Chapter 71: Deep in the Jungle

  "I really didn't expect that Sister Ikaros could be so powerful…"

  Walking through the dark forest, Fina still seemed to be in a state of disbelief. She gazed around in awe, not knowing what to say. As a spellcaster, she could clearly sehe magical aura surrounding them. In Fina's eyes, the intricate barriers formed by the iwining magical energies were so close, almost within reach.

  Ordinarily, being inside such a massive of barriers would mean they’d be detected the moment they stepped in uhe entire barrier was destroyed. However, Fina could feel that these barriers were still funing, yet they pletely igheir presence, as if the two of them were the true masters of this barrier.

  The thought that this was all thanks to the petite and adorable girl made Fina feel even more amazed, leavi a loss for words.

  "Yeah, I didn't expect it either."

  Hearing Fina's remark, Alex shook his head. To be ho, he hadn't initially held much hope for Ikaros's abilities. First, she was a Silver-ranked summon, which was basically the bare minimum. Sed, her timid demeanor when she first appeared had left Alex a bit disappointed. Generally, people like that weren't particurly strong. But… sheesh, this girl sure knows how to break the rules!

  She could even hato magical barriers, yet here she retending to be a helpless little rabbit!

  Alex truly couldn’t imagine what kind of world Ikaros came from. With her abilities, how could she live so cautiously, even willingly being someone else’s sve?

  Thinking of this, Alex gnced up at the treetops. Ikaros wasn’t with them; as an artificial angel, she could fly. Alex had assigned her the task of aerial reaissance. What’s more, the little one even had invisibility, which put Alex more at ease. After all, if Ikaros entered any danger and he couldn't help, it would be troublesome.

  "Shh!"

  At that moment, Alex suddenly stopped in his tracks aured to Fina beside him. Fina quickly crouched down and gripped her staff tightly, positioning herself o Alex.

  Soon, they heard footsteps approag. A group of figures bck robes emerged from the depths of the forest. They carried no ons, but the sulfuric smell ing from them betrayed their identity.

  Cultists.

  "The master's orders must be followed."

  The cultists didn’t notice Alex and Fina nearby and tiheir low versation. Their voices weren’t particurly loud, but for Alex, whose senses were as sharp as a Zerg's, it was as if they were speaking right o his ear.

  "But isn't this happening too quickly? We worked so hard to capture these temple dogs…"

  "For the master's pn, these things are unnecessary! Don’t fet our task and mission! The master just sent word; he has reached an agreement with that lord. As long as we deliver these captives to the lord as promised, that’s all that matters. We don't o ourselves with anything else!"

  "But we really trust that mage?"

  One of the cultists asked gloomily. Hearing his words, another cultist let out a cold ugh.

  "He's a traitor. We don’t raitors. Only the Twilight Legion, that group of fallen, filthy idiots, would value someone like him. But for our master, his power is necessary. If that foolish mage thinks he gain power through a deal, the him enjoy this brief, beautiful dream. I believe ohat lord arrives, he will realize what his choice truly means."

  At this, the cultists broke into a series of sinister ughs before turning to leave.

  "Such bsphemy…"

  Listening to the cultists, Fina gripped her staff tightly, her expression filled with anger. Alex narrowed his eyes, sing the surroundings. Perhaps due to the magical barriers, the cultists hadn’t bothered to hide their as, and their vigince was low. heless, Alex mao gather some useful information from these "dedicated NPCs."

  Clearly, these cultists hadn’t attacked the outposts on a whim but had p well in adva seemed they were transp the captives here to deliver them to someone. As for the purpose of these captives, it was likely for a sacrifice—a cultist's favorite ritual.

  Additionally, the cultists mentioned something important: a mage was w with them, possibly a traitor. But that wasn’t Alex's main . The most crucial piece of information was the secret the cultists had revealed.

  Their master had made a deal with a certain lord.

  "Ikaros."

  With this in mind, Alex tightened his grip on the invisible in his hand and muttered softly. Soon, Ikaros's voice came through to him.

  "Yes, Master, what I do for you?"

  " you s the area and locate the captured temple warriors?"

  "Of course, no problem. Please wait a moment... I've found them. The ser has detected twenty-three disarmed humans in the northwest er, guarded by ten soldiers."

  "And what about the mage?"

  "It seems he is not in the camp. I didn't detey energy fluctuations from him."

  "Iing."

  Hearing Ikaros's report, Alex's lips curled into a slight smile. He then expihe situation to Fina, who furrowed her brows upon hearing it.

  "So, what should we do ?"

  "In any case, we should first rescue those temple warriors. There are too many cultists here for just the two of us to handle alone."

  Of course, Alex wasn't beiirely truthful. If he unleashed the Lich King or Kerrigan, he could simply overwhelm them with sheer numbers. After all, who could rival the Sce or the Zerg in terms of numbers?

  But given the current situation, Alex preferred not to use those two. As for the temple warriors, even though they had been captured, they should still have some bat capability. They might not be able to take on the mage, but dealing with ordinary cultists shouldn't be a problem.

  With Ikaros ag as an aerial radar, it was easy for the two of them to avoid the cultists' patrols. Perhaps due to their overrelian the ical barrier, the cultists hadn’t even sidered the possibility of intruders.

  As a result, their internal defenses were almost ent. Alex moved around as if he were strolling in his own backyard, and even Fina got to py the role of a top agent—mainly because their oppos were so useless.

  It didn't take long for the two of them to sneak into the area where the temple warriors were being held. The se was rather pitiful. In the firelight, Alex could see that the warriors had been stripped of their armor, left with only thin garments. Eae was tightly bound with iron s.

  The s were strange, with a rusty, dark red appearahat made them loile, as if an ordinary person could easily snap them. Yet, the temple warriors were utterly powerless, lying on the ground with empty eyes, as if all the life had been drained out of them.

  "What happeo those guys?"

  Seeing the temple warriors sprawled on the ground with a defeated look, Alex was stunned. He had expected them to at least show some resilience, but instead, they looked like they were waiting to be sughtered.

  "It's because of the Chaos Shackles, Mr. Alex."

  As a cleric, Fina quickly identified the problem. "Those are shackles fed with chaos energy, specifically desigo bind the followers of order. Once bound by the Chaos Shackles, they ot exert any of their powers."

  "I see."

  Hearing Fina's expnation, Alex uood. It was basically a physical version of the "Child of Chaos" debuff. It seemed these cultists wereirely inpetent after all; they had some tricks up their sleeves from fighting the temple for so many years.

  Now that he knew why the temple warriors were so weakehe step was figuring out how to rescue them. With this in mind, Alex poked his head out, using the firelight to s the surroundings.

  pared to other areas, the guards here were a bit more vigint. There were ten cultists keeping watch, all dressed in robes, standing still like statues in the firelight. If Fina hadn’t assured him that they weren’t undead, Alex might have suspected that they were some kind of undead creatures.

  But regardless, they had to take a.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea, Mr. Alex? The enemy isn’t weak."

  Fina asked nervously as she watched Alex prepare for battle. The cultists reeked of sulfur, and eae had power parable to that of the knight . This meant that every one of these cultists was at ae level.

  Fina wasn’t worried about one or two, but there were ten of them, spread out across the area. If somethi wrong, they could quickly be surrounded by a swarm of cultists.

  "Don't worry, leave it to me."

  Alex drew his Void Sword from his waist and Fina before looking ahead, slightly croug.

  In the moment, Alex's figure disappeared pletely from Fina's sight.

  (End of this chapter)

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