The defeated saint is also on the way to tame the evil god today

　"Not only that, it's been going on non-stop since yesterday!" Nepenses roared. "We should have returned to camp last night, but I spent the entire night fighting those damn zombies! Cherry's lunchbox is cold!"

　He suddenly paused, cleared his throat, and quickly asked Merlin:

　"and so,

　What happened? Why did even the demigods of the Citadel come to the border of Messina? Two of them at that!

　Actually, there is an angel... Xingmo muttered to herself, then answered on Merlin's behalf:

　"The Red Moon Cult will make a big move soon. It is said that they will open the gate to the Invisible Mist Kingdom and allow Him to descend into this world."

　Hearing this information, Nepientes didn't seem surprised and just shook his head:

　"So, the group of spirit witches around Jade Seventeen actually guessed correctly?"

　"What did the witch in Messina say?" Merlin asked.

　"There's a madman in there who's seen the Slate of Truth, and he keeps yelling about all sorts of impending events!" Nepientsis yelled. "I've always thought he was a psychopath. After all, he does nothing all day... Just because he said the gate to the evil god was about to open on our border, I led my Rangers on a continuous mission for over two weeks! And what he said was true?"

　The slate of truth...Xingmo keenly captured the key words.

　She remembered that Mentor Lucius had once told her that in the tribes of the Messina Forest, a sacred object called the Slate of Truth recorded the trajectory of the starry sky when it was not obscured...

　It is said that the truth is recorded there.

　"So, now those cults are turning on each other?" Nepientsis yelled. "These sons of bitches really mess up the world enough."

　"Did you encounter any zombies on your way here?" Merlin asked. "The time limit is three hours."

　"Yes, and a great many," answered Nepientis.

　"Based on the waves, is the number of zombies in the group more than twenty?" Merlin asked again.

　"I can't remember exactly, but it must have been more than twenty. They were a sea of ​​black." Nepientis showed his blood-stained axe. "Their blood extinguished the fire in my axe, damn it."

　"Are there any humans on the scene who can communicate rationally? Including tribesmen or cultists?" Merlin asked again.

　"No, definitely not. We are a civilized army and usually try to persuade them to surrender first." Nepenses gave a quick reply.

　Merlin nodded, turned to look at Xingmo, and said:

　"The Jungle Tribe doesn't use zombies as weapons. Their ordinary priests can only use dark strings to manipulate puppets, and they need to stay very close to the puppets. Therefore, it is impossible for them to have more than twenty zombies without a mastermind."

　"Therefore, we can infer that the Jungle Tribe has been nearly wiped out, and whoever killed them used a powerful curse to transform them into zombies. Judging from the scale of the current scene and the General's description, that person is at least a demigod, or even higher than a demigod."

　As soon as Merlin finished speaking, a name popped up in Xingmo's mind.

　"It's Serena," she whispered.

Chapter 333 Believers (Part 5) -4k- (Double Update in One)

　I have to say that going out with an old wizard who has excellent knowledge of mysticism does save a lot of time in the reasoning process.

　Based solely on some basic phenomena, Merlin deduced the murderer's rank, while Xingmo quickly found the suspect based on the rank from the known intelligence.

　Without a doubt, it was Serena.

　After the Battle of Massena, she absorbed most of the supernatural essence and was upgraded to a flawed angel.

　In terms of adaptability, she is the only one in the world who can manipulate such a powerful curse power - so powerful that she can eliminate Father Agostino Esposito, who has been entrenched in Messina for many years, in one night, and turn most of the jungle tribe into her own zombies.

　Xingmo had already prepared herself mentally for meeting Serena again, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon.

　In her estimation, after becoming a broken angel, Serena should lack an anchor point and should be in a state of irrationality, and her logic in behavior may not be retained much.

　But Xingmo didn't expect that Salina would come to Messina so quickly and wipe out one of her opponents like a whirlwind.

　According to previously known information, there are four forces that want to pluck the Golden Bough - Father Agostino Esposito, an elder of the Jungle Tribe, the Dark String Master Puppeteer, and Salina who has been working hard in Massena for many years.

　The puppeteer was defeated by Xingmo in Winter County, the priest was purged by Salina, and according to known intelligence, the Jungle Tribe suffered heavy losses. It is not yet known what the status of their elders is.

　And based on the current situation, in the blink of an eye, it seems that the only foreseeable competitor left is Salina.

　""

　The Messina Rangers quickly took over the priest's territory, put the surrounding area on alert, and implemented occult protection.

　Under this level of alert, Xingmo followed Merlin into the burned church to look for clues left by the priest.

　Aurora didn't keep up. The little girl was absent-minded the whole time, looking towards the direction of Akashina Town from time to time, as if she was very concerned about her sister's presence.

　"Let's go to the hillside and take a look." Aurora said this and disappeared.

　""

　Xingmo followed Merlin into the church, through the burned hall, and came to the bulletin board covered in ashes.

　The statue in front of the notice board has been destroyed and it is impossible to tell what it once looked like. On the notice board, some charred pages of books are scattered here and there.

　Spread out, it looks messy.

　"There doesn't seem to be any clues left," Xing Mo fiddled with the pages of the book, "Let me see..."

　She plucked the strings lightly, tapping out a few notes, and outlining the dagger of truth in her hand.

　Burying the dagger into the space, Xingmo lightly scratched it, trying to spy on what happened last night.

　The result was as she expected: the space inside the church was polluted by some kind of string magic, making it impossible to peek inside.

　"Salina left a backup plan. She doesn't want anyone to know what happened here, and this backup plan is very tight." Xingmo released the Dagger of Truth.

　"If she truly is a broken angel, her power would be enough to overthrow half a nation, so she would naturally be very protective of her whereabouts," Merlin adjusted his hat. "But unfortunately, Mr. Priest probably doesn't have such power."

　After saying this, Merlin walked to the burnt statue, took out his wand, and waved it gently:

　"Reappear." He chanted the obscure mantra.

　A faint golden light swirled on the ground, quickly outlining branch-like patterns, and then grew towards the sky.

　Soon, the branches took the shape of a man—Father Agostino Esposito.

　He stood in front of the statue, praying devoutly with his hands clasped together.

　"He's quite the pretense," Merlin muttered. "If this guy had even a shred of faith in his head, all the water in that ocean would evaporate into thin air."

　"Then who is he praying to?" Xing Mo frowned.

　"He's not praying. Perhaps it's some kind of secret code," Merlin smiled. "We'll find out."

　Merlin raised his head from the burned idol, clasped his hands together, and closed his eyes.

　Then, he suddenly said:

　"broken."

　This was a true statement, but Xingmo couldn't see the object it affected. He only felt that something in the air suddenly broke.

　The next second, a hole suddenly appeared under the statue, connected to the underground by a staircase.

　"This is a barrier. It unfolds through prayer, and certain words serve as the key to its opening," Merlin opened his eyes and explained to Xingmo beside him. "It's a great concealment method. Combined with the identity of this faithless priest, his intentions can be easily guessed."

　Xing Mo was stunned watching from the side - how did he come up with this idea? Just through those few actions?

　Merlin seemed to have noticed Xingmo's doubts and smiled again:

　"I've lived a long life, and what I've seen the most are people, all kinds of people. You'll have similar abilities in the future."

　After saying that, Merlin waved his hand and walked into the underground passage.

　Xing Mo also followed. She had to say that although she had been dissatisfied with the principal's cowardly behavior before, when she actually went out to do things with the principal, she felt like she was speeding through.

　She watched Merlin remove the protective spells from three or four side doors along the way, and use a herbal divination method to find the scent of the right path among three or four forked roads, and then kill dozens of vengeful spirits lurking in the shadows in the long corridor in advance.

　Ten minutes later, the two stood at the entrance of a stone door.

　And Xingmo hadn't even taken out her wand yet.

　"Ah, it looks like we're here," Merlin turned to look at Xingmo and noticed that her expression was off, "What's wrong?"

　"I suddenly feel that you, old man, have found the truth in life." Xing Mo sighed and shook his head.

　"You can't live in vain," Merlin smiled. "Come on, I'll give you a sense of participation."

　He stepped aside and gave Xingmo the position to open the door.

　Xingmo sighed again, then pulled out his wand and tapped it lightly.

　The door won't open.

　Hmm... Protective string magic, perhaps relying on a magic circle, or perhaps setting up an altar in the spirit world.

　She nodded thoughtfully, waved her wand again, and sparks flew from the door—

　"boom!"

　The door was blown open, but the fragments were restrained by black silk threads and did not damage the structure inside the room.

　"It's still faster this way." Xing Mo said.

　"I agree." Merlin nodded with a smile.

　The two walked into the dark room together and found that it was a study. There were bookshelves surrounding it on all sides, filled with black-covered books.

　"Forbidden Book Room," Merlin mused, "Don't read the contents of those books casually. Most of them are highly contaminated."

　"Such a huge forbidden book room..." Xing Mo muttered, "The Kingdom of Messina doesn't care about it at all?"

　"Who knows, maybe they're used to it."

　Merlin walked over to the bookshelf and stroked it gently with his hand, his pupils outlined by golden light.

　Golden light spread out along the outline of the bookshelf and dispersed in all directions, like a group of thin snakes swimming in the fields.

　Then, all those streams of light gathered on the same book.

　Merlin pulled out the book and snapped his fingers. All the candlesticks in the room lit up, and the rising flames provided some light.

　He found a table, put the book on it, and tapped the cover with his wand:

　"Broken," he whispered.

　Gray light exploded, accompanied by the screams of wronged souls - a book spirit was parasitizing the inside of this book.

　"Even books are so well protected..." Xing Mo muttered, "I really didn't expect that..."

　"Agostino never disappoints when it comes to suspicion," Merlin nodded. "He excels in string magic in the anti-life realm, including curses, dark strings, ghosts, zombies, and memories. The characteristics of these magics can be easily identified, but

　It takes some experience.”

　Merlin's explanation was like a class, and Xingmo was not proud at all. Instead, she listened carefully to every word Merlin said.

　Although her status is already demigod like Merlin, in terms of experience, Xingmo really does not have as much as Merlin.

　After all, it's an old thing.

　""

　After freeing the wronged spirit from the book, Merlin carefully opened the book and quickly stroked the pages with his hand.

　"Well, there's no more protection," he said. "Come on, let's see if Agostino has anything hidden."

　Xingmo moved closer, his eyes fixed on the pages.

　She found that the words on the pages were very confusing, as if they were written in some indescribable language, but traces of the common language could be vaguely seen.

　"A trick." Xing Mo muttered.

　She activated her spiritual vision and scanned the pages, seeing grayish-white writing peeking out among the chaotic handwriting.

　"...Mist. When I drank His blood, I saw an endless mist sweeping in..."

　"...I trembled like a wild dog, as if all my former pride had vanished. I stood guard in the fog, I cried in the fog, I longed for salvation in the fog..."

　"...Then He came, gave me sight, gave me eyes to see through the fog, and gave me the power to move the fog..."

　"...I finally understood my duty...I confessed to him...I shed crocodile tears..."

　The first paragraph, consisting almost entirely of meaningless mumblings, seems to depict the priest performing some kind of priestly ministry.

　Among the priests, he drank the so-called "blood of God" and then obtained the qualifications of a priest.

　"Mist Blood, a liquid brewed from the roots of a certain plant. I've had the pleasure of trying a small sip," Merlin muttered. "How should I put it? It tastes like... aged wine, but a little less so."

　"How could you taste this thing?" Xing Mo was speechless.

　"As for the underground black market, I like to go there when I have nothing to do. Of course, I occasionally bust one or two dens, but most of the time I use those poor traffickers as my information channels."

　Merlin said this, his fingers gently stroking the pages of the book: