Chapter 401: Change Course and Ambush
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bishop Victor was leading his troops, quietly heading toward the City of Rayleigh.
"Your Excellency, this time we will make him pay."
A paladin who served as the bishop’s bodyguard was eager to reach their destination and spoke with suppressed excitement.
The assassinations and newspaper distributions were pushing the Church to their breaking point. Even a paladin such as himself hadn’t slept a wink in days because he was busy cleaning up the papers had been stuck around the City of Snow.
How could he not hate Benjamin?
He would not stand for the dignity of God being tainted. Because of this, he had volunteered to capture Benjamin on his own but was stopped short by the bishop.
"Even if you do find him, do you honestly think you’re his match?" The bishop calmly explained to him, "Have patience - it won’t be long until he slips up."
The paladin did not initially understand what the bishop meant. But soon, he heard news about the Rayleigh City demonstration. It looked like the fella had gotten so cocky that he now thought he could outright challenge the Church.
The paladin said a silent prayer when he heard the news. Naturally, any man who dared challenge God would be doomed to the pits of hell.
He now understood the bishop’s thought process and realized that his excellency was well prepared for the event.
He had already assembled soldiers and priest to head to the demonstration; every concealed route had also been well thought out. He had been waiting for this opportunity the whole time to catch their enemies like sitting ducks!
The paladin was confident in this plan. With this large a force, there was no way their opponents could fight back. Not to mention the bishop had also prepared a holy relic to stop enemies from escaping.
That mage who humiliated them... this was his death sentence.
"Be careful." The bishop spoke with a soft voice, "They are very cautious. The spies just sent word that he has gathered all the mages to meet outside of Rayleigh City in order to discuss the details of the demonstration. They have yet to enter the city so if we bump into them and scare them away, then it will all be for nothing."
His Excellency was right. Benjamin was elusive, and they had been tortured long enough. This was a golden opportunity and he would not let it slip through his fingers.
They had to be patient and wait until all the mages have entered the City of Rayleigh and Benjamin himself had shown his face before they made their move. Only then would they surround the area and eliminate the enemy.
And so, they continued to march cautiously in the dark. They took a side road which resulted in them having to fend off the magical beast, slowing them down drastically.
"Alright, let’s rest for a while to regain our energy. Black Rock Valley is up ahead and there are many magic beasts there. We ought to be careful."
After some time, the bishop suddenly stopped and called out to his troops. The soldiers and the priests let out a sigh of relief as they heard the order.
Marching in the dark was pretty tiring to begin with, but added on to fact that they also had to constantly take care of magical beast? They were just about ready to pass out.
The troops started unpacking their rations to refuel their bodies. The aggressively ate their meal, totally oblivious to their surroundings.
The Bishop stood at the front of the army and stared off into the valley not far away. He seemed to be deep in thought,
"Your Excellency, please drink some water." The paladin held out a bag of water and offered it to his commanding officer.
The Bishop nodded and took the water over for a few sips. He put down the water bag and suddenly spoke, "Don’t you think that this valley is a little too quiet?"
The paladin frowned and glanced toward the valley before replying, "It could be due to the magical beasts. Many of them will remain quiet whilst stalking prey. Once the prey is within range, then they will jump out from the shadows."
The bishop continued looking at the valley, "Are you saying that they are waiting for us?"
The paladin smiled, "Just a bunch of magical beast, nothing major. Why are you so worried about, sir?"
"Well, we can’t be too careful. There are many difficult magic beasts in the land and they are not to be underestimated." The bishop furrowed his brows and hesitated, "I have a bad feeling about this. We should use a different route and go around the Black Rock Valley."
... They were going to change course?
The paladin was surprised that they were changing course just because of some magical beast. His Excellency was indeed a cautious person.
Although he did understand the logic behind it, he did not object to the orders. It wasn’t a big deal, if His Excellency wanted to take the longer road, then they would take the longer road. They were making good time and were in no rush.
However, he was curious and took another glance at Black Rock Valley.
Difficult magic beasts, huh...
The Kingdom of Helius was not like Fereldan. There were not many magical beasts there. In fact, he had never even faced a magical beast before coming to Fereldan. Still, he wondered about just how difficult these beasts could be...
He quickly dismissed the thought and finished resting up. After ten minutes, the troops packed up their gear and adjusted their route to go the long way around the valley.
However, just as they had started to march.
"Hey... what is that?"
A loud scream made all of them look toward the sky.
The cloudy night sky had been replaced with a crystal-clear ice surface. A humongous lake of blue spread out toward the far corners of the sky, stretching a few kilometers across.
They were stunned speechless.
The ice surface hung about twenty meters over them and clearly reflected their shocked expressions back at them.
The bishop’s eyes widened in horror and he started to scream out orders.
"This is bad! It’s an ambush, get out—!" The bishop suddenly turned and stared toward the direction of the valley. His voice broke as he desperately tried to evaluate the situation. Nobody had ever seen him in such a state of hysteria before.
Most of them could not process the situation and did not understand why the bishop was behaving as such. However, basic survival instincts took over and they quickly tried to make a run for it.
Sadly, the "lake" above their heads did not give them time to do so.
The giant ice surface in the sky suddenly started falling towards them. The soldiers raised their heads and looked on in horror. What kind of demonic magic was this?
My god...
How could this be?
The scope of the icy surface was wide. Although it did not cover the entire team, those beside the bishop were right in the epicenter and did not stand a chance!
Hence, the bishop, the team of paladins and a section of the priest could not do anything but grit their teeth and brace for impact.
The troops that were orderly just moments ago were now in total chaos. They ran around like headless chickens at the thought of the giant lake of ice crashing down on them. They were not made of metal, they would be annihilated.
Even the priest and paladins were scared completely stiff, unable to summon anything to help shield them.
Only Bishop Victor had control over his own actions. He devotedly held both his arms high toward the sky. A glistening holy light blazed in his plans like a supernova.
If you stared at it closely, you could make out the blurred silhouette of a cup in the blazing light.