Chapter 8

As the group reached the preplanned place the one who appears as the leader of the group of church members asked Lilly " It seems to be a open clearing where is the purse". Then when the group of church members looked at Lilly all they saw is a dark expression on her face. The group was surprised and asked what is up with her that is when they heard "Obsidian Haze". The next second all they saw is a dark fog enveloping the area and it became a very dark place where they can't even see themselves. The members of the church were confused and were frantically searching for their companions and that is when there were screams heard from two people and the remaining people were on guard and then the fog dispelled and there were two corpses lying on the ground. The church members got scared and shouted "Show yourselves and fight properly you cowards". That is when Jackson, Ken, Sarah, and Marcus showed themselves and Marcus said to Sarah "Hey, both you and Jackson had your fun by using that spell and killing those two, so let me and Ken have some fun". Sarah and Jackson agreed. The members of the church were angry at being ignored and they expressed their contempt by throwing a projectile weapon at them. The weapons were swiftly blocked by Marcus. Then Ken used a spell called "wind blade" which sent blades of wind toward the group but one of them dodged and the remaining two of them got caught in the flurry of blades and got cut up into pieces instantly. The last got scared and started mumbling " How can you use an intermediate level without an incantation, and please let me leave please". Then Marcus tied him and knocked him out and then Jackson sent him to a different shadow realm to hold him captive and interrogate him later.

The group started to return to the town and after a while, they were nearing the gates as they saw Elijah waiting for them at the gate. They quickly met up with him and then they went to the inn and went into the room shared by Ken and Sarah and quickly closed the doors. To ensure privacy Lilly used the spell "Dark isolation" which blocks anyone entering or exiting while the spell is active and it also blocks sound from inside the room from being heard.

Elijah: "I presume things went well on your mission."

Marcus: "Yes, we also got a captive in the shadow realm"

Elijah: "Oh, that's good I also got some valuable information from the bar in the next street."

Ken: "Why don't we interrogate that man we captured first?"

Elijah: "Sure."

That is when Jackson opens the shadow realm and takes out the man who is currently unconscious. Then Lilly proceeds to tie him up in a chair.

Sarah: Takes a bucket of hot water and pours it on the sleeping man and says "Oi stop sleeping and cooperate with us peacefully or else you will be in a world of pain." Then she proceeds to lick a dagger to make the man more scared.

Church Member: "Please spare me I will tell you everything just let me live"

Jackson: In a serious voice "We will let you live if answer our questions. So first what is your name? Tell us about the ranking of the church and what is your ranking and where is the nearest branch."

Church member: "My name is Alen. I have the rank of trainee Paladian in the church. The ranks in the church are Pope, Archbishop, Bishops, Paladian, trainee Palladian, the common believer, and also the father and the nuns. The pope is the head of the entire religion, the archbishop is like a right-hand man and the bishops are people who take care of all church branches in a region, the archbishop looks after the branches of a province/empire/kingdom and Palladian are basically the warriors of the church and we trainee Palladians are the people who are trained to be Paladins and finally, the fathers and the nuns are responsible for looking after the individual branches."

Elijah: "So do you know any valuable information"

Alen: "Well even though I am a trainee Palladian, I am not very well informed of the Church secrets as I am not from any Nobel family."

Sarah: "So you are pretty much useless now"

Alen: "That is all I know please let me leave, I won't speak a word about what happened here please let me go."

Marcus: "Sorry man, but you are corrupted so we have to kill you now."

With that being said Marcus swiftly took off the head of Alex with a single swing of the sword.

Jackson: "So what is the interesting information you mentioned?"

Elijah: "Well, we got Alex mentioned and there is another thing."

Ken: "So what is it?"

Elijah: "Apparently, there is a group of mercenaries formed to take revenge on the church as their parents were exploited and killed because of them. So I checked the rumor and talked with the group of Mercenaries they are from a town called Erebus and some of their parents are priests in the shrine of our Goddess Lady Ravena and they are delighted to know that we the Apostles of her are willing to cooperate with them. Also, they are a group of three and we are going to meet them tomorrow morning."

Sarah: "It's good to know that there are people willing to help us and so we will also help them get their revenge. Ok anyways it is late and let's rest for today and meet them tomorrow."

With that, the group except Ken and Sarah leaves the room and goes to their own rooms and takes rest for the day.

The next Morning

The group wakes up enthusiastically to meet the mercenaries and they all fresh up and meets at the breakfast table which is provided by the inn on the ground floor. They all have a simple omelet for breakfast and they discuss what to do for the time being as the mercenaries said they would them this afternoon. That is when Elijah mentioned that the mercenaries said that they have some news to share with them. The group decides to explore the town and go to the bar in the afternoon.

The group started to roam the streets and they went to game stalls they were enjoying a lot and they also visited a sweet shop, apparently Jackson and Lilly had sweet tooths.

After enjoying for some time they notice it is almost afternoon so they all go to the bar to meet up with the mercenaries. The group started to go toward the bar. After some time the group reached the bar and Elijah found the mercenaries and they started talking to the mercenaries.

The mercenaries said they were called the shadow dragon group and they were looking for revenge on the church. They introduced themselves as Ria, Rian, and Mika. They also told that there would be a small riot being planned by the believers of the religion on the church because they were exploiting the believers the riot will occur at the nearby branch which is in the city called Redolg which is famous for high-quality houses utensils and also a wine called blue mellow.

So they all had some discussions and planned to go to the city of Redolg in five days time. For the time being, they planned to buy new gear and train with each other to understand the abilities of each other and to grow the bond between them. The mercenary group was also very happy to meet the Apostles and the next day the whole group along with the mercenaries went to the mercenary guild to register as mercenaries and join the shadow dragon mercenary group.

The following day they all went to the local best blacksmith and provide him with a rare stone called black mana stone to make their weapons which increases the efficiency of the channeled mana into the weapons. These black mana stones were the parting gift from Diore. After leaving the blacksmith's place they went to an empty clearing in the forest to train and they all started to train to fight alongside side each other. Even though the mercenaries were strong in their own right they were far behind the Apostles, so Ken opened an isolated dimension in which time goes faster and has very harsh conditions to help them train. This was thought to Ken by Diore because he has a contract with the space spirit Lunarix. So the group trained for the remaining four days but one year in the isolated dimension.

The group finally exited the dimension after four days and went to collect their new gear and the weapons were of excellent quality and so they thanked the blacksmith and immediately set off to the city of the Redolg.

They would have their revenge and will eliminate the corruption from the world and bring peace. Their work and mark on this world shall start from the city of Redolg in the Rihael province.

***********************************************************************************************

I am sorry for not publishing last week as I have exams last week. So the releasing will be properly done from now.

I am a new writer so please support me and please comment if there is something I need to improve on.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

Creation is hard, cheer me up!

I tagged this book, come and support me with a thumbs up!

Like it? Add to the library！

Have some idea about my story? Comment on it and let me know.

if you are also a new writer or an artist looking to work on something, please DM me on Discord my id is Jin Kizaraki#0338