Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

第463章 远征之终，归程之前（7k4，合章~加更进度8k1w）

On the way to the eastern city of Fafnir, Luo Xiu also listened to Hubert's brief account of his previous encounter with the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha.

It was shortly after Hubert separated from Lansas of "Winter" and just as he entered Fafnir City through the gate opened in the east of Fafnir City, he encountered Samanthaya, the "Nightmare Witch" -

At first, there was a "throne knight" under Albert, and several "royal knights".
They came to Hubert and saluted him, saying anxiously that the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha and her Black Fangs and Fangheads had appeared in the southern and southwestern districts of Fafnir.

The "Knight of the Throne" hoped that the "Holy Deacon" Hubert could go to support him, and soon afterwards, the "deacon" and "clergyman" of the church appeared in front of Hubert.

They said the same thing to Hubert as the previous "Knight of the Throne" - new executioners appeared in the southern and southwestern districts of Fafnir, and a large number of Black Fangs and Fangheads surrounded the clergy of the church and the knights of the border court.
Hubert then followed the Border Knights, the "deacons" and other clergy who came to "seek help", and took a dozen "Saint Guardians" who were willing to follow him to the city where the "Nightmare Witch" Samanthaya appeared.

But soon, Hubert discovered something was wrong——

The throne knights and clergy who led him deeper and deeper into the side city of Fafnir City became increasingly listless. Hubert could clearly feel that they exuded a very weak aura, as if they had been drained of it by something.

By the time Hubert realized that something was wrong, it was already too late - almost at the same time, those throne knights, royal guards, deacons and clergy who "guided" him suddenly collapsed to the ground with convulsions, wounds of varying depths appeared on their bodies, and misty blood gushed out from them.

They saw that he was dead, and the "Saint Guardians" who followed Hubert suddenly showed excitement on their faces - it was indeed "excitement", these were the exact words Hubert said to Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu knew that the throne knights, royal guards, deacons and clergy who "guided" Hubert deep into the city of Fafnir had all been cursed and soul-stealing by Samantha using her power in advance.

But the dozen or so players who followed Hubert, before the curse and soul-stealing planted by Samanthaya in advance broke out, their levels and "perception" attributes were not enough to allow them to see any abnormalities in the status panels of those knights and clergy.

Just like the current players are unable to detect the abnormal status of "Crazy Devout" in the status panel of the "Holy Abyss Apostles", having panel detection cannot help them discover anything in advance in this crisis.
They are just excited about the "unexpected situation" that happened, because in the players' inherent experience, such developments are usually accompanied by new tasks or the emergence of new powerful enemies.

But they were too excited too early. In Hubert's next narration, the bodies of the Supreme Knights and Clergymen who fell down twitching suddenly exploded, and the gray mist that emerged from them quickly enveloped and wrapped a large area.
Afterwards, even the "Saint Guardians" died suddenly one after another. Their deaths were quite strange, with wounds bursting out of their bodies, and blood gushing out of them.

A few players finally saw the figure of the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha appear in the diffuse gray fog, but no player could actually come into contact with her.

Until all the players who followed Hubert died once, when they were resurrected, "Holy Deacon" Hubert and "Samanthaya" who appeared for a moment disappeared, and the players never saw them again.

After that, Hubert got lost in the rolling fog, and was taken advantage of by the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha, who cast deep abnormalities of "sleeping" and "soul-stealing" on him.

Hubert was led by Samantha to a deeper and more secluded place in Fafnir City, and it was there that Samantha successfully planted the "Container of Nightmare".

Hubert was simply controlled... From Hubert's narration of his own experiences, Luo Xiu gradually understood everything.

Indeed, the strongest and most infernal ability of the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha is "control" - after that, Samantha turned into a spirit and "attached" to Hubbard.

Although Samantha successfully "possessed" Hubert, she was unable to kill him in a short period of time.

In fact, the possession and control abilities of the "Nightmare Witch" normally require external force to cooperate in order to kill a "Saint" of the same level.

For example, if there was another "executioner" next to Samantha at the time, then after the use of Hubbard's possession was over, the other executioner could kill Hubbard and discard him immediately.

As for the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha... her idea at the time was to rely on Hubert, and then use Hubert's body and identity, so that she could more easily obtain some information that she could not get with her normal identity, and finally leave the fallen city of Fafnir safely.

But her plan obviously failed - she discovered Hubert's whereabouts through the vision of "Mist Shadow", tracked him down, and finally used the authority of [Seal of God's Word] to peel off and remove the strange things on Hubert's body. Samantha could never imagine how she was exposed.

"..."

Thinking of this, Luo Xiu's mouth corners were raised in a happy arc.

He was indeed in a good mood.

Fenrir and Fog Night, who were able to rescue Hubert in time, and who were chasing the "Nightmare Witch" Samantha, were likely to capture her back. He would soon know the result of Fenrir and Fog Night's "hunting".

Luo Xiu was thinking, and when he and Hubert moved towards the eastern city of Fafnir while exchanging detailed accounts of their experiences, they soon saw the "Throne Knights" who truly belonged to Albert and Lansas in their field of vision.

They have entered the Dongcheng District and the area under the actual control of the Expeditionary Force.

The throne knights who met them soon saw the "Bishop" and the "Holy Deacon", so they dropped their guard and walked towards Luo Xiu and Hubert.

"Greetings to you, Your Eminence, the Bishop, and Your Eminence, the Holy Deacon."

"'Fafnir Castle' has been completely captured by us. On the orders of General Albert and General Lansas, we pay our highest respects to you."

"..."

Several throne knights saluted to Luo Xiu and Huberte. Luo Xiu could feel that their eyes under the visors were mainly focused on Huberte.
Because the injuries of this "Holy Deacon" were indeed very serious, visibly to the naked eye, to the extent that it was difficult to ignore.

Luo Xiu then slightly loosened his hand that was supporting Hubert's arm. A throne knight in front of him understood the bishop's meaning. He quickly stepped forward and took the position of supporting Hubert.

"My comrades were seriously injured."

Luo Xiu then said to the throne knights in front of him in a concise manner:

"Arrange a place for Saint Deacon to recuperate as soon as possible."

"And in my name, go find the two 'priests' - Howard and Gracia. Ask them to bring the incense and medicine to heal the wound as soon as possible, and take turns to look after the 'holy deacon' Hubbard."

"Yes, Bishop."

The "Knight of the Throne" stood at attention and saluted, making a clanging sound under the visor, responding to Luo Xiu concisely and forcefully.

The Knights of the [Supreme] Throne are indeed very efficient.

After they received the order from the "Bishop", the two throne knights quickly took the order and went forward. After only a few minutes, one of the knights came back with the "priest" Howard and Grasha.

They had mainly accompanied Albert in clearing out the remaining enemies in the East City District, and each of them had suffered some injuries, some deep and some shallow, but none of them were serious.

Howard and Gracia, they had just received the news that "Holy Deacon" Hubert had been rescued by the bishop, and they rushed here without stopping for a moment.

Afterwards, Luo Xiu asked Howard, Gracia and Hubbard to go to a quiet mansion that had been arranged for him, where he could recuperate in peace.

At this point, Hubert was truly safe.

Luo Xiu stared at the direction they left until Hubert's back disappeared around the corner of the street, then he set off for his new destination.

That was the core official residence of Fafnir City, which the expeditionary force had successfully occupied and changed its flag.

Judging from the time, Albert, Lansas and others should have already moved into the official residence.

……

After one hour.

Fafnir Castle, the lord's residence.

This core residence, which originally belonged to Lord Fafnir, the "Chief Executioner" of [Red Lotus], and the "Dragon of Destruction" Fafnir Rochester, has welcomed its new owner.

In a hall at the center of the official residence, the "Bishop" Luo Xiu, the "Thunder General" Albert, the "Winter General" Lansas, and the "Golden Sword Saint" Klein, the four strongest fighters of the expeditionary force, have gathered here.

This was a routine high-level meeting of the expeditionary force, a strategic meeting that Albert would preside over after each capture of a major city or fortress.

This time, only Luo Xiu, Albert, Lansas and Klein, as well as all the high-ranking members of the expeditionary force with "Quadruple Destiny" and above, participated.

"First of all, we should celebrate that we can all sit here now, celebrate that we have lived up to the trust of the Marquis and the Lord, and celebrate that we have won the magnificent victory of this expedition."

"..."

"Thunder General" Albert sat in the main seat with his hands crossed on his chin. His face was stern and majestic, but his eyes were full of light, and he seemed excited and excited.

He said in a deep and powerful voice:

"We have captured Fafnir City and almost completely wiped out the Dark Army stationed in the city. This is our honor, and it is a great victory that will surely be recorded in the history of the Empire's 'War of Judgment'."

"Looking back to when we first set out on the long expedition, we were not sure that we would be able to achieve such a brilliant result today—"

"We have been through a lot. The 'Greedy Tyrant' in Latama City, the unknown disasters surging from the ground, and many other unexpected changes, but we have overcome them one by one and passed them!"

“This has enabled us to finally arrive here, and we have lived up to the high expectations that Emperor Augustville had for us.”

"..."

Just as Albert said.

The Red Maple City Expeditionary Force and the Snowdrift Expeditionary Force had completely captured Fafnir City.

The remaining Dark Army forces in Dongcheng District, Nancheng District and Xicheng District have been wiped out, and only some Dark Army forces in the northern city area are still resisting, but it is only a matter of time before they are completely wiped out.

"As for now,"

Albert paused, and his dark red eyes swept over the other three seats, namely, the "Bishop", "General Winter" and "Golden Sword Master", and said:

"Although we have successfully captured Fafnir City, the hidden threat to us has not been eliminated."

"His Excellency the 'Bishop' Luo Xiu has killed the 'Lord of Blood Sacrifice', and the 'Song of Elements' Euan Burroughs has also been beheaded, but two executioners are still on the run and one is missing."

"Moreover, it is foreseeable that the original owner of this place, 'Chief Executioner' Fafnir Rochester, will definitely take revenge on us."

"So, in this meeting, we will mainly discuss two things - if Fafnir comes in person, how should we deal with him? And, after achieving the ultimate goal of our expedition, what are your future plans."

"..."

After Albert finished saying this, he stopped talking and looked at Luo Xiu, Lansas, and then at Klein with his dark red eyes.

"My colleague, His Excellency 'Saint Deacon' Hubert, is unable to attend this meeting due to his injury. I am very sorry, and I will explain some things on his behalf."

After Albert finished speaking, Luo Xiu spoke first:

"With the sacrifice of my comrade, 'Saint Deacon' Hubbardt, the threat from 'Nightmare Witch' Samantha Carter has indeed been reduced to the lowest level. She was also hit by my 'authority' and was seriously injured by me. Regardless of whether she lives or dies, at least in the short term, she will not pose any threat to us."

"The situation with the 'Alienated Demon' Barcard Frederick is the same as Samantha's. Lord Albert and Lord Lansas, you should have received the news sent back to you by the Knights of the Throne who were present at the time. The 'Hidden Sage' Hoffman would intervene in the battlefield at that time. This was not something we could have anticipated."

"..."

"……I'm very sorry."

"Golden Sword Saint" Klein Fesela, he responded in a low voice, lowering his head slightly, with a somewhat lonely expression on his face.

Before this high-level meeting began, the "Golden Sword Saint" Klein had ended his pursuit of Hoffman and returned to Fafnir City.

Just as Luo Xiu had expected, Klein did not catch up with Hoffman, and failed to keep the "alienated demon" Baccard who was kidnapped by Hoffman. In Klein's view, this was absolutely a shame - because it violated the contract and damaged the reputation of the Fesela family.

Luo Xiu saw all the changes on Klein's face.

But neither Rossouw, Albert nor Lansas responded to his apology.

On the surface, it was indeed because Klein did not fulfill the contract well that the "alienated demon" Baccard was rescued by Hoffman.

Luo Xiu glanced at Klein, then at Albert, and continued:

"Although the 'Alien Demon' Barcard was rescued by Hoffman, he was also seriously injured and on the verge of death."

"Like Samanthaia, Barkad will not pose a threat to us, at least for a while."

"..."

After saying this, Luo Xiu stopped talking. This was all he wanted to say for now.

"indeed."

"General Winter" Lansas, who was sitting on another main throne, nodded solemnly.

Lansas then took over the topic of "Bishop" and said:
"The only person we need to worry about is the 'Shadow Strategist' Koros who has not appeared yet."

"I have investigated his abilities, the ability to overdraw life to strengthen the legion, and the bell curtain that can perform 'blockade' and 'pierce'... I have always been a little confused. With Koros's abilities, he should appear on the battlefield defending the city, instead of hiding in the dark like now. I don't know what he is planning."

"..."

He actually had no plans... He was just beaten up by the Lord of Blood Sacrifice, and after searching the bottom of the Blood Cave according to his own orders, he returned to the Holy Abyss to recuperate...

Luo Xiu thought to himself, as he listened to Lansas' words he naturally thought of these things, and for some reason he wanted to laugh, but he held it back, maintaining his usual calm and serious expression on his face during the meeting.

"…Um."

After Lansas finished speaking, Albert nodded solemnly.

There were five saints stationed in Fafnir City. He killed two of them and let the third one go. Such a situation always made Albert feel a little dangerous and stressed.

But since "Bishop" Luo Xiu has said that the "Nightmare Witch" Samanthaya and the "Alien Demon" Baccard are both seriously injured or even dying, we can indeed put aside their potential threats for the time being.

The only person they needed to be wary of was the "shadow strategist" Koros mentioned by Lansas. But Koros was not good at single combat or assassination. Even if he wanted to do something, it would be difficult for him to gain any advantage from the five "saints" of the expeditionary army.

Albert thought about this.

He guessed that the last executioner of Ku Tu, Koros, most likely escaped from Fafnir City first, and then went to inform the "Chief Executioner" Fafnir, telling Fafnir that Fafnir City had fallen.

But this is just a guess... Albert has too many similar guesses in his mind. And he still doesn't understand why the east gate of Fafnir City suddenly opened, and why such a tragic "mutiny" happened in the east of Fafnir City.

Albert's mind was already filled with too many doubts. Maybe the "shadow strategist" Koros had actually betrayed him? Or...he had died in the betrayal? These were all possible.

The thoughts in his mind were becoming more and more complicated, but the meeting was still going on. Albert then glanced around at the other high-ranking people in the hall and cleared his mind of these mixed thoughts.

"Well, I see."

"Thunder General" Albert nodded solemnly again.

Then Albert said:

"In this case, we don't need to worry about dealing with the threats that the 'Nightmare Witch' and the 'Alienated Demon' may bring to us."

"But the threat of 'Chief Executioner' Fafnir still exists. In the middle of our expedition, we received an order from the Lord to capture and defend this place, waiting for the other three expeditionary forces to meet here."

"A few days ago, the expeditionary force from the Pampas Fortress has already set out to a place 330 miles away from Fafnir City, and will arrive in four days. The Aton expeditionary force still has about 700 miles to go, and will arrive within ten days. The Wood expeditionary force, which is the farthest from us, will arrive within two weeks at the latest."

"That is to say, we have to stay here for at least two weeks."

"We have come this far on this expedition and have hardly had a day's rest. This is also a precious moment for us to rest and recuperate before the next huge battle like this begins."

"And my 'scouts' also brought me information about the current location of the 'Chief Executioner' Fafnir. The 'Chief Executioner' is rushing back to Fafnir City by the shortest route and at the fastest speed, and the Lord's army is chasing him from behind. We still cannot let our guard down."

"But no matter what, it will take Fafnir and his army at least five days to get back to Fafnir City."

"Well, now,"

Albert crossed his hands again, resting them on his chin, and with a sharp, dark red gaze he swept across all the high-ranking people in the meeting room and asked:
"What plans or intentions do you have? We will make a decision here on how to proceed with the new strategic arrangements."

"..."

"Mr. Albert."

This time, before Albert finished speaking, it was still Luo Xiu who responded first.

Under the gaze of everyone, Luo Xiu said:
"In that case, I will leave first and go back to Songyuan Territory and Xina City."

"I have obtained the Grey Blood of the Lord of Blood Sacrifice. I must use it to cleanse Bishop Fabion's Grey Blood Curse. This was decided at the beginning of this sacred expedition."

"After that, I will go to Songyuan City and return to the headquarters."

"Earlier, 'Holy Deacon' Hubert and 'Glorious Knight' Evans brought me the decree of Archbishop Sid. I must return to the Grand Church to meet him after helping to capture Fafnir City."

"..."

"I see." Albert nodded thoughtfully.

He had indeed known about this a long time ago, but for some reason, when Luo Xiu personally proposed to leave temporarily at the meeting, Albert suddenly felt a surge of insecurity.

Even though no one had pointed it out, Albert was well aware that the "Bishop" Ross Carlos was now undoubtedly the most powerful high-ranking fighter in the expeditionary force, except for the "Golden Sword Saint" Klein.

Albert and Luo Xiu have been together for too long, and he knows very clearly how much stronger the "bishop" has become during this period of time compared to the first time he saw Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu's brief departure also meant that a top-level combat force was missing from the expeditionary army. If any unexpected changes occurred at this time, without Luo Xiu, there might really be some trouble.

"..."

"I understand."

Although all these thoughts were surging in his mind, Albert remained expressionless.

He just nodded lightly and then asked:

"When will you be back, Luo Xiu?"

Luo Xiu looked at Albert and quickly responded:
"About a week. If I get the news of Fafnir's attack in advance, I will come back earlier."

"Okay." Albert nodded again.

A week is fine, it is within the acceptable range for Albert.

In order to ensure some other things, Albert also looked at Luo Xiu, met his eyes, and asked him:
"So, what about the 'Holy Deacon', His Excellency Hubbard?"

"He will stay. He needs to rest and stay in Fafnir City to recover and be observed for a while."

"..."

"……Um."

Albert loosened his crossed palms and tapped the tabletop lightly with the fingers of his right hand. He stared at Luo Xiu with his dark red and sharp eyes, only to see a calm and gentle expression on the face of the "bishop".

After pondering for a while, Albert finally spoke:
"Okay, Luo Xiu. But I hope you can come back as soon as possible. After all, no one here can take your place."

Albert agreed.

After receiving Albert's affirmative answer, Luo Xiu smiled calmly and said:
"I know."

"I will be back soon. I will return to Sina City and Songyuan City only to deal with some necessary matters, which will not delay me for too long."

……

The meeting of the expeditionary force's top brass in the official residence of Fafnir City ended quickly.

Luo Xiu, Albert, Lansas and others discussed some details and ended the meeting.

Luo Xiu left the venue first, while Albert and the "Golden Sword Saint" Klein stayed behind, because the three major families of the Golden Country seemed to be willing to assist the expeditionary force in the post-war inventory of Fafnir City.
Luo Xiu knew about this, but he had already talked it over with the elders of the family, so he no longer waited and watched what Albert and Klein were doing.

Now he has more important things to do - he, Albert, Lansas and others have decided that after completing the necessary handover work on the day they captured Fafnir City, they will leave Fafnir City in the evening and return to the border of Songyuan Territory in the empire.

Before that, he would go back to "Holy Abyss" first.

Because the "Faceless One" Intis has sent a message to her. She said that the newly converted "Apostle of the Holy Abyss", the "Alienated Demon" Bakad Frederick has come to the Royal Court Hall, waiting to be received by the "Lord of the Holy Abyss";

Another thing is that Fenrir and Wu Ye have also returned to the "Holy Abyss".

——They succeeded!

The two "annihilation" level abyss beasts had severely injured the "Nightmare Witch" Samanthaya in the process of chasing her, and successfully "captured" her!
Now, the "Nightmare Witch" Samanthaya is also being detained in the "Holy Abyss".

This was the information that Luo Xiu received from Index, Fenrir and Wuye through spiritual transmission when he attended Albert's strategic meeting.

At this time, Luo Xiu had returned to the church's headquarters and entered the "bishop's" tent.

At the same time, he pulled up the golden barrier and activated the mark of "Holy Abyss".

Several rings of deep red magic circles had lit up under his feet, and his figure became illusory and blurred as the light above the magic circles flickered.

Soon, he teleported himself to the "Holy Abyss" -

Before officially leaving Fafnir City, he met with Baccard as the "Lord of the Holy Abyss" and gave him a new task; he also completed the transformation of the "Nightmare Witch" Samanthaya; and finally, he went to meet the "slave" players found in Fafnir City. These were the only three things Luo Xiu had to do.

……

(End of this chapter)