They are all characters I control.

Claire grabbed the [Light of Faith] in front of her and could clearly feel the surging healing magic spreading and coursing through her body.

In the blink of an eye, all of Claire's wounds disappeared.

With this weapon, how could these apostate knights before me possibly be...?

"Huh? What's going on?" Just as Claire was about to wreak havoc...

The [Light of Faith] in his hand quickly lost its luster, transforming from a divine artifact into a broken blade with only half its original length.

Claire was a little bewildered as she looked at the worn-out short sword in her hand.

So, was the [Light of Faith] artifact just given a few seconds of trial time? Was a trial card used?

"Damn it! Go! We have to kill her!"

When the apostate knights saw that the divine weapon in Claire's hand had turned into scrap metal, they charged again.

Having witnessed Claire's methods, they were even more eager to kill the "Eleanor" before them.

Claire stuffed the broken blade into her pocket. It was useless now, but who knows, she might be able to use it for trial purposes later.

Claire gripped the ordinary longsword she had taken from the knight once more, and began to gather magic power as she raised her hand.

When the [Light of Faith] primordial weapon fell in front of him, it casually destroyed the magic device of the magic-suppressing field not far away.

The knight at the forefront raised his sword and slashed down. Claire did not block, but dodged to the side. In the instant she did so, she raised her left hand, and her fingertips traced a dark red line.

[Intermediate Burst Rune].

Thick black smoke exploded in the narrow passageway, instantly engulfing the three people at the front.

They covered their eyes, coughed, and swung their swords wildly, crashing into the walls and into each other.

"I can't see!"

Where is she?!

"Back off! Back off!"

Claire gave them no chance to retreat. Her right hand flashed out like a venomous snake, her longsword piercing precisely through a man's shoulder amidst the black smoke.

The man screamed in agony as his sword flew out of his hand.

Claire kicked him behind her, knocking down another knight who was groping his way back.

The second rune was already forming in his palm.

[Rock Spike Rune].

Under Claire's negative elemental perception, this rock spike rune, like the previous intermediate burst rune, had neither flames nor rock spikes, but it produced an earthquake.

The stone slabs beneath their feet trembled violently, sending the apostate knights present sprawling and staggering. Those who fell to the ground were unable to get up quickly, as if they were sitting on ocean waves.

Some apostate knights tried to hold up the wall, but the wall was also shaking; some apostate knights lay on the ground, covering their heads; some apostate knights were even more unlucky, knocking over the oil lamps in the passageway, spilling oil all over the ground and setting their armor and clothes on fire.

"What kind of magic is this?! Hey! Female knight, I've never seen this kind of magic before! You're shaking me so much, it's making my head spin!"

Seeing that Claire had the upper hand, Grace no longer worried about attracting the attention of the apostate knights by speaking up, so she started shouting.

Soon she could no longer hold onto the apostate knight who had been holding her arm, and as soon as she let go of him, she fell to the ground.

Under Claire's [Rock Spike Rune], she knelt on the ground, gleefully watching the disheveled apostate knights.

"Stop talking so much, hurry up, sis." Claire stopped the earthquake and instead summoned the electric tentacles of the [Arc Rune].

The apostate knights, who had just been stunned and disoriented, were now swept away by a numbing electric current.

Seeing the apostate knights twitching on the ground, their hands curled up like chicken claws, Claire ran past them toward the prison gate.

Upon reaching Grace's cell, Claire raised her hand and unleashed the [Torrent Rune], twisting and deforming the cell door.

"I'm out! I'm out! Hahaha! I'm finally out!"

Without saying a word, Grace rushed out.

Her movements were much faster than Claire had imagined, requiring no prompting from Claire at all.

"Stay behind me for a bit, otherwise you won't be able to see clearly in the black smoke." Claire turned around and instructed Grace before looking towards the entrance where footsteps were constantly coming from.

The Knights must have noticed the commotion just now.

What stood in their way next was not just one or two apostate knights, but the entire Order of the Church.

Bringing Grace along is a piece of cake, and she might even be of help when we run away later.

"Wait for me! There's one more. That guy doesn't talk, but he's been with me for over half a year." Grace grabbed Claire, who was running towards the exit.

She gestured with her chin to the gloomy woman in the corner who was holding a dead cat.

"Let's go together." Claire looked at the silent woman, not because she didn't want to save her.

Judging from their attitude, they didn't seem to want to escape.

However, since Grace had said so, Claire opened the cell door to this gloomy woman.

Grace rushed over, grabbed the woman's wrist, and dragged her up from the ground.

"go!"

The woman neither struggled nor spoke.

She followed, staggering along, clutching the shriveled, dead cat, being dragged along by Grace.

At the end of the corridor, more footsteps approached.

Not just knights, but also guards, and other unknown figures. The torchlight flickered around the corner, and shouts rose and fell.

"Over there!"

"Seal off the exits! Don't let them escape!"

Claire didn't look back; she just focused on setting off the cigarette.

Chapter 21 The air of freedom smells sweet.

Black smoke billowed from the Knights of the Church's encampment.

The church knights coughed, cursed, and bumped into each other amidst the smoke, but no one dared to attack rashly, for fear of hurting their own men.

Grace dragged the gloomy woman along behind Claire.

The three of them turned into a side road, passed through several gates, and entered a narrow alley.

The alley was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time.

On both sides were high stone walls, topped with withered grass that trembled in the night wind. Above, a sliver of sky peeked through, and moonlight filtered down, illuminating the ground in a greyish-white light.

Claire stopped, leaned against the wall, and gasped for breath.

Grace also slumped to the ground, while the gloomy woman leaned against the wall, hugging her dead cat, unresponsive.

Footsteps approached from outside the alley.

Every now and then, church knights would shout things like "Go over there!" and then their footsteps would gradually fade into the distance.

"What do we do next?" Grace asked in a low voice, her eyes gleaming in the darkness. "If you ask me, we should stay here and hide in the city. Once things calm down, I'll find another opportunity to kill a bishop."

This woman's mental state is enviable, and she's also very vengeful.

He was imprisoned for several years after killing a bishop, and now that he's escaped, he wants to kill another bishop?

Clay rolled his eyes at her: "Do you know that bishop?"

“I don’t know him,” Grace said matter-of-factly. “But that guy not only interrogated me all the time, but he also hung me up by the head and put me in a bucket of water, and made me drink some kind of bitter and disgusting exorcism potion.”

"Besides, didn't he sentence you, female knight, to death? That idiot, just looking at his face makes me furious."

"Perfect timing! Let's sneak back and kill that bishop while these church knights are all busy!"

“You’d better save your breath.” Claire leaned against the wall, looking up at the gloomy sky above. “If we stay in this city, we’ll get caught sooner or later, and then we’ll really die.”

Although Claire was able to use runic magic with Eleanor's body and obtained the [Light of Faith] primordial weapon, this was a city where the Order of the Church was stationed.

Staying here is tantamount to fighting the entire 'Holy Lance Knights'.

One person taking on the entire Knights Order? That's impossible. Even when Claire was still the emperor, she wasn't that powerful.

Unless this [Light of Faith] primordial weapon is usable and not in its current rusty, broken state, it might be possible.

"Escape?" Grace tilted her head, somewhat disappointed that her plan to kill the bishop had been rejected, but she didn't seem to care much as she asked, "How do we escape? The city is full of church knights. Didn't you hear that commotion just now? The whole city is searching for us."

Claire fell silent.

Although Grace isn't very bright, she's right now.

In his current state, he has no weapon, only a broken sword that is not awakened and cannot be used.

Without armor, a horse, or a map, and dragging two dependents, escaping the city from under the church's nose was virtually impossible.

"What's wrong? Female knight, say something." Grace nudged his arm, thinking Claire was deliberately ignoring her when he didn't answer.

Just as Claire was about to speak up and suggest a solution, the gloomy woman suddenly raised her hand.

The female prisoner, clutching the dead cat, raised her slender, pale finger and pointed to a corner deep in the alley.

Claire looked in the direction she was pointing.

There were several old wooden crates piled up there, covered with moldy straw, looking no different from the other odds and ends in the alley.

“What’s over there?” Claire asked.

The gloomy woman didn't answer; she just continued pointing in that direction.

“You’re such a weirdo. Can’t you speak? What’s the point of just pointing?” Grace glanced at the gloomy woman, stood up, walked over, lifted the straw, and moved the wooden box.

Then she discovered that underneath the wooden box was a plank.

"This is just a broken board, what's there to point at? It's a waste of my energy. You want to lie down and sleep on this board?"

Grace grumbled under her breath and turned to leave.

Claire glanced at the gloomy woman beside her, who was still staring in that direction, and thought it was pointless to bother.

He stepped forward, gripped the edge of the wooden plank with his fingers, and pried it open with force. The plank creaked dully, revealing a dark, gaping entrance.

A damp, musty smell wafted from the cave, carrying the scent of earth and rotten wood.

typical.

Claire walked over, squatted down by the entrance of the hole, and looked inside.

It was dark inside, and you couldn't see the bottom, but you could feel a breeze blowing from deep inside, a faint breeze carrying the scent of grass and trees.

This tunnel should lead to the outside of the city.

"What! There's a tunnel? How did you know that?!" Grace exclaimed, staring at the tunnel and the gloomy woman.

Claire also looked up at the gloomy woman, who ignored them and continued to hold the dead cat without saying a word.

Footsteps could be heard again outside the alley.

This time they were closer, and the armor of the church knights swayed at the alley entrance.

"Search! Don't miss a single alley! These heinous heretics can't have gone far!"

"We must capture them! Especially the heretical knight Eleanor; she must be executed immediately upon sight!"

"The other two heretics are the same; they have committed unforgivable crimes!"

Hearing the approaching voices of the church knights, Claire did not hesitate.

He lowered his voice, glanced at his two fellow inmates, and said, "Let's go down."

He was the first to crawl into the tunnel.

Grace followed closely behind, and the gloomy woman came down last. She pulled the wooden plank up from the inside to cover the entrance, and the tunnel became pitch black.

Fortunately, there was an oil lamp hanging next to the entrance of the tunnel, and only after lighting the lamp could we see the tunnel in front of us clearly.

The tunnel was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to bend over and pass through.

Claire walked in front, while Grace harassed the gloomy woman behind her with her incessant chatter.

"Hey sis, what's your name? You haven't said a word since earlier, aren't you bored? We were cellmates, you should at least tell me your name, right?"

“Look at me, my name is Grace. A murderer, the one who killed the bishop. And you? What did you do? Did you kill a few people? Or did you steal something?”