CHAPTER 606: CHAPTER 406: THE AFTERMATH OF THE SAIN DUNGEON?

When the church staff came running to report, Hade, who seemed most indifferent, was the first to feel nervous.

As everyone knows, the person who seems most indifferent is usually the one who cares the most.

He actually cared very much about the opinion of the bishop,

"What happened? What’s going on?" He grabbed the staff’s shoulders tightly and shook them as he asked.

The staff member had run all the way over, feeling very anxious, and being violently shaken at this moment, he might even vomit foam if this continued.

Albud hurriedly stopped Hade, but unfortunately, the poor staff member had already passed out.

"What should we do now?"

The group from the church looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to do.

"Hey, if I were you, I’d immediately run out of the dungeon right now, run out, and you’ll see how embarrassing you are, haha!"

A young girl’s schadenfreude-filled voice rang out, and Hade reflexively glared over.

Maru, who had just spoken, quickly darted behind her team captain, sticking her tongue out at Hade.

"...."

Meeting Leon’s gaze, Hade shrank his neck; this was someone he truly didn’t dare to provoke.

After nodding at Leon, Albud was the first to teleport out using the bonfire.

Although the Strategy Group didn’t explicitly say where they were going, Bed City or the Royal City, he believed the problem must be with Bed. It’s best to go there first.

Moments later.

"What is.....this?"

Having just emerged from the teleportation gate, barely getting a clear view of the scene outside, Hade’s legs trembled, and he lost strength, falling to his knees.

Following his gaze to the sky, the church group was also stunned.

They froze there, but the onlookers started to laugh.

"Look, look, they’ve come out, I didn’t expect to see a ’Great Actor’."

"(Whistling), Hade, your directing skills are quite good, are you interested in developing them in our troupe?"

"Tsk, why would a Divine Blessings wet his pants in front of a Monster? How did the Holy Light God choose people?"

"Hey, is that strong man over there the only one blessed with virtue? He seems upright and honest, looks like a good person."

Albud, having no time for the crowd’s gossip, stared at whatever was in the sky for a while. His shocked expression gradually turned into a slight smirk and satisfaction, then he walked over and patted Hade’s shoulder, solemnly saying:

"My condolences."

Hade seemed petrified, as if he’d just looked into Medusa’s eyes.

Guided by his gaze to the sky, what exactly was there?

There was a group of people dressed in Holy Light Church attire flying above, continuously casting attack magic at a conspicuous target.

And the target they were attacking was... a magic-powered airship adorned with the Shadow Brotherhood emblem!

No technology, purely crafted from various magic materials as a flying transportation tool!

The people from the Holy Light Church were mercilessly attacking this airship, why?

Because it was projecting two real-time images on it!

Exactly the two segments recorded by the group from the church!

On the left image, a frail figure enveloped in the Holy Light, Divine Blessings extended his hands toward the monstrous Monster, his calm expression full of love; around, Priests and nuns sang the requiem, and the Monster swiftly embraced the Holy Light, dying with happy murmurs.

What a portrayal that aligns with the Holy Light Church’s values; surely, it would attract many followers, devoting themselves wholeheartedly to the Holy Light!

However, the right image differed a bit, yet was also somehow similar to the left.

In the right image, the emaciated Lica is pushed by Hade to approach the Monster, forced to display a proper expression through corporal punishment, while the Priests and nuns singing the requiem suddenly start cursing each other mid-song, the Monster jolts, and Lica falls down, wetting his pants, as Hade furiously demands a retake.

After two or three retakes, the Monster nearly deceased after being tormented, finally producing the final cut shown in the left image!

So that’s it, one side was the final product, the other side was behind-the-scenes footage, and the behind-the-scenes really wasn’t a laughing matter for the Holy Light believers.

The Divine Blessings is considered as the cherished child of the God, yet Hade resorted to hitting and scolding Lica, which the followers couldn’t accept, shattering deeply ingrained hierarchical concepts.

As a Divine Blessings, Lica’s poor performance facing Monsters, even those weak and controlled ones, prompted suspicion of his authenticity.

Priests and nuns usually gentle with vile language towards each other, impacted many’s worldview significantly.

Simultaneously, the comparison between final product and behind-the-scenes could lead to further profound consequences, such as—

"Won’t the Holy Light Church’s past propaganda be fake too?" Someone from the spectators suddenly uttered.

Upon these words, the Church Magicians above became more anxious, wanting to quickly shoot down the airship, but the ship’s defense magic’s strength was beyond imagination, they put their all into the attacks yet failed to break through!

Higher-level Magicians must be recalled, someone thought of Ceder, if only he could offer assistance.

Turning around, they saw Ceder stroll calmly into the dungeon, not even glancing back!

Gone, who else could help!

"I’m finished, completely finished..."

Hade, lost and despairing, turned into a broken record, repeating those two sentences over and again, Priests and nuns ashamedly retreated swiftly.

Only Albud remained, like a true good brother gently patting Hade’s back, smiled and said:

"It’s all right, it’s all right, if you are demoted in the future, brother will help you rise again."

As soon as these words were spoken, Hade trembled even more.

Albud’s eyes also became happier.

——————————————————

A few days later.

"The humiliating defeat of the Holy Light Church has become the hottest topic in recent days, let’s ask the bishop of the Bed City branch of the Holy Light Church for his opinion."

"God says: Please leave."

Accompanied by the roar of magic, the reporter who somehow sneaked in was driven out of the church, recording his bruised and swollen face in front of the image stone.

"Well, it seems the bishop doesn’t want to talk about this matter, so we can only ask for the opinions of the Starfire Church or the Oath Taker of the Dark Moon Sword, hoping they can offer..."

Before the reporter could finish speaking, the church’s door suddenly opened again, and a priest with a complicated expression waved them in.

"Come in, the bishop has agreed to your interview."

Facing the reporter’s questions, the bishop sighed deeply and said:

"Regarding this matter, it was indeed because we acted too hastily..."

In recent days, the entire Holy Light Church has been busy with crisis management over this humiliating event, leaving no time for other matters.

The series of impacts such as disappointed believers, onlookers, enemies taking the opportunity to hype the situation, superiors’ wrath and punishment, etc., are numerous and don’t need much elaboration to guess; there probably aren’t many who are interested in these.

While believers of the Holy Light reacted intensely, feeling deceived, adventurers who didn’t believe in the Holy Light were satisfied after watching the spectacle for a few days and then returned to their normal routine.

The most straightforward impression on adventurers might be that the Holy Light Church decreased the service fee of the Resurrection House to attract popularity.

Additionally, the annoying parade finally stopped, and the suppression against the Dark Moon Faith was left up in the air. The Holy Light Church probably won’t have time to manage pagan faiths until they deal with their mess.

"For now, it’s over with the church, so what should I do next?"

Gong Qiying walked along the streets of the Royal City, moving towards crowded places to gather inspiration, definitely not to slack off.

After all, the more people there are, the more inspiration he can get.

The storyline of Eldritch, the God-Devourer, is considered finished, and it’s unlikely to extend new maps in Yanor Londo—there were few people who could get there in the first place, and even fewer if a new map is opened from there.

Gong Qiying plans to give adventurers a buffer period, allowing them to familiarize themselves with the existing areas before opening new maps.

But what to open next?

"The Smoke Lake below the Casas Underground Tomb, the City of Sin connected to the Yilushier Prison, with the bosses being the Old Demon King and the Giant King Youmu respectively."

"The Old Demon King could be used to lead into Losric’s Twin Princes, while Youmu and the Onion Knight’s plot would be finalized directly in the City of Sin."

"Locations like the Grand Archives or Demon King’s Courtyard, all connected with Losric, should be released together, but..."

Gong Qiying sat down in a bustling tavern, watching as the server brought up drinks bubbling with foam.

"I just feel like the plot there is missing a highlight."

Neither the Demon King Osroes nor Losric’s Twin Princes, or even the Dragon Hunter Armor, have the solemnity of the Fran Undead Team or the annoyance generated by Eldritch.

The storyline of Losric includes many details explaining various elements, like the Human’s Pus experiment.

However, it seems that aside from a small group of fact-checkers, the majority of adventurers are more interested in legendary stories of heroes—be it passionate or somber—rather than academic research; such details are tedious for them, and a headache for Gong Qiying to create.

Speaking of emotional engagement, he still has the Onion Knight storyline.

Not to mention, when the time is right, he may even bring Solar and the Sun Worm into play.

Taking a sip of his drink, he thought:

Perhaps opening new territories and exploring them is the answer.

There are other dungeons within the kingdom’s borders, or perhaps he could switch to another country. The neighboring Warrior Country, which keeps company with dragons and conducts war festivals, sounds intriguing and irresistible for plotting.

Keeping company with dragons sounds akin to the Losric scenario, but the term "war festival" immediately reminds Gong Qiying of a general fond of cute flying stars crashing down.

The Shattered Star General would surely appeal to adventurers!

"I’ll ask Red Teeth and the Asta Alliance another day if there’s any opposing dungeon we can engage with."

Just then, an adventurer drinking next to him suddenly sighed.

"Sigh, even though Eldritch was defeated once, because of the dungeon, he’ll eventually revive, making our revenge seem futile."

Well, this person happens to be an Oath Taker of the Dark Moon Sword.

"What can we do? Winning once is already fortunate. What do you expect, to prevent Eldritch from reviving by tearing down Sain Dungeon?"

"What are you talking about? I’d need the ability to do that first."

The adventurer took a swig of his drink, sighed, and said:

"Isn’t there any way to save Gwendolin from Eldritch’s clutches, even if it’s just an illusion? Just seeing that scene would be worth it."

"Now that you mention it, I’d like to see it too, like the Four Knights Under King arriving to save the day or something—it sounds so cool."

Hearing this, a spark of inspiration flashed in Gong Qiying’s eyes.

Then the next area to be opened should be...

Ancient Dragon Peak?