The melodious hymn rang out over the church, intertwining with the chaos within Harbor Town in an especially eerie manner.
Standing amid it, Adrian felt as though the hymn had cleansed his soul, reminding him of the teachings in the Bible.
Life and death were not truly important. Everywhere was the Lord's pasture, and these sacrificed townsfolk had merely returned to the Lord's embrace ahead of time.
When the hymn ended, Antioch swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke softly.
"May the great Eternal God [Ella] be with you and me!"
Perhaps the Archbishop's words had taken effect, or perhaps [Ella]'s radiance had already fallen upon this remote town. Outside the church, the chaos rapidly began to subside.
Somewhat surprised, Antioch walked to the window and looked down over the northwestern side of Harbor Town. The flames that had once burned above the granaries had already gone out, and the townsfolk were being orderly led away from the battle zone.
He could not directly see the two Wizard Apprentices, but judging from the path of the gray crows in the sky, Antioch quickly determined that they had fallen into trouble and were being driven away from the densely populated area.
The destination of their route seemed to be Harbor Town's docks?
"Who is currently commanding the front line?" Antioch asked in surprise.
"It should be Danny and Pastor Albert," Adrian replied.
The Archbishop thought about the two Priests' usual performances. He did not recall them possessing such outstanding command ability. Could it have been the judgment of some Guard Captain from Harbor Town?
Thinking of this, Antioch could not help but feel the urge to recruit talent, so he sent the guard at the door to ask.
Two or three minutes later, a guard pushed open the door and entered. He furtively glanced at Adrian beside him, his expression strange as he replied.
"Reporting to Lord Bishop, according to the militiamen responsible for the evacuation, it is currently..."
"Pastor Adrian who is issuing the orders!"
At those words, everyone present turned to look at Adrian. He himself was utterly baffled. He had been in the church the entire time and had never gone outside.
Antioch's expression immediately darkened. During his more than ten years as Bishop of Nordland Territory, it was not as though he had never encountered Witches proficient in Shaping Magic. He knew full well just how much chaos such people could cause.
Under everyone's suspicious stares, Adrian appeared somewhat flustered and involuntarily took a step back. But he quickly came to his senses, raising a hand to cast the first-circle divine spell [Holy Word: Shield]!
Seeing the holy shield glowing with divine radiance condense in midair, the Priests immediately dispelled their doubts.
But then a chill shot up from the soles of their feet to their brains.
Since the real Adrian was here, then who was commanding the front line?
The commander the Priests had been thinking of was currently sitting in a temporary stronghold in northern Harbor Town, sipping tea as he listened to his "subordinates" report.
"Lord Adrian, as you instructed, the newly assembled militia has begun evacuating the townsfolk. It will not be long before a clear open area is established. The fire at the granaries has also been brought under control. The isolation method you taught us has been extremely effective..."
Priest Danny rapidly summarized Harbor Town's current situation, his gaze toward Lynn filled with admiration.
Those damned Demon's Followers had been setting fires everywhere, darting through the crowded alleys, and even burning the granaries, leaving them overwhelmed.
Bishop Antioch had only assigned them an eight-hundred-man garrison. Those men had to hunt down two Witches while also evacuating the townsfolk and putting out fires. They were severely short-handed.
After his repeated requests to deploy the elite guard had been rejected by Antioch, Danny could only keep pulling personnel away from firefighting and civilian rescue to hunt the Demon's Followers, lest the two women escape.
Yet the chaotic situation changed immediately after Lord "Adrian" arrived.
First, he had them use divine spells to calm a group of fleeing townsfolk, forcibly selecting able-bodied men from among them. Then, he broke up small squads of regular soldiers to serve as commanders and formed temporary militia guards, multiplying their available manpower several times over in an instant.
These untrained militiamen would likely collapse at first contact if sent into battle, but they could barely handle firefighting and rescue work.
The isolation method and the sand-and-soil fire-extinguishing method he had mentioned were also extremely effective...
Thinking of this, Priest Danny felt somewhat ashamed. Previously, he had even complained that Bishop Antioch had given him too few men, far from enough to handle such a complicated situation.
But he no longer thought so, because "Adrian," holding the same resources, had easily calmed the chaos.
As expected of Lord "Adrian," the Bishop's right-hand man!
Sitting in his chair, Lynn listened to the Priest with a smile and spoke approvingly. "You did very well, Priest Danny. After tonight, I will commend your achievements to Lord Antioch."
"Thank you, Lord Adrian. I merely did what little I could. This is all thanks to you!" Priest Danny replied excitedly.
Lynn waved a hand, passing over the subject before asking, "All right, enough of that. Have the orders I gave you earlier been delivered?"
Danny nodded. According to Lord "Adrian"'s plan, all they needed to do now was force the two Witches into the open area at the Harbor Town docks. The Church had already stationed more than a thousand crossbowmen in ambush there. A single volley would turn them into pincushions.
This would minimize casualties to the greatest extent possible.
Given "Adrian"'s excellent command earlier, Danny did not harbor the slightest doubt about this plan.
"Then, Danny, your task has been perfectly completed." Lynn rose from his chair, patted Danny's shoulder with his right hand, and said sentimentally, "Now it is time to send you to see Pastor Albert!"
Albert? What had happened to him?
Danny froze. Before he could make sense of it, a dazzling streak of silver light swept across his neck. Bright red blood erupted from the wound. The young Priest clutched his gaping throat, his face full of disbelief, before heavily collapsing to the floor.
Lynn looked at the corpse before him and shook his head helplessly. He picked up a scrap of cloth from the table and wiped the mottled blood from the dagger.
At this point, he had dealt with both pawns Antioch had sent out as bait, but there was not much joy on Lynn's face.
After all, his opponent was no fool. By using Adrian's identity to issue orders, Antioch would likely soon notice something was wrong and deduce that he possessed the ability to disguise himself as another person.
Fortunately, that was precisely the outcome Lynn wanted!
Since ordinary Priests could not possibly break this magic, Antioch... could only enter the fray himself!
Though he had taken a huge detour, Lynn had ultimately used the enemy's own strength to draw out the Archbishop and shift the next battlefield back to Harbor Town's docks!
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