novelraw Chapter 302-2: In the Name of the Solar Heroes, Judge the Heretics (2)
Chapter 302-2: In the Name of the Solar Heroes, Judge the Heretics (2)
[The believers shout fanatically, shed their fear, and surge out of the White Moon Church together to hunt for the outsiders who would profane the faith.]
[Joining them in seeking the outsiders are the church’s clergy, the guardian knights, the Paladins of Discipline, and large numbers of the lord’s soldiers.]
[The news that outsiders profane the gods spreads from one to ten, ten to a hundred, quickly sweeping across all of Saint Rance.]
A faint smile curved Lin Xun’s lips.
Ordinary civilians could not threaten Apostles, but the lord’s soldiers and the power of the White Moon Church were enough to oppose the remaining candidate Apostles.
Every ordinary believer in the town was his eyes. Lin Xun did not even need to act. Once believers discovered traces of outsiders, they would report at once to the soldiers and church clergy.
Saint Rance possessed defensive power so strong that even the Red Armor army had to be steadily whittled down. Capturing three candidate Apostles would be child’s play.
All Lin Xun needed to do was remain in the White Moon Church.
He believed that before long, Paladins of Discipline would escort the outsiders back to the church to await the bishop’s harsh Punishment of Light.
[…][You stop the lord and the bishop, who are about to go out to seek the outsiders, and tell them that what you announced just now was only the first oracle.]
[The second oracle is not convenient to announce publicly and can only be delivered to Saint Rance’s two highest leaders.]
[The Yellow-Robed Bishop quickly bows his head to await your oracle. Lord Fox at his side also grows solemn.]
[You proclaim that the second oracle is this: the Solar Hero Dan is about to descend upon Saint Rance to oppose a powerful force that has betrayed the gods and sunk into heresy.]
[After exterminating the outsider heretics, the two highest leaders must gather all of Saint Rance’s armed power to assist the Solar Hero Dan in defeating the fallen heretics.]
[The Yellow-Robed Bishop is shocked, but quickly agrees.]
[Only Lord Fox hesitates, unable to help asking you: ‘Honored hero’s retainer, exalted envoy of the gods, may I know what kind of heretic can battle the legendary, unbeatable Solar Hero Dan?’]
[What kind of heretic has power equal to that of a Solar Hero, such that his soldiers must assist in battle to win?]
[Will you tell Lord Fox the truth?]
[You are about to speak when the Yellow-Robed Bishop raises his scepter and scolds Lord Fox to his face. A divine oracle is the will issued by the great gods. Only heretics of unsteady faith would question a divine oracle.]
[From the bishop’s manner, it seems he wants to bind the lord to a pillar and inflict the Punishment of Light before the hero’s retainer, uniting the church’s and the crown’s power under the church.]
[Will you designate Lord Fox as a heretic?]
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes.
This Lord Fox did not seem very devout.
[A clamor sounds outside the church doors. Many murderous Paladins of Discipline march in, escorting a figure shimmering with red light.]
“So fast.”
He swiftly pressed the invisibility option.
[The Yellow-Robed Bishop orders the knights to break the limbs of the struggling outsider and bind him to a pillar of the church.]
[The bishop turns to report to you, only to find that you are nowhere to be seen.]
[After slight hesitation, the bishop obeys the oracle, raises the silver scepter in his hand, and murmurs an incantation.]
[Suddenly a razor sword light flickers. Unknown Apostle No. 12 stops struggling. His head rolls to the floor.]
[You have defeated Unknown Apostle No. 12.]
[…]
Lin Xun waited until the Hellish game issued the death notice before canceling invisibility and revealing himself.
Until the moment of his death, Apostle No. 12 still thought he had been killed by the Yellow-Robed Bishop. He had no idea he died at the hands of Unknown Apostle No. 18.
[You indicate to the Yellow-Robed Bishop that war is imminent and there is no time to waste on the Punishment of Light.]
[The bishop nods and continues dispatching clergy to search the town.]
[Seeing the heretic’s miserable end, Lord Fox hurriedly mobilizes all soldiers and orders preparations of a series of supplies for a siege war.]
“Two candidate Apostles remain.”
In the Slaughter option’s master list, only Unknown Apostle No. 1 and Unknown Apostle No. 2 remained besides Lin Xun.
Lin Xun suspected that the master list in the Slaughter option might be sorted by chapter strategy progress.
For example, he was Apostle No. 18 with only a single clear of a fifth difficulty chapter. Ordinary fifth difficulty Apostles had cleared their current difficulty many times and thus ranked ahead of him.
Those behind him were Apostles who had not cleared the fifth difficulty, or even were at the fourth difficulty.
As for the remaining No. 1 and 2, they might be the two Apostles with the highest progress. After repeatedly clearing the sixth difficulty, their strength was already sufficient to advance to the seventh difficulty.
[…]
[After a long wait, soldiers enter the church to report to Lord Fox and to you.]
[While moving war supplies in the lord’s castle, they actually discovered a hiding outsider.]
[The soldiers encircled the heretic without hesitation, but the heretic was powerful, killed more than a dozen soldiers to break out, and fled in a panic into Lord Fox’s storeroom.]
[The walls around the storeroom are reinforced with magic and are extremely sturdy. The heretic blocked the narrow storeroom door. The soldiers can only enter one by one and are no match for the heretic.]
[With heavy casualties, the soldiers have no choice but to request help from the White Moon Church’s Paladins of Discipline.]
[No one expected that, with the advantage of the terrain, the heretic kills one Paladin of Discipline for each who enters.]
[Now the Paladins of Discipline clog the storeroom entrance and cannot rush in, while the evil heretic cannot break out. The situation is at a stalemate.]
[The soldiers finish their report and await the lord’s command. Lord Fox looks to you and awaits your command.]
It must be known that Paladins of Discipline in this chapter were Nightmare-grade elite monsters of the sixth difficulty.
If the enemy could cleanly solo Paladins of Discipline, then it could basically be confirmed that the foe was indeed one of the only two elite Apostles.
“In web novel cultivation terms, is this sixth difficulty great perfection, or half-step seventh difficulty?”
Lin Xun personally went to the lord’s castle to see the enemy’s strength.
He had expected a battle between equals, but unexpectedly…
[…]
[A short, elderly figure lands on the storeroom floor, sheathes the blade with an exhale. Behind him stands the rigid figure of Unknown Apostle No. 2.]
[The red-shimmering figure suddenly splits open and falls as two pieces.]
[You have defeated Unknown Apostle No. 2.]
[Because your invasion authority is high.]
[Please select the category of spoils you wish to plunder.]
Whether it was that the Ninja Master was too powerful, or that the effect of Killing Feast +4 was too monstrous, even though the enemy Apostle was already capable of advancing to the seventh difficulty, he had not the slightest power to resist and was felled by a single stroke from the Ninja Master.
[Unknown Apostle No. 2 is dead.]
[Because Unknown Apostle No. 2 possessed Killing Feast.]
[Your buff effect Killing Feast +4 is enhanced and upgrades to Killing Feast +5.]
[Killing Feast +5: This buff effect increases all your attributes by 120 percent. It will last until the end of this Easter Egg chapter.]
After cutting down Apostle No. 2, Lin Xun returned to the White Moon Church to wait for the last Apostle to be caught.
Strangely, though, none of the believers in Saint Rance discovered any trace of Unknown Apostle No. 1.
Seeing that little time remained before the final event, his heart sank.
If he could not find that last Apostle before the decisive battle, many of his methods would be unusable in the demigod war.
Lin Xun had continued using the Ninja Master Shell without switching to other powerful Shells in order to prevent exposing his own talent.
If the remaining elite Apostle hid in some corner of Saint Rance and observed his decisive battle from the shadows, then at the end escaped using an Escape Bookmark after learning his secret, Lin Xun’s talent would no longer be concealable, unless during the final battle he used only the Ninja Master Shell.
“I must drag you out.”