Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 259: The Prologue of Shadow

Blood splattered everywhere.

Afatak was pierced by the spike protruding from the bell curtain, and blood gushed out of his body like a fountain.

But the spike did not pierce his vital parts, allowing Afatak to escape the Sea of ​​Death.

"Cough...cough..."

Afatak coughed twice, felt a sweetness in his throat, and then vomited sticky blood.

Intense pain came from every part of his body, eroding and devouring his spirit.

"'The Executioner' Afatak."

"Or rather, 'Storm Warrior' Afatak."

Koros's sharp voice came from the side, and every word was clearly heard by Afatak:
"This is only a small 'punishment' - but it is by no means enough to offset the shame inflicted on you."

"As a warrior, as a warrior who also believes in the way of Kutu, the God of War, Afatak."

"I can let you die later, or rather, your death should be more valuable to me."

As he spoke, Koros bent his finger again and flicked it lightly at the snake-shaped cone blade.

The bell curtain that enveloped Afatak disappeared, and the spikes also dissipated into nothingness, leaving only several deep holes that appeared out of thin air on Afatak's body, from which blood was still gushing out.

"...I will follow your instructions, Master Koros."

Afatak endured the pain in his body, knelt on one knee in the direction of Koros, and said:

"...I will make up for my sins with my merits...As you said - even if I must die, I will die in a more meaningful way."

"Very good." Koros nodded.

The corners of his mouth immediately turned up into a sinister, joyful smile, which combined with the howling mask he was wearing formed a strange expression.

"So, tell me what happened before I got here."

"...Okay." Afatak responded in a low voice.

The first thing he said to Koros was:

"——'Guillotine' Bagli, he rebelled."

……

"'The Executioner' Afatak, he knows my identity."

Isol was left behind in the royal court. Inside the palace, Bagli reported this to Luo Xiu.

"..."

"He knows your identity?" Luo Xiu frowned slightly, "He knows that you are an apostle of the Holy Abyss?"

After a moment of silence, Bagli nodded heavily.

"In the previous decisive battle, I abandoned Afatak's 'Berserker Legion', which should have made him suspicious."

"But Afatak did not take action at that time. It was not until two days later, when they had regained their foothold outside the city, that Afatak suddenly launched an attack on me."

"During the battle between us, he said: 'The person wearing a green mask and wielding a broadsword is you, right? You claim to be an apostle serving the Holy Abyss.' I may have revealed something, and he discovered something."

"..."

The most difficult situation has occurred... Luo Xiu has a headache.

He had not allowed the "High Priest of Death" Asvis to participate in the decisive battle because he was afraid that the people at the border would discover something.

The same situation actually applies to Bagli, but the severity is relatively lower.

Because the Dark Army was originally the enemy - the losses caused by the exposure were not serious.

But if Asvis was exposed, the situation would completely evolve into hostility between "Holy Abyss" and "Border Court", which was not the scene that Luo Xiu wanted to see at the moment.

Compared with taking risks, the presence of the "Berserk Swordsman" Bagri was more critical in the situation at that time. If he hadn't blocked part of the bloody hyena tide, the battle would have become more difficult.

But now the risk has backfired - fortunately, Bagli finally escaped Afatak's raid and survived.

"And then?" Despite his inner turmoil, Luo Xiu still asked calmly.

"Then... before Afatak told 'Executioner' Koros my identity, I used my past as the 'Fang Head' to find him first, and reported Afatak's failure to Koros with exaggerated information."

"Koros was very angry about this - the defeat in the decisive battle with Afatak was enough to seal his death, and Koros, who was at odds with 'CEO' Fafnir, would not miss this opportunity."

"I have tried my best to avoid the impact of being exposed, my Lord. I also tried to have Koros arrive at Red Maple City later, but I failed."

"After that, I was sent by Koros to carry out other missions."

"But I escaped halfway, activated the teleportation mark in a safe enough place, and temporarily hid in the royal court of 'Holy Abyss'."

"..."

His final reaction was pretty quick... Luo Xiu thought.

This is to fully utilize the last surplus value. "Executioner" Koros will first become suspicious of Afatak. Even if Afatak later reveals Bagli's identity to Koros, this suspicion will be deeply rooted in Koros' heart and will be difficult to erase.

But Bagli could no longer stay in the Dark Army and remain undercover beside Koros... Luo Xiu felt a little sorry, but was not surprised.

"I already know."

Luo Xiu nodded and said to Bagli:

"Those were special circumstances. Therefore, I will forgive you your mistake, Bagli."

"But from now on, Bagli, you will stay in the royal court and don't go out for the time being. It just so happens that the royal court of 'Holy Abyss' also needs someone to guard it."

"When I need you, I'll let the Faceless Man tell you."

"..."

"I will obey your will, my lord."

Bagli knelt down before Luo Xiu again, performed the salute of a servant, and spoke in a humble tone.

Then, Bagli watched the "Lord" turn around and walk towards his golden throne.

At his feet, a red magic circle with flickering light and shadow appeared.

Luo Xiu's figure became more and more illusory in the eyes of Index and Bagli, and finally disappeared.

He had been teleported back to the real world, back to the Red Maple City Church, his high priest's residence.

……

Red Maple City Church, the residence of the high priest.

After activating the dragon claw mark and returning to the bedroom, Luo Xiu summoned back the "Shadow Raven" Wu Ye and removed the golden barrier.

Cross has arrived, but Hubert, the "high deacon" of the parish who will examine him, has not yet arrived. This is undoubtedly a very dangerous situation.

After returning from the Lost Royal Court, Luo Xiu decided to lie low for a while and wait for the enemy to take action.

This is also the safest decision in the absence of vision... Luo Xiu thought.

After that, he went to the mission station and began to make preparations in advance to prevent the enemy.

……

Outside Hongfeng City, there is a dark military camp.

When he heard what Afatak said, a cruel expression flashed across Koros' face. "Do you know what you are talking about, Afatak?"

Koros said in a cold tone: "That is my 'Fang Shou', my subordinate."

"You should know this, Afatak. If you just want to save your life, I will make sure you can neither live nor die."

"..."

"...Lord Koros, I did not lie."

Afatak endured the severe pain in his body and said in a humble but firm tone:
"The failure of the decisive battle was largely due to Bagli's rebellion!"

"The 'Berserker Legion' I gave him to lead was completely wiped out by the knights of the Border Court, but Bagli was nowhere to be seen from beginning to end!"

"And before, when my deputy commander, Beast Tamer Klauer, released the herd of disaster beasts, an organization claiming to serve the Holy Abyss suddenly appeared... One of the Apostles, even though he was wearing a mask that blocked his aura, from the moves he used and the spirituality that guillotined him, one could sense some of the shadow of Guillotine Bagri!"

"..." Koros was silent.

After a long time, Koros looked at Afatak with deep eyes, but his expression could not be seen from under his cold mask.

But Afatak felt a cold, twisted, and manic anger from the "executioner" in front of him.

After a while, Koros suddenly said in a low voice:
"'Fallen Prophet', tell me where Bagli is going."

In front of him were the "Flame Heads" of Afatak. One of them took a half step back and then came to Koros.

He was a Lost believer wearing a pitch-black cloak, his face blurred as if covered by fog.

He bowed slightly to Koros and said:

"As you wish."

Then, the Fallen Prophet shook his sleeves, and a slender black staff fell out and was held tightly in his hand.

Then, he waved his staff and performed a strange dance, chanting in a hymn-like voice:
"——Original Mother Goddess! I beg you to show me mercy!"

"——I long to see the future, and I offer it with my soul!"

"——The heretic of [Ku Tu], the 'Berserk Swordsman' Bagri Saddiman..."

"——Please use the truth to give me insight!"

"..."

The Fallen Prophet's chanting speed became faster and faster, his spinning and jumping sacrificial dance steps became more and more weird, and white and black spiritual light patterns began to emerge around him.

"--what!"

Suddenly, the Fallen Prophet let out a loud scream, and fell backwards hard and straight.

He fell heavily on his back to the ground, white foam kept coming out of the corners of his mouth, and blood was flowing out of his eyes and nostrils.

His body began to twitch, and soon he became motionless.

"..." Seeing this, Koros frowned even more tightly.

He probably knew that the "Fallen Prophet" had suffered the backlash of some kind of divination.

But that did not come from himself, but from the object of his divination - 'Guillotine' Bagli, who somehow blocked the divination and launched a reverse attack on the soul of the fallen prophet!

This situation was exactly the same as when he had asked the "Fallen Prophet" to divine the priest who might hold the remaining pages of "Side's Notes".

...Suddenly, Koros seemed to realize something.

——The “Fang Chief” who was sent to assassinate the priest was also Bagli!
He suddenly felt that many things that he had not been able to understand before were gradually becoming traceable.

From when Bagli told him that the "broken pages" were in the hands of the Pure Order, to when his many actions were always targeted by unknown organizations - that was the 'Holy Abyss'? That was the 'Holy Abyss'!
In a trance, Koros felt that he was gradually understanding everything.

But now knowing all this is of no use - he and Baberon, the 'Hidden Omniscient', have fought countless battles with the Purity Order, and the relationship between the two sides is now as hostile as fire and water... and the series of losses caused by this are difficult to recover. It was not until the end that he suddenly realized that this was just a ridiculous farce...

"--boom!"

Kolos became more and more angry the more he thought about it. He raised his fist and smashed it hard in front of Afatak.

The fist blasted heavily on the ground, leaving a deep pit as deep as the ankle. The strong vibration accompanied by a deafening sound made Afatak's knees unstable.

Beads of sweat appeared on Afatak's forehead. He could feel that the "executioner" Koros in front of him really wanted to kill him.

This made Afatak sweat profusely, but he didn't even dare to breathe. He could only wait tremblingly for Koros to give the next instructions.

After a long silence, Koros slowly said to Afatak:
"...I will capture Bagli and cut him into pieces."

"but not now."

"...Now, Afatak. Tell me what the defense situation of Red Maple City is like."

"Okay, okay..." Afatak responded quickly:

"The situation of their garrisons is similar to what we have learned before. The key lies in the extraordinary people in the three places of 'Border Court', 'Church' and 'Fangbei Courtyard'."

"The 'Inquisitor' and 'Knight of the Throne' of the Border Court are somewhat threatening, but their strength is not much different from mine; the two 'Generalists' of the 'Fangbei Courtyard' are weaker than me."

"The most noteworthy thing should be the church's 'host of the great sacrifice'."

"The name of the 'High Priest' is Ross Carlos, the 'Holy Judge' of the 'Glorious' Fourfold Fate. All of our colleagues in the 'Fourfold Fate' died at his hands."

"..."

"Rosius Carlos..."

Koros chewed on the name over and over again, then nodded solemnly.

"I see."

Then he said to Afatak:

"I will test him, Afatak. This is your chance to fight for your life."

"It's also your only chance."

……

late at night.

Red Maple City, Glorious Church.

When the dark sky covers the night sky and the whole city has fallen silent.

Luo Xiu was still guarding the high priest's residence and had no intention of sleeping.

This was the most dangerous moment - on the first night of the arrival of "Executioner" Koros, a strange atmosphere enveloped the dome of the entire church.

Suddenly, Luo Xiu's spirit began to tremble to some extent.

The illusory, crystal-like "ghost falcon" in front of him also emitted strange colors.

They gradually merged into a blurred image, revealing the "unknown intruder" within the detection range.

They were six figures wearing pitch-black cloaks, belonging to the destinies of [Bitterness], [Nothingness], [Lost], and [Wisdom].

——“獠首”! And there are six “獠首”!
"Executioner" Koros really took action... Luo Xiu thought.

And myself, as the "high priest" of the church.

It was Koros' first target.

……

(End of this chapter)