The trial did not come with a grand display; a soft light, like a veil, slowly descended, creating a stark contrast with the fierce struggle of Sarn beneath the halo, who was trying to escape.
"No! No! I can't die like this!"
It was as if Saen had suddenly unleashed a strong will to survive, bursting forth with powerful dark energy from within him, constantly eroding the light barrier formed by the aura.
The light barrier seemed to have changed slightly because of his efforts, with some small cracks appearing on it, but it did not break.
But this undoubtedly gave Saen hope, and he tried even harder to break through the light barrier.
Unfortunately, this hope soon turned into despair.
The cracks that had been painstakingly created earlier were slowly repairing themselves under the influence of light.
"No...no no...no!"
"Father! Father, save me!"
Unfortunately, no one, or even God, could hear his cries for help; the Holy Father he once believed in fell truly silent.
The time came, and the judgment, as gentle as light, descended as scheduled. The tender light fell like gauze, seemingly as soft as gauze, yet incredibly terrifying.
Everything that comes into contact with this light will turn to ashes and vanish into nothingness, disappearing little by little.
It was like a giant hydraulic crusher, destroying everything within its reach.
Neither the crystalline spikes within nor the struggling and begging priests of the Sane can escape its destruction.
This scene moved Lin De deeply.
"This... is the Holy Temple's support?"
This scene was quite different from his understanding of the Holy Church. In his impression, although the Holy Church had a large influence, could its strength really be so great?
This scene doesn't look like man-made magic; it looks more like a divine punishment brought about by prayer.
Linde was previously unaware of how the sanctuary operated, nor did he know whether these charlatans could truly communicate with the gods.
Now it seems I underestimated these people's abilities.
If these believers of the gods could use this power without restriction, wouldn't that be...?
Linde's eyes narrowed slightly. If this force were to become an adversary for some necessary reason in the future, he would have to be careful.
…………
At this moment, everyone had different thoughts. After witnessing the miracle, those who believed in God would naturally become more devout, while those who hated God would feel anger towards the judgment.
Viscount Swift, who had rushed over because of the previous explosion, felt a mix of sadness and secret relief upon witnessing the halo.
"Tsk tsk, Priest Saen actually died just like that... He deserved it, who told him to make such a big fuss about it."
As the leader of the Consecrated Church, although he was a member of the same brother church, he was secretly exploited by the priest Sann, who took the lion's share of the construction of this underground cult city.
There was no other way; the disparity in strength was too great.
Now that Saen is dead, he is free. Moreover, the best place for cultists to hide is after the trial.
He had secretly bribed the Holy Church in the Fortified City, so no one there would be able to detect his presence. He could truly rest easy.
He will benefit greatly from Saen's death.
Now, he needs to find a way to eliminate a major threat.
Linde.
After extensive investigation, Swift was fairly certain that Muri had died at the hands of Lind, and that none of the entire cult had survived.
Moreover, the things the bishop sent had also disappeared, which made him extremely anxious.
It was a ceremonial dagger, forged years ago by a skilled dwarf craftsman within the cult, but its whereabouts were now unknown.
According to his speculation, it would most likely be Lind.
However, due to Linde's noble status, he had to consider the matter carefully...
"Let's go."
Viscount Swift left without looking back.
…………
As the trial proceeded, the priests' living space shrank little by little until they were completely extinguished in this soft light.
The trial ended, and after a burst of bright light, the halo and the wall of light in the sky vanished without a trace.
Priestess Sarn vanished completely in the light, leaving nothing behind except for a perfectly round crater, along with the surrounding terrain.
Seeing that Saen was completely dead, Lind was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
To be honest, when he first saw some cracks in the light barrier, he was genuinely afraid that the thing would escape, but now it seems he was overthinking it.
Linde greeted the still-shocked Alice and Astaire:
"Let's go, it's over."
"Let's go home."
…………
The matter was quickly resolved and did not cause much of a stir in the country.
Just when Linde thought things had finally settled down, three days later, he received an urgent letter from the Earl's territory.
After reading the letter, Lind sat in his recliner and couldn't help but sigh.
"This is outrageous..."
On the same day that Sarn was tried, there was a simultaneous trial in the Earl's territory, which was even more extensive in scale.
According to the letter, the bishop of the Church of Darkblasphemy broke through the earth and summoned an army of the dead resurrected by Darkblasphemy energy, which then stormed the entire Earl's territory.
The blasphemous bishop even attracted the descent of the blasphemous god, nearly destroying the entire earldom.
The letter did not go into details, but the danger was certainly much greater than that of the blasphemous priests here.
Fortunately, Lind provided timely information, which saved the Earldom from becoming a second Tribute Ceremony.
The count expressed his concern for him in the letter and praised Linde's resourcefulness in handling matters.
The letter also mentioned that he need not be afraid of Swift's collusion with the orcs, and that Earl Sutherland would handle the matter.
As for the possibility of war, the count trusted his son's judgment; the allies he had found would surely be able to resolve the problems in the orc kingdom.
After reading the entire letter, Lin De smiled, finally feeling relieved.
Linde had been back from the scene for three days and, after making initial arrangements for the people, was finally able to rest.
Over the past three days, Linde visited Alice from time to time to practice magic and also went to Aster to practice his knight training, which he hadn't done for a while.
After enjoying three pleasant days, Lind was greeted by an expected guest in his territory.
Leonis.
She was accompanied by a large entourage.
Upon seeing that Lind was unharmed, Leonis knelt on one knee and respectfully said:
“Lord Linde, I have fulfilled your orders.”
"Now I bring a gift from the sanctuary to praise your dedication and courage."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com