There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

As everyone in the room remained silent, footsteps gradually echoed from the snow outside.

"Crench."

The wooden door was pushed open from the outside, letting a lot of cold air blow into the room.

Charles, who appeared perfectly normal, pushed open the door and walked up to the group, saying, "Two pieces of news, one good and one bad. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Stop with all this nonsense, just tell me, what did you find?" the Pope said irritably.

Char didn't seem to care, and then revealed his discovery: "I found a creature corrupted by the void, but it's incredibly powerful."

“And…” Charlton paused, then continued, “It was a ground worm, and I know that guy.”

"!?!" Upon hearing Charles's words, the Pope seemed to remember something, and his expression instantly froze.

"Is it the one from forty-five years ago?" the Pope asked Charles with a serious expression.

“I don’t know.” Charles shook his head. “I always thought it was dead. There’s been no news of it for so many years. Why is it suddenly like this now…”

"Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?" the Pope asked.

"I'm absolutely not mistaken, it's exactly the same as I remember it..."

“If it were truly still alive, there would be no way we would have heard from it all these years,” the Pope said.

“I think so too. Its size simply can’t hide it.” Charles shook his head, his face also full of confusion.

"Wait, who are you talking about?" Knight Myron asked, somewhat displeased.

These two are telling riddles, but he, Lu Qing, Fang Qingrou, and Eileen have no idea what they're talking about.

Riddler, get out of the dream world!

“Sigh.” Charles sighed, then said, “This story begins fifty-one years ago…”

“I was an orphan when I was a child and lived in poverty. One day, the director of the orphanage gave me to a man.”

"That man is a member of the Guiji Cult. He took me away only to conduct human experiments on void energy."

"At that time, many people besides me were also captured there. I was lucky and survived. Instead, I gained the ability to communicate with animals."

"Perhaps it was because of my abilities, or perhaps for some other reason, a ground worm that was hibernating underground and whose entire body was covered in tough exoskeleton armor came to the laboratory and wreaked havoc."

"I was lucky enough to escape the turmoil, but I lost my way in the vast snowstorm. Just when I was about to freeze to death, I met my master, who was also the father of His Holiness the Pope."

"I told him about the laboratory, and then I fell into a coma. The laboratory was later wiped out by the kingdom's knights, who also uprooted many other strongholds of the Guiji Cult."

"As for me, I was adopted by my master and began learning hunting skills alongside His Holiness the Pope..."

So that's why the Pope and Charles knew each other. This surprised Lu Qing. What happened later that caused them to separate?

As Lu Qing listened to Charles's words, she gradually learned about the story that happened forty-five years ago.

After Charles became the Pope's father's apprentice, the three of them lived together hunting in Fremures for six years until the Pope came of age.

The pope, who originally planned to inherit his father's identity and become an authorized hunter, unexpectedly received the blessing of the sacred tree of [Spirit Communication], and was forced to follow the former pope to learn.

Two years after the Pope came of age, Charles also came of age, received the blessing of the sacred tree known as the "Apocalypse", and inherited his father the Pope's robes.

Together, the two protected the nature and villages of the Fremures region, until one day...

PS: Fifty-one years ago: Charles was taken away by the Silent Cult.

Forty-seven years ago: The Pope came of age, received the blessing of the sacred tree [psychic abilities], and left Fremures.

Forty-five years ago: Charles came of age, received the blessing of the sacred tree [the Enlightened One], and inherited the robes of his pope father.

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Chapter 487: Existence of X! (Big Fog)

PS: Thank you to the reader "A Dream" for the 5000 Qidian Coins!

Waaaaah, I'm so touched! There are even readers who are willing to give me a reward. I'm so sorry to you all.

........

"It was a special commission, issued by a big shot in the city, which required my master and me to eliminate a Void Worm that was active in the border forest of Fremures."

"I didn't think much about it at the time, and I never imagined that the earthworm would be the same one that helped me escape from the laboratory when I was a child."

“My master and I made some preparations and found it in a damp cave after two months of investigation.”

"It's really powerful. The enchanted armor-piercing arrows that my master and I prepared in advance to break through its armor were completely ineffective."

"Because we were in a cave, we couldn't use explosives, so we could only fight and retreat until we finally got outside."

“Wait a minute.” Knight Myron frowned and said, “If even enchanted armor-piercing arrows can’t penetrate the exoskeleton of this earthworm, I don’t think explosives will be of any use either.”

Gunpowder was a novelty in this world. Although many people were interested in this powder that would explode once ignited, it was abandoned by the nobles because its effects were far inferior to magic.

In fact, besides being far less effective than magic, gunpowder also has problems such as being too dangerous, having unstable performance, and most importantly...

For the nobles, it was not a good thing to give ordinary people the power to resist, so the research and development of gunpowder was thus stopped.

It wasn't until later, when the eldest son of a noble family successfully created dazzling fireworks, that people remembered this thing again, and subsequently created explosives capable of blasting mountains apart.

However, the power of this explosive is not high for modern technology. If it is armor that even enchanted arrows cannot penetrate, this explosive should not be effective.

Charles shook his head upon hearing Myron's words and said, "The explosives aren't meant to blow open the armor, but to paralyze the earthworms."

"Because they live underground year-round, the eyesight of earthworms has degenerated to the point that they can hardly see objects. They only use their sense of smell and excellent hearing to hunt prey."

"Especially hearing."

Charlton paused, then continued, "According to some scholars, earthworms almost never appear during thunderstorms because the loud thunder would shatter their eardrums."

"The same principle applies to explosives. As long as the distance is close enough, the sound of the explosion can instantly confuse the earthworm's brain and cause it to lose its hearing."

“I see,” Sir Myron said, stroking his chin.

Seeing that Sir Myron had no further questions, Charles continued, "At that time, we lured the earthworms outside the cave and detonated a huge amount of explosives as planned."

"As a result, the plan changed because our detonation of the explosives triggered an avalanche..."

“We know that there is a certain probability of an avalanche after the explosive is detonated, but there is no way to do it. Even the enchanted arrows could not penetrate its armor. We can only try to use explosives.”

"Later, after the avalanche, my master and I crawled out of the snow and found the earthworm that hadn't been buried because it had been struggling. We planned to give it the final blow."

"My master and I waited for over two hours until it was completely exhausted. Then we went over and aimed our armor-piercing arrows at its eyes..."

“Logically speaking,” Charlton paused, his voice somewhat heavy.

"That earthworm has lost its hearing and its brain is in a state of confusion, so it's impossible for it to notice that my master and I are approaching it."

"But just as we were about to attack, the earthworm moved and opened its huge mouth to swallow me whole."

"I didn't react in time, and just as I was about to be swallowed, my master saved me, and then..."

There's no need to say more; Charles has already made his meaning very clear.

His master, who was also the Pope's father, died in the mouth of the Void Worm in order to save Charles.

How Charles escaped from the earthworm's mouth, or how the earthworm escaped from Charles's mouth, remains unknown.

"Afterwards, I searched for a long time for the place where the earthworm disappeared and kept asking people to keep an eye out for news about it."

"But to my surprise, no matter how hard I searched, the earthworm seemed to have vanished."

"It is a creature corrupted by the void, and its size is so conspicuous. As long as it is still active, there should be no trace of it, but I just can't find it."

"For years, I thought it was dead. I never expected it to reappear in front of me today."

Charles sighed, his eyes filled with a complex expression.

"Could you have seen wrong?" The Pope raised an eyebrow and said, "That happened more than forty years ago. Could that earthworm really have lived that long?"

“Perhaps.” Charles shook his head, then said, “In any case, I have found the creature you were looking for, the one corrupted by the void.”

"I'll track that guy down later, and then I'll give him some practice on her, Princess."

Regardless of what that earthworm is like, the current Pope is one of the strongest people standing at the pinnacle of the world, and beside the Pope is the equally powerful Knight Myron.

Compared to these two powerful beings, the earthworm was nothing more than an ant that could be crushed at will.

........

"Was that Void Worm an experimental subject you released?"

In a dimly lit room in Fremures, Number Three, dressed in a noble robe, looked at his subordinates and spoke.

"Yes, sir. I specifically chose that test subject in order to lure out that authorized hunter."

As he spoke, Number Three's subordinate took out a file from his pocket and handed it to the other person.

"........"

Number Three took the file and began to read it carefully.

"Authorized Hunter Char, 64 years old, Blessed by the Sacred Tree [Apocalypse], Class 4, once searched for earthworm test subjects with his master, but failed in the process of hunting the test subjects, resulting in the death of his master."

"Subsequent inspections of the experimental insect specimens yielded no results..."

"Not bad." Number Three nodded in satisfaction and praised.

"Hurry up and take care of this guy. Authorized hunters have a very keen sense of smell. Don't let him find out what we're doing."

Because Number Two was pressing him hard, Number Three had been racking his brains to collect Bloodstones, but because Number Two wanted so many, he had to think of other ways.

They had secretly sacrificed people from a village near the capital, and later, due to the attack on the princess, the number of guards there increased dramatically.

With no other option, Number Three had to come to this relatively remote place to think of a solution.

"Hmm... As long as the people in these four towns are sacrificed, all the bloodstones that Number Two requested will be obtained."

Number Three looked at the four nearby towns on the map with a very cold expression. There was an X on the map, which was the cabin where Charles lived.

As long as he dies in a deserted place for ten days to half a month, there's no need to worry about anyone escaping when the Guiji Sect makes its move. They'll have ample time to transform their blood essence into sufficient bloodstone...

PS: The moment the Pope acquired the talent of [psychic abilities], the news was already kept secret internally, so Number Three did not know that Charles's master was the Pope's father.

The Pope and Princess's itinerary was also confidential, so Number Three was unaware that the Princess and Pope had arrived in Fremures.

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