[Vol. 5] Chapter 232: Despair at the End of Escape
The location was the main battlefield between the Judgnt Saintess Frederica Cecilia and the high-level demons during the great battle, now reduced to ruins surrounding the temple.
To be honest, Gerald really did not want to co here.
After occupying Saint Sarnos City, the demons established their new rule centered around the forr location of the goddess’s temple.
Perhaps because the temple was a gathering place of faith, making it easier to harvest emotional power, or simply because it was located in the heart of the city, the area around the temple beca an extrely dangerous zone, heavily guarded and populated by high-level demons.
As invaders, the demons had not yet fully secured their dominion, so they were not spending resources to repair the war-torn ruins. The environnt and situation there were currently quite complex.
Moreover, unlike the church, the demons prohibited the residents of Saint Sarnos City from approaching the temple. Anyone caught doing so would be arrested or killed without hesitation.
For Gerald and his companions, who were constantly causing trouble for the demons, this would be akin to walking into a trap.
However, the ?Judgnt Holy Sword? was of great importance. To put it more seriously, it might determine the outco of this holy war. Even if Gerald did not possess a heart filled with pity for the world, he understood the terrible consequences that could arise if the demons ultimately triumphed.
Thus, they moved under the cover of night.
Truth be told, although they set out with the goal of finding the ?Judgnt Holy Sword?, Gerald had not expected that they would actually be able to unearth the holy relic that had been passed down for a thousand years beneath those dilapidated ruins.
Underestimating the excessively bright noise when the holy sword was unearthed led to the current situation.
“B-Boss…”
“Shh, keep quiet, everyone stay still.”
At the corner, where the tension was palpable, just a few ters away on the street, a group of at least ten demon guards marched past, their steel boots striking the hard ground with every step, each sound like a drumbeat, echoing the thieves’ anxious hearts. Fortunately, they eventually moved on.
“Phew… that was close.”
Gerald, along with his subordinates, peeked out from the shadows, wiping the sweat from his forehead in relief, then he looked down and patted the pouch hanging at his waist to confirm it was still there.
Many demons possess very sharp sensory abilities, especially when the creatures of this world emit various intense emotions. Their positions are nearly undetectable to demon guards who are adept at patrols.
Fortunately, as an experienced thief, Gerald had made ample preparations for this operation. He used special thods to mask his and his companions’ scents, allowing them to escape to this point.
They didn’t have any exceptional power. If discovered, even just one demon guard would be a terrifying enemy that these little thieves couldn’t contend with.
Here, they were about three kiloters away in a district from the ruins where the ?Judgnt Holy Sword? had been excavated. They had struggled and worked hard to finally make it to this place.
The intense burst of radiant energy that had briefly shot up into the sky seed to have triggered those sensitive to such things. Demons throughout Saint Sarnos City imdiately began to mobilize, searching for the source of the anomaly, leaving Gerald and his companions feeling as if they were stuck in quicksand, struggling to move.
It was no wonder, as the Goddess Church was extrely sensitive to the existence of demons, the latter felt an instinctual and intense hostility toward the holy light energy that was their opposite. The power released by the ?Judgnt Holy Sword? was practically like a cult attempting to sacrifice demons in the Angel City.
“Boss, what do we do now? With things like this, the whole city must be under lockdown. The headquarters probably…”
Gerald and the others had originally planned that if they could find the ?Judgnt Holy Sword?, they would hand it over to the leader of the ?Thieves’ Alliance? in this city as per the mission’s requirents, receiving their reward while the leader would find a way to return it to the Saintess or other high-ranking church figures.
But now that the demons were actively searching, the hidden entrances of the ?Thieves’ Alliance? must have been urgently closed. Although they were all thieves, there was simply no way for them to enter under such circumstances.
After all, demons are skilled at manipulating people’s hearts, and no one could guarantee that they could keep secrets if caught.
As for escaping the city, that was even more impossible. All four gates of Saint Sarnos City were undoubtedly sealed off, and lowly creatures like them were prohibited from entering or exiting. A re dozen thieves didn’t have the ability to break through a demon-occupied city.
“…There’s no other way. For now, we can only find a place to hide and wait for the situation to calm down.”
Gerald touched the slightly old-fashioned bracelet on his wrist.
“Fortunately, with this magical equipnt that can store items, I can conceal the aura of the holy sword. As long as I’m careful, we should be able to get past unnoticed.”
The experienced thief surveyed his surroundings. Guided by the moonlight, his gaze finally landed on an unremarkable gate of a nearby courtyard.
“That one will do. Everyone follow !”
Taking advantage of the montary absence of the patrolling demon guards, the group of over ten thieves approached the side of the courtyard, using grappling hooks and other tools to scale the low outer wall of only a few ters, making their way inside.
Though thieves aren’t literally the kind who pick locks and sneak through doors, it is a part of their profession to climb over walls and traverse yards. Even an ordinary person without strong skills can accomplish this as long as they have the right techniques and tools.
In less than half a minute, before the next wave of demon guards arrived, all mbers had jumped down from the wall and gathered. Gerald checked the gate latch on the inner side of the wall and, confirming that it was still usable, imdiately lowered it. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
As a native of Saint Sarnos City, Gerald was naturally familiar with many things here.
This courtyard used to belong to a small religious family.
After the demon invasion, the entire family, as faithful followers of the Goddess, had mostly perished in the previous battle for the city. Even if there were survivors, they likely retreated westward with the troops, leaving this place temporarily uninhabited.
Saint Sarnos City has many similar residences. So have been occupied by demons, while others, like this one, are abandoned, becoming temporary hos for various outlaws and refugees like them.
With his subordinates, Gerald and the group arrived in the inner hall.
Perhaps due to the long absence of inhabitants, a thin layer of dust had settled on the floor and tables.
Valuable items in the room had long been looted during the chaos of the city’s fall by individuals even more despicable and unscrupulous than them, leaving only large, relatively common pieces of furniture behind.
The demons wouldn’t care about these things.
Though they had beco the new rulers of the city, they viewed the local life forms as little more than livestock or food, at best treating them like pets.
While they maintained the basic operations of the city, it seed they never considered developing it further.
Looking at the ruined and desolate furnishings of the inner hall, Gerald brushed away the dust from the table in front of him, and his hatred for the demons grew even stronger.
“Everyone take a break for now. When dawn breaks, we’ll think of a way to contact headquarters and see if we can…”
As he spoke casually, just as Gerald intended to sit down and catch his breath, a certain instinctive sensitivity of an experienced thief suddenly stirred within him.
Sothing was wrong!
Why had that group gone completely silent all of a sudden!?
The old thief spun around in an instant, reflexively looking toward the source of the strange presence that had abruptly silenced everyone.
Then, his pupils constricted sharply.
In the shadowy darkness of the inner hall, a petite figure with flowing, luxurious pink hair, dressed in a blue-black Lolita dress, with small magical wings and a black long tail that signified her identity, was gracefully swaying in the air…
She was gradually revealed by the light of a candle that a thief had just lit.
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