Chapter 148：Black Panther

If it was, the elves and beastmen who were sheltering Boel and Herman would probably incur the Father's wrath.

Bowen was so disturbed that he took the Pope aside, saying that he would try and heal his wound, then he casted a sleep technique in between the healing techniques. A few days had passed, the last light power in the Pope's body had vanished without a trace, he was now just an ordinary man, so he easily succumbed to the sleeping spell.

Bowen immediately grabbed his wrist, entered a slight power of light to search along his meridians, and was stunned to find that his body had no light attributes.

This was his old friend, no one was clearer than Bowen about how dazzling his power was. Who could turn a man who had half a foot in the realm of the demigods into a mortal? Except for the Father, there was no other possible option. If Herman was rejected by the father, then what about Boel?

Bowen's sensitive nerves couldn't stop twitching in pain.

He dropped his friend's wrist, then casually walked to the fire pit to sit down. Joshua was tired, so he had curled up on the grass and a mage was tucking a blanket around him. But even asleep, he still instinctually supported the light circle. His strength was beyond a doubt.

Bowen withdrew his gaze, his expression complex. He still remembered how Boel Britte looked dressed in white robes, standing under the Mother Tree, using his pure light to rejuvenate it. As he withdrew his hand, a ripe fairy fruit fell to his palm and broke into two halves, then, a thumb sized fairy flapped its wings and flew up to kiss his white cheek. It was the first newborn in the fae clan in nearly a thousand years.

[Fae – Point of confusion here as elves usually aren't born thumb sized with wings, so I called them fairies (since elves are fairies) and used the catch all term fae. Fae include elves, pixies, gnomes, goblins, nymphs, etc.]

At that time, he was so holy, charming, gentle, and kind. He brought hope for the desperate elf clan. How could he be rejected by the Father? Just what did he do?

Bowen felt very unwell, he frowned tightly until his face deformed.

The adventurer team from the Grand Duchy of Dorados and the Sagya Kingdom's team were already becoming familiar, they were chatting while drinking around the fire.

A man asked curiously, "Is it true that the Light God himself baptized Priest Joshua?"

"Of course it's true. When the priest walked out of the holy pool, he was wearing the same holy robes as the God of Light, and red rose petals fell from the sky, blocking the sun. That was such a grand occasion, I can never forget it in my lifetime." A Sagya Kingdom mage described it with a nostalgic tone.

"I also heard that Boel Britte, to become the Bishop of your Kingdom, secretly seduced the Pope. Then the Pope disregarded the opposition from your Elder Bishop and robbed the title of new Bishop from Priest Joshua and gave it to Boel. Is it true that they even offended the Father on the day before the coronation ceremony, and the Father himself descended God fire to burn them to death for their sins?"

"The truth is hundreds of times more sordid than you think. Boel Britte's clothes were burnt off by the God fire, exposing his body full of love marks, he looked like a lustful horny bitch. The Pope refused to admit that he had an affair with Boel, saying it was done by the Second Prince. The Second Prince, who was demoted to a civilian, immediately stood up and accused him."

"He said that Boel 'openly welcomed as a guest in his house' not only the both of them, he welcomed the Beast King, the youngest prince of the Beast clan, and even the…" Here, the man paused for a moment and sneaked a glance at Bowen and the others. When he saw that they weren't paying attention to them, he continued in a lower voice, "Even the Elf King. No one is cleaner than the other. Everyone is expecting the heavenly Father to burn them all to death sooner or later."

The adventurer team's eyes widened as they hissed out in disbelief, they couldn't imagine how charming Boel Britte had to be to suck the most powerful people on the mainland in between his legs. Is he just that good in bed?

All kinds of erotic pictures flashed in their minds, after they fantasized for a while, one of them exclaimed, "How can such a lewd man be qualified to serve the Father? No wonder the Father was so wrathful. Hey, I'm starting to think his God's pet identity was also fabricated."

"Even if it was the truth, what he did was tantamount to betraying the Father, he deserves to be burnt to death. I heard he escaped, do you know where he fled to?"

"Don't know, but I heard that a powerful demon rescued him. And judging by how strong everyone said he was, he should at least by a Devil King from the Dark Abyss. Perhaps he is now a dark priest, shaking his ass under that devil." The people from Sagya Kingdom sneered.

The elves and beastmen had particularly sensitive eyes and ears, even if these people had lowered their voices, Bowen and the others could still hear their dialogue clearly. His face was gloomy and his heart was trembling, he desperately wanted to deny these words, but all his doubts automatically jumped out to tell him that all they said was the truth.

Boel was rescued by a demon, then, who is the Duke Hubert that has been inseparable from him the past few days? Is he really human? And the Elf King was also one of Boel's 'guests', how is this possible?

Bowen covered his face, feeling that he was simply trying to deceive his own self. The king and Boel always had an ambiguous air between them, all the elves had noticed it. He'd seduced so many men with his flesh and betrayed the Father, his soul was already filthy. In the human society, he represented filth and wickedness, an existence that would be completely rejected by the Father.

And such a person was now living carefreely in the elves and the beastmen's land, holding the Elf King and the Beast King's love in the palm of his hand, so disgusting! Bowen's stomach began to cramp in pain.

"Wah!" An elf screamed, causing everyone to glance at him, even making the sleeping Priest Joshua hum.

The elf quickly covered his mouth and stared at the priest's slightly frowning brow in guilt. Another elf immediately walked to the priest's side and sung a lullaby for him.

Slowly, the priest once again fell into a deep sleep, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief while also giving the elf a look of condemnation.

"My quilt shocked me with static." The elf was very young, his pitiful expression was able to win sympathy.

"If you continue fussing about and bother the priest, you'll have to leave immediately." The leader mage said in warning. Herman was still the Pope, they couldn't do anything to him, so they wanted these elves and beastmen to take him away.

The elves were reluctant to leave Priest Joshua. It was so warm and relaxing around him, just like being around the Mother Tree.

Bowen apologized for him, so everyone nodded and continued chatting like before, then he whispered, "What's wrong?"

"High Priest, have you noticed a difference between the Elf Forest now and the Elf Forest half a month ago?"

Half a month ago, the Elf Forest, although it was still suffering from demon fog erosion, the situation was not as far gone as it was now. At that time, as long as Bowen toured the forest every day and casted a few purification spells, he could effectively curb the spread of demon fog. But half a month ago, from the day Boel arrived, the demon fog in the whole Elf Forest seemed to be stimulated, it started expanding out faster than before, in almost a blink of an eye, it had swallowed a third of the forest. Everywhere they looked was black land and waters, it was like a scene from hell.

This disaster, he suspected, was brought by Boel Britte. He'd angered the Father and the elves and the beastmen had taken him in and given him asylum, then they treated Priest Joshua, whom the Father loves, as an enemy. The omniscient Father must be angry with the two clans.

So the demon fog became uncontrollable.

Even more worrying, Boel's savior was a Devil King, and as they all knew, when a Devil King wanted to conceal his identity, even the Pope in his heyday wouldn't be able to see through him. This Devil King had followed Boel to the Elf Forest, the demon fog would certainly flock to his call.

If his speculations were true, the elves and the beastmen were at risk of extinction.

Bowen was scared enough to cold sweat, and the young elf shrunk beside him, shivering, he was on the verge of tears.

"High Priest, we must go back immediately!" He rubbed his eyes while anxiously urging.

"If it's truly a Devil King, I can't deal with him. We must bring Priest Joshua back with us." Bowen waved his hand, sighing at his incapability.

"But he has probably guessed that Boel is in our land, he won't go with us. He, like the Father, must hate us." The little elf choked.

When they had attacked Priest Joshua, they had said that they were taking revenge for Boel Britte. If they didn't know what had happened to Boel, why would they be so angry, they must've certainly had contact with Boel after his escape. Boel Britte had been completely rejected by human society, except for escaping to the Elf Forest, he had no other possible shelter. Any fool could guess it.

No wonder these humans were trying to get rid of them. They must have already decided that the elves and the beastmen were blasphemous.

The little elf was even more fearful, he cried uncontrollably into the High Priest's arm.

The other members gathered around the High Priest silently, showing despairing expressions. How could two races hated by the Father win in the dark war? If the Elf Forest was completely swallowed by demon fog, that would mean the end of their races.

"It'll be all right, Priest Joshua is kind. He wouldn't look at a death and not try to stop it." Bowen assured them, but his heart was somewhat uncertain. He hadn't forgotten how Joshua had stood idly by when the Pope's life was in danger. He noticed that Priest Joshua was at his friendliest only when he was praying, for the rest of the time, he was unusually cold.

So they had to wait until his prayer time to plead.

The next day, Zhou Yun Sheng was awakened by his biological clock. He determine that there was no danger outside, then lifted an index finger to retract his golden circle of light. A plume of gold seemed to swirl around him like a dragon, scrambling to dive into his fingertip. The scene greatly shocked Bowen, the Pope and the other light priests.

Others may not feel it, but as light priests, no one knew more than them just how difficult light power was to control. Once it was released, it would certainly dissipate, it was absolutely impossible to withdraw it. Only the Father himself had the power to expend and retract as he pleased.

Just what was the real state of Priest Joshua currently? Full saint? Demigod? Or was he already a god?

Bowen trembled, strongly suppressing his inner anxiety. Now, Priest Joshua might not even glance at them.

Sure enough, while the rest of his team were finishing packing up, he sat on top of his carriage's shaft and didn't even glance at them before opening, "The danger has lifted, you can leave."

A group of elves and beastmen rushed to his side and looked at him with watery eyes, as if to say, "Please pity us!"

Zhou Yun Sheng simply got into his carriage and ordered, "Depart."

The guide hurried to drive forward.

Bowen called back the people that were about to pursue them, waited for the team of humans to leave, then said, "Let us secretly keep up with them, we'll wait for when Priest Joshua is having his prayer time to ask." Then he turned to the Pope and mercilessly said, "Herman, go back to the Central Church, I will not escort you."

"Why? You know my current situation, and I don't have the manpower to safely walk out of the Elf Forest." The Pope shouted. He only had one mage and two warriors with him, and they were seriously injured, they didn't even have the ability of self-protection, they couldn't protect others.

"We have something urgent to do. Herman, you have to pay the price for your choices. The Father is looking down on us from heaven, none of us can escape his eyes." Bowen said this sentence then quickly disappeared into the jungle with his people, leaving the angry and despairing Pope screaming in place.