Chapter 561 War's Second Phase (5)

"Great Paladin… We are here…" A knight went toward Rachana as he announced that they were already at their destination.

They were not yet on the coast but rather on the mountain range behind it. This is so that the enemies on the holy island shall not be alerted to see them.

Two days and two nights of flying and rushing to the coast has made her and the entire army exhausted. But as it was a matter that was too urgent for their side, they had to do this.

"Hmm… ask everyone to covertly settle down. A day of rest and recuperation should be enough. Tomorrow night we have to do our approach." Rachana nodded and looked at the army behind her.

They have already spent their mana in rushing to the area. A week of travel had gone so short in two days. Because of this Rachana knew that the exhaustion from the ride would not be of any help if they wanted to subdue the enemies.

"Yes, Great Paladin!" the Lieutenant answered attentively and saluted before he went over to organize the troops.

Rachana on the other hand selected a few temple knights to bring with her to see the situation on the coast.

Observing the situation from the coast, they could see that the place was heavily guarded and the people seemed to have been on high alert.

One temple knight looked at Rachana and asked politely, "Dear Paladin, if I may ask a question?"

"En…" Rachana raised her brows and looked at the knight permitting him to speak.

"Why does the Pope insist on taking back the main temple instead of attacking the mainland? Shouldn't we be taking advantage of the fact that the troops aren't around on the mainland?" The knight asked with caution.

Rachana just smiled and answered, "None of us here could understand… It might only be His Majesty and the Pope who knew the reason…"

–

On the other hand, the situation in the temple also changed.

A few days ago, the knights cleaning up the temple discovered something underneath the main worship altar.

It was a bizarre-looking ruin, with the suspicious residue of blood all around it and a series of runes that were drawn through it.



"This… a demonic altar?" Abaddon's face darkened.

Judging from the situation, the residue was still a few days old. He could already conclude that the activity here was done just before they attacked the holy temple.

"Could it be offered to the evil entity that you mentioned before?" Gabriel looked at Eli and Kayden who had told them about the things they discovered in the laboratory.

By now everyone already knew what the Spectre has been up to, who they worshiped, and how they want to execute their plans.

Kayden gave them a grave nod and went to the altar. Placing a glove in his hand, he took a specimen of the blood from the altar and examined it.

After a while, he went back and informed the group with a dark expression on his face.

"Have you found something?" Eli asked, but her heart had already sunk judging from the expression on Kayden's face.

"Human, merfolk, and beast men among many… all of them were detected in this blood specimen," Kayden explained.

Everyone's heart turned cold. Just how much evil will the Spectre do until they are satisfied?!

"The thing is… the blood specimen had traces of the potion they were making… It might be that these people have been purposely fed by poison and some of them might also be the workers that  did not make it because of the heavy contact with the potion making." He added.

Everyone is gritting their teeth, this is beyond their expectations.





"We should report this to the higher-ups and ask for their opinion on this matter… As for what this kind of rune is doing, I only have one person in mind who could figure this out… It's Temple Knight 7th Captain Mishael, an expert on array making and runes…"

Gabriel looked at everyone's heavy expression. But now that they discovered it, they have to quickly figure out the purpose of this matter.

"Have the others search for similar kinds of things too." He added.

"Alright…" With the entire group agreeing, the manpower is divided into two teams, one for the preparation of war and another for investigating if there are any places that had this bizzare thing as well.

Fast forward to the present, Mishael teleported to this place in order to figure out the function of the altar.

Aside from the place where they found the first altar, there were five more similar altars as well, with the first altar standing at the center of it all.

"By now you should have figured out that these altars were part of an array, and the area of the array covers the entire holy island…" Mishael told Eli and the rest.

"But the thing is, these altars could work separately and together… as long as someone managed to activate it." He continued.

"Individually, it can function as a force-gathering rune that is capable of sending it to the owner of the array…"

"But together… It is a killing array with a controllable trajectory… As to its attack power...  You can only imagine how destructive it is…"

"This… " Everyone's expression darkened as the terror of the runes was revealed before them.

Eli looked at Mishael and asked immediately, not wanting for the sinister altars to exist any longer, "Can we destroy it?"

Mishael shook his head and answered truthfully, "We can but it will alert the evil entity at once… At this point, we are not in any capacity to face him with a vast army coming  at us…"

As they heard this, everyone clenched their fists as they felt helpless at the moment.

In the end, while they want to get justice for the people victimized by the sinister altars, they have to get past the endeavor first.

The attack coming from the Vanderford Empire was composed of a large army, with how little the island is for a battlefield the chances of protecting themselves will be even lesser.

And so they decided to just report the matter to the headquarters and wait for their decision. In the meantime, their eyes are on the battle ahead.

A day passed by and the alarm bells started to ring on the holy island.

"Enemies! Enemies!" The night sentries shouted at the top of their lungs.

"Everyone, get into your positions!" The captains, Mishael, Gabriel, and Abaddon stood up and wielded their swords together with Eli, Kayden, and the top warriors from the Green Wave Island.

Right in front of them was Rachana's vast army as they headed towards the island at full speed, not even minding if the other party had already noticed them.

"Mages hit the island with all your might! Do not bother about the structures… just kill as many people as you can from this distance!" Rachana ordered as she looked at the tiny island from a distance slowly getting bigger and bigger in front of them.

"Roger, Great Paladin!" The troops replied.

From the holy island's vantage point, countless mana lights lit up in the air, like stars filling up the bright skies.

None of the people there admire the beauty of it, because it was something that could take their lives in one shot!