Chapter 157: Unease

  Is Matthew afraid of being hunted down?

  Of course he's afraid!

  Before fully growing, potential alone ot be verted into immediate bat strength.

  Fag the relentless pursuit of the Pale Church, Matthew couldn’t guarantee he’d survive unscathed.

  This evil church, which has been hunted and targeted by many kingdoms and anizations for thousands of years, still exists to this day.

  That alone speaks to its secred strength!

  What’s more, Mattheersonally fought against a high-ranking priest of the Pale Churd khey possessed legendary-level bat power.

  So it's only natural to be cautious!

  However, the Smart before him was just an ordinary occultist.

  He wasn't worth the Pale Church spending a great deal to cast a high-level "Seeker" curse on him.

  The data-driven examination both inside and out firmed this point.

  Yet Matthew didn’t bother refuting it; he simply drew his slender sword and swiftly swung it down.

  "Ah...!"

  Smart, the occultist, had his hands chopped off, and the intense pain and fear made him scream even louder.

  Casually flig the blood off his sword, Matthew signaled Yaya to release her grip.

  He grabbed Smart's head and pressed it into the soft, muddy pit.

  "Ugh..."

  "Gurgle..."

  "No...don't..."

  "..."

  The unspeakable stench from the foul water crawled into Smart’s nose and mouth.

  Smart, who had joihe Pale Church seeking a longer life and greater pleasures, was certainly not someoh strong willpower.

  He was quickly reduced to a sniveling mess, begging and struggling, nearly vomiting from the ordeal.

  Matthew's as were unusually brutal.

  Even Yaya was quite curious, having never seen Matthew this furious before.

  Felicity silently watched the se unfold before her.

  She didn’t know what Matthew's purpose was, but she vaguely felt like something within her had been switched on.

  The occultist Smart, who had just been so high and mighty, wielding the power of life ah,

  Was now groveling like a dog, pleading for mercy, which made her feel an eerie sense of disbelief.

  But this was reality!

  Cold, harsh reality!

  At the same time, deep within Felicity’s heart, a stronger desire for power awakened.

  If she had the strength Matthew had, her family wouldn’t be in crisis, and her captain and teammates would still be alive...

  She resolved to get stronger!

  After fully abs all the information about Mobile Casting and the other three specializations, Matthew tossed the tearful Smart aside and finally asked:

  "What’s your purpose for ing here? Think carefully before answering."

  Spitting out the foul mud from his mouth, Smart coughed heavily, not daring to look at Matthew's cold eyes, l his head and howling:

  "The altar! It’s to activate the altar!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, the cold sword tip pierced his throat, and with another swift stroke, his head was severed.

  Blood spttered, falling into the muddy pit and quickly swallowed by the murky muck.

  Matthew ighe kill notification, using his sword to lift Smart's space belt from his waist and casually cast "se."

  Watg Matthew so adeptly kill and loot the body, Felicity, who had been silent the whole time, couldn’t help but bite her lip.

  Who wouldn’t be afraid?

  But Matthew seemed pletely unaware of it, tossing the ste belt to Yaya before turning to g her and saying:

  "We o leave!"

  Before Felicity could react, Yaya, holding the ste belt, grabbed her and flew up with a powerful beat of her wings.

  With a "Feather Fall" spell cast on himself, Matthew looked down at the faint red glow emanating from the ground below and, after smag his lips, said under Felicity's shocked gaze:

  "So the altar that activates automatically when enough people die in a short time—turns out to be the Pale Church's handiwork!"

  Felicity lowered her head and witnessed a se she would never fet in her lifetime, illuminated by the faint red moonlight.

  Smart’s headless corpse was slowly moving toward the altar i!

  The bodies of the thugs, everaitor she loathed, had already risen in a strange manner.

  The corpses gradually lost their color, leaving behind a gring shade of pale.

  The glowing altar suddeed an invisible wave, passing through everything.

  However, nothing seemed to happen.

  As the mist gradually swallowed the se below, Felicity realized she was flying higher and higher.

  "What’s the deal with that altar?"

  F herself to suppress the fear in her heart, Felicity stubbornly lifted her head and asked Matthew.

  Matthew, now pieg together this new puzzle about the Pale Church, had a fshback to the desote and ruiate of Sweetwater Town. Patiently, he expined:

  "As you saw, the altar was activated. All those who died within a certain range became sacrifices to activate it."

  "As for the purpose, the Pale Church must be trying to open that underground ruin."

  Underground ruins!

  Felicity was ner to them. Having spent over a year adventuring in Bloodmoon City, she had participated in at least ten ruin excavations and explorations.

  But she couldn't uand what kind of ruin required such a bizarre altar to open.

  What exactly is the Pale Church?

  And who is this mysterious Arist?

  What’s the differeween using everyone else as sacrifices and using her as a sacrifice?

  Even though her mind was full of questions, Matthew himself was feeling a bit of a headache.

  Don’t be fooled by how easily he disposed of the occultist Smart—that was all thanks to Yaya's might!

  If it had been just him doing the fighting, while he was fident he could take down this mid-level occultist, it certainly wouldn’t have been that easy.

  It wasn’t that Matthew didn’t want to interrogate Smart more thhly, but he knew full well that someone of Smart’s level wouldn’t have more information than he already knew.

  Plus, the altar had already been activated, and Matthew couldn’t be sure of its true purpose.

  But ohing was certain: the Pale Church must be very focused on it.

  The murloc camp, located he altar and the ruins, must have already fallen within the Pale Church’s sights.

  It’s even possible that Bay Territory itself had e uheir watch.

  That’s why Matthew had acted so decisively.

  The longer he deyed, the greater the ce of exposure.

  Now, Matthew o rethink his pns and prepare to deal with the Pale Church’s moves.

  As the murloc camp came into view, Matthew g the silent Felicity a a bit ret.

  The timing wasn’t right!

  Yes, the reason Matthew had been so kind to Felicity was because he reized this still retively young adventurer.

  Iure, the name of "Emerald Dragon" Felicity would be renowned far and wide.

  Matthew didn’t have much personal history with Felicity, but he knew very well the importance of her future identity—Vice Leader of the Draguild.

  The shiny "+5" Luck value on Felicity’s attribute panel firmed to Matthew that he hadn’t mistaken her for someone else.

  The reason Matthew chose to build goodwill with Felicity instead of recruiting her as a tool was because of her other identity—sister of the Governor of the Eastern Province!

  A true big shot!

  AnnouA big thank you to [Resev2024] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL