"Holy Lord City has fallen, and His Holiness is furious! He is determined to restore our Church's glory with werewolf blood! As the city closest to Holy Lord City, Rino City must fully support His Holiness's decision and provide ten boys and girls for this conscription force..."
The distance was too great for Norton to hear their words clearly.
But his nose could detect a familiar fragrance in the air.
That vaguely recognizable blood scent could still be accurately detected by him even at this distance, and its concentration was surprisingly intense. It even exerted a slight attractive force on Norton up in the clock tower.
Norton's crimson gaze fixed intensely on the five hundred Holy Knights at the city gates. A craving sensation emerged from within, making his mood somewhat restless.
Last time feeding on these Holy Knights had propelled him directly into his growth stage. If he could drain all five hundred of them, would he directly reach complete form?
Although Norton didn't know how many stages vampire growth had or what exactly he could become, he certainly understood this thing offered tremendous benefits.
The only problem was that he, Norton, couldn't defeat them!
Handling even one was challenging enough, let alone five hundred!
The only certainty was that these Holy Knights indeed couldn't independently locate his position. Otherwise, they would have already charged into the city to eliminate him.Norton suppressed the unbearable desire in his heart.
He was an immortal being—there was absolutely no need to rush his growth at the cost of plunging himself into danger.
Hide, then. Hide until the end of time, hide until the Church collapses. Then he could make a powerful return as a fearsome vampire progenitor!
Norton inexplicably felt fired up, though he didn't understand what was so exciting about simply hiding. Still, it felt more thrilling than anything else!
Using his eternal life as justification, Norton wisely chose to continue playing it safe.
But the situation's development far exceeded his expectations.
The Holy Inquisition Tribunal didn't even stay in Rino City for a full day before taking two hundred missionaries from the city to serve as logistics support, then heading toward Holy Lord City.
The people of Rino City buzzed with discussion. The poor had never seen the Holy Knight class before, but they had seen Church Knights.
Based on their knowledge of Church Knights, they speculated about various possibilities for this battle.
The fall of Holy Lord City was massive gossip material in this era where information hardly flowed freely.
Although Rino City remained under control measures, people still gathered daily to discuss their various theories with great relish.
Even Church members themselves had plenty to say about this incident.
"These damned werewolves are utterly filthy! How dare they invade the Church and even capture the Holy Lord Cathedral? This is an absolute insult to the Church! How dare they defile God's purity with their unclean bodies?"
"No need to worry. With the Holy Inquisition Tribunal taking action, these werewolves won't have any chance of survival. It's just that Boar Empire spies in Rino City have been increasingly active recently, yet His Holiness Adam wants us to keep quiet about it. This might spark a new war."
"This is even less concerning. His Holiness Adam possesses power unmatched in this world. If the Boar Empire dares to entertain any schemes, the Holy Inquisition Tribunal can travel thousands of miles to slaughter their royal family members.
Since these old remnants refuse to give up their traitorous ambitions and want to restore the Ancient Divine Noah Empire, they should be prepared to be completely exterminated by our Holy Church!"
At Rino City's church, in the rear garden pavilion, three Purple-clad Cardinals sat calmly on stone steps, sipping tea from their cups. Each held a boy in their arms, their hands wandering freely while their faces maintained a holy expression as if in prayer.
Actually, they were indeed praying.
Although Rino City remained under control measures, people still gathered daily to discuss their various theories with great relish.
The difference was that low-level missionaries like Norton mostly became dull, cold, and emotionally detached due to being raised in confined environments since childhood.
Whereas priests and bishops, because of years of subordination and frequent severe punishments, mostly developed eccentric, violent personalities with various disgusting fetishes.
To legitimize these repulsive fetishes while also beautifying their images, as early as three hundred years ago, the Church had rebranded various behaviors meant to satisfy their strange preferences as sacrificial activities emulating God's behavior, calling it 'pilgrimage'!
This indeed had origins, since the God described in The Holy Covenant was far more adventurous than they were. How could such God-emulating behavior not be considered a sacrifice expressing devout inner faith?
So they weren't indulging their perverted fetishes—they were merely conducting sacrifices to express their infinite worship of the holy God!
Bishop Doxia sat among them, his benevolent face filled with sacrificial holiness.
After all, the werewolves had truly damaged the Church's dignity and defiled God's purity. But compared to the Holy Lord City incident, they were more concerned about what His Holiness Adam had found there.
The werewolf infant was a secret that Carl's father and even low-ranking bishops in Rino City weren't qualified to know, but for these bishops who were only one rank below the Pope, it wasn't hidden at all.
"Werewolves have always maintained their wolf form since ancient times. How could they give birth to a human infant this time? The Church has researched werewolf-human crossbreeding before, but not only did it fail to produce any deformed creatures—it couldn't even achieve conception. What exactly is in Holy Lord City that allowed werewolves to produce such a freak?" Bishop Milio picked up a pastry from the table, then reached his hand downward.
He enjoyed using pastries...
That peculiar sweet-foul aroma was incredibly intoxicating.
"Regardless, it definitely can't be some coincidental mutation. Judging by the Holy Lord City werewolf pack's reaction, this mutated werewolf clearly matters tremendously to them. It even made these faction-divided beasts completely abandon tribal notions and spontaneously gather together." Bishop Ethan exhaled deeply, then stood up and pulled the boy before him toward the pavilion's edge.
With a slight push of his hand, he sent the boy in his arms falling from the ten-meter-high pavilion.
"Ahhh......" The boy's scream had barely begun when the sound of a heavy impact followed.
Bishop Ethan didn't like reusing tools.
The bloody mess below didn't affect the three bishops in the slightest. Instead, this terrifying scene made Bishop Milio take a deep breath.
The boy had been frightened.
Bishop Doxia glanced darkly at Bishop Ethan, seemingly deep in thought.
"There are werewolf traces outside Rino City too, almost like surveillance. While werewolves are gathering at Holy Lord City, they're here instead. Meanwhile, there are no werewolf traces outside the Vatican where the mutated werewolf is. So I think these damned creatures' next target might not be the Vatican, but here."
Bishop Ethan extended his hand and said, "If that's the case, there might be another possibility."
"What?" Bishop Doxia picked up a pastry from the table and gently placed it in the boy's mouth, speaking calmly.
"The mutation source that enabled their transformation might currently be in Rino City."
Bishop Ethan's words made Bishops Doxia and Milio frown.