A grand scene unfolded in the city of Bright Dawn.

Under the gaze of thousands of people, the Church's procession, carrying rows of flags, slowly passed through the city gate. Leading the way was the Royal Knights Order, a solemn honor that hadn't been seen in a long time. All eyes were focused on a woman in magnificent robes and a crown, positioned in the middle of the procession.

She was the rumored new Pope, the key figure who had defeated the rebels and brought Hermes back on track.

Although the Church's invasion of Wolfheart and Everwinter had tarnished its image to some extent, it was undeniable that they still wielded considerable influence. Moreover, this procession had been frequently traversing the front lines, providing relief to refugees and encouraging the world to fight against the demonic beasts, earning much gratitude and thanks. This news had also spread back to Bright Dawn through various channels, making the people full of curiosity about this new Pope.

After all, past Popes were always aloof and unattainable. Even if the king wanted to see them, he had to obtain permission in advance. A Pope willing to personally brave danger, and even show affectionate concern for every commoner, was a rare sight. And whenever the woman nodded and smiled at the crowd, it would always cause a wave of excited cheers—apart from her status, her extremely outstanding appearance was also a factor in the sensation.

Finally, the procession stopped in front of the inner city castle.

The Pope dismounted and ascended the steps one by one. Standing at the door to greet her was Roland Wimbledon, the King of Graycastle.

The two reached out and briefly clasped hands—although most people were seeing this novel etiquette for the first time, they could see the sense of equality in it. This also indirectly proved the rumors that the new Pope's ascension had received the support of Graycastle, and that the relationship between the two sides had been reshaped.

Amid the warm applause of the crowd, the two walked into the castle side by side.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, I was impolite."

After the door closed, the woman bent down, preparing to kneel on one knee, but was pulled up by Roland. "No, I think it's good this way. Besides, you are no longer the Pure, the Witch Union doesn't need such cumbersome etiquette. Have you been in Holy City for too long and forgotten that?"

The person was Isabella, who had been transferred to Hermes as the Pope's representative, responsible for settling the nuns and orphans, and preventing the leakage of Mutagen Pills.

"Of course... not." Isabella paused after saying this, and raised her head in surprise, "Your Majesty, what did you just say..."

"You heard right, Wendy suggested accepting you as a member of the Union, and I agreed to her suggestion." Roland nodded, "Although the punishment is five years, you've done a good job in Hermes, consider it a reward."

Isabella was stunned for a while before she reacted, "But Your Majesty, I..."

"After joining the Witch Union, there is a fixed monthly distribution of Chaos Drinks."

"Uh—" The "but" in the latter's sentence was suddenly stuck in her throat.

"I know what you want to say, honestly..." Roland sighed, "You Pures always like to persist in inexplicable places, or torture yourselves. Besides, atonement doesn't need shackles and chains to be achieved. If I had to keep preparing these things for you, I would also find it very troublesome. So at this time, just say thank you to Wendy like everyone else."

"Yes..." Isabella bit her lip and slowly lowered her head, "I understand."

"I know you have always lived in responsibility and orders in the past, but it doesn't matter, one day you will get used to this new way of life." Roland changed the topic, "This meeting is a rare publicity opportunity, it should have been held more grandly, but I don't want to waste any more time on ceremonies and banquets. You should know that Neverwinter City has been attacked by demonic beasts."

"Yes." Speaking of business, Isabella's expression immediately became serious, "Did you call me here to learn about the demonic beasts?"

"That's right, after all, Hermes has been the main force against demonic beasts for the past century, I think the Church must have accumulated a lot of relevant information."

Isabella responded without hesitation, "I will tell you everything I know."

When he learned four days ago that Neverwinter City had suddenly been attacked by demonic beasts, Roland initially didn't pay much attention—he had experienced many Demonic Moons in the Western Region, and people had been able to deal with them with wooden spears and firearms several years ago, let alone the current army. Although it was unusual for a large number of demonic beasts to appear outside of the Demonic Moon season, the First Army was fighting devils in multiple regions, and he didn't have time to take care of the reasons behind it.

He didn't expect the development of things to exceed his expectations.

That night, he received several telegrams from the North Slope Mountain watchtower in succession, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. A large number of demonic beasts crossed the Taquila line and launched an attack on the frontier territory. The garrison forces also carried out corresponding resistance, but failed to stop the enemy's offensive. If the armored train hadn't been put into support in time, the losses would have been even more astonishing.

Moreover, the report mentioned that several witnesses claimed to have seen ghost-like monsters. They were fast-moving, silent, and almost difficult to detect with the naked eye, only revealing their shape after being stained with blood.

This made Roland realize that he may have seriously underestimated the ability of the demonic beasts.

……

When Isabella finished speaking, Roland found that his guess had been confirmed—compared to the Holy City of Hermes, the Demonic Moon in Graycastle's Western Region was just a tributary in the sea. The types of demonic beasts were far more numerous than devils, and some mixed species were even difficult to find prototypes in beasts.

For example, the wild beast with an extraordinarily long body that can pass through the ground and climb up the city walls, and the frosthowl bird with goat horns and bird body, which poses a great threat to ordinary people, are all monsters that have never been seen in the Western Region. At the same time, he also had a basic understanding of the reason why this attack came without warning—the large group of demonic beasts suddenly appeared behind the frontier territory, most likely due to the wild beast.

But this still couldn't explain why the situation in Neverwinter had become so severe. Even if the rear didn't have such a huge city wall as the Holy City, the First Army was full of inexperienced recruits, but the difference in weapons was enough to make up for all of this. Perhaps people would be in chaos at first, but after the emergency plan was launched, the army should be able to quickly stabilize the situation.

In addition, he noticed that Isabella never mentioned the ghost-like monsters, which made him wonder—were they completely new enemies, or were they misreported by the people in the chaos?

At this time, a servant walked into the room with a paper package.

"Your Majesty, Neverwinter City has sent a new letter."

"Not a telegram?" Roland was a little surprised.

"Yes, it was transported by the air knight."

"Open it."

The paper package contained a stack of pictures. Roland spread them out on the table and realized that they were all a true portrayal of the attackers this time. Obviously, these pictures were all from Soroya—compared to the text report, the latter was undoubtedly more accurate and vivid in terms of intelligence.

It seemed that even though they had no combat ability, they were doing their best to defend their homes.

Soon, a picture of a monster corpse caught Roland's attention.

It seemed to have been killed by a train, and most of its body was stuck to the iron plate. Its shape could not be linked to any of the demonic beasts described by Isabella.

"Have you seen this kind of mixed species in Hermes?" He pulled out the drawing and placed it in front of Isabella.

She carefully examined it again, then shook her head.

Nightingale, who had been standing behind Roland, suddenly let out a soft "eh".