When the ship slowly approached the old holy city along the river, the red bricks and blue tiles of the cathedral appeared little by little from the shadows of the trees.
Compared with the new church on the Hermes plateau, it looks unremarkable, with neither a spectacular chapel nor a towering tower. In terms of the scale of a single wheel, it may not be as magnificent as the churches in the capital cities of the four kingdoms, but in the hearts of most believers, this ancient and majestic building, together with the monastery, the martial arts field, and the arbitration center, constitutes the underground palace of the gods.
It symbolizes the source of the church, the beginning of everything.
Isabella scoffed at that statement.
They will never know that the interior of the mountain behind the cathedral is where the church originated.
As for the Old Holy City
It's just a cover to hide.
After the sailboat arrived at the dock, Isabella walked off the trestle lightly, and the guards who came to greet him couldn't help but be stunned, "Sir, what about the other pure people?"
"They will arrive in a day or two at night," she shrugged. "Your Majesty is so urgent, you must give them some time to arrange their funerals."
"But Master Zero said..."
"She wants to see everyone," Isabella interrupted. "Yes, but she didn't say she wanted to see everyone at the same time."
The recall order this time is really difficult to understand. In this way, the church is equivalent to giving up its control of the morning light. Without the supply of medicinal liquid, the king will die in an endless sleep. She didn't understand why Zero suddenly changed the plan she made before, and there was no explanation in the will.
She's looking more and more like the real Pope, Isabella thought slightly unpleasantly.
Despite this, she set off immediately after receiving the order, and spent a week rushing back to Hermes.
"By the way, do you know what happened to the Holy City?" When boarding the carriage, Isabella looked back at the guard behind her.
"The church's advance army and the Greycastle army fought at the foot of Cold Wind Ridge," the latter hesitated. "For the specific situation, you should ask Master Zero."
"Could it be... the advance army lost?"
The guard didn't answer, but nodded slightly, then mounted the war horse and shouted to the coachman, "Let's go!"
Isabella lowered the curtains of the carriage, wondering in her heart.
There is no doubt that there must be quite a number of God's Punishment Army in this advance army. Only when the God's Punishment Army suffers losses will the church's top leaders react.
But God's Punishment Warriors are not undead, and they will still suffer damage when facing some injuries that are beyond their ability to bear. Since the attack on Yongdong, the holy city has lost nearly a hundred extraordinary warriors one after another. She thought that Zero was used to it, but now it seems that this is not the case. The question is, how serious was the loss of this battle that made Zero determined to recall all the Pure Ones
The carriage drove through the lively streets of the Old Holy City to a camp near the desperate cliffs. This place is heavily guarded, not much worse than the cathedral. Isabella got off the carriage, stepped into a tunnel dug along the mountain wall, passed through multiple iron gates, and walked into the mountain.
Under the cold light of the Divine Stone Prism, the majestic outline of the Temple of Shushu appeared in front of her eyes.
Under the guidance of the guards, she went straight up to the top-floor library, pushed open the door of the ring hall, and the current Pope was standing by the window looking out, looking in a trance.
"It seems that you have hit a hard bone, and you can't even care about the Kingdom of Dawn," Isabella walked to Zero and whistled, "But no matter what, at least leave the lady and Heisha there. Can you stabilize the situation?"
Zero didn't answer, but pointed to the figure below the temple and said, "What do you think they look like?"
Isabella frowned, "Does this have anything to do with the question I asked?"
"Small, ignorant, busy all day but don't know why I'm busy, just like an ant," she said to herself, "The gods probably see us this way... I threw myself into the bloody battle ignorantly, and then died in a daze , it is impossible to know what the whole world looks like without reaching the top. Fortunately, now I am one step closer to the will of God."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"As long as I can devour the new king of Greycastle, my confidence in winning the Battle of Divine Will will increase by 50%," Zero raised the corners of her mouth, her eyes flashing with light she had never seen before, "I have a vague feeling... yes The gods sent him to me."
Isabella was silent for a while and then said solemnly, "I just want to know how much the God's Punishment Army lost in the battle at the foot of Cold Wind Ridge?"
"One hundred and fifty people died in action, and eleven more died on the way back to the holy city," Zero looked at her with burning eyes, "and the enemy was almost unscathed, no matter whether it was a giant shield or a spear, they could not threaten Roland. The army's line of defense."
Isabella's heart suddenly set off a huge wave. Can the number of people lost by the God's Punishment Army exceed the total number of people who took Eternal Winter and Wolf Heart, plus defending the Moon of Demons? How could a Prince of Graycastle possess such a powerful force
witch? knight? No, they are not worth mentioning at all. Even the mighty hell-horror beasts will die under the siege of the God-punished warriors. She can't imagine how the other party can do this.
"A terrifying snow powder weapon," Zero seemed to see through her thoughts, "It can be used by mortals, with a range of more than a thousand steps, its power can easily break through plate armor and iron shields, and there is almost no firing gap. Our people are completely been targeted."
After listening to the whole story of the battle, Isabella took a deep breath, her face was cloudy, and it took a long time before she said, "So you lost."
"It was a setback for the church, and Thorley Dahl's judgment was too hasty"
"No, I'm not referring to the battle," she interrupted, "but to what we've talked about before, only the one who wins is God's darling, and now it looks like it's not you."
"Do you think... Roland Wimbledon is more likely to win the smile of God than me?" Zero said calmly.
"Don't forget our purpose!" Isabella couldn't help raising her voice, "Defeat the devil and let the human race continue. As for whether the church does it or not, I don't care at all! This battle has already explained the problem. Gathering all his strength, defeating and devouring Roland, what good is it for this purpose? His army and witches will be slaughtered, and there will be only a few people left in the God's Punishment Army, and then? There is less than half a year left, It's a new round of evil moon!"
For a moment, she even thought Zero would kill her, but until the end, there was no response from the other party.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
After a long silence, the Pope asked softly. (… )