At least half an hour after the dark shadow departed, an afterimage finally streaked over from the far end of the passage. The faint black light trailing behind it undulated like ripples on water, its calm depth concealing a scent of violence and destruction.
The afterimage halted before the iron grate, its expression grave as it surveyed the surroundings.
This was a man in his thirties dressed entirely in black—a black dress shirt, black tailcoat, black trousers, black leather shoes, and a black bow tie. His beard was neatly trimmed, and his black hair was slicked straight back, gleaming with polish—a new trend that the upper-class nobles of Altor had only recently picked up from other kingdoms.
The man was clearly someone who placed great importance on appearance and status.
Unfortunately, he was no noble.
This was Ronsan Allen.
Among the Allen Gang, those leaders who frequently dealt with Ronsan Allen all knew that beneath their boss's relentless pursuit of aristocratic elegance, a nameless fury had always been burning in his heart—emitting an endless supply of malice, resentment, and rage that inspired deep fear.
Ronsan Allen was, in truth, a knight who had awakened his bloodline power, so strong that he was on the verge of breaking through the limits of an ordinary human body to become a Great Knight. But the tragedy was that the bloodline power he had awakened was dark in nature. Not only could he never become a true noble—never receive an estate, never enjoy a dignified and comfortable life, never leave a baronial title for his descendants—but he also had to hide from the Church, scurrying through sewers like a rat that dared not run in the sunlight.
In the ancient Arcane Empire, which had ruled the sky, the earth, and the sea and conquered numerous other planes of existence, knights, priests, and other wielders of supernatural power had all unconsciously modeled their strength rankings on those of mages.
Third-circle spells like "Flight," sixth-circle spells like "Spell Trigger," and the overwhelmingly powerful ninth-circle Arcane Magic had each produced a qualitative leap in a mage's true strength. Moreover, precisely at these three tiers, a mage's soul and spiritual power would undergo mutations that extended their lifespan as well. Thus, in the ancient Arcane Empire, one-circle and two-circle mages were called low-level mages, two-circle to five-circle mages were mid-level mages, six-circle to eight-circle were high-level mages, and nine-circle mages were called Grand Mages.
Following this system, knights linked the four major breakthrough tiers of their bloodline power to the three mage tiers—the third, sixth, ninth, and legendary—and then mapped the less dramatically escalating tiers accordingly. So after awakening bloodline power and becoming a knight, first and second level were simply called Knights, third to fifth level were Great Knights, sixth to eighth were Sky Knights, ninth level were Golden Knights, and beyond that lay Epic Knights.
The priest ranking system followed the same logic, except that once they reached the mid-level, most of them became bishops. So third to fifth level was also called the Bishop tier. High-level priests would typically take up the position of Cardinal, while ninth-level priests had no special title. If they could enter the College of Cardinals, they would serve as Cardinals alongside those Holy Spirit Priests. If not, they remained Cardinals.
In the entire Vorlite Principality—counting only those whose strength was openly known—the Knights numbered over four hundred, Great Knights numbered only about fifty, and Sky Knights numbered fewer than ten.
Of these knights, more than half were members of the Violet Knights, stationed at various critical strongholds.
As a Second-level Knight, and one who was on the verge of breaking through to the Great Knight tier, how could Ronsan Allen not seethe with anger and resentment over his situation? That was why he had willingly become a Black Gloves operative for some powerful figure, handling the dirty work that could never see the light of day.
"Faint traces of sulfur, the smell of blood, and a few other scents." Allen's nostrils twitched as he analyzed the lingering odors. From the filth and stench of the sewer—a chaotic muddle of countless smells—he managed to pick out the most distinct traces of sulfur and blood.
After awakening bloodline power, one not only received "Divine
Unfortunately, Allen had only come down to investigate after noticing that Jackson and the others had failed to return for an unusually long time and sensing a hint of danger. He was far too late. The corpses, the ice fragments left by Frost Ray, and most of the scents had all been destroyed by the underground river, the garbage, and countless other odors. He could find only a few minor clues—the sulfur, the blood, and, upon close inspection, traces of blood, brain matter, and faint scorching from corrosion that had been deliberately washed away.
Allen frowned. "Brain matter—could it be a water wraith? Hmph. Would a water wraith know how to clean up after itself? Acid, sulfur... so it was some reckless Magic Apprentice. Pity. By the time I got here, he'd been gone a long while. Most of the scents have probably dissipated entirely. As long as he's careful enough, I won't be able to track him down. And he's almost certainly already found a way to alert the Church or certain nobles."
If it had been a formal mage, Allen was confident that Jackson's group combined with the ordinary faithful of the Silver White Horn would have had no ability whatsoever to leave behind even a trace.
Considering that the half-hour head start was more than enough for the target to do many things, and that as a Magic Apprentice the target would not simply ignore the activities of the Silver White Horn cult, Allen's reasoning became straightforward: "I could have the Silver White Horn's priests cast tracking spells, but too much time has passed—the chances of success are slim. And most importantly, if he's already alerted the Church, the coming hours will be the critical window for whether we can escape. Would I really waste them on chasing after him?"