“You made two mistakes,” O’Brien slowly said. “The disease caused by the poison will lead to death within seven to ten days. You should have taken advantage of the illness’ first appearance to attack, then quickly rescued and given medical treatment to the residents inside the city. This would’ve significantly reduced their hostility. Do not forget that what we need the most is to get as much of the population as possible, not a ghost city.
“The second point is that you waited one month until you attacked, although by doing it in this way, you were able to reduce the casualties to a minimum, you also gave the enemy enough time to respond, which allowed them enough time to find a way to cure the disease. The essence of the new poison was the magic to transform demonic beasts. According to what the Canon of Magic says, there are more than 70 kinds of abilities that can restrain the infections, and also more than 30 types which can exterminate it. In the end, it isn’t surprising for there to be such a witch within a city filled with tens of thousands of people.”
“You mean, they colluded with witches—”
“In the end, when facing a life and death crisis, no one will care whether they are the Devil’s minions or not,” the Pope muttered.
“No matter if those witches took the initiative to come out by themselves, or if they were unmasked and forced to treat the plague, both possibilities sound like bad news for the Church. If they really can stop the momentum of our attack, it is inevitable that the witches’ reputation is bound to undergo some dramatic changes, even so far… that they could be regarded as heroes.”
“This is all my fault,” Mayne said while lowering his head.
“It certainly was a mistake, but not a grave one. The reason you used this tactic was to reduce the losses of our Army of Judges and God’s Punishment Army,” O’Brien used his scepter to knock Mayne on the shoulder, “Furthermore, the fact that Graycastle’s 3rd Princess Garcia and the Wolfsheart Kingdom are working together is also an opportunity for us.”
“Op…portunity?” the Bishop asked shocked.
“That’s right! This way we will have the opportunity to catch everything in one net,” O’Brien stood up, “You, come with me.”
Escorted by guards, Mayne followed the Pope out of the Pivotal Secret Institution, and they slowly walked further into the depths of the cave. The gloomy rays of light coming from the immense God’s Punishment Stones illuminated the path beneath their feet — gradually, becoming darker and darker, until Mayne was no longer able to keep himself from looking back, only to see that the Pivotal Secret Temple and the God’s Punishment Stone was already great distance behind them. In the end, it even became necessary for the guards to light up torches to prevent them from stumbling over the rubble that was on the ground.
“We are… going where?”
“We are already there, child,” His Holiness O’Brian halted his footsteps, breathing a bit hurriedly, “Sigh… I’m getting old, from just this short journey, I have already expended such a large amount of effort…”
A guard came up to support him, “Your Holiness, please permit me to carry you.”
“That’s not necessary, a short break will be good enough,” after saying this, the Pope stood in place and tried to catch his breath, he then commanded, “Light the brazier.”
At this moment the Bishop noticed that there were a few tall towers erected beside the stone road, but if the guards with their torches hadn’t stepped close to them, it would have been hard for the average person to find these hidden metal towers within the darkness.
The guards climbed the ladders and lit the oil in the basin at the top. It immediately produced several groups of dazzling flames. Mayne first had to narrowly squint his eyes and slowly adapt to the change in lighting, before he was able to look ahead.
In the flickering light, a dusty canvas appeared in front of everyone, it was tall and bulging, and was apparently covering a something large.
“It was originally planned that we would wait two more years before we took this out to help resist against the then even more fierce demonic beasts’ attacks, but it now seems we have to shift its appearance to an earlier date.” O’Brien waved his hand then commanded, “Remove the cloth.”
“This is…” When the canvas fell, Mayne couldn’t believe his eyes. Before him stood a huge, fierce some four-wheeled iron carriage; just its wheels were already taller than he was. It did not have the appearance of an ordinary carriage either. Rather, it had a ferocious looking horn-shaped metal ramp, the frame was made out of beast bones, and the areas between the frames had been closed with barbed bone shields, with a size of three to four large doors.
