Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 397 After Dawn (6k2)

Until dawn comes -

The originally deep, dark night sky was finally torn open with a pale white hole.

The sun slowly rose above the outline of the Black Rock Mountains, and at the same time, a moving black line gradually appeared on the vast plain outside the Caffrey Fortress.

It was at dawn that the Red Maple City expeditionary force finally set out for the Cavernier Fortress, and the commander-in-chief, "Thunder General" Albert, was riding an armored warhorse and galloping at the forefront of the army.

When the outline of Fort Caveri finally became clear in Albert's field of vision, he could see that a huge crack had appeared on the fortress wall that was once as solid as bronze.

Almost half of the city wall had collapsed, which made the wall of Caveri Fortress completely unable to stop the huge expeditionary army. Albert just watched the scene from afar, and a shocked expression appeared on his face.

Luo Xiu Carlos... He actually did it...

Even in the early morning, before daybreak, he was still worrying about how to blast through the solid walls of Fort Cavernier.

But the scene he saw now completely dispelled Albert's concerns.

He and his expeditionary army were able to enter the fortress unimpeded and began to launch military projections into the heart of the dark principality, Fafnir.

Albert was undoubtedly excited.

The battle against Fort Caveri... perhaps it could not even be called a "battle", it was just a surprise attack that broke through Fort Caveri overnight, and this surprise attack caused almost no loss of military power.

This is undoubtedly a very good start for the Red Maple City Expeditionary Force.

Albert was also excited about this, but he was also a little bit frustrated.

Because he was not the first to conquer Fort Caffrey.

He knew very well that the glory this time should belong to the "Bishop", to the "Rosius Carlos", and to the "Saint Protectors" who fearlessly detonated the [Skulls of Martyrs].

"..."

That's what Albert thought.

But he quickly put such depressing thoughts behind him.

He knew he didn't have the extra time to think about these unnecessary things.

What he had to do now was to lead the expeditionary army into the fortress ahead as quickly as possible.

Afterwards, he went to the official residence of the "executioner" Zaska and worked with the "bishop" to sort and recover the information, trying to gather some previously unknown information from there.

And the "bishop", Luo Xiu, who had led the clergy of the church and the knights of the "Border Court" through the cracks in the city wall into the fortress since early morning, seemed to have gone to the official residence first.

This was the news reported to Albert by several "Royal Knights" who had entered the fortress together with the "Bishop".

The bishop should have sorted out Zaska's relics. So, now I go to the residence of "Executioner" Zaska and just need to help him with the proofreading work.

Albert thought about this.

He reined in the armored warhorse under his crotch, turned around and instructed the four "throne knights" who were accompanying him:

"Harburgen, Shar, and Ignaz, follow me."

"Then, Frosa, you and the other 'Throne Knights' and 'Inquisitors' will mobilize the troops according to the established arrangements and enter the Kaveri Fortress."

"Yes."

The "Knights of the Throne" Harburg, Shar, Ignaz and Frosa nodded to Albert on their armored horses to show that they obeyed his orders.

Then, Albert loosened the reins, let go of the horse, and galloped into the Cavernier Fortress.

The three "Knights of the Throne" who had been named to follow also loosened the reins and rode their horses to gallop behind Albert. The four [Supreme] cavalry quickly passed through the cracks and rushed into the Cavernier Fortress.

……

--boom! ! !

A huge explosion was heard from a not very wide alley in the Kaveri Fortress.

A brilliant golden light surged up, along with a golden mist that continued to spread all around, mixed with soft, mottled blood light.

A "Black Fang" wearing black armor and with both arms cut off lost half of his head in the explosion just now.

The corpse, with a bloody neck, collapsed to the ground, twitching for a while, and then there was no more movement.

"……call."

Right in front of where Black Fang fell, a Glory priest put away his hammer, wiped the blood splattered on his face, and murmured:

"This is the last one."

"Damn... This is probably the longest battle I've ever participated in!"

"We've been fighting since 2am and it's 7am now. I only have 5 hours..."

"Excluding the two times when he self-destructed with two [Skulls of Martyrs], the number of times he was actually beaten to death by those 'Black Fangs' and 'Fang Heads', uh... seems to be only four times?"

"I'm pretty awesome!"

The priest of [Glorious] - "the Patron Saint" and "Thomas the Tank Engine" - had an expression of excitement and a sense of reluctance on his face.

In this Battle of Caffrey, he truly had a "fantastic battle".

The last time there was a large-scale battle of this magnitude was during the defense of Red Maple City!
But Thomas at that time did not have the strength he has now.

When he thought back, he really acted like a cannon fodder during the defensive battle. It was nothing like now...

——Within the level of “Triple Destiny”, he can hit anyone he wants!

Thomas thought about this.

At the same time, he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind -

"Little train, little train!"

"..."

Thomas turned around and saw Big Crocodile, Alicia, and Sweating Bean jogging towards him from the alley.

The crocodile was still wearing the wide paladin armor, but the surface of the silver-white armor seemed to have more cracks from battle, and there were dark, oxidized blood stains remaining on it that had not been wiped off.

And next to the big crocodile was "Alicia", a girl who was short and only about 1.4 meters tall, wearing the standard white vestments of church nuns.

Her azure eyes were gleaming with excitement, her flat chest was rising and falling slightly, and she seemed to be breathing tiredly; in her hands, she was holding a white priest's staff that was taller than her;

She looked much cleaner than the big crocodile next to her, perhaps because she always stood in a supporting position and was not too close to the fighting battlefield.

"Sweating Soybean", he and Alicia have the same profession of "consecrated priest", but his temperament does not look like a "priest", but rather like a charlatan who is swindling.

He wore a decorative monocle on his face, his clean face was meticulously groomed, and his hair was neatly combed back. Even after such a large-scale battle, it was not messy at all.

In his right hand, he held a golden staff that was only as long as his forearm, and in his left hand, he held a "Sacred Code" that contained the spirituality and knowledge of [Glory]——

That was the "holy book" he had obtained from the church's missionary center through his merits. By infusing it with spirituality (mana), he could activate and use the three sacred arts of destiny recorded in it, [Glorious] .

Big Crocodile, Alicia and Huangdou, they had just finished the battle on the other side.

Just twenty minutes ago, they teamed up with Thomas to hunt down a group of four "Black Fangs".

A Black Fang jumped into the alley on this side halfway, so Thomas temporarily left the team and chased the "Black Fang" deep into the alley.

The big crocodile, Alicia and Huangdou continued to hunt down the other three "Black Fangs" until other players gathered around and killed these "Black Fangs" who were resisting stubbornly.

Afterwards, Big Crocodile, Alicia, Huangdou and others came to meet Thomas.

They were still worried that it might be difficult for Thomas to deal with the escaped "Black Fang" alone.

But when they saw the bloody body of "Black Fang" lying on the ground, they swallowed back the words they had prepared to ask for help.

"It looks like you don't need our help, little train."

The alligator laughed and joked.

Thomas rolled his eyes at him and said:

"You know what, it took a lot of effort to hunt him down."

"But you guys - have you solved it?"

"..."

"With Xiao Ai playing support and Huang Dou providing fire coverage on the side, the three Black Fangs are already dead."

The crocodile replied:
"Then, other players came to support us. The surrounding Black Fangs should have been cleared out, but we also encountered two Fang Heads."

"However, we did not fight with the two 'fang heads'. Two 'priests' of our church, Howard and Fran, appeared one after another..."

"With the support of other clergymen and the knights of the Border Court, it will be easy for the two priests to kill the two 'fang heads'."

"indeed."

Huang Dou took over the conversation, narrowed his eyes, and said in a somewhat regretful tone:
"What a pity... I didn't get any kills. The kills of 'Quadruple Fate'! I haven't calculated yet what the rewards for 'Mad Boss' are."

"You are still only at the second level, Huangdou..."

Alicia glanced over with her azure eyes, and said in a somewhat lazy Sanwu tone:
"I thought you couldn't even get close to where they were fighting..."

"..."

“Yeah.”

Huang Dou stuck out his tongue.

As the four people were talking, Alicia and Huangdou took out recovery potions from their storage rings at the same time and handed them to Thomas and Crocodile respectively, one bottle each of "Primary Life Potion" and "Primary Mana Potion".

Thomas and the crocodile reached out to take it, unscrewed the cap of the potion bottle, and drank it all in one gulp.

Most of the health and mana that had been lost in the previous battle were visibly restored to a healthy state after they drank the potion.

After showing off a bottle of mana potion, Thomas said:
"The clergy who joined the battlefield later, as well as the Supreme Knights of the Border, should be able to plow the interior of the Kaveri Fortress again."

"To be honest, we can no longer find any monsters in the Kaveri Fortress..."

"That 'Executioner' Zanska died a long time ago. I think what we need to do next is wait for the 'Border Court' and for the 'Thunder General' Albert to lead the expeditionary army into the city."

"Why does my liver hurt a little?"

"..." Thomas said as he opened the panel and looked up.

In his task panel, the two commissioned tasks have reached the "settlement-ready" completion status.

"I have nothing to do anyway," Thomas said, "Why don't we finish the two commissions first? Then we can go back to the streets of Fort Caveri and meet up with Captain Connor and the others."

"Row."

Daguai, Alicia and Huangdou all nodded.

Afterwards, Thomas gave "settlement" instructions to the two [Commissioned Tasks] in the task panel one by one.

He first completed the "dangerous" difficulty commission task, [Dare to Enter the Kaveri Fortress], and obtained more than 6 experience points, 3 free attribute points, and expanded 3 "skill" slots and "skill" slots.

Afterwards, Thomas's attention shifted to another "commissioned task" - [Cavernier Bronze Wall (Nightmare Difficulty)], which was the highlight of the reward settlement!
Thomas rubbed his hands together excitedly.

Even in this task panel, the total degree of destruction of the "Caveri Fortress Wall" was 93%, but one hundred [Martyr's Skulls] had been blown up.

Many players who carried the [Skull of the Martyr] did not actually use it to blow up the city walls. Instead, they used it to perish together with the "Triple Fate" or even "Quadruple Fate" Black Fangs and Fangheads.
This indeed posed a strong deterrent to the dark supernatural beings in the fortress, but unfortunately - the walls of the fortress were not completely destroyed because of this.

As a result, no player can obtain the ultimate grand prize - obtaining that one "epic" quality expertise.

But Thomas didn't mind this, because even if the walls of the Kaveri Fortress could be completely destroyed, he wouldn't be the one to receive the ultimate prize, the "Epic" quality expertise.

On the contrary, he would rather see the current situation where no player would suddenly become stronger.

With these in mind, Thomas has already given the panel the "settlement" instruction -

There was a flash of light and shadow in front of his eyes, and the red dot on [Cavernier Copper Wall (Nightmare Difficulty)] disappeared, and new content soon appeared on the panel -

[Completed commissioned task: Kaveri Copper Wall (Nightmare Difficulty)]

[You and your fellow 'Saint Guardians' finally blasted open the impregnable copper wall of the Kaveri Fortress with the determination to sacrifice your lives for martyrdom.]

[The task is being settled...]

[Get basic completion rewards: basic experience +56000, free attribute points +5]

[Caveri Fortress Wall Destruction Progress: 93%]

【Extra Rewards Unlocked】

[Get additional completion reward: "Rare" quality expertise*1]

【…】

[Generated "Rare" quality expertise]

[Obtained expertise: Doombreaker (rare)! ]

[Evil Breaker (Rare): You have purified the spirits of the dead and the born, and have begun to understand the way to break evil. 】

[Gain +2 skill slots, +2 skill slots, +3 "strength" and "constitution" attributes. The damage you deal to undead monsters increases by 30%, and the damage you receive from undead monsters decreases by 30%. Undead monsters of a lower level than you will spontaneously feel fear of you.]

【…】

"Fuck, it's the breaker of evil!"

Thomas raised his brow.

Thomas was impressed by this "rare" quality and expertise.

That was during the internal test, when the "Death Birth God's Heir" appeared in Red Maple City. "Doom Breaker" was a reward expertise that could be obtained by purifying three or more undead spirits that appeared along with the "Death Birth God's Heir".

The effect of this feat is quite powerful, and it is considered to be a very powerful type among the "rare" quality feats, Thomas thought.

Thomas felt satisfied having acquired this expertise once again.

He immediately opened the mailbox panel and collected the "kill rewards" temporarily stored there one by one. In total, he obtained more than 3 experience points and "rare" quality specialties.

Only after receiving all the rewards did Thomas close the panel with satisfaction.

He then looked at his teammates. Daguai, Alicia and Huangdou had also completed their settlement at about the same time, and each had their own gains.

“It feels a little stronger again.”

A satisfied sound came from beneath the crocodile's paladin's helmet.

And Alicia said lightly:
"I have enough experience points to reach the upper limit of 'Double Fate', level 20."

"Soybeans should be about the same. After that, I want to ask Captain Connor for the 'Silver Key'. We should have enough merits."

"really."

Huang Dou nodded in agreement and said:

"Once I get the key and advance to the Triple Fate of Glory, I will be able to choose a higher-level job."

"I want to choose 'Great Fire Blessing' - to carry out the magic to the end!"

"I would probably choose 'Qihui'." Alicia said calmly.

"Come to think of it, the experience points I have accumulated seem to be enough for me to raise the level of [Glorious] to 30, and level 30 seems to be the upper limit of the 'Triple Destiny'."

Thomas looked thoughtful and said:

"I might consider taking a second career path, or choosing other professions in Glory as my second career path..."

"In this case, we will have to go to the Holy Abyss again later."

The crocodile said:

"It seems that [Holy Abyss Mall] has some new things."

"Also, the 'Holy Abyss Fountain' has also opened a new function... Uh, is this considered a version update? The Lord of the Holy Abyss seems to have opened the 'experience storage and extraction' function for us."

"My experience points are actually full, but the level is stuck and I haven't upgraded yet... I'm thinking about whether I should save the extra experience points and maybe 'sell' them to other players."

"Or, I can take another path of [Bitter Tea], and with the warrior's ability combined with the paladin, I can become even more tanky."

"But I am worried whether the church will allow us to do this."

"After all, there is a precedent - a player has received the 'Bronze Key' from the church's missionary station before, but did not use the key to promote [Glory], but promoted [Nothingness] to the second destiny."

"Le, are you talking about 'pure love yellow hair'——"

"it's him."

"He... I remember he was excommunicated? He stays in the Holy Abyss every day now. I can see him every time I go back."

"..."

As they chatted, they closed their panels and walked towards the exit of the alley.

When they walked onto the streets of Kaveri Fortress, they occasionally saw groups of three clergymen or groups of four "Border Court" knights on patrol, so they asked them about the news about the gathering place of the church's "Guardians".

That was mainly to find out where Captain Connor was... and the clergy who passed by also guided them in the direction they should go.

So they excitedly headed in the direction indicated.

In their minds, they have begun to imagine that Captain Connor will give them generous rewards in the future.

……

Fort Caffrey, the official residence.

Albert, along with three "throne knights", had arrived at the main entrance of the official residence.

But although it is called the "main gate", the door has actually disappeared long ago - this once magnificent official residence is now in a dilapidated state, the stained glass windows have long been shattered, and the "main gate" without a door is completely open, revealing a messy interior.

In the courtyard of the official residence of the Caffrey Fortress, there were seven or eight bodies of "Black Fang" and "Fang Head" lying.

There weren't many signs of fighting around, and the spiritual reactions of the "Black Fangs" and "Fang Heads" that were killed were also quite weak.

They were killed by extremely fast and almost overwhelming combat power, without even having the chance to fight back.

Albert spread out his spiritual sense and sensed his surroundings.

He only felt that the air around him was indeed filled with the spiritual aura of [Glory].

This spiritual aura is at the same level as Albert's, and its source can only come from one person -

The "bishop" of the church, Rosius Carlos.

Albert thought about this.

He reined in his warhorse, got off the horse, turned around, and said to the three "throne knights" following behind him:
"I'll go in alone. You guys stay here and don't let anyone get close."

"Yes."

The "Throne Knights" Harburg, Shar and Ignaz nodded to Albert, then got off their horses and went to their guard posts in tacit understanding.

Albert then turned around again, his right hand lightly grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist, and walked into the mansion.

He walked straight into the first floor of the residence, looked around, and saw nothing worth noting nearby, so he walked up the stairs and headed to the upper floors of the residence.

He went directly to the top three floors. The corridors here were narrower and quieter than those on the first and second floors, and the degree of damage was not as serious. This was the floor where "Executioner" Zaska usually stayed.

When Albert reached the third floor, he saw that the door of a room at the end of the corridor was open.

At the same time, he saw another familiar figure.

——"Bishop" Ross Carlos!

Luo Xiu had a faint smile on his face. On the long table in front of him, the useful files had been piled up into a pile and placed on the left side of the long table.

On the right side of the long table were three luxuriously decorated boxes filled with dazzling platinum coins, gold coins, silver coins, and priceless gold and silver jewelry that many ordinary people would rarely see in their lifetime.

"You are here, Sir Albert."

When Albert reached the third floor and the door to the deepest room, he heard the "Bishop" Ross Carlos smiling and greeting him:
"As promised, my 'Saint Guardians' have indeed breached the city wall without any danger."

"I have been waiting for you here for a long time, Sir Albert."

"I have sorted out the things that 'Executioner' Zanska left behind in his mansion - money, treasures, and intelligence. They are all here."

……

(End of this chapter)