Witch’s Night: Chapter 16 The Oak Council Chamber
The Church of the End Gods, a cult believed to be on the verge of extinction. For a thousand years, traces of their activities had been gradually decreasing.
Especially after the War of the Witch of Absolute Death hundreds of years ago, they had almost vanished, leaving only sporadic, small-scale attacks that posed little threat.
Almost everyone believed that the Church of the End Gods had reached its end, meaning humanity was about to be free from the fear brought by the Primordial Demons, who would be lost in the long river of history, becoming a distant legend.
But… this was just wishful thinking.
The Church of the End Gods hadn’t perished; on the contrary, it had grown stronger, only hiding deeper.
Their traces had spread throughout the mega-cities of the land, and almost all the upper echelons of every mega-city had been infiltrated.
Unless it was a newly established mega-city like Yan City, still in its pioneering phase, the shadow of the Church of the End Gods existed to some extent.
At least so far, no one had discovered this.
Norian hadn’t either, which was why he felt at ease leaving to deal with the sudden Calamity after sealing off Spencer Manor.
“How… could she?” The voice from the hovering coin was surprised. “Was this Norian’s deliberate arrangement? What’s the point of him doing this? Could it be… that he foresaw our actions in advance?”
The matter of Luo Yan being confined to Restricted Zone Seven had been revealed by an Elder in the Council of Elders, and its credibility was very high.
If there were any changes, it could only be Norian’s private arrangement…
As for Luo Yan’s own will, the Church of the End Gods made the same mistake as Norian, not treating her as an ordinary human and directly ignoring it.
“What should I do now?” Count Spencer was a little nervous. “Should I reveal my identity to her and ask her to return to the Church?”
Even if he revealed his identity and could no longer be “Count Spencer,” he didn’t care.
The ultimate goal of the Church of the End Gods was to destroy all of current humanity, including themselves.
Under this premise, wealth and status were just fleeting clouds.
The reason Count Spencer hadn’t abandoned his identity as a Lannister noble was simply to better fulfill the will of the Gods.
The voice in the hovering coin pondered for a moment and said,
“No, doing so is too risky. We don’t know if Norian has other arrangements. To deal with him… we have to be fully prepared.”
Amid Norian had always been one of the most important targets of the Church of the End Gods.
He had single-handedly created Lannister’s prosperity and established various reform treaties, taking many rights from the nobles and returning them to the commoners, even allowing refugees to work in Lannister, which was unprecedented.
It could be said that because of his actions, human civilization in the New Era had taken a small step forward.
Even a small step was unacceptable to the Church of the End Gods, so it was not an exaggeration to consider Norian a mortal enemy.
“Maintain the status quo for now, Count Spencer. The will of the Gods requires you… and your current identity, to carry it out. It’s not the final moment yet.”
The voice in the hovering coin continued, “As for ‘Luo Yan,’ our other fellow travelers will take action to bring her back to the Church.”
“Mm.” Count Spencer nodded. “May we walk with the Gods, until the end of civilization.”
“Praise the Gods.”
The hovering coin made one last sound before falling from mid-air.
Count Spencer caught the coin and carefully put it away again.
To avoid suspicion, Count Spencer didn’t dare to be alone for too long, even if he was surrounded by servants his family had kept for generations.
The Church of the End Gods never trusted these ordinary people who hadn’t witnessed the truth. They operated with the utmost caution in all parts of human civilization, waiting for the moment of the Gods’ return.
After straightening his clothes and confirming that he was presentable, Count Spencer put on a faint, elegant smile, no different from any other noble.
He opened the door and re-entered the ongoing extravagant banquet.
……
Chris, who had been dragged away by her butler, sat in the room Count Spencer had specially prepared for her, stunned for a long time.
Seeing Chris like this, the butler couldn’t help but feel distressed and said angrily,
“Miss, don’t listen to that person’s nonsense. Sister Qingling is a good person, how could she…”
“No… I’m not thinking about that.” Chris interrupted the young butler’s complaint in a low voice, finally regaining her senses. “You can leave now, Liv, I want to be alone.”
Liv opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But she finally nodded and said,
“Miss… please rest well.”
“Mm.”
Liv stood up and walked towards the door, looking at Chris worriedly before leaving.
“…You don’t need to know about these things, Liv.”
Chris murmured to herself, then breathed a sigh of relief, her expression becoming serious.
Liv was her butler. To be honest, Liv was more like her manager, her friend, her childhood companion…
This was because every descendant of the Lequista family had a butler of the same age accompany them as they grew up. The butler was chosen from the Lequista’s servant families, and that was how Liv became Chris’s butler.
But Liv wasn’t a member of the Lequista family after all, and she absolutely couldn’t know the Lequista’s secrets.
“It’s actually ‘Luo Yan’… Why did she come here? Is she looking for me?”
Chris was in turmoil. The fleeting glimpse that morning had cast a long shadow over her, one she still hadn’t escaped.
Caught off guard, and because Luo Yan hadn’t realized anyone was outside, Chris had practically faced the Luo Yan from Ghost Town.
That was a level of mental influence that even “Ruin” level ability users didn’t dare to touch lightly.
Given that the black-haired young man was “Luo Yan,” Chris had directly ignored everything he said, including the so-called “slander” against Hua Qingling.
“No, I have to go find Mother.”
Chris made up her mind. Just as she was about to use the family’s unique communication technique, there was a polite, rhythmic knock on the door,
“Excuse me, is Miss Chris there?”
It was Luo Yan’s voice.
Chris’s pupils constricted violently, and a look of panic appeared on her face.
“Not here!”
“…”
Luo Yan outside the door was once again bewildered.
Should she assume Miss Chris was there, or not…
……
In the highest Council Chamber of Lannister, several Elders sat in the Oak Council Chamber with serious expressions.
The Oak Council Chamber was built from a single giant oak tree felled when Lannister was founded a thousand years ago. It was the only decent building during the pioneering era.
For a thousand years, many important decisions in Lannister had been discussed within the Oak Council Chamber.
It used to be jointly managed by members of the Council of Elders and representatives of the nobles. However, after the Constantine rebellion a hundred years ago, all nobles were deprived of their political power, and only the Council of Elders could use the Oak Council Chamber.
“Three traces of the Church of the End Gods have appeared in the Z District, and at least six civilian buildings have been destroyed in the south of the Treleri District… So far, there have been over a hundred deaths and countless injuries, not to mention the missing…”
Although Lannister was far stronger than Yan City, it was far inferior in one aspect, and that was the public’s acceptance of Calamities.
Powerful Lannister could withstand most Calamities, and no Calamity had been able to infiltrate the city for hundreds of years.
But now, countless Calamity incidents were occurring throughout Lannister, causing widespread panic among the public, and maintaining order was extremely difficult.
And Lannister couldn’t evacuate its citizens like Yan City could at any time, because the residents of Lannister weren’t like those of Yan City, who had to face sudden Calamities every other day…
Norian rubbed his temples. Actually, he wasn’t too worried about these things. Although the sudden attack of the Church of the End Gods had indeed caught Lannister off guard, Lannister was powerful enough.
Even without counting hired adventurers like Hua Qingling, Lannister had more than twenty “Peril” level ability users, and more than two-thirds of them were combat-capable.
In other words, even without counting Norian, whose “Peril” level had some water in it, Lannister’s top-tier strength was equivalent to dozens of Yan Cities.
Not to mention that Lannister was so rich that they could hire “Peril” level ability users at will, and had all kinds of powerful weapons and military equipment, even several “Ice Coffin Weapons,” and even a Slumberer sleeping within the city.
These attacks by the Church of the End Gods were, at best, just minor actions.
What Norian was truly worried about was the Bishop of the Church of the End Gods who was fighting Granny Zoya.
This was the first time in so many years that Granny Zoya had reported the situation to Norian in such a serious tone. Even she wasn’t completely confident in defeating Hamid Surian, who was at the same level as her.
“I never thought that the Church of the End Gods would still have an expert above ‘Destruction’ level,” Norian felt a pang of fear. “When did he come to Lannister? Why was there no sign at all…”
If he had decided to come to Lannister because of the incident in the forest outside the city, Granny Zoya couldn’t have been completely unaware.
To prevent further incidents, when Luo Yan was brought to Lannister, Granny Zoya’s spiritual energy had been connected to Lannister’s Ember formation. It was very difficult for any anomaly occurring in Lannister to escape her detection.
Moreover, Granny Zoya knew Hamid, so there couldn’t have been an accidental oversight.
The only explanation was—
Hamid Surian, this Bishop Hamid Surian, had been in Lannister from the very beginning, silently lurking.
This speculation was truly terrifying… How many more members of the Church of the End Gods were hidden in the shadows, unnoticed? Norian shuddered at the thought.
The other Elders also knew the gravity of the situation. Almost none of them bothered to look at the detailed casualty reports on the table.
These were insignificant losses. If Granny Zoya couldn’t contain Hamid, or even worse, was defeated in battle, that would be the worst-case scenario for Lannister.
But now Lannister was powerless to influence this battle. Unless they were also “Destruction” level ability users, even the most powerful “Peril” level ability users could hardly help in a “Destruction” level battle.
“I’ve already reported these matters to the Noah Holy Church. The Saint has been informed, but…”
An Elder said hesitantly, not finishing his sentence.
This was because…
“It’s too late, they must have calculated this.” Norian stared at the constantly incoming messages, his eyes grim. “Even after all these years of decline, the Church of the End Gods hasn’t lost its ability to create panic…”
Almost all the locations where Calamities occurred were the places most likely to trigger panic.
The impact of the Calamities themselves wasn’t significant, but the ensuing public panic put tremendous pressure on maintaining order.
What did the Church of the End Gods want to do?
What was their purpose?
An answer emerged in Norian’s mind, but he quickly breathed a sigh of relief.
It could only be said… that Miss Luo Yan’s act of leaving Restricted Zone Seven without permission had inadvertently become the key to breaking this puzzle.
Except for Norian and a few others involved, no one knew that Luo Yan was at that brightly lit banquet, disguised as an inconspicuous black-haired young man.
This was the only good news so far.
“Anyway, first suppress this chaos, then gather all the available combat power at Restricted Zone Seven, including the ‘Ice Coffin Weapons’.”
Norian hesitated for a moment, then finally made up his mind. “And the Slumberer, be prepared to awaken them at any time.”
The Slumberers were a tragic legend.
They were “Destruction” level ability users of the past, and even former Saints.
When their lifespans reached their limit, or when they were about to run out of energy for various reasons, the Slumberers used special methods to confine their souls and consciousness within their bodies, falling into a long slumber.
It was said that this method was created by the Saint, but she herself hadn’t used it before she passed away.
These Slumberers didn’t choose to become Slumberers to cling to life, but to protect the future of humanity, preserving the last embers of hope and strength.
Each Slumberer only had one chance to awaken. When they awakened, they would reach the limit of their abilities from their previous life, gaining unprecedented power.
But this power couldn’t last. When they burned out the souls and consciousness in their slumber, it was the time of the Slumberer’s complete demise.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Lannister absolutely wouldn’t awaken the “Slumberer.”
Not only out of respect for the Slumberer predecessors, but also to ensure that this power, which could only be used once, was used at the most critical moment.
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