Chapter 128

It seemed Becky had a long way to go before becoming a qualified noble, and considering her incorrigible mercenary habits, she would probably be on that road for the rest of her life. Once the talk about the girls' relationship was over, everyone was afraid she would say something shocking again, so they quickly refocused the conversation on the cultists.

To be honest, Hao Ren wasn't interested in the Return Order's sphere of influence or the world's religious situation—he was just there to catch the brain monster. But since Aufra hadn't arrived yet, and Becky was enthusiastically talking about it, he listened along for fun.

"Speaking of which, where is the Return Order's headquarters, exactly?" Hao Ren asked curiously.

Becky casually pointed to a spot on the map. "You'll never guess… it's in the mountains west of the Beinz Diocese. You have to cross the Poisonous Plains to get there; it's the holy mountain of the werewolf tribal kingdom."

Lily was stunned. "...Next to the Blood Lake?!"

"That's right, next to the Blood Lake, but further into the mountains, already in the territory of the werewolf tribal kingdom, hidden in the towering peaks. The layers of mountains are a natural barrier and disguise, and the werewolf tribal kingdom values the 'holy mountain' very much, prohibiting outsiders from approaching it at will, so we never thought those cultists would be hiding in those mountains. They actually dug tunnels underground, building a mountain fortress under the noses of the werewolves and the church."

Izhaks gestured towards the area on the map representing the Beinz Blood Lake (now called the Beinz Crystal Mine). "So, the landlord's cannon shot almost blew up the cultists' headquarters that day?"

"It was just a little short," Becky said, spreading her hands. "That's why life is always more exciting than stories; look how dramatic this is. Those cultists understand that the most dangerous place is the safest place, and they also have informants within the church. Some members are even high-ranking monks of the Radiant Church, so they know all the arrangements of the diocese, which allows them to hide safely under the church's nose."

The cult's headquarters being hidden next to the Beinz Diocese initially seemed absurd, but upon closer thought, it was exceptionally clever: the Beinz Diocese was the most unique place in the world. It was sparsely populated, and dangerous environments like the Poisonous Plains and the Twisted Territory severely hindered transportation. Despite being a large diocese, it was difficult to monitor due to various natural obstacles, and coupled with its proximity to the werewolf tribal kingdom, the Radiant Church was somewhat constrained in its activities there. The Return Order only needed to take advantage of these conveniences, hiding in places that the church wouldn't normally pay attention to, which was equivalent to fundamentally avoiding being discovered.

And considering the unclear relationship between the Return Order and the goddess, Hao Ren suspected that the cultists' hiding next to the Blood Lake wasn't just for concealment—the Blood Lake's inherent sanctity was also a reason.

Although the Radiant Church was unwilling to admit it, Hao Ren and the others were well aware that the Radiant Church and the Return Order worshipped the same god. The former's holy land and foundation were also the latter's pillar of faith.

Lily probably hadn't thought about it that deeply; she was just surprised to hear that the cultists were hiding next to the Blood Lake. "What a pity, if the landlord's cannon shot had been a little more powerful back then, it would have been over—I wonder if those cultists were scared out of their minds."

Hao Ren glared at Lily. "Don't be ridiculous. If that cannon shot had missed, your werewolf compatriots in this world would have been extinct."

Lily thought about it and stuck out her tongue, falling silent.

Just then, everyone suddenly heard the sound of carriages and horses coming from the courtyard outside. Soon after, a servant relayed a message from outside the door: "Mistress, Marshal Aufra has arrived."

Becky happily stood up. "Lord Aufra is here! Let's go greet her..."

The group came to the courtyard and saw a team of knights in shining armor and a team of monks in gray robes lined up in front of the long corridor. Leading the teams were Aufra and the big-bearded ascetic: it had been quite a few days since they had last seen each other. Aufra looked even more valiant than the last time they met. It seemed that the battle against the cultists had made the female marshal even more radiant. The big-bearded ascetic, on the other hand, looked unchanged, except that his robe seemed even more worn, and his beard was messier than before.

As soon as Hao Ren saw the old acquaintances, he ran forward to greet them and introduced Nangong couple who had come along for the first time. The big-bearded ascetic smiled and nodded slightly. "Congratulations, a family reunion is the best thing."

"How are things on your end?" Hao Ren looked the big-bearded ascetic up and down. "Are you used to living back in your hometown?"

"It's all the same everywhere; the goddess's glory is everywhere," the big-bearded ascetic said in his usual serious manner. "As long as we live under the goddess's grace, high mountains and distant lands are no different."

After everyone had greeted each other, Hao Ren nodded solemnly to Aufra. "I've heard about the situation from Becky. How is the situation at the 'front'?"

Aufra turned and pointed to the large carriage behind her. "Let's move to the Mage Tower now. I'll tell you the details on the way."

After everyone boarded the carriage, and there were no bystanders around, Aufra explained the situation at the battlefront in detail. "The Church Knights and the Royal Knights have surrounded the western mountains. His Majesty has also reached cooperation with the werewolf tribal kingdom through diplomatic channels, and the tribal kingdom is helping to block all the large and small mountain roads inside the mountains, making it impossible for the cultists to escape. Several battles have already broken out in the western mountains in the past two days, but the Knights had the upper hand at the beginning. They surrounded the mountains early, so the cultists inside the mountains didn't have time to gather their forces or ask for help. I don't think they'll amount to much."

Aufra spoke with confidence, her face radiating the valiant spirit of a victorious general. As soon as Hao Ren saw this, he quickly confirmed, "You haven't gone too deep, have you?"

"Don't worry, I remember your warning," Aufra said with a smile, nodding. "And some soldiers did frequently experience hallucinations or nightmares after entering the mountains. We used the locations where these soldiers had hallucinations to draw a rough map of the mental force field distribution, so we can prevent anyone from entering the monster's mental control range."

The big-bearded ascetic added a few sentences from the side. "His Holiness the Pope has covered the entire mountain range with divination magic, but there is an area in the depths of the mountains that the magic cannot penetrate. We suspect that the demon is hiding in the place that the magic cannot reach."

Vivian had been quietly listening with her hand on her chin. At this time, she suddenly asked curiously, "Speaking of which, why doesn't that brain monster escape? It hasn't moved either? Its mental control ability has a long range. If it moved its position in the mountains, wouldn't it cause you a lot of trouble?"

When Aufra heard this, a solemn expression appeared on her face. Obviously, this was a question that not only Vivian could think of. "That's indeed very strange. From the beginning, we had imagined what to do if the monster ran away when it saw the situation was bad, or if it relied on its mental power to take the initiative to attack. But it's been two days since we surrounded the mountains, and the monster hasn't moved. The energy distribution in the entire mountain area hasn't changed either... I don't know what it's thinking."

Izhaks asked in a deep voice, "Are you sure that's the cultists' headquarters? Are you sure the brain monster is in the mountains?"

"Of course, we're sure, otherwise we wouldn't have notified you to come," Aufra nodded vigorously. "The Pope's magic won't go wrong. He confirmed that there is an impenetrable energy field deep in the mountains. Apart from that monster's power, there is no other explanation."

"Could it be that something is trapping it... or that the brain monster is having a problem, causing it to be temporarily unable to move?" Vivian frowned and looked at Hao Ren. "What do you think?"

"We can only figure it out after we get there," Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "I have a bad feeling... The brain monster isn't an idiot. There must be something wrong with it staying in one place in this situation."

Everyone lowered their heads to think about it with their own concerns. After a while, the team arrived at the Mage Tower located on the north side of the Royal City. The wonderful tower, broken and suspended in mid-air, was still shining as brightly as the last time they saw it, and it seemed even brighter. Striking light could be seen flashing constantly in the space crack above the tower, and the entire tower was emitting a soft humming sound. A large number of temporary magic facilities could be seen around the Mage Tower. They were some four-sided prisms several meters high, and some mage apprentices were maintaining the operation of these facilities. They were providing extra energy to the Mage Tower: In the past few days, high-ranking monks and knights had been constantly traveling from the Royal City to the Beinz Diocese. This Mage Tower, which had a large teleportation array, was running at full power and needed extra energy supply to withstand those loads.

The group did not stay in the Royal City. After greeting the vice president of the Mage Association, they went directly to the Beinz Diocese through the teleportation device.