Fang Plover stared at the changing light purple sky, which gradually faded from the horizon like a burned-out flame, replaced by a deep blue, with stars twinkling above the clouds. It was a rare evening in winter.
What caught the eye was the arc-shaped spire of the church, and brilliant lights were shining through the tall arched windows. On the window eaves, there are carved images of monsters guarding the Sea of Storms, one next to the other, looking solemn and silent.
"Master Head, the monks in Aidanlian should still be having a collective meal at this time, but in half an hour, it will be their daily prayer time in the morning and evening," Miss Nightingale said with a faint starlight in her eyes. He put his hands on his waist and was looking in that direction.
At this time, she turned back with raised eyebrows, looked in this direction and said: "According to the information we know, the pastor from Altore diocese will not appear at the prayer meeting. This paragraph Within that time, the entire church will be gathered in the prayer room in the front hall, which is our best chance to capture him."
Fang Plover took out a small piece of dried meat and bit it into his mouth, chewing it gently. It tasted like dehydrated firewood, but it could always restore a little strength.
He knew that the patriarch from the Altori diocese would certainly not appear at the prayer meeting.
The other party wants to hide their whereabouts. It is best to disappear out of everyone's sight and not appear in any public places - although that is of no use to them.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"It's six o'clock now, Mr. Captain."
"Six-thirty." Fang Yu muttered silently. He raised his head and stared in that direction. Aidanlian's Holy Emblem stood high on the vault above the church. The lights of the Noble District are reflected in this direction through several blocks, like the reflection of stars. The towering steel bridge in that direction is hidden under the faint twilight and mist.
Although the Gray Knights may not necessarily participate in silent prayer, Alyssa is right, this is indeed their only chance.
At this moment, he saw a shadow quietly climbing over the fence outside the church courtyard and falling into the dense rose bushes there. That sneaky figure was none other than Parker.
"Ha, as expected, those guys did set up some little tricks." The Papalar jumped down from the fence, and before he could stand still, his boasting voice came over: "But this is for a former night robber. For the king, it’s nothing, just a small skill.”
Fang Plover threw the crystal in his other hand and watched the crystal draw an arc and land steadily on the Papalar's hand. Then he asked in surprise: "Magic alarm?"
"No, it's just a toy. They don't use toys to protect themselves from foreign enemies." The Papalar man pointed the crystal in his hand towards the fence, and an invisible ripple hit the iron fence. The space seemed to be distorted, as if something was being torn apart, but it returned to normal in a moment.
The crystal in Parker's hand also shattered and turned into dust, disappearing in the wind. "Okay," he clapped his hands, "Without this barrier, all of us can go in. However, our elementalist skills are still not quite up to par. This suppression spell can only be effective for an hour at most. After that, The monks who set up the spells will notice the anomaly.”
Fang Yu looked at this guy curiously.
"How do you know he can do it?" He turned back and asked Alyssa.
This job originally belonged to Miss Nightingale, because logically speaking, she was the real 'night thief' in their team.
"Isn't he the king of night thieves?" Alyssa smiled and replied with some tact: "Although it is a bit of bragging, if you think about it carefully, there is actually some truth to it?"
"...?" Fang Plione didn't expect Miss Nightingale to really believe the lies spouted by the Papalar people.
But Alyssa said with a smile: "The Seven Seas Traveler is so big, but how many people have really caught our Mr. 'King of Thieves'? Whether it is in the kitchen or the warehouse, he can always succeed, right... chuckle , if he wasn’t too stupid and always likes to leave clues - I don’t think Miss Attila would be able to catch him a few times."
That being said, it's true——
Fang Yu has never looked at the 'King of Confinement' in their team from this direction. Now it seems that the title of 'King of Night Thieves' is really something.
But that was just a joke.
Alyssa added: "Compared with my sister, I am only an enhanced shadow dancer, good at sneaking and investigation. But compared to my attainments in mechanisms and magic, Parker is more familiar. Come here. I have discussed it carefully with him before."
Fang Yu suddenly realized.
Just one hour is enough. If they don't find the target for a longer period of time, their stay here will have no other meaning besides increasing the risk.
"What should we do next?" Alyssa turned back to look at him, "Our leader?"
Fang Plover raised his head and looked at the towering church. Its majestic silhouette seemed to be deeply imprinted in the night.
"Use the path of shadow," Fang Plover replied. He raised his right hand and pointed in that direction with the pride of the lonely king. A faint arc of light reflected on the edge of the silver gauntlet. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but quickly made up his mind: "Go to the corridor on the right."
"Wait, right corridor?"
Alyssa looked a little surprised.
She was looking at Fang Plover with a suspicious look, which was far away from the resting area of the monks in the apse of the church, but if the Patriarch of Altori could be anywhere in this church, If there is one place, then the apse is the most likely place.
However, Fang Yu had already confirmed his judgment: "Yes, that's exactly the place."
This church is a religious building from the Lorper dynasty, adhering to the architectural style of that era. Its main body consists of a main hall, two side halls and an apse.
Theoretically, the apse is the living place for the monks, but if Fang Plover puts himself in the Crow's Claw Temple, he will hide here and not be known to outsiders. The first thing to do is of course to minimize contact with outsiders. .
The front hall and back hall of the church are both crowded places, and some daily gatherings and sermons are often held in the left hall. Only the right hall has a few libraries and some libraries that are not used daily. Meditation room, confessional room.
The right and left halls are both large in size. It is extremely easy to hide a person in such an inaccessible area.
He explained his thoughts, but Parker was obviously not convinced. Of course, the Papalars might just want to argue, so he said, "Maybe you are right, but that doesn't mean he must be here." There, I think Miss Alyssa’s judgment may not be wrong.”
"That's true." Fang Pulmon didn't argue with this guy this time, "but there are fewer people in the right hall, and the right cloister is on the periphery of the side hall, so it's inaccessible. We don't need to search the entire church. It is impossible for the other party to be without precautions, and sometimes precautions are also guideposts - in this case, we can give priority to safety issues."
He'd obviously thought it over, and Parker just snorted slightly in acceptance of the statement.
Fang Yu looked at Alyssa, who nodded as if she understood.
She immediately took off the leather gloves on her hands, walked forward, passed through the rose fence there, and then held the iron fence with her bare hands.
A piece of black smoke spread out from her hand, covering the entire fence. The next moment, a crack opened in the smoke, as if a door was opened on it.
Miss Nightingale then turned around and made a gesture of invitation to the two of them.
That is the Path of Shadow.
When Fang Plover passed through the door, he whispered to Alisa: "Call Hongye and Saya back."
Alyssa nodded lightly.
Momiji, Saya, Sora, and the Redeemer's men were taking a look nearby, but now they had opened a hole, and the outer defenses were no longer needed.
Since Parker had lifted the outer defenses in the temple courtyard, Alyssa's shadow path passed directly through the courtyard area and penetrated deep into the temple.
When Fang Plover walked through the door, his eyes blurred, and when he regained his composure, he realized that he was already in a long corridor. He looked back and saw that there was still a dark forest outside the courtyard. It was the depth of winter, and there were no insects and silence all around.
There is actually no corridor on the right here, just the edge area of the courtyard. However, the shadow dancer perceives the surrounding environment through the shadow network. The power of shadow can only distinguish between living and non-living things, but cannot distinguish buildings. Come on.
In order to avoid accidentally teleporting people into the wall, Alyssa could only use the limit of her field of vision as the destination. Although it was a little conservative, it was safe.
After him, Parker and Alisa also arrived one after another, and the shadow passage continued for a while. It was not until Hongye, Saya, Sora, and Kweed appeared from there that it suddenly closed and completely disappeared. .
During the waiting time, Fang Plover was of course not idle. He had already released the clockwork fairy and walked around the hall on the right, first constructing the topography of this place in his mind.
Of course, there are certain risks in doing this. The clockwork goblin only has eyesight, but cannot distinguish the magical power. There are a large number of detection spells arranged outside the temple. Once they hit, they will be discovered by the warlocks who arranged the spells.
Compared to their reconnaissance abilities, Nightingales and Rangers have meticulous observation abilities, Alchemists have powerful high-breadth battlefield reconnaissance abilities, but Sorcerers have the most outstanding fixed reconnaissance capabilities in the entire Aitaria.
However, Fang Plover was not aimless.
There will definitely be a difference in magnitude between the detection spells inside and outside the temple. First of all, the protection is for the outside rather than the inside. The spell has no judgment ability and cannot distinguish who is an intruder and who is one of our own. No one can tell themselves. Get yourself into trouble.
Moreover, the temple is part of the gods' kingdom in the mortal world, and the divine power that permeates here will naturally repel other forces, including other etheric forces.
Of course, if Aidanlian's resurrection is just a false pretense and the owner of this temple does not exist in this era, then the so-called divine power will naturally not exist.
But from the moment Fang Plover stepped into this temple, he faintly felt an unknown force lingering over the entire temple.
He is an alchemist and is naturally sensitive to ether. Although he is not a priest and cannot distinguish the nature of divine ether, this power is obviously different from ether with other attributes.
That feeling...
It was like an omnipresent eye, as if it was watching them from a certain space. The gaze came from all directions, and when he concentrated on it, the faint feeling disappeared in an instant.
He was all too familiar with this feeling, which was actually the gaze from a higher dimension.
"what is that……?"
Alyssa obviously noticed the abnormality, frowned a little uncomfortable, and asked in a low voice.
When Fang Plover looked at the others, neither Hongye nor Saya, nor the redeemed ones, showed any such abnormality. They just looked around and felt that the corridor was uncomfortably quiet.
Although the members of the Seven Seas Brigade are obviously not ordinary people, they have had the experience of dealing with Amaya and the war lady Marlan. He is also familiar with the methods of the Dark Saints. He has personally experienced them more than once in the underground of Fenris and in Istania.
But it was obviously not the reason why he and Alyssa could detect this power but others could not.
Parker looked confused on the side. The Papalars were also members of the Seven Seas Brigade.
He also frowned, vaguely realizing that this might be a reminder given to him by the three goddesses. He was Malan's chosen one, and it was natural for him to instinctively reject other divine powers.
And Alyssa has Amaya's Holy Emblem on her body, which was something Miss Attila gave them before leaving and gave it to Miss Nightingale for safekeeping.
Although the elf lady didn't say what her intention was, but now I think it may have been the forest lady's handiwork.
When Fang Yu realized this, he couldn't help but feel slightly shocked. Mallan's divine power was certainly not so boring that it would reject all other powers. It was impossible for those insignificant natural ethers to be placed in the heart of this war lady.
The same goes for forest goddesses. The only thing they value is their divine power.
In other words, what permeates this temple at this moment is the real divine power - light ether.
But to whom do they belong?
Could it be that what the people at Crow Claw Temple said was true, that Storm Lord Aidanlian had really returned to this world?
He has not forgotten that this place is the territory of Aidanlian, the earthly kingdom of the former god Orin.
But the problem is that if the opponent is really Aidanlian, Marlan, Mirela and Amea, who are also members of the Orin God family, have no reason to support him against the Gray Knights.
In history, Aidanlian has a close relationship with Mirela, the goddess of life, and can be said to be the latter's half-goddess.
He didn't quite understand, but he just shook his head at Alyssa.
Being watched by divine power does not mean that the owner of this place has noticed them. Omniscience and omnipotence are just the believers' best wishes for the existence they respect. The perception of the gods is not unlimited.
But if that name is mentioned here, it might really attract the attention of the owner of this place.
Although that was just a rumor, it was still better to be cautious. They had fought against false gods in Istania and underground in Fenris. But in the territory of a true God, it is best to keep your tail between your legs.
"The defenses in the north and south are very tight," Fang Plover had already withdrawn the Clockwork Fairy at this time, and said: "It seems that our judgment is almost the same. The right side of the hall is not an important area. The opponent has laid such a plan here. The tight security is probably because the target is here."
He pointed to the front again: "I found something that I was a little concerned about earlier. There are many monks on the road leading to the meditation room, but in theory they should all rush to the front hall for evening prayers now. Yes. I kind of doubt that the Crowclaw Patriarch from Altori is there, but there are a large number of Gray Knights guarding it."
"If we want to pass through there, it seems that there will inevitably be a battle." Fang Plover then turned back to look at the others: "But I have a way, maybe we can avoid alerting the snake. Alyssa, Parker, Hongye, and Sha Miss Ye, I need your cooperation..."
Behind Saya, Sora took a breath and asked in a low voice: "What should we do?"
Fang Plover bit everyone's ears and whispered a few words.
Everyone couldn't help but nodded.
…
After returning from the canal area, Cole did not go as promised by Fang Plover and others, and went to Herring Gull Lane to deliver the letter to Silver Wisland.
In fact, he was still a little nervous. In his opinion, although the selected people looked a little different from other selected people, and there was no malice seen in them, it was obvious that what they did was not legal and compliant. thing.
What's more, he carried such a large amount of money, so of course he had to hand it over to Uncle Walid before he could rest assured. He held the money bag in his arms tightly with one hand and looked around nervously, as if he was afraid that someone might come to him at any time. It's like taking away this 'huge sum' of money from yourself.
However, although the security of Gula Port was getting worse day by day, the situation as imagined did not happen. After he crossed the arch bridge between Herring Gull Street and the outer port area, the shed community was almost in front of him.
However, this was roughly the dividing line between the commercial street and the slums in the inner harbor area of Gula Port. From a distance, he could see an open iron gate in the alley across the bridge.
In order to prevent the poor public security environment in Xiacheng District from affecting the commercial area, local residents and shop owners installed such an iron gate here to isolate the entrance of Herring Gull Street from the shed community.
Although this move is somewhat unpleasant, as a group of people at the bottom of Gula Port, they have no say.
Cole was already used to this kind of situation, and it was not surprising. He was just a little surprised why the iron door was open. Generally speaking, it should be locked at this time.
But just as he crossed the bridge, he heard a burst of hasty footsteps coming from that direction, and then, a young man stumbled out from there. As soon as the other party looked up and saw him, he couldn't help but show surprise in his eyes, but the surprise immediately turned into panic, and the young man immediately shouted to him:
"Brother Cole, run quickly..."
"Those people are looking for you. They arrested Uncle Walid...the others, and your sister!"
…
