CHAPTER 123: THE COST OF BETRAYAL

"Cease the attack. Retreat immediately!"

"Forget it! Cut the ropes and get out of here as quickly as possible! Regroup with the others below!"

Even in this moment of crisis, the Spiderweb hunters displayed remarkable composure and execution. It wasn't due to loyalty or teamwork, but rather their survival instincts honed through years of living as criminals.

Without hesitation, they cut the ropes securing them to the alchemy workshop's tower and abandoned their fight against Wang Yu. Instead, they let themselves drop in an attempt to reunite with their comrades below.

They knew Wang Yu was a tough opponent. The potential rewards for taking him down were not worth risking their own lives.

Some Spiderweb hunters braced themselves to endure the impact of their fall, while others relied on their allies below to catch them using mental energy. A select few activated Featherfall just before reaching the ground, their bodies glowing with magical light.

From above, Wang Yu narrowed his eyes as he watched the retreating figures. Without hesitation, he activated his Spellweaver's Tome again, casting a spell rarely used by magicians.

Earth mana gathered around his legs. An intense vibration built up within them, increasing both in power and frequency.

He dismissed the invisible foothold beneath him and let gravity take over. With his legs wrapped in the vibrating mass of earth, he plummeted straight from the tower's midsection. This was the second-tier spell Seismic Invasion.

Ordinarily, this spell was designed to coat a staff with a vibrating shell of rock to deliver concussive blows that disrupted opponents. However, due to the inherent frailty of most magicians, it had limited effectiveness.

Wang Yu's physical prowess elevated the spell to a whole new level. Instead of using a weapon as the conduit, he used his own body.

Just as the Spiderweb hunters turned to flee, Wang Yu crashed into the ground. His impact, amplified by the weighty shell of vibrating earth around his legs, struck the already unstable terrain, which had been damaged earlier by Hollo's summoned vines. The softened ground absorbed most of the force, allowing Wang Yu to land safely.

Then, the shockwaves spread outward. The soil trembled violently, rippling with the infusion of earth magic. The entire area quaked as the vibrations intensified.

The ground beneath the Spiderweb hunters' feet turned into a chaotic, shifting mass. Finding stable footing became impossible.

They struggled to move, but the churning soil made it difficult even to stand upright, let alone run.

And this was just the first phase of Wang Yu's attack. With his mental energy, he rapidly activated the Spellweaver's Tome again. This time, however, he did more than just cast a spell—he accessed a special function left by Avia: Overcharge.

Overcharge allowed him to consume a massive amount of mana to amplify a spell's effects for a short period of time. The efficiency was low—enhancing a second-tier spell required expending nearly half of all the stored energy, while third-tier spells could only be boosted by at most fifty percent.

The stored mana within the tome surged into the next spell's framework. The sheer influx of energy caused the entire tome to glow and emit a faint heat. Then, Wang Yu drove his hand forcefully into the ground and activated the enhanced second-tier spell Stone Spirit.

Under the influence of the reinforced earth magic, the soil and rocks beneath him rapidly solidified and took shape. Jagged stone blades, resembling saw wheels, emerged from the trembling earth and began to spin furiously.

Now larger and faster due to the Overcharge, the spinning stone blades shot outward in all directions and tore through the battlefield.

The Spiderweb hunters, now in full panic, desperately exerted all their strength to escape the violently shifting terrain.

But it was too late. The vines Hollo had summoned earlier were unaffected by the vibrations. Thick tendrils burst from the unstable ground, snaring the Spiderweb hunters' legs and sealing their fate.

Bound in place, they had no way to dodge the incoming barrage. The spinning rock saws tore through them effortlessly, slicing through their bodies like a hot blade through butter.

Blood and severed limbs sprayed through the air as the merciless stone saws carved through flesh and bone. The remains of the fallen were churned into the vibrating earth, vanishing beneath the unrelenting tremors.

By the time Stone Spirit spell dissipated, the only remaining traces of the Spiderweb hunters were the bloodstains soaking the battlefield.

All the Spiderweb hunters sent on this mission had been annihilated by Wang Yu and Holo's combined assault. Wang Yu glanced down at his hands, the ones he had just used to cast his devastating spells. He grinned slightly. "What an incredibly effective and powerful tool..."

But then, he reminded himself, "I can't get addicted to this. This isn't my power. The Spellweaver's Tome is just a piece of equipment—it can break, and it can run out of energy. My own foundation hasn't changed."

After mentally cautioning himself, Wang Yu stepped onto the bloodstained ground. His ripples had already confirmed that there was still one surviving Spiderweb hunter below—after all, someone had to remain alive to answer his questions.

He reached out and pulled a tightly bound figure from the ground, the same Spiderweb hunter that Holo had initially attacked, whose throat had been slashed.

He looked dead at first glance, but Holo had used small plants growing from the wound to staunch the bleeding. The man was unconscious but alive.

Holo emerged from an alleyway and walked over without needing any instructions. He already knew what needed to be done. Green light gathered in his hands, enveloping the prisoner's throat, knitting the wound just enough for him to speak.

From his pocket, Hollo retrieved a commonly used truth serum. First, he injected the man with a sharp stimulant to jolt him awake. As the prisoner's eyes snapped open in shock, Holo immediately poured the truth serum down his throat. "Who told you about the Church of Nightfall?"

"It was..."

After obtaining the answer, Wang Yu fell silent for a moment. Then, he activated his communicator and contacted Sieg, who was tending to the injured beastmen.

"That's the situation. I thought it best for you to decide how to handle it."

"...I understand. My apologies. I'll take care of it immediately. You should head to the Church of Nightfall. I'll make sure they receive an explanation for all this."

"This isn't your fault, Professor."

"Hmm."

Shaking his head, Wang Yu buried the last Spiderweb hunter in the ground along with the rest of the fallen. Then, alongside Holo, he headed toward the Church of Nightfall's base in Black Street.

Upon their arrival, the members of the Church gathered to thank him for his help.

"As the archbishop, it's only natural for me to lend a hand," Wang Yu responded. "I also found out who the traitor is. One of my superiors from the Nightblades will be bringing him here soon. You can decide his fate yourselves."

His words sent a ripple of unease through the gathered believers.

They had worked so hard to build a sanctuary, to find a home under the guidance of a kind and benevolent goddess--and yet there had been a traitor among them.

Who was it? Why had they betrayed their own people? Was it someone missing from the gathering?

Doubt and suspicion spread among them. Those whose friends were absent grew anxious—could the traitor be someone they trusted?

"Don't speculate," Wang Yu interjected. "It wasn't one of the Church's believers. It was a Nightblades informant."

On his way back, Wang Yu had already deduced the truth. That informant was the only one who had the motive to do so.

The believers had little reason to betray the Church. The Lady of the Night might not be particularly powerful, but she certainly had the power to observe her limited number of followers. If she had been able to witness their persecution and relay it to Wang Yu, she would surely have detected any betrayal as well.

That left only a few possibilities. Excluding himself and the special ops team, the only other person aware of the situation was the Nightblade informant in the capital's shadow.

Just as this realization settled, Sieg arrived with several weakened beastmen and Noelle. Bound and dragged behind him was the traitor.

In his mindscape, Wang Yu pleaded with the Lady of the Night to release the concealment shrouding the area and allow Sieg to enter. Soon enough, Sieg appeared before everyone. He threw the Nightblades' informant in front of the gathered members of the Church of Nightfall.

"I'm very sorry for failing to properly oversee my subordinates and for causing trouble for all of you. From here on, he is yours to deal with as you see fit. I only hope that this will ease any prejudice you may have against the Nightblades."

Sieg bowed sincerely in apology to the Church of Nightfall's members and handed over the informant who had sold their secrets for money. This was a clear display of Sieg's, or rather, the Nightblades' stance on the matter.

The informant lifted his head. If not for the dust and dirt smudging his features, he would be a rather handsome middle-aged man. From appearance alone, he seemed like a rather determined and reliable individual, but his actions clearly spoke for themselves.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, spare me! My wife and daughter live in the capital's shadow. They're members of a gang that provides them with protection. After my wife and I got together, we had our only child. I just... I just wanted them to have a better life!"

The Church of Nightfall's members, who had been angrily discussing the man's fate, turned their attention to him as he sobbed and pleaded.

"As an informant, I often had to liaise with people from the capital. Over time, the local gang became aware of my connections. They didn't know I was an informant, but they did know I had access to certain channels."

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow and listened as the man continued his explanation.

"You must all be familiar with the greed of the gangs. Their desires are endless. They deliberately increased the amount of money they demanded from my family—five times more than before! But I didn't have that kind of money, so they forced me to trade information as payment. If I refused, they threatened to harm my wife and daughter."

"Look, look! This is my wife and daughter! They're beautiful, aren't they? I—I really had no other choice..."

The middle-aged man struggled desperately. A photograph slipped out of the pocket of his well-kept shirt. It was a family picture—his younger self and a beautiful woman embracing a smiling little girl.

The angry voices among the Church of Nightfall's members quieted. Upon seeing the photograph, they fell into conflicted silence.

They knew the man's description of the gangs was likely true. Having survived in the underground city themselves, they were all too familiar with its brutality.

And having struggled for so long before finally finding a place to call home, they also understood the pain of others. Now, they were torn—should they forgive him or not?

"Let Archbishop Wang Yu decide," Holo said, cutting through the murmuring discussions. The congregation turned their eyes to Wang Yu, filled with trust and anticipation.

"Me?" Wang Yu pointed at himself.

He glanced at the expectant faces arrayed around him. "Very well—kill him." He waved his hand dismissively, as if his pronouncement were of little consequence.

"Why?" someone in the congregation couldn't help but ask. Then, he quickly covered his mouth upon realizing his impropriety.

"Why?" Wang Yu smirked. "A man who truly cares about his family wouldn't use them as an excuse. He had countless other choices—proving his strength so that others wouldn't dare to touch him, or finding a way to relocate his wife and daughter. But instead, he chose to sell secrets for money. And now, when he has to face the consequences, he uses them as a shield. Either he's a selfish bastard, or he's a fool who's deceived even himself."

With Wang Yu's words, the congregation's doubts were completely silenced.

"Alright, I've made my decision. You handle the rest. I have matters to discuss with the Saintess."

Wang Yu waved his hand and, amidst the informant's desperate wails, departed with Sieg and Noelle to meet the Saintess—the Lady of the Night of herself, in her guise as Lady Darkness.

"Wang Yu, you were able to see through his actions that clearly?" Sieg asked casually, surprised by Wang Yu's keen insight into the man's character and actions.

"No, I was just making it up. I have no idea if he was telling the truth or not. His story sounded pretty convincing, but I have no way of verifying it. I'm not a mind reader."

"What?"

"I just found him annoying and wanted him dead," Wang Yu said nonchalantly. "Why should a sob story excuse his actions? I'm no saint. I don't have the ability to understand everyone's struggles.

"I didn't want to hear his excuses. I hate betrayal—there's no room for forgiveness. He had plenty of other choices. Everyone has to pay for their actions. He chose to betray us, so he must bear the consequences. There's no need for excessive empathy—that's all.

"Ah, well, he worships the God of Light, doesn't he? Let the God of Light decide whether to forgive him or not. My job is just to send him to meet his god. Praise be to the Light," Wang Yu added, making a mocking gesture of reverence.

"...Alright then. I think you're right," Sieg said after a moment. "I'll look into his wife and daughter's situation. If they are truly innocent, the Nightblades will take care of them."

"That's what I like about the Nightblades," Wang Yu replied with a grin.