Witch Troupe and the Undead

"It's about time, we should go back." The little witch's face clearly showed that she hadn't had enough fun yet, but she also knew that it was best not to linger outside at night, even on the main road of the Imperial Academy. The security in this world wasn't that good yet.

Almost the instant the witch took a step, a gasp rippled through the crowd on the street. Two figures darted across the street, the one in the back dragging a greatsword as he shouted, "Heretics, stop!"

"Clang!" The greatswords collided, and the enormous impact almost caused Judge Rost to lose his balance. The church's finely forged two-handed sword in his hand broke in two, and the bladeless greatsword fell almost past his cheek.

"Stop!" Alessina leaned on his sword, the Unrivaled, and looked at the judge before him. The blade was unmarked, clearly a high-end enchanted weapon, enhanced by powerful magic, with a faint glow emanating from the metal.

"A beastman?" Rost discarded the broken sword, which was now useless, drew a spare short sword from his waist, and activated the shield effect on his arm armor, forming a small circular shield.

Why would a beast-like being be on the streets of the Empire? And why would she be carrying the Wupeng Sword, which is clearly a high-level arcane weapon? Who provided her with this weapon? What kind of conspiracy is behind this? The judge's mind raced with thoughts.

“Imperial Academy, violence is prohibited!” Alessina didn’t care what the man in front of her was thinking. She gripped the hilt of her sword with one hand and pointed to the gate of the Imperial Academy across the street with the other.

"The Empire..." The judge then turned to look at the imposing gate beside him, the several guards with unfriendly expressions, and the female mage who was running up the defensive tower with her skirt lifted on the wall.

Clearly, if he hadn't stopped, he would have been subjected to the fortress firepower of the Imperial Academy, a city within a city, specifically the "heavy fortress firepower" category within the Imperial Capital's defense system—those arcane defense towers themselves formed a massive composite buffing ritual field with the academy's structure, and the magic pools and giant magic storage crystals below could provide enormous magical power.

Even an apprentice up there could fire explosive fireballs like a machine gun, let alone a female professor, a Star Silver-level Archmage.

"I'm sorry..." The judge put away his weapon, bowed his head and apologized. He had indeed been too focused on the chase and hadn't noticed that he had ended up on Academy Street.

"But heretics have infiltrated the academy... just now..."

"Heretical? I didn't see him." Alessina certainly saw the Dark Inquisitor, but he was not a heretic, and the headmaster also knew these Dark Inquisitors, after all, Lulua was also in the academy.

Lady Elena was indeed very interested in the Dark Cult, a sect that had been lost for thousands of years, so she issued several Inquisitors credentials for entering the Academy's barrier in order to learn some unfamiliar lost knowledge from them.

“Maybe you’re mistaken, or maybe you’ve looked up the wrong person,” Alessina shrugged.

"Perhaps..." The judge looked intently at the academy's gate, but ultimately gave up. This wasn't the church's business; if he really rushed in, he would be the one hanged.

Chapter 356 A Scene Full of Vitality

Academy, reception room. "What happened? Why did you provoke the Holy Lord's judge?" Roach asked the somewhat uneasy Dark Night Judge in front of him. "Weren't you preparing a large-scale sealing ritual?" "We were discovered." He was reported by an ordinary person next to him and then suffered a surprise attack.

"You...didn't disguise yourself?" "Yes." They disguised themselves to target the Spirit Response Church and the evil entity's perception, but not to target ordinary people. They never expected to be ambushed by the Holy Lord Church, especially since the ambush was outsourced.

“Then…” Roach couldn’t quite understand it; it was somewhat ridiculous that the covert operations team’s base had been wiped out by the cops.

“We made a mistake. We thought that the Holy Lord would at least have records about us, so that this kind of blunder wouldn’t have happened. At the very least, we still have the original records and documents.”

"But you didn't expect them to outsource this to non-Church members? No, it should be said that even the actual combat priests might not go to that ancient library to look through these dusty documents that haven't been used for thousands of years."

Roach understood why this blunder had occurred. The Church of the Night Gods' records hadn't been used for far too long and were probably buried deep within some ancient, profound underground library in the Holy City. Given the quality of the priests currently active outside, they most likely hadn't even seen them.

These commonly used manuals about other faiths and deities usually don't include sects that have disappeared for thousands of years, because the amount of material that their church school students have to memorize would be ridiculously excessive.

The Church of the Night Gods did not have this problem because their manpower had shrunk to only one secret temple, and most of them were Night People living around this temple. In addition, their information was no longer being responded to by the goddess, and the church's activities had almost come to a standstill. Without divine grace, they could do nothing, so there were no major updates in the past thousand years.

"However, the trouble is much bigger now. That evil thing must have realized something is wrong. Those laymen ruined our ritual site. With that evil thing's senses, without the cover of the ritual, it will either run away or try to strike first."

This is why they came to the academy to find Lulua, the saint. They need her to communicate with the goddess and ask for instructions on what to do next. The original sealing plan now seems to have completely failed, and they might even be targeted by the judge as soon as they leave the academy.

"Then why don't you get rid of this person who caused the problem?" Leslie asked curiously. Wouldn't putting the judge in a sack completely solve the problem?

"..." The Dark Night Judge looked at her with a strange expression. "According to our investigation, he is one of the few people in this city who are actually arresting heretics and cultists."

In other words, he was the only decent person among the outsourced staff of the Holy Lord Church who was doing the right thing. If you kill him or put him in a sack, who will do the job?

"We can't rely on those insects, can we? We'll probably have to plan to storm the cathedral sooner or later." That evil creature is best at tempting humans with desire, and the Holy Lord Church's insects have no shortage of insatiable people.

"In fact, there's not only that evil thing, but also traces of the Sinful Mage, the Horse-Headed Cult is also plotting something, and most importantly, we've also discovered two evil cults, the Doomsday Judgment Society and the Ember."

The former, Roach and his group had already encountered, was a group of post-apocalyptic survival fanatics who, based on their own delusions, believed that the world would be destroyed sooner or later. In order to continue civilization in the new world, they wishfully preserved what they considered to be the "seeds of civilization" and eliminated the "threats" that might bring about an early apocalypse.

According to Lao Ma, this group of people is probably not really delusional. They may have actually sensed some omens at first, but unfortunately, they came from Hell. Hell itself is a product of the accumulation of world ruins and remains, and it is also the breeding ground for the birth of new worlds. If this group of people received some omens from some great demon or the demon gods at the bottom of Hell, it is not surprising that they made such a judgment.

However, that was the beginning. Now, this group of people is a bunch of cultists who don't know what they're doing. Even the devil can't guess their thought process. Of course, Old Ma said that there might really be a demon god behind this group, and it might be the kind of demon god that is close to the core of the world. It or He is already looking for the first inhabitants and creation samples for the re-creation.

Therefore, this group of cultists would capture so-called "seeds of the world" everywhere and store them in a secret vault that they themselves did not know the location of, waiting to emerge after the apocalypse to rebuild civilization.

"The only difference between demons and gods is that they are not gods yet, nothing more. They can do everything that gods can do, including developing followers, bestowing power, and so on. Of course, a great demon like me can also grant others some power and strength if I want, but that is different from a demon. With the latter, you might even feel like you are worshipping some ancient lost god, rather than someone like me, who has a distinct hellish aura and demonic characteristics."

In terms of both aura and appearance, the things created by those demon gods are already very close to the true gods. Unless they are encountered by saints or gods, ordinary priests and officials are unlikely to be able to tell the difference.

"The most terrifying thing in this world is not a demon like me who looks evil, but those winged, pure white demons shrouded in holy light who don't even ask you for blood sacrifices, but instead paint a picture of saving the world for you, full of glory and a bright future... demons."

That's what Old Ma said. Of course, such hypocritical guys, apart from the demons at the bottom, would be surrounded and beaten up by other demons if they appeared in the middle and upper levels. At the very least, Old Ma would beat them up every time he saw them.

"What about the Ember Society?" This was a name that neither Roach nor Livia had ever heard of.

"The believers of the ancient gods worship those ancient gods who are said to have fallen, so they call themselves the embers of the ancient times. As for their purpose, it is simply to destroy civilization and try to restore the ancient life and beliefs in order to resurrect their gods."

The Church of the Night God has the most complete collection of these materials. Of course, it's also possible that they are the only ones who still preserve and need to study these materials. Many other denominations today probably wouldn't even be able to distinguish between the two organizations.

"Do they really believe in the ancient gods?" This is what Leslie asked, and everyone looked at her like she was crazy. "If they really believed in those ancient gods from the beginning, would they be beaten up by everyone as cultists?"

"To put it bluntly, these Ember Society members are groups that have resurfaced after the false gods and evil spirits they worshipped were wiped out. They regard these false gods and evil spirits as ancient fallen deities. Oh, this is also the most common reason that evil spirits and false gods use to deceive people."

"So they're the remnants we didn't wipe out back then," Roach roughly understood. "But don't these people start fighting each other?"

"Yes, the Embers are what we call them. They don't actually consider themselves an organization; they just have more contact and cooperation among themselves for various reasons."

"So, besides the increasingly intense religious trial, there are two real cult organizations and a sealed evil entity causing trouble in the capital? Oh, and the group of sinful sorcerers..." Roach felt that the city was a little too vibrant.

"Moreover, the Sinful Mages have three teams. We've recently been pursuing an organization called 'Tower of Thorns,' but due to the interference of the Holy Lord's people, it's now clear that we can't continue the investigation."

They were originally very discreet, and those they captured were tortured and executed one by one. But now that they are being investigated, it is difficult for them to continue. Moreover, the exposure of their stronghold will quickly make these sinful mages more alert.

"The Tower of Thorns, the Abyss of Human Desire, and a sinful secret society whose name is currently unknown—I can't even imagine what such a group of heroes are trying to do here." The Dark Night Inquisitor's expression was like that of an unlucky alchemist who already knew something was going to explode, but was unsure when or how big it would be.

So far, not much information has been obtained through interrogation. The Tower of Thorns doesn't seem to have any special purpose; it's simply a normal activity to escalate the chaos in the capital and extract demonic power from it.

Meanwhile, the Abyss of Human Desire was planning some kind of depraved ritual, but before they could find any clues, one of these sinful mages' strongholds was raided by an outsourced team hired by the Holy Lord, which made everyone in the Church of the Night God a little nervous.

The last nameless gang was only revealed during the interrogation of the captured members of the Thorn Tower. Apart from knowing that their leader was named Lilith and that they were plotting something big in the capital, they knew nothing else.

"But at least now the Holy Lord Church knows that there are really cultists and evil in the capital." Lulua said that this was a good thing.

"They probably aren't good at dealing with sinful mages..." The reason this function was separated in the first place was because the Holy Flame has no restraint on the power of sinful demons; on the contrary, the latter has a considerable advantage in polluting and poisoning the power of the Holy Flame.

"The situation in the capital is like a giant vortex, drawing in all sorts of monsters and demons."

Roach could only sharply comment, "What on earth are you guys stirring up!" These are real troublemakers, stirring up all sorts of long-standing, unpleasant things.

"The most urgent task is to capture that evil creature. Otherwise, even we will find it difficult to keep track of it. If it escapes from the capital, we will only be able to catch it when it causes something big."

Gregorian is considered evil not only because he can grant human wishes, but this ability and his enjoyment of the process alone are enough to elevate him to the status of a lesser god or a god—a tool god who specializes in handling prayers and wishes.

However, the problem is that both Glicoli and the wisher's desires have a clear threshold. Soon, it is no longer satisfied with ordinary wishes and desires, and the wisher is no longer satisfied with the happiness brought by ordinary money and women, and will pursue higher happiness and stimulation.

To put it bluntly, he is a combination of Tzeentch and Slaanesh, a massive lump that would be enormous even if placed in a cesspool. Of course, he doesn't possess the same level of power as either of those lumps, but if he is restricted and allowed to continue like this, it's not impossible for him to reach that level of perversion.

Like Tzeentch, he enjoys seeing humans feel they are getting the better deal, and ultimately tricks everyone by distorting the way desires are fulfilled; like Slaanesh, he derives stimulation and pleasure from desires, and quickly reaches a threshold, requiring even stronger stimulation to be satisfied.

However, recent attempts to spread the faith have been interrupted, and many believers are still focused on the happiness brought by gold coins and wealth. At the same time, his own power can only satisfy such low-level desires—and even this money has to be transported from elsewhere rather than actually created using godlike power.

"Anta Territory's clone has disappeared... There's so little faith feedback..." This is understandable, after all, the territory was wiped out by the lord and screened more than once by those hyenas who rushed in under the banner of heresy. The believers who survived after all that are practically people who would be doing a disservice to the talents given to them by God if they didn't make a living from cults.

"Fortunately, Gregory has plenty of pawns..." The faith of the mountain kingdom is spreading wildly. At sea, the faith is also spreading among the pirates in Black Bay, where the guy who was granted an extra life is also receiving this faith. A constant stream of prayers, carrying the tide of desire, is constantly being transformed into his own power.

The part that the flat-chested dwarf cut off has grown back by about half. Soon he will be back to the state he was in when he left the seal. At that time, he will be able to fulfill some powerful desires that distort reality, and at the same time, he will crave more perverse and exciting desires and changes.

The man in the purple top hat sat on a pipe rack in the industrial area, feeling the swirling, twisting clouds of desire and evil power that filled the city. Like a rat living in a granary, he carefully and boldly used special rituals and symbols to absorb this vast, unclaimed power.

Even though he has recently sensed some unpleasant things, the abundant desire and magic make him reluctant to leave. From this point of view, it seems that he has not learned any lessons after being sealed for so many years.

"Hmm~?" The power of sin and evil was swirling, slowly rotating like a huge vortex in the magical vision. This meant that someone was pushing and using a large amount of the power of sin and evil. Even the cloud of desire magic was being pulled and rotated, just like a huge cyclone that turned the colorful magic patches in the magical vision into a giant vortex of a uniform color.

However, after a brief whirlpool, the process stopped again, as if nothing had happened.

“Someone is using a great sin ritual,” Livia tugged at Roach’s sleeve and pointed out the window. The ability to see directly into magic is not something common; apart from little witches, almost no mortals can master this ability, or rather, it is not an ability that can be learned, but a talent.

Pink light patterns spread outwards along the ancient stone wall, outlining a giant butterfly-shaped secret pattern. "It really is here..." Lilith stroked the mural. The purification potions provided by the Church of Spiritual Response were too few. Even if all the wishes of every member whose mind was controlled by sinful magic were used, it would not be enough for all of them.

In particular, the quality of the purification potions they obtained was not very good (mainly because Gregory really didn't dare to take the potions from Livia's pocket). The duration and effect of the effects were much worse than expected, and there were also serious side effects, which led to the need to increase the dosage.

However, since most cults that promise to grant wishes operate on this kind of premise, if they were to actually grant your wishes flawlessly and without any discrepancies, would you think you were worshipping some benevolent god? It is precisely this kind of hidden danger and misrepresentation that is the norm for cults.

In a sense, the Great Sin Master understands cults better than cultists, because the great sin of blasphemy truly requires stealing faith and desecrating the gods. Compared to the true gods, the various false gods and evil gods are easier to bully—"If you're so capable, come to the mortal world and beat me up! See if I report you then!"

In any case, aside from the Night God and the God of Judgment, who are considered to need to be monitored and eliminated, most gods don't really care about the Great Sin Mages. Even if they do, the punishments aren't as severe as those for these evil gods and cultists. "I'll detain you, you'll give me the death penalty; let's see who loses more." Therefore, Great Sin Mages are likely to be unscrupulous in exploiting cults, and of course, they are fully prepared for the low quality of what they get for free.

"Ancient Great Sin Mage Laboratory, I never thought there would be such a thing underground in the capital." The torch illuminated the huge stone wall located deep underground. After the pink light butterfly lit up, patterns that looked like paintings of hell appeared on it, with various cruel punishments and corresponding sins on it.

"How long will it take to crack?"

“It will take two days. The seal or blockade here is not very tight, so it shouldn’t be some kind of key laboratory,” Lilith said after thinking for a moment. “However, I’m not sure if there are any clues about the formula for the purification potion.”

Ancient high-sin mages were not at risk of mutation; she suspected they possessed a stable purification potion formula or an extremely stable high-sin ritual. Of course, it's also possible that people back then simply didn't dare admit these high-sin mages were susceptible to mutation.

"This commotion is..." The Elder Guardian looked down at his feet, "The sound of the secret vault being opened?" The opening of the secret vault is extremely well concealed. If one is not an elder of the Guardian's level, one would hardly be able to perceive this subtle reaction.

"The capital... let me think, what kind of secret vault was the southern plains back then..."

The Church of the Night God has many such secret vaults around the world, used to store necessary data and supplies. In that era, the collapse of kingdoms and the destruction of civilizations were not uncommon. Storing these things in secret vaults at the time of destruction meant that when the lost territories were reclaimed, they could be used as resources to rebuild civilization. If necessary, they could also be used as shelters.

However, most of the secret vaults are basically empty. Some were lost before they could store anything, and others had their contents taken out before the territory was destroyed to deal with various disasters and monster tides.

Another portion was unearthed by adventurers and explorers during the redevelopment era and considered ancient treasures. Therefore, the secret vault beneath the capital city...

"It seems to be empty~" The elder thought for a long time and finally remembered that the secret vaults in this area were all empty. They had never been used before, and when they needed to use them, the goddess disappeared, which caused the organizational structure of the Church of the Night God to almost collapse. Everything that could be moved was collected under the temple in the valley.

"Those adventurers again, huh? They even dug up an empty vault... I hope they don't cry when they see a bare warehouse." The warehouse is empty, but the lock is real.

Cracking the lock on the secret vault will require considerable effort. Considering that few adventurers are high-level spellcasters, hiring outside help will likely be expensive, and using items would be astronomical. And if you open it and find the room completely empty, you'll definitely cry!

Chapter 357 Croak! That's powerful!!!

Pink butterfly patterns flickered in and out of sight. After several days of dismantling, Lilith finally unlocked the magical lock sealing the vault. "It's ready." Lilith placed her hand on the stone wall, and the rock caved inward, quickly unfolding into a large stone door. As she gradually exerted force, the door slowly opened inward. A faint fragrance wafted out, and clusters of magical flames automatically ignited in the braziers on the pillars and walls.

"Is this the laboratory of the ancient great sin mage? It looks quite advanced." The companion next to him curiously peeked into the secret vault. There were no ancient, collapsed bookshelves or messy equipment as he had imagined. On the contrary, everything was arranged neatly.

Four blue crystals stood at the four corners, forming a barrier that isolated the inside from the outside. There was no stale smell as expected, as if the wind element had been drawn from the elemental realm in some way to keep the place dry and clean.

The equipment on the lab table was almost dust-free, with test tubes and flasks neatly stored in boxes. Behind the lab area were chains that connected to the ceiling, with the other end fixed to neatly arranged round manhole covers on the ground.

Against the wall was a row of bookshelves and display cabinets, and on the large alchemy workbench, there even seemed to be some traces of magic left behind. Soon, Lilith realized that it was not just a resemblance, but real traces of work.

“Wait, these aren’t…” A great sin mage noticed a modern brass nameplate on the device he thought was an ancient arcane furnace. “This isn’t an ancient laboratory. The stuff here is the newest, some even produced last week!” He held a flask with the label still on.

“These are books, and a register…” Another Great Sin Mage also noticed something was amiss. How could someone still be using this secret vault? Could it be that other Great Sin Mages besides them had discovered this place? But there was nothing here related to Great Sin rituals.

On the contrary, the Life Ritual contains a lot of information and is more like a life science laboratory. While they were surprised that they were not the first visitors to this secret vault, Lilith came to the chains and gently chanted a spell. An invisible hand lifted the chains up, revealing a large culture tank underneath, in which an unconscious man was immersed.

"Alive? He looks quite healthy." The purple light butterfly quickly attached itself to the man and quickly checked his condition. "It seems that he fell into a coma because he inhaled a large amount of magic potion ingredients. There are no signs of surgery on his body, so he should not be an experimental subject. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that he is a consumable."

"Male, around 30 years old. Judging from the teeth marks, he should be from the lower middle class. His hair and nails are very clean, but there are slight scratches on his palms. He is probably a factory worker, and a craftsman, not a regular slave laborer."

The Great Sin Mage is also an expert in tracking and traces. After all, how can one use the other party's psychological state, living environment, and personal information to complete the Great Sin Ritual if one cannot quickly understand them?

“The disappearance should have occurred within the last few months,” Lilith said after examining the hair roots. “We cannot rule out the possibility that she used some special spells and potions to slow down aging and growth.”

"Another rat has gotten in? Seriously, that rat hole in the secret vault should have been sealed up completely." A muttered voice came from behind an unremarkable wall, followed by the noise of some kind of mechanism being activated.

Lilith glanced at the wide-open door of the secret vault, waved her hand helplessly, and signaled her companions to prepare for battle. Fortunately, there were a large number of sleeping humans and various experimental instruments here, which could be considered half a home ground for the Great Sin Mage.

The blood extracted from these unconscious individuals quickly traced esoteric symbols on the ground. The blood and magical materials sprinkled into the rune circle ignited rapidly, setting the entire ritual site ablaze.

"Boom!" The wall rose up, revealing a bewildered man. He saw several figures with their faces and bodies covered by cloaks standing in the secret vault, and immediately turned to run: "Intruders... uh!" Invisible chains appeared on his limbs, anchoring him firmly in place. "Kill him!"

The sinful demonic power surging from the void instantly transformed into raging flames that burned along the chains. If the flames created by the mental ritual only had the effect of mental pain and punishment, then the flames created by the great sinful demonic power would not only inflict mental punishment, but also cause physical damage.

The man carrying the oil lamp and the short sword struggled violently, trying to scream, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something, and he couldn't make a sound at all. He could only watch helplessly as his limbs and body were completely burned into a lump of charcoal.

"Retreat!" We've broken into someone else's laboratory, and it's clearly some kind of secret laboratory. If we don't run now, we'll be trapped here.

"Where do you think you're going!" The alarmed guards rushed down the stairs. "It's too late..." Lilith glanced around and decisively pulled a short blade from her robe. "With the blade of murder..." Her companions instantly understood what she was about to do and immediately pulled out the corresponding ritual implements.

"With a vow of betrayal"

Withered fingers and dried blood clots fell into the magic circle, “as an offering to the three evil deeds…”

"There!" A group of guards wielding sharp blades rushed into the room and pounced on the three people standing in a triangle. "Bang!" A cloud of dust erupted in all directions, and the incantation finished its last line, "...All evil will come to an end!"

The crimson monster stretched out its limbs, and its pitch-black murderous blade mercilessly cleaved the head of a guard. It had four arms, two of which held black blades, one held a golden cup, and the other held a stone slab.

However, this monster had six arms, as two more arms were hidden in the shadows. They reached out from the void and grabbed the arm of a guard, pulling him into the void. A few minutes later, they fell in batches.

Murder, theft, and betrayal are known as the three evils, the oldest sins committed by mankind. They summon the "Punishment Demon" in turn. It grows according to the sinful magic power of these three evils. Unlike ordinary sin demons, this thing will continuously absorb the sinful magic power of enemies and surrounding demons to grow, with almost no upper limit.

"Run!" Lilith decisively released the short blade controlling the Sin Demon, and the three Great Sin Mages turned and ran, not forgetting to drop a Thorn of Envy to block the passage as they ran.

Under normal circumstances, this defense wouldn't last long, but there's a Sinister in the lab right now, and these guards don't look like good guys either, since they have two Black Blade Arms, which means they've committed a lot of murders.