Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Upon hearing the voice that appeared out of nowhere, Cardinal Paul was startled. Then, he felt ecstatic.
While kneeling before the statue, he said piously, “From now on, I will change my ways. I will pray, repent, and spread the Lord’s mercy and doctrine every day. Please give me one more chance and grant me salvation!”
“The Lord is merciful and gives sinners a chance to change their ways.
“The Lord will send holy envoys from Heaven to save you…
“However, please remember the promise you made today. If you break your promise, the Lord will chastise you ten times more terribly than today!”
A dignified voice was heard from behind the statue again, and Paul kowtowed in gratitude.
Then, the Strigoi that had sucked its fill of blood from the young priest crawled up and aimed at the cardinal kneeling before the statue, making him its next prey.
“Holy Angelic Light!”
The cardinal widened his eyes in bedazzlement, as he saw a miracle he had never seen before.
He saw an angel-like figure clad in golden armor with a holy sword in her left hand and a light shield in her right hand coalesce before the statue of Jesus.
She raised the sharp sword in her hand high and a golden holy light fell from the sky.
The Strigoi on the ground instantly stiffened and became motionless because of the bright sun-like flare.
Then, its sagging pale skin turned charred black, as though it had been burned into coke by the scorching sun.
The Strigoi let out a miserable scream and struggled madly in an effort to escape.
However, a small and weak evil spirit like it could not escape from the sun’s rays.
A few seconds later, the Solar Flare ended and the ferocious Strigoi vanished without a trace.
Only a pile of black ashes remained on the ground!
Chen Gou, who had been hiding behind the statue of Jesus, was surprised to see that.
A few days ago at the bakery, he hadn’t been able to determine the exact power of the Solar Flare, as it had appeared during the flour explosion.
It was only this time that he discovered that Light Attribute Solar Flare was even more powerful than he had expected when dealing with the sun-fearing Strigoi.
Even a Strigoi of the lowest level had more than 500 HP.
The magic damage of the Solar Flare was only 250 points, so the extra damage that the sunlight had dealt to the dark creature had played a crucial role in killing the beginner-level Strigoi with a single strike.
It seems that I made the right choice in the first place. Without the Solar Flare, I wouldn’t have been able to face the Strigoi with such ease, nor would I have been able to fool Paul…
While Chen Gou was contemplating this, Paul and the watchman guarding the entrance had been shocked beyond words by the angel descending and killing the evil spirit instantly.
The Radiant Dawn had a majestic holy image, as she was emitting the flare of the sun and pretending to be an angel that had descended on Earth.
Even though she did not have wings, not all the angels recorded in the Bible had wings!
It was only after a long while that Paul finally woke up from the shock, knelt down, and bowed to worship the Radiant Dawn as he said, “Cardinal Paul Venter of St. Benedict’s Cathedral welcomes your holy presence.”
The angel naturally did not respond to him, as Battle Guardians couldn’t speak.
However, something happened a moment later.
Under the horrified gazes of Paul and the watchman, the angel-like Radiant Dawn suddenly stuck the longsword in the ground and knelt on one knee as if she was welcoming her master.
At that very moment, Chen Gou floated down from above the statue of Jesus.
Paul uttered in bewilderment, “You are…”
“I’m a holy envoy from heaven. The Lord ordered me to come and quell the calamity that is raging on Earth.”
Chen Gou was wearing the silver mask on his face, and his calm tone and dignified words gave a sense of firmness and power to his slightly thin body.
He appeared incomparably majestic and inviolable in contrast to the Radiant Dawn.
“A holy envoy from heaven?”
Paul, who had witnessed a miracle, had to believe it.
Besides, he was more than willing to believe it from the bottom of his heart!
As a Christian clergyman, he had been serving Jesus all his life. Now that he had seen a holy envoy from heaven, didn’t this mean that heaven truly existed?
“Lord Holy Envoy, what can I do to help you with your mission?” Paul asked cautiously. He wanted to atone for his sins and achieve merit and looked forward to entering heaven when he died.
“The Lord sealed most of my power in order to sharpen me when I descended on Earth, so I need the Fallen Light. It is the key to destroying the Master.”
Chen Gou spoke in an emotionless, hoarse voice beneath his mask.
“This…”
Paul, who was in a dilemma, lowered his head and explained, “Lord Holy Envoy, the Fallen Light is not in my hands. It has been collected by another person who wanted to sell it for a high price through me.”
Chen Gou, who was shocked by his words, realized that he had not watched the TV series attentively and had misremembered some key information.
Although the Fallen Light had appeared before Paul as a starting point, it wasn’t in his hands now.
However, Chen Gou didn’t pay attention to that and instead said in a strong tone, “I don’t wish to hear about the process. You will appear before me with the Fallen Light in ten hours!”
Naturally, Paul didn’t dare refuse.
Of course, he didn’t refuse because it wasn’t difficult to complete this mission.
The original owner of the Fallen Light had offered a price of only a few hundred thousand US dollars. Paul had amassed wealth through the church for many years, so he still had some savings.
He didn’t dare delay at all, so he went to find the owner of the Fallen Light for several nights.
Chen Gou, on the other hand, remained in the church, resting and waiting for his return.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go along. It was just unnecessary.
As an envoy from the heavenly realm, he had to maintain his majestic presence. It would seem as if his status was lower if he had to do every little thing himself.
Before Paul left, he gave Chen Gou all the keys to the church.
Therefore, Chen Gou could enter any room in the church that he wished.
Without even thinking about it, he went straight into the sacristy.
Gold, silver, pearls, gems, and bills were not part of the collection there. There were only ancient texts.
The collection included cultural relics related to Christianity that had been donated by believers, memorial relics left by former bishops, and other similar things.
To be specific, there were centuries-old ancient biblical texts, epistles left by previous bishops of St. Benedict’s Cathedral, replicas of the Holy Grail, wooden carved portraits of Jesus, and some other things along those lines.
It could be said that the items inside were not necessarily valuable, but each of them was related to Christianity and had a story behind it.
Gold and US dollar bills were just dung to Chen Gou.
Things with a long historical background intrigued him instead.
This was because there was a high probability that there was a magical artifact hidden among them!
There were generally two kinds of magical artifact origins.
The first kind were made by a weapon-refining master by using precious magical materials.
The other kind were certain historical instruments in the Abyssal World that had absorbed magic over time and had been tainted with holy blood or sublimated from the absorption of spiritual beliefs.
In any Abyssal World, religion-related items were most likely to give rise to magical artifacts.
Only those who had awakened and mastered this magic were usually able to exert the true power of the magical artifacts. Ordinary people could not sense the hidden power within them or even unleash it.
Thus, hidden magical artifacts could possibly exist among the hundreds of items in the sacristy.
After all, St. Benedict’s accumulation over the last 100 years as the first church of New York was definitely not to be underestimated.
The next step would be a treasure hunt interweaved with expectation and disappointment. Chen Gou took all the items out of the display window and used magic to feel them out.
He felt more anticipation than disappointment at first, but after half an hour, the latter exceeded the former.
The Bibles, epistles, Holy Grail replicas, and even the wooden carved portraits of Jesus… were all just ordinary items that had been around for a long time with no fluctuation of magic.
However, one of Chen Gou’s strengths was his patience. He would persist and not give up on the slightest glimmer of hope.
Those who waited got everything in the end.
Chen Gou finally sensed fluctuation of magic in an ancient silver cross necklace when the morning sun shone through the window.
[Ancient Silver Cross Necklace: Magical Accessory]
[Origin: Abyssal World of The Strain]
[Grade: Silver]
[Magic Attribute: Light]
[Attribute: Intelligence +8]
[Skill: Silver Flame of Light—A layer of a flame of light is attached to all of the wearer’s physical skills. Causes 50 points of continuous damage per second upon contact with the enemy. Deals 100 points of damage per second to dark creatures and causes them unbearable pain.]
[Equipment Requirement: Base Intelligence at least 10]
[Description: This necklace has a history of thousands of years. Many of its previous owners never left their names in history, but one of them was awakened to magic and did not use it for show or profit. The cross has absorbed a millennium of faith and the high virtues of the pious fathers and bishops, so it is a holy flame.]
[Remark: It can get dusty but not polluted. Non-light envoys cannot master it.]