CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 64 CATASTROPHE LAW

Just as the members of The Azure Longsword realized that something was wrong, more news about the mutations flew towards the Ratlan Palace of the Church Court like sheets of paper.

"The latest experimental evidence indicates that all Spiritual Essence polluters are entangled in some sort of ’quantum entanglement state’ that transcends space," a bishop reported at the Cardinal Council meeting.

"To give an example, let’s say there are ten thousand Spiritual Essence polluters in the city district, and there’s one in the suburbs who just happens to have polluted and transformed a Transcendent of the Flame Sequence."

"After the transformation is complete, the Flame Sequence enters a collective quantum entangled space, so all ten thousand Spiritual Essence polluters in the city will simultaneously possess the abilities of the Flame Sequence, as well as the corresponding overlay of spirituality."

"What this means is that the birth of every Spiritual Essence polluter contributes its spirituality to the whole, and the spirituality of the whole is in turn manifested in each individual."

"It can be inferred that if a Demigod Level Transcendent is converted, then all the Spiritual Essence polluters will instantly possess Demigod Rank power."

A gasp of panic immediately erupted at the Cardinal Council meeting.

"Am I to understand that..." Innocent said in a grave voice, "what we are actually dealing with is a monstrosity called the ’Spiritual Tree’? This monster devours humans with spirituality, turning them into its cloned projections, and we are just eliminating its clones?"

"That’s more or less the situation," the speaking Cardinal agreed. "It hides its body in the entangled space constructed collectively by all polluters. We have observed entanglement fluctuations from experiments on individual polluters."

"There are currently two solutions: one is to eliminate all polluters, which would completely isolate the entangled space where the spiritual tree’s body resides from our Main Plane, which is like banishing the body from this world;"

"The other method, as the documents say, is that when polluters are eliminated to a certain extent and the body senses danger, it will attempt to gather all its clones and use them to facilitate its own descent."

"That is to say, in either case, it’s necessary to quickly control and suppress the spread of pollution," Bishop Valian concluded. "The more Transcendents that are infected by the Spiritual Tree, the higher its Level and strength will be, and the harder it will be to deal with the released Spiritual Essence polluters."

The Cardinals nodded in agreement.

Those extreme human Purebloodists are too cunning; they didn’t even disclose this characteristic in the data. It seems that the decree previously issued by the Holy Throne to "suppress at all costs" was indeed extremely correct and wise.

After the Cardinal Council was dismissed, Bishop Valian found Innocent again and handed over the latest report on Spiritual Essence pollution.

"It seems that the spread of pollution is now unavoidable. Six major districts near Solomon City have been sealed off completely, with all residents forbidden to leave. The problem is that the polluters in the city are not under our control."

"Once these polluters escape from the city, it will be very difficult to round them up. However, not only are the existing polluters greatly restraining the Temple Knights’ manpower, but there are also a continuous stream of potential polluters being converted in the city district."

"The situation in the Inner City remains relatively under control. In the Outer City, our squads have come under heavy attack from numerous gang members—they seem to have mistaken us as the ones spreading the pollution, not containing it. The fact that the Spiritual Essence polluters target only Transcendents should have spread to the Outer City as well."

"Considering the issue of information channels, Bishop Landeng is still not talking under interrogation, but there must be an accomplice team behind him. Your Majesty, do you think we should conduct a heresy cleansing investigation?"

"Not yet," Innocent waved dismissively, "Not just the Temple Knights, but the Cardinals are also under a lot of pressure right now. Let’s not conduct an internal probe for now, to avoid disturbing the regular affairs."

"Call back the Temple Knights from outside to the city, suppress the Spiritual Essence polluters at all costs; if necessary, allow for a complete lockdown of traffic in communities with severe potential pollution. As for the gang members in the Outer City, let the Pope’s Guard handle them."

"By the way, how is your sister’s Mercenary Group progressing?"

Upon hearing the Holy Throne’s question, Bishop Valian’s face took on an odd expression before he produced another prepared report:

"Hmm, actual combat training?" Innocent flipped through the report, smiling, "They’re not at all worried about this mutation?"

"Should I go warn them to focus on eradication of polluters?" Bishop Valian asked awkwardly.

"No need," Innocent stated indifferently, "Haven’t they asked the nearby Temple Knights to help lure Spiritual Essence polluters their way for practice?"

"Direct all the Temple Knights in the four surrounding city districts to lead all the polluters in their areas there."

"This..." the Valian Bishop hesitated.

Draw all the Polluters over? Considering that Polluters give priority to targeting Transcendents, the pressure on The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps on the battlefield would increase rapidly!

However, the Holy See also thought, we’re here painstakingly maintaining order within the city, and you’re over there conducting live combat training? That’s outrageous, it’s truly excessive; there must be a push and encouragement.

Thus, the Valian Bishop gave his commands and had the nearby Temple Knights begin to take action.

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"So, all these Polluters are essentially clones of the Spiritual Tree?" Aske asked in amazement, "Just like the bees in a hive?"

"Exactly." Vesta said with a smile, "Therefore, if we don’t get rid of them quickly, as the number of infected people continuously increases, these Polluters will become more and more troublesome and difficult to deal with—not just in terms of their abilities but also their combat skills and intelligence levels."

"I understand." Aske responded.

After leaving the Lysine Building, Aske saw Mia and Miel still messing with that Polluter, one kept harassing with Shadow Abilities and tethering attacks, while the other was practicing Bounce Shot, making that pitiful Spiritual Polluter dizzy and disoriented.

Sigrdrifa’s killing efficiency was much higher. Since Frost attacks were damaging to Spiritual Bodies, she could take down a Polluter’s Spiritual Body every 3-4 throws of her Flying Axe, while the Temple Knights kept moving back and forth around her, drawing over more distant Polluters for her to practice on.

"With so many killed, do you have any conclusions?" Aske approached her and asked, "What is the difference between Frost and Thunder?"

"Frost lasts longer and can slow down the enemy’s movements but can easily be countered by Flames." Sigrdrifa caught the returning North Wind Axe and answered, "Thunder has an instantaneous effect and can interrupt the enemy’s actions."

"So, one can use Frost to delay enemy movements, and when it tries to break free from the freezing effects with Flames, then interrupt it with Thunder."

"Precisely." Aske nodded and said, "Frost delays, Thunder interrupts, it’s a classic combat strategy of the Titan Bloodline. If you later master the Extinction Law, you can also try simultaneously targeting the enemy’s limbs for destruction."

"Striking the legs diminishes the enemy’s ability to move; striking the arms reduces their offensive and defensive capabilities. Considering that future enemies will only get tougher to kill, learning how to deal damage that also controls the enemy is the direction you need to focus on next."

After letting Sigrdrifa continue her training, Aske called Thira over.

"The Laws we talked about last time, have you thought it through?" Aske asked.

Thira, as a Storm Mage, controlled the "Storm," "Meteor," and "Radiance" Sequences, from which powerful Laws such as "Heavenly Disaster," "Famine," and "Binding," among others, could be derived.

Of course, the "Famine" Law from the Apocalypse Four Upper Ranks was the most powerful, deriving from the "Storm" concept of Floods.

Yet Thira was a girl with her own opinions. She wasn’t particularly fond of the Famine Law, which tended to weaken enemies. Being an Arcane Mage, she preferred Laws like "Heavenly Disaster," which allowed for large area AOE damage output.

"I want to choose the ’Heavenly Disaster’ Law." Thira responded.

"Alright." Aske nodded.

"Aren’t you going to persuade me to choose ’Famine’?" Thira asked tentatively.

"I’m not someone with OCD for collecting; there’s no need to insist on acquiring all four of the Supreme Upper Laws." Aske replied, "Moreover, it’s not just the power of the Laws we look at, but also whether they suit the individual and if they meet the team’s needs."

"Just from the perspective of output, the Heavenly Disaster Law is not at all inferior to Famine. Plus, think about your future title: once you become a Demigod of the Heavenly Disaster Law, you could be known as ’Storm Empress’; otherwise, if you choose Famine, should you be called ’Hungry Belly Empress’?"

Thira: ...

Although this joke was a bit nonsensical, it did hit the mark with her preferences. Personally, she indeed preferred the concept of the Heavenly Disaster Law over Famine.