I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Guangbao clenched his fist again and delivered another deliberate punch to the gloating Du—this time, the severity was so great that it didn't need to be put in quotes.

Chapter 245 Do You Love Me?

"The Pope won the holy war, but he didn't seem very happy."

"why?"

This is the soup base for this turtle soup (the riddle), and Duke, his companion, and their cat need to find the exact soup base that describes the turtle soup base in their respective ten questions (the answer).

But given that Duke's companions were a cat and a Lightbear, he didn't expect them to ask any quality questions. He just hoped they wouldn't mess around and use up all their question attempts.

To be honest, this game was slightly more reasonable than Duke had originally imagined—in Duke's initial guess, the number of questions wouldn't refresh every time they switched scenes and soup noodles, meaning each person's ten questions would have to be used across several games. In his view, only game rules of this caliber were worthy of the Tower of Babel's formidable reputation.

However, it seems that the number of questions they ask refreshes every time the scene and the soup noodles change, so the difficulty level is still manageable.

“Be careful not to use up all your question attempts. Nobody knows what will happen if you run out of questions.” Duke earnestly reminded Cecil and Little Black: “You might die on the spot if you run out of questions, you might be teleported to a prison, or you might be stuck in this world forever and unable to leave… No matter what the possibility is, it’s not a good thing.”

"understood."

Cecil nodded solemnly, then muttered to himself with a worried expression:

"The Pope is unhappy, how could it not be because I left? Is my departure so insignificant to him?"

"Not necessarily. Maybe the Pope will be happy that you're gone," Duke added ruthlessly. "Question: Does the Pope like Cecil?"

"I don't like it. You have nine questions left."

Guangbao: "?"

"Does His Holiness the Pope really dislike me?"

Duke sensed Cecil was getting impatient, but even if the question was phrased differently by a different person, the answer from the World Will would remain the same: "I don't like it. You have eight questions left."

Cecil was still a little unwilling to give up. She widened her beautiful, large eyes and stared at His Holiness the Pope in the distance, trying to change the Pope's mind with her tearful eyes that could make anyone feel guilty. She bit her lip and forced out another question: "Then the Knights must be feeling demoralized because of my departure!"

Even if the Pope doesn't really like her, as long as her fellow Templars like her, that's enough... and it proves she's important; the Templars absolutely cannot do without her. As for His Holiness the Pope, he might just be unhappy because of the Templars' low morale.

"No. You still have seven questions left."

"Are my fellow Templars happy that I'm leaving?!"

Yes. You have six questions left.

Guangbao was stunned.

She looked at Duke with a mournful expression.

"Duke, I'm such a jerk! His Holiness the Pope hates me, and my fellow Templars hate me too! I never thought about this, I never imagined they actually hated me QAQ..."

"Don't overthink it. This is a witch's game, not the real world. Don't believe these things are real; it's just the world's will distorting your memories." Duke sighed, reached out and rubbed Guangbao's head, who was crying, and gently comforted him. "Besides, didn't you leave here a long time ago? Why do you still care about their opinions? You have the floating city you love, and there are many people in the floating city who love you."

Cecil slightly raised her head, her little face, which had just been sobbing, instantly breaking into a smile. Then, her eyes lit up as she looked at Duke, her nose still slightly twitching, but her tone was clearly cheerful as she asked:

"Then, do you love me?"

Duke: "..."

Oh no, this kid has figured it out.

Startled by the sudden, direct question, Duke panicked and looked away. But just then, the little black dog hiding in his arms suddenly meowed loudly: "Meow! How scary, meow!"

Its shriek interrupted the somewhat ambiguous atmosphere between Duke and Cecil. It waved its little paws and pointed to the side, where the Pope had sprouted three pairs of wings of light from his back, and his crown had transformed into a bright halo. His robes had somehow come off, revealing his bulging muscles, and the magnificent scepter in his hand had also changed shape. Now, it was more like a spiked club enveloped in holy light than a scepter, except that the "fangs" of the club were made of precious gems.

Duke had seen the design of the wings and halo in the dream world of Sleeping Beauty. The old priest "Divine Revelation," who was chosen as an apostle by the mute, had a similar design. The strong divine aura emanating from His Holiness the Pope further indicated his current state.

Duke swallowed hard, then asked with some alarm, "Is this what Your Holiness the Pope looks like in your memory?"

“Obviously… that’s not it!” Cecil also showed a horrified expression, her face even uglier than Duke’s—after all, from her perspective, it was like a kind and gentle elder, a friendly old man who would occasionally chat or play chess with you, suddenly turning into a freakish muscle man wielding a spiked club. This visual impact was obviously much greater than simply seeing a freakish muscle man with a spiked club: “I don’t know this kind of pope at all!”

The apostolic pope raised his wolf... scepter and rallied his voice:

"Knights Templar, for the sake of the Holy Light, strike down those three heretics!"

Then, to Cecil's even greater horror, the Templar Knights' burly men removed their armor, revealing their strong bodies, and charged towards them, shouting "For the Holy Light!"

This is nothing more than a scroll depicting hell.

The more wonderful Cecil's memories of his time with the Knights Templar were, the uglier his expression became upon witnessing this scene.

She closed her eyes and screamed:

"This is the Knights Templar, not a perverted knight order! You damned world will!"

Screaming, Cecil finally stopped regarding these men as her former comrades. She conjured the "I Want" spear in her hand and, with her eyes closed, swung it wildly, sending the paladins who charged at them flying like home runs in baseball. As she hit, Cecil shouted:

"I want to... I can't even think about it! All I can think about right now are these terrifying images!!!"

"Is this the difficulty of this witch's game? The unpredictable and deteriorating alteration of memories?" While Cecil was screaming and displaying his power, Duke stroked his chin and asked, "Question: Aren't the Pope's and Cecil's ideologies vastly different?"

Yes. You have eight questions left.

Chapter 246 Vastly Different

This is the first piece of useful information so far: the Pope's ideas are vastly different from Cecil's.

Duke thought for a moment and then spoke again:

"Then let me ask another question: Are the key figures in the Knights Templar aligned with the Pope?"

Yes. You have seven questions left.

The Pope and the Knights Templar had their reasons for disliking Cecil. Guangbao was the kind of person who couldn't stand the slightest darkness, and if they had any ulterior motives, it would be hard for them to like Cecil. But on the other hand, she was also a useful weapon, so Cecil participated in this holy war.

Duke reached out and pulled open the artificial body's right eye with his fingers. The pupil of his right eye quickly turned a bloody deep red, and then a few drops of burning blood-red tears dripped out, causing the sulfur fire, which had not been used for a long time, to condense into a pillar of fire, which was then struck at the paladins who were charging towards them.

He also wanted to test the strength of these knights—being beaten to the ground by Cecil didn't mean anything. Duke would be thoroughly beaten by a serious Cecil, and near-legends like Chido and the Rainbow Witch would also be thoroughly beaten by Lightbear, but Duke's strength was no match for those two near-legends.

While attempting an attack, Duke casually asked:

"Guangbao, what is the Pope's official reason for launching a holy war?"

“Uh.” Cecil turned his head, casually knocked down a reckless paladin with his spear, and then began to recall, saying somewhat unhappily, “Nominally it was to punish heretics, but in reality it was through bloody wars of aggression, massacring civilians, plundering resources, and gaining profits.”

Duke blinked in surprise. He wasn't surprised by the low moral standards of the Holy Light Cult; none of his so-called "holy wars" in his previous life were holy, only driven by dirty interests. He was surprised by something else: "Their purpose in plundering resources and gaining profits... they didn't even try to hide it from you?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? You make it sound like you think they can hide it from me... Okay, I am an idiot."

The Radiant Witch has always been very self-aware:

"At the time, I just felt something was wrong and accidentally discovered that they were massacring civilians, so I ran away... As for resources, benefits, and the like, Carol explained it to me later."

"Do you remember how Carol analyzed it back then?"

Cecil scratched his head: "To be honest, I don't remember the specifics very well."

What use are you?

"Eek!"

Cecil turned her head with a mournful face, brandishing the "I Want" gun, tormenting the paladins who were charging at them with a look of grievance. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to kill her former comrades; so far, she had only managed to knock those thick-skinned paladins away, causing them pain but not serious injury.

Incidentally, the sulfur fire that Duke fired also worked, and it was particularly effective against these paladins. Clearly, these paladins were not so strong that Duke couldn't handle even one of them.

"Then we have an idea for the soup base, right?" Duke snapped his fingers. "The Pope won the Holy War, but he didn't get the expected benefits, so he doesn't seem very happy."

The world's will didn't react to Duke's statement because his answer was too simplistic; such a response wouldn't be adopted as the final answer. However, Duke couldn't immediately elaborate due to a lack of information. Of course, he still had seven questions remaining, offering ample opportunity and room for error.

But where should we begin next?

He began to think.

"Meow! Meow! That terrifying human is coming, meow!"

Just then, the cat in his arms let out a scream again.

Duke and Cecil reacted quickly, both looking in the direction of the Pope. Seeing that the Templars were not making good progress, he was surrounded by a bright and intense holy light, and he was brandishing a spiked club, seemingly preparing to personally join the battle, deal with Cecil himself, and clean up his own sect.

But Little Black's screams didn't stop. It continued to shout in a panic, "That terrifying human and Cecil really use the same ability, meow? I feel like they're not the same thing at all. That light of his is so scary, meow!"

Of course they do! They all believe in the Holy Light, so naturally they all use the Holy Light...

Before Duke could voice his thoughts, he heard the world's will's reply:

"No. You still have nine questions left."

He was stunned, then remembered the first useful piece of information he had received—"The Pope's ideas are very different from Cecil's."

Immediately afterward, Duke quickly questioned:

"Besides the issues of justice versus evil and monetary interests, do the Pope's and Cecil's vastly different ideologies also involve the power of holy light and the direction of faith?!"

Yes. You have six questions left.

Duke realized a problem.

Cecil is officially recognized as a "witch" by Carol and the floating city. Her holy light is her exclusive spell. However, there are far more paladins and priests in this world who use holy light than Cecil herself. Why is she the only one who can be recognized as a witch? Is it because of her terrifying magical power and spellcasting talent?

Impossible. Jasmine was a genius spellcaster who could create simplified interdimensional portals. Her magical power and spellcasting talent were also very high, but she was still stuck on the path to becoming a witch by "exclusive spells".

In other words, Cecil's acquisition of the "witch" identity also proves the value of her "holy light"!

This is an "exclusive ability" that can create a completely new system, not a cheap thing that every paladin or priest can use!

Duke was influenced by his habitual thinking. In the few months he had been in the floating city, he had hardly seen any paladins or priests. The only clergyman he had contact with was Cecil, the "former paladin". He had no idea what a normal clergyman should be like.

Now, recalling the spellcaster introductions he had read... Priests were also spellcasters, and their holy magic was also included in the 9th-circle spell system. How could Cecil's omnipotent holy light be so unreasonable?

Guangbao is not a normal priest at all!

Duke also knew about Cecil's faith. She did not believe in any specific deity; she believed in the Holy Light itself—and if the Holy Light was her own unique ability, then this faith was tantamount to believing in herself.

Cecil grew up in the Knights Templar, and her faith is not directed toward any god. Since she has not noticed anything amiss so far, it means that everyone else in front of her is also a believer in the "Holy Light".

But the will of the world answered his question.

The pope who had become an apostle, and the other members of the Knights Templar, differed greatly from Cecil in both their Holy Light abilities and the direction of their faith.

So, what exactly is this holy light they're using?

So, what exactly do their beliefs point to?!

Chapter 247 Holy Light Evil God