"Hiss hiss..."
At that moment, the knight's expression in the room suddenly changed.
He surged forward like a wall of iron and stamped violently on a section of the floor.
A slender black shadow emerged, bearing scarlet vertical pupils and a flickering tongue — it was clearly a small black snake.
"This is... wait!"
The butler called out to the knight, placing his hand on the ground with a grave expression.
"Hiss hiss..." The small black snake flicked its tongue, dabbing at his fingers, then coiled and climbed without hesitation up to the butler's ear, emitting a rapid series of hisses.
"Not good! Our location has been discovered by the Church of Heim — they've been tailing us all along!"
After relaying its message, the black snake instantly burst apart. The butler's expression shifted immediately.
"We leave now. Leave the luggage at the counter. We go through the window!"
In the span of a few moments, the butler made his decision.
The three — master and servants — moved quickly, instantly packing their essentials. They left the oil lamp burning to create the impression that someone was still inside, then secretly slipped out of the inn.
"They've already left? Good! No matter what, the battle should not take place at the center of the market district. It would greatly impact our reputation."
A figure in black robes emerged from a street corner, watching the direction the three had fled.
"Little darlings... report the intelligence to the Master... and those detestable Heim guards have tracked us as well..."
A slender, serpentine shadow crawled out from his sleeve — identical to the one that had delivered the earlier report.
The black snake moved like the wind, vanishing almost instantly into the dark of night.
"Heh heh... This time we'll teach them a proper lesson — let them know our Serpent Church is not to be trifled with!"
The dark figure let out a cold laugh.
"If that's the case, then you are dead set on making enemies of us?"
An icy voice rang out from behind. The figure in black was startled.
The next moment, a sharp dagger had already emerged from his chest, radiating killing intent.
—"Filthy, despicable things! Only the abyss and hell are fit for you!"
The figure in black turned his head rigidly, only to see a cold-eyed assassin standing behind him. Contempt was plain in those eyes, and the emblem of the Church of Heim on his body was glaringly conspicuous.
"Hmm?!"
Just as the assassin was about to withdraw his dagger, his expression suddenly changed: "Wait — this feeling, this weight..."
Crack!
The figure from before exploded, scattering into countless small black snakes that quickly slithered into the shadows along the street.
"Heh heh... Assassin of the Church of Heim, prepare to be torn apart and devoured by my little darlings..."
A voice like a night owl's cry echoed from all directions, turning the assassin's face dark with fury.
"My Lord!"
The assassin vanished into the darkness and appeared before Bishop Morand: "I have failed..."
"This is not your fault!"
Bishop Morand appeared remarkably magnanimous: "The Serpent Church has intervened. And our people have discovered the trail of that heretic god's offspring. Now... I command you! In the name of our God, purge all false gods and evildoers!"
"In the name of our God!"
Everyone, including the assassin from before, murmured prayers in low voices, their eyes burning with resolute, fanatical light.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A multitude of dark figures scattered outward, forming a terrifying net of encirclement as they pursued the master and servants who had fled ahead...
"Waaah..."
The boy wept on a desolate stretch of beach.
The surrounding waters were a terrifying vortex zone. Even during the day, no one came here — at night it was all the more barren. That was precisely why the butler had chosen this route for their escape.
Unfortunately, the Church of Heim had still discovered and tracked them, demonstrating truly formidable capability.
The battle was over in a flash. By the time the boy came to his senses, the knight who had been with him lay on the ground, his body severed in two. The exposed intestines and kidneys would become the boy's nightmare for a very long time — if he survived, that was.
The boy was still alive only because the butler had managed to unfurl a scroll inscribed with a protective spell.
But judging from the dense ring of enemies surrounding them, the spell would not hold for long.
"A High-level Mage?"
The Heim guards parted to make way, and Bishop Morand walked in slowly.
He studied the butler's face, his gaze tinged with regret: "I didn't expect... the Scorpion Church still had a High-level Mage survivor... To have weathered the impact of a fallen god's demise — you are quite remarkable..."
The fall of a deity was a devastating blow to any church!
It was not merely a matter of faith — it was also a lethal blow to its priests!
When the god a priest believed in perished, that priest would be stripped of their clerical rank in an instant. The agony that followed was something an ordinary body could not endure.
In principle, if one had no other class to fall back on and was a pure cleric, the lethal pain a high-level priest experienced at the moment of a god's death would kill them on the spot.
The same was true for many elderly low-level priests.
Only those who had multi-classed as warriors, mages, or other advanced professions — and who were young enough, with sufficiently robust physiques — could survive the loss of their clerical levels.
The butler standing before Bishop Morand was precisely such a person.
The god he had served was only a demigod, and the clerical rank it had granted him was below high level. Moreover, he was also a High-level Mage, possessing sufficient spiritual power and a resilient will to withstand the backlash.
That was why this butler had been able to stand out when the Scorpion Church's pontiff and a great number of bishops had all perished, and to shoulder the sacred duty of protecting the Godchild.
"The Lord of Scorpions is a true god! He will not tolerate your blasphemy!"
The butler's expression was solemn, radiating an air of stern authority.
Any devout believer's faith in their god was unshakable — and a fanatic's was even more terrifying.
The butler before Bishop Morand was clearly among the fanatics; otherwise, he would never have joined a heretical church while already holding the rank of High-level Mage.
"Give up! Surrender that child of the heretic god, and I may yet grant you a fair judgment!"
Bishop Morand spoke with compassionate gravitas. Behind him, a colossal vertical-eye rune had materialized, locking firmly onto the old butler.
"Do not attempt to use Teleportation or a Random Teleportation Gate to escape... Our Lord has sealed the space here! The only thing awaiting you is a burning pyre..."
It was not just teleportation spells — the boy even saw the Heim guards drawing metal crossbows from behind their backs!
This was truly dire. At such close range, even flight spells or mounts would not save them from being picked off!
"My God watches over me!"
The old butler, disguised as a High-level Mage, set his expression solemnly and scattered several small scorpions onto the ground.
—Enslavement Spell!
—Greater Grow Spell!
"Squeeee!"
With a deafening roar, the tiny scorpions swelled violently, instantly becoming monsters over five meters long and two meters wide — like living tanks shielding the mage.
"Young Master!"
The butler rushed to the boy's side, fanatical devotion burning in his eyes: "I will create an opening... When I do, you must escape! Take the thing around your neck and find the Serpent Church, or the Faolan Family — beg for their help!"
"I..."
The boy was only thirteen or fourteen. He had never known the world's hardships, and the fact that he had not already fainted was remarkable enough.
*Sigh...* Seeing this, the butler could only sigh helplessly inwardly and turn back.
Boom! Crack!
Under the Church of Heim's assault, the giant scorpions were quickly dismembered. A knight wielding a radiant Cross Sword charged to the front of the mage.
"My Lord... you are the stars in the heavens. One day, you shall return to your throne..."
The mage murmured, a look of resolute sacrifice settling over his features.
But that expression lasted only an instant. Just as the knight raised his Cross Sword high, a black spear instantly tore through space with a piercing shriek, punching clean through the knight.
"This aura — evil and radiance coexisting..."
Bishop Morand furrowed his brow and quickly identified the culprit.
Several South Coast indigenous warriors had appeared — short in stature but with dense, well-defined musculature and fluid lines.
What truly made Morand's eyelids twitch was the sight of devil tattoos on their bodies, bound with iron chains and shackles!
"It's the elite of the Serpent Church — Devil Hunters! High-rank Devil Hunters who have sealed actual devils!!!"
Before Morand could issue a single command, his subordinates had already begun to scream.
Clearly, these Devil Hunters had a fearsome reputation on the South Coast.
Devils were known for their cunning and mystery, and their power was evil to the extreme. The Devil Hunters who could defeat them head-on, hunt them, and seal them — how powerful must they be?
Though they belonged to a neutral faction, anyone who wielded the power of devils inevitably invited suspicion and speculation.
The Devil Hunters had no interest in explaining themselves, which only compounded the infamy heaped upon them — to the point where their name alone could stop a child's crying.
Morand was no ignorant commoner. He understood their strength all too well.
"Devil Hunters are a high-rank profession. Devil Hunters who have sealed a devil are at minimum high-rank professionals — possibly even elites among them..."
He quickly scanned the Devil Hunters and the numerous shadows lurking in the darkness beyond, and wisely chose to reveal his identity.
"I am Bishop Morand of the Church of Heim! What is it that you intend to do?"