Azure Scepter

Page 47

The moment Trier regained his senses, he experienced two completely opposite sensations.

Using Noi's five senses, he heard the trembling of the withered branches in the wind—Noi's perception was extremely strong after being bound to a spirit. With a little concentration, he could even see the slightly raised veins on the frost-covered fallen leaves.

It wasn't autumn, but Noi's spirit form was enough to cause a sudden change in the surrounding temperature; the chilling coldness gripped everything around her like bone claws.

"Master, how are you feeling?" Noi teased.

As she spoke, she stretched out her cool fingers and brushed them across her smooth, alabaster cheek. Although she was completely invisible at the moment, the soft touch still reminded Trier of a pale, sorrowful, and alluring female body, like that of a banshee.

His heart raced slightly, and Trier sensed a dark and damp desire within himself. He suddenly realized that this was the first time he and Noi had been alone together since he resurrected Noi as a spirit.

“Don’t waste time, Neuer,” Trier took a deep breath and whispered to himself, “Now is not the time.”

He felt Noy nod, and then the surrounding scenery began to rush past him, his perspective drifting along with Noy's. In less than half a minute, Noy was back in front of the Church of Saint Seil.

This time, she didn't knock. Instead, she passed directly through the cracked and vine-covered stone wall in her spirit form. In Trier's vision, the stone wall radiated a pure white and blazing divine light, seemingly capable of burning away all evil spirits. However, when Noe reached out to touch the stone wall, the sacred barrier transformed into a jelly-like substance, like a water film, which she effortlessly passed through.

Passing through the wall, you enter the church's main hall.

Rows of dilapidated brown benches were piled haphazardly in the hall, with tall, crumbling gray stone pillars standing between them. At the far end of the hall stood a solemn and majestic statue of Saint Seir. The statue of Saint Seir wore a feathered hat, a common garment for travelers, and the stone-carved eyes beneath the brim appeared particularly empty.

The half-elf priest's thin prayers echoed in the empty hall.

"The protector of travelers and half-breeds, the guardian of pure love, the god of children, the messenger of radiance."

"Please forgive my cowardice, I really dare not..."

Although he was prepared, Trier still felt uneasy when he saw the statue of Saint Seir.

Saint Seir is a newly ascended deity within the Radiant Pantheon. Although He possesses only weak divine power, He has always been passionate about intervening in mortal affairs. Although the Prime Material Plane has a strong shielding effect on the upper celestial planes, He is still one of the few deities willing to pay a huge price to provide exceptionally strong support to the priests who pray.

The idea of ​​the dead sneaking into a church is somewhat blasphemous, and there's a certain probability that these deities, who like to interfere with the material plane, will react.

The spirit-like Noi slowed her pace. Holding the holy emblem, she walked confidently before the statue and then offered a devout bow in the most standard high priestly salutation of the Radiant Church. She even began to pray.

The statue of Saint Seil remained unresponsive, its empty stone eye sockets calmly overlooking the church.

“The judges protect us, and I’m grateful to them, but they can cruelly torture people, and some of them aren’t even cult members…”

“I dare not criticize them, I am afraid that I will also be labeled as a cult member.”

“Radiant messenger, grant your servant the grace of wisdom.”

The half-elf priest continued praying, completely unaware that Noi had already walked past him.

Noy walked past the podium and slowly made his way to the west door leading to the basement. A chilling coldness crept up the door handle like mist.

“What a pity, Saint Seir’s gaze shouldn’t be here,” Noy thought to himself. “I didn’t notice His gaze.”

Just as Trier was about to speak, a cobalt blue message suddenly flashed across his eye. He glanced at it, and his heart skipped a beat—

[Your companion "Noi" has received Saint Seir's temporary blessing.]

[Temporary Blessing: You have attracted the attention of Saint Seir. Within the boundaries of Saint Seir's temple, you may grant any creature within your sight a "Greater Invisibility" spell. The spell's duration is based on a constant caster level of 20.]

"..."

This was the first time Trier had ever encountered a real god since his transmigration. Although he was somewhat surprised, he was not flustered.

In *The Azure Scepter*, due to the powerful isolation effect of the Prime Material Plane, neither lower planes like the Abyss of Hell nor the upper planes where the Radiant Pantheon reside can directly affect reality. Before the "divine calamity," gods would have to pay a heavy price to directly unleash divine punishment or intervene militarily; they would more often choose to resolve problems through proxies.

Therefore, although Noy is currently inside Saint Seil's church, Saint Seil has no ability to directly eliminate Noy.

Moreover, even if the other party really takes action, the worst outcome would only be that Noy, who can resurrect infinitely, would be temporarily banished, and he himself would not be affected at all.

Noi seemed unaware that Saint-Sel had begun to watch them. She calmly opened the door and walked down the dark steps to the basement.

Chapter 86 The Necromancer's Legacy (Part 3)

The stairs leading to the basement were quite steep, and the dark passageway felt cramped and narrow.

The air was filled with the smell of burning incense, and the swirling smoke was almost pungent, but the acrid smell of blood was impossible to suppress.

Noi floated slowly down the stairs, step by step. The stone steps were covered with mottled bloodstains that looked like rust, and the bloody scratches and handprints on the walls were still wet.

In keeping with this oppressive atmosphere, faint, weak pleas for mercy could be heard coming from the basement.

She grabbed the iron ring at the basement entrance and slowly pulled the door open. The hysterical screams coming from behind the door drowned out the slight creaking sound.

"No, I don't know anything!" A sharp and high-pitched scream rang out, and even Trier, who shared the five senses with Noy, frowned upon hearing it.

The torturer ignored the prisoner's pleas and responded with a hot branding iron.

"Hiss—" The branding iron eroded the flesh, making a hissing sound like frying an egg, and the screams instantly turned into muffled wails.

Noi stopped and coldly surveyed the scene before him.

The basement she was in was designed like a prison. The rough, uneven stone corridor was covered with indelible bloodstains, and the stone walls on both sides of the corridor were separated by rows of rotten wooden doors that were only half a person's height.

Through the narrow gaps in the iron bars of the wooden door, one could vaguely see the prisoners inside.

—A naked demon worshipper covered in blood-red tattoos; a mad prophet muttering to himself, endlessly repeating prophecies of destruction; a pale-faced plague-infected man vomiting incessantly; and a zombie, now an undead, banging its head against the wall...

Neue drifted indifferently and calmly past one cage after another, as if he had become accustomed to such a horrific and bloody scene.

Suddenly, Trier saw a swirling, cold, black wind of death in Noy's field of vision. The wind of death seemed to be bound by some kind of ritual, spinning secretly along a monotonous path. If Trier had not been so familiar with the wind of death, he would not have even noticed this secret ritual.

It looks like the entrance to a laboratory? Trier's heart skipped a beat.

Finding evidence of his laboratory in the dungeon was certainly good, as it would allow him to use the map given to him by the half-elf priest to conduct vertical excavation.

But if he could find the entrance directly in the dungeon, that would be even better: he could just have Noy go in and explore for him, and then he could just wait for Noy to retrieve the items he had stored!

In this way, he wouldn't need to risk his life to explore his own laboratory—although it was his own laboratory, to be honest, he still had some lingering concerns about exploring it, because he had no memory of the arrangements he had left inside.

It's common knowledge that any mage's laboratory is riddled with dangerous traps and magical mechanisms, and a legendary mage's laboratory is so dangerous that it could easily wipe out a well-prepared team of professional adventurers. Considering his somewhat overly cautious nature, his laboratory is only likely to be even more dangerous...

"Luckily, Noi can resurrect indefinitely," Trier thought to himself.

"Huh?" Noy was filled with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing—let's go take a look over there."

Following the flow of the death wind, Trier looked toward a relatively intact cell.

Noticing Trill's gaze, Noy immediately understood and drifted towards the cell.

In the cramped and confined cell was a pale-faced little girl, her arms wrapped around her knees, quietly curled up in the corner of the cell. She appeared to be infected with the plague. The dry, yellow straw on the cell floor was covered with vomit, and within the vomit, one could vaguely see translucent, wriggling plague maggots.

Trier noticed that Neu's movements slowed down for a moment.

Behind the wall behind the girl, a hidden wind of death was slowly circulating. Judging from the binding track, it seemed to be a ritual to conceal something and reduce the presence of objects. Trier focused his attention and soon discovered his most frequently used "connection" ending pattern in the structure of the ritual.

This is indeed the entrance to the laboratory!

Once he enters the laboratory and obtains at least thirty storage stones reserved for him, the power he can wield will reach a new level! At that time, the combat power he can unleash in a short period of time will definitely be comparable to that he had as a lich in the game!

Trier suppressed his excitement. He was about to order Noe to check when he faintly heard the heavy sound of boots on the stone ground, like the beat of a drum.

A brazier hung from the low ceiling, its flickering flames casting the shadows of passersby onto the ground, making them look like menacing, man-eating beasts.

Noi followed the shadow to the prison guard and was stunned.

"Trill, look! It's a goblin!" Noy exclaimed in his mind in surprise. "A living goblin!"

As the fastest-reproducing intelligent beings in the world, goblins play an important role in the production of spell storage stones, diamonds, and various spellcasting and daily necessities. Therefore, goblins are not common except in areas where they are raised on a large scale, such as the Great Swamp and Shining Peak.

Even when goblins occasionally appear in other regions, they are mostly slaves. Even in regions like the Kingdom of Orko, where slavery is not recognized, goblins are generally regarded as the possessions and property of merchants.

Although gnomes and goblins are completely different in physiology, social structure and habits, people usually do not treat them differently.

In short, they are all raw materials.

But the goblin before them was clearly different. He wore heavy metal armor, and his exposed skin had a moss-like gray-green hue. He gripped a two-handed axe made of mountain ash wood, his silent figure resembling a towering steel golem.

This goblin looks like a mercenary, Trier thought.

The half-elf priest hunched his shoulders, cautiously following behind the goblin.

Hearing footsteps, the girl who had been curled up in the cell immediately raised her dirty head. She weakly crawled to the door and looked at the earth spirit expectantly with her gray eyes.

“The priest wants to see you,” the goblin said curtly.

After saying that, he turned his head and made way for the narrow space in front of the iron fence.

The half-elf priest cautiously approached the window, offering an almost ingratiating smile: "Don't worry, child, don't worry, shh—don't speak, please don't."

He fumbled in his clothes and then pulled out a rusty key.

“The judge will kill you,” the girl said. “Hurry up, if he sees you, you’re dead.”

The piercing screams coming from the end of the corridor seemed to corroborate the girl's story, and the half-elf priest suddenly shuddered.

“You are innocent.” The half-elf priest tremblingly aimed the key at the wooden door, but failed several times. “They say you are a cultist spreading the plague, which is utter nonsense, Saint Seir. They will definitely kill you. Such a thing must not happen in this church.”

"But I will also become a ghost, just like my mom and dad."

Trier noticed that Noy's spirit suddenly trembled, and a strong sense of unease entered his mind along with Noy's thoughts.

Chapter 87 The Judge

An unease, like a biting, damp wind, crept into Noe's thoughts, and then, in her trembling, it transformed into a mixed emotion of self-blame and guilt.

Trier was somewhat surprised: "That's strange. I didn't expect her to actually have this emotion. I thought she was just pretending all along. However, we can't rule out the possibility that she knew I could sense her emotions and deliberately revealed them, although that possibility is very low."

In his memory, Noy was absolutely ruthless. Whether it was spreading the plague as a member of the Silent Whisperers or smashing Harlan's head with a flail, her actions were always decisive. It seemed that these cold-blooded and cruel acts were as commonplace and insignificant as picking wildflowers by the roadside.

Even though she appeared very kind and even gained an excellent reputation and widespread respect for constantly helping others, Trier believed that it was nothing more than a mask she wore.

But at this moment, her heartfelt trembling and guilt were extremely real.

Trier had a vague feeling that Neu seemed to be about to take some action.

“Don’t blame them, pastor,” the girl said weakly. “Their suspicions are reasonable. My parents and I were infected with the plague, but they died while I survived. This is indeed very unusual.”

“That’s no reason to treat you like a cultist—give me your hand, and be careful.” The half-elf priest, almost losing control of his voice, finally inserted the key into the lock.

"Click".

The crisp sound of the lock being opened echoed in the corridor.

The little girl slowly peeked out, then moved outwards little by little like an eel.

The half-elf priest was pale, with beads of cold sweat forming on his temples. He kept glancing back and down at the little girl. From his almost unfocused eyes, it was clear that he wasn't really observing anything—this act of observation was merely to reassure himself.

The goblin quietly stared in the direction of the torture chamber, when suddenly he kicked the half-elf priest in the buttocks!

"boom!"

The half-elf priest turned his head in surprise and resentment, but then he suddenly shivered.

The screams of the tortured prisoners had stopped at some point, and even the hysterical wails of the prisoners in the cells near the torture chamber had disappeared. The prison was deathly silent, with the dim, gloomy braziers burning quietly.

—The judge has finished the torture, and he and his entourage are approaching!

"Run, don't look back!" The half-elf priest turned around abruptly and said to the little girl with a forced smile.

The little girl stared quietly into the half-elf's eyes: "I can go back; there's still time. I've counted; it takes the inquisitor at least three minutes to come from the torture chamber each time. If I leave, you'll surely die, and where can I go?"

“You don’t understand. When they saw the key was missing, they already knew everything. They are as cunning as hunting dogs that follow the scent of blood.”

The goblin suddenly bent down, his large, moss-green hand grabbing the girl's slender wrist and pulling her sharply. The girl cried out in pain as she was dragged into the corridor.

"Get out of here," the goblin said coldly. "If you don't leave, I'll cut your head off."

The dull footsteps faintly came from the far end of the prison, and the flickering firelight from the braziers overhead cast many long, narrow shadows like a tide. The three men froze instantly.

"Ha, I told you long ago, no one can remain silent under my branding iron. This bastard has finally admitted it." The barbarian's rough voice echoed in the deathly silent corridor. "Ha, now we even know how many girls he's slept with. All we have to do now is tell the bishop where the Shadow Man went, and then find that so-called treasure. This chore will be over."

“Indeed.” The judge’s voice was completely flat, like a cold machine. “You are indeed very talented, but remember not to mock others without reason next time.”

The muffled footsteps stopped: "I don't understand, who did I mock? Was it this serial killer?"

“Of course not, I was referring to High Priest Noy who came to visit this afternoon.” The judge’s voice grew closer. “She’s rising through the ranks in the church very quickly. Perhaps once the plague is over, she will be in charge of the entire ducal court.”

“I should have gone directly to Noy; she is a powerful and kind person,” the half-elf priest said in an almost groaning voice. “It’s all too late.”

"Hmph, she's too young. When I was her age, I was still learning how to hunt swamp monitor lizards. You're completely overthinking it."

"..." The judge paused for a moment, "Although in theory everyone has the same opportunities after joining the church, secular background will ultimately affect sacred matters."

“I understand. Just like when sharing prey, the portion each person receives isn't always based on how much effort they put into the hunt; the chieftain's and shaman's children always get more. Don't worry, man, I've taken your advice to heart.”

The iron rings on the chainmail clanged against each other, the crisp sound of metal clashing grew closer, and the smell of blood gradually intensified.

The goblin gripped his ash-wood axe tightly, while the priest desperately shielded the little girl behind him. The cold, metallic gleam of the metal reflected off the blood-stained floor.

"Master, can you help them?" Noi asked in his mind.