Under the watchful eyes of the citizens, the Church procession slowly pa.s.sed through the city gates carrying a series of flags. Walking right in front were the City Knights that had not appeared for a long time, but everyone was fixated on the lady dressed in a luxurious gown with a crown on her head.

She was the rumored newly appointed Pope, and the key figure that defeated the rebels and led Hermes back to its right track.

Despite the Church's vague stance towards the invasion of the Kingdom of Wolfheart and Everwinter, they denied having a certain influence over the City of Glow. In addition, the parading squadron were frequently seen at the frontlines of the battlefield, providing emergency relief to the refugees and at the same time boosting the morale in the fight against evil, earning countless grat.i.tude and appreciation. The news slowly pa.s.sed on through various channels back to the City of Glow, causing the citizens to be extremely curious about the new Pope.

After all, the old Church was an aloof existence, one in which even the King had to obtain permission for a visit. A Pope willing to risk her life by putting herself in danger and her care for every citizen was rarely seen. And every time the lady nodded and smiled towards the crowd, it would incite a series of excited shouts. Aside from her ident.i.ty, her outstanding appearance was another reason for the hurrah.

Eventually, the procession arrived before the inner city walls.

The Pope dismounted the horse and took slow steps up the flight of steps. Waiting by the entrance was the King of Graycastle, Roland Wimbledon.

The two extended their hands and performed a brief grasp. Although it was the first for the overwhelming majority of spectators to witness the strange and new etiquette, they were able to tell the equality between the Pope and King. This confirmed the rumors that the new Pope was supported by Graycastle, and that both parties had rebuilt the relations.h.i.+p between them.

Both walked alongside each other under the intense applause from the crowd.

"My apologies for my impudence, Your Majesty."

After the doors closed, the lady bowed down and was about to genuflect when Roland stopped her. "No, I think it's good. Besides, you're no longer the Pure Witch of the past and the Witch Union doesn't require so many complicated formalities. Could it be that you've been in the Holy City for too long and have forgotten this point?"

The lady was Isabella, the one who had been delegated to Hermes and a.s.sumed control over the Holy City as a representative of the Church. She was responsible for settling the orphans and nuns, as well as prevent the Pill of Madness from spreading.

"Of course… not." Upon finis.h.i.+ng her sentence, Isabella was instantly stunned after processing his words. She raised her head in surprise. "Your Majesty, you just said…"

"That's right, Wendy previously suggested to admit you as a member of the Witch Union, and I agreed." Roland nodded. "Although your punishment was five years, you performed well. Treat this as a reward."

Isabella only responded after blanking out for a while. "But Your Majesty, I…"

"Upon joining the Union, you will receive a fixed number of Chaos Drinks a month."

"Uh—" The latter wanted to reply with a 'but,' which got stuck at her throat.

"I know what you want to say, really…" Roland sighed. "Pure Witches like you enjoy persisting in the strangest of things, or should I say, torture yourselves. But atonement isn't just about chains and leg-irons. If I have to prepare these things for you constantly, I will be in for a headache as well. So at such a time, just be like the others and thank Wendy."

"Yes…" Isabella bit her lips and lowered her head. 'I understand."

"I know that you have lived amid responsibility and orders in the past, but it doesn't matter now. There will come a day when you will get used to your new life." Roland changed the topic, "This meeting is a rare publicity opportunity and it should have been made grander, but I did not want to waste time on the ceremony and the celebration feast. You should be aware of the demonic beast attack on Neverwinter."

"Yes." Upon coming down to proper matters, Isabella's expression became serious. "Did you call for my presence to understand more about the demonic beasts?"

"That's right, since Hermes has been the main power resisting the demonic beasts for the past hundred years, I think the Church must have acc.u.mulated quite an amount of relevant information."

Isabella answered without hesitation, "I will tell you everything I know."

When Roland learned that Neverwinter suffered from a sudden demonic beast attack four days ago, he originally didn't care too much about it. Back then, humanity had already gained the strength to defeat the demonic beasts, so there was no need for worries with the present army. Although it was somewhat unusual for a large number of demonic beasts to appear outside of the Months of Demons, the First Army had gone through many battles against the demons in the region. That was the reason for his negligence on the information.

He never expected that the situation had spiraled out of his expectations.

On that same evening, he received multiple telegrams from the North Slope Mountain that the situation had developed rapidly after an abrupt turn. Many demonic beasts had crossed Taquila's front line and attacked the developing grounds where stationed troops engaged in resistance but failed to stop the enemy. If not for the timely reinforcements of the armored vehicles, the loss would have been far heavier.

In the reports were mentions of a monster that seemed like a ghost; it moved extremely quickly and silently, almost invisible to the naked eye and would only produce an outline from the bloodstains of its victims.

This made Roland realize that he had gravely underestimated the power of the demonic beasts.

…

After Isabella's recount, Roland realized his conjecture had been verified. Compared to Hermes' Holy City, the Months of Demons at Graycastle was merely a tributary to a bigger sea. The types of demonic beasts far surpa.s.sed that of the demons, some hybrids were almost indistinguishable from their original forms as beasts.

For example, the savage demonic beasts with extremely long bodies which were capable of digging and scaling walls, or the bird-bodied demonic beasts with goat horns that posed the largest threat to ordinary humans with their cold howls. These were creatures that the Western Region had never encountered. At the same time, he had a notion towards the attack that came without a warning. The horde of demonic beasts that appeared behind the developing area was most probably due to the savage demonic beasts.

But these were unable to explain the grim situation in Neverwinter. Although Neverwinter did not have a large city wall like the Holy City, the First Army were all experienced soldiers with weapons sufficient to bridge any shortfalls. Perhaps the humans were plunged into chaos at the beginning, but with the contingency plan set into motion, Roland believed that the army could stabilize the situation.

Aside from that, he discovered that Isabella never once mentioned the monsters that moved like a ghost. And this aroused his suspicions. Was this a brand new enemy or were the reports a mistake due to confusion?

At this moment in time, a chamberlain brought in a paper parcel.

"Your Majesty, Neverwinter sent a new letter."

"It isn't a telegram?" Roland was surprised.

"Yes, it was delivered by air."

"Open it."

Inside the package was a paper parchment. Roland unfolded it across the table and realized it was a portraiture of the attacker. Obviously, it was drawn by Soraya. Compared to a written report, the latter's information was undoubtedly far more precise.

Seems like even without fighting capabilities, they are striving to defend their home.

Quickly, a monster's corpse captured Roland's attention.

It looked to have been smashed by a train—half of its body was plastered on the metal surface, but the remainder of its body was not one that Roland could link to any of the demonic beasts Isabella had described.

"Have you seen such a hybrid in Hermes before?" He pulled the piece of paper and placed it in front of Isabella.

She looked at it carefully and shook her head.

Behind Roland, Nightingale suddenly let out a cry of surprise.