As Hao Ren and the accompanying troops stepped on the Sacred Mountain’s main peak, two other battalions also entered the area via different entrances.
As the sweep for the last of the heretics came into full swing, thousands of Royal as well as Church Knights quickly fanned out through the various mountain passes, forming hundreds of search and destroy parties. Each party was led by members of the werewolf cavalry. With the main search parties in the mountain, more regular soldiers set up checkpoints on every mountain path leading in or out of the mountains to prevent any cult members from escaping.
In the skies above the Sacred Mountain, a shadowy magical eye floated quietly. Countless invisible strands ran from the magical eye as it encompassed the entire region. This was a massive, divine area spell cast by the pope himself. Using the spell, the pope could scan the movement of everything within the mountain range, even the lightest footsteps of a mountain rabbit. Only the unusual dimension deep within the mountain was beyond his sight.
Hodeceus floated above the eastern part of the crystal mine, facing the Sacred Mountain directly; almost like a standoff between two primal beasts. The shield-like bastion in the front of the flying fortress radiated with magical light. A part of the crystalline wall retracted into the interior of the fortress as massive arcane cannons reared their head, glowing majestically. The cannons then synchronized with the magical inscriptions on the wall of the fortress. They were Hodeceus’ most potent weaponry.
The cannons were coldly aimed at the Sacred Mountain as the mages directing them could not help but wipe cold sweat off their foreheads. Within Hodeceus’ command center, a few mages were monitoring the fortress and the Sacred Mountain for any signs of movement through water screen. Prince Hoffman’s shiny bald head was even more apparent as he wiped his sweat off and shook his head at the crowd around him. “If we really fire that thing, the world is going to hell.”
“Hence why we can only pray. Pray that the goddess will guide our hands against firing towards the Sacred Mountain.” A bishop placed his hand on his head as he prayed. “Goddess have mercy. May our brave knights succeed in their quest to rid us of the heretics and their evil patron.”
Beneath the command center was an even more secretive room. It was a plain simple room with many sacred relics and religious texts of the Disciples of Glory. The pope was standing in the middle of it, meditating. He gently opened his eyes as golden light radiated from his left eye, and within the reflection was every movement within the mountain, including the search parties sweeping through the area. His left eye was looking at a portrait not too far away from him. The portrait was made up of a series of crisscrossing red and black lines. It was the symbol used by the Disciples of Glory to depict the goddess.
While the portrait looked like it was a simple canvas portrait without any magical enchantment, there were microscopic movements, as though it was alive. It was actually forming into various mystical shapes. The red lines in the middle of the portrait suddenly expanded in the pope’s eyes, transmitting a very cryptic will from the goddess.
“A warning…” The pope mumbled, as though he heard the goddess’ voice. “We have already obtained such a powerful flying fortress… what are you trying to warn us against?”
At the same time, within the Sacred Mountain, Hao Ren and his group had stepped into the snow-covered area.
The knightly orders had also split into about a dozen small combat teams as planned. With the werewolf cavalry leading the way, they started scouring the mountain. They were now constantly communicating using arcane magic as they went. Hao Ren and the rest followed Uruk towards the deepest part of the mountain. The plan was to have the knights engage the cultists of the Cult of Origination while Hao Ren and his spearhead charge into the epicenter of the psychokinetic field to capture the brain monster. But oddly enough, there were no signs of heretics this deep into the mountains, despite some traces of activity. It was less likely for actual combat to break out.
Vivian took out her protective crystal and noticed that the crystal was emanating a gentle glow. “There is psychological disturbance here…We have probably already entered the monster’s domain. Why aren’t any enemies before us?”
“Yeah, I didn’t even see a shadow of any heretics.” Hao Ren too was perplexed. “Uruk, didn’t your men faced resistance before when they scoured the mountains? Why is today so quiet?”
“They did come by.” Uruk had already dismounted from his war wolf. He got on all fours as he sniffed the air. “There’s still remnants of human scent. Outsiders, but from a day ago.”
“The mountain has been sealed off. Even if they were to fly it’s unlikely for them to escape.” A slight clattering of armor announced her presence as Lady Ophra approached. “Seems like they have all gone hiding.”
Y’zaks looked at the mountain range before throwing Uruk a curious glance. “Say… haven’t your kin been monitoring this mountain and yet never once detected the trace of the heretics before this? They had even managed to build a base inside the place… That’s rather incredible.”
As the topic pivoted to that, Uruk, as the leader of the werewolf cavalry, had a very complicated expression. He shook his head. “This is a disgrace, but truthfully, I still don’t believe something like this could happen… Our patrols roam the land every day and we have went through all the paths in the mountains, yet we have never seen any outsiders….Unfathomable… truly unfathomable. I don’t know how to even begin explaining this.”
Something came into Hao Ren’s mind as Uruk spoke, it was a brief flash of thought and Hao Ren could not actually grasp it.
Uruk continued to lead the rest into the mountain as the path appeared more and more treacherous. He had to rely on his experience to pick the safe path up the mountain, to avoid a potential avalanche. The 200-year-old werewolf knew the place like the back of his hand. He had the confidence to find his way back home even while blindfolded. But as he headed deeper, something did not felt right.
Nangong Sanba noticed Uruk slowing down as his expression turned grim. Nervous, the demon hunter asked. “What’s wrong?”
Uruk frowned as he looked at the path before him before taking a few more steps. After reaching a fork he scratched his head, looking like a lost tourist. Circling around for a bit, the werewolf looked up towards the familiar Scorching Peak. “The direction is correct…”
“This path isn’t as I remembered!” Uruk finally turned back to inform the rest, incredulity was pronounced in his voice. “There should not be a fork here… I have gone through this path hundreds of times. I don’t remember seeing a path leading into the valley.”
As he spoke, he frowned again as he looked towards the valley. “…That’s not right… I don’t even remember a valley being here.”
“You sure?” Lady Ophra asked, her voice exasperated. “A werewolf can actually get lost in the Sacred Mountain?”
“I have no clue.” Uruk pointed towards the fork. “I’m very familiar of the path on this side of the fork, but I have no inkling of the path on the other side.”
Hao Ren suddenly remembered something. “Wait, you remember what was on the right side of the fork? Rock formation? Valleys? Or something else?”
Uruk frowned again as he demurred and was shocked that he had no memory of what was on the right side of the fork.
No rock formation, no valleys, nothing, as he tried to recall he realized that he had never deigned to see what was on the right side of the path that he frequented. There was nothing in his memory!
“I think I know what’s going on now.” Hao Ren knew the answer as he saw Uruk’s expression. “I doubt any other werewolf have seen this path either. Your senses have been disrupted.”
Uruk was stunned.
“I’m afraid that the entire mountain was under the disruptive effect.” Hao Ren looked at everyone around him. “Everyone passing by here would have their senses distorted to ignore what is on the other side of the road. Even if you were to think back then nothing amiss will arise. The brain monster has already ‘taken’ this entire place from the ‘sight’ of the mortal races. And that’s why the heretics could be so brazen and set up camp here.”
A faint expression of shock appeared on Lady Ophra’s face. “…How long has this disruption has been going on?”
“Humans won’t actually know when they start sleeping.” Vivian suddenly spoke as she looked at Uruk. “Since the dawn of the history of the werewolves, have you actually seen this valley within the Sacred Mountain? Do your maps cover this region?”
Uruk turned silent as a foreboding chill started engulfing Becky.