Azure Scepter

Page 129

"Good luck, you one whose coin has landed upright. May the longevity spell on you last forever," the elven messenger said with a smile. "Saint Seir has begun his operation, and I must go and carry out my lord's will as well."

Vercingetorius nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

I wish you all the best.

Vercingetori stood in the corridor, silently watching the elven messenger depart. After the messenger left the Lighthouse Grand Theater, he suddenly raised the golden scepter in his hand.

The heavy scepter suddenly emitted a dazzling white light. Within the light, the marble floor cracked open, and one withered, shriveled hand after another suddenly emerged from the ground. In less than half a breath, at least thirty Death Knights clad in magical plate armor silently filled the entire corridor.

In an instant, the magnificent corridor became filled with ghostly figures, and the golden chandeliers seemed to be shrouded in a layer of hazy mist. A cold and decaying smell spread everywhere along with the supernatural shadows.

These enhanced Death Knights are high-ranking undead left behind by Trill before he lost his memory. They have been buried underground at the Lighthouse Grand Theater to deal with possible emergencies.

Vercingetorie silently glanced at the Death Knights standing on either side, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly lowered his scepter.

—Those who wield the golden scepter will receive the protection of the saints of the Radiant Pantheon.

Through the scepter, Vercingetorius not only gains immunity to divine powers such as "annihilation of mortals," but also can summon otherworldly attendants and paladin spirits to protect him at any time.

He originally intended to summon the otherworldly divine servant immediately, but considering that the situation was currently very favorable and there was no need to use this last trump card, he gave up the summoning.

Then, surrounded by the spirits and ghosts, Vercingetorie slowly ascended the spiral staircase of the Lighthouse Theatre.

Outside the window, a thick rain fell. Nearly a thousand fully armed priests and friars were ready for battle, and a powerful golem made of three shadow steel stood tall among the crowd.

Vercingetori couldn't help but smile slightly.

"The advantage is mine!"

—Based on the Sunset Sage's advice and his own years of dedicated research, in order to prolong the effect of the "Iolum Longevity Spell" released by Trier, in addition to sacrificing the long-lived Livitt, he also needed to create a large number of deaths by himself as the activation mechanism.

Therefore, long ago, when he accidentally learned of the Silent Whisperers' plot to spread the plague, he actively participated in and promoted this conspiracy that would cause a large number of deaths.

As a high-ranking archbishop within the church, he intentionally or unintentionally concealed the existence of the Silent Whisperers from everyone for more than a decade, and allowed this cult that worshipped Loseville to grow and expand. At the same time, he personally cast the first Blood Plague spell on the grain.

Vercingetori had planned to use the Blood Plague conspiracy to secretly complete his scheme for immortality, but with Trier's return, he dared not act rashly at all.

The reason was simple—he was terrified of Trier.

To Vercingetorie, Trier was like a pure monster—uncontrollable, uncommunicative, and incomprehensible. Both in the past and present, Trier's behavior has always seemed bloody, cruel, and enigmatic.

In the distant past, when he was merely an unsuccessful deputy priest, he inexplicably received the sponsorship and support of Trier.

He was initially very happy, thinking that his years of devout and arduous practice had finally been appreciated, but he soon realized that he was wrong.

Trier was actually a practitioner of necromancy! Vercingetorie tried to dissuade him, but the latter completely ignored him.

As time goes on, Vercingetorie becomes increasingly uneasy as he discovers that young Trier is systematically murdering prisoners in the jail, and that he has become an accomplice in a series of conspiracies.

Although he was much older than the other person, he found himself powerless to resist, so he could only reluctantly help the other person with the procedural work.

Then, something even more horrifying happened. With the killing, Trier's strength expanded at a completely illogical rate, and as his strength increased, Trier began his bloody rampage.

He first began secretly capturing and torturing bandits and thugs without gang affiliation; then he began killing drug dealers and small smugglers; next came the once rampant thieves' guild and the bandit nobles within his territory; finally, he even wiped out the vampire family that occupied the northern part of the duchy.

Hundreds of vampires and their offspring, whether guilty or innocent, were all turned into piles of rotten flesh on the instruments of torture. The Death Knights around Vercingetori are mostly made from the remains of those vampires.

What's even more terrifying is that with each kill, Trier grew stronger, until finally, his strength reached an unbelievable level—looking back at Vercingetori's current strength, he was at least one of the best legendary mages.

As Trier carried out its covert and horrific massacre, actual control of the entire duchy was transferred to the other side through a series of power struggles.

Apart from the dull-witted and disabled Earl Cohen, and Trier's childhood sweetheart Noy, all the mentally sound people around Trier are extremely afraid of this powerful, cold-blooded, and obsessive necromancer.

Under constant mental pressure, the Duke even developed a serious mental illness. He dared not oppose Trier in any way, so he could only unconsciously vent his anger on others.

However, every reign of terror eventually comes to an end.

During a transdimensional journey, Trill was suddenly and severely injured, and his power began to decline precipitously. The surviving dissidents within the duchy immediately sprang into action, but soon they discovered with despair that this insidious tyrant was merely fishing.

As his power waned, Trier's terrifying mind also weakened, and the dissenters who had joined him began to stir again, prompting Trier to launch a new round of massacres.

When Trier finally weakened to the point of being unable to get out of bed, all those who remained who had the ability to oppose him were more or less controlled by him using a spell similar to "Iolum's Longevity"; and as Trier completely lost his memory, the survivors dared not make any rash moves because of his past fishing experience, so they had no choice but to exile him.

But now, Trier is back...

What troubled Vercingetori even more was that the other party had become a paladin for some reason he couldn't understand at the moment, and had also disrupted the widespread spread of the blood plague. Therefore, his original plan to secretly carry out mass deaths had basically failed.

Fortunately, he had a backup plan—to eliminate the large number of demon worshippers and Silent Whisperers in the city.

One of the main reasons he allowed the two forces to grow stronger all along was that they were prepared as sacrificial offerings.

Vercingetori gazed at the army below, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Suddenly, a vampire servant strode past the guards of the Deathly Tomb Knights, ran to Vercingetori's side, and whispered a few words in his ear.

"To summon more reinforcements, Oris is going to massacre the city?!"

Vercingetorius's pupils suddenly contracted, and after a moment, he couldn't help but smile.

“By the radiance above, this is truly good news. After lying low and enduring for so long, an opportunity has finally presented itself,” he thought. “Luck is on my side too.”

With this thought in mind, he suddenly swung down the scepter.

"Purify the demon cultists first! Then stop Oris, who has been bewitched by evil, from massacring the city!"

P.S.: I'm not very satisfied with how I wrote it, but I'll post it anyway. The final stages of writing this chapter are so difficult QWQ

Chapter 253 Supplement: Massacre, Bridge, Preparation

Lightning flashed down from the clouds, illuminating Edith's pale face.

She gripped the rough reins tightly, straightened her body, and strained to look at the dark, rainy curtain ahead.

The cold wind whistled past her ears, mixed with the rain, and suddenly, Futia's slightly panicked voice came from behind her.

"Edith, look down! Oris has gone mad!"

Edith instinctively looked away from the rain and down at the ground.

Amidst the raging wind and rain, the lower city, stretching for dozens of kilometers, was originally shrouded in darkness. But now, torches stretched out in rows, forming long, orange-red worms—these were lines of soldiers, fully armed and carrying torches.

The soldiers surged from Dragon Kiss Pass into the lower city on the east bank of Raven Black River like a tidal wave, and then, like bloodsuckers clinging to a human body, they seeped into one side road after another along the main road.

Then, a faint glimmer of light appeared, followed by raging flames!

The flames surged up like a demon breaking free of its seal, then surged and devoured everything.

The soldiers set the buildings ablaze. Despite the heavy rain, the oil fuel prevented the rain from extinguishing the orange flames, and within minutes, the once bustling downtown area was engulfed in flames.

Flames soared into the sky, their intense orange-red light illuminating the dark rain curtain.

The quiet lower town was instantly filled with wailing as countless charred figures scattered and fled in the flames, only to be stabbed down by soldiers wielding spears.

Edith stared in disbelief as raindrops trickled down her forehead and into her eyes, but she didn't blink.

The lower city was different from the outer city. It had a large number of local noble guards. They fought back fiercely against the attack, but against an organized and premeditated opponent, these sporadic resistances were meaningless.

In front of the church square, a woman holding an infant collapsed to the ground, clutching her child tightly. Before her, a dozen or so guards in yellow robes and temple guards were struggling to maintain their line, but in the next instant, thousands of lit arrows rained down from the sky.

The huge holy emblem on the church collapsed with a roar, and the burning emblem spun and crashed to the ground.

The dying people groaned, and then the iron hooves of armored warhorses roared past, trampling over the head of a guard's corpse. A knight in mithril plate armor pierced a woman's cervical spine with his spear, and under the terrifying impact, the fragile human body exploded into four pieces, which then splattered onto the statue of Saint Seir.

Edith clenched her fists. She felt suffocated, as if her heart was about to explode, but there was nothing she could do.

Faced with the cold blade and the blazing flames, people fled in panic in opposite directions. Scattered individuals converged into a massive flow of people spanning several blocks, then densely packed together and rushed towards the river that runs through the city.

Cries, screams, and pleas rose into the sky along with billowing black smoke, drowning out the deafening thunder.

At that very moment, Edith saw another army she had never seen before appear from the direction of the Lighthouse Theater—they all appeared to be church warriors.

“It’s one of Vercingetorie’s men!” Faudia’s voice was tinged with excitement. “He’s always been hostile to the investigation team; he can definitely stop this massacre!”

However, the church's vanguard quickly blocked the bridge across the river, with a wall of spears firmly blocking the bridgehead, while crossbowmen clad in chainmail raised their weapons towards the crowd, the spear tips radiating holy light causing the fleeing people to suddenly gasp.

"Calm down, brothers, calm down!" The high priest leading the group, gripping his longsword, shouted at the fleeing crowd, "You must not run away! Facing the demons, everyone must unite, turn around immediately, and fight for your souls!"

"If we all crowd here, there will be a stampede!" a guild merchant shouted. "The crowd is too dense, which is also bad for your defense. High Priest, leave us a small passage. I promise that people can pass through in an orderly manner and not disrupt the defensive formation. I swear!"

“No.” The high priest hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “His Holiness Vercingetori has ordered that I not let anyone pass. You should find a building to hide in quickly, or it will be too late! May the radiance protect you.”

The guild merchant's face turned ashen; at this moment, he was utterly desperate.

However, the next moment, a celestial horse flew down from the sky.

“We can use the third-circle divine spell Waterwalking. I estimate that about twenty Waterwalkers should be enough to cover all the refugees,” Edith shouted from horseback. “Auris has gone mad. He wants to summon the Demon Lord. If too many people die, we’re all doomed!”

As the half-truths and half-lies slipped out of her mouth, Edith felt the emptiness in her chest grow stronger.

She is very close to breaking her vow.

The high priest was startled and looked in shock at Edith who had fallen from the sky.

In his mind, the eldest princess was the leader of the investigation team, and now the team was massacring the city.

Several church knights immediately surrounded them nervously.

"Auris has betrayed us!" Edith exclaimed. "Don't hesitate, Priest! Get people across! In twenty minutes at most, Oris's men will catch up with the last people in the crowd!"

The pastor looked conflicted, but then shook his head.

“Your method is indeed feasible, but His Majesty’s decree must never be violated.”

“Your Majesty?” Edith was stunned. “A royal decree?”

“Your Majesty is now the new Pope,” the high priest patiently explained. “Your Highness, if you really want to help, why not join our defense? If the bridge across the river is lost, the lower city on the west bank will also suffer. It may be cruel to prevent them from crossing, but it is necessary.”

“If Vercingetori withdraws his order, can you let them pass?” Edith asked earnestly.

“Yes.” The high priest narrowed his eyes slightly. “But Your Highness, forgive my rudeness, but you cannot cross the bridge either—not even Miss Futia.”

"Boom!"

A blinding flash of lightning tore through the sky, and in the pale light, Edith saw a long pole standing atop the Lighthouse Grand Theater, with Livitt tied to it. For some reason, Edith was reminded of the sacrificial offerings of the barbarian tribes in the Great Swamp region.

Now, whether for public or private reasons, she has to go to the Lighthouse Theatre to see Vercingetorie.

Edith took a deep breath and then mounted her horse again.

Under Edith's control, Pegasus took to the air. It flew towards the upper city for a while, and after getting out of the sight of the bridge guards, Edith changed direction again and headed straight for the Lighthouse Theater.

—As the slaughter and flames spread, more survivors surged from behind, and the crowd slowly moved forward under the pressure of inertia.

The high priest sighed, then waved behind him.

A torrential downpour mixed with a rain of arrows descended from the sky, and blood and rainwater mingled together amidst screams.

People in the front row screamed and tried to run back, while those behind, several blocks away, pushed forward as Oris chased them. Soon, the panicked crowd descended into hysterical chaos, with countless people falling and being swallowed up by the throng, as if water were disappearing into water.

The killing and chaos spread further...

The peaceful outer city, the third floor of the relief center.

Trier stared silently at the flames in the fireplace. After a moment, he said in a low voice, "It's completely out of control."

Bound Spirit Noi remained silent, sitting nervously in her chair, turning her head to gaze at the firelight on the horizon.

The time traveler took a deep breath, then turned around and slowly picked up the amber necklace "Frozen Dream" given to him by Edith from the table. At this moment, the amber, which should have been cold, was scalding hot.

Originally, this necklace only allowed the water sprite and Losevie to sense Edith's location, but after his modification, the necklace's sensing direction has completely changed—he can determine Losevie's location through the necklace, while she can only observe a fictitious location.

At this moment, Lorraine's will had descended upon the city, and this long-dormant and terrifying lich was now stirring.

“It’s about time.” Trier put away the necklace and slowly looked out the window. “Now, we can head to the upper town.”

He slowly raised his left hand.

An inconspicuous white rag in the courtyard slowly floated up, and the next moment, countless ghostly blue cavalrymen soared into the sky from the rag!

He closed his palms, and the semi-invisible corpse demons slowly emerged from the mercenaries' barracks, their dark blue magic longswords radiating a chilling aura.

"Lossevier, it's time to put an end to all this."

The time traveler stared at the rain curtain and muttered to himself.

PS: QWQ, thank you so much for waiting!

Chapter 254, Accompaniment: A Glimpse, A Divine Descent, The Dome

The orange-red flames illuminated the oppressive sky, and raindrops fell from the clouds, then accelerated their descent under the influence of gravity, finally dripping onto the eyeballs of a guard who was lying face up.

The guard was not dead yet, but he was so weak that he could not even blink. He struggled to turn his cloudy eyes and saw only corpses scattered all over the ground and flames rising wildly.

Broken armor, charred humanoid corpses piled up, and torn banners were all intertwined, while dying screams and wanton laughter mingled together. Under the firelight, everything transformed into a terrifying apocalyptic scene.

The guard turned his head one last time to look at the Star Tower in the upper city. Against the backdrop of the blood-stained carnage, the white marble on the tower appeared even more radiant and holy.