Chapter 223: Phoenix

"Hey, look! It's a ninja!" A kid suddenly exclaimed when he noticed a distant figure jumping from one roof to another. Though, before his friends could turn around and take a look, the figure had already gone far that they could no longer see it with their eyesight.

Even so, the kid wasn't the only one that saw the passing figure running on the roof. A few people from time to time would look up in the sky for no particular reason only to see the figure flashing by as if the person couldn't be bothered hiding from the public, or simply had no intention of doing so, to begin with.

Most people would think what they saw was something delusional, believing the mind was playing a trick on them. After all, who would believe them if they say that they saw a person jumping from one roof to another with such a huge gap between each building? Any normal person would think they are either crazy or very creative with their imagination and simply laugh it off.

It is what it is.

Though in comparison, seeing someone jumping from one building to another might be a lot more believable than seeing a huge monstrous entity like Godzilla wreaking havoc with its breath attacks, and on every step it takes, the land trembled followed by collapsing building one after another. It was a huge walking disaster, to say the least

Looking at the damage it caused in the area, Sheila frowned.

"What the hell did the members of the Church did to make this dragon so furious? Did they kick its productive organ or something?" She curiously muttered while surveying the people running in the opposite direction with her sharp eyes hidden under her mask. She seemed to be looking for someone amidst the panicked crowd. It took her a while before she finally found her target and mysteriously faded away on the spot in the blink of an eye. If it wasn't for the current predicament, people would've long noticed her presence with her striking strange getup.

A few miles away from the Earth Dragon, there was a small group of people bickering with each other with a hint of fear and agitation evident on all of their faces. Though their outfit seems similar to the other people, one thing differs is that all of them have the same white cross necklace hung on their necks. And the small group consists of three male adults, two females adults, and a single old man. These are none other than the members of the Church, the very culprit who caused the Earth Dragon to snapped and leaving its territory.

While the other common people were escaping like a headless chicken, these are the only people who remain on the spot as if they won't move until their bickering come to a certain conclusion. Of course, there's also the fact that the distance between them and the Earth Dragon is still far apart from one another.

"I told you there's no way that is going to work against that thing!"

"That's because you're too slow! If you have been a bit faster!" A four-eyed man, one with glasses, angrily denounced the person ahead of him. The latter look at him in bewilderment for a moment before saying with a contempt look on his face, "If I was a bit faster? Hah, I'm literally the fastest person in the group, and now you're saying my speed is insufficient? Just admit that you don't know what you're doing, you four-eyed."

"What! How dare you!"

While the two men were bickering with one another, the others—rather the woman by their side could only watch their interaction with deadpan eyes. They had tried to calm them multiple before this, yet their words went through their ears and out on another, none of them wanted to admit their mistake. Looking back to their history, they had been rivals since they joined the church.

Neither one of them could stomach other guts as if they are fated to hate one another. And because of their rivalry, the church actually benefits a lot from them, so they didn't see any reason to interfere and decided to leave them alone. No matter how much they hate each other, they never went too far with their dispute, at least that's how it goes till now.

"Fine. Let's decide everything here and now."

"So be it."

Just as the two were about to clash, the old man that has been staying quiet from the sideline for a while now finally decides to interfere by calmly say, "that's enough."

The two immediately went silent the moment they recognized the owner of the voice. The old man in front of them is none other than a Bishop, someone who ranks higher than them, but that isn't enough to silence them. What they feared the most is the old man's strength as, despite his age, he can easily finish them off in a matter of seconds. He isn't just experienced, but also powerful in terms of combat strength.

"In hindsight, I should've prepared better. Don't blame each other too much, we are all on the same side, it is also my negligence that brought danger to the common people. What we need to do now is to think of a way to direct the danger to somewhere else, as it is within our responsibility to do so." The old man wisely said.

"No no no! It was our mistake that we never consider the risk involved! We underestimated it, thinking it wasn't that much of a threat to us simply because it decides to hole itself deep in the mountain. If we think carefully, this won't have happened! Isn't that right?"

"Yes yes, you're right!"

Seeing the two trying to suck up to him, the old man internally sighed. When he heard from a priest following the Saint reported that there was a fearsome monster hidden deep in the mountain, he had immediately thought of a way to manipulate it while not considering the danger in mind. Of course, if the Church isn't having internal problems which separated them into two factions, he would've reported it back to the Pope earlier. But the old man is in the faction that went against the Pope.

In his mind, if he could control something like a dragon to abide by his will, there's a higher chance of him ranking up, even becoming a Pope might not be unthinkable. Unfortunately, his skill is simply insufficient. Blind by his fantasy, he recklessly steps on a dragon's tail.

Suddenly, they sensed something and quickly looked up. Their eyes turned wide, what they saw was a bird engulfed in flame appearing out of nowhere before flying past their head heading toward the dragon. A woman in their group couldn't help but mutter in amazement, "Phoenix?"