What Witch? A Deadly Apothecary!

Chapter 148 : A Conspiracy Against the Saintess

Chapter 148: A Conspiracy Against the Saintess

That scream caused many eyes in the chaotic scene to gather toward the stage, and even more people saw Weiss’s current appearance.

The knights on duty at the scene were also caught off guard by this inexplicable sudden incident, but after the commotion began, some of them still reacted and began handling the situation.

The Fully Appointed Knight serving as the captain of the guard raised his hand and hurled a fireball into the air. Normally, flames could disperse these bat-shaped Magical Beasts, but this time it had no obvious effect.

These artificially created Magical Beasts were firmly controlled by Arachne, the Insect Queen through will-based manipulation.

The Apprentice Knights struggled to maintain order, but when faced with thousands of people falling into fear due to the harassment of Magical Beasts, the results were minimal. People had already begun dying in the crowd from the venom of spider-type Magical Beasts, and the congestion and trampling further worsened the situation.

Most people’s attention was on the Bloodsucking Mosquito Bats, yet they did not realize that the real danger was the poisonous spiders scurrying around their feet.

The Church personnel on the stands could not remain uninvolved either and rushed down to help, but the chaos at the scene had already far exceeded what they could handle.

“Bishop Weiss!”

Several knights also reacted and rushed onto the lecture platform, attempting to assist the attacked Bishop Weiss.

However, the moment they clCounty saw Weiss’s appearance, they froze.

Her long silver-white hair, skin pale without a trace of blood, and two eyes glowing with an eerie red light—no matter how one looked at it, it was not the appearance a normal human should have.

“Ugh————” Weiss clutched her chest in pain. The uncontrollable surge of mana forcibly triggered the second-rank Witch blessing, causing her to transform into a demonized humanoid form, and she was powerless to stop it.

This was the demonized humanoid form of the Blood Kin. It was said that in ancient times, the oldest followers of Moilai had been transformed by the Primordial Witch into the Blood Kin, thereby obtaining true eternal life.

Nowadays, the Blood Kin of the ancient era were almost extinct. Only some Witches could transform into this form through their blessings—and Weiss was one of them.

“How could this happen!?” On the viewing stand, Archbishop Kulik gasped when he saw Weiss’s appearance.

As a fellow scholar of the Rose School, he actually knew that Weiss possessed the power of a Witch. Within the Church, this belonged to a confidential research project that was tacitly permitted.

Even if Witches were treated as enemies for study, relying solely on intelligence obtained through interrogations of captured Witches would always remain second-hand information, unreliable and vulnerable to misinformation. Because of this, the Church had long proposed that its own researchers should attempt to receive Witch blessings themselves for direct study.

However, due to the obstruction of traditional beliefs, the Church had only loosened its stance toward this proposal within the past few decades. Later, the Rose School—who had always hoped to incorporate Witch power into practical use—took over the proposal and repeatedly applied to the College of Cardinals.

Finally, considering the value of the research results they had already provided, the College of Cardinals ultimately permitted their approach by a narrow margin of votes, listing the matter as a confidential project that must never be publicly disclosed.

And the one who voluntarily devoted herself to this research and became a Witch was the current Saintess of the Creator Church—Weiss.

But today, Weiss had lost control.

Because of an attack.

The Magical Beasts that had just burst out from the lecture platform were clCounty the result of someone’s premeditated scheme.

The intense light made Weiss dizzy. The immortal body of the Blood Kin actually had certain flaws—it was extremely sensitive to strong light and could easily be burned by the sun. If her mana were functioning normally, she could still resist the sunlight somewhat, but now her mana was like a wild horse that had broken its reins.

What frightened her even more was that she was not only afraid of the light—she also had an overwhelming craving for fresh blood.

Ancient Blood Kin fed on blood, and Witches who could transform into Blood Kin forms would also exhibit certain symptoms of blood addiction. With her mana currently out of control, the condition became even more severe.

Under the effects of a Magical Potion, a primitive instinctive impulse was rapidly swelling within her body, constantly washing over her consciousness.

It was the instinct of a Magical Beast.

That instinct was calling for her to kill the humans around her—to kill those who possessed blessings from other gods!

When she vaguely saw knights stepping onto the lecture platform, she could only struggle against the impulse in her heart while shouting:

“Don’t come any closer!!”

At the same time, on a distant tower, Cardinal Zeven, the archdiocesan leader, was anxiously lowering his voice while issuing orders through the teleportation blessing used by his adjutant:

“You must immediately rush to the Creator Church and seal off the scene—at the fastest possible speed!”

As a Cardinal, he also knew about the research conducted by the Rose School that had been tacitly approved by the College of Cardinals.

This matter was supposed to be confidential. It absolutely must not be known by the public.

Yet now the Saintess of the Creator Church, within the diocese under his responsibility, had revealed the form of a Witch in front of countless witnesses.

The severity of this issue was beyond imagination.

No one had anticipated such an event. The number of knights deployed at the scene was severely insufficient—they could neither control the panic of the civilians nor deal with Weiss.

Count Foyle glanced at the flustered Cardinal Zeven and deliberately put on a shocked expression as he asked,

“Your Eminence Cardinal, what exactly is happening here?”

“I’m afraid this is a terrorist attack by heretics! Lord Count, please move to a safe place immediately. I must go investigate!” Zeven said, leaving behind a knight to protect the Count and signaling him to escort the Count to safety before turning around and rushing down the tower with his subordinates.

The Count silently watched Zeven’s back disappear.

From Zeven’s standpoint, the top priority was certainly to control the development of the situation at the scene.

From the perspective of someone who knew the Church’s internal secrets, it was obvious that someone was framing the Church in public.

They had to control the spread and impact of the incident, seal off the scene, and quickly restrain Weiss—whose mana had gone out of control—and take her away. Only afterward could they think about how to explain the matter publicly.

But to low-ranking members and ordinary people who knew nothing of the internal secrets, what they saw was very different.

What they saw was the Church’s Saintess transforming into a Witch in public—releasing Magical Beasts from the lecture platform and slaughtering people everywhere.

And as the mastermind who had arranged all of this, the Count naturally would not allow the situation to be suppressed.

Once the matter could no longer be suppressed, the Church would have to deal with Weiss to calm the situation.

A sore hidden on the back might be tolerable if no one saw it—but if it appeared on the face, it could not simply be ignored.

The Count had deliberately chosen this viewing position.

At this distance, even Cardinal Zeven’s abilities could not reach him.

Cardinal Zeven wanted to control the scene, but there were not enough personnel present. No matter how fast the diocese acted, they could never be faster than those who had prepared in advance.

“Seize Bishop Weiss and take her away, quickly!” Archbishop Kurik on the viewing stand finally reacted and ordered in a low voice.

After all, he was a scholar rather than a professional soldier. Only now did he realize that the most urgent task was to remove Weiss in her current state from the public eye as quickly as possible.

He mobilized the bishops beside him who also belonged to the Rose School, preparing to rush forward. They had to pretend to capture Weiss and escort her into the church.

But at that moment, a Secret God teleportation sigil suddenly appeared behind Weiss.

Weiss did not notice it immediately.

“Who is that? Stop immediately!” Archbishop Kurik gasped.

In the first stage of the Divine Art of teleportation, only almost massless intangible things—such as sound and light—could be transmitted.

But once it reached the second stage, the caster could use a Secret God sigil to create a teleportation gate at a precisely targeted location within their field of vision and transport small objects with mass.

For example—

A bullet.

If this Divine Art were used properly, one could perform precise sniping anywhere within line of sight.

The shooter ignored Archbishop Kurik’s attempt to stop him.

Weiss suddenly staggered forward as if someone had violently shoved her from behind, a burst of blood blooming from her back.

Only then did the gunshot reach everyone’s ears.

In panic, the crowd looked toward the source of the sound and discovered a team of knights who had been patrolling nearby climbing over the wall behind the stands and charging into the square.

Terrified civilians were constantly flooding out of the square toward the main avenue to escape, so entering through the normal path was impossible.

The one who had fired that sniper shot was Bishop Beckett, standing atop the wall. He was the commander of this squad of knights.

“Witch detected! Eliminate the heretic and rescue the civilians!!” Bishop Beckett shouted loudly, putting on the appearance of someone who had just arrived at the scene and witnessed a Witch massacring the people.

The knights rushed toward the lecture platform with guns raised, preparing to surround Weiss.

Although Weiss had been shot, she did not collapse.

The vitality of the Blood Kin was extraordinarily tenacious. Unless their heart or head was severely damaged, they could recover by feeding on blood—and Bishop Beckett had deliberately avoided the vital points.

She raised her face.

The intense pain made it difficult for her to think.

All she could see were enemies everywhere.

“Good. Go ahead and kill someone.”

Bishop Beckett stared coldly at the out-of-control Weiss and murmured inwardly.

As long as she publicly killed even a single member of the Church, Weiss’s crime would become completely undeniable.

Even within the Church, the matter could no longer be suppressed.

She would ultimately have to die under the Church’s laws—

Just like the Witch who died in prison twenty years ago.