Chapter 307: Divine power

Han Shuo conveniently shoved all five piles of the collected items from the mountain into his space ring. Suddenly, he saw an enormous halo of holy light shining down on the earth in the distance. He instinctively felt disgust towards that pure, sacred light. Strands of faint smoke drifted up with the light and dispersed to join the heavens and earth.

Having collected all of the valuables from the bald mountain, Han Shuo looked up to see the three thousand plus zombies that had been walking towards the Helon Duchy turned to ashes after being bathed by the holy light. In a few minutes, not a single zombie was left.

Through the yin demons, Han Shuo saw a group of four gracefully charging over on warhorses. Three of them wore silver-gray armor with the Church of Light’s cross engraved on the chestplate. The fourth was a light mage in a white robe, a thick book of scriptures in his hand. A vast holy force overflowed from each page of the book being flipped.

Helen Tina was advancing by their side on the back of her fire phoenix. Her beautiful face was full of fury and cold killing intent, she quickly approached the bald-peaked mountain.

A yin demon on watch was about to close in on these people to examine them in detail when the white robed mage with the scriptures in hand seemed to discover it. His bright and wise eyes stared right at the yin demon. He thumbed through the scriptures in his hand. A bundle of white light abruptly shot out from a page and hit the invisible yin demon in a second.

The yin demon, that Han Shuo had spent a great deal of resources to refine, was enveloped in a strange force upon being hit by the white beam. It instantly turned into ashes. Even Han Shuo's soul brand on it had vanished.

A pair of thin eyes opened in the skies above Han Shuo. The white robed light mage abruptly snapped shut the scripture book, his eyes seeming to pierce through layers and layers of obstacles to nail down Han Shuo's body. The mage’s peaceful voice resounded quietly, “He's on the bald mountain.”

The three silver armored Temple Knights urged their warhorses forward at the same time. The warhorses moved like whirlwinds, galloping swiftly towards the bald mountain. The white clad mage leisurely abandoned his warhorse and floated above them, his speed even faster than that of the three Temple Knights riding warhorses.

Helen Tina, gliding on the fire phoenix at a low altitude, cried out softly in anger after hearing the mage’s words. The fire phoenix instantly shot through the air, tearing a blazing red wake across the sky and reached the mountain in the span of a few breaths.

Han Shuo’s anger had been ignited when his yin demon had been turned to ashes. In the same breath, he realized the Church of Light’s terrifying power. In particular, that light mage holding the scripture book could easily kill a yin demon with a simple wave of his hand. Han Shuo instantly raised his guard against this mysterious person and his scriptures.

With the high speed of the Art of the Demonic Ninth Heavens, and the earth elite zombie invisible within the earth, Han Shuo wasn't worried about escaping. Therefore, he didn't choose to retreat upon seeing the Sky’s Eye above his head. He'd wanted to at least face the light mage who'd destroyed his yin demon and suss out the situation before deciding whether or not to temporarily retreat.

The Sky’s Eye formed over his head drained a constant supply of mental strength from the caster. When the light mage realized that Han Shuo wasn’t fleeing, he no longer supplied the Sky’s Eye with mental strength and immediately dispelled it.

Helen Tina landed in front of Han Shuo like a meteor under the brilliant sunlight in her fiery-red magic robe. Approximately twenty-eight years old, her youthful expression was covered by a layer of frost as she stared coldly at him from the back of her super rank magic creature and shouted, “The six magic crystal cannons, hand them back over to me now!”

Han Shuo looked up at her with a calm and natural expression. He quirked an eyebrow before saying with a bland smile, “This is but some of the interest due from your Helon Duchy. Remember this well, these six magic crystal cannons are only the beginning. I will make you spit back out everything you people have robbed from us these past several years.”

“Who are you?” Helen Tina burned with rage upon hearing his words. However, she seemed to remember something and inquired about his identity.

“Heh heh, you will soon know.” Han Shuo replied casually. He stopped paying her any mind as he focused all of his attention on the newest arrival, the light mage.

“Please come with us to the Church of Light for a visit. As long as you confess your sins, the God of Light will forgive your reckless arrogance.” The Red Archbishop Kosse looked peaceful, as if he were a host inviting his guest.

Kosse and Ferguson were both grand magi. However, Kosse was also a wind mage, in addition to being a light mage. Moreover, he held the divine artifact “Revelation” of the Church of Light. He could borrow divine power from it, so his strength was much higher than the light grand magus Ferguson.

Kosse was only forty-five years old, but had the honor of serving as the acclaimed Red Archbishop. This alone indicated that he was no simple character. The only person above the rank of Red Archbishop was the God of Light’s messenger, the Pope. As the youngest Red Archbishop in history, he was the most promising candidate to be the next Pope.

“Sorry, I have no time.” Refusing outright, Han Shuo’s demeanor was utterly fearless as he looked at Kosse.

The three galloping Temple Knights finally caught up. They’d come on the back of their warhorses since the road on the bald mountain wasn't too winding. Standing on the mountain, Han Shuo looked into the distance and discovered a team of a dozen silver armored knights gradually approaching. They seemed to have been left behind by the four in Kosse’s group.

“My Lord, we don't have to waste words on this heretic. He brutally killed Lord Ferguson. He should be burned for this sin.” A Temple Knight glanced coldly at Han Shuo and spoke to Kosse.

The Temple Knights were a group of dedicated fanatics completely faithful to the God of Light. They themselves possessed extraordinary strength. Only when the God of Light recognized their existence and bestowed a blessing upon them would they be qualified to be a Temple Knight. The favor each Temple Knight earned was different, in accordance to their strength of their faith as well as their own efforts.

The strength of the Temple Knights could be distinguished based on the amount of the God’s favor bestowed upon them. The Temple Knights who only received a hint of favor, would have the insignia of the Holy Grail on the armor’s chest. Those who received a lesser amount would have the olive branch insignia, those with a lot of favor had the cross insignia.

The Temple Knights who earned the blessing of a miracle could display their power to the highest possible extent. This type of Temple Knights was extremely rare and few. Their insignia being an angel statue meant that their strength was comparable to a sacred knight. If a Temple Knight of this kind was a sacred knight himself, then his strength would be even more terrifying.

However, these Temple Knights were simply too rare in the Church of Light. They wouldn't randomly leave the Temple of Light under normal circumstances, so those with the cross insignia on their chests were already the most powerful outside. Currently, three of these Temple Knights with the cross insignia were staring raptly at Han Shuo with fervent, frenzied eyes. Han Shuo grew cautious upon seeing this kind of stubborn madness that belonged only to inflexible religious followers.

“Bryan, please come with us to the Church of Light to give a clear explanation. I guarantee that the God of Light will forgive your recklessness no matter how grave your sins are. At most you'll only be imprisoned within the Church, but we won't take your life.” The Red Archbishop secretly recalled the warning from Lancelot Empire and tried his best to sound polite.

“Bryan? So you are indeed that unlucky new city lord of Brettel City. I finally know the meaning of your words just now. Hmph, daring to grab my magic crystal cannons, you simply don't care about the lives of your people!” Helen Tina had completely understood the situation by now. Her pretty eyes drilled into Han Shuo's body as she snorted.

“You can try. Any duchy that dares to pillage Brettel City will pay the price.” Han Shuo remained unmoved, only throwing Helen Tina a glance along with a cold warning. He then slowly took out the Demonslayer Edge and nodded towards the Temple Knight who'd first spoken, “Come on, brave Temple Knight. If you can win against me, I’ll consider following you guys back to the Church of Light. I think your Church of Light won't gang up on me, will you?”

“But for a despicable necromancer, there is simply no need for a second person to make a move.” The Temple Knight swung his silver spear to point it at Han Shuo, his actions accompanied by his words that rang in a righteous, awe-inspiring manner.

The silver spear shone with a brilliant silver light. Han Shuo was long since been familiar with this kind of silver fighting aura. However, the silver spear also contained a pure divine power in addition to the energy of the silver fighting aura. When the strange divine power merged with the fighting aura, the combination became much more powerful than simple silver fighting aura.

The Temple Knights had exchanged their faithful, steadfast faith for blessings from the God of Light, earning a strange power, in addition to their fighting aura, that they bitterly cultivated. Not only did that strange power protect them from the erosion of evil forces, but it also gave them the ability to purify the evil in this world.

Normally, the damage caused by dark and necromancy spells to Temple Knights was extremely limited. The Temple Knights possessed a very strong defense against even high rank dark and necromancy spells with terrifying lethality. On the other hand, the Temple Knights’ weapons, combined with the power bestowed by their God, were terribly fatal to mages of the two aforementioned majors. Any undead creature touched by their silver spears would be unable to withstand it and would immediately be turned to ashes.