Chapter 734: The Pope's Senses

"Yes, we tried to summon the Angel King through a ritual to ensure that the artificial planets of the Congress of Magic could be captured, but he gave absolutely no response, not even the symbolic light of refusal in the past. Your Holiness, did anything happen to the Angel King?" Philip told everything that had happened. He couldn't have sounded more worried.

After the battle of Rentato, the strength of the South Church had greatly declined. As a result, the influence of the Angel King became of paramount importance for them, helping them to stabilize the panicked and suspicious clerics. Also, an expert at the peak of legendary who could command three level-three legendary seraphs of Mountain Paradise was himself a great weight that could change the balance of the situation.

Of course, for Philip, the most important question was whether or not the Angel King's lack of response had anything to do with His Holiness. Was it because of the secret dissemination of the way to gather the power of faith? Did an accident happen when the Angel King tried it?

After hearing Philip's reply, Benedict III did not show any emotional change. He slowly closed his eyes, and the holy light emerged behind him. The ivory light spread out, building up the sacredness and vastness.

Then, embraced by the light, a gate seemed to have been opened in midair leading to Mountain Paradise. The hollow and unpredictable hymns echoed, and infinite brilliance surged out, constituting a projection of "Mountain Paradise" that was almost concrete.

The angels and holy spirits inside the projection seemed to have sensed something. They all bowed at Benedict III solemnly with respect.

He was the Lord's spokesperson and embodiment on earth. Until he returned to Mountain Paradise, he was even more honorable and closer to the Lord than the Angel King was!

After he returned to Mountain Paradise, he would be directly melted into the light of the Lord as part of the Lord!

After the greeting, the angels and holy spirits began to pray, praise, and sing. The projection of the seventh floor was clearer than at any time in the past.

The seventh floor of Mountain Paradise was the infinite, transcendental pure light that was devoid of impurities. It gave so much pressure that the god inside seemed truly capable of destroying the entire world!

Even Benedict III could see exactly what was inside as a demigod. He could only vaguely notice that a lofty angel with thirty-six wings on the back crouched at the periphery of the light with a vintage and divine book in his hands.

"Nothing is wrong with the Angel King. He has simply fallen asleep for some reason." Benedict III smiled at Philip. "Although his God's Guard is very suitable for such operations, can't we achieve our goal without him?"

He looked peaceful, but his eyes squinted. How could Mecantron have been so weak? What terrible wounds had he suffered? What was he doing exactly? Had his ambitions sprouted yet again after the Sard incident? Who caused it?

Even though the Angel King was surrounded by the power of the God of Truth, Benedict III, as an unquestionable demigod, keenly sensed the weakness of Mecantron, since Mecantron only dared to crouch at the edge without pressing any deeper. He felt anomalies from the uncanny status.

If the Congress of Magic hadn't demonstrated the importance of artificial planets through live stream, the Church certainly wouldn't try to summon the Angel King when the situation was relatively peaceful, like the hundred years in the past. In such a case, he wouldn't have noticed the Angel King's weakness at all. In half a year at most, Mecantron would regain a part of his strength and cover his weakness. Because of his relationship with the God of Truth, it would be impossible for him to detect any problem.

"I have to thank the Congress of Magic, Lucien Evans, and Natasha Violet..." Benedict III looked rather gloomy.

After hearing the pope's question, Philip replied respectfully, "Your Holiness, summoning the Angel King is only meant to increase the odds of success and eliminate the unexpected factors. It's not true that we cannot achieve our purpose without him. If you are willing to take action in person, things will be much easier."

"Although I cannot use God's Arrival yet because it's only been several years since I was crowned, I am still the embodiment of the Lord and a demigod who stands on the top of the mortal world. Why dare I not go out of the Holy City and take action in person?" Viken, who appeared as Benedict III right now, spoke in such a casual tone as if he were discussing what would be suitable as the dinner tonight. "If the evil fake god Alterna weren't staring at the ground from the sky all the time, I could've stopped all the top legends of the Congress on my own."

It was a sublimation of life advancing from top legends to demigods. Even though it was barely possible for Benedict III to eliminate any top legend when he was unable to use "God's Arrival", his enemy still couldn't defeat him no matter how many top legends they had.

Philip said in delight, "If Your Holiness takes action in person, our plan is already 90% successful."

"However, I can only attack once. The Silver Moon, the Lord of Hell, the Will of Abyss, and the other evil fake gods must be waiting for an opportunity to heavily wound me before I could perform God's Arrival. For that purpose, the enemies might even let go of their grudge and detestation against each other and collaborate," said Benedict III peacefully.

He was not sure if Lucien and the other sorcerers detected the real secrets of the monster and Mountain Paradise in the Realm of Gates, but there was no doubt that they must have found something. While the story in "Arcana Voice" was exaggerated, it was still partly true. If they looked through the phenomena on the surface, they would vaguely notice the connection between him and the monster and realize that God's Arrival could not be used frequently not only because it was too much for the physical body.

Therefore, he set up his plans on the premise that Douglas, Fernando, Lucien, the God of Silver Moon, and the Lord of Hell already knew the two big secrets.

"Once will be enough." Philip was delighted. "As a matter of fact, we could've captured it through our method to destroy artificial planets in the past, but since the Congress of Magic revealed it actively, we have to be careful that they may have set up traps. Therefore, we have to revise our plan."

A few years back, since the Church was unable to establish similar items on the orbit, their attacks had always been conducted through the legendary experts alone. The measures through which the artificial planets protected themselves, such as hiding and orbit-changing, were barely useful for the well-prepared legends. The main concern was that magic circles had been established on the artificial planets to facilitate legendary sorcerers' reinforcement and to feed the situation back to Allyn.

Therefore, their plan had always been simple. They would confirm that the legends of the Congress of Magic were out on missions first and wait for an opportunity to outnumber the enemy. Even though the surveillance magic circles delivered the intelligence back to Allyn, and the legendary sorcerers in Allyn could reach the artificial planets to join the battle, they still wouldn't be able to stop the destruction. By the time the other legendary sorcerers of the Congress of Magic came to aid, the artificial planet would've been destroyed.

The plan seemed simple, but there were actually a lot of difficulties. First of all, they needed to make sure that the legendary sorcerers were really out. Their lives would be at risk if they gave a wrong estimation about the enemy's number and strength. When legendary sorcerers were prepared, it was difficult for the non-legendary night watchers to determine their whereabouts. That was why the Church had only destroyed two artificial planets so far.

It was also the reason why Philip was worried that they might fall into the Congress of Magic's trap in their operation. After all, it certainly wouldn't be the most pleasant experience if they reached the orbit through the preinstalled transmission circles only to discover that Douglas, Brook, Fernando, Hathaway, Lucien Evans, and other people were waiting for them. Plus, there were no divine defense circles on the orbit, and the legendary sorcerers could block the space easily to prevent the reinforcements from being teleported. Then, things would be the most dreadful.

"The legendary sorcerers who focus on the microscopic domain are less and less interested in the outside world. They are dedicated to the collision of particles..." When he heard Philip mention the plan in the past, Benedict III shook his head and sighed.

In the microscopic domain, magic experiments were more important than field explorations. Therefore, the legendary sorcerers had been going out much less frequently. Thankfully, they needed to conduct microscopic experiments in different environments and explore if there were any particles that hadn't been discovered, such as positrons, in the weird environments. That was why they did not stay in Allyn all the time, in which case they could've established a terrifying legendary squad at any moment.

Of course, the legendary sorcerers were not only focused on the microscopic domain. They also needed to watch over the alternate dimensions, the four countries on this side of the strait, and the north coastline.

"They disagree with each other so hard in the microscopic domain that they are almost fighting among themselves..." Philip mocked and continued, "To prevent the evil gods from seizing a chance to attack you, we do not need you to capture the artificial planets on the orbit directly. Instead..."

He introduced his whole plan.

Listening without showing any emotion, Benedict III replied in the same tone, "Alright."

After Philip bid farewell, Benedict III walked to the window and looked at the blooming flowers outside that did not seem to be living in winter at all. He nodded, "We have to be more careful."

...

On the Silver Moon Wasteland...

Nasdell, who had returned in a haste, stood before Dubenal, his head lowered, not having the courage to look at the prince in the eyes.

"So, Rentato is already such a dangerous place..." said Dubenal in a rough voice.

Nasdell immediately felt like bursting into tears. Everything that happened to him was not entirely worthless. It helped the prince to see the dangerousness of the Congress of Magic and Rentato. Those guys who laughed at him the moment they saw his wounds couldn't understand his enormous contributions at all!

"Therefore, working with the Congress of Magic is an option that is worth considering." Among the werewolves, some princes were close to the Congress of Magic, and some, including Dubenal, were hostile. Therefore, Nasdell thought that he could change the prince's attitude with his investigation.

"No," said Dubenal firmly.

Huh?Nasdell looked at his prince in surprise.

"We should attack the Congress of Magic. Since they are already so powerful and dangerous, working with them will only result in a new Saint Truth," declared Dubenal confidently and proudly.

Stunned for a moment, Nasdell said with much admiration, "Your Highness, you are truly the smartest expert among the werewolves. Your wise eyes have seen through the nature of things. I didn't realize that at all."

"Hahaha." Dubenal laughed aloud in a great mood. He had always thought highly of Nasdell because the guy was very honest and not clever enough, which made the guy a good contrast for himself.