The black-robed man came to a halt. He knitted his brows and gazed at his right hand. The amber ring on his right index finger had completely shattered.
The gemstone, which was originally shining with abundant magical power, had turned gray and no longer had any luster.
"What's wrong?
Sir Verona? "
Croy asked as he sensed the black-robed man's reaction.
Verona turned around, swept a glance at the black-robed man, and said coldly.
"The Purgatory Bat has been killed."
"What?"
Upon hearing this, Croy was taken aback.
As a member of the Doomsday Church, he was familiar with all sorts of otherworldly creatures and he knew exactly what the Purgatory Bat was.
Generally speaking, these Demons would flee even if they couldn't defeat their enemies.
Demons were cunning and cherished their lives, so it was impossible for them to fight to the death.
Yet, the enemies were able to kill the Purgatory Bat summoned by Sir Verona. In Croy's opinion, there were only two possibilities.
Either they had discovered the Purgatory Demon Bat a long time ago and ambushed it while it was unprepared, or the other party's strength far surpassed the Purgatory Demon Bat's and killed it with a single strike. The Abyssal Demon Bat didn't even have time to react.
But … Is this possible?
The other party was just a group of mercenaries. How could they have such strength?
Of course, it would be fine if it was a famous adventurer team, but according to Croy's information, the adventurer team named 'Fairies and Treasure Chests' didn't have much power at all. Their leader was only a Master Swordsman, so how could he possibly have the ability to kill the Purgatory Bat?
At this thought, Croy was taken aback. Then, a thought emerged in his mind.
Where are the Dark Knights I sent?
"Sir Verona, what should we do now?"
For a moment, Croy wanted to dispatch more people to check out the situation. Deep in his heart, he believed that it was impossible for those Adventurers to deal with his Apocalypse Horsemen. These Apocalypse Horsemen were elites of the church, and each of them had rich combat experience. Ordinary Adventurers couldn't deal with them at all.
Even if they had fallen into a trap, they should have sent out a warning signal immediately.
However, up until now, he had not seen any smoke in the sky that indicated that there was an emergency. This meant that his Black Knights should be fine.
But for some reason, Croy still felt a little uneasy. She had a feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
In the end, Croy decided to consult Verona and see what he thought.
If it was Verona who wanted to explore again, then he would feel more at ease sending someone to check out the situation.
However, to Croy's disappointment, Verona, who always seemed to be crazy, shook his head in response to his question.
"Don't worry about them, our target is the Sun God Temple.
Right now, the most important thing for us is to complete the mission and not to disperse our forces to deal with those flies.
It's fine if they don't obstruct us, but if they dare to obstruct us, we'll make sure they die without a burial place! "
"Yes!"
Although he was cursing in his heart, he was the one who went to provoke the other party. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so much trouble.
But after hearing Verona's order, Croy could only nod in agreement.
Although he was still a little worried about the Black Knights, deep in his heart, Croy was more or less relieved. It seemed that even though this Sir Verona was crazy, he still knew how to prioritize when it came to serious matters.
At this thought, Croy let out a sigh, turned around, and was taken aback.
"What's wrong?"
Verona's hoarse voice snapped Croy back to his senses. Facing his eyes, the Black Knight shook his head.
"It's nothing, Sir Verona. It's just that the fog is getting thicker. It seems like we have to hurry up."
Croy said, gazing at the mountain range that was vaguely shrouded in a thin layer of fog. Then, he turned around and continued moving forward.
Behind him, the fog was slowly spreading.
The white fog gradually thickened. The cold, damp, and deathly aura slowly shrouded everything in it.
Croy didn't know that as they entered the Lost City, a slender black figure appeared at the entrance of Athos City.
"How ugly."
Gazing at the charred corpses, the black figure let out a snort and muttered under her breath.
As though responding to her words, the white fog rolled and coalesced beside the black figure, turning into wailing faces. They surrounded the figure, widened their mouths, and let out wails and roars that ordinary people couldn't hear.
But it was apparent that the other party wasn't interested in this level of 'complaints'. She waved her hand and at the next moment, the rolling fog devoured the wailing souls completely.
"Losers don't have a reason to complain. The fate of the weak is to be conquered … And your souls will perish in pain … This is my last mercy to you. Accept this gift with gratitude."
Along with this ice-cold declaration, the fog thickened and the ominous figure vanished into the fog once again.
Shortly after, the entire world turned pure white.
"It's foggy."
Sitting by the window and gazing at the fog in the distance, Ina said softly.
On the other hand, Tilly, who stood beside her, knitted her brows and gazed into the distance.
"That's strange. It's still daytime … Has there ever been such a thick fog at this time before?"
It wasn't strange for Tilly to have such doubts. Even though the fog was indeed a huge threat to the Lost City, there was also a time limit. According to their previous experiences in entering and exiting the Lost City, the fog was thickest in the early morning and evening, while daytime should be the clearest.
But now, looking at the white fog lingering around the mountains in the distance, Tilly felt a little uneasy as though some ferocious beast was slowly approaching and she couldn't resist it at all.
"You're overthinking it, Tilly."
Upon hearing Tilly's words, Ina revealed a lively and playful smile. Then, she extended her hand and patted Tilly's shoulder hard.
"Did the previous battle scare you and you still haven't recovered from it?
We're not fools. Besides, didn't you find this place?
We can rest here for the night, and then continue our journey tomorrow. As for those damned cultists, since Mr. Zayen said they won't bother us, then they probably won't bother us. Don't worry. "
"Yeah …"
Facing Ina's consolation, Tilly forced a smile, but she seemed a little tired.
But it wasn't surprising. After that, the members of the 'Fairies and Treasure Chests' team left the ruins of the tavern and continued forward along the path under Tilly's lead. Finally, they found an abandoned tower.
This was supposed to be an arrow tower responsible for the defense of the outer city. But now, it had long lost its original purpose and was only an empty frame.
The magical creatures that originally resided in it were naturally wiped out by the adventurers. Then, they stopped here. In fact, they couldn't move forward even if they wanted to because in the previous battle with the Black Knights, many of the adventurers of the 'Fairies and Treasure Chests' team were injured, including Steve.
Under such circumstances, it was indeed unsuitable for them to move forward.
As the only Priest here, Tilly naturally had to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of the injured. Even though Seren's theurgical spells were mostly supportive, basic healing theurgical spells weren't a problem for Tilly.
Fortunately, the adventurers had bought a large number of healing potions before they set off. Hence, as long as the wounds weren't so deep that the bones could be seen, they would be healed after a night of sleep with Tilly's healing theurgy.
Even though the Lost City would become more dangerous after nightfall, the 'Fairies and Treasure Chests' team was already familiar with the surroundings and knew that there weren't any particularly powerful or dangerous magical creatures around.
But the most reassuring thing was that they had a Legendary being by their side. As long as Jenn was still here, they had nothing to fear!
Jenn.
Upon hearing this name from Ina, Tilly felt her heart skip a beat.
At this moment, she seemed to recall the feeling when she was hugged by Jenn. Now that she thought about it carefully, she realized that she was completely stunned by the sharp blades that were flying towards her and didn't think about anything else at all.
And now that she calmed down, those forgotten feelings seemed to have returned. She could even clearly recall how Jenn's arms wrapped around her waist and how she leaned against Jenn's chest. At this moment, Tilly felt her face blushing as though she was still snuggling against Jenn's chest and feeling his warmth. She could feel that Jenn was behind her, hugging her tightly.
His hand was slowly moving up her body, and she … ….
"Tilly?
What's wrong? "
"Eh?"
It wasn't until Ina's voice rang in her ears again that Tilly was shocked. When she came back to her senses, she was surprised to find that Ina was right in front of her, staring at her with a pair of large emerald eyes.
This made Tilly feel a little flustered and she couldn't help but take a few steps back to distance herself from Ina.
"I-I'm fine?"
"Really?"
Upon hearing Tilly's answer, Ina blinked curiously.
"But you don't seem to be in a good mood. Are you too tired?
It's better to take a break now. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if anything happens. "
"Y-you're right."
Tilly smiled awkwardly and nodded.
"In that case, I'm going to rest now … Ina, you have to take care of yourself too."
"Don't worry, I will accompany you when the others come to change shifts."
Facing Ina's response, Tilly didn't say anything else and hurriedly turned around to leave.
After her figure disappeared, Ina shrugged and leaned against the window of the tower once more.
"Really, Tilly is still so flustered … But …"
Ina said and tilted her head curiously. She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but she seemed to have seen a glint of red light in Tilly's eyes …
Maybe it was the reflection of the sun.
Thinking of this, Ina shook her head and turned around to look out the window again.
Over there, the sun was slowly setting.
The scarlet radiance shone on the abandoned city, painting it with a dazzling red.