The Holy Knights' purge was swift and decisive, like scorching holy light sweeping through damp corners.
Those Shadow Abyss Splits, mutated from rats, were indeed no match for a well-organized group of knights with legitimate Holy Light power.
Their sporadic resistance was like water droplets falling into a raging fire, instantly evaporated and purified.
The filth on the streets was cleaned away, the cellars and sewers were washed with holy water, and the priests' prayers seemed louder, trying to dispel the unease that permeated the air.
Within a few days, the "abnormalities" in the report decreased rapidly until things returned to normal.
The commanders of the Holy Knights breathed a slight sigh of relief, believing that this was just an accidental disturbance caused by a minor leak from an ancient seal, which had now been effectively brought under control.
The tension eased somewhat, and even the panic and rumors circulating among ordinary citizens seemed to gradually subside thanks to the government's firm stance and swift action.
However, this "calm" did not last long.
On the third night after the cleanup operation was declared over, in the northern district of the Holy City, in a remote wasteland near the foundation of the ancient city wall (below which is the intersection of an important tributary of the light vein and several tiny fissures), a strange change occurred!
There was no warning, no sound.
Suddenly, the earth trembled violently, as if some giant thing was turning over underground!
Immediately afterwards, a terrifying, deep, dark, blackish-purple beam of light burst through the ground without warning and shot into the sky!
The light was not pure darkness; it contained countless twisted, writhing, and seemingly living shadows. It tore apart the tranquil starry sky of the holy city at night, staining everything around it with an ominous and blasphemous color!
The overwhelming, nauseating aura of the Shadow Abyss swept out like a tangible tide! It was a hundred times purer and more terrifying than the aura emitted by the previous split entities!
This is not a naturally formed crack expansion, but a man-made, precise, highly compressed burst of Shadow Abyss energy released instantaneously!
—It was Lind's work.
Using the sealed network structure he had previously explored, he cleverly chose a key node and drove a highly condensed stream of Shadow Abyss energy into it like a wedge, instantly disrupting the already unstable balance caused by the weakening of the light veins and triggering this controllable, small-scale energy eruption.
"Whoosh—buzz—!"
The warning runes set up throughout the holy city instantly emitted the highest frequency, sharp and piercing alarm sounds, filled with unprecedented urgency and fear!
The Holy Knights, who had just relaxed, were stunned by this sudden turn of events and rushed to the scene as fast as they could.
The holy books in the priests' hands trembled violently, and the holy symbols became scalding hot and even dimmed. They could clearly feel a huge, cold, and destructive force surging wildly in that area, engaging in a fierce and tooth-grinding conflict with the light power they believed in!
The dark purple beam of light continued to surge forth. Although its range was not large and it did not expand infinitely, the energy intensity at its core was frighteningly high.
The land around the pillar of light quickly turned gray and cracked, the stones crumbled as if they had been weathered for thousands of years, and any vegetation that came near withered and died instantly, losing all vitality.
You could even see some of the escaping Shadow Abyss energy twisting and lashing in the air like living tentacles, trying to erode further places, and violently colliding with the automatically activated Holy City defensive runes, bursting out bursts of dazzling energy flashes and thunderous roars!
"Hold on! Holy Light Array!"
A paladin captain roared at the top of his lungs, directing the hastily arriving knights to form a battle formation.
Golden holy light shone again, attempting to suppress the surging blackish-purple beam of light.
But this time, the Holy Light was not as easy as it had been in purifying the split entities before.
Two completely opposite energies collided violently, producing a tearing sound that made one's scalp crawl. The holy light was forced to retreat step by step by the condensed Shadow Abyss energy, and could only barely limit it to a certain range, unable to extinguish it immediately!
All the members of the Holy Church who witnessed this scene felt a chill run through their hearts.
Those minor splits that occurred before...were just appetizers? Or just subtle signs before the real disaster?
Is this towering, dark purple beam of light, this overwhelming and unstoppable evil power, the real threat lurking beneath the holy city?
An unprecedented panic spread like a plague among the knights and priests in charge of dealing with the situation.
They suppressed the panic with faith and discipline, but the sweat on their palms and the trembling of their weapons betrayed the turmoil within them.
The higher-ups received the news immediately.
Cardinal Helios hastily put his armor back on after just taking it off. He stared at the image of the North from the spell crystal with a livid face, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
Bishop August slumped in his chair, pale-faced, muttering to himself:
"...The seal...the ancient seal has really weakened...how is this possible...Gods..."
All their previous wishful thinking and attempts to cover things up seemed so ridiculous and powerless in the face of this towering black-purple beam of light.
The Holy City, the foundation upon which they depend for existence, the center of their faith in light, truly harbors a terrifying behemoth about to awaken!
And this giant beast has already revealed its ferocious fangs.
Linde stood in the shadows at a distance, calmly watching the dark purple pillar of light that had stirred up the entire night in the holy city.
Just as he had planned, this limited outbreak was perfectly timed—it was shocking enough to terrify the higher-ups and prove that the “minor” crackdowns were pointless and the crisis was far from over; at the same time, it was kept within a certain range and would not actually destroy the holy city (at least not now), thus preventing the situation from spiraling out of control.
He successfully exerted unprecedented and real pressure on this ancient holy city.
This pressure will be the perfect catalyst for his next plan.
He needs those panicked senior executives to take the initiative to find ways to "solve" the problem.
And he had already prepared that "method".
Linde believed that soon someone would come knocking on his door.
As to whether it was Pris or the bishop, he had no idea.
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