It felt so good to be close to the witch!

The earth roared, and the ground covering the blood lake cracked instantly. The enormous monster about to emerge from the depths of the blood lake let out a resentful howl, but now that the blood lake was shattered, it could only sink slowly into nothingness in its resentment.

As the smoke and dust dissipated, in the center of the giant crater with a radius of nearly 100 meters, the flesh-and-blood duke, who had reverted to human form—no, it should now be called the Chief of Divine Punishment—was like a piece of porcelain about to shatter, his entire body covered in cracks.

His soul fire had been extinguished; what remained was merely the tenacious life force of a demigod clinging to life.

On his deathbed, the Chief of Divine Punishment's eyes regained their clarity. Gazing at the border duke not far away, he struggled to open his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, only two simple words escaped his lips:

"Be careful, God..."

The border duke frowned slightly. Before his death, the chief of divine punishment gave him a feeling of waking up from a dream, as if he wanted to tell him something at the last moment.

However, before he could finish speaking, he was already dead and his soul had vanished.

The border duke turned around and headed towards where Roy and the others were.

Right now, all he could think about was Mayna, so he had no time to ponder the seemingly mysterious words of an enemy.

Roy's eyes were filled with amazement when he saw the returning border duke.

The Blood and Flesh Grand Duke was clearly a level above a typical demigod, yet he perished under the six punches of the Border Duke.

With such strength, even if he is not as good as the Pope of the Temple, he is probably not much worse.

"Can we teleport now?" The border duke asked Latie as soon as he arrived.

"No problem." Latie nodded, and a dazzling silver light enveloped everyone. When the light faded, everyone's figures had disappeared.

The vast underground space was devastated and utterly silent.

……

Blackstone Territory, the lord's residence.

Upon being teleported back, Shanika rushed into the hidden place with Mayna's body in her arms and immediately began treatment.

This treatment lasted a full twelve hours.

During this time, Fuma arrived and, upon hearing that her mother had died and was currently undergoing resurrection, her face suddenly turned pale.

For the first time, she, who has always been resilient, showed a vulnerable side, appearing "helpless and fearful."

The silence was broken only when a weary Shanika emerged from the hidden place.

“Miss Shanika, Mayna, she…”

The border duke stepped forward nervously. At this moment, he was no longer the domineering and peerless powerhouse who could destroy demigods with his fists, but a husband who cared about his wife's safety.

"I have accomplished my mission." Shanica smiled wearily.

Upon hearing this, Fuma, who had been on edge until now, swayed and nearly fell.

A smile appeared on the face of the border duke.

"Although we successfully resurrected Ms. Mayna, she may have lost a large part of her memories because of the long time since her death. There is nothing I can do about that."

Shanica sighed, "Ms. Mayina will probably need another day for her soul to recover before she wakes up. You can go in and see her now."

Watching the border duke and his daughter rush into the hidden place to check the situation, Roy sighed and looked at Finage beside him, whose expression had relaxed.

As Mayina's teacher, Finage's concern for Mayina was not the same as that for the border duke and his daughter. However, after learning that Mayina was alright, she was not in a hurry to go in now.

The time now belongs to their family.

"You've had a hard time, Shanica." Looking at Shanica's pale face and obvious exhaustion, Roy stepped forward and took her hand.

“I’m fine, Mr. Roy.” Shanica smiled and shook her head. “I just need some rest.”

Roy gently hugged Shanika and took her back to her room to rest.

When he returned to the courtyard, the border duke and his daughter had already emerged from the hidden place.

Everyone sat together.

In the silence, the border duke spoke first:

"According to the information from the Duke's Mansion's intelligence system, all clergy of the rank of archbishop and above in the temples throughout the Empire have disappeared, and the holy mountain in the center of the Grenade Province has also disappeared."

"The Holy Mountain has vanished?" Roy stared wide-eyed, repeating in astonishment.

“Yes, you heard me right,” the border duke affirmed. “A huge mountain range vanished into thin air, leaving only a barren landscape.”

Chapter 208 The Evolution of Gloom [Satan's Redemption]!

The news of the sacred mountain's disappearance made everyone present realize that something was wrong.

Roy frowned and began to review the entire operation.

Upon closer reflection, both the attack on the Holy Mountain and the assault on the Cathedral of the Privy Council went a little too smoothly.

The "Demon-Slaying Dagger," a component of the A+ rank forbidden artifact—the Demon-Slaying Bow and Arrow—originated from the legendary knight Sima of the Fangwind. While most people are unaware of this, the higher-ups of the temple certainly knew. With Sima's death, this forbidden artifact was lost and fell into the hands of the Moonlight Great Witch Cecilia.

Cecilia came from the Witches' Guild. Even though the temple has not found any trace of the Great Witch of Moonlight so far, the most likely place for the Great Witch of Moonlight to go is undoubtedly the Witches' Guild.

Combining the "Demon-Slaying Bow" in the hands of the Witches' Guild, the "Demon-Slaying Bow and Arrow" are not difficult to assemble.

Even without the "Demon-Slaying Bow and Arrow," there are still other A+ forbidden items that can break through the sacred mountain's protective formation.

Therefore, the protective formation of the sacred mountain is not a problem at all for those who intend to destroy it.

As the main base of the temple, the Holy Mountain indeed retains considerable power, especially the two pilgrims who were last dressed in full armor of adamantite. They were special beings that even demigods could not deal with in a short time.

This creates a subtle feeling that within the sacred mountain, everything except the sanctuary is unimportant and treated as "discarded pawns."

Latie also said that initially, the Pope of the Temple did not use a long-distance spatial teleportation to return the artifact. In other words, if Roy had not quickly defeated the two pilgrims and destroyed the hundred-meter-tall blurry statue in the sanctuary, when the Pope of the Temple "slowly returned" and arrived, the team attacking the Holy Mountain would still be entangled with the two pilgrims and would have difficulty entering the sanctuary.

Given this premise, what kind of situation will emerge?

Faced with the return of the Pope of the Temple, the attack team naturally had no choice but to retreat. At this time, everyone gathered deep underground in the Cathedral of the Privy, where the Chief of Divine Punishment within the enormous flesh and blood heart would complete a perfect "evolution," instead of being suppressed by the Border Duke in an "imperfect" state as it is now.

Everything seems to be going smoothly?

But there is a crucial point here.

So, where did the hearts of the thousand witches in the underground space of the Privy Cathedral go?

On the surface, it appears that the hearts of a thousand witches gave birth to the enormous flesh and blood heart in the center, helping the Chief of Divine Punishment to complete his "evolution".

But now, looking back, Roy feels that it's not like that at all.

The temple spent so much manpower, resources, and effort just to create such a "weak" monster.

Yes, weak.

Although the evolved Chief of Divine Punishment has made considerable progress in strength and even has the ability to summon blood-red monsters, he is still far too weak compared to those who truly stand at the pinnacle of demigods.

The monster that the Chief of Divine Punishment transformed into was less of an "evolution" and more of a "mutation" into a blood-red monster's "summoner".

Roy hadn't forgotten.

Beneath the blood lake unfolded by the flesh-and-blood duke, a colossal shadow rapidly approaches from the depths.

That was definitely a truly terrifying being whose strength far surpassed that of the Blood and Flesh Grand Duke himself and the hundred-meter-long Blood Python.

The reaction of the Chief of Divine Punishment before his death was also quite interesting.

He said, "Be careful, God..."

Does that "god" refer to the pope of the temple, or some unknown deity?

What really made Roy feel something was wrong was the fluctuation of the aura emanating from the Grand Duke of Flesh and Blood.

Although it was very faint, Roy could still sense the aura of the "Abyss of Sin".

When mentioning "The Abyss of Sin", one cannot help but think of the beast tides during the cold winter.

The "artificial magical energy point" that was deeply connected to the "Abyss of Sin" absorbed an unknown amount of mixed life force and soul power during one winter, and the whereabouts of this life force and soul power are still unknown.

All these signs combined led Roy to a bold guess:

This recall of witches across the entire empire initiated by the temple is a shocking deception.

It concealed its true purpose beneath the surface, using its outward appearance to attract the attention of the empire's noble forces, primarily the royal family, the border dukes, and other powers.

After obtaining the hearts of a thousand witches, the temple completely disappeared into the background, abandoning the Privy Council Cathedral, and even the Holy Mountain was moved and hidden using special methods.

Roy tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his expression as calm as still water.

The speculation in his mind made him feel increasingly depressed.

If the truth is as he thinks, and the temple has paid such a huge price, what is its ultimate goal?

Will this lead to the arrival of the abyss of evil?

That seems plausible, since the "evolution" of the Chief of Divine Punishment is related to the "Abyss of Sin".

But Roy always felt that things weren't that simple.

"call……"

Roy took a deep breath and shared his suspicions with everyone.

“Your idea is not unfounded.” The border duke frowned. “It’s just that nowadays, the temple’s higher-ups have completely gone into hiding. They have gone from the light to the shadows, making it very difficult for us to find their whereabouts. Even if we were to launch a full-scale attack, we would have no target.”

"..." Finage remained silent. Although the operation had achieved its initial goal of rescuing Mayna, witnessing so many innocent witches suffer at the hands of the temple had pushed her to the limit. Her current calm was merely a forced act of endurance.

A silent sense of oppression permeated the air.

Roy thought for a moment, then looked at Finage and asked in a deep voice, "Senior Finage, you had a brief exchange with the Pope of the Temple this time. Do you think that with your current strength, you are able to defeat or even contend with the Pope of the Temple?"

Upon hearing this question, everyone's attention was drawn to it.

The greatest threat to the temple nowadays is the Pope.

Faced with Roy's question, Finage sighed: "Although I would like to say that I have the strength to defeat the Pope of the Temple, unfortunately, I am still most likely no match for this old guy."

"His strength is too great. In our brief exchange on the holy mountain, I could feel the immense pressure."

"However, if Breton and I join forces, we should be able to put up a fight."

Finaigi's words made the atmosphere heavy again.

In terms of top-tier combat power, it would require Feneki and the Border Duke to join forces to contend with the Pope of the Temple. However, the Temple has a large number of powerful individuals below the Pope, so in comparison, our side is still at a great disadvantage.

"Princess Fuma, have you seen any new prophecies recently?" Roy asked, turning his gaze to the girl beside him.

Fuma lowered her head in embarrassment: "I'm sorry..."