Axi Town.
It was a township near Yiertaya, and although it was very close to the great city of Yiertaya, it was rarely touched by the bustling atmosphere belonging to a metropolis.
It was more like a medieval countryside town, with simple folk and far from the hustle and bustle.
It was unremarkable, and passing travelers could easily forget it.
Inside a sparsely populated tavern, Bishop Moen, Bishop Duoze, and Morai sat around a small wooden table.
The tavern had little business and naturally no money to hire help, so the owner handled everything himself.
The owner was a burly middle-aged man with thick hair but a warm personality; after bringing several wooden mugs of beer to them, he said in a booming voice, "Guests, if you aren't drinking your fill, just let me know; the one thing I'm not short on here is beer, hehe!"
With that, he picked up his serving tray and left.
At the table, seeing the owner leave, Morai immediately pushed the beer in front of her toward Moen and said, "Moen, you drink it."
Moen raised an eyebrow and, with a delicate hand gesture, pushed the two mugs in front of him toward Duoze, saying in an extremely high-pitched voice, "This lady doesn't like drinking, either."
Duoze looked at the three mugs of beer in front of him, curled his lip, and heroically raised a mug to drink it all down in one go.
He then slammed the wooden mug heavily onto the table and said, "Moen, you really are like a woman right now!"
"Enough, Duoze!" Moen's eyes were icy. "You can hit this lady, but you cannot insult this lady!"
Seeing the tension between the two rising, Morai quickly stepped in to mediate, finally managing to calm them both down.
"Bishop Duoze, our stronghold in the city has been lost; that is an irreversible loss. What is the cult's next guidance?" Morai looked at Duoze and asked.
Duoze did not respond; he first stared silently at the tabletop, then suddenly lifted a mug and downed it once more.
Morai simply felt that Bishop Duoze's tolerance for alcohol was truly impressive.
"Losing the Yiertaya stronghold is absolutely a major loss for us, but fortunately, after realizing there was another great existence in the city, we moved most of our important items out of the stronghold as a precaution. So, while the loss is significant, it is not unacceptable for the cult."
Bishop Duoze said, then he paused, his tone becoming irritable: "But that isn't what we should be most worried about now."
"The cult prepared a lot for that one's revival this time; even the Plague... even the god capable of spreading pestilence was merely a stepping stone for him."
"The loss of the Hand of the Plague God is nothing, the failure of the ritual on Wuxin Island and the disappearance of the Blessing Stone are nothing, but..."
He sighed deeply and said with incomprehension, "I don't understand how someone noticed the problem with those candies!"
"Originally, the cult's purpose was to use those candies to spread the pestilence and cause chaos in Yiertaya, while simultaneously using the people in the city as sacrifices to revive the god. This plan should have been flawless; after all, how could anyone suspect that pestilence poison was hidden in those children's lollipops?"
Morai was stunned for a moment, the scene of her meeting with Grinya in the abandoned factory flashing through her mind.
She shrunk her neck and said somewhat innocently, "I don't know. It had nothing to do with me; I just did what the cult ordered."
Moen's eyes flickered; he gave a silent cold laugh and glanced at Morai.
Duoze raised the last mug of beer but didn't drink it immediately, holding it in the air: "So far, all our plans have encountered various obstacles, and every single one is inseparable from one person!"
He downed the beer in one gulp, his voice suddenly booming: "All of this is because of that girl named Grinya! Every time our plans fail, it's because she gets involved!"
"The high priest and the others already have their suspicions; the existence within Grinya may have seen through all our plans. He wants us to do the work for him and start his full revival early."
Duoze lowered his voice and gripped the wooden mug: "But that's impossible. The Abyss will surely open its eyes! Despite the various failures we've encountered, we still have our greatest trump card, don't we?"
He looked at Morai: "During your time playing Princess Ruiya, have you been feeding the bodies of the 'Plague One' to the king on schedule?"
Because a god's divine title could not be directly spoken, Duoze only dared to refer to the Plague God as the Plague One here.
"Everything has been done according to the cult's instructions. Currently, the Plague One is at a state of semi-awakening within King Weis," Morai replied.
"It's a pity we can't go back, otherwise, would you wait for the one inside Grinya to expose us?" Moen said in a high-pitched voice. "Besides, that existence was, in a sense, awakened by the few of us to begin with."
Duoze frowned.
Moen's words reminded him of some unpleasant memories.
At that time, they had originally wanted to communicate with the Abyss, but unexpectedly, it backfired, and they instead awakened an unknown, terrifying existence.
To this day, they still hadn't found any information regarding this god!
"We'll just have to see when the cult tells us to act on the final plan." Moen chuckled, his eyes full of a flirtatious charm that made people feel sick to their stomachs. "It's just that trying to do such a thing under a god's nose... the difficulty is too high."
"Even if it won't work, we must try!" Duoze's gaze was piercing.
Suddenly, Duoze and Moen both froze at the same time; their eyes met, both seeing a hint of abnormality in the other's gaze.
Neither said much; they simply emptied the mugs on the table and consecutively performed the same hand seal gestures. Black magic coiled like poisonous snakes, and one black flame after another emerged.
Morai watched this scene with some confusion: "Moen, what are you doing?"
Moen did not answer; the expressions on her and Duoze's faces were extremely grave and grew increasingly ugly.
Suddenly, their bodies slumped as if they had lost all their strength, and they sat back into their chairs.
"How is it possible? How could it be like this?" Duoze murmured in a low voice, his face filled with disbelief.
"Moen, what exactly happened?" Morai asked again.
Moen's eyes were vacant, and she said with a face of despair, "News just came from the high priest. Grinya broke into the palace, and then..."
She felt her mouth go dry, a wretched bitter smile appearing on her face: "And then the Plague One fell back into a deep sleep. All our plans... all for nothing..."
Morai's pupils shrank in disbelief.
"Grinya... she, they..." Her lips were trembling, and she didn't dare continue.
"All our plans were seen through by that unknown god. The high priest told us we can't wait any longer, or everything will be in vain."
Duoze suddenly said, "The cult's next order is for us to skip the preparations and directly initiate the final plan!"
"Directly initiate the final plan..." Morai said breathlessly, "But isn't that very dangerous?"
"There's no other way. The cult has been pushed into a corner."
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