Chapter 270. Broken

Chapter 270: 270. Broken

The core district contained the Cathedral of Chastity, the Royal Palace, and many more important buildings. At the moment, all of it was shielded by a large-scale divine array, powered by the prayers of nearly half a million people.

The cathedral itself was full of clerics as well as holy warriors, led by a reserve Bishop and Paladin Jacob. Compared to its peak, the main diocese of Grimbow had been reduced to a miserable state.

All of this was caused by the demon floating above the city. Jake had attacked the shield with his full strength twice but the formation remained sturdy.

The prayers of so many people were indeed not something an ordinary 5th Circler could overcome. However, he wasn’t ordinary. If he was hell bent on breaking this shield, no amount of prayers could stop him.

’’But there’s no need to waste so much energy. I cannot make the same mistake as Bors..."

Jake glanced at the western wall whose sky would occasionally light up with spectacular effects of skills and spells.

After the royal commander defected, he quickly finished off the remaining generals while Yvonne kept Joseph busy.

With no choice left, this Archbishop was forced to fight two opponents at once. Somehow, he was still able to handle both of them.

Even when Jake joined in, the archbishop’s holy mana remained steady. Had that old man reached the great 6th Circle? If so, why didn’t he purify the entire monster army at once?

"He’s only gotten a temporary power-up.’’

It didn’t take a genius to figure out this point. Joseph seemed to have a very deep connection with the divine array.

And indeed, when Jake left the battle royale and instead attacked the shield, this Archbishop had hurried over to interrupt.

This begged a question, though. If Joseph was such an integral part of the array, why wouldn’t he use his spatial boon to simply teleport inside the shield? Why would he keep fighting instead?

"He’s buying time." Jake calmly analysed.

With such a congregation of faith, the holy mana Joseph could receive was simply endless. As a 5th Circler, even if his stamina wasn’t that high, his sheer willpower could allow him to last for two to three days. In that time, the theocracy’s reinforcements would surely arrive.

A near perfect plan. However, Joseph had overestimated his capabilities.

First, Jake hadn’t used his full power while fighting because he could vaguely feel that things weren’t so simple.

Second, there was an easier way to crack the shield.

Biting his thumb, he quickly ignited his blood and muttered a secret chant, following which a communication rune appeared.

"Zevik." Jake voiced, a bit unsure.

Although it was impossible to teleport through or sense inside the array, messages shouldn’t be impeded.

"Master! You’ve arrived?"

Indeed, after a bit of delay, the connection was established.

"It has been quite some time since I arrived. What were you doing?" Jake replied in a gloomy voice.

The Isenwing ancestor seemed to not notice it. Or rather, something worse had made him disregard Jake’s mood.

"Master, I was tracking Averon inside the castle after Bors went to defend the walls. He was talking about undoing some kind of seal under the royal palace."

"A seal?" Jake’s expression changed.

"Yes, it seems like their last resort. I believe there is another fifth circle powerhouse hidden. So I’m trying to find where the place is."

"No, return to the surface. I want you to immediately infiltrate the cathedral and destroy its main altar."

"For the array?" Zevik asked.

"Yes, it is more important."

"Understood!"

As Zevik ended the communication, he left the royal palace, flying inconspicuously toward the holy cathedral.

Thousands of people were squeezed into one place, praying earnestly while being directed by the priests who loudly chanted words from the Bright Canon.

Aside from being a holy book, the Bright Canon also contained hundreds of spiritual verses which invoked holy mana as long as you were pious enough.

Right now, the verse related to the Angels of Hope and Protection were being chanted the most.

Channels carved onto the city’s structures were lit up white with holy mana. One could only appreciate the grandeur of this array from above.

"No wonder even my lord has trouble breaking it from outside..." Zevik muttered as he landed near the cathedral, immediately withdrawing his aura.

As long as he didn’t fight anyone, even fellow 5th circlers would find it difficult to sense him. Thus, this top-tier assassin had no trouble infiltrating the church.

Going past the busy clerics, he lurked inside the grand prayer hall, which had a circular structure. Unlike smaller chapels, this prayer hall’s altar was placed in the middle.

Beautiful murals filled the curved ceiling, depicting a rather young and androgynous figure wearing a loose, white cloth that connected with the surrounding clouds. Wingless, ’he’ had long, white hair behind which a sun-like golden halo shone.

’His’ eyes were closed as he floated freely between the clouds. One of his palms rested on the head of a twelve-winged Archangel, while another one pointed at the altar.

The large cross on it was currently glowing with a pure golden light that illuminated the entire prayer hall.

Here, the reserve bishop knelt while praying piously. His role was to direct the holy ceremonies and guard the cross when the Archbishop was absent.

’Looks like Jacob isn’t here.’ Zevik thought as he remained a careful distance away from the altar, hiding in the shadows.

This was the core of the entire array, so there was a high chance of him being detected if he went any further.

’Let’s check out the defenses first.’ Zevik rotated his palm upwards, spinning an obsidian dagger on his fingers.

Grabbing it, he swung a few times at the altar’s general direction, creating dark and criss-crossing arcs. Although his movements were casual, this attack was quite potent and reached the target in less than a second.

Shiiingg!

A deep metallic sound rang in the hall as the strikes landed on the cross which shone even brighter before significantly dimming.

This created an intense rebound force which swept all corners, flinging the praying bishop to a wall.

Obviously, Zevik was also exposed at that moment but he didn’t care. Dodging the shocked bishop’s immediate attack, he flickered on top of the altar using smoke steps.

The clerics nearby were astounded to find that someone could infiltrate the cathedral up to this extent.

Before they could even think of obstructing him, Zevik had already begun his destruction.

As an assassin, he didn’t have a large-scale attack. But if there was only one target, none could be more lethal than him.

Zevik seemed to have reached a flow state as he created dizzying afterimages. In a single instant, he delivered dozens of slashes which individually broke the sound barrier.

Even though the cross was made out of rare minerals, it was just a stationary target. It obviously didn’t stand a chance against Zevik’s skills.

"NO!!" The bishop cried out when he saw the entire altar cracking from its foundation. As for the holy cross, it suddenly broke into fine rock pieces which had smooth edges.