The snowy fields in the early morning were covered with a layer of gold by the morning sun, and the branches and leaves of the pines and cypresses looked crystal clear in the frost. The sky was clear, with few clouds, and it was another sunny winter day.
But in such good weather, a horse team shrouded in gloomy clouds and fog was silently moving forward on the road. Many of them were bandaged and had injuries on their bodies, and their morale was extremely low.
This was a special operations team of the Shadow Group of the Temple of Nature, and the leader was none other than Yepes. His left arm was broken at the shoulder, his face was blue, and he looked haggard, not at all the high spirits he had when he left the capital. Edgar beside him had his entire head wrapped, but layers of black air shone through the bandages. The five or six people behind them were basically all injured, and two of them had lost consciousness and were being carried on horseback.
"Sir, if we continue walking for another hour, we will reach the nearest branch of the temple." Edgar's voice became extremely hoarse, like a worn-out saw working. "The pursuers behind us should have been shaken off. Those sneaky false believers would not dare to play any tricks so close to the temple."
"We have to speed up. Only if we find Lord Altu first and explain the situation clearly, will he be able to save us. Otherwise, we are finished. A Silver Leaf Priest, a Master Assassin, nearly ten high-level warriors, and more than fifty mid-level warriors and assassins died in this trap... The Temple of Nature has not encountered such a failure in many years, but we encountered it." Yepes's usually decisive face was now full of worry.
Edgar shook his head and said, "Sir, the rats in the Temple of Wisdom are too insidious. They actually used their own main temple as bait to ambush us. They also brought in the remnants of the Temple of War and the Temple of Death. If they hadn't gathered all five masters, how could we have been defeated so miserably. It's amazing that you were able to kill the new master of the Temple of Wisdom under such unfavorable circumstances."
"But they only lost one newcomer, while we lost two veteran masters, one of whom was a Silver Leaf Priest who presided over a temple!"
"grown ups… "
Yepes waved his hand and said, "Stop talking and hurry up."
They had not walked forward for long when they heard the sound of horse hooves from behind. Yepes asked everyone to speed up, but the other side caught up with them at an extremely fast speed.
In a hurry, Edgar looked back and exclaimed, "It's not the pursuers from the Temple of Wisdom. It's the Knights of the Wind!"
"Damn it!" Yepes yelled, "Let's go first!"
He and Edgar exploded with their remaining fighting spirit, broke away from their horses, and rushed into the mountains and woods. However, just as he was about to rush into the woods, the trees in front of him suddenly grew larger and connected to form a wall of trees. He wanted to rush past it, but the people from the Knights of the Wind had already come up and blocked the way on both sides.
"Yepes, stop!"
He looked back and saw a person flying in the air. It was Roland.
Roland has lost some weight in the past few days. He is no longer a little fat. He looks much more capable. The hand that turned the tree into a wall was most likely his work.
"Priest Roland, what a big scene! I thought the enemies of the God of Nature were chasing us." Seeing that he was blocked everywhere, Yepes simply gave up the idea of escaping.
"Yepes, you are right. We are indeed chasing the enemies of the Temple of Nature... and the sinners," Roland said.
Yepes' heart trembled and he said, "Then why are you chasing me?"
"Because the team from the Ancient God Temple that was chasing you has been eliminated by us." Roland gestured to Garrison, the deputy commander of the Knights of the Wind, who took out a head from several leather bags hanging on the saddle.
"He is the one chasing you, right?" Roland asked.
When Yepes looked over, he saw that it was indeed Wu Zhong, the captain of the Temple of War, who had chased him for two days and two nights and had cut off one of his arms.
"That's right. It seems that I have to thank Lord Roland for avenging me. Killing a high-ranking figure of the other side is really a great achievement." Yepes said.
Roland said, "This has nothing to do with revenge. He deserved to die. Not only did he deserve to die, but according to our plan, the high-level officials of the Temple of Wisdom, the Temple of War, and even the rarely seen Temple of Death would be wiped out. We arranged six masters and even invited a saint to help us, but while we were waiting for the manpower, you messed everything up!"
"What? You actually knew that both the Temple of War and the Temple of Death would take action?"
"Of course, that's why we have to spend more time to arrange enough manpower. But you secretly got hold of half of our plan, and you couldn't wait to take the credit. Not only did you cause your own team to suffer heavy losses, but you also completely ruined our plan! By the time we got there, the enemy had completely disappeared."
"I have my own sources and I didn't steal your information!" Yepes shouted.
"Really? Your assistant Edgar and Brusuare were seen using charm to extract information. However, this is not important. What is important is that your greed caused the plan of a Golden Branch priest to fail completely."
Yepes glared at Edgar hatefully, and the latter and the other members of the Shadow Group had already knelt on the ground and gave up any resistance.
"Fortunately, we got the news that there was a big fish among the pursuers. So it wasn't a completely wasted trip." Roland looked at Yepes with cold eyes, "Now all the foreign enemies that can be eliminated have been eliminated. Naturally, it's time to take you, the sinner, away."
Two knights from the Wind Knights stepped forward and held Yepes.
Yepes struggled, "Roland! Lord Altu is the head of the branch palace in the capital. You don't have the power to arrest me directly! I have to report to Lord Altu first!"
"You are operating outside and don't know the recent situation. Altu is no longer the person in charge of the capital. I am now the chief priest of the branch temple in the capital."
"What? How is this possible?"
In order to dispel the other party's fantasy, Roland said, "Altu has been in a lot of trouble recently. First, he was involved in Giles's huge corruption case, and then the Shadow Group was ambushed by the people of the Temple of War in the capital, suffering heavy losses. And Brusuar admitted that he had obtained Altu's instruction to use charm to obtain intelligence; but the most important thing is that he directly agreed to your blind and crazy action this time."
“This, can’t be such a coincidence, this is you…” Seeing the other party’s indifferent look, Yepes got the next words stuck in his throat.
"Hmph, don't worry about Altu. Think about yourself first." Sage Alcala wants to see you to see who ruined his good deeds.
Upon hearing this, Yepes completely collapsed, no longer having the strength to fight back.