Age of Adepts

The sudden outbreak of the epidemic outside the city highlighted the critical situation even more.

Originally, the top brass of Hysas had only speculated that there would be a companion of the witch to rescue her, but now it had become a bloody reality.

In just one night's time, more than a dozen towns had been infected with the plague.

These maladies were so fierce and contagious that they literally made the Empire's top brass turn pale at the sight of them.

Ordinary medical officials were simply helpless against the ferocity of the epidemic, and even they themselves were unable to protect themselves from contracting these malignant diseases. The only means that could effectively dispel the plague spores was the Holy Light Healing of the Paladins.

However, for a divine technique of this level, even those 1st rank Black Iron Knights could only cast it five times a day with their full strength. And a large number of trainee knights would use up all of their holy power after casting it once.

Faced with such a situation, the Haisas top brass could only send out Holy Knights to the villages and towns where the epidemic was fierce to selectively help those villagers with the most obvious symptoms and the most violent attacks. But how could a single spark of water be able to save a prairie fire?

In just one day's time, the number of people infected with the plague had rapidly climbed from a thousand to ten thousand, and it showed signs of spreading to Hessus City.

This has completely scared the top management of Hessas City!

It must be known that at the moment, in addition to the entrenched and powerful Paladin group, there were also a large number of powerful aristocrats with intricate relationships in Hessus City. Although these aristocratic classes usually relied heavily on and used the power of the Paladins to maintain their rule, when they themselves faced the threat of the plague, they could not help but produce some voices that did not agree with the Paladins.

Many of the nobles living in Hessas City requested that the gates of the city be blocked, denying those infected with the malady access to the city. On the other hand, the low and middle ranked Paladins hoped that Hesas City would accept more refugees and shelter them under the glory of the Great Holy Light.

For the first time, the nobles and holy knights who normally worked together seamlessly had a serious clash of philosophies, and even a small 'misunderstanding' erupted near the gates of Hysas City!

For a time, the city of Hyssas was in chaos, and even the Chapel of the Holy Light was besieged by the lowly nobles.

After some behind-the-scenes deals and negotiations, the Hessas nobles reluctantly agreed to open up the East Quarter to the refugees pouring in from all directions. The Chapel of the Holy Light had also sent out a certain number of Paladins to station themselves in the noble district to ensure that the plague would not spread to the area.

Thus, Grim was also fortunate enough to become the personal bodyguard of some of the great nobles who were vying for their attention!

And on top of these disturbances, the Chapel of Holy Light also intensified its time to torture the captured sorceress.

From her, the Holy Light Chapel quickly obtained detailed information and data about the other two witches, and sent out a large group of Black Iron Knights to search and capture the possible remnants of the witch in the nearby villages and towns.

Of course, in light of that 3rd rank fire witch's terrible track record, the Holy Light Chapel also sent out two 3rd rank gold knights to lead a large group of 2nd rank silver knights to sit around. This way, once the witch was found somewhere, they would also be able to hang close by.

And in this way, it invariably divided the powerful forces gathered by the Holy Light Chapel!

However, the conspiracy arranged by Grim was apparently 'a disaster at the city gate', forcing out another extremely well-hidden Fraud Witch.

It could be seen that the 3rd level fraudulent witch named Italiel had also lurked in the outskirts of Hessas City, and seemed to have the same will as Grim. Unfortunately, due to the mutual distrust, she was apparently unable to contact Grim in time.

So, during the plague offensive launched by Grim, a large number of Black Iron Knights with the local village guard unexpectedly found this Italiel.

The two sides fought in a place called Redwood Village, and the 3rd ranked Itariel was even more powerful, frantically exterminating the Holy Knight squad and nearly 100 villagers of Redwood Village.

This was a hornet's nest!

The Paladins who were already holding a nameless fire were gathering near the Redwood Village, and even the two Golden Knights who were out sitting in the town quickly arrived there.

It had to be said that there were no weaklings who could become a 3rd rank witch, not to mention that Italiel was also a famous tower master among the fraudulent witches. Lena pulled her in this time to make use of her powerful force, but unfortunately, they were directly scattered during their journey. Otherwise, with Itariel's protection, it was impossible for Reina to end up in such a miserable state.

And how could such a strong and powerful witch be forced back by a group of natives!

So, surrounding the city of Hyssas, this Itarean witch played guerrilla warfare with a swarm of Paladins. With the fraudulent witch's superior shape-shifting and lying abilities, Italiel was like a ghostly apparition, appearing in a completely different form each time.

She also intentionally avoided the two golden knights, targeting those silver and black iron knights for the kill. Thus, in the three-day long 'cat and mouse game', she had killed dozens of Paladins of 1st rank and above with only one person's strength.

Forced by the heavy pressure of reality, the Holy Light Chapel of Hessas City had to send another Golden Knight to participate in the siege against the witch.

With three against one, the Paladins finally caught the perfect opportunity to surround this Italiel in a place called the town of Seafair. There were thousands of people there, and Italiel's ability to hide in there with her shapeshifting technique also made the siege harder for the Paladins.

And after five days of lurking in Hyssas City, Grim withered away and finally had the perfect opportunity to make a move.

Only two Golden Knights remained to guard the Chapel of Holy Light.

And the witch Lena was held in a secret confessional room within the chapel, guarded by a 3rd rank golden knight named Kennett. As for those Witch Formation materials, according to Grim's investigation and analysis during this period of time, seven out of ten of them were kept in the hands of another Paladin Commander named Lambert.

And he was also a 3rd rank Gold Knight at the same time!

Two golden knights, one to guard the witch and one to keep the materials, such a division of labor was only in line with the effect of sharing the danger. Therefore, Grim did not hesitate to begin the long-planned raid!

....................

It is night.

Inside Hessas City.

A luxurious room in the noble district in the west of the city, Grim pushed open the wooden window with his hand.

The night sky was low, the stars were dim, and the moonlight cast down all had a hint of blood in it.

Knock, knock.

A soft knock sounded on the door.

"Lord Jedrick, it's dinner time!" The maid's voice came from outside the door.

"Tell your master that I'm going to pray for the Holy Light all night tonight, no more supper, and no one is to be disturbed in here!" Grim's voice sternly rebuffed.

"Yes!"

Silence returned to the doorway as a soft footstep sounded.

Grim lifted his head, looked at the hidden blood-stained night sky, stretched out a finger, and slowly began to condense the fire element in the air.

The dense red fire element peeled off from the colorless and transparent void and gathered at Grim's fingertips, causing the front end to become hotter and hotter, brighter and brighter, with the tendency of sudden combustion.

At this moment, an invisible but real strange power appeared in the void above Grim's head and began to slowly extend towards his location.

Sacred Boundary!

The fire elements at Grim's fingertips had gathered to an extreme threshold, and with just a little more, they would instantly explode into a cluster of real elemental flames. And at that time, this Sacred Boundary that enveloped the entire Hessas City would be triggered, thus drawing the attention of the Holy Light Chapel Paladins.

It had to be said that although the Paladins of the Enwik Dimension took the route of faith, the power of the spells they possessed was only a single Holy Light. However, the thousands of years of constant immersion in it had also allowed them to fathom some completely different ways of using holy light.

For example, the Sacred Boundary that enveloped the entire city of Hesas before their eyes was one of them!

Using the sensitivity and exclusivity of the holy light, Hessas held up a large sacred boundary. Within this boundary, any active or passive coalescence of magical elements would touch and trigger the boundary to counteract it. Fortunately, Grim had only condensed the fire element on a small scale and didn't let it turn into an actual flame sorcery.

Otherwise, even just some apprentice-level sorcery would have triggered the Sacred Boundary's countermeasures.

This Sacred Boundary, in addition to being able to monitor and sense magical energy movements, could also create a single elemental environment within. This was actually a trap left by the Paladins for the sorcerers.

Once any sorcerer became self-assured and forced his way into Hessas City, the Holy Knights who presided over the Holy Light Chapel's Sacred Phalanx would be able to turn the boundary from hidden to visible. At that time, the entire area of Hesas City would be forbidden from any other magical element other than Holy Light.

And this, I'm afraid, would be extremely frightening to the otherworldly sorcerers who were under heavy siege!

Therefore, Grim was constantly probing the reaction and operation mechanism of this sacred boundary in addition to scouting for information these days. After the chip's perception and probing of its power fluctuations, it had basically determined the location of that sacred formation.

And if Grim wanted to force his way into the Sacred Light Chapel, he had to break this Sacred Boundary as a priority.

Otherwise, fighting two 3rd rank Gold Knights under the suppression of the Sacred Boundary, such a foolish thing he wouldn't do.

Grim clarified his thoughts in the bloody moonlight, once again reviewing the entire battle plan in his mind to make sure that there were no mistakes, before he remotely gave the order to attack somewhere in the distance.

Although the Sacred Boundary was very sensitive to magical elements, it obviously couldn't block the hidden connection between souls.

So, under Grim's command, that Plague Poison Spirit Remy, who was already lurking outside of Hessas City, finally made his move!