Chapter 374: Blessing Of Apostle II

Three seconds passed, and suddenly, every single Avarice soldier on the battlefield felt a sudden warmth erupt deep inside their chests.

A bright golden glow instantly enveloped their bodies. Every single open wound, every single deep cut, and every single broken bone they had sustained over the past hour of fighting healed at an extremely rapid pace.

Instead of feeling the agonizing pain of forced regeneration, all the soldiers felt was a soothing, cooling sensation. They felt incredibly light on their feet, almost like their stamina had been entirely reset back to peak condition.

Seeing this massive, army-wide heal, Adrian couldn’t help but stop shooting.

He slowly lowered his hands and sent his rifles back into his dungeon storage. He let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Ah, I really hoped that I could somehow out-damage his mana shield’s recovery," Adrian muttered to himself. "But I guess that was just wishful thinking."

He placed his hand over his helmet.

"Okay, I guess I should stop playing around and actually take this seriously," Adrian sighed. "What have I been thinking? It’s not like I’m the main character here... I’m not the hero. And I can’t really afford to show off all my hidden cards here, especially not when the Angels are trying to hunt me down."

He stared up at the glowing, floating Apostle.

I’ll need to kill this guy without using my biggest weapon.."

He exhaled slowly.

’System,’ Adrian thought clearly. ’The contingency plan that I prepared... get it done if I don’t kill this guy and end up falling unconscious. If I’m about to die... then that’s also your cue.

[Affirmative.]

Archbishop Aldric, or in other words, King Aldric of the Ironhold Kingdom sat on his lavish throne and looked down at Bishop Kael.

Bishop Kael looked deeply troubled. He nervously wrung his hands together as he looked up at the King.

"My King," Kael started hesitantly, not using the title Archbishop and instead using King due to the fact that he was currently in the throne room. "I have personally searched through the entire Magic Academy. I have rigorously screened every single student we have. But absolutely none of them are suitable for what we want. Even our greatest, most powerful talents will not be able to sustain or survive the divine descent. And even if by some miracle they do survive, the vessel would burn out entirely. They would not be strong enough by the end."

Aldric just nodded calmly.

"That is perfectly fine," Aldric replied. "The Goddess sent me a divine message as I left the church yesterday. She told me that if I did not find a mortal capable enough to sustain her chosen servant’s descent, then there is another method."

Aldric reached into his royal robes, pulled out a small slip of parchment, and extended his hand forward.

Bishop Kael quickly walked up the steps and took the piece of paper from the King. He read the contents written on the paper and Kael’s expression instantly shifted from mild curiosity to shock and pure dread.

He looked up at Aldric, his eyes wide.

"My King... is this really necessary?" Kael asked, his voice shaking. "A newborn infant? That is too much."

Aldric raised his hand to silence the Bishop.

"The baby is not going to die, Kael," Aldric said firmly. "Did you really think that our benevolent Goddess would command us to do something like this if it were a senseless sacrifice? The infant will be blessed, and its pure soul will flawlessly ascend directly to our Goddess’s heavenly sanctuary. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the chosen one."

Aldric leaned backward on his throne.

"Find it. Look through our entire kingdom, and use as much manpower as you need. I want you to screen all of the newborn babies in Ironhold that are younger than six months old. Screen them all and bring me the one single infant that has the highest compatibility."

Bishop Kael’s hands shook as he nodded, but as he looked up and made direct eye contact with Aldric’s blue eyes, a sudden, unnatural sense of calm washed over him. His hands stopped shaking, and he suddenly felt a lot more at ease with the task.

"I will do as you wish, my King," Kael said calmly.

A few days later, a small baby that was barely two months old, was gently placed directly on top of a massive stone bed.

The rectangular slab of grey stone had incredibly intricate, glowing carvings etched across its entire surface. Flawless, ’high grade’ mana crystals were embedded into specific hollowed-out holes all over the slab.

The so called high grade mana crystals in Adrian’s eyes would be the same F rank ones that he got his dungeon to produce. Each one held exactly 100 units of mana in them, but that was just the ones that Adrian could make. As for the ones that these guys were using, each one of the crystals held over 95 mana instead of a perfect hundred.

Gallons of pure, warm milk was being poured directly over the baby.

Aldric stood just one meter away from the child. His eyes were already glowing with a faint golden light.

The baby didn’t even cry as the liquid washed over it. It just kept its eyes peacefully closed and had a calm, deeply satisfied smile resting on its tiny face.

As the milk fell onto the baby, it continuously flowed downwards, entering the carved crevices on the stone slab. The white liquid traveled through the intricate pathways until it fell off the sides of the stone and pooled onto a circular area on the floor that had a one inch tall retaining wall around it.

As the shallow pool of milk at the bottom completely filled up, Aldric looked up at the ceiling of the ritual room.

The ceiling was made of a singular, massive slab of stone. It had been meticulously carved into the flawless image of the Goddess with her long, flowing hair spread out across the entire ceiling.