Chapter 80: The Lady of Endless Sorrow, Anya

Soon afterward, the underground chamber had become a true hell on earth.

Blood soaked the floor. Everywhere lay twisted, shattered armor, along with the minced flesh and splintered bones squeezed from within it, and broken cruciform blades scattered across the ground.

The stasis field had completely sealed off the chamber, leaving the penitence troops inside unable even to call for their comrades or rally reinforcements. Under the slaughter of the bloodied war hammer, they were all killed where they stood.

Because so many targets were bound by the field, the stasis module soon lost its effect, and the bracelet on his wrist was reduced to scrap.

Li Nanke firmly shut the iron door to the chamber and said to Kolonna, who had already been tied hand and foot so tightly that he looked like a bound rice dumpling:

“You were the one defending fairness in the trial just now, weren’t you?”

“You heretic! What evil prayer did you use? Lord Melchizedek... you actually made him...”

Li Nanke slapped him across the face. Kolonna’s cheek swelled red and he spat out a few broken teeth mixed with blood.

Reynold was also deeply curious. What prayer had Li Nanke just used? It had frozen everyone in place. Even with his strength, he had been unable to break free completely, and could only move with painful slowness.

With such a formidable prayer, what had once been a certain death had been reversed in an instant, and the archbishop of the grave diggers had become a living target.

But they were comrades who had shared life and death, and trusted one another completely. With an outsider present, even if he was curious, he would not ask.

Li Nanke sneered. “Remember this: I ask, you answer. If you waste even half a sentence, I’ll cut off one of your fingers.”

“You just said a whole sentence. I’ll be generous and forgive the first offense. I’ll only cut off one.”

The chainsaw blade flashed. Kolonna let out a shriek, his face turning deathly pale as cold sweat poured from his forehead and slid down his cheeks.

“Hm? Archbishop, don’t you believe in suffering? How can you not even bear this little pain?”

Kolonna trembled all over. “I-I’m human too. I can feel pain... I’m a bishop in charge of preaching and instruction. I teach the faithful to worship suffering.”

Reynold scoffed. “If Kolonna truly adored suffering himself, then his ‘Prayer of Pain’ would not be limited to just a few specialties. That’s why I told you before that he wasn’t any real threat.”

“Heh, so that’s it. You teach the faithful to revere suffering, yet you yourself fear it, and live off the offerings of the people. You’re quite something,” Li Nanke said. Then he went on, “I’m a man of my word. Since you’re not much of a threat anyway, as long as you answer properly, I promise I won’t kill you.”

At this point, Kolonna had no room left to resist. He lowered his head like a man accepting fate. “Ask.”

“I heard that the entire Holy Cathedral of All Saints is reinforced with a grand prayer formation capable of withstanding all foreign enemies. Where is the activation key?”

“What do you want that for?”

Li Nanke’s eyes turned fierce. As the chainsaw blade flashed once more, Kolonna screamed again.

“Was I not clear enough? I ask, you answer.”

Kolonna’s tears and snot had become a mess. Shaking violently, he cried out, “Clear! I understand! Don’t cut me again. I was only asking casually!”

“The activation key is kept by Melchizedek. It should be in this underground chamber. Search carefully and you’ll find it.”

The underground chamber where the archbishop of the grave diggers stayed was vast, its furnishings complex. To find a specific unfamiliar object would take quite some time.

Li Nanke sneered and swung his sword again.

“Agh! Damn it! I already told you everything, I told you everything!”

“You’re trying to stall. If the proper report doesn’t get out for too long, the others will grow suspicious.” Li Nanke paused, then continued, “I don’t care whether you truly don’t know or are pretending not to know. You must tell us the exact place where the key is hidden. Miss even one spot and you know the consequences. I’d like to see whether your fingers and toes together are enough for me to make a few mistakes.”

“You’re a devil! You’re a complete devil!”

Kolonna could not hold out for long. Very quickly, he gave in entirely.

Kolonna’s relationship with Melchizedek was fairly good, and he could guess a few suitable hiding places. After paying the painful price of two failed attempts, he soon helped the two of them find the activation key. The so-called key was a parchment scroll covered in prayer runes. Once the prayers upon it were triggered, the entire Holy Cathedral of All Saints could be sealed shut. Until the great prayer formation’s energy was exhausted, no one from outside could enter the cathedral.

This was the Saint Church’s last line of defense. Unless it faced a desperate siege like the one years ago, it would not be used lightly.

Li Nanke tossed the parchment scroll to Reynold and said, “Finish off Kolonna. We’re going to save Aniya.”

“You said you wouldn’t kill me! You broke your promise!” Kolonna howled with a face twisted grotesquely in terror and fury. He had already foreseen his fate, but human instinct for survival always leaves behind a sliver of hope.

Li Nanke sneered. “You also promised fairness in judgment before. And the result? I didn’t see you keep your promise.”

“Besides, I only said I wouldn’t kill you. I never said Reynold wouldn’t do it. Compared to you, I’ve done what I promised.”

Hearing that they were going to rescue his sister, Reynold did not waste any words. He lifted the wolf-headed greatsword and, under Kolonna’s utterly despairing gaze, cleanly beheaded the enemy.

Li Nanke came to the chamber door and turned back to Reynold. “If we want to reach the cells, we’ll inevitably alert the penitence troops stationed here. Rather than act passively, we should strike first. Are you ready?”

Reynold drew a deep breath and said solemnly, “I’ve been ready for many years. On countless sleepless nights, I would remember Aniya’s pleading eyes from back then... I have been longing for this day every moment of my life.”

As he spoke, under Li Nanke’s signal, Reynold slowly extended his hand and gently pressed it onto the parchment scroll before him.

He closed his eyes and began to chant silently. As the chamber door was pushed open, an invisible current of energy rapidly spread and expanded from the unfurling parchment.

A thunderous rumble echoed.

Even deep underground, they could feel the immense prayer power enveloping the entire cathedral as it was triggered and took effect.

Countless points of light emerged from every direction, like innumerable glittering stars, until they wrapped the whole cathedral in a brilliant curtain of radiance.

This curtain not only protected the cathedral from outside intrusion, but also turned it into a lonely island cut off from the world.

With this great defensive prayer formation in place, even the tens of thousands of penitence troops stationed at Ash Mountain could not breach this impregnable fortress in a short time.

That was more than enough. This was precisely the best moment for Li Nanke to end everything!

The cathedral’s underground corridors were labyrinthine, with dim yellow lamplight casting wavering shadows on the walls.

The two of them advanced, and soon heard the warning horns of the penitence troops.

The great defensive prayer had triggered without reason, which meant something must have gone wrong. The soldiers guarding the various passages quickly realized the gravity of the situation and prepared to face whatever threat might come at any moment.

However, when these stationed soldiers encountered the two slayers, even as elite among the elite, they could not stop their advance.

They blew the rally horns in vain, but only the penitence troops stationed in the cathedral’s upper levels came to reinforce them, while the penitence forces at Ash Mountain could only be held outside the cathedral’s gates.

The two of them fought their way forward through blood and steel, and soon reached the secret prison beneath the cathedral.

Inside the metal bars was a stone altar soaked through with blood.

A woman’s frail body crouched low upon the altar. Her long hair hung in disarray, veiling her face, and only the faintest glimpse of yellowed strands could be seen swaying in the dim light.

Her hands were bound high by heavy iron chains, the links biting deep into her long-tortured wrists. Every slight movement brought unbearable pain.

Her clothes were in tatters, barely able to conceal her emaciated frame. The exposed skin of her body was covered in wounds. Every jutting bone, every ghastly gash, spoke of the suffering and struggle she had endured.

In this sunless prison beneath the earth, the woman’s presence was like a fragile candle flame flickering in endless darkness, liable to be snuffed out by the slightest breath of wind.

And yet such suffering had continued through countless nights.

“Aniya!”