Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1493 Welcoming Outsiders
The vanguard team to enter Violet City has been selected, but Vagiya is not optimistic about the prospects of this mixed team.

Titled knights, church elites, court mages, and noble private soldiers… each one could be considered exceptionally powerful, but none of them amounted to anything before the word "god." She wasn't the only one who shared this view; those selected to enter the city who knew even a little about the situation all looked as if they had lost their parents.

Two men dressed in mage robes approached. The older of them hesitated for a moment before saying to Vagiya, "High Priest, we've known each other for a long time. Could you tell us what the situation is like inside the city? We don't know what the outcome will be if we go there."

“Grand Mage Saffar, I have never entered the city. From my previous interactions with several colleagues in the city, they cannot see the traces of the divine calamity on themselves. We have never seen such a divine calamity before, and the divine power detected by the Church does not belong to any known deity.”

"So... there's nothing they can tell us?" Safar gave a wry smile. "Then, if we go in, will we get contaminated too?"

“There are also places in the suburbs that have been contaminated by the divine calamity, but to a lesser degree. You can go and try,” Vagiya replied. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to answer, but I can’t offer any explanation for unknown gods. The Church hasn’t yet figured out a solution to the contamination, and your entry into the city this time is just the vanguard.”

"Just the vanguard..."

Safar turned to look at his taciturn colleague and could only shake his head slightly.

There are bound to be power struggles among court mages, and these two are examples of failures. One chose the wrong side, and the other was naturally aloof, which led to them being pushed forward as vanguards. Titled knights also face similar situations.

Besides the two of them, there were more than a hundred other people from all walks of life who entered the city together. They were all quite capable, after all, they had to undertake this kind of mission.

The vanguard has five objectives.

Investigate the extent of the chaos within Violet City, collect samples of the divine calamity within the city, contact the Church and announce the results of the discussions outside, assist in disseminating the results throughout the city, and eliminate all hostile forces within the city.

These objectives do not all need to be achieved, but they all need to be started, and the vanguard team needs to return with intelligence.

“Icarus, we need to prepare several more contingency plans.”

“Alright.” The other court monk nodded.

The next day, this ragtag but powerful force set off for Violet City.

"After the defenses of Violet City failed, the area was divided into several blocks by the filter wall that unfolded from the pivot of the Church of St. Ist. Now, apart from the central area where the Church of St. Ist is located, the city has been divided into countless factions. When we go in, we must be careful of the city's residents, as they may have undergone unpredictable changes due to the divine calamity."

The leader of the group was a titled knight, but despite being the leader, he had no real authority. He explained the situation inside the city to everyone, and no one underestimated him; however… they had no concrete understanding of the changes that had taken place in the city.

Not long after entering the city, two monsters burst out of houses on both sides of the street. Their enormous bodies charged into the group, immediately scattering it. The already disunited group was instantly torn apart.

After spending some time burning the brain of one of the monsters with lightning, Safar turned around and saw that only a third of the team remained. He was both amused and exasperated. Were these people really here with their own missions? If they really fought, those two monsters wouldn't last half a minute.

All that remained were a group of titled knights and the elite troops sent by the church. The group exchanged glances, knowing there was little they could do; those who had come in all had their own agendas, so they decided to let them be.

"Let's go to the Church of the East first." The church sent a second-level bishop to lead the group. He didn't want to travel with a bunch of random people in the first place, but this trip actually made things more comfortable for him.

=
The pharmacist and Vanessa were sparring in the yard.

The Snowlight Sword can be used to execute sword moves on its own, but it is even more effective when one has their own understanding of martial arts. The Pharmacist has been working on integrating it with her own combat skills these past few days. Unlike Lu Ning, she has not had as much experience in close combat, so she needs to practice this skill even more.

Vanessa countered by transforming her "Plague" into a sword and employing her Conquest Sword Technique. Both fighters clearly improved during the confrontation. However, if the apothecary relied solely on his own skills without using the Snowlight Sword's inherent sword techniques, he would find it difficult to defeat Vanessa in a pure brute force clash.

This was within the pharmacist's expectations; after all, she was a mage. If it had been Lu Ning in her place, the outcome would likely have been different. However, for some reason, Lu Ning had rarely communicated with her lately. Perhaps it was because nothing significant had happened?

The apothecary sheathed his sword, about to tell Vanessa about her recent progress in learning magic, when some shadows suddenly appeared in his eyes.

She swung her lightning bolt backhand, colliding it with the fireball falling from the sky. The fireball exploded, creating a layer of flame, and the air became much hotter.

"Haha, your magic skills are pretty good too. I thought you were just two martial artists."

A woman in a red mage's robe stood on the wall, her staff pointing at the two of them.

"You should know what it means among spellcasters to launch a direct sneak attack on us," the apothecary asked coldly.

"Ah, yes, yes, a provocation, isn't it? But how do I know you're human? This city has been polluted by the aura of the gods. You're covered in branches and still practicing martial arts here. Little girl, if you encountered two potentially intelligent monsters in an unknown place, what would you do?"

Although the woman was smiling, she didn't move her staff at all.

"branch?"

"Ah...right, you can't see it. The branches, the translucent branches growing from your bodies, don't look disgusting at all. This further suggests that your minds may have already been corrupted. The key to spellcasting is to strike first when encountering the unknown."

"Okay, you have a point. But how can you see it? Are you an outsider?"

The pharmacist saw no markings on the woman, and in Violet City these days, probably no one would dare to be so arrogant. "Outsiders, forced into this damned place, to see if there's anyone alive to communicate with, and maybe snatch some monster fragments to take back. Ha, I'm getting chills here. A bunch of people covered in branches are actually busily building their homes? Are you even human? When we chat like this, is what we're conveying to each other still the original meaning?" The woman touched her face, a look of disgust on her face. "I should have known better than to steal from that lord… Exploring ruins is better than this hellhole."

"Enough with the nonsense, do you want to fight or negotiate?" the pharmacist demanded.

"Of course we have to...fight first!"

The woman suddenly swept her wand horizontally, and a wall of fire appeared in front of her. Immediately afterwards, bright spots appeared on the wall of fire, from which spindle-shaped fire arrows emerged.

“Very good… Vanessa, this is your first time fighting against a legitimate mage.” The apothecary lowered his body slightly.

"So, does that mean we have to kill someone?" Vanessa gripped the hilt of her knife tightly.

"Of course, otherwise we might die."

The fire arrows shot out in rapid succession the moment they condensed, but the apothecary immediately used his palm lightning to deflect several key ones before dodging the rest. Vanessa, on the other hand, directly countered with her sword, slicing away all the flames heading her way with four strikes.

However, the sky was already ablaze with fire. The woman leaped down from above, carrying a wall of fire. She caught a fireball in her hand and slammed it into the ground the moment she landed. Then, pillars of fire spewed out from all directions.

He's a master.

The apothecary's combat experience was considerable. Traveling alone, she encountered all sorts of people and even sparred with mages. Many low-level mages in this world were the type to fight by standing still, rarely learning any movement techniques, relying solely on spamming spells until their magic was depleted and they were at the mercy of their opponents. But this person before her was different. Even if these spells looked impressive, they were just basic spells, and the fact that the opponent dared to jump down meant—

The burning tip of the wand swept past her, an attack that was easy for the apothecary to dodge, as she had already seen its trajectory.

Clearly, the opponent is also capable of melee combat.

Vanessa had already rushed forward, tearing open the wall of fire with a few slashes, but the flames quickly healed. The woman, hiding behind the fire wall, swung her wand with flames attached, making every strike—slash, thrust, smash, flick, and chop—a formidable threat amplified by the amorphous flames. Vanessa could only observe her opponent's attacks and parry through the gaps in the wall. The pillars of fire the woman had unleashed were spinning and converging towards the center, forcing both of them to focus even more intently on dealing with the onslaught of flames.

However, it's probably only a matter of time before he wins over this woman; the pharmacist is well aware of his sustained combat capabilities.

Just as the pillars of fire closed in, Vanessa suddenly swung her sword and charged into the wall of fire, then raised her hand and cast a spell.

The apothecary didn't recognize the spell, but the moment it was cast, the mage cried out in alarm, followed by an explosion that blasted both of them away from the wall of fire. Seeing this, the apothecary rushed towards the mage, knocking her unconscious while she was still dazed, confiscating her wand, and then checked on Vanessa.

She was mostly unharmed; the plague quickly transformed into a shield shape, protecting most of the area, except for some burns on her legs.

"I'm fine... Pharmacist, how was that spell just now?" Vanessa stood up unsteadily, a smug smile still on her blackened face.

"What kind of magic is that? I didn't teach you." The pharmacist examined her carefully, making sure she wasn't seriously injured, before nodding and letting her follow him to the sorcerer.

"I've been meaning to show you this for a while, but I've been so busy lately that I forgot. It was after you explained the chanting technique to us that I started thinking, since chanting can reduce the turning time of the 'Na' (a type of energy), can it also do something else?"

"Okay, continue." The apothecary found a rope and began to tie the mage up tightly.

"As a result, I figured out a spell! This is the first time I've actually used it. Before, I had only created the configuration. I named this spell 'Forced Casting'! As the name suggests, it means forcing the other party to cast a spell. It seems that when I cast the last spell, and used it at full power, the power was too great, and it blew us all away. Next time, I need to keep a safe distance."

"Have you done a spell check?" the pharmacist asked.

Vanessa shook her head: "I don't have time. I just learned the specific effects of this spell. Isn't it a bit too effective for a mage? I feel like I only used three units, and she probably just unleashed a seven-unit spell?"

"You're helping the other side use their ultimate move, huh?" The pharmacist's lips twitched.

“You can’t say that. If we survive, wouldn’t we have made a huge profit in the spell exchange?” Vanessa rubbed the dust off her face. “Besides, many spells can exempt the caster from casting, but those caused by forced chanting will all explode.”

“Now I understand why I heard that guy exclaim.” The pharmacist picked up the woman who was tied up like a dumpling. “Let’s go back and ask her what’s going on. It seems the people outside have already decided on the future of Violet City.”

Vanessa immediately switched to a serious expression: "No problem, I'm also very curious to know how they plan to treat this place. Father Thorne's guess... I wonder how accurate it is."

After waking the woman, the sorcerer did not continue to show aggression. He accepted his defeat and answered all the questions asked, but his eyes still looked at the crowd as if they were aliens.

The woman's name was Ophelia, a mage specializing in fire magic. She was originally a renowned adventurer, but she took a fancy to a magic gem in a lord's collection. After failing to reach an agreement, she attempted to steal it but was caught and cursed. She was forced to come here as a vanguard to investigate the situation in Violet City.

"Anyway, we were going to tell you the results anyway, so there's no harm in saying them. The Church can heal all those corrupted by the divine calamity in Violet City, and those who are healed can leave to live elsewhere after being certified by both the Church and the court. However, these people must reach the outskirts of the city on their own, whether escorted or fought their way out, and receive treatment at the purification chapels set up by the eight churches around Violet City. In addition, the Church may also send people in to provide treatment, but I don't know the specifics. Meanwhile, at the same time, Grand Duke Toril can begin developing the city. All resource extraction here is being handled by his eldest son, Roswell, and some of the extraction work has already been sold for a good price."

Ophelia spoke roughly, but she got the point across.

"What about the person? What should we do with them?" Vanessa asked.

"Isn't that obvious? I'm being polite. To put it bluntly, it's all about speed. The Church needs to heal as many people as possible before the miners arrive. The miners want to extract value from you living, transformed gods. As for you, to put it bluntly, you're livestock being kept here. If you're lucky, the Church will rescue you and you'll become pets; if you're unlucky, you'll be slaughtered and eaten. Do you understand?"