I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the main house.

From far away, it immediately attracted the attention of everyone present.

Two figures in black robes finally stopped at the gate of the mansion. The leader had one foot halfway inside the door, leaning over and gasping for breath.

"Deputy Pope...the secret intelligence from West Street needs to be reported to the leader."

"Davi? What's going on?"

In the crowd, the middle-aged man known as the Vice Pope stood up and frowned at the panting figure outside the door.

Although it was difficult to see the other person's face because he was standing outside the door in the dark night and his hooded robe covered his face, the Vice-Pope still determined his identity from his voice. He found that they were the two guards he had sent to guard the perimeter.

His expression was filled with displeasure: "Didn't I tell you? The leader won't see anyone today."

The other party leaned forward and stood for a moment, seemingly catching his breath. "But this information is very important. It's about Councillor Tallis."

"In order to pass on this information, the base on West Street has been taken down by the Patrol Bureau."

The Vice-Pope's frown deepened, like a tangled tree root.

Councillor Talis, Deputy Pope, is no stranger and can be said to be their biggest enemy in Deep Blue Harbor right now.

Of course, Councillor Tallis's goal cannot be simply to eradicate the cult and maintain order in the city.

The other party, through some unknown channel, discovered the magical nature of the sculpture salvaged by the leader and has been coveting it for a long time.

Cure diseases, maintain eternal youth... One can imagine how attractive this is to an elderly noble parliamentarian.

However, they now have a certain influence in Deep Blue Port, and Councillor Tallis is also worried that the extraordinary nature of the sculpture will be noticed by other powerful people. Therefore, the two sides have been in a stalemate and no large-scale conflict has occurred.

Now the other party is using his status as a councilor to put pressure on them and instructing the people from the Inspection Bureau to destroy one of their strongholds. Is he preparing to confront the other nobles and have a complete break?

"Tell me, what happened with Talis?"

The Vice-Pope asked in a deep voice.

The other believers present also turned their gazes towards the newcomer with heavy expressions.

Obviously, as long as we get through today and wait for the leader to complete the ritual... nothing will be a problem.

But why did that old guy Talis choose to take action at this most critical moment? Did he receive some news, or was there a traitor in the organization?

Under the gazes of everyone with different thoughts, the black-robed man outside the door finally straightened up slowly.

"This is the oral account of the last survivor of the West Street stronghold. I can't confirm its authenticity, but the accuracy of the information is very high."

He raised his left hand from his long sleeves, as if revealing a great secret, and spoke word by word: "The information is..."

"Councilor Tallis—"

"He ran across the city hall."

?

The speech was so out of scope that it made all the believers who were concentrating on listening to the important information dazed for a moment.

Although it was only a brief moment of daze, it was enough for Last.

The silver-white gun slipped from his sleeve and fell into his hand.

Without hesitation, Rast put the pistol to his temple.

Then, at the center of all attention.

boom--

There was a roar from the muzzle of the gun.

No bullets were fired in the smoke, but Last's head seemed to be pierced by a bullet, tilting to one side, and the icy blue in his eyes suddenly lit up.

Then, everyone present was caught off guard and saw the tall tower behind Rast in the storm.

And under the tower, there was the bright flame shining from the lantern in the hand of the shadowy lantern bearer.

The bright firelight shone into the eyes of all the believers in the main house, and they fell into a moment of daze as if they had suddenly seen a strong light in a dark environment.

The mental shock of the "Lantern Bearer" did not last long.

Even though the timing of Last's use was very unexpected, it was targeting dozens of people after all, and under normal circumstances it would become ineffective within a dozen seconds at most.

At this moment, Hiltina, who had been following behind Last and trying to reduce her presence, suddenly took a step forward and kept pace with him.

As if she felt that it would affect the battle, Hiltina pulled off the hooded cloak that had been covering her body, revealing the pure white and bright red knight's uniform underneath the cloak.

The bright chestnut long hair was spread out, reflecting the golden glow in the torchlight in the middle of the night, making the gloomy night sky brighter and sweeping away the darkness in the manor.

In just a few breaths, the red and white storm brought about by the speeding rapier user swept across the entire mansion.

Chapter 9: Twinkling Morning Star

It lives up to the name "Chariot".

Although she has a rather slender figure, she also uses weapons such as rapiers.

But at this moment, Hiltina, wearing the red and white knight uniform, was really like the legendary mighty chariot, crushing everything in her way into pieces.

"Damn traitor!"

"What on earth did Talis promise you that would make you abandon your faith in the Lord?"

There was a roar.

Under the stimulation of life and death crisis, some believers in the main house broke free from the state of mental shock, raised the guns at hand, and opened fire with roars.

Even if it was just an ordinary lever-action shotgun, it would be enough to cause irreparable damage if it hit a flesh and blood body.

Ding--

A flash of silver light flashed by.

Two pieces of bright yellow bullet fragments fell to the ground with a crisp sound, and the cuts of the bullet fragments were as smooth as new.

There was horror in the eyes of the cultist who fired the shot.

He opened his mouth, but before he could utter a word, a crystal-like rapier pierced his throat.

……

When the wind from Cangyin's sword subsided, all thirty-six believers present, including the deputy pope, had fallen to the ground, with blood oozing out from the blood holes in their left chests and throats.

During this process, some cultists had their throats and hearts pierced, but their bodies still twisted strangely as they fell to the ground.

However, these abnormal people were soon ruthlessly attacked by Hiltina with several swords.

The head was shattered and the tendons of the limbs were cut off.

Even with the vitality contaminated by flesh and blood, it would be impossible for it to have any ability to move at all.

Only after confirming that Rast and herself were the only two people left alive in the main house did Hiltina put the rapier back into its scabbard.

The next moment, the knight's rapier shattered silently like crystal, turning into thousands of crystal points of light.

"Glittering Morning Star Outfit."

"Simply put, the Heraldic Gown is the only extraordinary equipment that can be brought into the night world."

Noticing Last's gaze, Hiltina explained as she watched the rapier in her hand dissipate into a stream of light.

"By the way." She put on her jet-black hooded cloak again, covering up her bright red and pure white knight's uniform. "What you said to the cultists earlier, was that true?"

"What? Councillor Tallis, the one who was running around at the City Council?"

Rast followed Hiltina into the mansion and walked through the hall littered with corpses.

He thought for a moment and said, "Since that female council member who is an 8th-rate member told me secretly, it must be true. After all, she is a colleague."

"Think carefully, Councillor Tallis is a man in his seventies, so it's understandable that he would occasionally suffer from incontinence. It's no wonder he's so eager for that contaminant that can prolong his life and preserve his youth."

"That's not what I asked."

Hiltina couldn't help but rub her brows. "I'm saying, since that council member knows about the existence of the cult and can even direct the Inspection Bureau to act, why don't we choose to cooperate with them?"

"Based on my past experience in the night world, if we can get the city's official authorities involved, our actions will undoubtedly be much easier."

But from the beginning to the end, Last would rather go to the cult's stronghold alone than seek help from other outsiders.

"I tried, many times."

Luster smiled.

"Let alone cooperating with Senator Tallis alone..."

"Sending a whistleblower telegram to the nation's capital; collecting scandalous information about the inspector general to force the police to work for me; even kidnapping the mayor's beloved mistress and threatening him to dispatch the navy stationed at Deep Blue Harbor to eliminate the cult's stronghold."

"I explored all the options of seeking outside help, but in the end, it only made things worse for me."

He squatted down and skillfully found several boxes of pistol bullets from the pocket of a corpse.

"You've seen those contaminated cultists just now, haven't you?"

"They previously appeared to be normal people. This is because, although they have been contaminated by the aura of the sculpture, they are still in a suppressed latent period. Only after death will there be some changes."

"but--"

Last's footsteps paused in the depths of the manor hall, next to a large oil painting.

"If those who are contaminated are no longer suppressed and dormant."

"But rather, being actively stimulated?"

As he spoke, Last raised his hand and moved the painting away. Behind the painting was an inconspicuous wall clock.

He opened the back cover of the wall clock, stretched out his fingers, and started operating the adjustment gear of the wall clock.

The minute and hour hands of the wall clock were moved, making a clicking sound.

Watching Rast slowly adjusting the gears, Hiltina frowned slightly. "Judging from the situation at this base, this cult shouldn't have many members, probably only a few hundred at most."

"Even if all the cultists' contamination were to be unleashed and out of control, compared to the entire Deep Blue Harbor security force, a few hundred people would still be manageable..."

Her words stopped abruptly, and Hiltina suddenly remembered the message that Last had said earlier:

Several months have passed since the sculpture contaminated by the evil god was brought to Deep Blue Harbor by fishermen.

Even though this cult has been operating in secret, God knows how many people and places the sculpture, the source of the pollution, has been brought into contact with over the past few months.

Police station, city hall, hospital, opera house, naval base...

No physical contact is required, nor is there any need for devout faith.

When ordinary people accidentally see the sculpture, the seeds of pollution have already been planted.

If they really seek help from the Deep Blue Port officials, then when the pollution breaks out, their former allies and helpers may become enemies in an instant.

In Hiltina's mind, the two short lines of historical records that she had seen in the Night World Intelligence Book suddenly emerged.

[A few weeks after the destruction of Deep Blue Harbor, a plague originated from the ruins of the harbor and swept across the Eastern Continent.]

[Based on the characteristics of the infected, people named it the "Iron Cross Plague"]

"You said earlier... that later generations would call it the 'Iron Cross', correct?"

Rast's voice was very calm, but to Hiltina's ears, it sounded inexplicably heavy.

In the historical books and ancient volumes of later generations, these two lines of text, as insignificant as dust, are like a mountain when they fall on everyone of this era.

"You were right about one thing you said earlier."

"The course of history is never something that can be easily broken."

"The fisherman who caught the pollutant sculpture thought he was the lucky one chosen by God."

"But in reality, regardless of whether he went fishing that day... Deep Blue Harbor's fate had already been secretly determined."

Luster paused slightly.

On the dial of the wall clock, the hour and minute hands, which had been rotated to a certain point, stopped and made a crisp sound as if the mechanism was triggered.

"However, there is no need to be too pessimistic."

"As the only variable that appeared in tens of thousands of loops, your ability far exceeded my expectations, greatly improving my confidence in clearing the level with one life."

Last withdrew his hand from the clock's adjusting gear. "After all, we're not really going to kill the gods. We're merely changing a trivial detail in the established course of history."

"This is probably the only good news I've heard from you since I entered the Night World."