It seemed that Becky still had a long way to go before she could become a qualified noble. Of course, considering her headstrong mercenary habits, she would probably have to spend a lifetime before she could achieve that. As the lesbo topic subsided, they were afraid that the freaky maiden would come up with some other eye-popping thing, so they quickly focused on the cult issue.
In fact, to be honest, Hao Ren was not interested in the Cult of Origination’s sphere of influence and the religious situation in that world. He just wanted to capture the brain monster. Ophra had yet to come as Becky continued to flap her lips. In the end, he just listened.
“Where’s the lair of the Cult of Origination?” Hao Ren asked curiously.
Becky pointed at the map. “You wouldn’t have guessed it… It’s in the mountains, farther west of the Beinz Diocese across the Virulent Flatlands. It’s the sacred mountain of the werewolf tribe.”
Lily was surprised. “…Next to the Blood Lake?!”
“Yes, next to the Blood Lake, but deeper into the mountains, inside the territory of the werewolf tribe and hidden in the mountains. The mountains there are natural barriers and camouflage. Sacred Mountain is important to Werewolf tribal countries; they forbid outsiders from coming near to it. Therefore, we never thought that those cults have been hiding in the mountains. They actually dug underground tunnels and built a mountain fortress under the nose of the werewolves and the church.”
Y’zaks pointed with his finger at the Beinz Blood Lake (now renamed Beinz Crystal Mine) on the map. “So Mr. Landlord had almost blown the lair of the cults up with his cannon that day?”
“But he missed,” said Becky, spreading out her hand. “Reality is always more dramatic than stories. Those cultists understand that the most dangerous place is the safest place, they have eyes in the church, some of them even disguise as high-ranking ascetics of The Disciples of Glory. Therefore, they know the setup of the diocese inside out. This allows them to be safely hiding under the nose of the church.”
It might sound ridiculous that the cult’s headquarter was hidden right next to the Beinz Diocese. However, when you think about it, you would find it to be very clever: the Beinz Diocese was the most special place in the world, it was sparsely populated and the Virulent Flatlands and the Gnarled Grove were not easy to get across. Although it was a major diocese, it was difficult to monitor because of all kinds of natural dangers. The area also adjoined the werewolf tribal state, limiting the activity of The Disciples of Glory there. The Cult of Origination only needed to take this natural environment to their advantage and hide themselves in places where the church would not normally pay attention. This meant that they had essentially evaded the possibility of being detected.
Apart from that, considering that the Cult of Origination and the goddess had an inexplicable relationship, Hao Ren suspected that those cults hiding beside the Blood Lake were not just for concealment—the sanctity of the Blood Lake itself was also one of the reasons.
Though the Disciples of Glory did not want to admit it, Hao Ren and others knew well that the Disciples of Glory and the Cult of Origination were actually worshipping the same god; the sacred place and foundation of the former were also the pillar of the latter’s belief.
Lily’s thinking was not so sophisticated. When she learned that the cult was hiding next to the Blood Lake, she was amazed. “What a pity, had Mr. Landlord used a bigger gun back then, I think that would have saved us all the trouble. Were the cult members traumatized?”
Hao Ren gave Lily a sideways glance. “Stop larking about. Had the shot not been accurate, your werewolf friends would have been extinct.”
Lily gave it a little thought before she spat her tongue out and said nothing since then.
They suddenly heard the sound of a carriage outside. Then a servant came in and said, “Madam, Her Excellency has arrived.”
Becky happily got to her feet. “Marshal Ophra has come! Let’s get out meeting her…”
They came out into the courtyard and saw groups of armored knights and monks dressed in grey robes waiting in line in front of the promenade. The one in front was none other than Ophra and Big Beardy the ascetic, whom Hao Ren had not seen for a long time. Ophra now looked even more valiant; it seemed that the battle with the cults had made the marshal looked more energetic. Meanwhile, Big Beardy looked little changed; only his robe seemed to be more tattered, and his beard had grown messier.
Seeing his old acquaintances, Hao Ren ran up to them. He then introduced Nangong couple who came here for the first time to them. Big Beardy nodded, all smiling. “Congratulations for the reunion. I’m happy for you.”
“How are you doing here?” Hao Ren’s eye running on Big Beardy from head to toe, examining him. “Did you get used to life in your hometown?”
“Everywhere is the same, as the glory of the goddess is omnipresent.” Big Beardy was still as poker-faced as ever. “As long as we live in the grace of the goddess, it doesn’t matter where I go.”
After exchanging their usual shit, Hao Ren nodded solemnly at Ophra. “Becky has briefed me the situation. How is the status in the front line now?”
Ophra turned and pointed to the large carriage behind her. “Let’s go to the Mage Tower. I will tell you in detail on the way.”
After everyone had climbed on-board the carriage and there were no other people around them, Ophra began to explain the situation on the battlefront. “The Knights of the Church and the Royal Knights have surrounded the Western Mountains. His Majesty the King had also secured the cooperation of the werewolf tribe through diplomatic channels. The tribal states have sealed off all the mountain roads, the cults won’t be able to get out. In the past two days, several battles have broken out in the Western Mountains, but the Knights had the upper hand by surrounding the mountain range earlier, the cults inside the mountains had not managed to gather their forces nor been able to seek outside help. I don’t think they are a problem now.”
Ophra said with a confident tone of voice, her face full of valiance befitting an all-conquering general. Hao Ren asked cautiously, “You didn’t go too far into the place, did you?”
“Don’t worry, I remember your warnings,” said Ophra, nodding with a smile. “And some of the soldiers did have frequent hallucinations or nightmares after entering the mountains. We have drawn a rough mind-control distribution map based on the locations of the soldiers experiencing the hallucinations. This would prevent anyone from entering the monster’s mind-control range.”
Big Beardy chimed in. “The Pope has shield the entire mountain range with surveillance occult, but there is an area in the hinterland of the mountain range that even the occult fails to penetrate. We suspect that the monster is hiding in a place no divine magic could reach.”
Vivian was listening quietly as she scratched her chin. She asked suddenly, “Why didn’t the brain monster flee? Its mind-control field could cover a large area, if it moves; wouldn’t it be a great problem for you?”
Hearing this, Ophra’s face turned serious. Obviously, Vivian was not the only one had thought of this. “This is indeed strange. We had thought of it before, if the monster senses thing’s not looking up for it and decides to flee, or banks on his mind-control power to launch a pre-emptive attack, what should we do? However, it has been two days since we encircled the mountains. The monster has never moved and the energy distribution in the entire mountain has not changed… I don’t know what it is thinking.”
Y’zaks asked in a deep voice, “Are you sure that is the lair of the cult? Are you sure that brain monster is in the mountains?”
“I’m sure of it, otherwise I won’t ask you to come over,” Ophra nodded forcefully. “The pope’s divine magic won’t be wrong. He has confirmed that there is an impenetrable energy field deep in the mountain. If not the power of the monster, there is no other explanation.”
“Could have something trapped it… or something has happened to the brain monster, causing it to lose mobility temporarily?” Vivian frowned as she looked at Hao Ren. “What do you think?”
“We will know when we get there,” Hao Ren purged his mouth. “I have a bad feeling… the brain monster is not a fool; when it still holds the fort despite the situation, there must be something very wrong.”
Everyone sank into deep thought. After a while, the group had arrived at the Mage Tower on the north side of the royal city. The strange, suspended tower still stood high in the air despite its middle part was broken. It even looked brighter than before. Light was flashing in the space crack above the tower as the tower gave out a soft buzz. A large number of ad-hoc magical devices surrounded the Mage Tower. These quadrangular prisms stood several meters tall forming a circle with magic apprentices keeping them in operation. The prisms were providing additional energy for the Mage Tower: high-ranking monks and knights kept coming from the royal city to the Beinz Diocese for the past two days, the large portal of the mage tower was running at full capacity and required extra energy supply to withstand the load.
They did not stay in the royal city. Instead, after briefly meeting the vice president of the Mage Association, they headed to Beinz Diocese through the portal.