Hogwarts Raven

Chapter 376, Section 375: Urban Rescue

Just as Ian's figure transformed into a black shadow and rushed towards the temple, a figure in black robes quietly emerged from the shadow of a collapsed clock tower in the northern part of the city.

She was the mysterious woman in black robes—she had quietly slipped away when the Ghost Bride first appeared, neither hiding with the other members of the Twilight Hermits nor being caught up in the initial massacre. Now, standing at the edge of the ruins, watching Ian's departing figure, a complex emotion flickered in her eyes.

There was amazement, worry, and a glimmer of almost comforting hope.

“High Priestess Karina, the number of wounded in the Northern District has exceeded two hundred.” A young priestess hurried over, her linen robes stained with blood and dust. “Our holy oil is almost gone.”

Priestess Karina's veil fluttered gently in the morning breeze as she watched Ian's figure disappear into the dust and smoke in the direction of the temple. She stood still for a moment, only turning her gaze away when she heard a child sobbing behind her.

Karina didn't answer immediately. She knelt down and gently stroked the hair of a crying little girl. The child's mother lay beside her, a deep, bone-revealing wound on her leg.

“Use this.” Karina took out a delicate blue glass bottle from her bosom, inside which shimmered a silvery liquid. “One drop mixed with ten bowls of water is enough for five hundred people.”

The young priest's eyes widened: "This is... the temple's last holy...!"

"Now it is a sacred object for the people." Karina interrupted him, her voice calm but undeniable. She turned to the twelve white-robed priests lined up behind her—her followers whom she had secretly protected, each with a weary yet resolute expression on their face.

“Amon is in charge of the wounded in the West District; take three men with him,” she assigned tasks rapidly. “Horus, take two men to clear the survivors from under the collapsed buildings. The rest of you come with me to the granary to distribute bread and water.”

The team immediately dispersed. Karina hurried toward the makeshift aid station set up in the central square, the sights along the way heartbreaking—collapsed houses looked like toys crushed by giants, corpses were scattered on the streets, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and smoke.

"High Priestess!" An old woman with a face covered in soot rushed over and grabbed the hem of her robe. "Please, my granddaughter is still in the east room!"

Karina helped the old man up and gave the priest beside her a wink.

The young man immediately understood and led the two strong men toward the eastern district. She herself continued forward, stopping from time to time to check on the injured or to comfort the frightened children.

The city has returned to peace, but the people in it have not.

"It's time for us to fulfill the obligations we've failed to fulfill."

The woman in black robes, Karina, raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the air, and a dark red rune appeared in the void, like a signal. Moments later, dozens of dark figures silently gathered from all parts of the city—they were all dressed in gray-black robes, with a hidden silver hourglass emblem embroidered on their chests; they were the temple's secret forces that Karina had evacuated and organized in advance.

“We have taken stock of the North District. At least three hundred people are injured, more than fifty are missing, and more than sixty houses have collapsed… Although the ghost bride has disappeared, the consequences of the disaster have only just begun.”

A believer spoke up.

Karina nodded, her eyes as calm as ice: "I know. Fear, hunger, and pain are the real plague. We must act immediately."

Her view was not wrong in this ancient time and space.

I saw.

The black-robed priest raised his hand and waved his hand, issuing the order swiftly.

"First team, head to the central square, set up temporary medical tents, and use 'Blood Purification Spell' and 'Bone Healing Technique' to treat the wounded, prioritizing internal bleeding and soul tearing syndrome."

"The second team opened the 'secret grain depot' and distributed the pre-stored dry food, clean water, and blankets to each neighborhood, registering and distributing them to households."

"Third team, organize a search and rescue squad, enter the collapsed building, search for survivors, and use 'Life Resonance' to detect any faint signs of life."

"Fourth team, seal off the area within three miles of the temple and establish a cordon. No one is allowed to approach; violators will be considered hostile." The woman's order was clear and decisive.

The troops moved swiftly, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times. Karina personally led the team towards the city's worst-hit area—the slums of the East District. This had once been the most concentrated hunting ground for ghost brides; houses lay in ruins, and broken furniture and bloodstains littered the streets. Many survivors huddled in corners, their eyes vacant, clearly suffering severe trauma.

She knelt down, helped up a shivering little girl, and asked softly, "Are you alright? What's your name?"

The girl trembled, barely able to speak. Karina raised her hand, a soft silver light gathering in her palm, and gently pressed it against the girl's forehead. As the silver light seeped in, the girl's breathing gradually calmed, and her eyes regained their clarity.

“This is a ‘soothing spell,’ which can stabilize the fluctuations of the soul,” Karina explained to the young priest beside her. “Many people do not die from physical injuries, but from having their mental anchor destroyed by the Ghost Bride’s ‘death gaze.’ We must first stabilize their ‘sense of existence,’ otherwise they will gradually forget who they are and eventually become walking corpses.”

The young priest nodded and took notes, then asked, "My lord, why were we able to evacuate in advance? Why didn't the other branches give us any warning?"

Karina stood up, looked towards the temple, and said in a low voice, "Because I saw the 'Fragment of the Future'."

She raised her hand, and a dark mist gathered at her fingertips. A scene emerged from the mist: a ghost bride dragging a coffin, priests committing suicide, the city engulfed in flames, and Ian standing atop the clock tower, silver light sweeping across the entire city.

“Seven days ago, I entered the ‘Well of Foresight’ and saw fragments of this disaster. I knew it would happen, but I couldn’t determine the timing, scale, or source. All I could do was evacuate the core members, stockpile supplies, and establish an emergency network.” She paused, a hint of pain flashing in her eyes.

“But I can’t warn everyone. Because if there’s a large-scale warning, the temple’s ‘faith monitoring’ system will immediately detect it, which will only accelerate the awakening of the embryos.”

"I have no choice but to remain silent and sacrifice some people to save more," Karina sighed heavily.

The young priest was shocked.

"So...we were 'abandoned'?"

His reading comprehension skills are clearly problematic.

“No.” Karina shook her head. “You are ‘protected.’ The real sacrifices are those who didn’t have time to escape. And our mission is to ensure that their sacrifices are not in vain.”

Just then, a rescue team member rushed over: "Lady Karina! We've found more than twenty survivors in the basement of the West Quarter Church! But they're trapped, and the walls could collapse at any moment!"

"Lead the way," Karina immediately ordered.

The group rushed to the church. The entrance to the basement was blocked by a huge rock, but faint cries for help could be heard from inside.

Karina raised her hand, tapped her wand lightly on the ground, and whispered, "Legion Sensing."

Her consciousness instantly extended into the earth, sensing the weak points in the wall structure. She quickly drew a diagram of the safe passage and handed it to the engineering priest.

"Use the 'Lightening Spell' to reduce the pressure from above, then carefully remove the rocks using the 'Rock Layer Removal Technique.' The movement must be slow to avoid triggering a chain reaction of collapses."

The priests obeyed, and three hours later, the passage was finally cleared. Karina entered personally, carrying out the weakened civilians one by one. Ignoring her own magical depletion, she continuously cast "Stamina Restoration" and "Mind Soothing Charm" until the last survivor was rescued. Temporary bonfires and magical lamps lit up throughout the city.

The surviving members of the Twilight Hermits also joined the rescue effort.

They seemed very familiar with the woman in the black robe, Karina, and worked together seamlessly.

Inside the medical tents, the wounded received treatment; at the distribution point, people orderly received food; the search and rescue team was still operating, looking for the last survivors. "You knew this would happen?" a hoarse voice came from behind. Karina turned around and saw Kam of the Twilight Hermits supporting a companion with a leg injury.

Karina's veil swayed slightly.

“I know more than you think, young man.” She gestured for her attendant to take the wounded. “For example, your Hermit Society’s underground stronghold in the north of the city should be half-collapsed by now.”

obviously.

The temple's higher-ups had always known about the existence of the Twilight Hermits, and perhaps the higher-ups of the Twilight Hermits were as well. However, Kam, who was unaware of this, still changed his expression.

Before he could ask any further questions, a commotion suddenly arose in the distance. Several burly men carried a door panel into the square, on which lay a mangled, bloodied figure—the fishmonger from the market who always cheated on the weight of the goods.

"Make way! Let the priest see!"

The crowd parted automatically to make way. Karina strode forward, her fingertips lightly touching the fishmonger's forehead. The dark purple runes beneath her skin glowed faintly, forming a special diagnostic pattern.

“Three ribs broken, a perforated lung, and a ruptured liver,” she calmly assessed. “Prepare holy oil and sutures; I need a quiet place.”

The attendants quickly emptied a tent. Karina knelt on a simple straw mat and drew a fine silver knife from her waist. When the blade sliced ​​across the fishmonger's chest, no blood flowed; instead, it emitted a soft blue light.

"This is..." Kam watched in astonishment as the wound healed itself in the light.

“Ancient medicine,” Karina said without looking up, “preserve a history even longer than your Hermit Society.”

Outside the tent, the rescue work continued methodically. The members of the Twilight Hermits and Karina's priests cooperated seamlessly, a rare sight: some used magic to reinforce the dilapidated buildings, others distributed herbal soup, and still others organized the children to safety. Gradually, the panicked cries turned into hushed conversations.

Occasionally, you can even hear comforting laughter.

Women sat around a makeshift stove, cooking the last remaining grains into a thin porridge; children darted through the ruins, picking up usable shards of pottery; and several elderly craftsmen began repairing broken carts. This ordinary scene of life almost created the illusion that the horrors of the previous night were just a nightmare.

People thought the disaster was over, and apart from those who had lost family members, most were filled with the joy of surviving. However, Karina stood outside the tent, her knuckles unconsciously rubbing the scarab amulet at her waist. Her gaze towards the temple was heavy as iron—the sky there had taken on a sickly hue.

Although the people believed the disaster was over, only the wizards and priests knew that the crisis had not even begun. The clouds twisted into vortexes, occasionally flashing with ominous blue-black lightning. Even more unsettling was the fact that the sun, which should have been high in the sky, remained nowhere to be seen; only a faint glimmer of light appeared intermittently on the horizon.

It was as if it was being forcibly suppressed by some force.

The sun should have risen, but it didn't; that's the greatest terror.

"Priest, the wounded in the West District have all been taken care of."

Karina nodded slightly, without turning around. She could smell the heavy scent of herbs mixed with blood on the young priest, and hear the suppressed fear in his weary breaths. Everyone tacitly maintained a facade of calm, like birds desperately repairing their nests before a storm.

In the distance, Kam knelt before a row of newly dug pits. Seven bodies covered with white sheets were neatly arranged, the badges of the Twilight Hermits lying quietly on each person's chest.

“Dig deeper.” Karina appeared behind him unnoticed, her voice as soft as a sigh. “At least three meters, sprinkle with salt and sulfur.”

Kam looked up abruptly, his grief instantly replaced by alertness: "Do you know what this is?"

“I know more than you think.” Karina took a small cloth bag from her sleeve. “Use this. Treat every single one.”

When Kam untied the bag and saw the powder shimmering with blue light inside, his pupils contracted sharply: "This is... the Eye of Ra."

“Tear powder,” Karina interrupted him, “can purify corrupted spirits. We need to be quick; we don’t have much time.”

Both of them looked towards the temple. The sky there had grown even darker, and a huge shadow could be vaguely seen forming at the center of the vortex.

Kam suddenly noticed that his palms were glowing—the blue powder they were stained with was resonating with the strange phenomenon on the horizon.

"The sun," he murmured, "if it never rises again."

“That means He succeeded.” Karina’s runes glowed faintly in the dim light, “meaning that all life will become an extension of Him, just like…” Her gaze swept over the golden dots on the foreheads of the corpses.

A chill ran down Kam's spine. He suddenly understood the deeper meaning behind the black-robed woman's words—those ghost brides and mummified priestesses were merely transitional forms.

When the true "One Who Returns" arrives, even death will be assimilated.

"My lord!" A young priest rushed in, his face flushed with embarrassment. "Three more injured people with golden spots on their foreheads have been found in the North District. They're saying strange things."

Karina closed her eyes briefly. When she reopened them, her worry and exhaustion were concealed beneath a mask of calm: "Isolate yourself, and anoint your entire body with the holy oil I gave you. Remember, do not look them in the eye."

The young priest accepted the order and left. Kam noticed that as he left, Karina drew an ancient symbol on her chest with her finger.

"You anticipated all of this, didn't you?" Cam couldn't help but ask. "Those stockpiled medicines, food, and evacuation plans—you clearly had them prepared long ago."

He had been puzzled by this before, and now, Karina still hadn't given a definite answer. She looked up at the increasingly dark sky, her gaze filled with worry. Suddenly, her body trembled slightly—in the distance, a blue-gold light pierced the vortex like a sharp sword!

“My lord,” the elderly high priest approached, leaning on his cane, his voice hoarse. He asked cautiously, “can you see if we still have hope for tomorrow?”

This is a veiled question. In the ancient Egyptian language system, "tomorrow" and "sunrise" share the same root, meaning the question is whether the sun's rays will be permanently lost.

Match words.

Karina gently stroked the fading runes on her cheek.

Ever since that gray-eyed boy entered her prophetic vision, all images of the future have become blurred. He is like a stone thrown into the river of fate, creating unpredictable ripples.

"I don't know anymore."

She gazed at the blue-gold light that burst forth once again in the distance.

The woman's tone was heavy, and the old priest's expression froze. But the second half of Karina's sentence made everyone who heard it look up:

"Therefore, we can only hope that he is our savior."

As if in response to her words, a bright blue-gold light suddenly shone brightly in the darkness from the direction of the temple, like a newborn sun piercing through the gloom that shrouded the world.

(End of this chapter)