Book 12, The Descent of the Gods – Chapter 6, Slaughtering a Path to the Sacred Isle
“This definitely is not acceptable. If you are going to act like this, then I...” Dylin wanted to say ‘I will be unable to accept this divine spark’.
But this divine spark was simply too important to Dylin.
“Lord Dylin, don’t mind it too much. You should know that I am going to become a Deity on my own, and so I think you will need it more than I do.” Linley quickly changed the topic. “Lord Dylin, I have to get going.”
Seeing Linley was about to leave, Dylin couldn’t help but reach out to stop him.
“Linley, I truly don’t have any other treasures I can bring out.” Dylin looked at Linley, more serious than ever before. “But Linley, I will remember the kindness you have shown me on this day. If in the future there is anything you need, I, Dylin, definitely won’t say a single word in complaint.”
Linley smiled.
“Then Lord Dylin, let’s part ways here.”
......
Linley returned to Dragonblood Castle, and informed Delia, Wharton, and the others of the decision of the War God and the High Priest. Wharton, the Barker brothers, and Zassler, upon hearing this news, were extremely excited.
Both the Barker brothers and Zassler had their own major scores to settle with the Radiant Church.
This entire time, Wharton, as well, wanted to help Linley in his quest for revenge. In the past, he wasn’t strong enough, but now, Wharton had reached the Saint-level as well, and once he transformed into a Dragonblood Warrior Saint, he was extremely powerful, on par with Gates and the others.
Night time. A crescent moon hung in the sky.
Linley left his bed, putting on a long robe and heading to the balcony, staring at the endless night.
“Tomorrow. Tomorrow, the Radiant Church and I will have our final battle.” Linley couldn’t fall asleep tonight, no matter how he tried.
For some reason, those scenes from his childhood years kept on flashing through his mind. Whenever he thought about the fact that tomorrow, he was going to deal with the Radiant Church, and that he was about to accomplish the goal he had been striving towards for so long, he would grow excited.
“Linley.” Delia walked next to Linley as well. “Are you thinking about the attack on the Radiant Church tomorrow?”
Delia was going alongside Linley tomorrow. Although Delia hadn’t completely fused with the divine spark, Delia was still a Grand Magus Saint of the wind-style now. In addition, even her incomplete ‘Godrealm’ could still be effective in certain circumstances.
“Right. Tomorrow is a day for which I have waited a long time.” Linley’s heart was surging with emotion. “Sadly, Grandpa Doehring...won’t be able to see it.”
“If your Grandpa Doehring was still alive, he would definitely be so proud of you.” Delia consoled him. Delia knew about Doehring Cowart as well.
“Mother died. Father died. Even Grandpa Doehring, who took care of me the entire time, died.” Linley stared towards the west. “All thanks to the Radiant Church! Self-proclaimed to be ‘radiant’, self-proclaimed to ‘love the world’. The Radiant Church! They destroyed everything.”
Linley shook his head and sneered. “While I...I was nothing more than one of the countless families they had destroyed. Barker and his brothers, Rebecca and her sister...their families were all wiped out as well! It was the Radiant Church who did it!”
Linley’s rage was beginning to build.
“Linley, don’t think too much about these things. Tomorrow, everything will come to an end.” Delia consoled him. Delia knew very well...that if it hadn’t been because of the amount of hatred he had felt, how could Linley have forced himself to endure so much, and at the tender age of eighteen, enter the endless, uninhabited Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for three full years, and then train in another little village for five?
“Right. Tomorrow, it will all come to an end.” Linley raised his head to look at the night sky.
For a moment, it seemed...his father, his Grandpa Doehring, and that vague, blurry memory of his mother were there in the night sky, watching him!
April 8th. Dawn. The morning sun shone down upon Dragonblood Castle.
“Grooooowl.” A deep growl.
An enormous, sinuous draconic form seemed to coil about near Dragonblood Castle, but the soldiers of Dragonblood Castle weren’t startled at all. Many of them already knew that there were three Saint-level dragons living within Dragonblood Castle. Occasionally, the dragon Saints would head out, while occasionally they would come back.
This was also the reason why there was an urban legend that Dragonblood Castle had enormous dragons in the vicinity.
Within the spacious training fields of Dragonblood Castle.
Linley’s experts had arrived long ago. On this trip to the Sacred Isle, Linley’s side included...Linley, Bebe, Delia, Wharton, the five Barker brothers, Zassler, and the three Saint-level dragons. In total, thirteen.
As for Dragonblood Castle, Haeru would be left on guard.
Every single individual heading out on this expedition was a peak-stage Saint, none of them weaker than Heidens in power.
“They haven’t arrived yet?” Wharton was getting rather impatient.
Right now, there was a large group of people waiting to send them off as well. One of them was Hillman, who laughed and said, “Wharton, don’t be impatient. It is still early. The great plains of the far east are especially far away from us, at least ten thousand kilometers distant. Even flying will take a long time.”
“Desri’s group will probably arrive a bit earlier, but Tulily and the others will need a long period of time. Don’t be impatient. Everyone, just keep waiting a while longer.” Linley spoke out. But although he counseled patience, Linley himself still couldn’t help but continuously stare towards the skies.
He had waited far too long for this day.
“Big bro, I think you are even more impatient than I am.” Wharton said with a laugh.
Linley could only laugh in response.
“Wow, they are here!” Bebe, standing on Linley’s shoulders, suddenly let out a surprised, delighted cry.
Linley’s group quickly discovered that in the distant horizon, indistinct human figures were flying towards them at high speed. One of them, a fast-moving flashing white streak of light, was especially noticeable, and Linley immediately recognized the person. It was Desri!
“Hrm?” Linley was suddenly surprised.
From the distant horizon, there were more than ten people flying over. Aside from Desri, Pennslyn, Higginson, Miller, Ford, and Livingston, there were six others coming as well. The other six people were led by Tulily.
“Tulily and his disciples have arrived as well?” Although Linley was puzzled by the question of how Tulily, who lived over ten thousand kilometers away, had managed to arrive so soon, he was still extremely delighted.
Everyone was here. That meant they could head out soon.
Desri and Tulily’s groups landed together within Dragonblood Castle.
Tulily walked forward, a rare hint of a smile on his face. “Linley, we aren’t late, right?”
“Not late at all. Only, why is it that you are alongside Desri’s group? Did you coincidentally meet on the way over? Especially since you live in the great plains of the far east...” Before Linley even finished his words, the nearby Desri laughed and responded, “Linley, Tulily led his disciples to my place yesterday, which is why this morning, we headed out together.”
Linley now understood.
“I was afraid of coming late and making your two sides impatient. That wouldn’t be good.” Tulily laughed. “Desri and I haven’t had a proper get together in quite some time anyhow, so I stayed a night at his place.”
“Everyone’s present. Enough chitchat, then. Let’s head out.” Bebe said.
Linley, Desri, and Tulily exchanged glances, then began to laugh. Linley nodded, then said loudly, “Good, then let’s head out immediately.” Linley stared towards the western horizon, his eyes shining. “Our destination: The Radiant Church’s Sacred Isle!”
Yulan continent, year 10034, April 8th. With Linley, Desri, and Tulily as the leaders, a total of twenty five Saints flew valiantly out of Dragonblood Castle, piercing through the clouds in the sky, heading directly west.
The guards of Dragonblood Castle all sighed in astonishment as they watched this scene.
Twenty five Saints flying together at the same time. When had ordinary people ever seen such an incredible sight?
Within a large ship that was sailing with haste towards the Sacred Isle of the Radiant Church.
The waves struck against the beaches as that ship finally came to a halt at the Sacred Isle’s harbor. In front of the harbor, the violet-robed Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal were staring coldly at the ship. The high level Executor who was in charge of escorting this ship was the first to disembark.
“How many did you ship over?” The leader of the Special Executors said coldly.
The disembarked Executor said respectfully, “Milord, this time we have shipped over eight hundred.”
“Mm.” The Special Executor nodded slightly. “Quick, bring them all over. First wash them, and give them some clean clothes.”
“Yes!”
Immediately, one dirty slave after another was brought out by the executors.
“Radiant Church, radiant? As radiant as dogshit!” A slave roared furiously from amidst the others in the ground, but immediately following his shout was a crack of a whip.
“If you have the ability to do so, then kill me. I was blind for having believed that this was a pilgrimage.” The slave roared loudly in a hoarse voice. “My wife, my daughter? Did you bring them all here as well? And you claim this is a pilgrimage? I really am blind...uh...uh...uh...”
A blade had flashed, and a large hole had appeared in the slave’s mouth as a piece of his tongue came falling off.
“What’s this all about?” The Special Executor barked to the whip-wielding low-level Executor.
“Milord, I don’t know either.” The low-level Executor was terrified. “While shipping them over, this stubborn ones were disciplined long ago. I didn’t expect that this fellow had been biding his time.”
The slave whose tongue had been cut off stared hatefully at these Executors.
Most of the other slaves had felt resigned to their fate long ago. They walked forward numbly.
Within a wide tunnel.
Heidens, dressed in a white robe, was standing in front of a beautiful female priestess, dressed in white. At this time, a large number of washed slaves, now dressed in clean clothes, were being escorted through this dark tunnel to the other end.
“Uh....” That slave whose tongue had been chopped off had also been washed and given a fresh change of clothes.
He stared at Heidens, and instantly, his terrified eyes turned round.
In the Holy Union, Heidens had presided over large-scale masses before, and in the past, this slave had personally seen Heidens and knew that Heidens was the Holy Emperor of the Radiant Church.
Instantly, he began to make furious ‘uh’ sounds towards Heidens.
“Hurry up.” Instantly, one of the escorts behind him gave him a vicious lash of the whip, causing the slave’s body to spasm from the blow.
“Such utter fools. They should feel proud to be able to offer their lives to the mighty Lord Chiquita [Qi’ji’ta].” The female priestess behind Heidens said with a cold snort.
Heidens laughed calmly.
“How many souls does Lord Chiquita still need before he will have completely recovered?” Heidens asked the white-robed priestess.
The priestess said respectfully, “Your Holiness, in the past year, we have already delivered several tens of thousands of people. Lord Chiquita has already recovered most of his strength, but according to what Lord Chiquita says, to completely recover, he will most likely need ten thousand more common souls.”
“Ten thousand more common souls? That will still take a long time.” Heidens frowned.
“But of course, ten Saint-level souls would be sufficient.” The white-robed priestess said.
Heidens frowned, casting a glance at the white-robed priestess. “Saint-level souls? Hmph. Remember, all you need to do is take good care of Lord Chiquita. Don’t get involved in anything else.”
“Yes.” The white-robed priestess said respectfully.
Heidens glanced towards the other end of the tunnel, then at the freshly washed slaves who were still being escorted in an unbroken stream through it. He sighed secretly, “Before draining their souls, he wants the slaves to be washed and changed into clean clothes? This Chiquita...ugh...”
Heidens actually felt some aversion towards this Chiquita.
But Heidens knew exactly how terrifyingly powerful Chiquita was.
Ever since the event which happened in the Anarchic Lands, where he had torn up the agreement with Linley and had their final falling out, Heidens had begun to carefully plan for what he would have to do in the event that Linley led a group of Saints to slaughter a path to the Sacred Isle.
“Fortunately, the Radiant Sovereign is munificent. At this moment of crisis, he permitted Lord Chiquita to descend.” Heidens murmured to himself.
But what Heidens didn’t know was that right now, Linley was currently leading a group of twenty five experts who were traversing through the ocean, flying at high speed to the Sacred Isle.