Chapter 620: Scolding

Chapter 620: Rebuke

The skeleton stroked its smooth cranium once more, sighing with emotion, "I had no way of predicting this scene. In truth, she should have known that even if she killed Lai'ao, she wouldn't die."

"Because for her, the outcome of being permanently locked away is far more terrifying than death itself."

"I knew this, but I never expected her to be so extreme. This is the flaw of the wise; the more perfectly you wish to calculate the progression of an event, the more loopholes are bound to appear in your plan."

"Are you making excuses for yourself?"

"Think whatever you wish. Frankly, it makes no difference to me. I have experienced similar things before; as long as one does not misjudge the critical junctures, it is enough.

Well, it was a pleasure meeting you. Upon my departure, I shall immediately take up my brush to depict the scene of our battle today."

"The scene... of our battle?"

Karen did not feel that he and the other party had truly battled, if even that could be considered a battle.

"I shall add a great deal of artistic enhancement, haha. I imagine that thirty years from now, I shall be utterly enchanted by this painting—or perhaps, it will not even take thirty years, but much sooner.

If there were to be a voiceover,

"What?"

"In your account, you can emphasize Miss Dyna's subjectivity, letting whoever questions you know that you were passive—that you felt your actions were taken strictly under the premise of Miss Dyna's suppression."

"To push the responsibility onto her?"

"No, you aren't dodging responsibility. In the end, the one who decided to have the secret talk with Raio and ordered you to stay behind and not follow was her, wasn't it? That is a fact."

"That is a fact."

"You only need to lean a bit more in that direction when making your statement."

"Will that hold water?"

"It does not need to hold water completely. Once the investigator questioning you perceives that Miss Dyna also had a special purpose here, he will stop his inquiries. He won't dare press any further."

"I understand."

"Good, let it be that then. By the way, do not hide anything regarding the matters between you and your mother, including this contact. I am worried that while you are covering up for your mother here, your mother might completely sell you out on her end."

"Why are you helping me?" Lord Ogy asked in confusion.

"Because you begged me."

"I begged you, so you helped me?"

"Because I keep pets too, and I dislike seeing pets mistreated."

Hearing this, Lord Ogy’s expression visibly turned cold. This was an obvious insult, but considering that Cullen had just pointed her in the right direction, she had no choice but to suppress her rising anger.

"Heh." Cullen smiled faintly. "I am heading back to the hotel first."

He needed to return to find Purr and Kevin, to properly comb through the entire matter once more.

However, just as Cullen reached the stairwell, he noticed that the day seemed to have darkened considerably all of a sudden.

Leaning his head out of the corridor window nearby, Cullen saw a massive mass of dark clouds appearing in the distance.

Logically speaking, an occasional change in the weather was a perfectly normal occurrence—as a resident of Wien, he ought to have long been accustomed to such shifts—but... this underground world had no sky; its ceiling was a rock wall embedded with crystal stones, so where did dark clouds come from?

After a moment's hesitation, Cullen chose not to go down the stairs, but rather up them, arriving at the rooftop terrace of this hospital building.

To Cullen’s surprise, however, two people were already standing on the terrace.

One was a middle-aged man dressed in the divine robes of Order; the other was an old man with a white beard, wearing the divine robes of the Wise Sage lineage of the Earth Catacomb Church.

A barrier had been set up around the two of them, which was why Cullen had not detected them in advance when coming up the stairs.

Once Cullen appeared, both men within the barrier turned to look at him.

The middle-aged man waved his hand to dispel the barrier and spoke, "Director Cullen?"

"Yes, it is me."

"Then permit me to introduce myself. I am Lenos, the diplomatic cleric of our church stationed at the Earth Catacomb Church. This gentleman beside me is Elder Kejin of the Wise Sage lineage, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Earth Catacomb Church."

"Director Cullen, hello."

"Hello." Cullen nodded in greeting to the old man, then looked at Lenos. "Is Ambassador Lenos here to check on Miss Dyna's injuries?"

"No, no, not at all." Lenos shook his head. "I came to confirm the news of Raio's death. Raio was also brought here for emergency treatment, but the report I received stated that before entering this hospital, Raio was already dead."

"Yes, that is correct."

"Furthermore, this envoy also learned that a certain young girl seems to have a slight connection to our church, so I paid a bit of attention. Her injuries are also very severe, but I have only read the diagnostic report. Could Director Cullen tell me the specific situation?"

"As you know, it is very bad. If there is no better treatment plan, she likely won't last much longer."

"Oh, that is truly a pity."

Seeing this, the old man beside him, Kejin, chuckled and scolded directly, "Clearly you were scared to death upon learning that the young girl had been assassinated, and immediately dragged me along from our tea to come here. Yet after arriving, you refused to go down and inspect her condition yourself, mincing around and turning a diagnostic report over and over. I say, are all you people of the Church of Order so aloof?"

Lenos countered immediately, "This is not being aloof, this is the rule. She holds no official position, so I cannot visit her in my capacity as Ambassador. She is not worthy."

"She is not worthy? You should know her true identity."

"Of course I know, but that does not contradict her being unworthy."

"You people of the Church of Order are truly pedantic."

"There is a reason for this pedantry," Lenos insisted.

As the two of them began to bicker, Cullen could not help but raise his arm, pointing toward the dark clouds in the distant sky, and asked:

"My Lords, what is the situation over there?"

Lenos replied, "Oh, over there. After learning of Raio's death, the people of the Dragon lineage came over, wanting an explanation."

Kejin smiled and said, "The Dragon lineage has always held an exceptionally transcendent status within my Earth Catacomb Church, but this main city is actually the traditional sphere of operations for my Wise Sage lineage. Their main settlements are not here. But since Raio died here, they naturally have to come and demand an explanation."

At this moment, Cullen saw massive silhouettes beginning to reveal themselves amidst the distant dark clouds; evidently, the number of dragons inside was by no means small.

"Hiding and covering up, pulling such a vast black mist—they are just hiding their shame. If they were truly all well-developed adult dragons of quality, what would they have to hide? They would wish for nothing more than to hang in the sky for the people below to see clearly, so they could quickly kneel and worship." Kejin’s tone carried a deep disdain. "This is what I dislike most about the Dragon lineage. It isn't pride; it's stupidity. In my eyes, aside from the difference in size, there is no second obvious distinction between them and pigs."

A figure soared up from below. As she was about to pass the height of the terrace, she saw the three people standing there, her eyes filled with doubt.

Seeing Lord Ogy, Kejin immediately lamented, "Look, that is the Dragon race in my heart. Only the Church of Order can truly afford to raise a dragon."

This was actually the most awkward reality for the Dragon race nowadays. It was not just the Dragon lineage of the Earth Catacomb Church; those dragons outside who had established their own exclusive settlements and lairs were also facing a severe shortage of resources.

This was primarily caused by two reasons. One reason was that in this era, the gods did not appear, and the orthodox churches, large churches, and medium-sized churches divided almost the vast majority of the world's faith resources among themselves. While churches did fight among one another, everyone shared a consensus: groups like the Dragon race, blood-drinking demons, and family faith systems would all be marginalized.

The gods were gone, but this world was ruled by the churches that carried out the divine will. Heretics... simply did not deserve any room to survive.

Their narrow, reserved territories were inherently unable to satisfy the consumption required after the expansion of the dragon population. Though they were proud and powerful, they dared not openly defy the church system. This led to an increasing number of dragon sub-species today; in truth, this reflected a trend of overall decline—or mediocrity—in the dragon bloodline.

The second reason lay within the Dragon race itself. Because they were born powerful, individual consciousness was infinitely magnified within dragon culture. They might shout slogans like "The Dragon Race as One," but in reality, they did not understand the meaning of unity, devotion, and sacrifice at all. Furthermore, the more powerful an existence among the dragons, the more selfish they tended to be. For instance, the Rebel Dragon God, one of the seven founding gods of the Earth Catacomb Church, had rebelled against his original tribe.

Because of this, even Ogy had to admit one thing: if she hadn't been "sold" to the Church of Order, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to reach full adulthood at all.

Lord Ogy descended, looking at Kejin with a slightly cold gaze. Then she turned to Ambassador Lenos and bowed to him, and Lenos returned the gesture.

"Ambassador, I wish to go and persuade them to retreat."

Lenos blinked and asked, "Lord Ogy, can you achieve that?"

"I want to try."

Kejin raised his hand and said bluntly, "Do not make pointless attempts. You cannot do it. In their eyes, you are not one of them at all. I am even worried that they are primarily composed of the Imperial Guard commanded by your father, and are using your father's death as their pretext for trouble. You, as your father's daughter, choose to stop them instead; in the end, in their fury, they will swarm forward and tear you to pieces."

"But something ought to be done. Are we to just allow them to invade the main city? Given the current situation, shouldn't representatives dispatched by several main lineages of the Earth Catacomb Church go to appease them and negotiate?" Lord Ogy asked.

"They want that treatment, and we know they want that treatment, but... we simply won't give it to them." Kejin stretched. "I have found the Dragon lineage within the church eyesores for a long time. They constantly take the most resources within the church, yet refuse to bear any responsibility. How is this a pack of dragons? They are simply a pack of leeches!"

Anger flared in Lord Ogy's eyes, but Kejin seemed completely unconcerned that she might lash out against him.

"If that is the case, why not let this pack of 'leeches' leave the Earth Catacomb Church?" Lord Ogy countered.

"By what right!" Kejin raised both hands and shouted. "Even if they are a pack of leeches, they are leeches raised by my Earth Catacomb Church. By what right do you get to drink our blood and then just leave? Besides, as one of the dogs in a dog kennel, do you truly think you have the qualification to divide the house on your own without asking the master?"

By now, the dark clouds in the distance began to press toward the main city, and the roars of the dragons gradually drew closer.

Lord Ogy spoke, "They only want an explanation, a step down. You are forcing them to actually take action and invade the main city!"

"Spoiled. Having been self-righteous for so long, they truly think they are still the powerful clan from before the previous era. As for a step down, don't you worry—sometimes even if there is no step, if they are pressed hard enough, they will jump down on their own, even if it breaks their legs."

Lenos spoke up at this moment, "Oh, that Lord has arrived."

With these words, Lenos turned toward the gathering storm clouds, crossing his hands over his chest in a solemn salute.

Kegan followed suit, though he could not mask his profound regret. "If only we had arrived a little later," he lamented. "It wouldn't have mattered much if those massive insects had torn up a piece of the main city first."

A resonant hum vibrated through the air.

Ahead, at the very edge of the city, a pillar of obsidian light erupted toward the heavens, revealing a middle-aged man clad in dark armor, mounted atop a thunder-horned rhinoceros suspended in midair.

Alone, he faced the looming expanse of blackened clouds.

His voice boomed across the sky like rolling thunder:

"I, Daan Ray Rop, as Commander of the Seventh Knights of the Order, do hereby command you: disperse immediately and return to your stations without condition. Should you dare disobey, the Seventh Knights of the Order shall wash the Dragon Lineage of the Crypt Cult in blood!"

In the very next instant,

the tempest vanished, leaving only clear skies.