"Clomp, clomp, clomp..." Steel boots made squelching sounds as they trampled through the muddy ground. With each step, deep footprints formed in the muddy path, only to be completely trampled into sludge by subsequent footsteps.
Some mud splattered onto a beggar by the roadside, making him shrink back fearfully to avoid being stepped on by these recklessly charging Church Knights.
Norton kept his head lowered, pretending to be fearful while also preventing his crimson eyes from revealing any clues.
He could still hear the commotion caused by Church Knights forcibly breaking into residents' homes.
For some unknown reason, starting yesterday, Church Knights had suddenly begun conducting extensive searches throughout the city. Regardless of whether people were home or not, they would forcibly break into residents' houses and conduct thorough searches. From the wealthy classes down to poor beggars, any room that couldn't be completely seen at a glance would be searched by these Church Knights.
They seemed to be looking for something.
The unusual movements of the Church Knights forced Norton to destroy the pastry wall he had built overnight and throw it outside the city. He scattered dust around the clock tower where he was temporarily staying, restoring it to appear uninhabited for a long time.
Ironically, the place where he usually stayed received no attention from these Church Knights at all.
This made Norton rather pleased with himself, thinking his hiding strategy was absolutely brilliant!
See, true concealment isn't about firing one shot and changing locations, but about making people accustomed to your presence - that's the real art of hiding!Little did he know that the Church Knights' search wasn't limited to the human species at all.
The Church's actions made Norton somewhat uneasy.
He didn't know what the Church was searching for. Originally, he thought they were looking for him. But during this period, these Church Knights only searched rooms that couldn't be completely seen at a glance, paying no attention to streets or pedestrians, so he dismissed his initial assumption.
Then what were these Church Knights searching for? Norton instinctively felt it must be related to whatever the Church had previously found in Holy Lord City.
The current search in Rino City was extremely thorough. They were practically combing through the entire city as if plowing farmland, seemingly wanting to search every inch of Rino City.
This also forced Norton to avoid returning to his clock tower during this period. Instead, he would come to where the beggars gathered in the slums during evenings, squatting in any random corner to make his presence more plausible.
Though this search operation was conducted with great fanfare, not a single Boar Empire spy had been captured.
This somewhat abnormal outcome felt very strange to Norton, but he had his own problems to deal with and couldn't spare energy to concern himself with struggles between nations.
Meanwhile, the Holy Inquisition Tribunal that had entered the Holy Lord City area had finally begun their bloody purge of the werewolves.
At this moment, in Holy Lord City.
The vast Holy Lord City had lost its former bustle. Poverty and suffering, exploitation and oppression - all had been buried in the past along with the arrival of the werewolves. Only an empty city remained, with bones scattered everywhere.
No, it couldn't be called empty.
Because Holy Lord City was now filled with ferocious-looking werewolves. Werewolves standing 1.7 to 1.8 meters tall gathered here, replacing humans as the new masters of Holy Lord City.
The Holy Lord Cathedral had already been reduced from a sanctuary worshipping God to a werewolf den.
"Owooo..." Howls rose and fell continuously as dark werewolf figures rested throughout the city, almost completely filling the vast streets of Holy Lord City.
Ever since that mutated wolf cub was captured by Holy Lord Cathedral's Church Knights and sent to the Vatican two years ago, the Wolf King had begun calling upon friends and summoning werewolves from everywhere.
Some female wolves already showed clear signs of pregnancy, while others were even in the process of giving birth. The solemn cathedral hall had now become a bloody, filthy venue for werewolf reproduction, filled with the smell of blood and foul odors.
Blood from childbirth mixed with amniotic fluid made the ground wet and emitted a foul, fishy smell. In one corner of the hall, corpses of werewolf cubs were piled up like a small mountain.
These werewolf cub corpses all showed obvious mutations, but unlike the perfectly mutated body of the wolf infant captured by the Church, they were extremely grotesque-looking. Some appeared indescribable, causing intense disgust.
Some weren't even completely dead yet, emitting strange cries that sounded nothing like werewolf noises, weakly struggling within the pile of corpses.
Compared to the strong, healthy female werewolves, the Wolf King had become emaciated, almost looking like decaying wood, showing signs of imminent demise. Yet even so, he continued using his last strength to seek a transformative opportunity for his species.
But unfortunately, time was running out for him.
The night was pitch black, with a slightly cool breeze that couldn't disperse the heaviness in the air or the rotting smell of Holy Lord City. There seemed to be signs of an approaching storm.
Holy Lord City's streets were filled with werewolves. Some walked openly on the streets, while others perched high on rooftops, seemingly patrolling and vigilantly watching their surroundings, or perhaps making some different preparations.
The wind grew stronger, bringing with it faint traces of rain.
"Owooo..." A piercing warning howl sounded outside Holy Lord City.
As the howl echoed, the entire Holy Lord City instantly sprang into action.
"Owoo owoo..."
Howls immediately intertwined throughout Holy Lord City. Because there were so many werewolves, the combined howling nearly drowned out the entire city.
Amidst one piercing wolf cry after another, the doors of Holy Lord Cathedral were suddenly thrown open, and the emaciated figure of the Wolf King burst forth.
"Owooo!!!"
Though weak and frail, though on the verge of death, the Wolf King's howl still overpowered all others, steadily suppressing all the werewolves' cries. And with his howl, all the werewolves immediately found their direction.
Countless black werewolves instantly exerted force, transforming into a dark torrent within the night, flooding through Holy Lord City's streets like a tide, roaring toward the city's outskirts.
Meanwhile, the pregnant female wolves inside Holy Lord Cathedral dragged their large-bellied bodies out one by one, forming lines as they scurried out of the cathedral. Then, escorted by a team of werewolves, they headed toward the distance.
The fact that they could be this intelligent demonstrated the cunning and craftiness of the werewolf species.