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To the west of Luminous Theocracy, there was a vast forest that spanned over the borders of several neighboring nations. On the other side of the forest was the demon’s territory.

It was this forest, known as the Lightless Forest, that deterred the demon race’s eastward expansion. After a few attempts, the demon race rather fought against the three-nation alliance at the border of the Holy Dragon Empire than setting foot into the forest again.

It was today, that the tranquility of the Lightless Forest was shattered by several human mercenaries.

Lua moved stealthily and cautiously in the dark forest, keeping close to her comrades like a shadow. This was so that if she detected any danger, she could notify her comrades to retreat in time.

They were a small band of six mercenaries known as the Iron Spikes. Apart from her, there were Jackson, Madric, Shava, Holek and their fifty-year-old captain, Roth, who was a very seasoned mercenary of few words.

Under Roth’s leadership and the capabilities of its members, the Iron Spikes gradually became well-known around the western region of Luminous Theocracy. Even so, they never expected a mercenary band like them would rouse the attention of the Pope and end up receiving a personal order from him.

Not only that, the request was related to the newly born saintess!

Recalling how they were solemnly issued an order by the Pope and being told that their operation ‘would affect the safety of the saintess’, everyone felt a sense of responsibility welling up within them.

They wouldn’t hesitate to even sacrifice their own lives!!

Aside from Lua who was serving as a scout for being great at concealing herself, the other five members didn’t dare to let their guard down either. They remained vigilant of their surroundings and formed a circle with their backs facing each other to make sure that the priest that the Pope had sent to go with them was perfectly protected from all angles.

According to the Pope’s order, they must look for a type of vicious demon beast known as the Hundred Demons in the outlying areas of this forest and subdue it as soon as possible so that it could be handed over to the priest.

This was undoubtedly an extremely dangerous mission. Not only that, the Lightless Forest’s reputation was also well known to people who grew up in the western part of Luminous Theocracy. Every year, people who were overconfident with their abilities would foolishly venture into the forest. But none of them ever made it back out alive.

Therefore, before everyone entered the forest, they had mentally prepared themselves to die for the Pope and Saintess.

“We have a situation!” Their scout hissed a soft warning.

Everyone put their guards up as they inched toward the direction that Lua was pointing to.

There was a huge demon beast nestled under a giant black tree. The fact that it was still snoring lightly was an indication that it had yet to detect the intruders.

Even in the extremely dim light, the distinctive features of the demon beast allowed all of them to instantly recognize it as the target of their expedition at first glance — it was the Hundred Demons!

Everyone was extremely excited. They had to admit that they were indeed very fortunate to be able to locate their target without encountering any other dangers.

Old Roth was the first to calm down and make a gesture to his comrades.

The others were able to instantly understand Roth’s intention thanks to the tacit understanding brought about by working together over a long time.

Lua transformed into a black shadow as she nimbly jumped onto a higher spot she could find in the surroundings. Taking out her bow, she aimed her arrow at the demon beast’s vital body part.

The remaining people also quickly got into their positions and flanked the Hundred Demons to prevent it from escaping.

When the preparations were done, Old Roth signaled with his finger.

‘Swoosh!!’

The arrow broke through the air noisily and hit the demon beast in its eye with great precision.

This successfully angered the sleeping beast.

“ROAR!!”

The demon beast bellowed in rage and got up, unleashing a terrifying aura that nearly caused the others to lose their footings.

The strength of this adult Hundred Demons was above their estimation.

Since the matter had come to this point, they mustn’t turn back for the sake of His Holiness and the Saintess!

The mercenaries exchanged glances and saw the unwavering determination in each other’s eyes.

Old Roth took a swig of his hard liquor, then shouted with his hoarse voice.

“Get him, guys!”

……
……

The Pope paced back and forth like an ant on a hot pan. The female knights in the room trembled at the unnatural aura he was emitting.

However, our newly-born Saintess Thea seemed to be completely unaffected by it as she continued playing with her own fingers.

“A report!!” A knight suddenly barged into the room excitedly.

Instead of getting angry at the knight’s rudeness, the Pope was even more worked up than him.

“Did… they get it?”

“Your Holiness, they… got it!”

“Then hurry up and bring it in!!”

“Understood!”

The knight presented a beautifully crafted treasure box to the Pope, which the latter accepted with trembling hands.

The Pope slowly opened the box and nearly burst into tears upon seeing the content inside.

“It’s finally here… The ugliest demon beast in the world! The image of a Hundred Demons!”

The Pope shakily picked up the Spectrum Stone from the box, then carefully placed it in front of Saintess Thea.

Thea’s attention was quickly attracted by the glittering stone.

A projection appeared above the Spectrum Stone, and Thea’s gaze shifted to it.

One second…
Two seconds…
Three seconds…

The Pope looked nervously at the saintess who was staring at the projection, feeling his heart up in his throat. The success or failure of this depended on whether or not Thea would cry.

Just as everyone was waiting for Thea’s cry, she suddenly swept her little hand across the blue projection. When she realized that her hand actually went through it, she stared at it and burst out laughing.

Her smiling face was innocent like an angel.
Yet, the Pope’s heart was aching.
She didn’t cry. Little Thea didn’t cry.
Could anything be more unfortunate than this?

However, it turned out that there were more unfortunate things than that.

In year 6333 of the Luminous Calendar, a calamity befell the Luminous Theocracy. In order to prevent the defensive magic circles of Aeria from being destroyed, the current Pope personally stopped the huge falling meteorite with his monstrous magical power.

Since the meteorite was as big as the size of a city, the Pope had no choice but to cast a secret spell at the cost of thirty years of his lifespan.

Twenty years later, this became the cause of dispute over the Pope’s position.