The goddesses attempted to gain my salvation.

They were all waiting for what Ars would say next.

“Ars...belongs to the Secret Order.”

Elsa stood on tiptoe, memorized the words "Sect of the Hermitage," and then asked, "Where is the headquarters of the Secret Order located?"

Ars shook his head.

"do not know."

Elsa sighed, raised her high heels, and was about to kick Ars between the legs.

Ars was so frightened that he trembled, his eyes filled with terror, and he kept shrinking back, begging for mercy.

"No, no, no, it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I really don't know!"

"The meetings of the Secret Order are random!"

"Furthermore, before the gathering begins, the chairman will inform us of the time via telepathy. We will then proceed to the designated location and be teleported there!"

Elsa put away her high heels, her beautiful legs were crossed again, and her toes were slightly pointed.

"Teleport?"

"Tell me more..."

Next, Ars, whose courage had been completely extinguished, blurted out everything he knew.

However, the secret order did a very good job of keeping it a secret.

First, the headquarters location was completely secretive, the meeting time was completely random, and the participants all addressed each other by code names, without knowing each other's names or information.

In other words, Ars knew very little about the Secret Order and its other members.

Elsa was very disappointed.

Several times during that time, I wanted to kick his charred penis hard.

Fortunately, Ars still revealed a lot of important information.

Elsa then put away her high heels, preventing him from experiencing that excruciating pain any longer.

And the secrets that had been hidden in the shadows—the Hermitage, the Outer Gods, and the crucial sacrificial ritual—were revealed to everyone without reservation.

Olina finally understood who her enemy really was.

Chapter 262 Elsa's Conclusion

The Hermitage.

Ars didn't know exactly when it was established or what its initial purpose was.

It wasn't just him; all the members were the same.

However, what Ars knew was that the entire Secret Order, including the Master, consisted of fourteen people.

Moreover, each of them is a dual-attribute mage with seven magic circuits.

Extremely strong.

These people are all anti-human and anti-social extremists, including Ars. They harbor extreme hostility towards the world and wish to destroy everything.

The secret order, which brings together these villains with strong personalities, naturally has its own unique characteristics.

This unique feature is the use of sacred texts.

Sacred texts, as the name suggests, are scripts possessing divine power.

Of course, the so-called divine power is actually a term used within the secret order.

If in the magical world, talent is the fundamental determinant of strength, then the power of the Holy Rune completely shatters that barrier.

With the possession of sacred texts, even the most ordinary person can become a powerful figure standing at the pinnacle of the world.

According to the monastic leader, the sacred texts are the gospel sent down by gods from beyond the land.

In fact, these members, including Ars himself, were just ordinary people of average talent when they first joined the Secret Order.

It was through the Holy Script that he gradually grew stronger to his current level.

Of course, nothing in this world appears out of thin air, whether it's talent or magic.

For every gain someone makes, someone else loses something in return.

The essence of sacred texts is to sacrifice others to replenish oneself, and the method is the most primitive form of plunder.

In the simplest terms, it means killing others through means such as devouring or sacrifice, and then taking their life, magic power, and magic circuits to replenish oneself.

In this process, the gods of the outer realms will gain the vast majority of the benefits as the price for authorizing the use of sacred texts.

In other words, offerings.

Only a small portion of the leftovers would be distributed to the members of the secret order.

Even so, it was an unimaginable gift for members of the secret order with mediocre talent.

The use of sacred texts is also very simple; just inscribe the sacred text on an object and it will take effect.

therefore.

Some people inscribe sacred texts on their weapons, some inscribe them in the eyes of their summoned creatures, and some even inscribe them on their own bodies.

Ars belonged to the first type, who inscribed words on their weapons.

Ars and the rest of the Secret Order have carried out numerous indiscriminate massacres in their quest to become stronger.

Therefore, each member carries unimaginable sins.

This sin is so great that even hell could not contain it.

After explaining all this, Ars, under Elsa's threat, revealed the goals that the chairman had previously set for all members.

Because Ryan is the only person in the Order's recorded history to have injured the Eye of God, the Order's leader has designated Ryan as the Order's number one hunting target, to be eliminated.

The task of hunting them down was undertaken by martyrs.

However, the martyr later encountered Ryan and was killed by him, turning into ashes.

Meanwhile, the Secret Order also arranged for many people to conduct large-scale sacrificial ceremonies within the territory of the Auguston Empire.

On the one hand, they wanted to appease the anger of the gods of the outer realms by offering a large number of sacrifices, so as to ensure the survival of the sacred gospel.

On the other hand, this is also an excellent opportunity for all members of the Secret Order to improve their strength.

Ars didn't know what the others did.

On Ars's side, they found the Calamity Walkers, namely the Dunn brothers.

With their help, a large-scale sacrifice was completed, and the outer life form, the Calamity Walker, was successfully summoned.

Later, he was sealed by Lydia's inherent magic, the Eighteen Rashomon Gates.

Ars knew nothing of what happened after that, such as Orina and her companions fighting the Calamity Walkers and Ryan's sudden appearance.

As for the Outer God and the Eye of God, only the head of the Hermitage knows.

As members of the secret order, whether it was Ars or anyone else, they only knew one thing.

By using sacred texts to kill people, one can become stronger.

------

Ars, who had already revealed everything he knew, was now hanging his head, looking like a lost soul who had given up on his dreams.

On the other side, Elsa lowered her eyes, her pen and paper flying across her hand as she recorded and organized what Ars had just said.

Ars's account lacked logic and was incoherent. Elsa needed to organize and make connections with the information already gathered before a report could be written.

When Ars brought up matters related to the Holy Scriptures, Elsa remembered Freya, the former magic academy instructor whom Orina had forced into the school.

She is a very accomplished paleographer.

When Freya first joined the Knights, Elsa had a special talk with her and compiled the information she knew into a report.

Now, having obtained Ars's testimony and a sample of the sacred text, Elsa is even more certain that Freya's speculation is correct.

It seems likely that Freya will be in charge of the research on sacred texts from now on.

Another half hour passed, and Ars could no longer say anything meaningful. Elsa finished recording everything, patted her slightly sore thighs, and stood up.

Ars, who was opposite, shuddered, thinking that Elsa was going to do something to him again, and quickly squeezed his legs together.

However, Elsa only gave him a cold look before opening the door and leaving.

After leaving the house, Elsa gave instructions to the magician who was guarding her.

"Give him only one meal a day, just enough to keep him alive. The seal on his magic needs to be reinforced every day; we cannot slack off."

"At the same time, strengthen guard and vigilance."

“I have a feeling that Ars’s existence is a double-edged sword for us. He just mentioned that the Hermitage has crystals that can record the life status of others.”

"If the Hermitage manages to pinpoint Ars's location through the crystal... to keep the secret, the Hermitage might choose to rescue him or simply kill him."

"At this stage, Ars still has many secrets about him that even he himself doesn't know, and these are things we need to dig deeper into. He cannot die now, much less leave the Vatican."

The magician nodded solemnly, indicating that he would definitely comply.

Elsa summoned several researchers, indicating that she urgently needed several powerful dark magic users.

She wanted to access the memories in Ars's mind.

At the same time, I will also try the magic that I have studied before, which utilizes the inclusive nature of the dark attribute and combines it with the energy transfer of the wind attribute to perform reverse tracking.

Once the magic succeeds, Elsa can use Ars to trace the clues and pinpoint the location of the life crystal.

Based on Elsa's judgment, Ars's life crystal must be in a location that the Hermitage can detect at any time.

Perhaps, it might even be in that mysterious headquarters.

------

After Ars's interrogation ended, Elsa led everyone to the Morning Star Knights' meeting room.

This place has strict magical defenses, completely blocking any form of eavesdropping and information leakage.

In other words, the content discussed in this meeting room could never be known to outsiders unless someone deliberately revealed it.