NOVPUB
Chapter 364: Start of the Hunt
At one of the church’s gathering areas, where the Paladin knights had already assembled, Aldrian stood in front of them alongside the Pope, observing the paladins. They were clad in their unique armor, each exuding the aura of a low-grade heavenly artifact, signifying their esteemed status.
Aldrian was alone, without anyone from his group or the Saintess. Sylphia and the others preferred to converse with the Saintess, so he had left them there. It was better this way, as it allowed them to forge deeper friendships.
"I will need only a group consisting of five members. The rest will act as backup and can be mobilized if the situation requires it," Aldrian said to the paladins. He then turned to Arthur, the leader of the knights.
"Of course, I will pick Sir Arthur. As for the rest—you, you, you, and you," Aldrian said, pointing at them.
Disappointment was evident on the faces of the paladins who were not chosen. To them, Aldrian was the one they most desired to serve, the person to whom they wished to prove their devotion.
Aldrian could sense it, and it was no exaggeration to think that these people regarded his position as even higher than the Pope’s, all because of the miracles he had performed. As the purity of holy energy continued to rise reaching its most powerful state today, they had already come to believe that Aldrian was the one destined to lead them in the prophesied time.
"For those who remain behind, don’t be discouraged. Your time has not yet come, but in the future, I may need your help. So keep your spirits high! Do you hear me?!" Aldrian shouted.
"Yes, Your Eminence!" the paladins answered in unison.
"Alright, for the rest of the paladins whom I did not choose—dismiss! The others, stay."
At his command, the knights began to disperse, leaving only Aldrian, the Pope, Arthur, and the four chosen knights. Among them were three men and one woman, the only female paladin Aldrian had seen among their ranks. However, she possessed one of the highest cultivation levels, having reached the high king stage, which was why he selected her.
Everyone he had chosen had the highest cultivation among the paladins, with all of them at least at the high king stage. Arthur and one other man stood as the strongest, having reached the peak king stage.
"I have chosen you because I believe you are the most suited for this mission. The traitor is dangerous—he possesses several high-grade artifacts, and he may have accomplices that you’ll need to deal with. So be ready for battle."
"Yes, Your Eminence!" they responded in unison.
Aldrian nodded. He can handle this on his own with his strength, but it would take too much time. Moreover, he needed someone from the church to guide him to the place where they had been investigating Cardinal Carsius’s escape. With the help of these knights, the time required to catch the traitor would likely be much shorter, so he chose this path.
Aldrian then turned to face Pope Claudius.
"I will go first, Your Holiness."
The Pope nodded.
"Be careful. May you succeed."
Aldrian gave a final nod before walking toward the exit of the church, the paladins following closely behind. Along the way, members of the church bowed to him, some even prostrating themselves in worship. Aldrian could feel it—the faint fluctuations of the power of faith within him. He sensed their pious devotion, the way they looked upon him as though he were a god.
As he passed them and neared the outer area of the church, Aldrian turned his head toward Arthur.
"Where are the traces that the church believes to be clear evidence of his escape route?"
"The first one is in the southern part of the territory. We detected his presence near a small village called Buran. This village is also close to Oris Town, the only place in that area with a teleportation station. Because it’s the only teleportation station there, we were able to easily track the traitor’s movements to that location."
"Alright, we’ll head there first. I’ll see if I can find anything," Aldrian said. "The town is in the south, correct?"
"Yes, we can use the teleportation—"
"Wait."
Aldrian’s words cut off Arthur’s sentence, causing Arthur to look at him in confusion. He saw Aldrian close his eyes, and the others also watched him in confusion. They didn’t know what was happening or what Aldrian was doing as he just stood there, eyes closed. 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Suddenly, they all felt the world around them shift, and when they opened their eyes, everything had changed. They were no longer where they had been. Now, they found themselves standing outside what appeared to be a city wall. The paladins widened their eyes in shock as they recognized the place. Aldrian had brought them to Oris Town!
Even if Aldrian had used some sort of space manipulation technique, it would require an enormous amount of energy—energy that could only be achieved by someone at the high emperor stage. And that was just to move himself to this place. The fact that he had brought all of them here at the same time required even more energy than they could imagine.
However, they could sense that Aldrian was only at the duke stage, and from his expression, there were no signs of energy depletion. It seemed like no big deal for him, as he casually observed his surroundings without a hint of concern. What they didn’t know was that the entire territory of the Heavenly Direction Church had already become Aldrian’s domain. He could teleport here and bring them along effortlessly.
"Alright, we’re already at Oris Town. So, Arthur, which way do the traces of the traitor lead?" Aldrian’s voice snapped Arthur out of his stunned state, and he sighed.
Arthur already knew about Aldrian’s powerful strength and many of his achievements, since he was the only one here who knew that Aldrian was the mysterious swordsman. However, he hadn’t anticipated that Aldrian’s abilities had grown to such an extent—abilities so great that he couldn’t even comprehend how Aldrian had done it.
"We need to head toward the southern side of the town, where Buran village is located. If we fly there, it’ll only take about three minutes. The traitor’s hideout is near the village, it’s quite remote and well-disguised, to the point that even the church’s artifact can’t detect it."
"Alright, lead the way," Aldrian said as he began floating.
Arthur nodded and flew in a specific direction, with Aldrian and the others following. The knights were once again amazed by Aldrian’s ability to fly at the same speed as the king-stage cultivators. At this point, they no longer believed that Aldrian was merely at the duke stage, they thought he must be using some method to conceal his true cultivation.
After flying for more than three minutes, Arthur landed in a dense forest. Aldrian could see several lights in the nearby area, which he guessed were from Buran village. They landed on a cleared patch of land, which had been cleared by the church. Ahead, they saw the entrance to an underground hideout, made of wood.
Aldrian spread his senses toward the hidden hideout and instantly mapped out the entire underground structure in his mind.
Arthur then stepped down into the hideout, and they continued along a narrow path that led to an extensive underground complex with many rooms.
"This place is leaving behind the presence of the devils," Arthur said. "It seems like it was cleared not long before we found it a year ago. This is also part of the reason we eventually figured out why the devils were able to launch surprise attacks in various parts of the church’s territory when we had gathered the power of the continent at that time. This kind of hideout was used by the devils to gather secretly. No wonder they could strike quickly and disappear before we even had a chance to respond."
Although the church had already purified the devils’ traces using holy energy, Aldrian could still sense lingering traces. His sensitivity to the devils’ presence was far greater than most. He felt a slight irritation when he encountered the residual traces, even though there were no actual signs of the devils remaining here.
"Later, we discovered that one of the residual energies in this room couldn’t have come from the devils, and we confirmed it was from Cardinal Carsius. From our guess, he seemed to have used one of the church’s artifacts, which explains the large residue of holy energy here before he hurriedly moved on, leaving this place," Arthur explained while entering one of the rooms.
"At the same time Cardinal Carsius was here, some of the devils were still present, and they might be the same devils that attacked Aldrey Flamecrest and Irene Rivas before they were trapped in the Everlasting Silent Forest."
Hearing that, Aldrian paused. He looked at Arthur, narrowing his eyes.
"The devils that attacked Father and Mother?" he thought.
