"Get out. There's nothing more for you here."
Bishop Sean waved a hand, and the guard departed submissively with lowered eyes.
Wayne gripped the handle of his gun. Inside the dim prison, the tension abruptly thickened.
Right then, Bishop Sean chuckled and said slowly, "The fact that you thought to come rescue me, and even managed to infiltrate this place, was genuinely quite a pleasant surprise."
Wayne frowned, watching in astonishment as Bishop Sean pulled back his hood—growing right on the man's forehead was... a mushroom.
A red cap and a white stalk.
What kind of magic was this? Did devotees of the Goddess of Nature have some personal obsession with mushrooms?
Wayne grumbled internally, roughly understanding what was going on. Isabella had successfully infiltrated the underground tunnels and had even taken control of Bishop Sean, one of the four bishops.
His gorgeous teacher hadn't been wrong: Isabella truly had been biding her time in the shadows, waiting to deliver a fatal strike.
Wayne twitched his lips, his feelings somewhat conflicted. It was certainly good that Isabella was unharmed; with such an elite carry frontlining for him, he could kick back with an easy conscience and wait for this mess to blow over.
Yet whence this faint melancholy?
*If I ever go against my better judgment to play hero again and voluntarily walk into danger, I'm a complete idiot!*
Bishop Sean continued, "You arrived right on time. I was just trying to get in touch with you. Follow me—I have something to give you."
"What about them?"
Wayne pointed toward the prisoners in the cells. Tonight, these dozen-odd unfortunates would be used as sacrifices. Since he was already here, he might as well save them in passing.
In passing—that didn't violate his principles.
"I will arrange for you to leave with them shortly."
Sean led Wayne out of the prison, crossed the underground plaza, and stepped into his private office.
The moment the door shut, Bishop Sean froze like an offline puppet. Isabella walked out from the inner room and said coldly, "You shouldn't have come."
*Well, I'm already here!*
"The High Priestess told me you are a cautious and prudent person. I hope today was merely an exception. Maintain your prudence in the future. Cowardice is nothing to be ashamed of; only timid mages live long lives," Isabella said at length, expressionless.
She was deeply grateful that Wayne had risked his neck to mount a rescue. Whether it succeeded or was even necessary, she appreciated the thought.
Furthermore, the High Priestess hadn't misjudged him: this disciple wasn't afraid of sacrifice and possessed noble character, making him well worth grooming.
Isabella produced a document pouch and entrusted Wayne with taking it out of Enrold Town. The papers inside were encrypted and could only be opened by a disciple of the Goddess of Nature stronger than herself.
Isabella had infiltrated the Church of the Earth's Core for five days. Through controlling Bishop Sean and conducting her own investigations, she had uncovered numerous dark secrets of the cult.
The stakes were grave; the intelligence had to be delivered to Londan.
A troubled look crossed Wayne's face. The task was simple, and he would gladly steer clear of danger, but he couldn't leave. His gorgeous teacher had placed a restriction spell on him: centered on the villa manor, his range of movement was limited to a fifty-li radius. He was physically unable to deliver the intelligence to Londan.
Hearing this, Isabella fell silent for a moment. She didn't challenge the High Priestess's authority by trying to dispel Wayne's restriction spell. There was no point trying—an impossibility was an impossibility.
"Give the documents to someone you trust most, and have them deliver it to Londan."
In all of Enrold Town, Isabella trusted only Wayne. He was Xifei's student, and that alone was enough for her to place absolute trust in him.
Whomever Wayne trusted, she was willing to place some faith in as well.
Wayne nodded. Butler Fra's monocle flashed through his mind. Without a second thought, the person most worthy of trust around him right now was the butler.
But first, Wayne needed to confirm one thing.
Would a person fall under the control of the King of the Underworld after eating its eggs?
Wayne explained his concern. Not only the butler and the maids, but Wayne himself had very likely consumed the free eggs—a lingering liability.
"Did you eat them raw?"
"Cooked. Fried eggs."
"Then you'll be fine."
"Goddess above, that's the best news I've heard all day..."
Wayne let out a sigh of relief and asked curiously, "What exactly is the King of the Underworld? A magical life-form bred by the Church of the Earth's Core, or a pet of the Lord of the Void?"
"Neither."
"The King of the Underworld is not a life-form native to the God-favored Continent. It comes from the Astral Realm, also known as the Void World or the Great Cosmos..."
Isabella explained, "The Astral Realm is both a forbidden zone for living beings and an ocean of truth. Mad mages wander through it, alongside magical creatures and kin created by the gods. But all of these are outsiders. The native inhabitants of the Astral Realm are known as astral behemoths.
"Astral behemoths are bizarre and varied. Their grotesque shapes and abilities defy human imagination. The magical world has yet to compile an exhaustive record of them—how many species there are, why they exist, or who created them all remain unknown.
"All we know is that if a living being lingers in the Astral Realm for too long, they will be hunted down by these astral behemoths and turned into fodder for their bellies.
"Colossal size is the only common trait shared by astral behemoths. For instance, the King of the Underworld you saw belongs to a species called the Blue-Spine Parasite, endowed with horrifying reproductive capabilities. The cult's summoning of it was incomplete; what's here isn't even a thousandth of its full body..."
Isabella summarized the concept of the King of the Underworld, broadening Wayne's horizons in the process, before concluding, "Processed Blue-Spine eggs can be treated as food, but if those eggs sense the call of the broodmother, they will hatch in an instant and parasitize the nearest living creature."
"The broodmother will call out to her children tonight, parasitizing the entire town?" Wayne asked, eyes widening.
"That is only one part of the cult's plan. After parasitizing the entire town, Archbishop Yvon will complete the sacrifice to summon the complete form of the Blue-Spine Parasite, using it as a springboard to ship Blue-Spine Parasite eggs across the entire God-favored Continent."
*What the hell? They want to distribute free eggs across the whole world?!*
Wayne was appalled. His initial question had been answered, only for more doubts to sprout: "Why is the Church of the Earth's Core going to all this trouble? To please their deity, the Lord of the Void, and gain void power?"
"No, the Lord of the Void is not a god. He is a legendary mage who lost his sanity. His actions can have a purpose, or be utterly devoid of one."
Isabella dropped a bombshell, continuing, "Mages who lose their reason degenerate into puppets of desire, and legendary mages are no exception. The idol at the center of the plaza depicts him. Both his flesh and his mind have been corroded by desire; he can hardly be called human anymore."
Grasping only part of it, Wayne asked the crucial question: "Is this legendary mage in Enrold Town?"
Isabella shook her head. No. The legendary mage was already mad, his flame of life like a candle in the wind, liable to gutter out at any moment.
Legendary mages who lost their minds followed instinct to leave the God-favored Continent and wander the Astral Realm of the Great Cosmos. There they attained the knowledge they most craved, even as it accelerated their demise.
According to Isabella's deduction, Archbishop Yvon had obtained the idol from somewhere unknown and gained immense power from it. Corrupted by the idol, his mind had spun the lie of the underworld, single-handedly founding what was now the Church of the Earth's Core.
Isabella had dealt with similar cases before: unfortunates who stumbled upon an idol, believing they were blessed by a deity, only for the sudden surge in power to give them the illusion of invincibility. The outcome was predictable: pursuing a mad faith until they became part of the madness itself—right up until their emotional states completely stabilized in death.
"Take those prisoners and leave. Find a safe place to hide. Tonight will be chaos. Do not enter the town before dawn."
Isabella said, "Once I complete my mission, I will come find you after sunrise."
*Big sis, that line is on par with 'I'll return to my hometown and get married after the war.' Don't you go raising death flags!*
Wayne's eyelid twitched as visions of Isabella being burned at the stake flashed through his mind. Hurriedly jinxing it in reverse to ward off the curse, he countered, "Hypothetically speaking—just for the sake of argument—what if you don't complete the mission and don't come looking for me after sunrise?"
Isabella stared fixedly at Wayne, saying icily, "I will come find you in another form!"
"..."
*Then on second thought, don't bother coming.*
Chapter 46