Gun smoke is everywhere.

  Roxas gazed at the passageway before him with a stern face, but couldn't say anything. Beside him, Archbishop Bossen was also unusually pale-faced, his eyes gleaming with cold light. To be honest, Roxas had expected Lord Barf to resort to some means, but he hadn't thought things would escalate this far. What started as an ordinary dispute over dignity had turned into a full-scale war; the entire passageway was littered with corpses - most of them soldiers killed by Jen, and some who got caught in the crossfire between Jen, Pattirina, and Gustav, while others were crushed to death by falling rocks.

  Under the illumination of the flames, only the corpses covered with rubble and the bloodstains that flowed incessantly, dyeing the entire passageway a deep red, could be seen. Even though Rox had mentally prepared himself, he couldn't help but feel his heart tremble at the sight before him, as if he had entered hell itself.

  "Hmm, Sir Paladin, you're a bit late, aren't you?"

  Sitting on the stone, Zhan En still had that lazy and idle appearance. Seeing him like this, Luoxi was also furious. He stretched out his hand, trembling with rage, pointing at Zhan En, and then shouted angrily!!!

  "What have you done now?!"

  "What does this have to do with me?"

  Hearing Rox's angry roar, Zhen swept him a disdainful glance.

  "These soldiers didn't come at my invitation, nor did I strike first. Do I have to stand there stupidly and let them kill me for it to be a good thing?"

  "You...!!"

  Roxas was also at a loss for words upon hearing Jen's response, unsure of what to say. He had already heard the whole story from Liam, which was why he rushed back in such a hurry. However, Roxas hadn't expected Jen to be so incredibly powerful, cutting down hundreds of his personal guards like chopping vegetables, and not even sparing Lord Barfleur or his father.

  This is going crazy!!

  "Archbishop Bosen, you see..."

  Facing the scene in front of him, Rox also had no choice but to secretly sigh and look at Bishop Bosen beside him. Although he didn't get along with Bishop Bosen, they were both people of the Temple after all. Now that two nobles of the Valkyrie Kingdom had died, they would definitely come storming over to find trouble for the Temple of War. They didn't care what kind of person Zhen was; as far as the Valkyrie Kingdom was concerned, someone had died on temple grounds, so the temple had to give them an explanation!

  This is a considerable blow to the already weak Temple of War God, and if things go wrong, it's possible that the Temple of War God itself may be torn apart and completely destroyed!!

  But should we say that Zan is caught? If it were before, Rox might have thought about it, but now he is not willing to do so. Firstly, Zan's strength is really too strong, and whether he can be caught or not is still uncertain. Secondly, the current Zan is the only lifesaver of the Temple, and he does not want to offend him easily. As for the Valkyrie Kingdom... anyway, both sides have long been at odds with each other, and it doesn't matter if they offend each other a little more.

  "What in the world is going on, Archbishop Bosen?!"

  At this moment, beside the Archbishop of Bosen, a fully armed officer with an iron face was staring at the scene in front of him. He was one of the representatives of the Valkyrie Kingdom responsible for monitoring the transmission gate. This time, things had gotten so big that he naturally had also heard about it. Gustav and Balve were both very important figures in the Valkyrie Kingdom. Not to mention Gustav, who held military power, even his son Balve was considered a future star of the Valkyrie Kingdom. After all, Balve was able to reach the legendary realm at such a young age, and his future achievements could not be estimated.

  But now, Gustav and Barf have actually died here, which makes the officer in front of him feel a wave of weakness. He can confirm that he is finished. The two most important people in the country have died under his own eyes, and when the higher-ups find out about this, his good days will be over! If he's lucky, he might still be able to spend the rest of his life in prison, but if he's unlucky... Thinking of this, the officer couldn't help but shudder. He then hastily looked forward, angrily stretching out his hand to point at Jan and shouting loudly.

  "How dare you have such a big nerve, actually daring to kill a noble of our country!! Come on, catch him for me!! Catch him!!"

  Unfortunately, no matter how loudly the officer yelled, no one dared to follow his orders and go forward to capture people. On the contrary, whether it was the Holy Knights or the soldiers of the Principality who arrived later, they all looked at the red-faced officer as if he were a fool. Was this guy really scared silly? Didn't you see that the other side was ruthless and killed even the personal guards of Viscount Barulf, so what's the point of going up there to die just the same?

  At this moment, Zhan En was sitting on a piece of broken stone with a lazy and scattered look, with a few smiles looking at the crowd, as if he had no killing intent. But with the countless limbs and bodies around his feet, it was even more terrifying.

  Upon hearing the officer's words, Archbishop Bosen turned his head and gazed at him with a flicker of unstable light in his dark eyes. He then raised his right hand and pulled out the holy emblem of the war god from his bosom. Seeing this scene, everyone's faces changed slightly - Nine Saints preserve us, wasn't the fight enough? Is this the rhythm of opening up a second battlefield?

  Rox saw this scene and was stunned for a moment, then he hurried forward, intending to say something.

  Just at this moment, a strange change suddenly occurred.

  Only on the Archbishop of Bosen's holy emblem, a bright light suddenly burst forth, spreading out like scorching sunlight, enveloping Jain and Pattirina's bodies. Seeing this scene, including Roxas, all the Holy Knights were shocked with wide eyes, as if they didn't dare to believe what they saw and heard. And then, in that light, a sword and shield emblem appeared out of thin air, turned into sparkling dust, and quickly disappeared into the air.

  And then, the light that had originally floated on top of the holy emblem also quietly faded away once again.

  This is...

  Seeing this scene, the officer was also stunned for a moment. He originally thought that Archbishop Bosen was going to take action, but looking at it now, it seemed not to be the case?

  "Bishop Bosen! Please issue an order at once and apprehend this culprit!!"

  “…………………”

  But to the officer's surprise, not only did Bishop Bosen ignore him, but even the Grand Knight of Rox didn't respond to his words. Instead, they furrowed their brows and looked at him as if he were a clown. Moreover, the officer was astonished to find that even the holy knights around them were now gazing at him with eyes filled with subtle hostility.

  What's going on here?

  "Mr. Zhan."

  But it wasn't until then that Archbishop Bosen finally spoke up, but to everyone's surprise, he was unusually polite.

  "I'm extremely sorry for what happened to you, it was our oversight. I assure you that this kind of thing won't happen again."

  “…………………”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone present stared at Bishop Bosen in utter astonishment. Whether it was the mercenaries or the soldiers of the Principality, they were all stunned. They had originally thought that Jann's massacre in the Sanctuary Church would not only kill so many soldiers but also take out two nobles of the Principality. This behavior was simply a provocation to the dignity of both the Church and the Principality. Logically speaking, at this time, it should be that both sides join forces to take him down together. But unexpectedly, Bishop Bosen actually changed his tone and began to shield this killing madman?

  "Archbishop Bosen, what do you mean?!"

  When he heard this, the officer was also shocked. What the hell is going on? This guy killed two important figures of the Republic! And the Temple of War God actually wants to keep him, why?! Don't they know that this will trigger a full-scale conflict between the Temple of War God and the Valkyrie Republic?!

  "Hmm."

  But at this moment, Archbishop Bosen didn't even respond to the officer, instead, he respectfully stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation towards Zhan.

  "Mr. Zhan, it's not a good place to talk here. I think you must be tired too, why don't we go back to the base and rest for a while, then we can discuss the exploration of the dark area thoroughly?"

  "Huh?!"

  When they heard this, the onlookers behind were thoroughly stunned. What was going on here? Was it possible that this man had some unclear and inexplicable relationship with the Temple of War God?

  But upon hearing Archbishop Bosen's words, Zhan did not immediately respond. Instead, he narrowed his eyes in contemplation for a moment before standing up and revealing an elegant smile to the archbishop.

  "In that case, I'd rather obey than show respect."

  What happened next was beyond everyone's expectations, the Holy Knights respectfully welcomed Jarn and others into their stronghold. Completely disregarding the reaction from the Valkyrie Kingdom, although the Valkyrie Kingdom's defense army tried to go up and question them, they were also met with a cold reception and had no choice but to retreat first. The officer in charge was naturally furious as he went to report the matter to the higher-ups of the Valkyrie Kingdom, while the rest of the soldiers were responsible for cleaning up the remaining corpses on the path.

  But as there was nothing more to see, the group of mercenaries immediately dispersed, but this did not hinder their enthusiasm for discussing the matter. After all, whether it was Zhan's powerful strength, or his "feat" of beheading two nobles in one move, and the strange reaction of the Temple of War Gods afterwards, were all extremely rare topics of conversation. The only thing that left everyone puzzled was... why did Zhan kill so many people, yet the temple treated him so well?

  Isn't he really afraid of this killing god?

  "Master, I really can't understand."

  At this moment, Eris also furrowed her brow, with a face full of confusion. At the beginning when she received the invitation from the Holy Knights, Eris thought it was just a delaying tactic and planned to relax her guard before taking them down all at once. But what Eris didn't expect was that these Holy Knights were actually treating them with utmost respect, not only arranging the best rooms in the stronghold for the few of them but also specially preparing a lot of sumptuous refreshments. This looked nothing like detaining prisoners, but rather like entertaining honored guests.

  What's going on here?

  Originally, Eris thought that with Jann and her own behavior, the Holy Knights wouldn't give them a good face even if they didn't catch them. But now it seems like the situation isn't so simple after all. This made Eris quite perplexed, completely unable to understand how this script was written.

  "I can guess some of it, of course, these are just guesses. But one thing is certain..."

  Reclining on the sofa, Zhan En picked up the red tea beside him and took a light sip before speaking.

  "...that is the throne of the god of war, or rather, it's vacant."