"Lord Bishop, we found traces of a few campsites in the mountains. But... the tracks are a few days old, according to the locations, they might have already left the Candela Mountains."
In the Palace, a knight hurriedly walked into the room, and said to the Bishop standing in the room.
Bishop Cameron heard this and turned, the lines on his face evident as he frowned in worry.
"How did they discover this?" the look of dissatisfaction hidden beneath his solemn look, "before this, the king would give them secret encrypted messages, it didn't matter if they were discovered. But now with the king gone, what is the source of their information?"
"This... I am not too sure about it either."
The Bishop asked again, "were they alerted by your sudden departure?"
The knight bowed his head and said, "I'm not too sure about this either."
At that moment, the bishop looked annoyed and shook his head and said, "you don't know anything... forget it, you go on ahead. Find out where they are hiding, they could not have disappeared into thin air, there must be a trail."
"Yes."
The knight was relieved and he nodded his head firmly before hurriedly leaving the room.
Not too long after he left the room, the older bishop that hunted Benjamin together with Bishop Cameron walked in.
"You have heard that piece of news?" the older bishop asked as he entered through the door.
Bishop Cameron nodded his head and said nothing, his face clearly showed that he was irritated.
"So you already knew." The older bishop took it in and said, "but... the day has finally come when we can finally pull out the tumor that has been growing in our beloved nation."
Even though Bishop Cameron heard this, he was still quiet.
"What are you saying? Wasn't that news of the degenerate bandits leaving the Candela Mountains, we don't even know where they are going next" he asked.
The elder bishop shook his head.
"What is that about then?" Bishop Cameron immediately asked.
The elder bishop smiled and said, "it's good news. The location and the number of mages in the Academy of Silence have been confirmed. We can gather a large number of troops within the Kingdom of Helius, and be prepared to completely annihilate them."
Bishop Cameron was surprised when he heard this, every trace of depression was gone from his face.
"This is the will of God."
He came back to his senses and put his hands together and said calmly.
The elder bishop did the same thing and continued the prayer, saying, "may God bless our cause."
Bishop Cameron nodded his head.
"May God bless our cause, to remove every sinner from this earth."
A low hum could be heard across the rooms in the palace.
At the same moment.
Thousands of miles away in the mountains in the western region of the Kingdom of Helius.
On a muddy trail in the quiet and calm mountains, iron boot prints were stamped all along the path.
Looking out, a huge group of paladins and patrol guards were densely packed, gathered across a few mountains. The land where wild magical creatures roamed were devoid of any magical creatures, the air filled with murderous intent.
"Lord Bishop, we have arrived."
The paladins at the front of the line stopped and turned, and reported to the bishop behind them.
The bishop nodded his head and looked out. They were on a wide mountain pass, and further out in front of them, he could see a valley.
In the valley, a settlement that the church had been looking for for years was hidden.
"Christine... you did not lie to me." the bishop lowered his eyes, as though he was talking to himself.
"Lord Bishop, did you say something?"
"Nothing." The bishop raised his head, a look of indifference on his face made him look like a soulless puppet, sending a shiver down the people's spine, "has the ambush around the Academy of Silence been prepared?"
The paladin nodded his head and said, "our horsemen are hidden in the mountains around them, they can surround the Academy of Silence at any moment."
The bishop praised him with a cold voice, "you did well."
Then, he turned and looked at the young man following behind him.
"Benjamin." He said softly, "we have arrived at our destination, are you ready?"
Behind the bishop, Grant stood there with an impassive look on his face. He looked away for a moment and was silent before nodding his head.
The bishop looked at Grant suspiciously for a moment but said nothing. He turned and looked at the paladin before him again.
He nodded to the paladin.
"Begin the attack."
It was like the first line of a play after the curtains rolled open, he used a calm but cold voice and said his line.
The order was passed down to all the troops using the God's eye. And just like that, during that sleepy afternoon, countless paladins and patrol guards suddenly rushed forward, like man-eating ants swarming out of their nest heading straight for the valley.
The murderous roars shook the entire mountain.
The bishop, Grant and the priest that they were leading followed suit, flying towards the valley. The Academy of Silence finally appeared before their eyes.
It was a huge village built in the valley. Most were old-fashioned houses, and there were plenty of them, close to a few hundred houses. There was an empty land in the center of the village, with a strange looking altar in the middle of it.
And surrounding the altar, were gathered close to a thousand mages.
The mages did not panic at the sight of the patrol guards rushing at them from all four directions. They just stood before the altar with their arms stretched out wide, chanting the same odd sounding spell in unison.
A strong magical force billowed outwards.
The patrol guards and paladins were affected, some of them even lost consciousness.
"Cain's Sacrificial Plate." The bishop said to Grant who stood behind him, his face unchanging, "did you see that? That was the devil magic powered tool that Cain exchanged. After so many years, these people actually kept that thing."
Grant looked out, his face was still impassive as though his surroundings did not affect him in any way.
As they were speaking, the altar in the Academy of Silence started to change. Beside the light element, other countless elements were also rushing towards the alter becoming a tornado of elements.
Then, a huge element enchantment appeared, blanketing the entire valley.
The paladins and the patrol guards were stunned and were blocked by the enchantment.
Of course, there were hundreds and thousands of people in the valley, they were not afraid of facing one enchantment. The paladins pulled out their blessed swords, the patrol guards waved their daggers in their hands. Even the priest in the skies started to sing, holy light rained onto the enchantment like shooting stars.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Wave upon wave of vicious attacks made the ground around them shake.
But the enchantment held its ground and was as good as new. The valley within the enchantment was not affected at all by the shaking. The difference between the two sides was like two different worlds.
The thousands of mages gathered at the altar opened their arms and bowed to the altar. Their mouths chanted incomprehensible words, it was like an old ritual.
In the middle of the altar, was a white shining light that was reacting strangely with the element enchantment.
The attack on the outside continued, and the mages within did not stop either. The element enchantment was like a moat that they could not cross, no matter how the horsemen of the church attacked, it did not diminish at all.
Slowly, the patrol guards started to show their weakness. But because the order had been given, they did not stop. All they could do was grit their teeth and wave their tired arms and continue hacking their way through.
Even the faces of the priest did not look good.
"Did you see that? That is the power of Cain's sacrificial plate."
The bishop pointed to the altar and told Grant. In the sky, only the Bishop and Grant did not make their move, keeping their calm composure.
Grant did not reply, he only nodded his head.
The bishop turned around, although there were no changes to his expression; Grant did not know why but hidden in his expression was a trace of displeasure.
He looked at the troops below and suddenly said, "don't waste too much time. Since you have watched enough, just end it all now."
Grant was deep in thought but he still nodded his head.
And so, in stark contrast to the aggressively attack troops below, he slowly raised his left hand.
He pointed gently at the altar.
Boom!
A loud sound rang out as though it was coming from within the valley, time stood still. Everyone present was shocked. Then, when they came to their senses and looked ahead, the element enchantment before them was like glass frosted over with cracks, and it suddenly collapsed.
The entire valley went silent.
A loud crackling sound followed suit. Only to find that a crack had appeared on the altar that was surrounded by the thousands of mages.
The crack spread, and quickly covered the entire altar. And under the shocked gaze of the mages the altar collapsed into a million pieces, the white light disappearing into nothing.