Chapter 471 - 418: The Immediate Counterattack

Chapter 471: Chapter 418: The Immediate Counterattack

Not long after the strike team retreated, a large number of black-robed Apostle Group members flooded in from the surrounding streets.

They gathered before the ruins of the grand cathedral, each holding a copy of *The Word of God*, silent.

The crowd then parted, forming a path. As three figures walked down this path, the members of the Apostle Group knelt on one knee to receive them.

This was a sign of respect reserved only for the arrival of the Pope.

The trio stopped before the cathedral’s ruins. On the left was a young man with a look of indignation and resentment—it was Bishop Baike.

On the right stood a mountain of a man, over two meters tall with bulging, knotted muscles. He looked like a towering wall, his suit threatening to burst at the seams.

And standing between them was the Pope, an ordinary-looking young man wearing black-rimmed glasses with no lenses.

He gazed at the ruined cathedral before him, thought for a moment, and asked, "Why did the plan fail?"

"It was Shadow, Your Holiness," Baike said in a low voice. "We never expected him to be on the strike team... If it weren’t for him, all those heretics would have died in the array we set up beforehand!"

"Shadow, you say? He is indeed a troublesome one." The Pope then asked, "But I heard the Soloma Team didn’t teleport to the same location as the main force."

"Yes. They teleported directly inside the cathedral, likely on purpose. But if it weren’t for Shadow, Heath and I would have taken care of the main force. With Peter’s surprise attack, eliminating the Soloma Team led by Adam would have been no trouble at all... Now Heath is dead, and Peter is dead. We’ve lost two Bishops in one fell swoop..."

"Enough." The Pope cut Baike off, turning to the wall-like man in the suit on his right. "Khan, take your men and prepare to teleport to the Black Banner Country."

The Priest called Khan nodded and left without a word.

"Khan is going to the Black Banner Country?" Baike was unaware of this arrangement. "Your Holiness, do we have an operation there?"

"The Prophet from the Parasite side told me it’s time to counterattack the allied forces. I’m sending Khan to help. Baike, I have arrangements for you as well."

"Please, Your Holiness, give your orders!"

The Pope looked at Baike and said slowly, "Now that your identity and abilities have been exposed, you will only become a target for the enemy’s reconnaissance and assassination. Rather than die at the hands of heretics, you should be buried with my grand cathedral."

"Yes!"

As if possessed, Baike saw nothing wrong with this command.

He walked calmly into the ruins, picked up a sharp piece of brick, and plunged it into his own throat.

With a gurgle of crimson, his body slowly collapsed.

The Pope turned to the kneeling cultists and declared, "Those who destroyed our cathedral must pay the price in blood. Do you have the courage to show the enemy our resolve?"

"We do!" the cultists roared in unison.

"Then let the counterattack begin today. Let it begin now."

...

After their retreat, the strike team used their Teleportation Items to return to the Human Federation’s office in Soloma.

Seething with anger, they entered the operations room only to find that the elder from Soloma was gone. Only a few other team leaders were in the room.

The team leaders explained the situation to their respective members.

Li Meng said, "The elder was summoned by the King of Soloma for questioning. This incident is extremely serious. The King of Soloma is probably furious right now."

"Of course he is," Silver Fox said. "His team had four members. One traitor, one killed, one who ran off, and only one came back. There’s no way he’d accept that."

Of the Soloma Team’s four members, only Moon Key had returned. Adam had taken Amanda’s body and disappeared to parts unknown. This didn’t surprise the rest of the strike team; they had a feeling he would leave ever since they saw him crush his communication earpiece.

"That Divination Master is missing now. She must have been taken away for investigation, right?" Yang Ran said. "Do you guys think she could be a traitor, too? I mean, isn’t her power to predict the future? How did she not predict Peter was a traitor, or that we’d be ambushed, or that her teammate Amanda would be killed?"

Although Guan Tong and the others didn’t think Moon Key was a traitor, Yang Ran’s words weren’t without reason.

Did she not use her power to see something before the operation?

Normally, if you had precognitive abilities, you would definitely use them right before undertaking a dangerous mission.

"Don’t worry about the investigation. We’ll have results soon... In any case, that was an incredibly close call. If you hadn’t broken the array, Guan Tong, the consequences would have been unimaginable," Li Meng said, a look of lingering fear on his face.

Silver Fox: "Yeah, the combined Psychic Power of the rest of us probably couldn’t match a few hundred cultists. With their sheer numbers, that array was practically unbeatable—good thing we had our superstar, Shadow~"

"Hmph, as if a bunch of cultists are any match for Guan."

"That’s our captain for you!"

The other team members all agreed with Li Meng. Even Bai Xuewu, who had been at odds with Guan Tong at first, had now witnessed the terrifying extent of his Psychic Power reserves. After all, in that situation, her Mecha would have been completely useless.

Silver Fox then asked, "Section Chief Li, if there’s no follow-up to this operation, should we be heading back to our country?"

"It’s hard to say right now. The Human Federation is holding a meeting to discuss it. If there are no further operations, we should be able to go back tomorrow. You should all go get some rest. I’ll wait here for the results."

Even though no one on the North Star Squad was injured, actual combat was a huge drain on both physical and mental stamina. Moreover, they had just endured the exhausting experience of betrayal and ambush.

Everyone returned to their own rooms to rest. After Guan Tong got back to his room, he lay on his bed and went over the events.

’First, the Soloma Team’s teleportation point was inside the cathedral. Peter, the traitor, didn’t know this, which means Bishops Baike and Heath, who set the ambush outside, also didn’t know.’

’And since Adam’s group didn’t know Peter was the traitor, they also didn’t know that the other teams, who teleported to the original location, had fallen into a trap and were in grave danger.’

’Looks like I misunderstood some things.’

Guan Tong thought back to how he’d opened fire and bombarded the building without any regard for Adam and his team inside. He had assumed they were the first to betray the mission, so he felt it wouldn’t have been wrong even if he had killed them in the blast.

’Since Adam’s trio didn’t know about the ambush outside, it’s somewhat understandable that they didn’t come out to help right away... But no matter what, the fact that they concealed the discrepancy in their teleportation coordinates is irrefutable.’

’Adam told Amanda, "We shouldn’t be carrying out the King’s mission"... What mission did the King of Soloma give him? Wasn’t it to decapitate the leadership of the Fire Worship Cult?’

Guan Tong was lost in thought for a moment when he suddenly heard a commotion outside his door.

He immediately got up and went out, where he saw several Ascenders from other nations’ strike teams speaking with terrified expressions.

"What’s going on?" he asked.

"Cultists! The cultists are attacking! We just got word—a huge number of cultists have broken through the Soloma border, and their target is this city!"

Guan Tong frowned at the news. "Are they crazy? Isn’t this a suicide mission?"

Soloma’s war robots could mow down ordinary cultists like cutting grass. Had the Pope become so enraged that he could no longer distinguish the gap in their strength? To think he would dare launch a large-scale ground assault after such a crushing defeat.

"No! They’re using the current Apocalypse Rules!" another person said urgently. "Every cultist is covered in high-definition photos of ’Crimson Terra’! They’re completely insane!"