Chapter 889: Return to the City
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At that moment, the members of the Church were dumbfounded.
"Where... Where are they?"
The Skyfall Mountains in front of them were so tall that they stretched into the clouds, with bare and rocky walls that had nothing on them at all. However, all they could do was just watch with their eyes wide open as the ice ship rushed straight into the stone wall, before vanishing completely. Not the slightest trace of them could be found.
They did not dare believe their eyes. They were stunned at where the ship disappeared into, not knowing what to do for a few moments. Should they continue chanting? However... there was no one left, so where should they aim the ultimate skill that they were chanting for at? Regardless, they had no courage to stop anyway; His Highness the Pope had just unleashed his fury a while ago. If anyone were unlucky enough again, none of them would be able to bear the responsibility for it.
In the end, it was Grant himself who stopped.
He looked at the mountain wall before him with an expression of confusion on his face, remaining quiet for a long time. After that, he brought his men and rushed towards the mountains with a cold look in his eyes, even trying to ’dash into’ the mountains the way Benjamin’s ice ship did. However, the result was as one would have expected; they created a huge hole by crashing into the stone wall, but there was no progress at all.
In a fury, Grant controlled the statue and began rapidly punching into the Skyfall Mountains, one after another. He even almost had the intention of breaking through the entire mountain. However... In the end, time seemed to be up for the statue after approximately fifteen minutes; it turned into Holy Light, slowly dispersing in the air. The mountain wall, on the other hand, had been hit so much in the middle that a deep pit had appeared, but the situation remained the same.
The strangest thing was how the sensor had told them that the Princess was ’in the mountain’ and slowly moving towards the east when they had tried to sense the location of the Princess. She did not seem to be very far from them.
Nevertheless... they just could not find them.
Thus, the Church spent an entire night’s time searching the Skyfall Mountains. It was only until they sensed that the Princess had left the boundaries of the kingdom through the mountains that they were forced to give up. The priests dragged their exhausted bodies and flew back; every head was down, feeling a mix of misery and fear. They did not know whose head His Highness the Pope would be pouring his wrath upon after they got back.
At the same time, inside the Skyfall ’Mountains’.
"So this is where you catch your spirits."
Under the abyss, the cabin door of the ice ship had been sealed up to achieve a completely soundproof effect, cutting off the illusions of the spirits outside. Benjamin and the others sat in the cabin as they moved toward the east. While they looked at the sights within the abyss, Morris could not help but open his mouth and speak in a tone of admiration.
With the ice wall in between, they could see many spirits flying about, like jellyfish floating in the deep sea. It was also the illusion created by these spirits that transformed the entire ’Skyfall Mountains’ and enabled them to successfully escape the Church’s pursuit.
They had not imagined that the ’way of escaping’ Benjamin had mentioned would be this!
"En, the other end of the abyss is the Netherworld. We’ve caused a bit of trouble over there in the past, so it’s best not to get close," Benjamin shrugged, speaking calmly. "But... whatever it is, the Church won’t be able to see through the secret here for a while. We’re already safe."
Hearing that, the people there nodded. There was a sense of gratitude in their eyes, having survived a disaster.
"What should we do next?" Someone asked the question.
"Get back to Worchester as quickly as possible and meet up with the others, then continue with the next step of the plan," Benjamin answered without hesitation. "The only thing is that... we might have to take the long route now."
Thus, the ice ship flew at high speed along the abyss. After approximately a few hours, they left straight for the Kingdom of Helius and entered the territory of Icor. Now that they had reached another country, even if the Church could sense the location of the Princess, it would still be very difficult for the Church to be a threat to them. Because of that, Benjamin and his team of people came out from the abyss and passed through the entire land of Icor from the north to the south. Finally, going along the coastline, they hurried back toward Worchester once more.
The situation did not look good.
Although they had just tricked the Church, as far as the entire incident at Pearl Lake was concerned, the tunnel had collapsed, and the losses of the Black Nightmare Army were immense; Benjamin was just doing what he could to remedy the situation. Furthermore, after all this, the Church was definitely not going to give up. This battle was far from over.
That night, secret undercurrents began to brew in the Kingdom of Helius. It was very obvious that the disturbance during the explosion of the tunnels had been so great, it certainly could not be concealed. Chaos arose amidst the people, and there were divergent stories and opinions being shared. Even the other countries had gotten news of the incident and were sending spies over continuously for more information.
After searching Skyfall Mountains over a few nights in successions and having no results, the Church... did not rest as well, apparently.
"The royal army has set off for Worchester."
Benjamin was still hurrying there when he received such news.
He was not surprised at that. All he did next was to speak into the transmission woodpiece, "Calculate our losses at the tunnel under Pearl Lake and gather the forces, prepare the defenses properly. I will hurry back as soon as possible."
As the first headquarters of the Black Nightmare Army, Worchester was still in a rather stable condition. The Runic Defense Technique kept the place under protection, and within these few days, the lucky soldiers and mages who had survived in the tunnel had been hurrying back bit by bit, joining the main troop. Various people from amongst the people who rebelled against the Church also sought refuge there. In addition, a few rich merchants in the kingdom had also begun to contact them, willing to provide financial support and topple the Church together.
The situation was not too bad; they could still fight. The Church had obviously realized this as well, which was why they had grouped together a wave of army troops, wishing to take this chance to smother and kill the Black Nightmare Army as fast as they could.
He had to rush back immediately.
Thus, on approximately the morning of the third day after the collapse of the tunnel, Benjamin drove the ice ship, flying straight and fast, before landing on the coast of the Kingdom of Helius and successfully arriving in Worchester.
The royal army had not yet attacked them. However, although he had only left Worchester for three days, the sight in the city had become a lot more desolate. Many citizens had long brought their entire families, young and old, and fled in a hurry. Benjamin walked on the busiest main street where more than half of the shops had closed down, and those that were left were barely getting by. The people on the streets had anxious expressions, and there were even more people hiding in their homes, stocking up on food so they could wait for everything to be over.
"Why are so many people running away? Do they really have no confidence at all in the Black Nightmare Army?"
Benjamin walked into a blacksmith’s shop that was still open. Upon seeing the quiet atmosphere inside, he asked this.
"Haven’t you heard? The entire Black Nightmare Army has been killed in an explosion! Even their leaders have disappeared!" The owner of the shop did not seem to recognize him and spoke in a bitter tone. "If not for my reluctance in leaving this shop, I’d have run too. That’s the royal army! Those in this city who can run... they’ve actually run off a long time ago."
Hearing that, Benjamin’s face became rather solemn.
It seemed that... before the Church arrived to attack them, they had to first steady the hearts of the people.
He left this street and walked first towards the Black Nightmare Army’s station here.
The station was situated in the south of Worchester. Right then, it looked slightly empty even though it was vast. The original camp had been prepared for the entire Black Nightmare Army, but many tents were not of use anymore after they experienced the collapse of the tunnel. The few huge warehouses were also empty, because the army machinery and rations that should have been stored inside were now buried deep underground.
"Mage Benjamin! Mage Benjamin has arrived!"
"Sir, you’ve finally returned!"
"Many people have died, they... We..."
The second Benjamin walked in, a racket suddenly started in the camp. It was as though something that had been suppressed all this time had accumulated to a point; the soldiers had just been done with their marching drills, so they rushed towards him without a care about anything else. Those eyes, filled with such complicated emotions, caused Benjamin’s heart to feel indescribably heavy.
He knew that the people were waiting for him to speak.
It was also necessary for him to say something now.
Thus, escorted by numerous soldiers, Benjamin came to the field and slowly walked onto the stage.