Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Chapter 189: The Pope’s Sacrifice
“Old man, where’s your Divine Descent Technique? Why aren’t you using it?”
The First Prince’s scarlet eyes flashed with ferocity as he suppressed the Old Pope, not forgetting to apply mental pressure on him.
The battle between the two had already destroyed a large portion of the palace walls, and many Templar Knights had been killed in the aftermath of their fight. To protect Anna, the Old Pope had no choice but to lead the First Prince deep into the Sea of Undead.
His entire body was burning with scorching flames, and a monstrous Lava Dragon Head flickered in and out behind him.
The dragon head occasionally spat lava around, killing the Undead Soldiers attempting to approach. The terrifying heat had already turned the ground into a glassy surface.
“You will witness the descent of My Lord!”
The Old Pope murmured with a cold voice, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his lips.
He wielded a massive, flaming Light Shield with his left hand and a three-meter-long Flame Spear with his right, desperately fending off the First Prince’s attacks.
He had been waiting, waiting for Anna to awaken.
Once Anna’s awakening was complete, with the Spear of War, a divine artifact, the true God of War would awaken. At that moment, using the Divine Descent Technique would be the optimal choice.
“Ye Hao, what are you waiting for?”
The Pope roared blindly at the city wall.
He still hadn’t seen the Foreigners who had promised to revolt. Yet, during the siege, these Foreigners were more ferocious than ever.
He needed all available strength to hold back the First Prince and the Undead army attacking the city walls.
Hearing the Pope’s roar, the Scheming Frog, hiding on the city wall, felt his eyelids twitch, thinking they had been exposed.
However, he soon realized that the Old Pope was just yelling randomly, his gaze happening to fall on this section of the wall.
The Scheming Frog breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought to himself, “What Ye Hao promised has nothing to do with us Players.”
Besides, Players are Players, and Foreigners are Foreigners.
The Pope was calling out to the Foreigners, not the Players.
The Scheming Frog signaled in the public channel to the Players that it was just a false alarm.
“Stay hidden and continue to watch the show.”
“Damn it!”
Seeing the quietness inside and outside the city walls, with only the surging Sea of Undead and no trace of the Foreigners.
The Old Pope knew he had been betrayed.
He swore that after he dealt with the First Prince, Ye Hao would be the next one he dealt with.
He wanted to capture Ye Hao and take him to the alchemy laboratory, letting the alchemists conduct the most brutal experiments on him.
“I must hold on!”
The Old Pope’s eyes turned crimson, his Divine Power activated to its absolute limit, his life essence beginning to burn. Raging fiery energy covered him like armor.
At this moment, holding the spear and the giant shield, he looked less like a Pope and more like a knight enveloped in flames.
He was going to fight with all his might.
This was his last offensive measure besides the Divine Descent Technique.
The fiery armor mixed with Divinity made the First Prince somewhat fearful. The Old Pope at this moment resembled a fiery hedgehog covered in thorns.
With his strength augmented, the Old Pope immediately began to turn the tide in the battle, gradually gaining the upper hand.
The ground around him was like a volcanic eruption.
Lava raged, and smoke billowed.
Just then, on the palace wall, another surge of powerful energy began to rise. The Old Pope didn’t look back but fought even more fiercely. A hint of joy flashed in his stern gaze, for he knew Anna had awakened.
However, the next moment, his joy was frozen by the intense pain in his chest.
He lowered his head in disbelief.
He saw a spear flashing with golden divine light pierce through his body, and at the same time, it pierced through the First Prince he was fighting. The spear’s momentum did not diminish, even passing through both of them and pinning them to a city wall.
The Old Pope hadn’t expected that Anna’s first action upon awakening would be to stab him in the back.
“My goodness!”
[Scheming Frog] exclaimed, making eye contact with the Old Pope who had his head bowed.
This spear had pinned these two BOSSes to the tower of the wall where the Players were, hanging less than a meter above a group of Dawn Town Players.
“Brothers! Two of them are critically injured and CC’d! Grab your weapons!!”
After a brief moment of stunned silence, quick-thinking Players excitedly shouted.
“Damn it! One is level 69, the other is level 68. How much equipment will drop if we kill them?”
[Head of Instant Noodles] was already drooling and immediately condensed a Flame Burst and hurled it at the Old Pope.
[-247]
ヾ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ
[Head of Instant Noodles] became even more excited, his voice even becoming somewhat distorted.
“It actually deals damage, brothers, come quickly!”
Immediately, Player Mages with long-range abilities raised their hands and attacked. Various Tier 1 and Tier 2 magic spells rained down, engulfing the First Prince and the Old Pope.
However, the Players’ excitement didn’t last long. Not to mention that the Old Pope and the First Prince were struggling fiercely, but the golden spear also began to shake violently.
As if it had a will of its own, it gradually pulled itself out of the city wall, away from the bodies of the Old Pope and the First Prince.
With a “whoosh” sound, it returned to the hands of the stunning maiden on the palace wall.
The Old Pope and the First Prince fell forward onto the Players with a “splat.”
“Holy crap! Brothers, let’s get out of here, the two BOSSes are out of CC again!”
“Frog Bro, are we going to fight?”
“Fight what? You’ve been hitting them for ages, have their HP dropped even 1%? Let’s go!”
“Go, go, go, if we don’t leave now, one skill will instantly kill us.”
…
The Old Pope trembled as he got up from the ground. He had no time to pay attention to the escaping Foreigners as he fixed his gaze on the direction of the palace walls.
There, a figure clad in divine armor, like a Valkyrie, was floating in mid-air, flying towards them like a shooting star.
Even from a distance, a surging killing intent could be felt.
The First Prince, on the other hand, did not hold back against the Players.
Before he even got up from the ground, he unleashed a widespread Bloody Siphon on the Players, draining a large group of those who hadn’t escaped in time into dried husks.
His previously severe injuries had already recovered by more than half.
The Old Pope knew he could wait no longer. He took out an exquisitely crafted scroll from his robe and gently tore it open. A massive surge of magic poured out of the scroll, forming a deep crimson Flaming Shield that surrounded him.
Solemn and stern prayers emanated from the Old Pope’s mouth:
“Merciful My Lord, your humble servant, Kormor, is willing to abandon a weak and suffering soul to become the cornerstone of your supreme might…”
“I must stop him!”
Not only did the First Prince think this, but “Anna” who was still some distance from the city wall also thought the same. She threw the spear, wreathed in divine light, once again.
The spear, carrying the aura of destruction, struck the Old Pope’s shield with lightning speed, but only caused the shield to crack slightly.
It was clear that this shield had been blessed with Divinity.
“Sacrifice and rebirth shall temporarily belong to me, War and Flames shall wholly belong to you…”
The Old Pope’s lips moved faster and faster. His aged face, stained with a little blood, was filled with peace and piety.
His cloudy, hollow eyes gazed at the pitch-black night sky, where a massive fire vortex, hundreds of meters in radius, was gradually condensing and swirling amidst the flaming clouds.
The First Prince tried his best but still could not break through the shield, which was heavily blessed with Divinity.
During this time, “Anna’s” spear struck twice more, but it only made the shield appear more shattered.
However, it remained steadfast until the Old Pope uttered the last three words.
“Descend!”
