Chapter 1675: Chapter 1675

As the resident Saint Son of the Sage's Church in the Nolan diocese, Jenkins was naturally part of such an important operation. He wore a black robe to conceal his identity—with the struggle for the throne at a critical juncture, he couldn't risk exposing his position in the Church or his status as a Benefactor.

Though he had risen early, by the time he and his cat reached the church, the combat squads had already assembled.

The Sage's Church's forces in the Nolan diocese were currently divided. One contingent was stationed at the local church, while the other was in the Evergreen Forest. Miss Bevanna, Mr. Gilbert, and Jenkins were leading the group at the church, while a newly arrived Saint, a woman named Rita, and five demigods were positioned at the Evergreen Forest.

Fearing they might tip off their quarry, all operational details had only been finalized the previous night. The movements of the combat squads were, therefore, kept strictly confidential.

Jenkins, looking suspicious in his black robe no matter which way you cut it, slipped in through the church's back entrance. After one last review of the plan with Miss Bevanna and Mr. Gilbert, they each departed at staggered intervals, leading two combat squads apiece.

This was by no means the church's full combat strength, but it didn't need to be. This was a joint operation involving all Twelve Orthodox Churches, and a considerable number of squads would also be dispatched from the Evergreen Forest, so there was no reason for the local church to deploy every last one of its assets.

To avoid revealing his identity, Jenkins had to endure the sweltering summer heat in a stuffy black robe. Even his signature companion, the cat Chocolate, was under strict orders to remain hidden within his clothes and not show himself.

Frankly, it would have been best if Chocolate hadn't come at all, but Jenkins couldn't talk him out of it. Not even the threat of a bath could persuade the cat to leave his side for a second.

Following the major search in Dullin, the Perfume Appreciation Committee had relocated its entire operation to Nolan. While diligently investigating the strange events at Nightfall Manor some time ago, the Church had found few traces of the Tree House, but had instead stumbled upon this ring of cigarette peddlers.

It wasn't some dark, dilapidated mansion or a forgotten, derelict tower. On the contrary, the cigarette peddlers had chosen a street-front building in a bustling downtown district of Nolan, renting the entire structure under the guise of the "Bitz Soap Factory" sales office. A follow-up investigation, confirmed by followers of the pseudo-god Spiraling Mist, revealed that the soap factory was a real, legitimate business. It had a decent reputation in Nolan and was, in fact, a regular commercial enterprise established by the Perfume Appreciation Committee in the area many years prior.

Summer was a naturally foggy season, and when combined with Nolan's infamous smog, it meant that even at seven in the morning, Rossburg Avenue remained wreathed in a grayish-white haze.

It was hardly the best time to be outdoors, but people hurrying to make a living had no choice but to brave the streets, covering their mouths and noses as they clutched their briefcases.

It was then that a young man in cheap leather shoes and a formal suit appeared before the building, which was coated in a layer of shoddy yellow paint. He clutched a briefcase and wore a pair of thick glasses, all but screaming the word "salesman" from his very posture.

The man squinted, examining the sign hanging on the second floor before craning his neck to peer at the tightly shut red iron gate. He hesitated for a moment before mounting the steps and rapping his knuckles on the door, which swung open almost immediately.

The door was opened by a portly, elderly woman with brown hair wound tightly in a dozen curlers. Her complexion was quite fair, though a smattering of freckles spoiled what little virtue it had.

He started to say, reaching into his briefcase, but the woman inside gave him a quick once-over, sized him up as a salesman, and cut him off.

Slam! The door was shut in his face, nearly catching his nose. The salesman offered an awkward smile to the closed door, then turned and walked away. Thɪs chapter is updated by novｅlfire.net

"The situation is about what we expected," he reported. "Thirty-two Benefactors, only two of them demigods."

A block away, standing in an alley, the man held a palm-sized, multicolored stone. It was one of a matched pair of B-11-5-2920, the [Fossilized Detector's Eyeballs]. One of the pair detected the number of Benefactors in the vicinity, while its twin displayed the results.

The man muttered to someone behind him. A nun standing there quickly tossed a triangular slip of paper into the center of a ritual matrix inscribed on the ground.

Cloaked by an assortment of rituals and abilities, nearly three hundred Benefactors had already surrounded the city block in complete silence. Upon receiving the command to act, five Saints positioned around the perimeter jointly activated a Mind Lock through a pre-established ritual matrix:

[Purification Field]!

This particular Mind Lock was designed to dispel impurities within a given area, typically deployed to contain infectious plagues or spreading curses. A secondary effect of the ritual, however, was that it also sealed off physical impurities from the outside world—including trash, smog, and the like—which made it perfectly suited for the current situation.

Jenkins was one of five Saints, each standing at a point of an enormous pentagram. As a golden light pulsed from their bodies, the Mind Lock contracted from the inside out, enveloping the entire area in a heartbeat.

With the Mind Lock in place, and before the people inside the Bitz Soap Factory sales office could react, a demigod from the Church of Death and End raised a black stone toward the sun.

B-12-1-2831 [Scythe of the Death Bringer Prototype]. It was the most dangerous Series B Extraordinary item the Church of Death and End held in the Nolan diocese. In fact, before this operation was planned, the other churches weren't even aware this lethal artifact was in the region. Though classified as a Series B item rather than a Cursed Item, its danger level was no less than that of any Cursed Item.

It was a ritualistic artifact, rumored to have been bestowed upon mortals by a Righteous God in person. Its wielder had to be at least a demigod, and by simply pointing it at the sun for more than three seconds, the stone would unleash a lethal attack on any Benefactor in range who didn't possess abilities granted by a Righteous God. It would also shorten the lifespan of any ordinary person—who wasn't a follower of the God of Death—by ten years. Moreover, the effect intensified the longer it was exposed to sunlight.

Although it was less effective against Benefactors of level 5 or higher, an artifact of this nature was not to be used unless absolutely necessary.

Just as a gray aura symbolizing death swept through the interior of the Mind Lock, a third, large-scale ritual began to unfold: [Sacred Dwelling]. Its effect was simple: until the ritual collapsed, the power of all divine arts originating from the Righteous Gods would be massively amplified within its bounds.

Such a massive disturbance had, of course, alerted the criminals inside the building. The moment they realized a Mind Lock had been deployed, cutting them off from reality, the members of the Perfume Appreciation Committee prepared to fight back. They weren't about to sit idly by and await their doom. But in the next instant, every Benefactor below level 5 collapsed to the ground. This sudden incapacitation delayed their counterattack just long enough for the ritual's influence to spread across almost the entire Mind Lock.

As the [Sacred Dwelling] took effect, a golden luminescence spread outward from the ground. But as the light reached the building, it was unexpectedly repelled by a barrier of black radiance.

A low whisper, like the chanting of children, began to fill the air, bringing the ritual to a dead stop. There shouldn't have been any fog within the Mind Lock, yet as the whispers grew, a thick mist surged from the depths of the sky. It first veiled the sun, rendering the [Scythe of the Death Bringer Prototype] useless.

Then, a gray fog, as if exhaled by some celestial behemoth, billowed down to envelop the entire sky within the Mind Lock. Visibility plummeted, and a chilling wind began to stir, carried on the sound of the whispers.

As the whispers spread and the gray fog churned, a hazy, humanoid figure began to materialize in the sky above the three-story building.

It was difficult to describe. As the silhouette took form, fragmented, incoherent phrases began to seep into everyone's minds, woven into the children's otherwise pure-sounding whispers. But the participants in this operation were the elite of the Orthodox Churches' combat forces; they wouldn't lose their composure over something .

Despite it being summer, the temperature continued to plummet. Just as the ritual had been brought to a standstill, a visible black halo began to radiate outward from the hazy humanoid figure.

A frigid wind swept over everyone, recoiling the moment it struck the Mind Lock's edge. This agitated wind now carried a strange, acrid stench—not the usual foul air of Nolan, but something far worse, like the sickening reek of burning bodies from a crematorium.

A massive black halo materialized behind the humanoid figure's head. As the ring took shape, the still-forming figure paradoxically took on a sacred, divine quality. But in the next moment, a psychic assault crashed down upon the surrounding ambushers like a tidal wave.

But the Church was prepared. Clerics immediately began to chant sacred hymns. At the very edge of the Mind Lock, at the rear of the assembled forces, a nun from the Church of Sun and Justice, dressed in white ceremonial robes, gently shook a silver bell.

B-02-4-0423 [Sacred Bell of the Silent Maiden]!

The soundwaves from the bell mingled with the low chanting of the hymns, creating a powerful counterforce to the psychic assault. The resulting clash of immense spiritual energies was so violent that it warped reality itself. Several deep fissures spiderwebbed across the level ground, and the houses at the epicenter of the impact simply disintegrated into ash.

The colossal humanoid figure stirred. Beneath the dim sky, the form—composed of some unknown black mist and backlit by its halo—pointed its right hand to the heavens and its left to the earth. As it uttered words in a language no mortal could comprehend, a tide of black fog surged from its body, threatening to consume the entire Mind Lock.

Twelve demigods leaped into action. As their sacred emblems flashed, a linked golden divine art activated the threads in their hands. While many artifacts in this world had strict activation requirements, B-03-4-6388, the [Sacred Spider's Web], was exceptionally rare, requiring twelve demigod Benefactors from different faiths to use.

Golden threads interlinked to form a net across the sky. The black mist crashed against it, succeeding only in making the strands smolder. In moments, the web had completely enveloped the colossal, terrifying figure.