Fire Mage

Charles traveled through dense ancient woods, encountering more than five Rank-5 shadow beasts along the way. Finally, he emerged into a plain area. The complete darkness initially disoriented him, but with the help of Caspian\'s memories, he found his way to the correct destination and saw a distant bright light.

While standing more than two kilometers away, a large ruined fortress-like building loomed before him. It was adorned with hundreds of fire torches, casting an eerie glow. Additionally, four large magical lights were strategically placed on the fortress\'s four corners, bathing the surroundings in a bright yellowish light.

From the information Charles acquired from Caspian\'s memories, he learned that the Life Church members had been using this ruined fortress as their base for the past ten days while searching for a man named \'Oberon.\' Initially, Cardinal Benedictus planned on killing Oberon in the first layer of the dungeon, but they could not locate him.

Subsequently, they moved to the second layer and split into four groups to intensify their search for Oberon. While Cardinal and Caspian remained at the base, Water Mage Jade, a Head Deacon, another Cardinal named Richard, and a Withering Shadow Leader Garret, along with a Holy Maiden and an Ice Mage Falken, ventured to different locations in their pursuit of Oberon.

\'Caspian seems solely focused on scanning the surroundings and checking for any nearby individuals,\' Charles thought. \'If I\'m not mistaken, Richard and another person must have returned to the fortress to report their findings. Time is of the essence; I shouldn\'t waste much time in this layer.\'

With determination, Charles hastened his steps toward the fortress. But as soon as he walked on the strange grassy plain, a frown appeared on his forehead.

\'Why do I feel strange gazes? A spell?\' He slowly glanced around and soon noticed it was the gazes of rat-type monsters from the nearby bush.

Shaking his head, he continued to walk, soon arrived at its gatehouse entrance, and began removing the rocks that were used to block the way. His silent and swift movements allowed him to slip inside unnoticed.

But as he walked inside, he noticed the surrounding area was filled with greenery. Beautiful plants, trees, and vines with poisonous hooks popped out of the ground everywhere and covered all over the place.

Thanks to the hundreds of torches and four 1 to 2-meter radius balls of fire suspending on four sides, the inside of the fortress looked more like a day. Charles stealthily navigated through the passageways, taking care not to step on the vines or plants in the yard, and soon arrived at the keep.

At that moment, three types of wisdom power came from inside and probed him. Once they found out it was one of their companions, they stopped examining him and retracted their wisdom power.

Meanwhile, Charles entered the keep and soon reached the Great Hall, where three figures sat in the middle. The hall appeared slightly damaged on the roof, with a few large holes in the corners. There were also statues of strange humanoid beings carved on both sides of the walls, which gave off a unique foreign atmosphere.

At that moment, six wooden chairs were placed at the center of the hall, one slightly larger than the others and looking decorated. On it sat a 70-year-old-looking man in a golden robe who was conversing with two other people sitting on opposite chairs.

The old man had long grey hair, a slightly wrinkled pale face, a celestial nose, thick eyebrows, and bluish eyes. He wore a miter on his head and a unique silver necklace.

\'Cardinal Benedictus.\' Charles quickly recognized him and slowly shifted his attention toward the other two people in the hall.

One guy appeared to be around 40 years old with short blonde hair, while the other one was a young woman in her long white gown. She covered most of her body and head with a scarf, only showing her pretty oval face.

\'They must be Richard and Holy Maiden.\' But Charles sensed that the Holy Maiden was a Rank-5 [Fierce Light] Mystic and a Rank-6 [Learner] Class Mystic.

\'Eye of Thousands... No wonder I felt the eerie gaze from those rat monsters.\'

\'Although her [Fierce Light] class looks good, it\'s actually a fake origin class. So, she can\'t use any of its skills without divine power.\' After a swift analysis, Charles confirmed that her power was only around Novice Legend Rank, like Caspian. Charles also scanned Richard as he walked towards them and noticed that he was in a similar situation as the Holy Maiden.

\'If they have divine power, their overall strength would be shot up to intermediate level. It\'s actually good anyway.\'

On the other hand, he noticed Cardinal Benedictus\'s power appeared more domineering.

\'He is a Rank-5 [Cardinal] and a Rank-6 [Woodland Sage]. He has some powerful nature spells and could be hard to deal with.\'

As he was in deep thought, Cardinal turned his gaze towards him and spoke.

"Caspian, we are leaving this fortress by tomorrow."

"Do they locate Oberon\'s location? Where is he now?" He asked in surprise and soon arrived before Cardinal.

"We have learned that he has been staying with the Pentagon family. Although it\'s unexpected, I don\'t think they will oppose us if we accuse of him some crime." Cardinal spoke as he looked at the Holy Maiden and asked for a suggestion.

"What should we do now, My Lady?"

At that moment, Charles sat on the chair beside the Holy Maiden and tried to act like he was eager to listen to what the Holy Maiden was about to say.

At the same time, he activated the [Hands of Wonders] skill, released an invisible thread, and stealthily sent it toward Cardinal\'s neck.

Like a slithering snake, the invisible thread slowly moved from his fingertip, descended towards the rocky floor, and started moving towards Cardinal\'s chair.

Soon, it moved up on the chair, went up to Cardinal\'s collar, and finally reached the necklace\'s clasp.

Meanwhile, the Holy Maiden thought of the solution and started talking.

"Our best solution should be a soft and legal approach. First, someone from our group has to meet a member of Pentagon member coincidentally and gets severely injured while fighting him. If possible, sacrificing someone should work even better." As she spoke, she glanced at Charles and asked with a smile.

"What do you think, Caspian? Can you do it?"

Charles\'s face stiffened as he heard those words.

\'What the f*ck? Is she actually asking her own member to die?\' Before he could think, she slowly looked at Charles\'s left hand and furrowed.

"Why are you moving your fingers strangely?" Her question caused Cardinal and Richard to turn their attention toward him, giving him slight anxiety.

"I\'ve been practicing a new technique to make my arrow\'s accuracy reach even higher. Due to this technique, my fingers will go numb quickly and might even get swollen. So, I have no choice but to keep exercising my fingers."

A surprised expression appeared on Cardinal\'s face.

"I didn\'t know you have been working hard to improve your skills even during your free time, Caspian. When we return to the Church, I\'ll give you a befitting reward."

At that moment, Richard noticed something odd and asked.

"But won\'t you usually pull the arrow string using your right-hand fingers?"

A silence descended in the hall.

"Tsk, it seems I really need more training with my acting skills." Charles clicked his tongue and stood up from his seat.

Simultaneously, he raised his left hand and grabbed something in mid-air.

"What are you doing?" Cardinal felt something was off about him and touched the bracelet on his wrist to cast a defensive spell at any moment.

On the other hand, Charles started closing all his fingers, except the middle finger, towards his palm and smiled.

"You\'ll understand in a while."

As everyone was dumbfounded by his action, he finally enclosed the middle finger, cast [Flame Teleportation] spell, and enveloped himself in a reddish flame before disappearing!

"Imposter!" All three cried out in shock and stood up from their seats.

"How did this happen? I have been monitoring Caspian even before he entered the fortress but didn\'t sense anything odd!" Holy Maiden said in a shocked tone.

"Someone must have killed him after..." He suddenly thought of the earlier incident and cursed loudly.

"It must be the Sun Church member! But he said that guy was just a young man and only has the strength of Rank-5 Mystic."

"But why did he come all the way here? Just to get found out by us?" Richard asked.

At that moment, Holy Maiden noticed something was missing from Cardinal\'s neck and pointed her fingers with wide eyes.

"It\'s your necklace, Cardinal!"

"My necklace?" Cardinal was also startled by her words and hurriedly grabbed his neck to check if his necklace was still there.

The next moment, his face turned pale as a white sheet!

After a short silence, he finally screamed and woke up from the shock.

"He stole it! Go GO! Without that necklace, it\'s almost impossible for us to defeat Pontiff! Chase after him."