"Wait!"
This wasn't about playing around, I was instantly speechless.
"Your attitude is strange! I remember you were afraid of danger, so why are you insisting on going towards the tiger's mountain now?"
It was truly vexing. Previously at Sulide Volcano, this guy Cyra was deathly afraid, not even daring to take a single step into that cave. Now despite Elara's repeated warnings, she still wanted to go to Parristol with me. What was she really thinking?
"If I was alone, of course I'd be scared! But it's completely different if we're all together..."
Cyra spread her hands, gesturing behind her, clearly indicating the two-winged and eight-winged angel combination.
"Reed just said she also wants to go to Parristol, so of course I have to go with you, or else I'll be left alone!"
"She wants to go too?"
I looked at Reed in puzzlement. Her strength with two wings was about the same as Cyra's, so why did she insist on wading into this mess?
"You don't need to worry about that, I have my own way to ensure my safety..."
Unusually not reading a book, Reed seemed to be asking Cysper about the international relations of the countries around Parristol. Hearing my question, she turned and nodded.
"Besides, there's always Mia! She's an eight-winged angel, more than enough to protect me!"
Mia's position was quite awkward too. Originally Elara wanted her to stay behind and gather information about Parristol's situation nearby. But as Reed's assistant, going so far away put her in a difficult position. She wanted to object to Reed's decision but was immediately threatened with being dismissed as an assistant if she didn't fulfill her protection duties. That instantly deflated her, completely cowed.
But talking about it, with Mia around I was much more at ease. The strength of an eight-winged angel was indeed extraordinary - at least a sixth-tier starter, while Mia was said to be from the older generation, having maintained that rank for nearly a thousand years. Converted to human tiers, she was around seventh-tier! Apart from being too engrossed in research and neglecting training, she was basically the strongest among our group, far surpassing even Mike and Cysper.
While Cyra and I didn't find it strange for a two-winged angel to order an eight-winged one around, others found it very peculiar, completely overturning their conventional notions about angelic rank hierarchy. Brennan and the others kept sneaking over to ask me what their relationship was.
"If that's the case, then I definitely have to come too! With such a big incident in Parristol, how can I just watch from the sidelines?"
Seeing this, Judith didn't think it was too much trouble, immediately chiming in to join us. At this point, almost everyone was accounted for! The only ones who hadn't voiced their stances were Cysper and Mike, but those two didn't need to be asked - otherwise how could they be called hangers-on?
"Is this really okay? So many people going to that place Parristol..."
I couldn't help feeling dazed. It was like a grand procession, but this wasn't about sightseeing!
Was this the legendary power of friendship? To be honest, I was a bit touched that everyone gave various reasons to accompany me, when the possibility was actually quite small. Most likely they were just worried about my safety and wanted to help me out.
"Although that sour fish you made was somewhat satisfactory, I'm not just doing this to help you!"
However, just as I was thinking that, Reed suddenly declared as if seeing through my thoughts:
"The main reason is that divine punishment is really interesting. I just don't want to miss this opportunity."
Er...okay, I guess I was overthinking it! It wasn't strange for Reed to have this mindset. The lure of the strange divine punishment attack was quite strong - not just for her, even Nicola had specifically gone there before, so I didn't think there was any problem with her saying that.
In fact, wasn't I also curious about it? But I just didn't have the mind for it right now.
Since everyone had set their goal, there was no need for further discussion. Next, we began heading southwest. At this point, the distance to Parristol wasn't too far - if we were fast enough, we could arrive in less than half a day.
"You said you didn't have any connection to that Adrian, but you're going this far to find your..."
Taking advantage of the travel break, Cyra suddenly came beside me with a sly look, taunting. Fortunately, seeing my raised fist, she quickly changed her tune sensibly.
"...to look for him. You still call that nothing?"
"There really is nothing. I just don't understand what he's trying to do, so I want to ask him in person! What, is that not allowed?"
I defiantly asked back. I had figured out how to deal with this unscrupulous Cyra. I had to firmly deny it right away, never letting her grab any excuse to make something of it.
"Tch, of course you can..."
Cyra curled her lip, clearly still not buying what I said as she muttered to herself.
"There's really nothing special about it, why not just admit it?"
"What do you mean admit it? I said there's nothing, so there's nothing!"
I could feel my head about to burst. Even after my clarification, she still didn't believe me! Just as I wanted to keep persuading her, I heard Reed suddenly speak up from behind, reminding everyone:
"When we get to Parristol, let's not try to directly enter the city. It's easy to expose our tracks that way! It's best to stay far away and send just a few people to observe the situation first!"
"I see...okay!"
Exchanging a look with Cysper, I nodded in agreement. Reed did make sense. Currently under the local rebel forces' control, Parristol had imposed restrictions on all entry and exit points, so it would be very difficult to enter through normal channels.
The top priority of this trip was ensuring safety, not just for Reed, but also a more important figure - the Pope of the True Church. We couldn't afford any slip-ups. Yet he had followed all this way, I really didn't know what he was thinking. If we were talking about the most hopeless one, it had to be Mike!
But no matter how much I advised along the way, Cysper was unwilling to turn back. In his view, Parristol was just a small place - even if divine punishment rained down from the heavens, it couldn't do anything to him. Since that was the case, what more was there to say...
However, as night fell and we were nearing our destination, the situation's development far exceeded everyone's psychological expectations. Because along the way, we passed through a small village located near Parristol.
This was a village devoid of any living people - to be precise, there were no survivors, as the ground was littered with corpses that seemed to have been recently attacked. The local villagers had died horrifically, some hung from rooftops, some torn in half, some bodies even eaten to the point of being scattered everywhere. The entire village was covered in a bloody red hue, simply heart-stopping.
"What happened here?!"
Cyra had never witnessed such a scene before, repeatedly ducking behind me, whispering:
"No, this bloody smell...I want to vomit!"
"Try to hold it in. You'll see more scenes like this later, you'll get used to it!"
Though I also felt uncomfortable, I had at least seen it many times before, even traversing the Dark Continent, so I was much better than when I first arrived.
Reed's reaction was far better - though she frowned unable to bear looking at it, she simply turned away and closed her eyes, no problem. Her psychological quality was far superior to Cyra's.
"Monsters! And not just lone, mindless beasts. Their numbers were at least ten, and from the entry and exit tracks, they had strong organizational discipline - probably a regular monster military squad that infiltrated from the north into the inland!"
After carefully examining the corpses and traces left on the ground, Mike reported back to Cysper.
"What are the border troops doing? How could they allow this to happen?"
Cysper was truly angered. It should be noted that this area was strictly still part of the Cresthaven Papal Dominion's territory, right near the border. Yet such a severe monster attack had occurred.
I couldn't help interjecting that when Cysper got serious, he somehow came across as quite dashing - completely different from the vibe Cyrus gave me. It made me see him in a new light. As expected of a millennium-old pope, though he normally joked around without a care, his attitude changed in an instant when the situation called for severity.
"Well...the border troops may not have been able to do anything..."
After a moment's hesitation, Mike finally mustered the courage to answer.
"After Parristol declared independence, the central church issued orders for the border troops there to temporarily withdraw ten kilometers back to avoid unnecessary conflict and casualties. So they should still be behind us at the moment..."
"Who gave that order?"
Mike's words didn't seem to dispel Cysper's anger as he immediately demanded further.
"It was Eminem, the plenipotentiary you personally appointed..."
Mike carefully replied. Hearing this, Cysper fell silent, only able to turn away from us and brood alone.
Actually, thinking it over, I didn't see too much of an issue with Eminem's order - it may have just lacked comprehensive consideration. Moreover, this place wasn't far from Parristol, and combined with the repeated incidents of reported monster interference, the root of the problem still seemed to stem from there.
So it came back to the same question - what was Adrian up to? How could he allow such a situation to occur!
I really wished I could fly straight to Parristol and drag him out to demand an explanation. However, now was not the time to be rash...