It was dusk, and the atmosphere in Hollier was solemn.
The incident that happened that day was too bloody, so much so that the entire city was in a state of martial law since the afternoon. To the public, it was said to be "searching for heretics", and the comforting words were "the situation is under effective control". As for whether it was true or not, it was hard for the commoners and even the nobles to know. After all, this incident only involved religion, and did not affect the interests of the nobles. Naturally, they could not be bothered to care.
But while there were people watching from the sidelines, there were also people who were in a terrible state.
Akasha, who was running for her life, felt that her legs were almost numb.
It was hard to describe her feelings at that moment. She did not know whether to say it was anger, grievance, self-blame, or regret. In short, when all of these emotions were mixed together, she felt that the blood in her body was cold.
It was not easy for her to make up her mind to leave the "Viper Cross", but she suddenly encountered such an incident. To Akasha, it was an outcome that was hard to accept. Because when everything went wrong, she still did not understand the reason!
Akasha felt that she was innocent. She had provided Rubens with information about Gallup, and she did not cooperate with Gallup to attack at the critical moment. But in the end, Rubens, who had promised her to join the "Rose Cross" and clear her name, actually attacked her with divine arts on the spot, and even ordered the soldiers to kill all of her subordinates …
When she saw the Holy Temple Guards pouncing on her and her subordinates, her heart was dead, and her mind was only left with the instinct to escape. Because she had the identity of a "Priest of Light", she finally managed to escape under the cover of her subordinates, and ran all the way to the relatively remote Cambay District of Hollier.
After the sun had set, there were no streetlights in the gloomy Cambay district. Her current state could be said to be "groping in the dark". But the reason why Akasha walked here was because she clearly remembered that the "Viper Cross" had spent half a year digging a secret tunnel here. And once she found the entrance of the secret tunnel, she could directly escape from Hollier City from here!
As for where to go after leaving the city, she did not even think about it. The only thought in her mind was not to get caught by the Holy Temple Guards …
Akasha, who was walking briskly, squinted her eyes to identify the blurry scenery around her. She could barely make out the outline of the walls around her, and she could confirm that she was roughly a few hundred meters away from the entrance. At that moment, a sudden shout came from not far away, "Who is it?!"
Akasha was not a cunning old fox like Gallup. She had always been a priestess who followed her duties. Whether it was shrewdness or scheming, she was no match for those who delved into political struggles. So when she heard such a question, her first reaction was to run away in a panic. She could not think of any other way to deal with it.
"There's someone! Catch him! "
The words that followed proved that Akasha's judgment was not wrong. The two Temple Guards had originally planned to search the entire Cambay district before leaving. Who knew that they would actually find a suspicious target after a simple bluff? They immediately chased after the target with large strides. In terms of physical strength, the three Akasha could not be compared to these professional soldiers. However, her memory was extremely outstanding. She was very familiar with the Cambay district after living here for more than ten days. She had even studied all the hidden spots in the corners of the district. Thus, she immediately turned left and right into a narrow alley. She found a low crack in the wall and crouched down to crawl in …
Because she was wearing cloth shoes, Akasha's footsteps were not loud. Furthermore, the armored Temple Guard's footsteps were clattering as he ran. Therefore, the Temple Guard did not notice that she had stopped to hide and quickly ran past Akasha's eyes.
"Where did she go?"
"It should be that way!"
"There's a fork in the road. Let's split up!"
The two footsteps gradually left, but Akasha did not dare to act rashly. She held her breath and waited for a while. After confirming that it was safe, she quietly climbed out, and then touched the wall as she walked towards the entrance of the tunnel that was only 200 meters away.
Stay calm.
Akasha said to herself in her heart. The slightest movement in her ears affected her nerves. But just when she thought that she could safely finish the rest of the journey, a sudden sharp pain in her back suddenly made her stop.
"Ss …"
Her face, which had been flushed from the continuous running, immediately paled. She immediately understood that the pain came from Bishop Jackad's curse!
The 'Punishment of Whipping' directly split open her back, leaving a gaping wound!
"You didn't come early or late … Damn it!"
She cursed, but she knew that she could not use any divine arts at the moment. In this dark environment, even the simplest 'Beginner Recovery Spell' would flash with blinding light, and to the Holy Temple Guards who were searching for her, it was definitely an act of suicide.
So Akasha immediately decided to endure the pain and continue running. When the wounds appeared on her back, Akasha almost bit her lips in pain. Usually, she would sit on a chair and wait for the curse to end, so she could endure the pain. But now, she was running with all her might. The pain from the wounds was many times greater than usual, and she almost screamed.
But with her strong willpower, Akasha forced herself to run for almost two hundred meters. When she came to the entrance not far from the secret passage, she already felt that her vision had darkened, and her legs were so heavy that she could not take another step.
The intense exercise caused the blood to flow faster, and the wound on her back that was not fatal now caused her to face an unavoidable problem. If she did not stop the bleeding, she was afraid that she would really die from excessive blood loss.
"I'm almost there, I'm almost there …"
She struggled to run the last ten meters, but in the end, she lost control and fell to the ground with a plop …
But she did not give up. She gritted her teeth and used her hands to prop herself up. The back of her robe was already soaked in blood, but she could not care about stopping the bleeding. She closed her eyes and used her memory to feel for a wooden door, and then pushed it open with her body weight.
The secret tunnel built by the "Viper Cross" was in an abandoned house not far from the city wall. Because of the failure of the operation, this tunnel had not been used by anyone. So when Akasha entered, everything was still the same as when it was built.
Akasha, who almost crawled in, barely closed the door, but she did not even have the strength to fasten the door bolt. She gritted her teeth and inched towards the fireplace in the bedroom. She reached out and pulled a loose stone slab. Immediately, a dark hole appeared in the fireplace …
This was the entrance to the secret tunnel.
Akasha had almost exhausted all her strength to reach this step. She wanted to raise her hand to cast a "Recovery Spell", but because of the excessive blood loss, her arm that was supporting herself against the wall suddenly went limp. She lost control of her body and fell directly into the secret tunnel!
The steep slope at the entrance was more than ten meters long. Akasha rolled all the way down and groaned in pain. She tried to stretch out her hand to stop the rolling, but in the darkness, she heard the sound of bones breaking and the pain that followed …
Broken bones.
Akasha's heart suddenly jumped to her throat, and panic spread. Without the coordination of both hands, there was no way to release a divine spell. Now there were more than ten bleeding wounds on her back, and the continuous blood loss made her almost unable to speak …
She tried to move her fingers, but found that under the pain, her palm did not respond at all.
Damn it! How could this be!?
Was he really going to die in this unknown place?
Akasha thought unwillingly before she fainted.
*****
Back to half an hour ago.
The atmosphere in the "Rose Cross" monastery was solemn.
Although the heretics had been punished, this attack was not good news for the sect. The enemy's madness caused a large number of casualties within the sect, and even affected many civilians, resulting in nearly sixty deaths.
This kind of negative impact would probably need a long time to be eliminated.
At this time, although the term "crisis public relations" did not exist, it was obvious that the "Rose Cross" sect still had the experience and ability to deal with such matters. Although it was already late at night, the streets and alleys were already plastered with notices about today's battle. Most of them had words like, "The sins of the heretics are unforgivable. They have received their due punishment." Of course, due to the large number of illiterate people, the silver coins allocated to the speakers were already in place. Tomorrow morning, there would be verbal explanations of the incident in the square and various areas of the city. With this, Rubens could directly "determine" the outcome of the incident and minimize the losses. The whole incident would be portrayed as a positive incident where the "Rose Cross" foiled the "Viper Cross" conspiracy.
In the "spiritual home" room of the monastery, Rubens sat in front of the wooden table, writing letter after letter to Cardinal Cade, to the Holy Cathedral, and to the entangled subordinates of the sect's authority. He had not rested since the afternoon. Compared to his busy schedule, Cardinal Benjamin seemed to be "idle".
He was holding the arrow that belonged to the "Rose Cross" armory in a daze.
When the news of Sally's disappearance reached his ears, he immediately felt that something was wrong. He immediately sent people to search for her. However, because she ran too fast, the Holy Knights that were sent later did not know where to start. They were still running in circles in the city, and had no idea that she had left the city a long time ago.
Benjamin was a little anxious because he also received the news: Francis was also missing.
He was well aware of the struggle between the siblings, and it was precisely because he was well aware that he did not casually participate in it. Naturally, there were some considerations and trade-offs that belonged to a politician. However, he did not expect that the conflict between the siblings would actually cause such a chaotic situation today …
Thinking back to today's battle, although he tried his best to suppress the fear in his heart, the feeling of facing death made him feel that he had made a "very wrong" decision. When he remembered that he purposely let Roddy misunderstand Sally, some "regret" gradually rose from the bottom of his heart.
But what was the use of regret? Who would have thought that this unknown, insignificant character would be able to reverse the entire situation with a single arrow, and even prevent the foundation of Hollier City's "Rose Cross" from being destroyed?
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