Demon Bible

Chapter 98: Golden Elixir

With Westbin's death, the lingering effects gradually dissipated.

When Angel A concealed its presence and Nemus stood beside Westbin's corpse, arranging his final resting expression, the members of the Judgment Squad had already tracked them down.

They halted in their tracks, staring at the corpse beside Nemus.

The Great Knight Westbin, who had basked in glory and prestige for over twenty years in Tail Fin Town, had now met his end in such a manner.

Everyone fell into a momentary silence.

Lamenting the loss of their own kind, coupled with the frustration of being misled and lured into a wild goose chase that yielded absolutely nothing, left some of them unable to bear the sight. They felt a stifling knot of indignation forming in their chests.

"Why didn't you hold back, Lord Great Knight? If we had captured him alive, we could have learned more about the Floating World Society!" demanded an Iron-rank Holy Knight.

He had lived in Tail Fin Town for decades. Over twenty years ago, when Westbin first arrived, this man had been nothing more than an ordinary Intern Holy Knight.

The ranks of the clerics only consisted of so many people. Over all these years, they had naturally crossed paths countless times.

While these shared experiences would not have caused them to show mercy when interrogating Westbin, they were more than enough to evoke a sense of grief now that he was dead."So... are you accusing me?" Nemus looked at the man who had spoken, his face devoid of much emotion as he asked the question.

At this very moment, Nemus's battle record of defeating Great Knight Westbin in a one-on-one duel seemed to become exceptionally glaring, pressing down heavily upon the questioning man.

"O-Of course not!" The man's heart skipped a beat, and he responded immediately, his words stumbling out in a stammer.

The lingering grief he felt from lamenting his own kind vanished in an instant.

At the same time, a surge of shock washed over him. 'Why did I take it for granted that he was the one who killed Westbin?'

If anyone else had killed Westbin, their focus would have immediately shifted to questioning that person's strength. They would have wondered how someone could possibly kill Westbin, who possessed an Attribute Value of over eighty, and what kind of bitter struggle they must have endured.

But when they saw Nemus holding Westbin's corpse, they subconsciously accepted it without surprise. They felt it wasn't strange at all for Nemus to defeat Westbin, which was why their attention had defaulted to lamenting the loss of their colleague.

This subconscious acceptance was exactly what had caused him to blurt out such thoughtless words without using his brain.

Only now, having snapped back to reality, did he realize the crux of the problem.

'Nels possesses a persuasive power. No matter what he does, people feel that there is absolutely nothing wrong with his actions!'

'And this deeply ingrained cognition of trust was successfully established in my mind in just two or three days, despite my limited contact with him.'

'If Nels is allowed to continue like this, within the next half-month, he might completely establish his authority and entirely dominate Tail Fin Town, wielding even more power than Westbin ever did.'

At this moment, the man clearly felt the terrifying power radiating from within Nemus.

"Since that is the case, get to work. Investigate the clerics stationed at the Dung Path!"

"According to the final pieces of information provided by Westbin, there is something wrong with them!"

Nemus handed Westbin's corpse over to Purr and Krew, who had also just caught up, and then naturally issued his orders to the Judgment Squad members as if it were his undeniable right.

"Yes, sir!" several members of the Judgment Squad replied instinctively, though their expressions quickly soured a moment later.

In theory, the Judgment Squad was not under the jurisdiction of a Great Knight, but right now, that theory had been thoroughly trampled.

From the moment that Holy Knight asked his question and failed to stand his ground, they had all unknowingly submitted, placing themselves a head beneath Nemus in authority.

When Nemus subsequently brushed past the topic, letting them off the hook, and pointed out the suspicious clerics at the Dung Path, he directed them toward a matter that fell strictly within the Judgment Squad's official duties.

Under this seamless combination of pressure and deflection, they found themselves completely stripped of any ability to resist Nemus.

They even realized that if this happened a few more times, the Judgment Squad would become just like any other Holy Knight squad, with their authority entirely restricted and governed by the Great Knight.

As Nemus led his people away, the squad members gradually broke free from that oppressive, controlling atmosphere.

"That man is far too terrifying," someone murmured, though it was unclear who had spoken. The others could not help but nod in silent agreement. Wasting no more time, the Judgment Squad swiftly headed toward the Dung Path.

There, they discovered a Holy Knight who was just about to flee.

This Holy Knight was a member of the Floating World Society, secretly relying on the organization's resources to elevate his own strength.

Previously, when surveillance over the Dung Path was lax, he had been able to collude with outsiders to efficiently hunt down and kill those mutated Adult Insects.

But now, that was impossible. Although the Dung Path saw very little foot traffic, it was no longer a place where he had the final say.

Without the cooperation of others, he was entirely incapable of handling the ever-increasing number of Adult Insects.

He could only try to find ways to cover up the news of the Adult Insects, but his methods were flawed, and rumors suggesting the appearance of Adult Insects inevitably leaked out.

This had led to the arrival of the Intern Holy Knights, who, under the interference of his secret spellcasting, found themselves utterly unable to defeat the Adult Insects.

Knowing that he could not keep the matter hidden for much longer, he had already been hesitating over whether to make his escape.

By the time Westbin died, he finally sensed the battle that had occurred near the edge of the Dung Path.

Choosing to flee at this exact moment meant he was caught red-handed.

With a new breakthrough point secured, everything became much easier to handle.

The Judgment Squad was highly professional when it came to interrogation and investigation.

Since the Floating World Society had managed to extend its reach into the Church, it naturally enjoyed many conveniences. For instance, despite causing a significant commotion that even led to alterations in the Whale Dung, they had remained undetected for a very long time.

However, this also created fatal flaws. The connections tying back to this mole were not so easily severed.

For a cleric to be quietly and soundlessly converted into a mole, it meant they must have acquired massive benefits that were otherwise impossible to obtain within the Church.

This kind of transactional flow of benefits was incredibly difficult to mask. As long as one actively investigated, uncovering the truth was not particularly challenging.

The subsequent events were relatively straightforward.

A day later, citing the Judgment Squad's lack of manpower, Nemus completely naturally brought the entire operation under his centralized command. Joining forces with several squads under his own control, they mobilized together to make the arrests.

Soon after, they managed to catch a massive fish.

The Floating World Society maintained close ties with a noble family, and their headquarters was actually located within an industrial estate owned by that noble in the wilderness.

Inside that estate was a deep well that pierced straight through the whale's skin, and a continuous stream of various materials was being thrown into it.

They were essentially using that well as a massive crucible and petri dish.

Through this setup, the true motives of the Floating World Society could roughly be deduced.

Pure whale blood, whale skin, and whale meat still held some utility for those of the Iron Rank.

However, they were completely incapable of helping anyone break through to the Golden Rank.

"So, they were refining the Golden Elixir!" Out in the wilderness, within the interior of the noble's estate, Nemus and several others had gathered, currently standing in a circle around the edge of the well.

Even though the well was incredibly deep, a pungent, irritating stench continuously wafted up from within.

Everyone's expressions were exceptionally grim.

Because refining the Golden Elixir required constantly stimulating the Floating Whale, forcing it to channel more of its bodily nutrients toward this specific area. Then, by utilizing this small well, they could siphon off a portion of those nutrients to condense the Golden Elixir.

This sort of behavior was utterly deranged. It was akin to triggering an earthquake and a landslide with explosives just to dig a simple irrigation ditch.