A humming sound emanated from the harbor.
Various machines operated, and porters bustled about busily.
The black curtain of the sky suddenly parted, revealing daylight. The transition from black to white was so swift.
Even though everyone was already accustomed to it, they still squinted slightly at this moment; it took a moment to adjust.
Alka and the others also woke from their sleep.
Today, everyone was free to move around as usual, but Alka was heading for the Church of Our Lady on the mountainside.
"Wait, I'll go with you," Jason said hurriedly as he arrived.
After all, Jason was also a believer in the Virgin Mary, and he wanted to see what the Cathedral had become.
Alka nodded, and with Lucilia on his shoulders, he and Sofia disembarked together.
They crossed the street and arrived at the foot of the mountain.
The stairs, winding and ascending through the rocks, rose one step at a time. Early in the morning, they saw some believers in the Virgin Mary climbing the mountain.
Akar and his companions ascended the stairs.
The surroundings were ordinary trees until they bypassed various undulations and obstructions to their view and ascended.
Then they saw a vast golden wheat field stretching off into the distance along the mountainside. At the top of the wheat field, they saw the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, built on a sunken platform.
The statue of the Virgin Mary stood prominently in front of the church.
Akar and his companions followed.
They ascended the stairs with the surrounding believers toward the church.
Soon, they crossed the wheat field and reached the platform.
Looking at the statue of the Virgin Mary before them,
Everyone folded their hands in silent prayer.
Then they arrived at the front prayer hall.
A number of believers had already taken their seats.
Akar and his companions sat at the back.
The first morning prayers didn't last long, only about ten minutes.
Aside from a few devout believers, most of the first group began to leave.
A priest in cassocks approached them.
"My Lords, please follow me."
Alka and the others nodded and followed him.
Passing through a small door at the side, they reached the back. They could see a smaller wheat field beyond, but the ears of wheat here looked even more golden.
They could sense that these ears of wheat were no ordinary ears; they could sense the presence of the Virgin Mary.
At the edge of the wheat field stood a stone table.
Beside the stone table, a knight in heavy armor rested his chin on his hand, waiting idly.
Beside him was a young priest, seemingly chatting with him.
Then they saw Alka and the others and stood up.
"You must be Alka, right? Nice to meet you. You're a little different than I expected." The middle-aged knight looked at Alka, smiled, and extended his hand.
Finally, he shook Alka's hand. "My name is Rosk, and I'm temporarily managing this church."
A knight managing a church? Alka nodded, somewhat puzzled.
A cathedral like this usually has an archbishop, who is always present and oversees all matters.
After all, a cathedral covers a vast area, and a large area is governed by the cathedral.
"This is Saint Gadri of the Virgin Mary."
After hearing this introduction, Gadri looked at Alka and nodded, acknowledging him.
Afterward, Alka introduced Shadati and the others. Everyone took their seats, gathering around the stone table. A gentle breeze rustled through the wheat fields, bringing with it the fragrance of rice.
Alka blinked and took a look at the knight named Rosk. His strength had actually reached the initial stage of the eighth stage.
This could already be considered a powerful figure, a figure capable of ascending to godhood. However, the glints of light emanating from him were three gold and one orange. Clearly, he was still missing a scepter-level treasure and a crown-level treasure.
However, Alka was puzzled by the fact that such a powerful figure had not yet traveled to World Scar.
Rosk's pocket ring flashed, and a small box appeared in his hand. He then placed it on the table and pushed it in front of Alka.
"Inside is the location of Trial Island and the token shown to the guard knights there. You must keep it safe."
Alka opened the lid and examined the contents. After confirming that they were correct, he nodded and put the box away.
With this, their main purpose for coming here had been achieved.
After achieving their primary objective, Alka looked at Rosk before him and asked, "Any latest news on World Scar?
We've been sailing at sea, with virtually no access to intelligence, so I'd like to know."
Rosk nodded at Alka's words, then turned to look at Gadry beside him.
Gadry looked at Alka and said, "The information we have is a bit outdated. If the latest news is available, you can wait a while and it will be delivered."
He checked the hourglass in his hand to confirm the time.
Alka nodded at this. If it was just a short wait, there was no need to rush.
"I heard you killed Nargaro, son of the sea god? Is that true?" Rosk suddenly asked.
Hearing this, Alka and the others were a little surprised. After all, the island where they killed Nargaro was a very secluded place. After all, it was chosen by him.
It was a secret place where he could hide from his father's pursuit.
Logically, the only person who knew about this should be Poseidon himself, but surprisingly, even the members of the Holy Mother Church knew about it?
Is the intelligence this strong?
But there was nothing to hide, so Alka nodded in acknowledgement.
"That's impressive."
At this moment, Gadry, standing next to him, looked at Alka and asked, "If you don't mind, could you please describe the entire process for me? Of course, it's not me who needs it, but the people in Poseidon's Storm Church who need the information.
They only found traces of battle on the island and received definitive information from the gods about the death of Poseidon's son, but they need to know the details of the process."
Hearing this, Alka nodded. There was nothing to hide.
Then, together with Jason, they recounted the entire story in detail.
"So that's how it is," the two men in front nodded. Just as they finished their conversation, a golden light flew over and landed in Gadri's hands. They knew this was a means of communicating within the Holy Mother Church.
Otherwise, relying solely on human labor to deliver messages across a vast area like the Boundless Sea would take far too long.
So when Gadri opened the envelope and examined the message inside, everyone involuntarily dropped their mouths and stared at him intently. Then they saw Gadri, his increasingly grim expression a sure sign that the situation on the front lines was dire.
Gadri reached out and shattered the paper in his hand into several pieces, which then floated into the hands of everyone present.
Alka caught it and carefully examined the message.
The gist of it was that the number of demons was beyond imagination, and even with constant support, the situation on the front lines was extremely grim.
Even though they had built thicker walls, constructed line after line of defense, and had already begun to defend against the demons' offensive,
The newly constructed defense line, closest to the interior, had been completely destroyed.
The casualties were approaching ten thousand.
Remember, those able to participate in the battle were all members of the third stage, so tens of thousands of casualties was already an outrageous number.
And demons continued to pour out, with many more demons not yet recorded.
The most fatal problem was that the rift in the world was still widening. As it grew, the demons' combat power grew stronger.
Looking at this information, Alka couldn't help but sigh.
Because his dreamland was constantly strengthening its stability, there was still no way.
Continuing to look down,
He received news that was hard to say whether it was good or bad.
A member of the Church of the Holy Machine, Elpike, had consumed his scepter-level artifact to complete a ritual.
Now, the entire world scar had become an area of absolutely stable space.
All spatial movement is prohibited here; even the scars of the world have ceased their ability to expand outward.
The entire ritual is nearly immobilized by the energy of a specific treasure.
Even though it's still permeated by the abyssal aura, this exhausting ritual can at least be sustained for quite some time.
This is the only good news in the entire message.
However, with such a large area, even the demons pouring out are already causing the frontline forces to retreat.
Further down, there's a list of names posted.
A list of victims.
Perhaps because it was sent to the Mother Church, the names listed there were exclusively members of the Church.
Arka saw several familiar names.
Among them was Linton, the battle-mad warrior who had a close relationship with Pororo and also died in this battle.
Looking at the information and list, Alka sighed softly, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
Although the exit to the Abyss won't expand any further, it's now large enough to transport sufficient demonic forces to World Scar.
The first line of defense has been broken, and the second line is the former demon-proof wall.
However, it's unclear how long this wall can hold up.
Everyone knows it can't hold out for the centuries it once did. Perhaps in a year or two, the wall will be overrun by demons.
As expected, it's all bad news.
Furthermore, as the fighting on the front lines intensifies, more and more people will be expended, and by then, there won't be any more manpower or resources to replenish them.
It's become a veritable meat grinder.
"Damn it, that Elpick guy, he should have let me go," Rosk angrily said, slamming the paper on the table.
From his tone, he clearly knew this man named Alpick.
Alka was fortunate that he was on the front lines and hadn't heard of such a name.
Lucelia whispered in Alka's ear, "All the powerful members of the Seed of Life and the Church of the Holy Machine have gone to support this time.
This Alpick should be the head of the Church of the Holy Machine here."
Hearing this, Alka nodded, perhaps understanding.
Gadri then received another message and whispered something in Rosk's ear.
Both men stood up somewhat helplessly.
"My apologies, everyone. Due to the situation on the front lines, we have a lot of things to deal with right now. We can't entertain you anymore. I'll buy you a drink next time," Rosk said. Hearing this, Alka waved his hand.
"If there's anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask. We won't bother you anymore."
Both parties nodded, said goodbye, and watched the two hurried away.
Arka and the others also followed the mountain path back down.
Soon, they returned to the ship.
The Voice of Dawn sailed directly out of the harbor and headed towards their destination.
Arka's men stood on the deck, watching the towering mountain gradually shrink.
"Linton's dead! What a shame! He was a rare warrior," Pororo said, reading the message in his hand.
The news from World Scar had everyone in a bad mood.
The list of casualties from the Holy Mother Church alone included many familiar figures, not to mention those from other factions.
Silently, they braved the sea breeze.
Gazing at the sea ahead.
Everyone took out bottles of wine and began pouring them into the sea. This was the only memorial they could offer.
…
After only a few days of sailing, Alka and his companions arrived at the location on the map.
They could see the tall Trial Tower from afar.
"Hmm, another Trial Tower! This will be the fourth one we've collected," Jason said, looking at him from the distance.
Alka nodded. "That's one-third of the total."
It took nearly two years.
It was probably because the first three towers were relatively close together.
A gentle breeze blew.
The bright sky was suddenly covered by a curtain.
Night descended.
Tonight, the sky was filled with a full moon and a galaxy of stars.
It seems tonight is a good time for Sofia to meditate.
Suddenly, Alka frowned and sniffed the air.
Before Alka could say anything, or even think, Ululius, not far away, shouted, "There's a smell of blood? A strong smell of blood! Human blood."
Hearing this, everyone immediately frowned.
The fact that it could be carried so far by the sea breeze meant that the smell of blood was quite strong.
After all, although Ululius was a dragon, his sense of smell wasn't that strong; it was just slightly stronger than theirs.
Then Ululius sniffed again and pointed in the direction of the Trial Tower in the distance.
"It's on the island."
Hearing this, everyone looked at each other.
"Something might have happened. There are knights guarding the Trial Island."
"Sofia, Jason, and Ululius, take us with you. The rest of you, stand guard on the boat and hurry."
Alka immediately ordered.
Everyone nodded.
Ululius transformed into a dragon and gently flapped her wings. Clouds gathered around her, dragging Alka and the others along with her as they flew towards the island.
Soon, they reached the edge of the island. To be on the safe side, they landed right there.
If they rushed in directly, they would be at a disadvantage in case of an ambush.
The moment Sofia landed, silver ripples spread rapidly from her feet outward, reaching a vast area, almost encompassing the entire island.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood.
Moreover, the blood smelled fresh, not stale, indicating it had only recently been shed.
At most, half a day.
With such a strong odor of blood, these so-called knights were probably in grave danger.
The three of them spread out slightly and moved forward quickly.
"No feedback from living creatures... We've detected corpses... There are 18 corpses in total, and the clothes on their bodies are
"These are knights of the Holy Mother Church."
It matches the number of knights we know of here perfectly."
Sofia had already received feedback from the ripples.
Soon, everyone saw the first corpse.
This was an ordinary knight, whose strength in life was only around the third stage. A bloody hole had been pierced through his chest, and blood was flowing from it. His heart, which had been extracted, had been crushed and discarded nearby.
He was killed instantly, powerless to resist, and from the front.
His eyes were wide open as he died, his eyes wide open.
Another ripple was heard.
"It's a demon! There's a demon on the island."
Sofia's detection system detected the demon's presence.
"Why can't I smell the abyss?" "Urulius asked, somewhat curiously.
Urulius was extremely sensitive to the aura of the Abyss, so there was no way she couldn't smell it, if there was a demon here.
Sofia simply shook his head.
Finally, the group passed by the corpses and quickly headed towards the tower.
Corpses appeared one after another around them. Not a single knight was able to resist, all killed in a single blow. There was hardly any sign of a fight around them.
Stationed here were a team of Wheat Ear Knights and two squads of ordinary knights.
The ordinary knight squads were at level three, while the Wheat Ear Knights were mostly at level four.
To be able to instantly kill a level four demon, this demon must be at least level six.
At the thought of it being level six, and even sensing a demon, Alka frowned.
A level six demon doesn't have the aura of the Abyss, and yet it's here.
"Could it be... the Devouring Mouth?" "
"Congratulations, you got it right!