Chapter 43 Fiery Potion Her last glance back at him as she left…
This was a question that everyone in the Vatican was also curious about. However, they naturally wouldn't show it so obviously.
The knight commander saluted Field, who had suddenly appeared: "My lord, is there any instruction?"
Field's cold gaze fell on him, and he casually uttered, "The Archbishop is very disappointed in you."
That simple sentence had already sent a cold sweat down the knight commander's forehead. His mind involuntarily replayed the horrific punishments in the Papacy's inquisition chamber.
The archbishop's instruction meant that regardless of whether those heretics were caught today, they would face severe punishment upon returning home.
And if they really couldn't catch it... the Knight Commander dared not even think about it.
Field glanced at the knight commander, his expression impatient. He raised his hand and waved it, instantly restoring much of the group's energy, who had been exhausted from chasing the enemy all night.
The knights happily placed their hands on their chests and bowed, saying, "Thank you, sir."
“The archbishop doesn’t like hearing bad news,” Field said, glancing at the crowd. “You should know that.”
After giving these warnings, the knights, having regained their composure, immediately headed back towards Catherine and the other two. The three who had witnessed the entire ordeal from the bushes cursed under their breath, and, ignoring their injuries, crouched down and quietly retreated into the shadows.
Benson gritted his teeth, his tone filled with resentment: "After that guy finished speaking, these people went berserk like mad dogs, and they have unlimited energy... How the hell are we supposed to fight them?"
Catherine had spent so many years in the Papacy; she knew very well the archbishop's power over the Knights. But…
“His endurance isn’t unlimited. At least for tonight, he can only use it once more at most,” Catherine said confidently.
Benson looked at her suspiciously: "How do you know so much?"
Catherine curled her lips into a smile and glanced at him: "This question is irrelevant to the current situation, so I refuse to answer it."
As they spoke, the knights rushed towards the direction where Catherine and the others had fled a split second before the magic circle went out. But unsurprisingly, they found nothing.
After darkness returned to the dense forest, they ran in several different directions. After Field's words, they changed direction again—only a fool would stay put and wait for the enemy to arrive.
Catherine turned her head slightly, her gaze still fixed on the knights searching in the distance, but her words were directed at Lucas: "How many potions do you have left?"
Lucas took out the package and examined it carefully. Since it contained all the potions he had concocted, the search was quicker.
A few breaths later, his expression turned somewhat grim: "There aren't many left, only six or seven bottles, of which only three or four are offensive magic potions."
Lucas's answer was similar to what Catherine had expected. Back at the Papacy, the situation was critical; in the knights' stronghold, potions were practically unusable—in fact, having this much left was already a relatively good result.
Catherine asked Lucas to tell her all the types of the remaining potions. Lucas didn't know what she was going to do, but he obediently did as she asked.
Catherine listened to the deliberately hushed voice beside her, lowered her eyes, and fell into deep thought. No one knew what she was thinking at that moment.
The knights were numerous, so they divided themselves into several groups, each heading in a different direction. They quickly located Catherine and her companions.
Benson turned the knife that was standing on the ground, and the blade flashed in the sparse moonlight, carrying a cold aura.
Pushing aside the waist-high grass, the small squad of knights came face to face with the three men hiding in the bushes. They seemed to freeze in disbelief for a few seconds, then their eyes blazed with the wild joy of seeing prey, and they pounced on them, weapons in hand. The instant they moved, Benson raised his greatsword and swung it horizontally, taking on all the knights by himself.
The sounds of fighting quickly attracted knights from other squads, who all converged on this side. From above, it looked as if the streams from all directions were gradually gathering together to form a wide river.
Catherine and her companions are facing more and more enemies.
Benson blocked the narrow opening in the path, preventing the knights from getting past him to attack Lucas and Catherine behind him. This geographical advantage made Benson's attack easier, but it also meant that all the knights' attacks were focused on him alone.
Catherine knew he couldn't hold on much longer.
She raised Lucas's slingshot and placed the vial of potion she had just taken from his bag on it. Using the dense foliage as cover, she carefully found the perfect angle. Finally, just as Benson's hand gripping the knife trembled uncontrollably, a faint buzzing sound came from behind him—a dark vial of potion, hidden in the darkness, hurtled into the center of the crowd at incredible speed.
The knights panicked for a moment, instantly recalling the previous potion attacks.
But when they scattered because of the expected explosion, they found that nothing had happened.
They scanned their surroundings warily, wondering what was going on. But when several minutes passed and nothing seemed to have happened, they concluded that the potion was just a trick played by the three heretics!
They charged at them angrily, wanting to kill Benson, who was blocking their way, first, and then the two behind him!
Just then, the faint buzzing sound of the slingshot being fired rang in their ears again, growing louder and louder. Only then did they seem to sense something and raise their heads. In their pupils, wide with fear, they saw a large swarm of bees rushing towards them from the sky. In the moonlight, the eerie blue tips of the bees' tails already hinted at their terrifying venom.
No one dares to imagine what terrifying consequences would occur if someone were targeted and bitten!
These tiny, elusive creatures meant the knights couldn't treat them like large magical beasts, and the tools suitable for catching bees couldn't possibly be available at this time. The once orderly knightly order was instantly terrified by the swarm of poisonous bees and scattered in all directions.
From the rear of the column, Field noticed the commotion ahead. Although it was impossible for him to see what was happening, he seemed to be omniscient.
Field frowned, his expression one of disgust at the waste.
He raised his hand again, and a warm and comfortable feeling instantly enveloped all the knights. The knights, who had just been terrified, fell silent instantly, and the energy they had exhausted from excessive fear was replenished in that moment.
They gripped their weapons tighter, their eyes shining even brighter. Clearly, they were extremely excited about Lord Field's blessing.
Of course, they hadn't forgotten the poisonous bees that had caused them to flee in all directions. Many people looked up and around, only to find that the swarms of poisonous bees that had seemed to fill the world just moments before had vanished without a trace.
A few of the more intelligent knights pieced together the whole story and instantly realized that the poisonous bees they had just seen were all an illusion!
It's obvious that so many harmful poisonous creatures could be hiding in the dense forest, which is only so close to the Vatican!
So that potion that was launched...
"It's just a bottle of hallucinogenic potion, but I didn't expect it to produce such a good effect."
As the knights scattered in terror, Catherine and the others fled in the opposite direction as much as possible. Recalling the scene from earlier, she couldn't help but chuckle.
Unbeknownst to the knights, at the moment they were blessed, Catherine, who had already run quite a distance, also had a fleeting glint in her eyes, hidden in the darkness.
Catherine raised her hand and gave a perfunctory shake, then turned her face and glanced at Field with a hint of amusement.
At that moment, her physical strength inexplicably recovered a lot.
This dense forest was far smaller than Devil's Forest. However, although they had tried their best to run towards the exit, carrying Benson, who was seriously injured, and with their own condition not much better, they were still caught up by the knights when they were only a few hundred meters away from the exit.
Hearing the approaching footsteps behind her, Catherine didn't hesitate. She grabbed three or four bottles of potions and swung them behind her.
The psychological trauma inflicted on the Knights by the previous hallucinogenic potion was clearly significant. Upon seeing the potions heading towards them, they immediately and cautiously moved a considerable distance to the side.
Whether it's the potion that explodes upon contact with anything, or the potion that causes widespread hallucinations, avoiding them shouldn't be a problem.
However, what they didn't expect was that Catherine's initial target was not them.
The potion bottle finally fell due to gravity, and the moment it hit the dry grass on the ground, flames suddenly burst into flames.
Three or four bottles of fiery potion, when combined with dry grass, produced astonishing effects. The flames spread rapidly, instantly forming a vast sea of fire, successfully halting the pursuit of the Vatican members behind them, but they couldn't stop the eye contact between them.
Field stood at the very back of the group, watching the three disappear into the night with a blank expression. He had assumed they would simply run away without a second thought. But to his surprise, at the last moment, Catherine suddenly turned and met his gaze.
His hand, hidden beneath his sleeve, gripped the plain ring tightly, almost uncontrollably.
As she left, she glanced back at him one last time, her eyes just as they had been months before.
After running for a long distance and making sure that the people behind them would not catch up, the three of them dared to stop and rest.
Recalling their daring raid on the Vatican a few hours earlier, stealing and kidnapping people, Lucas still felt a pang of unease. Had they made even the slightest mistake, if he had found Uncle Benson just a little later… they might not have achieved such a satisfactory result.
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