The Bishop commanding the forces of the Holy Church was absolutely stunned. His face revealed shock like never before.
There were multiple passages before Eren, but he had specifically chosen the one that led to the place where the portal formations were cast.
It should have been impossible for any outsider to know the exact location of the portal formations. Even the Holy Emperor had never stepped inside the Holy Church, so he had never seen the portal formation.
The only outsiders who had seen the portal formation were the guests from the Eastern Continent who had been brought by the Priestess.
The Bishop couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a coincidence that the Necromancer had selected that specific passage. He really hoped that was the case.
If not, it meant the Eastern Continent, the Holy Emperor, and the Necromancer Tower were on the same side against the Holy Church.
“We can’t let him find the formations! We have to stop him.”
They couldn’t hold back anymore. Initially, they wanted to delay Eren until the Cardinals from other major cities arrived. Unfortunately, that had become much harder. To buy even a little time, they had to put their own lives on the line.
After that, it depended entirely on the Cardinals. As long as they could arrive on time, then this sacrifice was worth it.
The Bishop activated all the traps along the passage to delay Eren. At the same time, he rushed out with the other Bishops.
He had thought that the traps were going to keep Eren busy until they reached home. However, that was far from the reality.
The traps were far from effective against Eren, whose physique had become even stronger. With the Ancient Dragon Tongue, he was able to pass through all the traps without even the slightest of wounds.
By the time the Bishops reached their destination, they were only greeted with rubble all around them. The formation rooms were all broken, along with the formations inside.
Not a single formation was left intact. All their hopes had come crashing down. Without the formation, the Cardinals couldn’t come here.
They had to fly all the way through the other cities, which at the fastest was going to take a day now.
“What have you done…” The leading bishop held his head in disbelief. He appeared as if he had seen his entire world fall apart right in front of his eyes.
His pupils trembled as a sense of madness overtook his head. There was no help coming. They were all alone here. They could either kill the Necromancer or die at his hands. There was no other option.
“Oh? There are more? I thought you would’ve run away already.” Eren walked over the rubble, patting the dust from his shoulder which had tainted his pure dark robe.
“You look quite upset. Don’t tell me that drawing was something important?” Eren innocently asked them, noticing the crazed look in their eyes. “Should I help you with the reconstruction?”
Even though he appeared to be asking genuinely, the bishops could see that he was mocking them.
“Today, either you survive, or us.” The Bishop told Eren, crushing a stone which increased his holy aura temporarily, even at the cost of his own life span.
“If that’s the choice, then isn’t the answer clear already?” Eren responded, cracking his knuckles.
….
Outside the Holy Church, many believers still hadn’t left. They were still looking at the entrance of the Church which had been strangely silent for quite some times.
At first, they could at least hear the sound of explosions from inside, but even that had gone silent now.
“Did the Necromancer die?” A believer asked.
“Of course he died. Did you really think that he could go against the Holy Church? He had really overestimated himself.”
“That’s right. I doubt if we’ll even get to see his corpse. Her Holiness would’ve destroyed him in a single attack. That’s why it’s so silent.”
The Believers still hadn’t lost hope. None of them knew that the Holy Priestess and the Cardinals were not even here.
There were also some Royal Guards who had been keeping an eye on the situation. Another group of the Guards had already left the place to inform the Holy Emperor about this.
Eren’s clone was already expecting to be informed by the guards about the chaos at the Holy Church.
He had barely managed to calm the two furious ladies that were fighting for their love. Fortunately, their fight had stopped before someone was actually harmed. All it took was for him to say that Eren needed their help.
After calming them down, he waited in the training hall as if he had no idea about what was happening outside.
It was only after he heard repeated knock on the door that he revealed a gaze of acknowledgement.
“Finally it’s beginning.”
He opened the door and stepped outside with the three guests from the Eastern Continent accompanying him.
“What happened? Why are you so flustered?” Eren’s clone asked the guard who was breathing heavily as if he had been running all the way.
“Your Majesty, something big has happened,” he said as his gaze occasionally kept shifting to the guests from the East.
The Holy Church was under attack. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to say that in front of outsiders or if the Emperor might want to keep the news under the wrap.
“You don’t have to worry about them. Tell me what happened?” Eren asked, not revealing even the slightest of flaw in his acting.
If anything, he acted so realistically that the Royal Guard could even feel his rage and killing intent when he told the Emperor about the attack on the Holy Church.
“Is it just one person?” he asked the Guard.
The Guard nodded in response. “As far as we know, there is only one person. However, he appeared to be very strong. I saw him take down quite a few bishops in a single attack.”
