Wizard Earl

Watching De Zerbi's departing figure, Hummels' deep eyes revealed a hint of disgust. Before coming to Frosinone, he had a conversation with His Holiness Pope Ilsank. In the conversation, Ilsank clearly told him that although there were still several Divine Punishers in the Storm Church, at this critical juncture when the relationship between the Church and the hereditary nobles was very tense and the two sides could easily break into a war if they were not careful.

These church shamans, without exception, are all of great use and cannot be diverted to support him. This means that Hummels will still receive support in Frosinone, but it will not be very strong. In Frosinone, Hummels can mainly rely on himself!

The Church of Storms had just suffered a crushing defeat in Frosinone, losing a great deal of manpower. This left Hummels with very few people he could use. If he hadn't been in such a predicament, why would Hummels, as a cardinal, have bothered with someone like De Zerbi? He even forced De Zerbi to choose sides between him and Elena.

In the past, many people like De Zerbi tried to curry favor with him, but Hummels always ignored them and refused to get involved in the slightest.

Hummels knew perfectly well what De Zelby, this seasoned veteran of the church, was thinking. The old man saw that Elena had become a second-level wizard, securing her position as cardinal, and that Pope Ilsank had given her the third-tier enchanted artifact, the Frostfire Staff—clearly indicating his support for Elena becoming the next pope. This greatly reduced his own chances of becoming the next pope, so he wanted to remain neutral, observing the situation and not make any hasty decisions…

De Zelby wasn't the only one with this idea. Hummels could easily foresee that countless people within the Church of Storms were making the same plans as De Zelby!

From this perspective, Hummels might even have to thank Reyes. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In this battle, Elena, who was severely injured by Reyes, will not only have to wait a long time to recover from her physical injuries, but also, with the help of Pope Ilsank, the Storm Church's hard-won momentum has been completely suppressed. This can be said to be a great thing for Hummels, who was challenged by Elena!

Despite this, Hummels was anything but happy; in fact, if he could, he would rather have avoided this good thing altogether…

Decades ago, when Hummels was not yet the Cardinal Archbishop of the Church of Storms, but just an ordinary Level 1 wizard, the ambitious Hummels wanted to use the head of "Professor" Reyes, a secret society who was also a Level 1 wizard at the time but already had a small reputation in the dark wizarding circles, as a stepping stone for his rise in the Church of Storms.

Unfortunately, despite Hummels' good intentions, things didn't go as planned. Not only did Hummels not get what he wanted, he also got a rude awakening from Reyes and almost fell into Reyes' hands.

From then on, Hummels remained very dissatisfied with Reyes, but he also harbored some fear of him. In the following decades, the two, who had successively become second-level wizards, one representing the Church of Storms and the other representing the Secret Society, never stopped fighting each other.

Although Hummels had the backing of the Church of Storms and possessed far greater power and resources than Reyes, he was evenly matched with Reyes in their struggle and never gained any advantage over him. This was a point of great frustration for Hummels.

Therefore, given his many previous experiences of ending things without success, and with the Storm Church not providing as much support this time, Hummels really didn't have much confidence that he could achieve final victory in the upcoming battle against Reyes in Frosinone!

This is precisely why Hummels felt conflicted and unsure of what to do next…

First, Hummels was certain that Elena was not dead. She was definitely hiding in some corner of Frosinone, silently licking her wounds. The reason Elena didn't show herself was not only because she was worried about Reyes and the Secret Society's attack, but also because she was afraid that he, as a fellow Cardinal of the Storm Church, would be a threat to her. After all, Elena was currently the most likely candidate to become the next Pope of the Storm Church, besides himself. So if Elena died, no one else would be able to pose a real challenge to his becoming the next Pope of the Storm Church!

Whether or not to kill Elena is the most agonizing and hesitant point for Hummels. From the perspective of the Storm Church, at such a critical juncture when the Storm Church is in turmoil, how could Hummels, as the Cardinal of the Storm Church, turn against his own comrades and kill his own colleagues for his own sake?

If Hummels truly did something that harmed the interests of the Storm Church, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a betrayal of the Storm Church. The correct course of action would have been for him to put aside his personal conflicts of interest, help Elena recover from her injuries, and then for the two of them to join forces and work together to deal with the Secret Society and Reyes!

If the person in Frosinone at this moment were another wizard from the Church of Storms, Hummels would still have done the same, even if that person had a previous conflict with him. Hummels has that much sense of the bigger picture and awareness. However, unfortunately, the person in Frosinone at this moment is named Elena, who is Hummels' biggest rival to become the next Pope of the Church of Storms!

To be honest, even if Elena successfully breaks through and becomes a Level 2 wizard like himself, Hummels wouldn't be worried at all. This is because the situation he has painstakingly cultivated in the Church of Storms over the years regarding the succession of the next pope is one that no one else can change just because Elena suddenly breaks through to become a Level 2 wizard and her strength increases greatly!

What truly worried Hummels, however, was that Pope Ilsank had so solemnly entrusted the third-tier enchanted item, the Frostfire Staff, to Elena…