Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 38 Exploration
The next day, Altaïr and Venata carefully crossed the street with their weapons at the ready, and arrived at the Harvest Church at the end of Rose Street, where they met Sister Vespe who had been waiting in the church.

"Thank the Mother God... you are finally here."

Sister Vespe breathed a sigh of relief before turning her gaze towards Altaïr, examining him carefully. Although her gaze was not concealed, it was surprisingly not rude.

At the same time, Altaïr also secretly observed Sister Vespe's dress. Sister Vespe did not come to the church lobby today wearing just an ordinary nun's dress as usual, but instead waited in the basement where the vampires were once imprisoned wearing heavy armor.

It was a set of plate armor that looked very heavy. The large metal plate on the chest was forged into a curved dome, which just left room for Sister Vesper's plump chest. In fact, this design was to prevent the user from suffocating after the armor was deformed by a blow. Every part of the armor was much thicker than the plate armor that the Loen army had used before. It was shining with an orange-red spiritual light, and there was a huge emblem of the God of War painted on the chest.

Sister Vesper held a long-handled warhammer over a meter long. Unlike the hammer that Altaïr had seen at the Beyonder gathering, this warhammer was not too big, but compared to the former with the exaggerated hammer head, the latter looked more dangerous. There was a bird beak-shaped spike over 30 centimeters long behind the narrow hammer head and at the tip of the metal handle, and there were two spikes about 5 centimeters long on the side of the hammer.

Although the long-handled hammer was not very conspicuous compared to the huge armor, Altaïr knew that both the plate armor and the hammer were excellent battlefield weapons, even without the magical effects brought by the Beyonder characteristics. Imagine a heavy maiden wearing huge plate armor holding a long-handled hammer, rushing towards the enemy at a speed similar to that of a steam train at full speed. I'm afraid no one can keep their sanity.

"Sister Vespe, are you going to follow us in dressed like this?"

Venata asked curiously.

"No, this armor is also one of the gifts from the Lord God of War. Through this armor, I can echo the holy emblem in your hands."

Sister Vespe smiled kindly.
"If anything happens to you in there, I can use this relationship to perform a summoning ceremony to bring you back to the real world."

"However, this summoning is not precise enough and may summon all creatures within a certain range into reality, so I have to be ready to fight at any time."

Sister Vespe raised the warhammer in her hand and smiled lightly, as if she didn't take the weapon, which looked to weigh nearly ten kilograms, seriously at all.

"Well, now that you're all here, let's confirm our agreement."

Sister Vespe said impatiently, "You enter the Twilight Kingdom and help me find clues related to the current situation of the God of War. And I have already paid your reward in advance. Mr. Altaïr, if you still want any reward, I can also give you some monetary compensation, which is expected to be no less than 1000 pounds."

"I think it's a reasonable price. Of course, if you can't come up with so much cash right away, you can consider using the blood of the Black Abyss Demon Fish or the eggs of the Agate Peacock as a substitute. Although this may exceed the reward you promised, if you really have these two materials, I can make up the difference."

Altaïr nodded, indicating that he had no objection.

"Don't worry, my financial situation is still good."

Sister Vespe nodded slightly, then carefully took out the holy emblem from the box beside the table.

"If you are ready, we can begin now. It is very simple to use. Just inject spirituality and let the light of the holy emblem cover you two. After that, I will temporarily transfer the right to use the holy emblem to you through ritual magic. The effect will last until you leave the Twilight Kingdom."

Altaïr moved his wrist slightly, adjusted the position of the gun pouch under his arm, slightly turned the bronze ring on his right hand, and then spread his hands to indicate that he was ready. Venata also confirmed her own condition and nodded to Sister Vespe with a little nervousness.

“Then may the glory be with you.”

Sister Vespe solemnly handed the holy emblem to Vinata's hand. The moment the two of them handed it over, a golden barrier seemed to appear under Sister Vespe's feet, and an indescribable aura emanated from Sister Vespe and blessed Vinata.

"You may now use the holy symbol."

Sister Vespe raised her warhammer to her chest and performed a standard knight's salute.

"I will keep you in my prayers until you come back."

I have always felt that the blessing of the Church of the God of War is a bit unlucky... It was a very serious occasion, but Altaïr had such an inappropriate thought. Although the authority of the God of War also has a part related to glory, most people who have heard the blessing of "May glory be with you" will not live long...

While Altaïr was still daydreaming, Venata had already taken the holy emblem and began to slowly infuse it with spirituality.

A solid dusk-colored beam of light burst out from the holy emblem, slowly expanding its range, and finally stopped expanding in an area with a radius of one meter. After Venata took the holy emblem away, the beam of light did not move with it, but seemed to solidify, stagnating in place in a radial shape.

Did they fix the light? The Kingdom of Twilight is such a magical place... Altaïr and Venata looked at each other, then stepped into the place covered by the light. As a flash of light that slowed down people's thinking flashed, the two were brought into a completely unfamiliar world.

After an unknown amount of time, Altaïr felt his senses return and his feet were on solid ground again. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a dim orange-red color. He seemed to have landed at the edge of a forest, and for a moment he was unsure if there were any people living around. A large amount of information suddenly emerged in his mind, and his body seemed to be in a very different state than before, forcing him to stop moving temporarily to adapt to these changes.

"My physical fitness seems to have become stronger. Even without the blessing of the Extraordinary Hand, I can tear my previous self apart with my bare hands... Some of my fighting skills and weapon-using techniques have also been strengthened. I also have the ability to shape light weapons. It seems that Sister Vesper's words are not exaggerated."

Altaïr slowly clenched his hands, causing his bones to crackle. When he loosened his hands, the Loen gold coin he had been holding was forcibly crushed into a lump of alloy.

Just the full force of the palm's grip was similar to the pressure of a hydraulic press...Altaïr was surprised by the sudden increase in strength and couldn't help but begin to imagine how strong Sister Vespe was.

At the very least, she could definitely knock over a steam train running at full speed head-on, or tear apart the hull of an ironclad ship with her bare hands, or even jump and grab the machine gun barrel of an airship strafing at low altitude, without any assistance or magical items...

Altair thought about that scene and suddenly felt a chill on his back. Although the Warrior Path was somewhat weak in terms of its emphasis on mystery, it was definitely an extremely terrifying existence on the front battlefield... No wonder Loen invested so many Beyonders in the beginning, but was eventually pushed to Backlund by Feysac's Church of the God of War.

……

Not long after, Altaïr forced himself to stop thinking about it and looked around. He was relieved when he saw Venata. Although the opponent was stronger than him, they were in a completely unfamiliar environment. Neither Altaïr nor Venata thought they could defeat the Twilight Kingdom. Therefore, it was necessary to avoid casualties from any perspective.

After confirming that the other party was in good condition, Altaïr began to look around. This place was not like Backlund, and an assassin would inevitably be restricted in a completely unfamiliar environment.

This seemed to be the edge of a forest, and this forest was made up of trees with white bark and tiny serrations around the leaves. The shadows of the trees blocked out the sun, but there was a constant orange-red spiritual light that shone evenly in every corner, sending the surrounding scenes directly into the eyes of Altaïr and the others through spiritual resonance. Even if the two closed their eyes, they could "see" it. The normal natural light was stagnant by a mysterious force, as if it had aged and died in the endless spiritual dusk. This "aging" light surrounded the kingdom of God, forming orange-red masses that looked like fog.

It was the first time for the two of them to encounter such a strange environment, and they were so shocked that they were a little overwhelmed for a moment.

(End of this chapter)