"What we fear most now is that those local natives might have been secretly killed inside, right?"

Alfreed said with a worried look. Although such things had happened in other worlds before, Cysper quickly disagreed with him.

"Not likely. The Lord would not allow that to happen, moreover it goes against the rebels' original intentions! So many people dying inside would mean transporting bodies out, there's no way there wouldn't be any blood trails outside."

He turned to the others and asked, "Have you all noticed anything like that?"

"It doesn't seem so..." Valerie shook her head.

"I've been watching outside the temple until evening, apart from a few humans going in and out, I haven't seen any carts transporting supplies around. Not to mention supplies, there wasn't even the slightest noise coming from inside - it's like those over a thousand people who entered just disappeared soundlessly!"

"That's strange, could there be a secret passage inside the temple leading to an escape route outside the city?" Cysper proposed another possibility.

"That scenario is also unlikely!" Alfreed disagreed again.

"The Astralrealm Kingdom studied that temple to some extent during the occupation but found nothing special, no hidden paths leading outside the city. If they really disappeared, it's more likely they used teleportation magic, like that Galadra's Eye that invaded our kingdom before..."

"Oh, you mean like Galadra's Eye? Then it's possible they were given similar celestial weapons!" I nodded in realization. Since the rebels were found associated with monsters, it wouldn't be impossible for them to be loaned such tools. But this explanation still had doubts.

"If it was an exchange, why weren't any new monsters seen coming out? Or did they just teleport the people away?"

However, no one could answer this question, as there were many possibilities before the truth was fully revealed.

"Speaking of monsters...what progress have you made investigating them?" Cysper changed the subject to this important issue.

"Not much progress!" Alfreed sighed reluctantly when talking about this topic.

"Our Astralrealm Kingdom's intelligence department has had reports showing the private interactions between the Parristol Resistance and monsters for a long time. But there were no obvious signs before, so it wasn't taken seriously. Now it turns out they've become more and more extreme, even openly colluding!"

"The monsters that attacked our kingdom's army this time are no longer just one or two - it's an entire monster battalion! Although the total number isn't that high, probably just a few dozen, every single one is over the 5th tier, a formidable mid-rank monster. Not to mention some of them can fly!"

"That many? Then why haven't we seen a single one?" I was shocked, thinking there'd be just a few at most, not imagining so many monsters hiding in this human city!

"Most of them are concentrated outside the south side near Moon Lake. They don't move around much normally, occasionally wandering out at night, but it's still quite rare to spot them. You can see their organization is very disciplined - not something regular troops could handle."

Eleanora helped explain. Upon hearing they weren't in the city, I felt much relieved.

"No wonder we haven't seen them inside. Then I don't need to deliberately hide my wings anymore!"

Moon Lake located in the mountains south of Parristol city, shaped like a crescent moon. Because no matter what season, the moon in the sky always reflect in center of the lake, that's why it got this name. The scenery around the lakeside very beautiful, considered one of Parristol's famous second-tier tourist spots.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Of course, opposite to it also got one Sun Lake, situated at the north side of the city, the three form a straight line. As the name suggests, it circular in shape. Unfortunately, about a hundred years ago, this Dona Mountain Range experienced a very big earthquake, causing not only the eruption of Sulide Volcano in the north, but also landslides in that area, burying half of Sun Lake under fallen rocks. Now at best can only call it Half-Sun Lake.

"Perhaps to you angels, these 5th tier monsters alone no threat. But apart from them, there are also clearly some higher-ranked elite monsters lurking behind! Those fellows very difficult to deal with."

Seeing I didn't seem too concerned, Eleanora hurriedly reminded me.

"Elite monsters, how elite are they?"

Cysper's interest was immediately piqued upon hearing this. I could tell with one look, he had been in the holy capital too long, rarely encountering these scarce elite monsters, so couldn't help feeling excited. Moreover, currently inhabiting Cyra's body, logically he should be even more powerful, naturally not fearing them like ordinary people.

"At least 6th tier!"

Alfreed gave a minimum estimate, thinking for a bit before adding:

"As for the other few, since they haven't taken action it's unclear. But one of them is a red-haired demon you all must be very careful of! He's extremely crazed, bloodthirsty by nature. The kingdom's troops are usually only 2nd to 3rd tier, far outmatched by his strength. Yet he refused to spare even one, charging into the crowd massacring indiscriminately, inflicting severe casualties on our 5th legion!"

"Then I hope we don't encounter him!" I quickly stated. A madman like that, I definitely don't want him targeting me.

"Even if we don't meet him, Parristol is still very dangerous now!" Valerie suddenly cut in.

"Don't forget there's also the 'Divine Punishment' raining from the sky, a devastating weapon. Those hit by the Divine Punishment almost never survive, even angels are not necessarily exceptions!"

"Oh right, I almost forgot that! What's the deal with this Divine Punishment? From what you said, it doesn't sound like a normal explosion, very powerful?"

I smacked my head and quickly asked.

"Well..." Eleanora and Alfreed exchanged a glance, looking troubled.

"Actually, the Divine Punishments we witnessed were just one or two falling down, not that many. And the landing spots were far away from any people. Though it caused huge explosions, no one was actually hurt."

"Rather than an attack, it's more appropriate to call it a warning. Quite a few soldiers lost morale and fled directly after witnessing the legendary Divine Punishment fall."

Alfreed added in explanation.

"Could that have been Adrian's intention then, not wanting to harm you all?" I was moved and immediately pointed out. After all, the legends state only the Loren royals can control Divine Punishment. Perhaps out of lingering feelings, Adrian was unwilling to kill his former companions.

"Seems to make some sense..." Alfreed looked at Eleanora, both nodding in agreement. But he continued:

"However, there's no evidence to confirm this. We can't just assume Adrian currently poses no threat to us, unless we can truly meet him in person and get clarification!"

"The key issue is we can't easily approach Chromos Tower. As the royal palace of the Loren royals, it's arguably the most tightly guarded place in all of Parristol, with almost 80% of the rebel forces stationed around the tower. We have absolutely no way to get close!"

Valerie couldn't help but complain. This made me feel somewhat dejected - if we couldn't even enter Chromos Tower, how could we hope to see Adrian in person?

"About this Divine Punishment, have you all wondered where it came from?"

Cysper, who had been silent for a while, suddenly posed a question to us.

"Isn't it from the sky?" Alfreed couldn't help looking puzzled, asking as if it were obvious.

"But before entering the sky, it couldn't have been circling up there since antiquity right?"

Cysper immediately followed up, leaving everyone dumbfounded - it seemed they had never considered this question before.

"The captain was commanding on the frontlines dealing with the monster attacks at the time, while I was providing healing support from the rear. Neither of us noticed any abnormal phenomena occur. It just felt like the Divine Punishment suddenly fell from the sky, without any warning..."

After pondering for a long while, Eleanora could only recount her personal experience.

"Perhaps the Divine Punishment is simply untraceable, otherwise why would everyone call it by that name?"

Though she made sense, the moment Cysper raised that point, it immediately reminded me of Nicola's "missile" hypothesis. However, there were still many inexplicable aspects. For instance, if it really was some kind of missile weapon, there should at least be some kind of launch silo right? From the descriptions, it didn't seem like a long-range missile, since that would require a considerable flight time. But there were also no records of anyone witnessing a medium/short-range missile launch, which was truly baffling.

After that there was nothing more to discuss. Once we finished exchanging intelligence, everyone gathered together and ate some of our provisions. Originally Alfreed's group planned to rest a bit before returning outside the city at night. But after Cysper and I contacted Reed and Mia, we decided to explore that temple.

Though it was already past midnight and we felt really tired, there was no other choice. After all, this kind of operation could only be carried out at night - the city center was almost all flat plazas and gardens, with nowhere to hide during the day.

As for those monsters, we didn't need to worry about them for now. Since they weren't in the city, we could set them aside temporarily.