Chapter 210: Breaking the Deadlock (Part 3)

  "Quickly, bring that priest up." Bishop Javi's complexion had finally calmed down a bit. His first impulse upon receiving the news had been to immediately rush to the Magic Academy, but he had ultimately restrained himself.

  The old ministers, including Rodhart, all looked at Cardinal with curious gazes. They didn't understand what kind of matter could make the always calm and composed Bishop Javi so startled and so out of control. But the Bishop paid no mind to the gazes of those around him; he was now staring only at the priest who had come from the Magic Academy. The priest, led by the swordsman, passed the blockade of the Paladin Order swordsmen and arrived outside the hall. The swordsman withdrew.

  "Speak more clearly. What kind of person broke into the cellar beneath the Grand Cathedral? What was the situation at the time?" Cardinal asked urgently.

  This priest bowed and replied: "My lord Bishop, that person seemed to be a young man wearing a mask. He first took High Priest Ryan hostage to get the key to the cellar in the Grand Cathedral, then entered the cellar alone. After he went in, he used a strange magical seal to block the entrance to the passage. High Priest Ryan wanted to break it and give chase, but could do nothing about that magical seal. A short while later, a great tremor came from within the cellar, and then we saw that person run out from inside. Although we had already deployed people outside, this person still broke through our encirclement. High Priest Ryan made a move to stop him but was severely injured by this person's magic... That magic... seemed to be Necromancy..."

  "You said this person stole something? What kind of thing? Which direction did he go?" Cardinal asked sharply. His face had already begun to show a kind of near-hysterical agitation, and he was trembling slightly. This kind of expression only appeared when the most devoted man heard his lover being taken, or when the most loving mother saw her son about to die. It was not just agitation, but also terror and despair.

  The gazes of those around became even stranger. They couldn't understand how such an expression could appear on a person like Bishop Javi.

  "This lowly one did not see this person either. But High Priest Ryan sent me to deliver a message to my lord Bishop, asking my lord Bishop to return to the Magic Academy as soon as possible. He has something important to tell my lord Bishop."

  Bishop Javi sighed heavily, turned to the ministers, and said urgently: "My apologies. I will leave this place to Lord Rodhart and all of you to discuss properly." Before his voice had faded, he had already turned and rushed out of the sleeping chamber, fleeing.

  Watching Cardinal's rapidly receding back, everyone was a bit stunned. It was Rodhart who recovered first. He waved a hand at the priest who was still standing there in a daze and said: "Alright, you are of no further use here. You may withdraw."

  But this priest did not move. Instead, he stood where he was, watched Cardinal's back disappear, and only then said slowly: "But this lowly one also brought a miracle medicine to treat Her Majesty the Queen. My lords, may I ask if it can be used on Her Majesty the Queen?"

  Cardinal's figure moved like lightning, as swift as fire. With a speed faster than a galloping horse, he reached the palace gates in the short span of a few dozen breaths.

  There was also fire and thunder in his heart now, and it was an incomparably fierce, great fire and wild thunder. He knew very well how important the thing hidden in the dungeon was. If it had truly been obtained by that person, the consequences would be absolutely unimaginable. He had always thought that person didn't know, or even if he knew, wouldn't dare to touch it, wasn't qualified to touch that thing. But how could he have known that his own momentary carelessness would have given the other such an opportunity.

  What power struggles, what conspiracies and tricks, what ambitions of hegemony—in contrast to the series of things associated with that object, they were completely insignificant puppet shows. So the moment he heard the news, he immediately focused all his mind and spirit on it, leaving Rodhart and those ministers who were about to fall into his grasp to rush away. Although the object was already gone, perhaps High Priest Ryan's mouth still held some clues. Even if it was the smallest opportunity, the slightest possibility, he could not let it go, trying to salvage even a tiny bit of possibility.

  Just as he burst out of the palace gates, he seized a horse from a guard and whipped it into a mad gallop toward the Magic Academy. The whip in his hand fell like a madman, while white magic for healing and restoring stamina was continuously sent into the horse. With a trail of mournful whinnies and a speed far exceeding its norm, the horse flew down the main avenue of the royal capital.

  "What? You have a medicine that can treat Her Majesty the Queen?" Everyone was greatly shocked. The expressions on the ministers' faces simultaneously turned to wild joy. Only Rodhart was taken aback for a moment, and then his eyes, which had always been plain and unremarkable, suddenly flashed with a sharp light.

  "Yes. This is a miracle medicine left behind by Bishop Ronis. It will surely be able to cure Her Majesty the Queen."

  "Then why haven't you used it on Her Majesty the Queen yet?" the Old Marquis Minsk was so excited that his voice and expression trembled together.

  "Yes." The priest bowed his head, nodded, and walked forward.

  "Wait, stand still." A loud shout erupted from Rodhart's mouth.

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  The ministers stared at Rodhart in astonishment. He had already drawn his sword, pointing it from a distance at the priest, and said harshly: "Who told you to come? You are not from the Magic Academy. Even High Priest Ryan doesn't know what happened to Her Majesty the Queen, so how could he possibly send you to deliver some medicine?"

  All the ministers were stunned along with him. They had not expected that the High Priest would not know about this matter, and they would not have suspected the priest's identity at all.

  The light in Rodhart's eyes was even brighter and sharper than the glint of his sword. He scanned the priest up and down. If it weren't for the fact that the priest's build was vastly different from that person's, he would have almost thought this was the very person they had been worrying about.

  This priest was not tall, even a bit thin and small. His every move was truly that of an ordinary person with no abnormalities; even Bishop Javi had not seen the slightest peculiarity. His face was also a very plain one, the kind of ordinary, couldn't-be-more-ordinary priest who would disappear if thrown into the Magic Academy.

  The ministers also looked at this priest with various puzzled gazes. Among them, the Chancellor's gaze was the strangest.

  This very ordinary priest showed not the slightest fear of the long sword before him. He still spoke in that same plain way: "High Priest Ryan indeed does not know, but Bishop Ronis did. That is why he left behind a medicine to treat Her Majesty the Queen, to be used when necessary."

  Rodhart shouted to the Paladin Order swordsmen in the distance outside the hall: "Quickly, dispatch a team to the Magic Academy to bring Bishop Javi back!" He had already sensed that something was amiss. He turned his head to look at the priest and said harshly: "Nonsense. If Bishop Ronis truly knew long ago, why didn't he treat Her Majesty the Queen earlier? Who exactly told you to spread false information to lure Bishop Javi away?"

  This priest looked at Rodhart and said slowly, without haste or anxiety: "That is because Bishop Ronis could not be completely certain before, and also could not have imagined that Her Majesty the Queen would be used and threatened by others... Actually, whether it's nonsense or not doesn't really matter. The most important thing is to make Her Majesty the Queen well again, wouldn't you agree, my lord?"

  A vein on Rodhart's hand jumped. He almost wanted to step forward and chop off the priest's foot with his sword first, then interrogate him slowly. Just from those words, he could be certain that this priest was at least an associate of that person. But although no matter how he looked at this person, he seemed completely powerless, out of a kind of intuition, he did not dare to make a move.

  No matter how ordinary or unremarkable a person's appearance may be, to be able to maintain such indifferent calm in a situation like this meant they were absolutely not ordinary.

  The priest's indifferent eyes held no gleam, but they gave Rodhart a strange chill. He looked at the ministers around him and said: "If you don't believe me, you may as well let me try, and you will know. The miracle medicine left by Bishop Ronis will surely be able to relieve you of your worries, my lords."

  "Good, if you have medicine, then take it out quickly." the Old Marquis Minsk waved his hand impatiently. In their eyes, even if the priest's identity was somewhat suspicious, or perhaps he had some ulterior motive, none of that mattered. After all, they were in an environment surrounded by the Paladin Order; it seemed unlikely that anything could happen. But if it could truly cure Her Majesty the Queen, even a one in a hundred chance could not be given up.

  "Yes. But this medicine must be administered to Her Majesty the Queen by my own hands to be effective." the priest replied, walking straight toward the Queen on the bed.

  "Wait." Rodhart stepped forward, his long sword no more than three feet from the priest's chest. "This person's identity is suspicious; he absolutely cannot be allowed to approach Her Majesty at will. He might be a spy sent by that mastermind." He raised his voice and shouted. "Guards! Take this person away..."

  "Let him try. Her Majesty is already like this anyway." A sharp voice cut in. It was the Chancellor.

  "No, this person's identity is unknown..." Rodhart wanted to say more, but at this moment, he found that the priest's footsteps did not stop, but he continued to walk toward the Queen on the bed, and from beginning to end, he had not cared at all about the sword Rodhart was pointing at him.

  The swordsmen who had heard Rodhart's voice were still dozens of meters from the hall's entrance. No matter how wrong it felt, he had to make a move now. Rodhart's wrist flicked, and the sword in his hand became a streak of white light, striking toward the priest's chest.

  This was absolutely a flawless sword strike. From complete stillness to movement as fast as lightning, it was so natural and perfect, as if movement was stillness and stillness was movement. There was no sharp, fierce sword aura, but the essence and intent contained within this one strike were absolutely more lethal than ten swift, fierce, and murderous swords.

  "Good!" General Thomas couldn't help but shout in a deep voice. He had to admit that Commander Roland's disciple had indeed been chosen well. Just this raising of the hand and a single sword strike, perhaps no one in the entire royal capital except Roland himself could match it.

  But as the word "good" ended, while the resonance of the tone was still in the general's throat, it had already changed key. Because what he saw was Rodhart, who had struck this exquisite blow, staggering backward.

  That ordinary-looking priest, who seemed to have no special qualities, merely raised a hand, brushed aside, and pushed forward with his other hand. These two equally ordinary movements deflected the sword of the acting Paladin Order commander and then pushed him away.

  To be precise, he wasn't pushed away, but rather dodged back by Rodhart himself. Although the priest's movements did indeed look very casual, very natural, and very ordinary, the white Battle Qi emanating from the hand he had extended already explained that this was not an ordinary movement, and he was not an ordinary person.

  This person's movements looked ordinary because they were even more natural and perfect than Rodhart's sword strike. The fingers containing Battle Qi completely neutralized the offensive force and sword momentum of Rodhart's strike, deflecting the sword's edge completely, while the other hand pushed toward Rodhart's chest, and Rodhart retreated.

  Rodhart didn't retreat because he was actually pushed by that person, but because he was forced to retreat. If he had let that hand emitting white Battle Qi firmly push against his chest, it would probably be no different from being stabbed by a sword, so he had to retreat. In his haste, he had to completely retract all the forward momentum he had sent out and even move backward, making him nearly lose his balance.

  But greater than the shock to his body was the shock to Rodhart's expression. It wasn't just because this one exchange had immediately decided the superior and inferior, but because he saw that as this person forced him back, his body was undergoing a strange transformation. That originally somewhat short body was actually growing taller, his torso expanding. He could almost hear the sound of muscles deforming and bones recombining coming from within this person's body. In just the time it took him to retreat a few steps and steady himself, this person had already grown a size larger and taller, his body's silhouette completely changed.

  Although the face was still that same plain-looking one, Rodhart had already recognized who this was from this person's changed body shape and movements. His expression was distorted, and his voice had also completely changed: "It's you?"

  This person did not acknowledge him, but turned and continued to walk with large strides toward the Queen's bed.

  "Stop him. He is the culprit behind the scenes, the murderer who assassinated Bishop Ronis." Rodhart yelled hoarsely. He drew his sword, his figure rising again, charging forward.

  The expressions of everyone who heard his words were all twisted in shock just like his, with the exception of the Chancellor. Instead, she stepped forward and grabbed the Old Marquis Minsk and General Thomas, who were also about to rush up.

  Rodhart's sword momentum this time was a hundred times more ferocious, fierce, and intense than the sudden strike from before. He had practically bet his entire being on this one sword strike.

  That person made a move as well, and the white Battle Qi was also more violent than before. But this time, he no longer deflected, but went to receive.

  No one could see clearly whether the sword momentum, violent as a mountain torrent, all rushed into that hand, or if that hand had grabbed the sword that spewed forth like a mountain torrent. They only saw the sword light enter the hand, and then blood splatter out from within the hand.

  But more blood gushed from Rodhart's mouth. Under this full-power strike, he had no way to dodge. The person's other hand had formed a fist and struck his chest. Everyone could hear the strange sound of the sharp, twisted noise of the steel armor denting mixed with the crisp sound of bones breaking. Then they saw Rodhart fly backward, carrying with him a large spray of blood gushing from his own mouth.