Chapter 72: Churches

"Churches!"

Max was a bit surprised, as he didn't see any churches in Black Iron City or Flameheart City, although he had heard about them.

But he didn't know much; it was small talk among lowlifes who were barely surviving about how good the churches in large cities were to their worshippers. And that they wanted to join some church.

So, he couldn't help but look at Aron to learn more about the churches and why they were the most dangerous ones.

Aron seemed to see through Max's thoughts and continued, "Kid, you grew up in such a backward place, so you didn't know the power of the three churches, but the entire continent... No, the entire world; the strongest power is definitely the three orthodox churches."

Max and Stella were both shocked hearing this, as the power of the churches might be something beyond his imagination.

"There are three orthodox churches: the Church of Sun, the Church of Night and finally the Church of Creation."

Aron spoke slowly, allowing each name to sink in.

"These three churches hold the highest positions of authority."

"Even the Emperor has to show respect to the Pope of each of these three churches."

His expression remained calm, but there was a hint of seriousness in his voice.

Clearly, the three Orthodox Churches were forces that even the City of Blood couldn't afford to underestimate.

Max was shocked, but what piqued his interest was: since there are Orthodox churches, could there be unorthodox ones?

"Hm, Commander, I understand, but since there are Orthodox churches, could there be unorthodox ones?"

Aron looked at him and nodded. "Yes, there are actually quite a few, and you actually have met someone very important at that. So whether it is your good or bad luck, you have to be very careful with that."

Max, hearing this, felt surprised. He had met someone very important from unorthodox churches; for a moment, he became lost in thought, and immediately only one person came to his mind.

"Could it be...?"

Before he could finish his words, Aron nodded. "Yes, it's the one you are thinking of, the one you fought, the Lady of Salvation, one of the three pillars of the Temple of Immortality."

Hearing this, Max felt chills run down his spine as she seemed to know something bigger than even his highest expectation.

Aron continued, "The Temple of Immortality is an unorthodox church that lures people with the hope of achieving immortality. They are one of the biggest unorthodox churches, or, to be exact, a cult."

"And the Lady of Salvation is one of the three pillars of it. Her strength is beyond what you can understand; even I didn't know what her actual strength is, as whenever she made her move, it was always one of her countless projections."

"Maybe only the peak powerhouse of the world knows what her strength is." He said with a sigh, looking a bit complicated looking at Max.

He glanced at Max with a complicated expression.

He couldn't help but feel that it was troublesome for Max to have attracted the attention of such a terrifying existence.

Even if it had only been one of her projections, her projections seemed to possess their own wills.

And sometimes, those projections would take an interest in certain individuals and their talents.

Being noticed by one of them was anything but a good thing in the long term, as many of her targets either died or became pawns of her.

Max was also bitten, knowing that he was targeted by such a terrifying being, but he calmed down, as the only thing he needed to do was to become stronger.

He cannot get the ultimate freedom he wants without being strong enough to face any dangers.

"Alright, you didn't need to care about that in the short term; instead, you should focus on what to do after arriving at the City of Blood," Aron said, stopping Max's thoughts.

The group then continued their journey in silence.

They flew for two days. Then, on the second day, Aron suddenly looked toward the horizon.

"We're here."

Max followed his gaze. From high in the sky, he finally saw their destination. A massive city appeared in the distance.

Max's eyes widened.

The sheer scale of the city was something he had never seen before.

Even the largest cities he had seen on Earth would seem insignificant compared to the colossal city before him.

The City of Blood. His new destination.

The city was massive, and they were still quite far, but he could feel a mysterious, ancient aura from this massive ancient city.

As they came close to it, he noticed a thin, transparent barrier, as if something seemed to cover the entire city from below like a dome.

The wyvern didn't slow down as they approached the main entrance of the City of Blood.

The entrance was heavily guarded, with thousands of soldiers stationed there. There were also hundreds of thousands of people waiting to enter the city, forming an enormous line that stretched far into the distance.

Yet the wyvern didn't stop. It simply flew straight toward the transparent barrier.

Max instinctively tensed when he saw this. However, the barrier didn't obstruct them in the slightest. They passed through it effortlessly.

It felt like they crossed some thin silk veil, but Max was sure it was a very extraordinary barrier that could stop terrifying enemies of the City of Blood.

But they didn't stop as it continued to fly with them. He watched the city's architecture, which was a bit different, as he felt it had a weird touch of modern architecture from Earth mixed with the fantasy element of this world.

There was also a weird aura that he could not explain, but it was very different from Flameheart City.

It finally arrived at a large military station where, for some reason, thousands of soldiers seemed to have gathered and were waiting for someone.

The wyvern slowed down and then landed on the large platform right in front of the thousands of soldiers.