Chapter 187 Three "Hopes"

"He colluded with the heretics of the underground church and killed several church brothers who were about to report to the church."

The chains gradually tightened according to the high priest's last wish.

"Forget it. There's no point in talking about this now. Once we get back to the cathedral, I'll naturally find a way to get you to reveal the identities and locations of your accomplices."

The sunlight emanating from the High Priest Carol suddenly became brighter, but then his aura weakened again.

"Don't make any futile attempts. You can't even use the most basic divine arts, let alone self-destruction."

The high priest looked at the people around him.

"The primary target has been subdued. Go and complete the secondary mission objectives."

The other priests accepted the order from the high priest, and except for a few priests who stayed behind for guarding, all the other priests left.

Soon afterwards, several screams were heard in the distance.

The expression on Carol's face changed.

"Do you know which priests in this church have joined us?"

The high priest shook his head.

"We can now confirm that you are our target."

Carol struggled again.

"That you……"

"Since we can't confirm who has joined you, we just need to eliminate them all, so that we won't miss any of you heretics who have joined us."

Carol struggled, but found that under the influence of the chains on his body, he was unable to summon any strength.

"You freaks, you even targeted church brothers who posed no threat to you at all. Many of them don't know anything."

The high priest pulled the chain on his hand and walked outside with Carol.

The group of priests who were originally there to ensure the retreat had already left to perform a secondary task. Only the statue of the Sun God was left hanging behind the lectern, quietly watching them.

The high priest offered a simple prayer toward the statue that was still faintly emitting divine light.

Another scream was heard not far away, causing the high priest to stop praying impatiently.

"These guys need some more training."

If the training requirements were followed, there shouldn't be any screams during this mission. Everyone should be asleep, or the mission should end completely without any time to scream.

But now the high priest counted and heard five screams.

This is definitely a failing grade.

The high priest shook his head, no longer in the mood to pray, and dragged Carol out of the church.

"God's punishment will definitely fall upon you. We represent the true will of God. All true believers will be our supporters. You will eventually..."

The high priest's fist smashed Carol's words back into his stomach. Then, he continued to drag it out of the church.

Outside the church, bodies were spread out on the ground, and several priests were trying to identify them based on a list.

"Report progress."

A priest quickly put down his work and came to the high priest.

"There are 121 church personnel on the list. We have dealt with 118 of them so far. The whereabouts of the remaining three are unknown. They are Sana Dorn, Lillian Sol, and Enji Dodon."

The high priest glanced at the horizon in the distance. It was only two or three hours before the sun rose. When the sun rose, those who believed in the sun god would notice something was wrong with the church, and then the surrounding crusaders and priests would rush over. Even if the crusaders had not joined the underground church, they were their sympathizers. They were all destabilizing factors for this mission. If possible, they needed to avoid being noticed by the crusaders and priests in this area.

They had about thirty minutes left. If they were any later, it would be difficult for them to leave the church's radiation range before the sun rose.

"Did they escape?"

The high priest's troops have the architectural map of the residential area of ​​the church, and they know the location of everyone. Unless these people have noticed something in advance, they should have died in their sleep.

"There was no one in their room. They must have noticed something and ran away."

The priest's answer made the high priest frown.

"We can't be dragged here because of these kids. If we delay, something bad may happen. Let's prepare to leave according to the plan."

Before the mission began, the high priest memorized the list of all permanent staff in the church. He knew that these three people were orphans adopted by the church, with strong faith, and were sent here to be trained as candidate priests.

The high priest noticed that Carol in his hand seemed to be relieved, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Which team is chasing those three people now?"

"Team Two."

The priest quickly answered the high priest's question.

"Have them destroy any items on their bodies that could be linked to the church, and then continue chasing those three people. Make sure there is no chance of any information being leaked."

The priest left to convey the high priest's orders.

"You are all freaks indeed, non-believers."

Slaughtering fellow church members is an act forbidden by the holy scriptures. Although the underground church does not believe in the original holy scriptures, it will not attack fellow church members unless it is necessary. Even if they are rejected during recruitment, the underground church will not do anything to them as long as they do not report the behavior to the church.

And the high priest in front of him seemed to have no reverence for the holy scriptures at all.

"No, we are only loyal to the church, the church of mankind. The church will always operate under the will of mankind, not the mad extension of some mad god."

After saying that, the chain around Carol's neck tightened, and soon after, Carol completely lost consciousness.

The carriage started moving again and soon left the church. As the sun rose again from the horizon and spread its sunlight to the earth, a flame rose in the church.

Amid people's screams, the church began to collapse in the fire.

"One of our brothers has fallen into the hands of the church."

In that space filled with brilliant sunshine, several figures reappeared.

This time, the most radical officiant was missing.

"Just after our last meeting."

The figure sitting in the main seat spoke in a calm tone, but his news caused a little confusion among the other figures.

"The church is falling into its final frenzy. In this great concentration, they even disregarded the holy scriptures and wantonly slaughtered the brothers and sisters who believed in the unified god."

A priest spoke.

“As long as this news is spread, it will surely strike a blow to the authority of the church and allow more brothers and sisters to join us.”

"We have no substantive evidence. All evidence was destroyed by the fire."

The figure on the main seat rejected the priest's proposal.

"However, there are three hopes in God's revelation. They are now scattered outside and are in danger. As long as we find them, we will have evidence."

(End of this chapter)