like a legendary dragon lounging in the mountains, magnificent and intimidating, stretching endlessly no matter how high you climb.”
“It’s the greatest miracle in human history, the Church’s last stand for hundreds of years. How many generations of clergymen dedicated their lives, tirelessly building this fortified barrier for the children of God? Many of their descendants still guard it today, day after day, year after year, reinforcing the sins that protect the Holy Wall against the encroaching Abyss Mud from Cartelgarin, defending the land beneath our feet.”
“That wall concerns millions of people across the Western and Eastern Continents, determining whether they can continue to live in peace and normalcy. It has shielded humanity from calamity for centuries, but now… it’s about to crumble… cough cough.”
Ramiel was weak.
He coughed violently, struggling to lift his head, yet his dim eyes remained fixed on the small figure sitting outside the cell.
“Centuries ago, the imprisoned Mother Deity buried a new seed of catastrophe where the Abyss perished. Unlike previous seeds, this one holds power we cannot comprehend—crafted by the Mother Deity after hundreds of years of learning and evolution, made with chaotic power… a new disaster…”
“You mean a tree?” suddenly interjected a girl.
Ramiel was momentarily stunned, as if pleasantly surprised. “Yes, it seems you are already aware—cough.”
“I spoke to the Commander of the Fourth Knights before you,” the black-haired girl nodded, gesturing outside the cell door, “He’s just next door.”
After a moment of thought, she tilted her head, “He told me the First Knights have gathered an army to head to the Holy Wall?”
“What else would they do? Hide like Saint George in an unfindable place, ignoring the impending calamity?” Ramiel scoffed.
The girl frowned.
“You don’t need to bring up Saint George with me. I don’t know him well.”
She seemed genuinely impatient, waving her hand. “Cut to the chase—how bad is the situation at the Holy Wall?”
At her words, a glimmer of hope flickered in Ramiel’s gloomy eyes, but he quickly tamped it down, gathering his thoughts before replying seriously, “The tree lies deep in the Abyss Mud, sprouted suddenly about a year ago. Its trunk is pitch black, like a fusion of chaotic power. In just a few months, it grew larger than the Storm Tree at the center of Woodward Forest, its roots stretching hundreds of miles; wherever it goes, Dead Smoke wafts, making it impossible to approach.”
“During that time, the Church tried countless ways to stop it, calling down miracles, invoking divine relics—nothing worked. They could only watch it grow, blocking out the sun, and its flourishing roots finally broke through the sin barriers, penetrating the wall. Now the Holy Wall is riddled with holes, and the mud has begun to spread beneath it, with the Faith Organization and the Knights holding it back for now…”
“But as time passes, the tree’s roots keep growing, and the area eroded by the Abyss Mud expands. They can’t hold on much longer; at this rate, we might only have a year before the Knights’ last line of defense is breached, and that will be when calamity truly descends upon the Western Continent.”
A year…
The girl’s eyes flickered for a moment before she asked, “Is this something you’ve seen with your own eyes?”
“Yes.”
Ramiel replied, “The core members of the Choir of Saints were there long before the First Knights arrived. Emily, I, we all witnessed the horror of that disaster.”
“And what I just told you is based on information from over four months ago. After that, Emily and I were reassigned to monitor the Silent Fortress and found it completely destroyed by you…”
As he spoke, his voice trembled again, as if holding back some emotion. “If that experiment had succeeded, we would have had someone capable of walking through the Dead Smoke unharmed by chaotic power, reaching the trunk and destroying it completely. And that was not just the Church’s—no, that was the last hope for all beings in the Western Continent. That hope has been strangled in its cradle by you… now, do you understand what you’ve done?”
At the end, it was almost an accusation.
“……”
The girl remained expressionless, looking at the man in the cell. “Sounds like I committed an incredible crime… should I feel sorry for that inhumane experiment? Enough of this useless chatter; you’re not here to seek d*ath.”
Her slightly fierce words, no matter how many times she uttered them, had a uniquely non-threatening aura, yet they were enough to bring Ramiel back to reality—maybe even instill some fear, which was sufficient.
“Have you tried flying over it?” the girl paused before pursuing the line of questioning.
“Of course we did.”
Ramiel took a deep breath to calm his agitated emotions, his gaze steadying again: “Though I haven’t seen it myself, I heard that the Sword Saint’s first act upon returning from the Eastern Continent was to fly over the Holy Wall to destroy that tree, but he failed.”
“With the Sword Saint’s speed and affinity for the wind, he could have cleared the Dead Smoke within a kilometer, yet he could only get within about fifty kilometers of the trunk before seemingly being gravely injured, nearly losing his life.”
“……”
This time, the girl looked genuinely surprised, her eyes widening slightly.
The Sword Saint…
Gravely injured!?
And couldn’t even get close…
“That tree is alive.”
Ramiel noticed her confusion and immediately continued, “When someone truly approaches, the vast canopy forms an impenetrable net, not even a bird could get through. That tree is the Chaos Tree; anyone who touches it will be eroded, which you should understand better than me.”
Indeed, she understood all too well.
If what Ramiel said was true, perhaps she was the only one who could give it a shot.
A shot at destroying that tree.
Of course, she wouldn’t naively agree here. She had mentioned she wouldn’t be used by the Church anymore.
“You mentioned the core of the Choir…”
The girl pondered for a long time before suddenly speaking up again, “Then the Romani Doctor must also be at the Holy Wall.”
“……”
Ramiel fell silent.
And the girl understood the answer: “Hmph, so she is over there.”
“No.” To her surprise, the man shook his head in denial.
“You’re lying.”
“At this point, I have no reason to deceive you, and besides, I do not enjoy lying.”
Ramiel’s tone was earnest as he said, “Initially, at least four or five months ago, Romani was indeed at the Holy Wall; she is the conductor of the Choir of Saints and brought all of us along. But later, she had something more important to attend to, so she should have left long ago.”
The woman was actually the conductor of the Choir of Saints… the boss of the Choir? This is quite…
The girl seized on the information the man had inadvertently revealed, keeping her composure as she continued to inquire, “Something more important?”
What could be more important than what was happening at the Holy Wall…
There was something.
Just as she finished asking, she realized, “She went to the Holy City, didn’t she?”
“……”
The man fell silent once more.
This time, he showed no intention of denying it.
Surprisingly honest…
This person.
The girl’s lips curled in a smirk; feeling a bit fatigued, she shifted her posture, resting her chin on her hand. “In that case, tell me about the situation in the Holy City; what’s Angel up to?”
…………
In the Royal Palace, the audience chamber.
The voice of Her Majesty the Queen came slightly cold but serious from the desk, “Two months ago, I heard that from the Holy City, Pope Angel, Cardinal Michel, Cardinal Elena, and a woman named Romani all went deep into the underground prison.”
“……”
The two men fell silent, contemplating, quietly awaiting Queen Elizabeth to continue.
But there was no continuation.
Her words simply stopped at that.
“And then?”
After a moment, Tarlasya gazed at her calm face, brows deeply knitted, and spoke first: “Has there been another incident in the underground prison? What did they do?”
Immediately, he noticed the Queen shaking her head slowly: “I don’t know what they’re doing.”
If you don’t know, then why are you telling us this—
The man bit back those words because he saw Skarlij’s expression.
This newly crowned Emperor of the Empire clearly understood the Queen’s manner of speaking better than himself; he quickly grasped what she meant, his expression growing more serious: “So you’ve lost contact with Saint George?”
“No.”
But the Queen shook her head, her tone solemn: “We’ve lost contact with the Holy City.”
“After that meeting, those who returned to the Holy City included high-ranking members of the Temple Church, and since their return, we have lost all communication. Therefore, I can no longer obtain any information regarding the Holy City.”
“What on earth is going on?” Skarlij frowned.
“I don’t know; I’m still investigating.”
The Queen said, “But I suspect it’s not as simple as being controlled by Pope Angel—absolutely not.”
…………
Deep in the prison.
“I don’t know.”
The man named Ramiel remained silent for a long time before saying, “I have been out of contact with the Holy City and Pope for nearly two months.”
“Emily, as the harpsichord player of the Choir, can transmit messages across two nations with her miracle ‘White Bird,’ so from the moment we left the Silent Fortress, we reported what was happening there to the Holy City, informing them that this might be a special patient, Miss Silvya, who was behind it all.”
“Due to Cardinal Michel’s condition, we addressed that letter directly to the Pope, and with such important information, we thought we would receive instructions from the Temple Church. But in reality, from the moment Emily died until I was captured by you, I never received a reply.”
