Chapter 470 - 417: Punishment and Termination

Chapter 470: Chapter 417: Punishment and Termination

No one expected Peter of the Soloma Team to launch a sudden, lethal sneak attack—and that his target would be his own team captain, Adam.

Only Amanda, who happened to be standing beside Adam, caught a glimpse of Peter gathering lightning in her peripheral vision. She reacted just in time, intercepting the thunderous blow for Adam.

But the price was her own life.

Adam stared at the lifeless Amanda, his mind a complete blank.

He knelt and took her hand. "How could this happen..."

"I don’t know why you all teleported inside the church, but it looks like he was the one who leaked the main force’s teleportation time and location to the Fire Worship Cult."

Guan Tong’s voice sounded nearby. Adam’s heart jolted, and he looked up.

Peter knew that once Adam and Guan Tong’s people compared notes, he would inevitably be exposed. He had decided to strike first, hoping to eliminate the greatest threat, Adam, in a sneak attack.

But he never expected Amanda to block the attack for him. Having failed his surprise assault, he tried to escape, only to find Silver Fox blocking his path.

The other members of the operation team quickly surrounded him.

"So you’re the traitor who sold us out!"

"Kill the bastard!"

The team seethed with rage. Realizing he couldn’t escape, Peter couldn’t help but curse viciously. "Those two wastes, Baike and Heath! I gave them the time and place in advance, and they still failed, letting you heretics live!"

Hearing this, everyone instantly understood he was also a member of the Fire Worship Cult.

And judging by the way he called two Bishops "wastes," his status within the cult must be high.

Someone exclaimed in shock, "Are you the Pope?!"

"As if the great Pope would be someone like me. Hmph."

As he spoke, Peter ripped off his Combat Suit, revealing the black robe with a red sash underneath.

Many gasped.

"You’re a Bishop too!"

Within the Fire Worship Cult, there were four Bishops under the Pope.

The identities of these four and the Pope were a secret to the outside world. It was only after Heath stepped forward to claim responsibility for the bombings that people learned the name and face of one of the four.

During the previous ambush in the Array, another Bishop besides Heath had appeared—one with an Invisibility Ability and a youthful build, named Baike.

But no one had ever imagined that, besides those two, another Bishop was hidden in their own ranks—right within the Soloma Team!

Yang Ran looked on in disbelief. "How does the Soloma Team even select its members? Why would they let a Cultist onto the team?!"

His question was on everyone’s mind.

Didn’t Soloma conduct detailed background security checks on its members?

The other countries had sent their most trusted official Ascenders; there was no reason for Soloma not to do the same.

"My Lord Bishop, it’s the Lord Bishop!"

"Lord Bishop, save us!"

"Kill these heretics, Lord Bishop!"

The Cultists who had survived being crushed and crawled out from the cathedral ruins pleaded and wailed when they saw Peter reveal his identity.

Peter’s face twisted with disdain. "I don’t have time to deal with..."

Before he could finish, he suddenly felt the air around him rapidly compress, and his expression changed drastically.

It was Adam’s Invisible Force Field!

"Thunderous Spear!"

An extremely dazzling bolt of lightning erupted from his body, quickly coalescing into a spear of thunder.

He thrust the spear upward, creating a spectacular scene of flashing thunder and roaring lightning!

This was his strongest move. The Thunder Spear could instantly release an ultra-high-voltage current, enough to shatter any obstruction or attack.

He hadn’t bothered with probing attacks, going straight for his ultimate move because he knew testing the waters against an enemy like Adam was pointless.

’First, I’ll destroy his Force Field with my ultimate, then use a Teleportation Item... Huh?!’

Peter was shocked to find his Thunder Spear blocked by the Invisible Force Field, unable to advance an inch.

"Impossible!" Peter looked at Adam, a mixture of shock and fury in his eyes. "You killed so many Priests and apostles in the church, then deployed a wide-range Force Field to protect several people when the building collapsed. You can’t possibly have that much Psychic Power left!"

The others were startled to hear this.

As the traitor, Peter must have been holding back, conserving his Psychic Power the whole time, waiting to unleash it at the moment of betrayal.

And yet Adam, completely unaware of this, still had enough remaining Psychic Power to overpower Peter...

Guan Tong didn’t intervene. He looked at Adam, who was kneeling on the ground holding Amanda’s hand, and sensed an indescribable aura emanating from him.

’This familiar feeling...’ A thought struck Guan Tong, and he immediately understood the change that was happening to Adam.

He knew that in this moment, Adam’s Psychic Power limit had broken through one thousand points, entering the second stage of Sublimation!

"I’m sorry, Amanda..."

Adam ignored Peter’s roars, speaking softly to his departed wife.

"It’s my fault... I never should have agreed to the King’s mission in the first place."

"Adam!!"

Peter was now both furious and terrified. He couldn’t understand it. Was the gap in their power really that great? He had unleashed his full strength, with over ninety percent of his Psychic Power reserved, and still couldn’t defeat an Adam who had been through a long and arduous battle?

The scene fell into a strange silence. The others didn’t move, as if by some tacit agreement.

They would let Adam personally deal with Peter—the traitor and the man who murdered his wife.

At that moment, Adam ripped off his earpiece, crushed it under his foot, and gently lifted Amanda into his arms. He then turned to face the terrified Peter.

"Betrayal is the one unforgivable sin. A traitor deserves the most painful punishment."

"What are you going to do?!"

Thinking of Adam’s abilities, Peter’s face went deathly pale.

Adam enunciated each word. "Fifty. Times. Gravity."

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

As the ability activated, a truly horrific scene unfolded.

Under the pressure of fifty times gravity, Peter’s screams were accompanied by clouds of blood mist erupting from his body. Blood spattered down with a SPLASH. Even the strongest bones in his body snapped under the terrifying Gravity Field, letting out a sickening CRACK CRACK.

In just a few seconds, Peter, a tall young man who stood over six feet, was reduced to a puddle of bone fragments and blood splattered across the cathedral ruins.

Most of the people present trembled in fear. Even Bai Xuewu, who had fought alongside Adam several times, looked on in horror. On the battlefields of the Black Banner Country, she had never seen Adam use such a cruel method to eliminate an enemy.

Guan Tong’s eyes widened slightly. This was also the first time he had witnessed Adam’s ability to manipulate Force Fields. It was truly terrifying.

With Peter dead, the remaining Cultists were quickly dispatched by the operation team.

But the only high-ranking members killed were the two Bishops, Heath and Peter. The other Bishop, Baike, had escaped using his Invisibility Ability, while the fourth Bishop and the Pope were nowhere to be found, not even in the church.

As for the operation team, with Amanda’s death, they had suffered two fatalities, one serious injury, and one minor injury. Judging by the results, the operation was a complete failure.

But this failure wasn’t due to a lack of effort in combat; it was because of massive problems with everything from the mission intelligence to the team’s own members.

This was, in fact, a blessing in disguise.

If Guan Tong hadn’t broken the Array, the mission would have most likely ended with the entire operation team being wiped out!

If this gathering of elite, high-potential Ascenders from various nations had all died here, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

At that point, forget about presenting a united front. If the Fire Worship Cult were to publicize information about the traitor, the member nations of the Human Federation might lose all trust in one another. That would be the real crisis. The trust that holds an international organization together is hard to build, but so very easy to destroy.

Someone had to take responsibility for this failure.

Everything that happened on site was also known to those in the operations room.

Li Meng’s voice came through Guan Tong’s earpiece: "Guan Tong, with the mission intelligence compromised, the enemy leader, the Pope, has likely already relocated. It’s pointless for you to keep searching. The other team leaders have agreed to abort the mission. Bring your people back."

"The intelligence leak and the traitor need to be investigated thoroughly," Guan Tong said. "Everyone was nearly killed. This can’t be brushed off as a simple mistake."

"Don’t worry. This will be investigated thoroughly. The Human Federation will make sure Soloma gives us an explanation."