"Hahaha..." Heather laughed, "it's impossible to expect the pawns to obey orders completely, it just needs to be consistent with our ultimate goal. No matter where he is playing, as long as he keeps consuming the soldiers. Anyway, Graycastle It is the last kingdom to attack in the plan, and there is still time for them to fight. Didn’t Roland Wimbledon reject our pill last time? We can ask Tifeko to put more pressure on the Western Region, maybe he will accept it.”
Having said that, the blatant reversal of the Queen of Clear Water still made Mayne a little unhappy, after all, this piece was chosen by him himself. If Timothy still does not fight Garcia after occupying other sites in Greycastle, but instead keeps troops in a confrontation, the King Fighting Order will not be able to achieve the expected effect. It seems that some other means must be taken.
"On the west side, we should wait for the news of the envoy to come back before making a decision," he said. "I'll be here today. Two adults, please follow the plan. I have to go to the Hermes institution."
"Ah, by the way," Heather seemed to suddenly realize, "Is it the day of transformation? How many people have applied to participate in the transformation ceremony?"
"This is a secret." Mayne stood up and walked out of the secret room without looking back.
…
After going down the long suspended stairs to the bottom of the cave, the archbishop stepped over the white grindstone as smooth as a mirror and walked towards the depths of the mechanism.
Different from the usual serenity, today's office is quite lively. A group of judges who have passed the review are waiting outside the office. Most of them are entering this place for the first time, and they are looking around curiously. Seeing Mayne, everyone straightened their chests, clenched their fists and saluted, "Sir Bishop!"
He smiled and nodded in return. These Judgment Army are all elite warriors of the church. They are devout to the gods and willing to sacrifice the God's Punishment Army. The transformation of the God's Punishment Army is not necessarily a successful ceremony. They have understood this before submitting the application. Even so, they are still willing to take this great honor. And sacrificed life.
Under the respectful gaze of the warriors, he passed the third level and came to the front of the secret area. The Pope's bodyguards are already waiting here. They bowed and saluted, then pushed open the metal door behind them.
Maine followed the guard into the door. From here, is the heart of the Hermes institution, where all the research and inventions of the church are carried out.
There were no torches in the secret area, and his vision suddenly turned black. After he got used to it a little, a long and narrow passage appeared in front of him. The walls and ceiling of the passage are made of iron, and both sides are inlaid with fluorescent stones. This strange stone is a kind of stone of divine punishment. After being contaminated with the blood of evil beasts, it can emit green fluorescence.
At the end of the passage is a hanging cage. Walking into the cage, the guard pulled down the mechanism, and the chain above his head made a creaking sound, which was particularly harsh in the silent passage. With this sound, the hanging cage slowly sank into the underground cavity, and then Mayne's eyes suddenly opened up.
An extremely empty underground space appeared in front of him.
No matter how many times he saw such a shocking scene, it would make him feel small.
According to common sense, the cave buried in the ground should be dark, and you can't see your fingers, but here, the entire cave is illuminated by the light from the stone of punishment. The stone of punishment is like countless prisms rising from the ground. Form clusters of crystal flowers. The smallest prisms also have body thicknesses. The larger ones require more than ten people to surround them. The heights are uneven. The tallest one almost reaches the top of the cave, which is higher than the Tower of Heaven in the Cathedral of Hermes.
They also vary in color, the densest cluster of Retaliation Stones is lavender, with a few clusters on the side varying from dark blue to light green, the smaller ones are white, and there are prisms that have just emerged from the ground. body, almost transparent. The lustre emitted by the Purple God's Punishment Stone is the most conspicuous, especially the one that surpasses the Tower of Heaven. Its brightness is close to the full moon, so that the bottom of the cave can faintly see the ground without the help of torches.
Under the influence of such a dense and huge God's Stone of Retribution, the interior of the mountain is in an area where magic power cannot take effect. And all the Stones of God's Punishment sold by the church were mined from here.
The cave space is enough to accommodate five or six Hermes Cathedral, and they did build a building exactly like the Cathedral here, and named it the Episcopal Temple. But compared to the church on the top of the mountain, this one looks much older. Mayne could see from mid-air that there was a black iron gate on the mountain wall behind the temple, which was the entrance and exit to the foot of Mount Hermes, connecting to the old holy city. Therefore, this ancient building is the body of the agency in a sense. It existed here long before the new holy city was established.
It took half a quarter of an hour for the hanging cage to reach the ground. Mayne walked out of the cage, adjusted his robes, and followed the messenger to the temple.
The transformation ceremony was held in the hall on the first floor.
After entering the hall, the bishop felt that the surrounding light was restored. It was no longer the cold blue-purple light, but the orange light from the burning of thousands of candles. Above the head is a three-story tower-style candle chandelier, and there are many candlesticks around the hall. In the blink of an eye, it looks like countless stars are shaking. Thanks to the open fire, the chill in the cave was dispelled a lot.
The man standing in the middle of the two transformation platforms is the supreme leader of the church, Pope O'Brien. Dressed in a striking red robe with gold rims and a crown of shimmering jewels on top of his head, he was scrutinizing the transmutation utensils, making final preparations for the ceremony.
"Your Majesty," he knelt in front of O'Brien and kissed his fingers.
"Get up, child," the Pope said in a hoarse and slow voice, "there is no one else here but the guards, and there is no need to pay attention to complicated etiquette."
"Yes," Mayne stood up and couldn't help but startled. His Majesty looked much older than the last time I saw him. His face was covered with deep wrinkles, and his skin was unhealthy white, slack and dull, densely packed. The brown spots are very conspicuous. The bishop's eyes heated up, "You... you've worked hard."
"This is the trace of time," said O'Brien calmly. "No one can fight against time. I have very little left to live, and I am afraid that I will not see the day when mankind will defeat the devil, so I don't have to suffer that unknown pain. But You have to keep fighting until you finally defeat the enemy, or be defeated by them."
And if we fail again, we will perish completely, Mayne nodded, "I will do my duty until the last moment."
"Very good," the old man smiled. "You have done a good job recently. You have added more than 1,000 judges to the church. This time, there are 62 applicants for conversion, which is already the most in history."
"Your Majesty, can you tell me how much God's Punishment Army we need to defeat the devil?" Mayne asked after hesitating for a moment, "All the information I know about the devil comes from the holy book. The records on it are not complete. There is no record of their origins, numbers and combat methods. I know that these secrets must be known only after becoming the Pope, but…”
O'Brien reached out his hand to stop his words, "You are too anxious, child, be patient. It won't take long for you to take over this crown and become the next Pope, and then all your doubts can be found in the Temple of Secrets. The answer is found in the collection at the top. Now I can only tell you, the more the better." He took a breath, "Also, although I didn't come to you for the transformation ceremony, since I met you, this year's transformation It's up to you to try hosting, and with me watching, it can be regarded as accumulating some...cough...experience for the future."
Mayne quickly patted the Pope on the back, and when he was breathing a little, he lowered his head and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." power. Please come.)