Chapter 2319: Night of Chaos

Chapter 2319: Chapter 2319: Night of Chaos

This time, the transformation definitely wasn’t fruitless. By continuously casting spells and fighting in the form of a "Moonlight Dragon," Shard greatly accelerated his understanding of this Transformation Spell. He felt that it wouldn’t take long before he could completely master this powerful Arcane Technique and accomplish turning back into human form from a dragon by himself.

Therefore, even though there’s only one vial of magic potion left, it should be enough.

The four Grand Witches and Miss Eles are discussing tonight’s situation under the crystal chandelier, surrounding that city’s sand table. Once the girls passing through the study room bring the latest news, Miss Benanis would manipulate the sand table city transformation.

The lifelike model city’s north even burns with flames, just like the real city. This is no ordinary sand table; it’s a real depiction of the city, copied after the Witch’s Secret Arts resonated with the Earth.

"Whew~ all done."

Emilia removed her hand and wiped the virtual sweat from her forehead. Angelina, holding a tray beside her, immediately handed a vial of Holy Water to Shard, who downed the Holy Water No. 2 in one gulp. As for the tray in the Little Princess’s hands, it held various materials used for treatment just now.

The witches had already tended to this wound, and Emilia used her inherited ancient Elven Amulet to lift the last curse.

Shard let out a breath and after removing the bandage, his arm only had a faint pink scar left. Then the Little Unicorn used its horn to touch Shard’s arm, and the scar healed so visibly fast that within seconds, under the gaze of the Elf Girl and the Little Princess, it disappeared.

"Roar~"

It joyfully cried out, and Shard softly thanked Emilia, Angelina, and Little Liana. After red-faced Angelina helped him with his clothes, he also moved to the sand table:

"Fire in the north of the city, main force restrained in the south, plus a large number of bloodsucking bats and Dragonborn Vampires. Gangs and pirates are rioting in the city, and the church is even under siege. I still don’t understand, with such a large setup tonight, what is their ultimate purpose?"

The Countess raised a piece of paper in her hand:

"Are you alright? If your arm still hurts, sit down quickly. We’ve just received news, and it’s top-secret news; the local Dawn Chapel has been robbed."

"I’m fine, but what did you say?"

Not just Shard, Emilia and Angelina were also stunned. Be it the elves living in Saint Byrons or the human Princess living in the City of Steam, they all know what the chapel in the Archdiocese represents.

"Is this not a joke?"

Shard looked at the other ladies, and the Light Witch with long brown wave hair shook her head. Even though Miss Aphrola and others had fought a battle in the east of the city first and then followed two dragons to the docks, they had only expended some energy. Though not entirely unharmed, those minor injuries would heal with a little treatment.

"I also thought it was a joke, but Bella said this news is definitely real. Even in the chapel, the Belindel Family has its own channels for information. From the current situation, all the events tonight were probably truly to divert the church’s power, then steal a relic from the Dawn Chapel."

She held her forehead:

"I can’t even recall when such a major theft from an Archdiocese chapel happened last."

"Even in the Fifth Era, robbing a strong deity’s chapel was unimaginable."

Miss Eles also remarked.

Shard glanced at the burning city outside. Although a light drizzle had been summoned at this moment, extinguishing a blaze of such magnitude wasn’t a matter of minutes. There are many issues needing attention within the city, and the Circle Sorcerers couldn’t immediately reach all fire sites.

"Could you specify what was stolen?"

Emilia softly asked, but this question couldn’t be answered for now. Miss Belindel being able to know the Dawn Chapel was robbed first-hand was already surprise enough. If even what’s stolen was clear, the validity of the intelligence would need reassessment.

"I still can’t understand; Iluna has spoken to me about how rigorous the defenses of the True God Church’s chapel are, let alone a major Archdiocese like Moon Bay being nearly on par with Tobesk Parish and Velindale Parish. Even if their main force was diverted away, the chapel couldn’t be breached so easily, right?"

Shard continued questioning, and after exchanging glances, Miss Eles finally explained:

"If we rule out impossible options, such as the cultists being incredibly lucky, then the only possibility is there’s an insider within the Dawn Chapel. Clearly, some people here are not as devout as they seem."

"Oh~"

Shard softly sighed:

"So, after tonight, the Moon Bay Parish will certainly have a major action. Hold on, it’s only a few hours until Monday, which is the Dawn Church’s ’Day of Prayer’ this year... I see now; in the days following the Day of Prayer, the power of the church and Divine Arts will greatly increase, which is why they acted today. This isn’t a coincidence."

"I’m a bit confused."

The Elf Girl continued asking:

"With what happened tonight, how is City Hall going to explain this to the citizens tomorrow? The fire can be explained as a fire in the north part of the city, and the gangs and pirates can be explained away as normal incidents. But no matter how dark it was tonight, there must have been quite a few who saw those bats and monsters, right?"

Having grown up in Saint Byrons, Emilia naturally wasn’t aware of these things.

Miss Sylvia then explained to her:

"Since the Sixth Era, the large-scale disturbances involving supernatural powers in the city have happened more than just this once, and this time is not the most severe. But to this day, ordinary people are still unaware of the existence of Circle Sorcerers. The Church, of course, has its own means."

"I know if it’s a small-scale event, it can be explained as a gas pipe explosion~"

The pointy-eared girl gave an example, and then Miss Benanis continued to explain:

"That’s for small-scale events. But for such a widespread event, other methods are needed.

What happened tonight actually isn’t that serious; at least only two blocks of citizens saw the Glimmer Giant transformed by the ’Light Chaser.’ As for the dragon roar at the docks, it is hardly worth mentioning. This is already the fourth consecutive Sunday with dragon roars echoing in the city, isn’t it?"

Shard nodded:

"Yes, I heard from Iluna and Luviya that although the Church is cautious in using cognition-rewriting relics, under such circumstances, with the ceremony formed by five churches, the relic’s power can be used."

"Cognition rewriting?"

The elf girl was frightened, and for some reason, she looked at the Little Princess, who desperately blinked at her, signaling not to look her way.

The Duchess didn’t notice their little actions, or she didn’t care:

"It’s not the kind of rewriting you think it is, just to make the citizens who saw those monsters tonight feel that tonight was like a dream after the day breaks tomorrow. The houses burned in the north part of the city mostly cannot be restored, but those monsters in their memories will transform into illusions generated by their own weariness and fright."

Only then did Emilia lightly nod in understanding, while Shard continued to look down at the burning city on the sand table:

"Based on the clues I have, that Dragon Feast Sacrificial Ground is related to the Ancient God ’Dragon of Radiant Light,’ and the Evil God—Dragon Devourer can utilize its power... Does the Council have no records of that sacrificial site?"

"Megan and Audrey are investigating. They will come to Moon Bay next week, and perhaps results will be available by then."

On returning from the docks earlier, Shard had been carried into the room by Miss Eles in the form of a cat. Due to exhaustion and injuries on his paws, he was unable to move conveniently, and even drinking the elf’s magic potion was fed to the cat by Miss Belindel.

Shard wasn’t sure how she convinced the other ladies to let her take on the task.

Although the Church repelled the main forces exposed by the Dragon Feast Cult in the battle tonight, the cultists also obtained a temporarily unknown relic, making it impossible to determine winners and losers. But Shard’s pink perfume bottle is now completely empty, sitting on the coffee table, and upon close inspection, only a shallow layer of freshly formed liquid remains at the bottom.

"Moonlight Wheel" being able to develop the third charging form is certainly joyous news, as the Arcane Technique "Shadow of the Moon" ensures the moon constantly shines upon Shard, thus allowing spreading the light screen to absorb moonlight and charge even during daytime.

And the "Dragon Language Spell: Sword of Light" displayed greater value in this battle, while the identity of the enormous dragon egg with the Sacrificial Bone Sword also aroused speculation among the witches and Shard.

Without a doubt, the dragon egg is the most fitting thing described in the Fragment of Poem Chapter as "Dragon of Birth," and the fossilized dragon eggs Shard and John Flynn found in a smuggling cargo ship might also be related to it.

Therefore, one cannot exclude the possibility that what is being incubated in that giant egg is The Chosen One.

"Currently, six holy swords are known, and this time the candidates are indeed too many."

Miss Aphrola frowned, probably recalling the Coldwater Port incident she and Shard went through, where there was only "Ivan Daknis" as the dark Chosen of Darkness.

Once the injuries from being struck by the Sacrificial Bone Sword on his arm healed, Shard didn’t stay long at Belindel Estate:

"I need to go out for a bit, I won’t leave Moon Bay, I want to meet my vampire kind friend.

With so many Dragonborn Vampire Kind appearing tonight, the local vampire kind truly cannot clear their name in the short-term. I probably can guess where he is now and truly hope he hasn’t encountered any trouble."

More than himself, Shard sympathizes with Mr. Benhart. With such a large amount of Dragonborn Vampire Kind appearing tonight, along with those Vampire Beasts and mutated Blood Bats, only means the collaboration between the Dragon Feast Cult and the vampire kind was long before the Moon Bay incident.

And given that Mr. Benhart was only in the region for business negotiations, he has clearly been caught up in it, likely with no easy way out.

"Do you need someone to go with you?"

The ladies didn’t object to Shard going out—they didn’t need to worry about his safety.