When A Mage Revolts

In half a minute, Benjamin had changed his outfit and smeared blood stains and dirt on his face. Looking like a civilian who had just escaped with his life, he rushed out from the corner of the street.

He ran straight in the direction of the church.

"Save, save me..."

A shocked and panicked cry was released from Benjamin’s lips. Over at the church, the Holy Knights on guard at the forefront seemed to be used to such strange sights. A few of them stepped forward at the same time, stretching out both hands in front of them to stop Benjamin smoothly.

"Don’t worry, the protection of God is upon our church. The enemy has not yet hit us here, you are safe now," the priest in charge came up to console him as well, and began to quickly confirm information with him, "Young man, what is your name? Are you a local of Rhein City? Which street do you live on?"

Benjamin took a few big gasps, making up his excuses and identity as he panted.

"I, I’m called Miles, I’m a merchant from Liam, I’d come to hand over some timber, but... but..." As he spoke, his voice began to break, as though he was about to cry, "My goods! Priest, sir, what should I do? Please help me, the goods are all left behind at the tavern, could you help me retrieve..."

"Young man, you need not panic, God has his own arrangement for everything." the priest hastily said, interrupting the probable request.

Hurriedly, before Benjamin rattled on, he turned his head to cast a look. The two Holy Knights understood him and, hauling Benjamin up by his arms, said to him, "That’s enough. You’ll be very safe here, the enemy will soon be fended off by us." They dragged him into the crowd of refugees in front of the church as they closed the Holy Light Barrier.

However, Benjamin stubbornly clung onto the Holy Knights’ arms, preventing himself from being tossed off by them.

"No... Holy Knight, sir, please don’t throw me into a bunch with these beggars, it isn’t safe here... I, I have money! Can you let me into the church? I can give you a huge sum of financial aid for the church repairs..." he got close to the Holy Knight’s ear, speaking in a panic.

"You..."

The Holy Knight frowned. Benjamin’s voice was not low at all, and the people around them heard him. For a moment, everyone turned their heads to look at him in anger, glaring at Benjamin in a disgruntled manner.

The priest in charge, however, suddenly came over to them.

"Sir, the great hall of the church is prepared for all who have been blessed by the Holy Light, not just anyone may enter," he directed his voice toward Benjamin quietly, "only those who are steadfastly devoted to god may be qualified."

"Priest, Priest sir, you must let me in..." Benjamin behaved like a sick person wildly clinging onto any doctor who could heal him, suddenly pulling out a bag of gold coins and pushing it into the hands of the priest.

The priest weighed the money bag for a moment, before keeping it away quietly and nodding at the Holy Knights.

Immediately, the Holy Knights put Benjamin down. In their body of armor, they pushed the crowd aside, clearing a small path. They no longer hauled him; instead, they supported him. With utmost politeness, they helped Benjamin in.

After Benjamin had entered the great hall of the church, the Holy Knights shut the great doors with a clang, blocking off numerous furious glares on the outside.

"So many people..."

Put down by the Holy Knights, Benjamin first dusted himself before sweeping his gaze across the great hall. He could not help but exclaim secretly in his heart.

The people in the great hall were comparable to those outside, but the difference was that the people here did not seem as poor. They sat on the benches usually used for listening to sermons, with steady expressions and clean, tidy outfits. Some of them even had servants waiting on them. The great hall was quieter, and the people merely engaged in small talk using low voices, as though there was not a battle being waged outside.

When Benjamin entered, they only gave him casual looks, before shifting their eyes away.

"Move faster, if you’ve fed enough of your acting obsession then get to work, aid for the church would probably arrive in Rhein City at any time now," the System urged in his heart.

Benjamin nodded.

There did not seem to be a lot of people who were in charge of keeping things in order. Because of that, he just had to walk straight towards the direction of the underground room. Some of the people near him casted startled glances at Benjamin, but very quickly, they turned their heads back, minding their own business.

As for Benjamin, he left the great hall through the back door unhindered, passing along the corridors until he reached the door of the underground room.

"You are..."

The few Holy Knights standing on guard at the door of the underground room looked at Benjamin in slight confusion.

"I’m your big master," Benjamin smiled. With a wave of his hand, numerous ice arrows shot out, riddling the Holy Knights on guard full of holes.

From then on, he no longer tried to conceal himself. He immediately used a waft of water vapor to open up the big doors of the underground room and flew in, seizing the only oil painting in the room.

He gave the oil painting a few quick looks. It was the most common religious theme, the scene of the final battle between the two brothers in the Abandoned Valley of Gods. However, Morris had said that the blueprints of St. Peter’s Cathedral were hidden in this painting. This should be it.

There were faint sounds of exclamations by the priest in charge behind him.

Benjamin gave a cold smirk and turned around. He activated the water elemental domain, inevitably emitting a bit of magical oscillation. Right then, in the corridor outside the underground room, a few figures had come into sight, flying over in a rush.

He did not dodge nor hide, but welcomed them head on.

"You... Aren’t you..."

Very soon, the priest in charge had brought a few Holy Knights and appeared in front of Benjamin. Upon seeing Benjamin clearly, they were stunned. The young man floating in midair with water swirling around him was a completely different person from the one just now.

"Excuse me, I don’t wish to alarm too many people, so I had to play a little trick like this," Benjamin shrugged, speaking with a face full of innocence.

"You... Who are you?" The priest in charge forced himself to calm down; the runes in his eyes flashed, and he summoned a beam of Holy Barrier before asking sharply.

"I could tell you, but before that, please return my money to me."

Saying thus, Benjamin clapped his hands. The priest in charge was completely unable to see what was going on; the Holy Barrier he had just summoned broke, and after that, the money bag in the pocket of his shirt flew out by itself, as though something was dragging it along, flying away from him at high speed.

With a whoosh, the money bag fell into Benjamin’s hand.

"De-devil..." As though they had remembered something, their faces changed all at the same time, and immediately they turned around, wanting to run. It was a pity, however, that numerous icicles suddenly shot out from the floor, riddling all of them with holes.

"What on earth happened?"

At that moment, the crowds of people outside the church peered in confoundedly. They did not know what was going on, but half a minute ago, the priest and the Holy Knights had suddenly run in, causing them to feel quite bewildered immediately.

Nevertheless, just as they were at a loss about what to do, there was a sudden and loud bang. As everyone watched, a hole was blasted through the roof of the church.

Benjamin flew out from there and disappeared under everyone’s sight.

All of them were stunned by what they had seen.

In the next second, the church suddenly began to shake violently. Dense cracks began to form out of nowhere, crawling up the pristine, white walls quickly. Very soon, they covered the entire church.

The people were dumbfounded at first. Then, they turned to run.

"The, the church is going to fall! Run, quickly!"

The crowd surrounding the doors of the church broke up in an uproar. At that moment, the elites who had filled the great hall of the church were like an overturned pigsty, scrambling over one and another in a mad attempt to get out from the inside.

After about half a minute.

Boom!

With a loud noise, a huge pile of ruins appeared in the middle of Rhein City, the church district where the flames of war had not yet spread.