Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?-Chapter 496 - 342: Pope Shalivan

The heavy doors slowly opened, accompanied by music with a religious undertone and the low hum of a woman.

As people stepped into the interior of the Great Cathedral, this site, the cleanest and most orderly in all of the Sain Dungeon they had encountered so far, seemed to undergo a slight change in atmosphere.

The sacred and solemn atmosphere made one feel as if a God was waiting to be met.

Directly opposite the doors they entered from was an archway leading to the back of the Great Cathedral.

In a fleeting glance, people’s sight passed through the archway, seeing distant mountains nestled under the cold sky, fleetingly shrouded by a dragon’s shadow.

Mountains with dragons residing!?

But before Eliphas could observe closely, the archway was engulfed by a rising white mist, which also covered the doors behind them, signifying that their retreat was completely cut off.

So, where was the leader?

At that moment, an unusual sound emerged from the music blending into the background, a sound of flames burning and cold winds howling.

The former came from the flames burning in the City of Sin, while the latter was the cold wind from the Painting World of Airedel. Yet, the adventurers weren’t aware of this; they could only sense the change in atmosphere.

After the emergence of these two noises, the solemn feeling associated with a divine presence suddenly weakened,

not knowing if it was overthinking, but Sali felt a strange sensation, as if the bearer of these sounds was blaspheming and dishonoring the dignity of the divine.

Just then, while pondering why he was so good at comprehending these feelings, the most prominent Eliphas emitted a dangerous aura.

Because the enemy’s form was materializing.

At the center of the entire cathedral, dark purple light surged, from which Sali felt an extremely similar aura to that of the Deep Church. Could it be that mucky substance of the Deep?

The aura was similar, but the surging dark purple light was far more beautiful than mud, revealing elegance amidst its sinister nature. This elegance was turned into wildness by the rising crimson flames.

Between the two colors, a phantom figure slowly emerged, and as it appeared, it felt as if everyone was tormented simultaneously by flames and cold winds.

The music reached its climax with the woman’s high-pitched chanting, and the dark purple phantom stepped out of the flames, as if stepping on everyone’s hearts, causing them to pause momentarily.

At the moment of seeing the enemy’s figure, everyone instinctively recalled the enemy’s name.

[The Phantom of Pope Shalivan]

This was the avatar residing here of the elusive Pope, whose true whereabouts were unknown. Yet, this phantom possessed strength nearly equivalent to the original.

The adventurers couldn’t sense much, but Gong Qiying thought having Shalivan, the mastermind behind Soul Three, directly appear here seemed a bit... lacking in prestige?

Just as the Full Moon Queen appeared in the form of a Biomimetic Tear Drop, it was quite normal for Shalivan, who already dealt in avatars, to leave one guarding the Great Cathedral, right?

All the mercenaries tensed up instantly. Even if it was just a phantom, the pressure it exerted was no less than their first encounter with Overlord Vonier.

Eliphas also reacted, but his brows furrowed.

He furrowed his brow again when he saw the two great swords held by Shalivan’s phantom.

Pope Shalivan.

Since the Knights of War appeared before the adventurers, this name had been frequently mentioned. Related items, equipment, and scenes with Yilushier of the Cold Valley have all referenced this Pope in one way or another. fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm

This naturally drew people’s attention, as the title of Pope sounded quite powerful. So, what have people come to know thus far?

They knew that Pope Shalivan stationed in Yilushier was an ambitious figure, sending troops beyond Yilushier for unknown reasons, with the presence of the Knights of War seen everywhere.

They knew Shalivan and the Deep Church or rather the Deep Saint Airedel engaged in some unknown cooperation, leading to Airedel leaving the Deep Church.

While not conclusive of anything, the Pope’s eyes that could transform people into beasts, together with the twisted creatures in the underground prison, and the tragedy of the little boy were all his doing, making it clear to everyone that such a person could not possibly be benign.

Later it was discovered that Shalivan, before becoming Pope, was a magician and reportedly rose from humble beginnings to higher ranks through effort.

This caused Eliphas to admire him greatly.

While admiring, the Light Eagle Group made comprehensive strategies against this Pope who was a former magician, deploying all sorts of magic power countermeasures. They even spent heavily to acquire a Silver Shield with the Topps Force Field, a recently rare item, emerging only after a long time, making people reluctant to use it against the Biomimetic Tear Drop of the Full Moon Queen.

Even Eliphas recently engrossed himself in researching counteractions to various forms of magic, investing time to teach the mercenaries formations, collaboration, etc., making thorough preparations, even more earnest than when fighting Overlord Vonier initially.

He felt that with the various magic-targeted formations now formed between himself and the mercenaries, they could even defeat those long-renowned magic masters.

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