This Is Blasphemy Against God!

"Bishop Antioch, it was here! I saw that wizard and Lord Witch Hunter come out of the house from afar. They fought all the way here..."

A quarter of an hour later, in the Lower City, a ragged, filthy scavenger stood hunched before the Church Priests and cautiously recounted everything he had seen.

Antioch said nothing. He lowered his head to examine the scorched traces on the ground. The crimson blood had been turned dark red by the intense heat, while the churned earth and scattered scraps of flesh attested to the brutality of the battle.

Such severe destruction had most likely been caused by a second-circle spell—[Flame Burst Spell]!

"Where is the body?" Antioch suddenly demanded. There were obvious signs of battle on the ground, yet Blainey's body was nowhere to be seen.

The scavenger swallowed hard before speaking with difficulty. "After Lord Witch Hunter died, that wizard threw him... threw him into the Yin River..."

"This is blasphemy against God!"

Before Antioch could speak, a middle-aged Priest behind him angrily rebuked the scavenger.

Over the years, thanks to Duke Nordland's "wise" measures, the lower reaches of the Yin River had long since become a truly filthy place.

Blainey's status was not merely that of a Witch Hunter. He had been selected for the Divine Punishment Army by the Church, and had even consumed a [Divine Grace Potion] in advance, practically becoming God's messenger in the mortal world.

The only reason he had continued participating so frequently in Witch Hunt Operations was to pad his credentials.

Yet that wizard corrupted by demons had cruelly killed him and thrown his body into the filthy Yin River. This was undoubtedly a provocation against the Church's authority!

The scavenger's body trembled uncontrollably, and he lowered his head in fear.

Antioch tightened his grip on his staff as anger continued to rise within him. He turned toward the trembling scavenger and questioned him again.

"Did you get a clear look at the wizard who killed Blainey? Did anyone else take part?"

"I only caught a few distant glimpses, Lord Bishop. There didn't seem to be a second wizard..." the scavenger answered shakily. "He looked like he had just come of age, with brown hair, and was about as tall as you."

"Carl..." Antioch muttered to himself as he considered the information he had on him.

Before this, he had never paid much attention to that obscure Wizard Apprentice. According to the intelligence they had obtained, Carl had only studied under a wizard for about half a year and was not valued by Wizard Coru. He had been the least threatening of all their targets...

But now, that did not seem to be the case...

Casting a second-circle spell, [Flame Burst Spell], and killing two Witch Hunters in succession—this was not something an apprentice who had only recently encountered magic could accomplish!

Unless he possessed a powerful alchemical item, or... like Coru, he was an Official Wizard!

Several days later, in an inn in Ur Town at the border of Nordland Territory.

Lynn jolted awake from a nightmare and sprang up from the hard wooden bed. He then rushed to the window as quickly as possible and observed the scene outside.

Seeing that everything was normal and that no one had come to surround him, Lynn finally let out a breath of relief.

Ever since he had killed those two Witch Hunters in the Slums five days earlier, he had been worried about the Tribunal's pursuit. He had deliberately taken a roundabout route to Ur Town and had even created misleading traces of his escape.

Perhaps his half-baked counter-surveillance skills had truly worked, or perhaps the Tribunal had no time to care about a tiny Wizard Apprentice like him. So far, he had not encountered a single pursuer.

Even so, the journey could only be described as grueling.

Having grown accustomed to the conveniences of modern life, being suddenly thrown into a place resembling medieval Europe had nearly driven Lynn mad.

There were no phones or computers here, no familiar family or friends. He could not wake up to a steaming breakfast, either, and could only gnaw on a piece of hard-to-swallow black bread with water...

The one fortunate thing was that he possessed all of Carl's memories. He understood the language and writing of this world, and his fighting ability was not weak. He could intimidate a few foolish bandits and avoid dying by the roadside.

After several days of torment, Lynn had barely accepted the fact that he had transmigrated, and this was already his second day in Ur Town!

For the sake of caution, Lynn had not hurried to search for the other Wizard Apprentices. After discovering the mark they had left behind, he quietly returned, spent a day familiarizing himself with the terrain, and bought more than a dozen new flints along with a bag of black bread.

The days of fleeing had made Lynn somewhat jumpy, but after gaining a preliminary understanding of Ur Town, he immediately understood why Joanne had chosen this place for their gathering.

As a border trading town in Nordland Territory, it had a mixed population and merchant caravans constantly passing through. One or two unfamiliar faces would not attract much attention.

As Lynn pondered this, he reached for the mortar beside him, placed the broken pieces of flint inside, and ground them into a fine powder with a small wooden stick.

During his time in Ur Town, apart from searching for marks and familiarizing himself with the terrain, Lynn had spent all his remaining time making white phosphorus!

White phosphorus was an allotrope of phosphorus, with the chemical formula P4. It appeared as a white or pale yellow translucent solid.

There were two commonly used methods of production.

The first was to mix calcium phosphate, quartz sand, and carbon powder, heat the mixture to between 1,400 and 1,600 degrees Celsius, then pass the resulting phosphorus vapor through cold water. Once it solidified, it became white phosphorus.

The second was to heat red phosphorus to 416 degrees Celsius in the absence of air, then cool the sublimated vapor.

However, in this world without an industrial system, one resembling ancient Europe, gathering all these materials in a short time was no easy task.

Although 071 had shown him some ancient yet "convenient" methods of extracting raw materials, Lynn had no intention of using them unless absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, Lynn soon discovered a pleasant surprise: the surface of the flints he had used contained traces of red phosphorus!

Considering that red phosphorus, as an efficient flame retardant, had been used in match production in the last century to improve safety, this was not particularly strange.

It seemed the natives of this world had already discovered the element phosphorus, though their use of it remained extremely primitive.

Under the continuous grinding of the wooden stick, the chunks of flint were gradually broken down. After some impurities were removed, only clusters of crimson powder remained...

He did not have any professional equipment, but miraculous magic was far more useful than scientific instruments!

[Mage Hand]!

At Lynn's thought, the fine red phosphorus seemed to answer some kind of summons and floated into the air on its own. Then, under the effect of [Basic Material Deconstruction], it was broken down into its fundamental molecular state...

(P.S.: Please support the new book in every way!)