The villain's way to tame the protagonist

Mu really wanted to say that this was definitely not a coincidence. He knew too well how terrifying that devil was. But saying this now seemed to have no meaning other than adding to the pressure.

Therefore, he could only sigh softly: "The plan to let Miss Lance go along this line has failed. Let's try another plan... Where is she now?"

"In the central part, the shelter that Ron is in charge of, due to the failure of the 'Grey Tower', she seems to have targeted us."

Being targeted by Hydra's evil wolf was undoubtedly the worst news for the Imperials who now knew Xitana's ferocity, but the three bishops were very calm, as if Xitana's reaction was within their expectations.

"She can't dig anything up, not even the Wind Head."

"After all, there has been no research in this area... We should be thankful that it is she who stayed in the North, not that Zeg."

The bishops exchanged opinions with each other: "But we can't stop guiding her. Since this road is blocked by Hydra...how about changing to plan number three?"

"Number Three... are you going to use the refugees who have not yet been relocated and are still in the cities under the command of the Gray Tower to lure Lance? This is very difficult."

Mu shook her head. "Don't underestimate Marina Lancemalos. The dominance she demonstrated in the Skyfrost Tower was terrifying. Perhaps she, like Hydra, has realized that we are setting a trap for Lance."

"The Saint's words... have no effect?" The white-robed bishop frowned slightly, "He should temporarily believe that we are willing to submit and continue to work hard and actively cooperate with his training of Lance."

Mu rubbed his forehead, his expression full of helplessness: "He can foresee so many things, how could he not know that we have bigger plans in secret? It's just that he couldn't find us the first time."

"And... he is indeed training Lance." The black-robed bishop added, "or rather, his focus is still on this. As for us... even if he knows what we are planning, he doesn't take it to heart, just like he doesn't take the princess to heart at all."

His Royal Highness the Regent, who has dominated the empire and is supported by the people, seems to be always like this, as if everything is definitely under his control - at present, this seems to be the case.

But the bishops were not frightened by this, but relieved.

"Yeah, he doesn't take it to heart. After all, if he really wanted to, he would have dug us out of the Northland long ago... It wouldn't be difficult for him."

"After all, this war from beginning to end was just a trap set by him for his two pledges. Anser Hydra... He has already completely taken control of this empire and become the supreme being that no one can resist."

The white-robed bishop sighed, feeling relieved but also a bit helpless, with a complicated expression.

Ansher discovered that they had other purposes. This should have been a matter of life and death for the church, but his absolute confidence that he could control everything became their only chance of winning.

They actually pinned their hopes of success on their opponents' contempt. What was even more ridiculous was that it seemed that their chance to realize the church's 800-year-old wish originated from this.

"The good news is that he is still happy to act with Lance and the Saint. The bad news is... the play is almost coming to an end."

Mu stroked the stone table in front of him, and a bright white light lit up on the table, turning into floating lines, quickly outlining the shape of the mountains and rivers.

This is actually a miniature 3D map of the North. There are dozens of flickering light spots on the map, and their meaning is unclear.

Among them, a huge blood-red light spot overlapped with a small light spot, and it was unknown what happened.

"Lance won't wait any longer. Once she leaves the shelter with nothing, she should launch an attack right away. Based on the number of ether monsters she has collected... it shouldn't be a problem for her to flatten the Northland within three days."

"Too short." The black-robed bishop frowned slightly, "Not enough time. We need to try to get at least half a month."

"...It will take that long? Didn't Ji already convince Ivo to put in more effort?" Mu found it a little unbelievable.

"Ivora should now focus more on how to deal with Hydra. Although we don't put our hopes on her, it's better to have her than not. But it's probably impossible to let her delay time."

"I mean the fire."

The black-robed bishop closed his eyes and responded tiredly: "At her current level, she is not far from her limit. After all, she is still an incomplete feasting flame."

Mu stood up, propped his hands on the table, and stared at the red light on the map. The veins on the back of his hands bulged unconsciously:

"Can't let Lance end this so soon."

"…Do you have a solution?"

"Of course I have...Have you forgotten who Xitana Lancemalos is?"

The young man, burdened with a long and heavy wish, smiled at himself.

"She is a good person, a pure, simple person who is guided by the simplest concept of good and evil."

"But not us religious lunatics."

*

Anser sat on the huge rubble caused by the battle on the side of the street, looking at the corpses not far away under his feet.

There was no blood spurting from the bodies cut by the glorious greatsword; the cuts were as neat as specimens. These corpses mixed with the corpses of the fanatics looked even more horrifying and absurd.

"Where were we talking about just now, Miss Saint?"

He bent one leg, propped his head on his knee, and said slowly: "Let me think... Oh, it's about God's attitude towards the world-"

"Mr. Devil." Xin suddenly interrupted Anser, "Why don't you go and check on the shelter they are supposed to be in charge of? If so many priests die, the safety of that shelter cannot be guaranteed."

"I'll let Marlena take care of it. Isn't it simple?"

"Can Hercules order Miss Crow around as he pleases?"

"But I'm not Hercules all the time."

"Is that so?" Xin tilted his head. "But I always feel that Mr. Devil and Hercules...seem to have no difference?"

Xin unknowingly changed the topic to other places, and Anser just looked at her with a smile, not exposing this little trick which was too childish for him.

"Ms. Xin, you are really smart." The devil sighed.

Xin shook his head honestly: "She is far worse than Miss Doll, and not as good as Miss Crow. She may be only slightly better than Miss Wolf."

Anser smiled and patted her head: "You are smart in a different direction, but you haven't realized it yourself, Miss Xin."

"What is that?" Xin leaned forward slightly, his nose almost touching Anser, and stared at the sea-blue eyes curiously. "Mr. Devil, can you tell me?"

She invaded Ansel's intimate area so skillfully and naturally, without any awkwardness.

"I can't tell you now."

"why?"

"Because even if I told you, Miss Xin, you wouldn't want to hear it."

How can you face your own instinctive and clever escape?

Anser realized that most of the changes that had taken place on the god Xin could now be explained.

That is, Xin was indeed growing very fast, so fast that it was completely beyond his expectations. Even earlier... perhaps when the Donggang incident happened and he fell into insanity, Xin had already vaguely realized the lies of the church.

From that moment on, she chose to forcibly avoid all questions about the church and fill all the space in her barren heart with the devil Ansher, because this was the only driving force supporting her existence, so she behaved so crazy and dangerously before getting Ansher's response and affirmation.

And when she got the "need" given by Ansir, when her shaky self was stabilized by the devil's needs, and it was no longer a one-sided giving, but she really got a response and her heart was fulfilled, she began to show emotions close to love - it might be true, but it didn't matter to Ansir whether it was true or not.

That was why she was so eager to discover Anther's "weakness", and had deeper pity and sympathy for Anther, and couldn't wait to bring Anther her care and love.

But in fact, Xin was only satisfying his own needs, because only when Mr. Devil became weaker and more helpless, he would further ask for strength and help from himself, and this was the soul food that Xin relied on for survival now.

Thinking of this, Anser even felt pity for Xin.

It was not because she already knew the truth about the church, but because she instinctively did not dare to face the cruel reality, so she naturally transferred everything to Ansher and continued to live naturally as if nothing had happened.

She might not even realize that she was escaping. In her opinion, she was simply fulfilling her most sacred mission, nothing more.

"...Mr. Devil."

"Ok?"

"You seem to be feeling sorry for me." Xin hugged Anser's neck from behind and asked softly, "Why?"

Anser smiled and said, "You think too much, and... I should be the one saying this. Aren't you pitying me, Ms. Xin?"

"Neither do I, Mr. Devil."

Although they clearly denied this emotion, the two abnormal souls still felt that the other was somewhat pitiful.

Chapter 5.5: Efficiency (K)

"Nothing..."

Hitana, squatting in the secret room of the church, sniffed left and right. The Wind Head detected the strange flow of ether under this shelter, but it had nothing to do with the extraction of ether from the North.

That strange flow could be explained in many ways, such as a protective spell covering the shelter, or for communicating with other shelters... but no matter what, it could not be linked to the culprit that caused the Aether riot in the North.

Miss Wolf stood up depressed and walked around the room in circles.

"Teacher Nia said that the Grand Duke of Gray Tower is creating a new way of driving ether through researching divine arts, but he hasn't accomplished anything yet, and Ming Fuluo didn't tell me that there was anything wrong... Doesn't that mean the church is behind this? How come there's no trace of this from the church? This shouldn't be the case."

The source of the cold disaster that Anser mentioned was the weakening of the Tower of Eternal Flame. Due to Effisandre's "disqualification", the Feast Flame that she was supposed to maintain could no longer burn, allowing the cold air swept by the Far North Aether vortex to rage unscrupulously in the north.

But according to Hitana's own investigation, the monster riots were caused by the forced extraction of countless aethers deposited in the North's veins, which obviously also caused the current harsh environment in the North. Before Ming Furo packed up the research data of the Skyfrost Tower and took it away, she also gave Hitana some suggestions on the current situation.

"The cold current blown by the polar vortex is not physically cold. Even at the element level, it is not simply [freezing], but a higher level, conceptual [solidification], [death], and similar elements. So theoretically speaking, if this cold disaster was simply caused by the weakening of the Wild Flame Tower, then the ether in this endless snowstorm would definitely not flow in such a violent way."

"The fact that it can withstand the [solidification] brought by the cold current and still stir up such a violent ether turbulence shows that the current amount of ether in the North is very terrifying. The probability of ether being extracted from the earth veins is definitely not low. In other words... your direction is not wrong."

Ming Furo gave Xitana a very positive evaluation, which was rare without any harsh criticism. How could Xitana not take it seriously?

But the problem is... it seems like there's no point taking it seriously. She can smell strange things, but asking her to figure out what these things are is too difficult!

Miss Wolf, who was in a bad mood, kicked the door of the secret room open, scaring the priests who were waiting outside.

"What is that strange magical flow that is covering the sanctuary!" she asked fiercely.

"Yes, yes, yes, it is a magic spell used to resist the cold current and snowstorm... Yes, it is a necessary protective measure."

The priest explained haltingly, fearing that the ferocious beast before him might start killing him if he became unhappy.

After hearing this, Hitana's expression did not improve, she remained gloomy, and even gritted her teeth, which made the priests and nuns continue to be frightened.

She had been to several shelters, and the priests in each shelter answered her the same way. Moreover, the strange flow under each shelter was extremely similar in form, and it really looked like a unified protective spell.

This is ridiculous. The church didn't do it, and the Grey Tower Grand Duke didn't do it. Could it be that the Iron Blade Grand Duke did it? Wasn't he a warrior who stayed in a tin can all day? Would a warrior do something like this? That's impossible!

If it wasn't him, then who else could it be? It couldn't be Ivo—

……and many more.

Sitana suddenly realized something very important.

She suddenly turned her head to look at the monk closest to her, and the sudden blazing fire in her dark red eyes scared the other person so much that he took a step back.

"Where is the nearest shelter from here... No, where is the nearest shelter from their base camp?!"

Before the other party could answer, a large scroll suddenly appeared in Hitana's hand. She hurriedly grabbed it, turned around and walked into the secret room, spread it out and explored it carefully.

"I almost forgot about the map. The nearest shelter... the nearest shelter, ah, it's here!"

The shelters built by the church in the north are scattered all over the ice field. Although most of them are close to the northern border to avoid being surrounded by the two grand dukes of Grey Tower and Iron Blade, there are still sporadic shelters that are forced to be built in the heart of their territories. The shelter where Shitana is now is one of the "sporadic" ones, because she is not here simply to find the church to punish her, but also to spy on the enemy.

Among them, the nearest shelter is not far from here, which is the lair of the two grand dukes, that is, the territory built by Ivora to satisfy her desire for rule, with a miniature blood sun burning in the sky.

"Great... here it is!"

Shitana licked her lips. Although she looked very happy, this joy also contained pure anger. If Xin was here, he would definitely see the flames surrounding Miss Wolf rising into the sky.

She didn't think of Ivora at the first time because this guy was already Anser's adopted cat. Miss Cat Vora's various terrible behaviors in the manor almost made Hitana forget her danger. Even though the rebellious Cat Vora had started a riot in the imperial capital, didn't she flee in embarrassment in the end?

Knowing that Ivora had never been out of Anther's control in essence, Xitana subconsciously put him in a harmless position, but if you think about it carefully...isn't Ivora the most likely person to do this!

She had every reason to seize the vast ether in the northern earth veins to restore her strength. Although to fully restore the damaged Feast Flame's qualifications, what was really needed was the only thing in the world that could allow the Feast Flame to obtain huge elements when burning, and only Ansir could provide the fragments of the abyss, but for a power-first person like Ivora, how could she have too much ether?

Moreover, both Polynia and Dormer emphasized that no one could forcibly extract the ether stored in the veins of the North. The ether that had been frozen for hundreds of thousands of years had even turned into various ether monsters. The ether that appeared as natural resources could only be melted by time.

But just because they can't do it doesn't mean Ivora can't do it. Even if that guy is disabled, he is still an Old God and still possesses the Feasting Flame that can burn everything!

In this way... the two goals are completely unified. Whether it is to end the war or to quell the cold disaster, as long as Ivora is beaten away and she can only lie at Anther's feet and meow again, everything can be solved!

Miss Hitana put away the map, feeling very proud, and she couldn't help but put her hands on her hips.

She is indeed very smart - although this intelligence is obtained by eliminating all wrong options, but it is still smart!

"Okay, this is none of your business... Oh, you can inform the priests there in advance. I will probably, um... reach them within two hours, that's all."

She was preparing to leave here in a hurry. Although it was impossible to rush all the way to Ivora, it was obviously a good choice to use the shelter closest to Ivora's lair as an outpost and springboard.

Find a way to get Lina to evacuate those people in advance, and then clean up all the cities around the shelter, slowly expand the scope, and finally go straight to Ivora's lair! Hmm... Will this make the momentum too big? If it's too slow, Ivora's efficiency in burning people is much faster than spells, and I can't stop him...

We need to find a safer way...

Just as Xitana was thinking this and preparing to leave immediately, the person in charge of the shelter named Ron suddenly said, "Master Lance, please wait... The shelter you are going to, there is something special there."

"Special?" Xitana tilted her head. "Special what?"

Ron's face showed a helpless and bitter expression. "You also know that the shelter built in this area is under greater pressure than the shelter near the northern border. We are very likely to be harassed by the Gray Tower or the Iron Blade, or even by both sides. They either covet divine arts, or simply don't want us to live in peace."

"Under such high pressure, we will more or less behave a little... radically. The shelter you are going to is under the charge of Faslan. The priests in the shelter are not only Faslan himself, but also the other priests who are the most radical. They may even have made plans to go to war with the surrounding cities. If you go there, please make sure to control them, and... also try to control your emotions."

Xitana heard it clearly - the shelter closest to Ivora's lair was controlled by radical priests, and they were almost unable to hold on and might go crazy at any time.

This is quite rare. After all, Xitana has discovered along the way that these priests have very good psychological qualities and are more tolerant than each other. If they had not sold those refugees to the Grand Duke of the Grey Tower, it would have been difficult for Xitana to develop strong hostility towards the church.