Chapter 95: Advancing Together

Here is the headquarters of an organization called the Church of Truth.

By eavesdropping on the conversations of the people around her, a little dragon daughter who had quietly infiltrated the bandit’s den quickly grasped this point.

By the way, if she wasn’t mistaken, the place she was in had already departed from the real world, existing in a subspace built by some special power, attached to the main plane.

The array set up by those kidnappers wasn’t for sacrifice, but rather, it temporarily opened a passage between the real space and this place through a ritual, bringing all living beings within its range over.

The rules and magic here are… quite strange. The little dragon daughter had just been born not long ago and had limited knowledge, making it difficult to articulate the specifics. But if she were to describe it in her own way, it felt a bit like being inside the belly of some giant creature.

As she pondered, the golden-haired little girl, pretending to be unconscious on the ground, opened one eye and quietly looked around.

Although the space had shifted, the surrounding buildings still resembled that of the previous manor. However, the moment they entered, the clear weather outside was replaced by night, and March and the stars took to the sky, giving her a rather eerie sensation.

Compared to the vast silence of the real world, “this side” was much livelier.

Inside and outside the manor, among the distant trees, there were strange figures walking around in peculiar robes and metallic masks. The gray mist swirling around them surged rhythmically like breaths, dispersing into the night, appearing rather eerie.

After entering this space, another group of cultists soon approached, quietly conversing with the kidnappers and directing their subordinates to carry away all the little ones on stretchers in batches.

While the others exchanged words quickly, the language was hard for Xiao Guang, who had limited fluency, to fully comprehend, but she repeatedly caught phrases like “Truth,” “Expansion,” and “Saint,” which helped her realize that this organization was called the Church of Truth.

They seemed to have no special treatment for the little dragon daughter, but instead sent her along with the other little ones into the inner manor. These cultists appeared to hold some sort of taboo regarding them; even though they were forcibly abducted goods, they handled them delicately, as if afraid to hurt the delicate bodies of the little ones.

The little dragon daughter found it somewhat perplexing. However, this was good, because if those foolish lower beings acted out of line, Xiao Guang couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t lose her temper and turn this den of thieves into ruins with a breath of dragon fire.

That would be satisfying, but… there was a risk involved.

Unlike those ants, there was some force in this subspace that could genuinely threaten her.

The dragon race’s judgment of the strength of their enemies was never wrong; the gray mist spreading from those cultists seemed to originate from a true high entity. It projected its power into this space in some special form. Perhaps the previous “Dawn” did not fear them, but this still young body might not stand a chance against them.

However, that was fine. Her master was already approaching, and as long as she arrived, all enemies would perish in the light. What she needed to do now…

Just as this thought crossed her mind, the noisy footsteps around her suddenly ceased. After they were sent into a sealed underground room in the manor, the cultists set down the stretchers and quickly left the room, locking the door from the outside.

The little girl perked her ears, faintly hearing their conversation outside.

“Stay alert! The date for the ritual is fast approaching, keep a close watch on the door! This batch of bodies has quite good potential; they might very well give birth to a saint. Don’t mess anything up and disappoint the Pope and our God, understood?”

“Yes! Bishop!”

The footsteps faded away, and the golden-haired little girl, who had been lying on the stretcher for a long time, finally sat up, her golden vertical pupils fixed on the door to the room for a moment before swiftly scanning the surroundings.

It was a very ordinary room, looking like a storage room of sorts. It was kept relatively clean, and there were no extra furnishings. The windows were high and securely sealed with steel plates, making their intentions quite obvious.

Finally, the little dragon daughter’s gaze fell on a few other unconscious figures nearby, who were roughly the same age as her.

“Ritual and body… huh.”

At this point, she understood roughly what the Church of Truth was capturing these little ones for.

It was indeed for sacrifice, though perhaps the form differed somewhat from her initial expectations. It seemed more like a ritual to broadly screen a small number of individuals that met specific criteria, using them to achieve certain objectives.

It looked like their preparations weren’t entirely complete. Perhaps there were far more little ones that had been captured and were still on their way from all directions.

Since she was here, it would be good to find something interesting to do before her master arrived~

The little dragon daughter revealed a calm smile that wasn’t quite fitting for her outward age. A flash sparkled in her golden pupils, and her entire body transformed into a stream of light, merging with the rays of external light that surged in through the window’s crevices and disappeared.

…

“I see, the Church of Truth wants to summon something, and for that, they need to collect power in this way. But what is that thing? What specific function does it serve?”

In the deep pit, things looked much more miserable than at first. Not only was the battle knife completely shattered into several pieces, but a half-bear person, pressed down by a great golden-haired creature’s claw, gasped weakly, his one eye reflecting deep fear and helplessness.

“What I know… is just this much. As for what exactly they want to summon and what their purpose is… only the Pope knows that. Cough, even if you kill me, the answer remains the same…”

“Hmph…”

Already having jumped off her pet’s back, the Priestess Miss, who maintained a superior high-ground perspective as she looked down at the half-bear person lying in the pit, glanced at him and nodded subtly.

Based on both the information observed through the Yin-Yang Eye and her understanding of Marcelo, the retired soldier from the army hadn’t lied just now. The area he was in charge of genuinely didn’t align with those at the core of the events.

Don’t be deceived by Marcelo’s earlier display, which was akin to a super transformation that surpassed his limits—far exceeding even the caution of legendary adventurers. That was merely because he had received a blessing from a certain deity and had gathered the power accumulated by all 192 villagers during this period, which combined resulted in that soaring leap.

Such power should be impossible to carry into the real world; even within the shadow world, it couldn’t be maintained in a lasting manner. Thus, the Church of Truth was far from as strong as imagined, at least for now.

However, there were still several questions that needed clarification.

“Earlier, you mentioned several groups of adventurers came here. Where are they?”

“…”

Seeing Marcelo slightly tilt his head and not answer immediately, the massive golden-haired dog standing on his chest let out a formidable snort, and its claws pressed down with more force, creating sounds of bones creaking and cracking.

But this old soldier was indeed tough; he didn’t make a single sound of pain. Irrelevant to that, Vilyric had no intention to make things difficult for him.

“Forget it, Little Fang.”

【Yes.】

Seeing her master speak, Ya Zi respectfully lowered his head and lifted his giant paw, preventing the half-bear from being completely crushed.

Even without a word from him, judging by this reaction and their earlier group’s experiences, Vilyric could roughly guess the fate of those adventurers. Marcelo’s intentional report to the city of Adelaide likely aimed to attract even more sacrifices to become offerings.

In other words, he had been an accomplice to the Church of Truth’s plan from the very beginning.

“The strange lights and sounds on the mountain should be the array nodes you set up to create this area. I guess the nodes weren’t fully connected at that time, and thus the effectiveness was limited, which is why the villagers were temporarily trapped and then managed to escape.”

“This plan is vast and meticulous; it’s not something that can be orchestrated in a day or two and certainly not by an ordinary cult. Marcelo, how did you, as an imperial soldier, come into contact with the Church of Truth? Why assist them?”

Marcelo locked eyes with the少女’s indifferent silver-blue gaze, gritting his teeth.

“No comment… adventurer, just kill me.”

   

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