The So-Called Essence of Assassination...

Like a ferocious beast threatening a scavenging hyena with its claws, the remaining priests fell silent. Silence, but their eyes still gleamed with ferocity—indeed, evil is evil, even with a glamorous exterior, its chaotic essence never ceases to reveal itself.

"With pleasure." — The Fire Keeper ignored this little incident, simply smiling and indulging it.

Because she could guess the final outcome and predict that Miss Surtr's side would definitely be a step or two ahead of hers.

She was right; Miss Surtr was indeed a bit faster than her—driving is always faster than walking, that's common sense.

Crossing the avenue and entering the elevator, the path was flanked by patrolling church knights and priests or prayer masters carrying candlesticks and iron books. They came in droves, brimming with life force—multiple enormous monsters with spider-like, thick limbs and rows of teeth, their eyes burning with an eerie blue flame, crawling across the church ceiling and walls. The priests ignored them, and they, in turn, ignored the priests.

The Sunken Cursed One, said to be Aldrich's pet, his tamed dog.

As Miss Surtr's carriage reached the end of the road, she alighted, and amidst Kal'tsit's half-serious, half-joking groan, dragged her by the neck from the car, a monster suddenly descended from the ceiling, landing in front of her, spewing venomous mist, and sniffing her.

Chapter 187 The True Essence of Assassination...

It was Kal'tsit who was being sniffed, not Surtr.

When the monster opened its mouth, seemingly wanting to taste it before its master, Miss Surtr could feel that the Miss Lynx's heart almost stopped beating.

But Kal'tsit held back—she simply rolled her eyes, revealing an expression of horror and despair, and struggled in vain. Clearly, she didn't care about losing a piece of her own flesh for the sake of the plan's success.

She didn't care—perhaps partly because Miss Surtr's hand was already on the edge of the sword.

But that didn't happen— Aldrich's monster merely clicked its teeth, making a somewhat puzzled sound. Then it leaped away again, climbed the wall, and quickly disappeared at the far end of the vast hall.

Miss Surtr felt a sudden jolt of unease, not a sense of relaxation, but rather a heightened vigilance.

—An unexpected interlude, an interesting omen.

Should we take action now?

She thought to herself, and silently took a breath.

However, the next moment.

"The Holy Seat awaits you, priest." Two high-ranking, deep priests in blue robes appeared before her and showed her the way.

She saw it.

She saw the cursed stone tablets familiar from the game, the cluster of candlesticks, the pool where giants were tamed, and the massive portal leading to Aldrich's coffin.

The direction became clear, and a certain intuitive sense of presence became distinct—she sensed a powerful aura emanating from the depths of the portal. That presence, emanating from another Lord of Cinder, was amplified by her focused attention. Beyond this, she also sensed subtle disturbances occurring within the cathedral—commands were being activated, hostility was gathering. And all these elements pointed to a simple, unvarnished factual structure.

—It's been discovered, just as I expected.

They prepared a trap, but they misjudged their opponent... They probably thought it was just a few rabbits to eat. But they could never have imagined that what arrived was the Profaned Flame!

So she exhaled lightly.

When he spoke again, he used his usual voice.

"Kal'tsit, protect yourself," she whispered, silently activating the backup plan placed within Kal'tsit's body.

The next moment, a sudden burst of flames engulfed the high priest, tore open the church hall, and slaughtered most of the surrounding priests and knights. She deliberately raised a layer of dust for concealment, and then her form transformed into a giant sword of flames, piercing through the doorway of the coffin-laying hall with a single strike!

"Brother Anduscia, we've arrived." The knight pushed open the door of the chapel, revealing cages on either side of it.

Many of the captured men, women, and children were locked in cages. When the dim sunlight shone through the open doors, they would instinctively utter pleas or cries of despair.

"You can pick any one from here, but I suggest choosing the ones with tender meat. Of course, it mainly depends on you..."

The knight said, slowing his pace slightly, allowing the Fire Keeper to take two steps ahead and bring everything inside the chapel into view.

It seems to be waiting for the Fire Keeper to make a choice.

The Fire Keeper sighed softly.

"Where did it go wrong?" she asked.

"Brother Anduscia and I grew up in the same village. You haven't learned to imitate him enough." The church knight gripped his shield and warhammer tightly. At the same time, from behind the stone pillars and from outside the side door, at least twenty fully armed Sunken Church knights and priests holding candlesticks emerged from their hiding place and surrounded the Fire Keeper.

"You should have made your choice sooner." The knight tilted his head, his armor clanging. "That way we would have known which person you wanted to save, and we wouldn't have had to waste our energy here."

The Fire Keeper blinked.

The light magic effect on Oolacile disappeared from her body, revealing her original appearance—she stretched out her hand, and a soft glow floated in her hand.

She noticed that several priests were subtly pointing their spell-casting candlesticks at the hostages in the cages.

But just before that threat, which was bound to come from some priest's mouth, touched the air, the entire earth trembled violently!

BOOM—!!! Inside and outside the church, all the protective runes and magic circles were activated in an instant! The violent tremors caused all the lights to shake and all the candles to go out. And in the brief moment when everything on the ground lost its footing, the radiance born from the Fire Keeper's hands swept through the entire interior of the church with dazzling intensity!

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The light captured the vision of all the knights and priests.

The knights instinctively raised their shields in defense, and the priests erected their own defenses using dark miracles—but they miscalculated. The ritual array within the church was supposed to amplify the profound miracles, but the shaking of the earth and the intense light rendered that effect null and void!

Nine screams and groans rang out in an instant—no one knew how the Fire Keeper had done it, nor what had happened to the unarmored priests. But the moment the light dimmed, huge, gaping wounds appeared in the chests of every single priest!

The Fire Keeper had vanished without a trace, yet the earth continued to tremble. In the distance, a series of explosions erupted, releasing plumes of flame. The small chapel adjacent to the main cathedral also shook violently, dust and gravel falling from its beams.

"Come out!" a knight roared, swinging his warhammer at the nearest iron cage. "Or I'll kill everyone here!"

No one responded.

As its warhammer swung down, the metal cage, which should have crumbled instantly, crushing the hostages inside into pieces, instead became as solid as the armor of saints—no, not just like, but was the armor. For the iron cage struck instantly transformed into the head of another knight, the hammer blow shattering the cathedral knight's skull!

"It's an illusion!" another knight shouted, but at the same moment, a large cloud of blood mist burst from the eye slits of its iron helmet, revealing two iron spikes piercing its eye sockets from the light. The remaining knights hurriedly covered the slits in their helmets with their gauntlets.

They dared not move rashly, but beneath their iron helmets, they chanted incantations, and poems praising ancient deities were swiftly recited, transforming into impactful rays of light that radiated in every direction around them under the workings of the world's rules!

Miracles, the Force erupting—on this continent, as long as one's faith is unwavering and certain complex conditions are met, one can transform the chanting of hymns about the deeds of the gods into tangible physical interventions. This art is called a miracle, and its application is primarily controlled by the major churches.

The Sunken Church is a branch of the White Church and is a legitimate church.

The next moment, everything around the knights was swept away!

The knights gained a brief respite—or so they thought.

However, when they removed the gauntlets that obscured their vision and searched for enemies whose illusions could theoretically be destroyed by the Force's outburst, they found themselves unknowingly gathered in the open area in the center of the church, where the noblewoman with a black veil over her eyes was holding a radiance and chanting a prayer of miracles!