After doing all this, Irene raised her eyes and took one last look at the sky in the distance, which seemed extremely turbulent due to the impact of the Oracle's legendary power. A few stars pierced through the chaotic magical airflow and flickered tenaciously.

She didn't look back, and the light of the stars and moon around her suddenly became brighter.

"treasure."

As the two words "simple" fell, her figure was completely enveloped by starlight, transforming into a cold and solitary stream of light, instantly tearing through the space barrier that had not yet fully recovered, and disappeared at the end of the sky.

Before the disappearing starlight from Irene's field of vision completely faded, the sharp sound of wind and snow filled her eardrums again.

Mark was just about to check on his teammates' condition with his exhausted body when a roar as dense as a war drum, crushing the ice, came from the southeast, tearing through the snow curtain.

Not an illusion.

The pressure of the blizzard was overwhelming, and the ice field seemed to be groaning under the iron hoofs.

"alert!"

Monica shouted a warning as the dagger slipped into her palm, but her body stumbled due to the weakness caused by the previous magic stripping away.

Enzo groaned as he tried to lift the blood-stained hammer, which also caused the wound to hurt and he coughed up a mouthful of dark red liquid.

Anna struggled to draw the elven bow, but her fingertips were trembling.

After all, Irene is not a healing mage. She just used the moonlight to treat a few people, but she was only trying to stabilize and restore the damage to their essence.

Mark still had to take out the Holy Light Scroll to heal himself afterwards.

However, there is obviously no time to treat these people now.

The wind and snow were broken, and more than a dozen riders broke out of the snow.

The knights were covered in milky white holy armor of the Church of Holy Light, and the northern ice-mane warhorses they rode were adorned with heavy ice-iron saddles. The cold metallic glow blended with the white steam spewed out by the warhorses.

There were spears like a forest, and the spear tips flashed with a biting cold light, forming a tight encirclement in an instant.

The leader took a step forward, and the black warhorse under him, which was a circle taller and larger than the other ice-maned beasts, sprayed out ice chips.

Unlike the bright white armor of other knights, this man was wearing matte black armor with fine dark gold holy patterns engraved on the armor plates.

The armor outlines his sturdy physique in the shape of an inverted triangle, and the visor is lifted to reveal a face with wrinkles and a majestic look.

A pair of eagle eyes, sharp as knives, swept coldly over the embarrassed team.

On the chest of the black armor, there is a heavy cross badge engraved with the clear Roman numeral - VIII.

The Eighth Holy Knights of the Holy Light Church!

The cold murderous aura condensed into substance.

The black-armored leader slowly raised his hand and pretended to issue an order to round up the enemy.

At this suffocating moment, the pink slime Xiaomu, who had been snuggling closely beside Mark, was perhaps stimulated by the strong breath of holy light.

The surface of the body glowed faintly, and the mark of the badge belonging to the "Trainee Inquisitor of the Thirteenth Holy Knights" that Xiao Mu had swallowed before flashed clearly inside the gelatinous body.

"Huh?"

The black-armored captain's hand, which was about to fall, suddenly stopped. His hawk-like eyes were fixed on the shadow of the emblem in Xiao Mu's body, and his heroic eyebrows were almost twisted together.

His eyes swept back and forth between Xiao Mu's weak form and the emblem with special significance several times, and his confusion almost became tangible.

That kid's Thirteenth Holy Knights...when did they start recruiting slimes as reserves?

Even if it's an extra-curricular monster, this is too...

Then, his eyes fell on Mark.

After catching the faint but pure holy power aura of the clergyman on Mark, the shock from the Warcraft emblem was suppressed and turned into understanding:

"So he's a clergyman under the protection of the Thirteenth Knights. Is he here to train on the icefield?"

The icefield is vast, and the Church of Holy Light is relatively lenient towards professionals of other faiths. As long as they do not collude with the abyss or openly oppose the church, they will not kill them all.

Although Enzo's dark-aura forging hammer is eye-catching, it is obviously the power characteristic of a dwarf rune master. The same is true for Monica's shadow and Anna's natural magic. It does not constitute a reason for hostility.

Moreover, they were obviously companions of the clergy and were obviously non-staff members of the Thirteenth Sacred Knights. Even though he was Alfonso's predecessor, he could not attack his subordinates at will.

Of course, the necessary procedures still need to be followed.

After all, as the leader of the Holy Knights stationed in the Icefield, Theodore Pellegrini is the high-ranking church official responsible for all kinds of miraculous events in the Icefield.

Theodore's black iron boots stomped heavily on the ice, making a dull sound. He spoke with unquestionable majesty, his voice as low as thunder on the ice field:

"Holy Cleric! Report your identity and what just happened in this rift valley?"

The gaze was like a physical pressure on Mark.

Mark suppressed his worries about Aunt Irene's whereabouts and his fear of the situation before him. He took a deep breath, despite the severe pain in his chest, and skillfully entered the Holy Light Church identity state:

"Apprentice clergyman Mark, affiliated with... the Thirteenth Holy Knights. My companions and I were commissioned by the Osborne Town Adventurer's Association to undertake this expedition..."

He omitted all information related to Irene and started the story from the time he accepted the commission from Wang Ling in Osborne Town.

It goes all the way to the story of how "Torg" was devoured by the Heart of the Star Remains, and then the mysterious and terrifying black shadow "Oracle" descended and attempted to control the "Heart of the Star Remains"...

Even in the end, the Oracle was attacked by a mysterious powerful being, and then there was that earth-shattering, terrifying black light that caused a chasm hundreds of miles long to collapse, and the two fortresses and their remaining forces to be instantly destroyed...

The whole process was clear and organized, with no concealment.

He not only explained the identity and origin of their team to Theodore, but also reasonably concealed his relationship with Irene.

During this period, he also deliberately revealed that the "Oracle" was actually a member of the Enlightenment Society in order to focus Theodore's attention on more important things.

Anyway, in the eyes of these powerful people, they definitely have nothing to do with people who can cause such destructive power.

Listening to Mark's narration, the black-armored captain's eyes became more and more gloomy.

A sharp light flashed in his hawk-like eyes, eventually turning into a cold solemnity and a barely perceptible shock.

When I heard that the terrifying existence who called himself "Oracle" could easily deprive others of their original professional magic.

When he even thought that he might have taken control of the abyss object called "Heart of the Star Skeleton", the oppressive feeling emanating from his inverted triangle figure was almost suffocating.

"...Later, a devastating dark force erupted, and the rift collapsed. We were not sucked into the core because... we had retreated to a relatively safe area beforehand. And then, you arrived."

Mark finished speaking, his exhaustion almost made him unable to stand steadily.

The leader of the Eighth Knights was silent for a moment, the cold wind and snow condensing on his thick black armor.

His sharp eyes swept over the team again.

A seriously injured dwarf, an elf and assassin whose magic source was damaged, and a priest who was also seriously injured but was carrying the slime of the "Thirteenth Knight Reserve".

"Oracle...Heart of the Star Remains..."

He repeated the two names in a low voice, his tone full of caution.

"How could those rubbish of the Dark Church have fallen so low as to be infiltrated by such a third-rate evil organization, bringing such disaster to the continent!"