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"Lich" Sloan is still being hunted.
Ethan McCarthy, the head of the Inquisition of the Holy Church, is personally leading a team to hunt him down.
The entire encirclement and suppression process began after the preliminary selection ended and has lasted for nearly five hours.
But the Holy Church gained very little. The "lich" is exceptionally cunning.
This is the common perception of this kind of creature among humans.
Because necromancers who can transform themselves into "liches" are all master-level figures.
Their ingenuity in their research projects is astonishing. If redirected towards areas beneficial to human development, it could easily be called a "treasure of humanity."
No one doubts the intelligence of the "lich".
However, based on the negative impression of "liches," "clever" became "cunning."
Sloan is especially cunning.
In his past struggles with the Church, he had often outmaneuvered its members.
Although he ultimately stumbled, it cannot be denied that he single-handedly entangled himself with the Holy Church for decades.
Moreover, Sloan is now favored by the "evil god".
He has become more powerful and more cunning.
Moreover, with the saintess's suicide, his weaknesses have diminished. Tonight.
The Holy Church discovered Sloan's whereabouts a total of eighteen times.
Sixteen times he only saw Sloan's back, and the remaining two times he encountered people from other factions.
Excluding those two special cases, in the remaining sixteen encounters, it was as if Sloan deliberately created a weakness and then showed them his back, doing everything he could to humiliate them.
Director McCarthy was so angry that his beard bristled, and he vowed that once he captured Sloan, he would personally cut him into pieces!
But Sloan was like a slippery mudskipper, swimming around inside the Free City, so slippery that he was impossible to catch.
The Holy Church, mindful of its image, would never allow itself to lead a large force to rampage through the streets at such a crucial moment.
Therefore, they always traveled in plainclothes, trying their best not to disturb pedestrians. Sloan used this to his advantage, disappearing into the crowd several times.
But after 1 a.m., the number of pedestrians on the street finally decreased significantly. The Holy Church no longer hesitated and directly dispatched the Holy Knights to capture Sloan based on intelligence.
They had extensive experience in capturing Sloan. After initially pinpointing Sloan's location, they did not pursue him in a straight line, but instead gradually narrowed the search area from all directions, eventually leaving Sloan with nowhere to escape.
Simply killing the "Lich" is useless.
Because the Lich will resurrect from its phylactery after death, the best approach is to capture the Lich first, then find all of its phylacteries and either guard the corpse or destroy all of them.
However, the latter is extremely troublesome and very difficult to achieve when facing a powerful "lich".
McCarthy's original goal was to do just that.
But after a five-hour chase, he changed his strategy from capturing to killing!
He intends to kill Sloan on the spot and then steal his magic card!
A lich is born with nothing and dies with nothing. Once he dies, although his soul returns to his casket, everything he carried with him must be left behind.
In short, kill the lich and get its equipment.
We cannot allow him to possess such a powerful "weapon" any longer!
Every day that Sloan possesses the "Card of God" is a day that poses a great threat to the Holy Church.
It's 10:50 AM.
The Holy Church finally cornered Sloan in a small area in a corner of the Duel City.
There are many buildings in this area, but because the Duel City has not yet opened real estate for sale, only a few people remain here to guard it for the time being.
But Sloan, surrounded by the Holy Church, was not afraid and laughed back.
A moment later, in that newly built, almost deserted city, he summoned a huge bone dragon—the "Dragon of the Underworld"!
This time.
The moment Sloan summoned the "Dragon of the Underworld," McCarthy clearly saw the phantom of Death behind him!
That was the Grim Reaper in black robes and scythe, a figure often seen in human legends! The crimson eyes peeking out from beneath that black robe radiated a terrifying aura of death and despair.
McCarthy felt a chill run down his spine after just a fleeting glance.
He realized immediately.
Unlike Thompson, a half-baked holder of the "God Card," Sloan is backed by the true Grim Reaper!
"I returned from the underworld for this moment. McCarthy, do you remember Sharon?"
Sloan lifted his mask, revealing his withered and sunken face.
That face, which could no longer display any expression, now gave off a sinister grin.
That night.
The howl of the bone dragon echoed across the city. Death's scythe cleaved through the darkness and silence.
The Holy Church, including Chief Justice McCarthy and 122 others, completely disappeared.
Along with it, half of the buildings in that newly built urban area also disappeared. It was a horizontal half, not a vertical division.
When Pope Sith arrived with his men, the place was already deserted.
April 14th, 9:30 AM.
If you're staying in a hotel, the sun will already be shining through the windows.
But not a single ray of light entered the room in the underground base. After waking up, Dak sat quietly on the bed for another half hour before finally pushing open the door and going out.
The base is not very large, and as soon as you step outside, you can see the "Scorpio Palace" maids bustling about in the corridor.
Although Dark could obtain information with a simple reach, behind this "reach" lay an extremely labor-intensive and complex process.
The maids of "Scorpio Palace" are busy every day, either on their way to a mission or waiting to go on one.
For those with modern memories, it's hard to imagine how they maintain such a high degree of voluntariness and enthusiasm.
"Click."
The door to the room where Thompson was being held opened from the inside, and a maid dressed in white walked out.
After a brief inquiry, Dak learned that Thompson had woken up half an hour earlier and was still quite lucid. Although he had some memory loss, he knew his name, remembered his family, and could do basic arithmetic, so he was generally fine.
As for now, I heard that he fell asleep again after receiving an injection.
The maids were clearly too busy to look after or keep an eye on him, so they simply gave him a deep sleep.
He'll probably have to sleep in that room for another four or five days.
Dark felt a little apologetic, then thought for a moment and even laughed at himself. "Laura, did anything happen last night?"
Upon arriving at the intelligence processing room, Dak inquired.
Laura turned around to greet him, nearly sweeping the documents off the table, but Dark quickly stopped her.
After a chaotic commotion, the two sat down again.
Laura's expression was somewhat serious: "Last night, in the southeast corner of Duel City, the Holy Church's Inquisition engaged in a fierce battle with 'The Lich' Sloan."
"Hmm," Dark asked with interest, "How did it go?" He had neither a liking nor a disliking for Sloan, and his feelings towards the Holy Church were mixed.
So no matter how the two sides fight, he's happy to watch the drama unfold. As long as it doesn't endanger his acquaintances in the Holy Church, he doesn't care.
But Laura's next words still surprised him. "Last night, the Holy Church sent a total of 122 people, including the head of the Inquisition. Half of them belonged to the Inquisition, and the other half were paladins who were temporarily mobilized. There were 23 contestants among them, and 3 of them entered the preliminary rounds."
"Wait, what about the Twin Paladins?" Dark asked hurriedly, Laura's tone giving him a bad feeling.
Laura quickly replied, "The 'Twin Paladins' are being groomed as key players and are preparing for tomorrow's preliminary rounds."
"Oh." Darke was relieved. "Then let's continue."
Laura continued, "Those 122 people all disappeared at 2 a.m.
Dark frowned slightly and said, "They're all dead."
Laura shook her head and said, "It's still uncertain. Logically, we think it would be normal for all 122 people to die under that level of attack. But in reality, no body parts or even bloodstains were found at the scene."
Dark said, "The situation is horrific. Were any civilians affected?" Laura replied, "No civilians. The administrator who was originally responsible for guarding that area has somehow appeared on the outskirts of the city. Only the buildings were damaged. Well, they'll basically have to be rebuilt."
Dark said, "It's alright, the Holy Church will pay for it."
Chapter 1532 The Archbishop Doesn't Want to Improve (4k)
This matter arose because of the Holy Church, so naturally the Holy Church should bear the responsibility.
Fortunately, the Holy Church is wealthy and powerful, and it is impossible for them to cut corners on this point. This is another good thing that benefits the people.
Okay, that's not how you should put it. In short, the Holy Church suffered heavy losses in this battle.
A total of 122 elite fighters, including even McCarthy, the chief judge of the Inquisition.
This is an unprecedented loss for the Holy Church since the end of the war. Their hatred for Sloan will inevitably intensify as a result. However, the hatred was already at its peak, and even if it intensifies further, it will still be at its peak. In reality, it won't have much impact.
They were thinking about only two things at that moment. The first was how to capture and kill Sloan.
The second is how to remedy the situation.
Emotionally speaking, Duck believes His Holiness the Pope would certainly prioritize the first matter over the first one.
But if Sloan were so easy to kill, then the 122 elite soldiers wouldn't have been sacrificed.
—Although it is not yet certain whether they have been killed.
Normally, in a life-or-death battle like this, the probability of them surviving is extremely low.
But when the cost of acknowledging this is too high, there will always be people who take a chance.
Then we come to the second point: how to remedy the situation. Remedies are divided into supplements and rescues.
It fills the void left by the disappearance of those 122 elite soldiers. It saves those who might still be alive.
In short, the members of the Holy Church will be quite busy in the coming days.
McCarthy, the chief judge of the Inquisition, held a position in the Church second only to Pope Sith, and was on par with Archbishop Caleb Norris.
On the surface, these three are the "Big Three" of the Holy Church.
But now one of the three heads is suddenly missing, and it's at a crucial moment when the Age of Gods is about to begin.
If this gap is not filled as soon as possible, the Holy Church's deterrent power and competitiveness will decline significantly.
But this is also an opportunity for those below.
After all, there are only three positions at the top, and the Holy Church does not have a "retirement" system. As long as the three leaders do not want to retire, they cannot retire even if they are very old.
Those below naturally have no chance of going up.
The vacancies left by the remaining 121 elite soldiers also need to be filled.
However, according to convention, in situations like this, a temporary chief referee is usually selected first, and the official appointment only takes place after the death of the previous chief referee is confirmed and the defeat of Sloan is successfully achieved. "...
"Next, we'll see how the Holy Church handles this," Dark pondered.
Sloan's decision to lead this battle to the no-man's land shows that although he is a "lich," he still retains humanity.
But at the same time, it also shows that he had planned this all along.
He likely pre-selected several locations and then deliberately revealed his whereabouts to lure the Holy Church members to one of them.
Even his act of summoning the bone dragon at the last moment of the audition was very likely intentional.
Should we praise him for his foresight or for his cunning and ruthlessness?
Dark sighed slightly, then continued, "..."
"But this means that Sloan will no longer be able to appear on the qualifier stage."
“Sloan, Thompson, and three other contestants from the Holy Church—that makes five vacant spots in the preliminary rounds.”
"This means that contestants ranked 129th to 133rd will all be lucky enough to advance."
"There are some who are happy, and some who are sad." "In short, we should pay close attention to the actions of the Holy Church."
In fact, without Dak needing to say more, the maids had already made gathering intelligence on the Holy Church their top priority.