From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 444 Disciple Zeril

“General!” Zeril, the orc disciple of the Supreme God, called out respectfully, “A group of goblins has arrived. They are from the goblin camp stationed in the Shattered Temple of Serenne. They are a group of defeated soldiers.”

“Hmm.” Katheric Som, seated on his stone throne, responded with a muffled sound that echoed through the empty hall.

Although the Lord's Hall, located at the heart of the Tower of the Moonrise, could accommodate many rows of benches, only Katheric was entitled to sit down.

As the territory of the Somme family, Rasven, this land cursed by Shar, is now devoid of any nobles or subjects, only lingering shadows and sorrowful corpses remain.

Therefore, the seats in the lord's hall intended for the court jury naturally became mere decorations.

However, the lord of Rasven still exists. He was raised from his grave as a chosen one by Melkor, the Lord of the Dead, and was filled with hatred for all the living.

Although his territory had been destroyed by Shar's curse, Katheric still maintained the habit of conducting judgments in the Lord's Hall.

Just like when he ruled Resven a hundred years ago, just like when he assembled Shar's army at the Tower of the Moon to fight against the Lords' Alliance.

The only difference was that the people standing in the hall had become filthy and foolish goblins, ignorant fools bewitched by the supreme god, and mercenaries who had only paid a deposit.

“Zeril,” he said, propping his head up with his arm and leaning against the armrest of the throne, “when was the last time Minsara gave us a report?”

“The believers who arrived yesterday brought a letter from Ravengard and Minsara, which mentions a date five days ago.” The orc Zeril manipulated his lips, which were turned outwards by his fangs, and uttered a string of fluent Common.

“One after the other.” Katheric Som mentally estimated the time. “After Minsara sent Ravengard, her camp was breached.”

“Let them in.” Katheric lowered his arm. Although no one in the hall dared to look him in the eye, the dignity of a lord had long since seeped into his bones along with the pain. “I want to question them myself.”

"Yes!" Zeril waved to the guard standing below the throne, who immediately ran towards the door.

Before long, goblins, their bodies adorned with various battle markings and made even more disheveled by their crushing defeat and rout, entered.

The guards stood behind them, constantly using the wooden handles of their halberds to drive the goblins around and thrash the short-legged creatures.

The entrance was not far from the open space below the throne, and the goblins quickly stood in front of Katheric, pushed and shoved by the guards.

After noticing that the guards behind them were no longer using weapons to drive them away, the leading goblin cautiously looked up.

The old man sitting on the throne was undoubtedly a valiant warrior. His armor, adorned with bones and skulls, was polished to a gleaming shine, and the fabric of the inner lining revealed expensive materials and patterns from the seams of the armor. But even more striking than these were the purple gems set on his chest.

Katheric's hair and beard were completely white, and the wrinkles around his eyes and on the sides of his nose indicated that he was not young. Looking at his pointed ears, the guesses about his age increased fourfold.

Besides the orc Zeril who had been standing beside the general from the beginning, there was also a skeletal hound with blue soulfire flickering in its eye sockets.

The goblins felt an indescribable chill creep up their spines just from the sight of the skeleton hound.

"Kneel!" Zeril threatened the still bewildered goblins. "Before you stands the great chosen people of the Supreme God, General Katheric Somme!"

“Praise be to the Most Holy God!” The leader of the goblins immediately knelt down, raising his hands to express his devotion to the Most Holy God and His chosen people. “I knew I would be saved!”

"Where are the weapons?" Katheric's cold voice came from the throne.

The goblin, kneeling on the ground pledging his loyalty, asked in confusion, "What weapon? I...I don't know..."

"Shut up!" The orc Zeril interrupted the goblins, and an explosive burst of psionic energy erupted from her brain, engulfing the goblins in front of her in a storm of mental power.

When the mental storm subsided in the hall, Zeryl turned to the side, awaiting Katheric's instructions.

She heard the sound of iron gloves striking the stone throne.

“An obvious failure.” Zeryl turned her head, a signal from Katheric indicating she was in complete control over the goblins. Zeryl had always seen this as an opportunity to demonstrate her abilities. “But just in case, I’ll ask again: What happened to your camp? Where is Minsara?”

"The camp... is destroyed..." The goblin struggled to straighten his tongue, urging his glands to produce more saliva to moisten his throat. "First there was the explosion, then the collapse, and then everyone in the camp started coughing up blood... The temple is completely gone! Not a single leader escaped... If we hadn't been on guard duty outside... we would have died along with Lady Minsara..."

"Who was the attacker? Flame Fist?" Zeryl continued to ask.

"We...we didn't see any attackers..." the goblin replied in a panic.

"..." Zeryl was speechless upon hearing this answer. She could accept the goblins' chaos and cruelty, but she hadn't expected that these guys wouldn't even know what the attackers were like after their stronghold was breached. "The Supreme God will not save incompetent believers! My sentence for you is death! And it will be carried out immediately!"

Pale purple psionic energy once again filled the entire hall. Unlike the previous storm of anger, Zeril's command was clear and unambiguous, carrying a simple cruelty: "You have no right to breathe in this hall. Now, do it."

Besides the Mind Flayer tadpoles, the Supreme God can also control the actions of his followers through special branding. The goblins, whose minds are not particularly sharp, simply lack the willpower to overcome these commands.

Therefore, even as they cried out in fear, their hands involuntarily gripped their own necks.

With the last bit of air expelled from their lungs, the goblins were finally freed from pain and fear.

“Very creative, Zeril.” Katheric’s voice remained devoid of warmth; the deaths of the goblins did not stir any emotion in him. “You didn’t let their blood stain my floor.”

"Thank you, my lord." Zeril bowed respectfully again, then ordered the guards to drag away the goblins who had died in gruesome ways.

“That Flame Fist traitor—Marcus, has he completed his mission?” Katheric stared at the candles placed beside the throne.

The firelight flickered. The Tower of the Moonrise had stood on this land for at least a hundred years and had survived several great battles. It was no longer a solid fortress without any gaps.

However, Ketherrick filled all the gaps with undead creatures and the true souls of the supreme god to prove that his dominion had never waned.

Zeryl felt a breeze blowing from behind, which caused the candlelight to flicker and also made him realize that he was sweating.

She struggled to suppress the urge to tremble and focused her thoughts on the general's problem: "Marcus hasn't returned... nor has the Flying Demon who set off with him... I'm afraid..."

"Another failure?" Zeryl quickly lowered his head. General Somme hated failure, but he never showed excessive anger.

However, in assigning this task to Marcus, Zeryl noticed General Somme's special interest.

The silence in the hall continued.

Even though Zeryl was so close to the numerous candles, she still felt incredibly cold.

She gritted her teeth, trying to keep her voice from trembling: "I will send a force to the End of Light Inn to gather intelligence. Once I find anything, I will personally go and bring back what you desire!"

Zeryl didn't know exactly what the Flamefist traitor Marcus's mission was, but he could sense that General Somme valued it highly.

Not only did that good-for-nothing Marcus receive a personal promotion from the general, but even the Flying Terror Demon, which he had captured with Cambyon not long ago, was sent out.

The Tower of the Moon has few flying units; those flying ghouls that have been transformed into ghouls are all that's there.

Now that the traitor Marcus of Flamefist has failed to complete his mission, the flying ghouls who went with him to the Light of the End may also be doomed.

Ketherrick is the chosen one of the Supreme God, and Zeril, as his disciple, will spare no effort to complete his mission.

Unlike almost all other True Souls, Zeril is not only a True Soul with Mind Flayer tadpoles implanted in his brain, but also a spellcaster who can directly pray to the Supreme God for divine power.

However, the Supreme God has no true divinity, so Zeril is more of a sorcerer than a priestess. She has dedicated her body and soul to the Supreme God in exchange for enough power to act as the Supreme God's agent.

If it weren't for the fact that the Church of the Supreme God is led by three chosen people, then Zeril would definitely have taken on the responsibility of leading the Church of the Supreme God.

“No, Zeril.” The anger in Katheric’s voice had subsided, but Zeril knew very well that General Somme still cared a lot about the End of Light Inn and what he wanted in the inn.

"You have another mission... or have you forgotten?" Katheric's tone returned to its cold and calm tone.

“No, General, I remember it all very clearly,” Zeryl replied immediately.

“Very well, don’t disappoint me like the others have.” Katheric said, then hesitated for a moment before continuing, “As for the End Light… let it remain pitifully in that darkness. The rise of the Supreme God is irreversible. Once Balthazar or you complete the mission, I will lead her legion to crush all obstacles.”

"If, by then, the light of the end still shines on this land shrouded in shadow, I will extinguish it myself."

“I have no doubt about your resolve, General,” Zeryl said respectfully.

Katheric Somme rose from the stone throne; his business as lord for the day was finished, and he was to return to his room in the tower.

The iron boots had just climbed the steps twice when Som stopped again, turning to Zeril, who remained respectful, and said, "In no more than half a month, the other voters will arrive at the Tower of the Moonrise. You can start preparing now. Remember, it doesn't need to be too elaborate."

"As you wish, General."

Upon hearing Zeryl's reply, Katheric resumed his steps and began climbing the stairs.

Zeryl sighed deeply only after Katheric Somme had completely disappeared from sight. She wasn't worried that the guards in the hall would report her predicament to the general.

Because under the light of the Supreme God, everyone's rank was already predetermined, and the disciple Zeril stood above all other True Souls—this was an indisputable fact.

As for the elect, they are different from the true souls. The supreme God will not allow the thoughts of the true souls to disturb the peace of the elect, because their minds are meant to be used to think about things that are more important.

Therefore, apart from the instructions conveyed by the Supreme God Himself, the True Souls communicate with the Chosen People through letters and words.

A more accurate way to put it is to issue an order.

The words of the electorate are the authority of the supreme God. Although it is not as convenient as having the command appear directly in the mind, the retrogressive approach enhances the authority of the electorate.

That's what Zeryl told himself, anyway.

She knew perfectly well that the elector was not a true soul, and she could not use the spiritual abilities given to her by the supreme God to investigate her superior's preferences.

Katheric Som's order to Zeril was to assist the necromancer advisor Balthazar.

The latter is now working on a relic in the Somme family mausoleum outside Rasven.

Although Zeryl didn't know what the relic was, it didn't stop her from doing her job; all she needed to do was provide Balthazar with a steady stream of manpower.

Unfortunately, most of the True Soul cultivators in the Tower of the Moonrise were useless; those who were truly useful had already been sent out by her.

However, Zeril guessed that most of them had fallen victim to the Shadow Curse because they were useless, and even with the Moon Lantern, the monsters that sprang out from the Shadow Curse were not easy to deal with.

Now, she needs to select a more elite squad from among the True Souls to go to Rasven to die, or rather, to support Balthazar.

Aside from the undead creatures of Balthazar, anything else that walks in Rasven is likely to meet with misfortune, not to mention the monsters that lurk in the shadows.

Zeryl even heard that some of General Somme's family members were still active in the shadowy city of Reiswyn, though they looked rather unwell, not unlike Balthazar's brother who had been transformed into a stitched-together monster.

Banishing useless thoughts from his mind, Zereil began to seriously consider which True Souls should be dispatched today.

Humans are too weak, goblins are too vile, drows are too treacherous, and ogres are too foolish...

Looking at it this way, it seems that only orcs are the most suitable...

Pushing open the door leading to the cafeteria, Zeryl saw a group of people dressed in bright armor, and she was certain that every single one of them was a True Soul Being.

Praise be to the Most Holy God! Just as the disciples were struggling to decide who to send to find the necromancer advisor who had lost contact with them, and the relics beneath the Somme family tomb, the Most Holy God sent a group of her faithful followers to them!
(End of this chapter)