119 Holy Knights

Just as Fearless had predicted, Yang Nuo's shroud was indeed able to mask her presence from the system.

When she threw the firecrackers into the into the Grand Cathedral, it ended up being pinned on the nearest players.

Seeing that nothing had happened to her while the Imperial Root players started panicking, Yang Nuo smiled inwardly. After she finished all the firecrackers she had, Yang Nuo ran up to the window and threw a firework directly into the Grand Cathedral!

The difference between the sound created by the fireworks and a firecracker was the same as a bullet and a bomb…

The Imperial Root players immediately fell silent and hurriedly looked around for the troublemaker when they received a message.

<System Notification: Your guild has disrespected the house of the lord. Vatican City merit points -100, NPCs despise you and Holy Knights will attack you on sight.>

<City Announcement: Imperial Root players have disturbed the peace in the Grand Cathedral and are now public enemies of the city. For the next 24 hours, slaying an Imperial Root player awards merit points.>

After reading the announcement, the Imperial Root players almost spat out a mouthful of blood. They were just quietly sitting outside the Grand Cathedral! Who was even provoking who now?

"Master Dawn, what do you do now?" The Imperial Root players hurriedly asked Dawn's First Ray while cursing him in their hearts: "It's all your fault! If we weren't here waiting for them then this wouldn't have happened in the first place!"

"Even the wisest man will never be free of mistakes!" Dawn's First Ray muttered to himself before lowering his head and trying to think of a solution.

However, the system naturally wouldn't have given Dawn's First Ray any time to strategize as the Holy Knights had already arrived.

These NPCs wore pure white capes and heavy armour and held cross blades that emitted a faint gold radiance.

<Holy Knight (LV-35) (Elite)>

HP: 150000

MP: 150000

Skills: [Holy Judgement], [Cross Slash], [Saint's Recovery], [Charge], [Aura Of Glory].

Looking at these NPCs, even Yang Nuo was standing afar felt her heart tighten. These ordinary NPCs had HP and MP equivalent to that of bosses of the same level! Furthermore, they were a mix of a melee and support job! Wasn't this a bit too much?

"F**k! It's the Holy Knights!"

The members of the Imperial Root were all local players so they knew that aside from the pope's personal soldiers, the Holy Knights were the strongest NPCs in the city!

"Death to the blasphemous!"

The leader of the Holy Knights raised his cross blade into the air and shouted. Following this, a bright ray of light enveloped the knights, causing their imposing aura to soar.

"Cleanse these heathens who dare defile the house of our Lord!"

Receiving the order, the Holy Knights all lowered their heads and rushed towards the Imperial Root players.

"Protect me! I'll compensate those who die!" Dawn's First Ray shrieked as he ran to the back.

The members of Imperial Root were all professional gamers that only joined because of money. In a way, Dawn's First Ray was their boss so if he said he would compensate them then it would naturally be money. Trading an in-game life for money was definitely an acceptable deal.

The few hundred of them charged forward as well to block the Holy Knights.

Even though there were only twelve Holy Knights, they had dual jobs were all covered from head to toe in heavy armour and also had [Aura Of Glory] active.

When the Holy Knights all used [Charge] at the same time, they easily broke through the Imperial Root players formation like a heated knife in butter. Before the players even had time to retaliate, the Holy Knights assembled into their cross formation. Even killing several players in the process.

The Imperial Root players weren't weaklings either. They quickly recovered and assembled into their bossing formation with the tanks at the front and the DPS at the back.

What really hurt the players wasn't the attack of the Holy Knights but the notification they received instead.

<System Notification: Due to the Imperial Root's resistance, -100 merit points...>

What kind of bullshit was this? They couldn't even try to defend themselves? However since the situation had already deteriorated to this point then the Imperial Root players could only clench their teeth and continue fighting.

This was only to be expected after all. In the real world, a guild like the Imperial Root wasn't any different from a secret society. If they just quietly existed in the city then the government would have left them alone. However, after they threw a firecracker into the government building then the government definitely wouldn't let them live in the city anymore…

The Holy Knights weren't any slouches either. After receiving the first wave of attacks from Imperial Root, the Holy Knights raised their right hand and cast [Saint's Recovery], healing back all the damage they took…

"Filthy heathens, taste the wrath of God!!!"

The Holy Knights then grouped into pairs and crossed their swords, and rained numerous beams of light down on the back line of Imperial Root.

In reality, even though they were facing a dozen level 35 Elite monsters, with a few hundred players surrounding them, the Imperial Root still had a very decent chance at victory. However, the Holy Knight's were incredibly imposing and the players were still reeling from the shock of losing 300 merit points. Without a will to battle, the players were very quickly suppressed by the Holy Knights.

A few hundreds players were being forced to retreat by just a dozen Holy Knights… This truly was a sight to behold.

Seeing how fierce the Holy Knights were, Dawn's First Ray quickly turned around and fled. However he only managed to take a few steps before crashing into a towering figure.

"F**k off!!! Don't block my way!" Dawn's First Ray was used to being a tyrant in Vatican City so the moment someone blocked him, he instinctively pulled out his sword and threatened the unknown player.

In the face of his threats, the man merely laughed and blandly said: "I heard that I'll get merit points for killing you right?"

Hearing his words, Dawn's First Ray's face instantly paled…

As the smartest one out of the four holy ballers, Dawn's First Ray knew that the only reason people didn't dare offend them was that there was no benefit in doing so. However, now that the entire Imperial Root was an enemy of the church, every one of them were no different from monsters that rewarded players with merit points for killing them!

Thinking up to this point, Dawn's First Ray held his sword up and growled: "You dare kill me? I'm o..."

Before he had even finished speaking, the other player lazily stretched out his arm and crushed his neck, instantly killing him…

After that, the player clapped his hands in casually muttered: "Why wouldn't I dare to kill him? Hey… he's only worth 2 merit points… That's kind of low..."

At the spawn point, Dawn's First Ray was still trying to wrap his head around the situation. He was covered from head to toe in top tier equipment and yet he had been instantly killed just like that…

Opening his battlelog, he only saw one line.

<You have been slain by player Iron Bull. -2 Sin. 198 Sin remaining.>