Chapter 120 - 105: "How Should I Repay You?

Chapter 120: Chapter 105: "How Should I Repay You?

Outside Philos Church, time slowly ticked by.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the entire Blue Moon Territory crimson.

Hickman looked at the pocket watch in his hand and began to urge the others.

"We should head back. Even the Bright Shield can’t be maintained for this long."

The two Priests were already exhausted. If Catherine hadn’t insisted on standing guard at the door, they would have retreated long ago.

"What is Lord Lian doing in there? Why hasn’t he come out yet? We have to leave," a Priest asked anxiously.

Catherine’s hand tightened on the hem of her dress. She knew that saving Dora was an incredibly difficult task.

Lian and Dora had been inside the church for so long without coming out, and she was more worried than anyone.

She was afraid of losing Dora, and also afraid of losing Lian because of it.

’What if he gets infected by the virus too, and can’t save himself?’

Hickman pounded roughly on the church’s main gate and shouted at the top of his lungs,

"Lord Lian, if you don’t come out now, we’ll have to assume something has happened to you! We must leave this place!"

Knight Kage Mori frowned, his solemn face etched with melancholy.

He realized the group was serious about retreating. He couldn’t sustain the Bright Barrier alone. It was an Alchemy Magic Matrix, designed for defense and protection—something the Church’s high-ranking Priests excelled at. A Knight could only offer a negligible amount of Power and could neither command nor master such a delicate matrix.

If the Priests left and Miss Catherine refused to, she would be overcome by the surrounding virus.

Meanwhile, Lord Lian was still inside the church, confronting the Witch Dora, his fate unknown.

Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to take Catherine away by force.

Even if Catherine refused to take a single step away.

"Miss Catherine," the Priests urged, "we haven’t heard any sound from Lord Lian for a long time. I have reason to believe something has happened to him. This church will become the most dangerous infection zone. We must leave here as soon as possible."

Catherine shook her head. "If you must go, you can leave. But I will stay. My fiancé is still in there. I’m not going anywhere."

The next second, Catherine felt a strike to the back of her neck, and her body went limp and collapsed.

Kage Mori had knocked Catherine unconscious and hoisted her onto his shoulder.

Although it went against his Knight’s Path, he had to make a choice to protect Catherine’s life, even if she would hate him for it in the future.

"Lord Lian, if you don’t come out, we’re leaving!"

After shouting a few more times to no avail, the group began to fall back.

They left the High Wall before the sun had completely set.

The group returned to the temporary church. When Cobb and Alex Pool saw that Lian alone had not returned, they immediately began to question the others anxiously.

But they did not receive a satisfactory answer.

Upon learning that Lian remained in the church, his fate uncertain, Alex Pool’s face flushed red with anger, and he accused Knight Kage Mori of treachery.

"If anything happens to Lord Lian, we will not send a single soldier to aid Blue Moon Territory again!" Alex Pool said indignantly.

Since Catherine was still unconscious and couldn’t be questioned, he could only vent his anger on the Old Knight.

The scar-faced Captain Cobb wore a serious expression. "We have to go in and save Lord Lian."

Alex Pool immediately agreed with his proposal.

"Alright, I’ll go in with you."

"People of Green Shade Territory," a Priest said in a calm tone, "without our help, you can’t even breathe within the High Wall. Going in would just be suicide. Why not just wait here quietly for news?"

Grand Priest Cosme Pizarro looked at the crowd and smiled. "Pray with me. Pray for Lord Lian’s safe return."

The high-ranking members from Green Shade Territory, who had been filled with righteous indignation just moments before, inexplicably felt their hearts calm upon hearing the Grand Priest’s words. They stood behind him, gazed at the Divine Emblem, and began to pray silently.

Knight Kage Mori felt that something was off about everyone’s state, but he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong. His own heart was also very calm; he just wanted to find a place to practice his swordsmanship.

’But before that, I’ll take Miss Catherine back to her room to rest. Then I’ll find a clean cloth to wipe the dust off my old friend.’

Night fell, enveloping the once-bustling territory city, making it look no different from any other day, only exceptionally quiet.

There were no chirps from birds, beasts, or insects, no clamor of human activity, no turning of mechanical gears. It was as if it had fallen into a deep sleep at night and would never wake up again.

The two people inside Philos Church finally woke up.

After sleeping for four hours, Lian’s Physical Strength had finally recovered.

Clearing twelve afflictions for a Witch who had lost control all at once was truly more exhausting than spending three days and three nights alone in a tent with Catherine.

The Points he gained totaled 50,000.

Just the single [Magic Loss of Control] affliction was worth an incredible 10,000 Points.

The other red afflictions were comparatively less impressive.

But getting 50,000 Points from a single person was unprecedented.

Lian felt he should help more Witches who had lost control. The rewards for helping those Bordering on Loss of Control versus those who had already lost it were completely different.

However, considering the societal harm caused by Witches who had lost control, Lian still thought it was best not to encounter them if he could help it.

A gentleman loves wealth, but he obtains it by a righteous path. Besides, he had many ways to accumulate Points; there was no need to resort to extremes.