Secrets Within the Temple

Under the holy light, more characters appeared on the stone wall.

The seemingly uneven stone wall began to show lines of handwritten Elven, and Roy learned something from the inscriptions on the wall.

The Goddess of Freedom Temple's expedition into the Dark Land was, in fact, something the temple's bishops never intended to end; the exploration of the Dark Land was endless.

The initial Expeditionary Force formed by the Goddess of Freedom Temple consisted of a group of devout Priest who, under the blessing of the Goddess of Freedom, possessed powerful Holy Light Power. Unfortunately, as the Goddess of Freedom's Holy Radiance ceased to descend, the power of these Priest gradually diminished.

They were the believers who most desperately wanted to find the Statue of Goddess of Freedom. This group of Priest formed the first Expeditionary Force and entered the Dark Land through the Darkness Gate.

The first expedition was actually quite successful. When the Priest ' Expeditionary Force entered the Dark Land, the Dark Creatures were completely unprepared. The Priest ' Holy Light Power was very effective against those Dark Creatures, so the Expeditionary Force advanced all the way through the Dark Land. Unfortunately, the Priest had no experience with expeditions, which led to frequent problems with the Expeditionary Force's logistics supply lines. What held back the first Expeditionary Force was the long supply line.

The Priest were desperate to find the Statue of Goddess of Freedom, but after entering the Dark Land, Priest fighting strength waned because their holy light could not be replenished.

Finally, the Dark Creatures that had come from all directions stopped the Expeditionary Force in its tracks.

The second expedition proceeded as planned. However, the Priest obtained information about the Fallen Plane of Goddess of Freedom from a Terror Demon, preventing the first Expeditionary Force from advancing any further. The bishops of the Goddess of Freedom Temple immediately organized a second Expeditionary Force.

This time, the Goddess of Freedom Temple could only transfer some outstanding and steadfast Priest from the Elf Continent and various temples, and also spent a lot of money to hire 200,000 mercenary warriors from the Mercenary Guild, forming a second Expeditionary Force with a total strength of 800,000, which once again poured into the Dark Land.

Because nearly a quarter of the Second Expeditionary Force consisted of mercenaries who were not bound by Holy Power, the Second Expeditionary Force once again ventured deeper into the Dark Land...

The expedition to the Goddess of Freedom Temple has no end; their only goal is to rescue the Goddess of Freedom, who is trapped somewhere in the Dark Land.

This expedition lasted a long time. The Second Expeditionary Force fought its way through the Dark Land and once occupied a large area of Dark Land.

However, the vastness of the Dark Land far exceeded the expectations of the Archbishops of the Goddess of Freedom Temple. The second Expeditionary Force not only failed to find any news of Goddess of Freedom, but also exhausted all of its Expeditionary Force forces by establishing numerous supply Transit Station in the Dark Land.

The second Expeditionary Force opened up several large battlefields in the Dark Land, requiring the Goddess of Freedom Temple to continuously send troops into the Dark Land.

At this time, the Goddess of Freedom Temple on the Elf Continent had already transferred all its elite Priest to the Dark Land.

As the Goddess of Freedom Temple in Gorfito began planning to form its third Expeditionary Force, it started frantically dismantling the Goddess of Freedom Temple on the Elf Continent.

Because the Expeditionary Force was composed of Priest from all over the Elf Continent, the abilities of the Expeditionary Force soldiers varied greatly. As a result, the third expedition was a failure. These Priest provided support to various battlefields in the Dark Land, but they did not turn the tide of the battle on the major battlefields.

The Elven writing on the wall became particularly messy at this point, and the words were full of doubts about the expedition.

However, this Priest also hoped that the Temple Expeditionary Force on the Roland Continent would achieve brilliant results, because according to his description, the number of Priest and believers of the Goddess of Freedom Temple on the Roland Continent was at least ten times, or even dozens of times, greater than the number of Priest on the Elf Continent...

Roy found it hard to imagine just how large the Expeditionary Force on the Roland Continent was.

Roy crouched beside the stone wall, holding a ball of soft holy light in his hands. Under the illumination of the holy light, the words slowly appeared, and when the holy light moved away, the Elven carved on the stone wall miraculously disappeared completely.

He continued looking down, and the writing on the stone wall was full of uncertainty, with even a section of text smeared off.

Roy could sense how lost, confused, and anxious the recorder must have felt when writing this passage.

His faith remains, but the god he prayed to has disappeared.

Without the blessing of the Holy Radiance, the Priest of the Goddess of Freedom Temple would stagnate in their cultivation, and many of them would even begin to slowly lose their Priest power...

Three consecutive expeditions depleted the last of the Goddess of Freedom Temple's wealth in Gorfito. In order to find the whereabouts of the Statue of Goddess of Freedom in the Dark Land, the bishops of the Goddess of Freedom Temple chose to take a desperate gamble. They decided to abandon everything and lead all the Priest to the Dark Land.

Before entering the Dark Land, the Priest were worried that Dark Creatures might sneak into the Elf Continent through the Darkness Gate. So, the Priest devised a plan: once inside the Dark Land, they would seal the Darkness Gate from the inside...

'I don't know if this journey into the Dark Land will guide me to the Goddess lost Dark Land, but I know in my heart that if we choose to stay in Gorfito, we may never have the chance to find the Goddess. So this time, I'm going without hesitation.'

'If anyone happens to see this, please understand that we Priest of the Goddess of Freedom Temple, even in such adversity, remain steadfast in our fight for our faith!'

'We sailed across the vast, Endless Sea, from the Roland Continent to the Elf Continent, to spread the glory of the Statue of Goddess of Freedom here.'

'We are the spreaders of the Holy Light...'

The writing ends here.

Roy sat in the stone chamber, speechless for a long time. Clearly, High Priest Reed was also in the Dark Land Underworld, his whereabouts unknown.

Moreover, the Expeditionary Force that entered the Dark Land this time was far more than just the three Expeditionary Force from the Goddess of Freedom Temple on the Elf Continent; troops from the Goddess of Freedom Temple also entered the Dark Land from other continents.

The Darkness Gate of Gorfito was entrusted to the Silver Moon Elf for management, a plan that had been in place before the Priest entered the Dark Land.

The Priest abandoned everything in Gorfito, including this magnificent temple.

Roy stood in front of the stone wall for a long time until he realized his legs were getting sore, which brought him back from his deep thought.

As Roy stepped out of the stone chamber, he became increasingly curious about whether there were any similar inscriptions in the next chamber.

Almost no one comes here. The dilapidated wooden walkway is covered in dust, and it even makes a creaking sound when you step on it.

No plants grow in the Gorfito Canyon, except for the lush lawns and shrub walls in the temple's forecourt, though some corners and edges show signs of withering.

There were no birds or beasts in the canyon, and Roy walked forward along the passage.

The stone chambers in front are also places for ascetic practice. These Priest pray and meditate in the stone chambers. Some stone chambers are empty, but some ascetic Priest will write their insights on the stone walls.

They did it very discreetly; without the Holy Light Power, it would be impossible to see the Elven carved on the stone wall.

Roy even learned about the war between the Naga Sea Clan and the elves from the inscriptions on some of the walls. Although the elves ultimately won the war, it lasted a long time, and both the elves and the Naga Sea Clan paid a heavy price.

Inside a stone chamber, Roy let Divine Light float above his head. Under the illumination of this Holy Radiance, rows of dense text appeared on the surrounding walls. These texts recorded some insights gained from learning divine magic.

The Priest who came here to cultivate asceticism was probably a Second Rank Combat Priest. He described in great detail the divine spells that had been introduced to the Elf Continent on the wall, which could be roughly divided into five categories: blessing, judgment, holy seal, healing, and exorcism.

In fact, Roy learned six blessings from High Priest Reed, but High Priest Reed said that he hadn't learned all the blessings; as far as he knew, there were two blessings that even he didn't know. The Blessing Divine Magic he taught Roy were:

Blessing of Protection, Strength Blessing, King's Blessing, Wisdom Blessing, Blessing of Light, Freedom Blessing.

He also bestowed upon him three Judgment Divine Magic: Hammer of Punishment, Hammer of Judgment, and Hammer of Sanction.

Roy currently possesses a Healing Divine Magic called Holy Light Art.

There are two Exorcism Divine Magic: the Glimmer Illumination Spell and the Purification Art. The former can find undead creatures within the range of the holy light, while the latter can purify weakened undead creatures.

In addition, since High Priest Reed does not know any holy seals, Roy also does not know any holy seal-related divine spells.

In fact, when Roy stepped into the Goddess of Freedom Temple, he clearly felt that Goddess of Freedom Temple area was filled with a great deal of sacred energy.

When he entered the Goddess of Freedom Temple, the Holy Light Tree within his body was already awakened. A massive Divine Storm surged around the Holy Light Tree, and these holy auras swept in from all directions, gathering around him and refusing to disperse.

The Sacred Tree rapidly absorbed the Holy Light Power from the Goddess of Freedom Temple...

Roy felt as if his body was a fully inflated balloon, as if it might burst at any moment from the holy light.

As a large amount of Holy Light Power surged into Roy's body, Roy discovered that the seal on his advancement to level eleven was beginning to loosen, as if he was just missing a certain High Priest to advance to level eleven.

As he read the information recorded by other Priest in the stone chamber on the mountain wall, the feeling of being on the eve of a breakthrough became even stronger.

Finally, a beam of holy light pierced through the barrier, and a second beam immediately followed, widening the opening.

A moment later, the Holy Light Tree within his body suddenly grew a large section, and some Light Flower of Light Flame like flames appeared on the Holy Light Tree.

It seems that his breakthrough at the High Priest level mainly involved making the Holy Light Tree within his body more lush and storing more Holy Light Power.

A soft ball of light appeared between Roy's hands. Roy finally understood one thing: the way to become stronger was not only to purify the dead, but also to recite prayers in the sacred Goddess of Freedom Temple, which could help him break through his shackles and advance smoothly.

Roy felt he had stayed in the stone chamber long enough, so he walked along the wooden plank passage toward the exit.

Instead of walking the way he came, he tried to walk out from the other side of the passage.

Roy walked quite a distance and soon realized that he had left the area of Goddess of Freedom Temple. The wooden walkway built against the stone wall had not yet reached its end.

The wooden walkway ends at a remote mountainside in the canyon. From there, a short walk west leads back to the Second Silver Pegasus Knight Regiment ' camp.

I never expected to walk out of the Goddess of Freedom Temple like this...

Now that Roy had left the Goddess of Freedom Temple, he had no intention of returning to the Goddess of Freedom Temple hall to listen to the arguments of the mages and High Priest.

There are no streams in the Gorfito Canyon. The Second Silver Pegasus Knight Regiment never use the water conjured by the Magic Rune Plate to water the Silver Pegasus. Instead, they ride their Silver Pegasus outside the canyon and let them drink at the lake.

Recently, the Silver Pegasus Knights discovered a clear mountain spring across the lake, so they often take their Silver Pegasus to drink from the spring.

Roy walked to the lakeside; this was his routine visit to the Magic Airship to check on the situation.

Nine Magic Airship were moored side by side by the lake. Only a few crew members were washing the decks on the ships. Viscount Philek looked utterly dejected, with his arms draped over the outside of the ship and his head sticking out of the ship, gazing at the clear lake water.

On the shore not far away, a squad of Silver Moon Elf guards stood quietly under the shade of a tree, silently watching Viscount Philek.

Seeing Roy walk along the forest path to the lake, a Guard Squad hesitated for a moment before approaching Roy and politely inquiring:

"Commander Roy, your Mine Guard Regiment has successfully arrived at Gorfito. So, Viscount Philek's guiding duties are now complete. Could we take Viscount Philek back to Murayaqi?"

Roy was taken aback.

This kind of thing should never be asked of him!

Since the other party had asked, Roy stopped and looked at Viscount Philek on the ship. He casually said, "The Mine Guard Regiment has received a new mission to transport military supplies. They may frequently travel between Gorfito and Murayaqi. Until this mission is over, Viscount Philek will stay here as a guide to lead the way for us."

The Guard Squad looked very bad, his brows furrowed, but he did not argue with Roy.

At this moment, all the Half-Elf crew members on the nine Magic Airship rushed to the deck and kept looking in this direction...

Roy ignored the Guard Squad and walked along the sampan on the makeshift dock to the Magic Airship.

He ignored Viscount Philek and went straight to the captain's cabin to chat with a Half-Elf captain about the military supplies that hadn't yet been unloaded from the ship.