Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1616: Chapter 343: Shadows of the Cross in the Sunlight

“Quick, the old guy is here!”

Three figures swiftly approached—they were Mind Witch Gillian, Black Dragon Audwin, and the granddaughter of Sword Saint Roland: Leia.

Farael’s speed was incredibly fast. By the time the mind witches arrived, Farael was already suppressing Angel Hamaliel on the ground.

Afterward, every event where Farael drove the members of the Holy Church to collapse was clearly visible to them… Ms. Witch naturally held Leia, trembling.

As for the black dragon… the black dragon was quieter than the two girls at that moment.

It wasn’t until Luminous Tower Master descended and sent Farael away that they seized the opportunity to quietly leave the Holy Church’s territory… The black dragon tracked Farael by scent to where he was.

This was outside the Holy Church’s area.

When they found Farael, he was sitting on a large rock with his eyes closed, as if he had completely merged with the stone.

“Why does he seem a bit abnormal?” Leia said instinctively.

“This old guy has never been normal, okay?” Ms. Witch rolled her eyes directly… but when she thought of Farael, whom she always called the old guy, even cutting down a descending angel directly, Ms. Witch couldn’t help but shiver in fear.

——Maybe I should be nicer to this old guy…

Just when Ms. Witch was troubled about how to awaken the motionless Farael, the black dragon suddenly handed over a branch.

——Use this branch to poke him and see.

The message was passed through Black Dragon’s eyes—then Ms. Witch took the branch, sneered, and snapped it with her knee.

——If you want to do it, you do it.

Black Dragon blinked and then seemed to forget the matter, turning to look at Leia, who was at a loss… Suddenly, Audwin grabbed Leia’s arm, manifested his true form, and soared into the sky with Leia clutched in his claw.

Now is the time to leave, what better opportunity?

But before the black dragon could fly high in the sky, it was caught by a massive invisible force, crashing hard onto the ground, seeing stars.

Farael had opened his eyes at some unknown time, and he was murmuring to himself, “The path of Master Radiance… is not suitable for me. Once I walk out, it’s escapism, even if I use the excuse of going out for confrontation methods, I can’t make up for the fear that’s already generated in my heart… Only here, in the moment of facing them, can I find myself.”

His gaze alternated between clarity and confusion, finally settling into calmness.

Farael looked at the black dragon climbing up in distress, eyes filled with fury, and calmly said, “You can leave if you want, but Roland’s descendant must stay… From now on, I will give my all to guide her to success.”

Chubby Leia heard this instantly, her vision went dark, almost fainting on the spot.

Ms. Witch was silently grieved for the Sword Saint’s granddaughter, as Farael’s gaze suddenly moved to her—that made Ms. Witch shiver on the spot.

Unexpectedly, Farael said at that moment, “From now on, I will fulfill my promise to you, help you search for that thing.”

That thing—Akasha Records!

“What did you say—!” Ms. Witch could hardly believe the words she had just heard, and couldn’t help being overjoyed, “Really?!”

“That’s right.” Farael nodded, then calmly said, “But at the same time, you also need to join Leia and undergo my training.”

Recalling Farael’s training method of tens of thousands of repetitions, Ms. Witch’s joy in her heart instantly vanished… almost fainting with a vision going dark.

After the ups and downs, she began to question life…

…

…

When the last unconscious Paladin gradually woke up, in the monastery of the Holy Church’s territory, Angel Hamaliel looked indifferent.

Before leaving, Luminous Tower Master removed from the mind of the Paladin the memories about Farael that led them to despair, but the priest team members of the clergy did not have their memories removed, nor did the Red-robed Hub who fainted due to overstimulation.

Reluctantly, Angel Hamaliel gritted his teeth and erased the memories of these awakened clergy members to barely maintain the dignity of the Descending Angel’s ritual.

“Strange, where is your Angel Denis?” The Red-robed Hub looked around the team at this moment, but failed to see the figure of Angel Denis, feeling extremely puzzled.

“Denis has other assignments, this operation, he will not be joining us.”

Responding to this Red-robed Hub, was the last angel descended this time, other than Hamaliel: Angel Quinn.

“I see.” The Red-robed Hub nodded, “Angel Quinn, now that everyone from the Holy Church has arrived and gathered… Should we immediately activate the coordinates to Britannia?”

Angel Quinn instinctively looked toward the direction where Angel Hamaliel was — ever since starting the divine arts, this weapon in the Heavenly Expedition Corps never looked good.

“Let me go ask Lord Hamaliel.” Angel Quinn said calmly.

Only it itself knew how much helplessness and fear it felt at this moment.

Soon, Angel Quinn was beside Angel Hamaliel… It opened an inner border to block the spread of sound, but still asked in a low voice, “Lord Hamaliel, in such a short time, we’ve lost Denis and the others, the situation is severe. Should we…”

Hamaliel suddenly waved his hand to interrupt Angel Quinn’s words, “Since the Transcender Organization invaded Heaven, the number of angels in Heaven has been tight, otherwise Archangel Michael wouldn’t have stopped the exploration plans and returned to oversee Heaven… the Lord needs to counter the Transcender Organization’s plot, we shouldn’t add trouble for Archangel Michael now.”

“But…”

“You don’t need to say more.”

Angel Hamaliel said solemnly, “This descent has already attracted the attention of the Sub-world consciousness, multiple descents in a short time could easily provoke a backlash from the Sub-world consciousness… Besides, when we first descended, we didn’t fully merge with the vessel’s body, unable to fully exert strength. This time was merely an unintended fault… Once we thoroughly merge with the vessel, and acquire all the holy remains from the Holy Church, within this Sub-world, no one will be able to threaten our top-level strong being. The Holy Light, next time will thoroughly judge Farael this heretic!”

Angel Quinn instinctively opened its mouth, but under Angel Hamaliel’s gaze, gradually became obedient—it had no choice but to submit both rank-wise and strength-wise.

Only, even if we thoroughly merge with the vessel and recover the holy remains, could we really contend with Farael…

Angel Quinn held a faintly skeptical attitude towards this in its heart—but it could only bury this doubt deep inside, and then went to lead Holy Church’s Paladins and clergy.

Angel Hamaliel watched Angel Quinn’s departing back, frowned, and muttered to himself, “Top-level strong beings, during past explorations we met them, but never ones as extraordinary as Mad Knight, and also that Luminous Tower Master… What secrets does Sub-world 003 hold that could give rise to so many indigenous strong beings?”

Soon after, the entire team was gathered, and the coordinates to Britannia were officially activated.

Watching each figure stepping into the coordinates, descending into Britain, Angel Hamaliel couldn’t help but rub his temples.

Every angel is a child of the Lord, blessed by the Lord’s grace… Surely, they won’t be so unlucky to repeatedly encounter those terrifyingly powerful native strongmen, right?

Don’t frighten yourself.

…

…

Because of Boss Luo’s promise, Lamias lingered in the mansion for a moment, then rode her beloved traffic-free scooter… the black motorcycle, down the streets of the small town.

Now that she was guaranteed not to run into trouble so long as she stayed within the town’s limits during this period, Lamias naturally wanted to make good use of this time to do something.

She had already broken ties with the Black Religious Congregation, so even when the headmaster bombarded her with calls after waking up, Lamias didn’t listen to them.

Lamias circled around the town, yet found no trace of Sister Grant, nor did she see any of the six missing Battle Nuns.

Finally, Lamias arrived at Father Strala’s church.

At this time, Father Strala was holding a broom, sweeping the fallen leaves in the church courtyard — she didn’t know that this church had long been leveled, and the ground had a big hole.

Because when she arrived, the church was still there — not only was the pit filled, but the church was also rebuilt overnight, as if nothing had ever happened.

Nobody knew what happened, Vasco left carrying four Squire Candidates, so they didn’t know what happened; Lamias spent the whole night hiding in the armory trying to merge the Reversed Holy Relic and the six pieces of [Fear Inverted Cross] armor, so she didn’t know what happened either.

Even Mai Rada didn’t know what happened.

No one knew about the church’s destruction and restoration.

Seeing Father Strala, Lamias hesitated for a moment, but finally, she braced herself and walked over — as she approached, she somewhat self-mockingly gazed at the white cross on the church roof.

“It’s so dazzling…”

Indeed, the white cross reflecting the sunlight seemed to add special effects from the Holy Light, almost blinding Lamias.

At that moment, she heard some strange noises… it sounded like metal clashing.

Lamias instinctively looked and found that there wasn’t just Father Strala in the courtyard, there was also a bald man.

The sound came from beneath this bald man — Lamias couldn’t bear to watch; the bald man’s feet were shackled… with a big iron ball attached.

Not only that, his hands were also chained — even his face was covered with an iron muzzle.

This inevitably reminded Lamias of a certain medieval punishment… How could a priest do such things? But it seemed that Father Strala had once been a Warden.

And he had managed the terrifyingly evil dark creatures and heresies of the Holy Church’s Shenwei Prison…

“This guy tried to steal… stole the church donation box money last night! This damned… this lost child is now repenting, don’t plead for him, it will only increase his guilt and make him even more miserable!” Father Strala, his eyes widened, spoke seriously.

Mai Rada looked onto the sky lifelessly — he felt not only his freedom was lost, but also his dignity… and even his soul.

Shame… a lifetime of shame.

To be heartbroken is just like this.

——Who would plead for someone they don’t even know?

Lamias’s lips moved a little… finally shaking her head because she didn’t know this bald man at all, his life or death had nothing to do with her.

As for Father Strala… rather than saying the priest was crazy, it was more like he was a doddery old man who played by unusual rules.

But Lamias had already made her calculations.

With the mysterious mansion’s owner’s guarantee, Lamias felt quite reassured, but she needed more protection — no one would mind having too much protection.

“Father, I’ve come to hear your teachings,” Lamias said with a sweet smile, “I already said last night that from now on, you are my faith. I will devote my mind and body to you.”

Father Strala inhaled sharply twice on the spot and then cursed, “You demoness, you want to disturb my purity and break my celibacy? How could you be so malicious!!”

The frightened priest raised his broom immediately, as if facing a formidable enemy, and pointed it at Lamias, “I warn you! Be careful, or I’ll whack you to death with this broom, you enchantress!”

“Oh, but Father, you clearly wished to be surrounded by bashful nuns last night…” Lamias bent her eyes into a smile, “Doesn’t Father know, that Black Religious Congregation’s nuns have a special serving technique? As a traitor of on vacation, I used to learn it earnestly.”

Father Strala hesitated for a moment, swallowing with a gulp, seemingly experiencing an indescribable heavenly battle within his heart.

“Well… I am quite willing to guide lost souls.” The Father puffed out his chest instantly, “You see, my faith is so strong, following me will definitely have a wealthy future!”

A bright Holy Light suddenly descended.

At the same time, the space where the church was located seemed to be confined by something — but it was not the dark curtain capable of producing a Field of Corruption like the Reversed Holy Relic, rather it was a Holy Light barrier.

The Holy Church would typically deploy a Holy Light barrier to shroud themselves during battles with dark creatures in bustling cities — performed by a large number of clergy.

In other words — the people from the Holy Church had already appeared!

“Sinner Strala, submit to judgment.”

A solemn voice appeared above the church — meanwhile, around the church, silhouettes of Paladins poured out.

A red-robed hub emerged surrounded by a group of Paladins. Witnessing such a scene, Lamias’s face instantly resembled someone who had a few pounds of octopus tentacles stuffed in their mouth.

“Hmm, didn’t you just say you’d follow me? Great! Now go beat those guys up for me!”

Just as Lamias was utterly astonished, Father Strala whispered something beside her, and then suddenly pushed her hard on the back, forcing her to rush forward.

At the same time.

“This woman is a Black Religious Congregation Battle Nun, purify her quickly!” — a loud, friendly reminder from Father Strala.