Why did the lord rebel

"Inquisition..." Xia Houyan rubbed his chin and chewed on the word.

As the priests of the Supreme Church of the Empire came to the front line of Thorn City, apart from a group of fanatics and silly boys who were deceived by the church and took the initiative to participate in the "Holy War", the most eye-catching group was undoubtedly this group of people wearing red and black hoods. The mysterious person.

Although the hooded men of the Inquisition have always maintained a low-key style, Xia Houyan still went to the Archduke Rosario to find an opportunity to exchange military affairs, and ran to the church camp to take a look from a distance:

Although the specific faces of the several religious magistrates who were patrolling the church camp at that time could not be seen, they could be judged to be first-class masters just by looking at their pace and posture. One of the hooded men even had a faint trace of An elemental fluctuation that is not weaker than the master of spiritual songs.

——Unlike church priests who can only use divine magic with the help of faith, religious inquisitors of the Inquisition may have various backgrounds before joining the organization, and there are obviously many magic masters among them.

In Frost Maple Ridge, he has been drinking, chatting and laughing with various masters all year round. Thanks to his big brother, the Lord, who has considerable magical power, naturally has a good eye for identifying awesome people.

Therefore, the Xiahou officials raised the danger level of the Inquisition in their minds.

However, when he heard that Sean Mountbatten, a military professional, also mentioned the Inquisition, Xia Houyan suddenly became interested.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at his chief of staff, "What do you think of the Inquisition?"

"Very strong." Sean said decisively.

All the Shuangmangling Yakuza who attended the regular military intelligence meeting stood in awe.

Everyone knows that unlike Knight Commander Cousins, Eldridge, and Master Lowry, who are habitual offenders who talk incoherently, the Chief of Staff of Frost Maple Ridge always says what he says and never lies.

——Since Sean Mountbatten said that the Inquisition was strong, then they must really be strong.

"Elaborate." Xia Houyan crossed his legs, picked up the teacup and took a sip of the hot Tatsuyama tea.

"I specifically went to the church camp over there at the command center." Sean said seriously. "Although the church and the Inquisition call themselves systems and are not under the command of the military, their patrolling magistrates not only patrol the routes in a very reasonable manner, but they also Moreover, they are very disciplined and follow orders and prohibitions, obviously they have received extremely strict military training.”

"Have you been, ah, trained?" Eldridge curled his lips and said, "That's it... our brothers from Frost Maple Ridge, ah, haven't we also been trained?"

"Ai Shuai, let me remind you, those trained in our Igor Pioneer Army are all ordinary soldiers." Sean frowned, "But the judges of the Inquisition are all as powerful as you and Master Laurie. , martial arts and magic masters who are even comparable to Captain Comstock and Commander Clement! Although we in Frost Maple Ridge also have masters, how many of you who are accustomed to fighting alone at the top level can do this? To be as uniform and measured in advance and retreat as the magistrates of the Inquisition?”

Eldridge was speechless.

"So these religious magistrates are actually a group of top masters who have received strict military training and cooperated seamlessly?"

There were dozens of people in the audience, but no one could understand the allusion the boss used.

"If you allow me to use metaphors, I would say that these Inquisitions are outright war machines." Sean sighed, "God knows where the Inquisition collected so many masters from, and what they used to force them to act like ordinary people. Big-headed soldiers generally receive training."

"——Furthermore, we don't know why the church formed such an armed force." Chris scratched his head in confusion, "As far as I know, the Inquisition is currently busy hunting down heretics and does not participate in the continental war. Yeah! Is it really worth it for the church to maintain such a strong force for such a nonsense?"

Everyone nodded in agreement: Although the current Bo Burial Sect has developed slightly with the sponsorship of the Lord, it was a complete rotten fish before.

Asking the Inquisition to hunt down this group of so-called "heretics" is really killing a chicken with a knife.

In the end, Master Lowry, who had dealt with the Inquisition due to his "love affair" when he was young, answered everyone's doubts:

"Well, according to ancient legends, the Supreme Church maintains the establishment of the 'Inquisition' to follow the teachings of the Holy Spirit in order to protect believers in the 'Doomsday Judgment' when faith collapses - although no one knows what the so-called 'Doomsday Judgment' actually is. When is it?"

Xia Houyan snorted:

“When His Majesty the Ecumenical Patriarch Richelieu put one of his saints to bed, I felt that this faith had collapsed.”

The lord openly talked about the private life of the religious leader, and all the horses in Frost Maple Ridge could only pretend they didn't hear it.

In particular, Eldridge's expression was quite mysterious: he clearly remembered that when he was at Frost Maple Ridge, His Majesty Richelieu once sent several beautiful saints to the Lord to "spread the Holy Light" - -Although these saints quickly entered the boss's Horned Eagle Manor and changed into maid costumes.

Sean Mountbatten cleared his throat:

"Lord, rather than the Supreme Church, I suggest you pay attention to the movements of the demons."

"Demon clan?" Xia Houyan blinked.

In this unprecedented war between humans and orcs, the demons located in the southern part of the continent have always maintained a neutral attitude of sitting on the sidelines and not intervening in any war. Instead, adhering to the continent's tradition, they sent military observers to both warring parties.

——Of course, this group of southerners did seize the opportunity, using Frost Maple Ridge as a trade window and safe haven, and made a fortune from the war.

"You may not have noticed that Prince Michael Gowther of the demon clan has stayed on the front line." Sean looked at the boss seriously, "He even made up a story for himself. As a military observer, he was registered with the military under the name of 'Reed Victor'."

"Prince Gao Se?" Xia Houyan was dumbfounded, "He hasn't left yet?"

Although the demons have sent many military observers and diplomats to the empire, Michael Gowther has a different identity after all: this demon prince is bound by the "Claudia Blood Oath". Logically speaking, once Anyone who enters the empire should be hacked to death!

Michael Gowther took a huge risk and would rather fake his identity to stay on the front lines of the empire. What exactly did he want to do?

Xia Houyan rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes.

"Anyway, please be careful about the movements of the demons. Maybe in a few days you can find a reason to chat with Prince Gowser and find out the truth." Sean reminded, "Although our business with the demons is booming now. But this group of demons are by no means kind - once the situation changes, I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly send troops to intervene in the war." "The demons are worried about crossing the arcane spire defense line to join the war. .”

"That's true." Sean nodded and admitted, "Currently, the Imperial Army is still busy with the work of strengthening the walls and clearing the country - first, they must clean up the environment around Thorn City, remove the orc outposts, camps and defense lines, and then they must fight with the North The incoming reinforcements will form a siege on the City of Thorns, and there may be many firefights during this period... If we really want to start the siege of the City of Thorns, I'm afraid it will take a while."

"Speaking of this... Lord, are you interested in going to the 'Heisei Mire' north of the Blood Front these days?" Master Molière, the leader of the wandering mage of Lianhua Ridge who had been observing the meeting, suddenly became confused. The ground came up with a sentence,

"Hesse Mire?" Xia Houyan had read a lot of maps recently and knew that this was a large swamp between the mountains and mountains to the north of the Blood Front. "Why should I go there?"

"Look, haven't our magician brothers from Lianhua Ridge been traveling around the Eastern Territory..." Master Molière cleverly changed "wandering" into a nicer word, "There was an intermediate magician who went there before. Over there in the Hesse Mire. According to him, there are ruins of a church dedicated to the God of Death deep in the Hesse Mire. It seems to have been built by members of the Bosnian Burial Sect hundreds of years ago. I guess... you might be a little interested?"

"How could I be interested in something like this that is related to forbidden magic!" Xia Houyan looked up to the sky and smiled, "Where is the specific address of the Death Church? Master, tell me quickly! Curious, ah, I am just curious!"

……

Five days later.

North of the Blood Front, Hesse Mire.

This swamp is located in the middle of the "Saint Helena Hills" northwest of Thorn City. In ancient times, it was originally a barrier lake that was squeezed between the mountains due to geological changes. Since then, as the water has evaporated, the lake has turned into a swamp, exposing the valley slopes that were originally submerged below the water level.

When Xia Houyan arrived at the Hesse Mire with his small "archaeological expedition team", he was immediately startled by the withered scene in front of him:

All the plants around the Hesse Swamp are in a disgusting state of decay: whether they are trees, shrubs or weeds on the ground, they all have a dark color, and countless flies are hovering around these creatures. In the sky above the still-dead corpses, sometimes a few white maggots flickered among the plant roots.

At the bottom of the valley between the mountains, the last bit of water in the Hesse Mire is preserved: the gray and viscous swamp water is deposited at the bottom of the valley, forming a long and narrow swamp lake. There was no sign of life in the entire swamp, only some bubbles slowly rising from the depths of the swamp and then bursting, just like the magic potion soup cooked by the old witch in a fairy tale book.

As soon as you get close to the Hesse Mire, you can smell the pungent smell of rotting plants filling the air.

Even though Xia Houyan boasted that he had been around Master Laurie for long enough and should have some resistance to the stench, he was still almost stricken by the smoke when he first stepped into the Heisse Mire.

"Ouch, I'm going to die!" Eldridge, who was following the Lord, was the first to surrender, pulling up his red scarf and covering his nose, "Why does this stink so much..."

"Everything here is dying and rotting." Master Molière looked at the trees around the swamp and marveled. "You see, these trees are actually still alive, but their bodies have rotted. They are actually wandering between life and death. The edge. This spectacle is not a normal natural phenomenon..."

"...but the effect of necromancy and ghostly magic." Master Laurie nodded.

Victor Laurie, who was as profound in cultivation as Master Molière, naturally also noticed the obvious fluctuations of ghostly magic in the air.

Behind the two masters and Eldridge, Alice Comstock simply folded a mask with a handkerchief and thoughtfully helped the lord put it on his face.

In addition to them, plus Clement, who was the final leader of the team, these were all the people from Frost Maple Ridge who came to Hesse Swamp to search for the remains of the God of Death.

Since it involved forbidden magic, Xia Houyan thought twice before setting off and limited the size of the team to the minimum.

"Why is there the effect of netherworld magic here?" Xia Houyan reached out and patted Alice's butt to express his gratitude, then turned to the two magic masters and asked, "Is it because of the continuous effect of some ancient magic spell? - Just Like an undead infected area?”

Master Molière hesitated for a moment, frowned and said:

"As far as I know, there has never been such a strange magic that can make large areas of plants stay in a dying state in Haiwen Continent..."

Master Lowry shrugged, indicating that he was equally ignorant.

"Lord, I think there must be some kind of power hidden here that is more powerful than the magic we know. This is why I think you should come and take a look." Master Molière said seriously, "After all, ancient thin burials The sect certainly didn’t randomly choose a place as a base to worship the God of Death.”

"Praise the Bo Burial Sect." Xia Houyan casually said a prayer that would make a decent magician tremble. He looked around at the surrounding environment, "You wandering magicians in Lianhua Ridge can do it. Even ghosts like this hidden deep in the mountains can You can find it everywhere!”

"The mission of a magician is to pursue more powerful power. Places with strong magic like this have a natural attraction for magicians." Master Molière said with a wry smile.

"Is it more attractive than the virtual idol planned by Dark-Souls?" Xia Houyan joked.

The leader of a certain dead house magician smiled but did not answer.

Although Alice is immortal, as a girl, she is still obviously a little uneasy in such a strange place. She bit her lip lightly and asked awkwardly:

"So, where is that Church of the Dead in the swamp?"

"It is said to be on the mountainside in the east..." Master Molière looked to the east and shook his head in frustration, "The fog here is too heavy, I'm afraid I have to go over there to find it.

"Then let's set off!" Xia Houyan chuckled, "I want to see what precious cultural relics the ancient Bo Burial cultists left us!"

——And what the hell does all this have to do with the God of Death, the plane of Haiwen Continent, and my dear big brother, Lord Yama.

Xia Houyan added silently in his heart.