Chapter 196: Inside the Temple

The angel standing before Sophie was nearly five meters tall.

It wore sacred battle armor, half-kneeling on the ground while gripping a war spear tightly in both hands, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.

It looked like a sculpture.

The angel’s wings were folded and hung quietly toward the ground, its eyes tightly shut.

This… was actually real?

Sophie walked up to the angel.

Gathering her courage, she reached out and touched the angel’s armor.

Seeing that the angel showed no reaction, she tried releasing her holy power and channeling it into the angel.

Unfortunately, the angel still gave her no response.

It was as if this majestic being was nothing more than an empty shell.

There really was an angel inside the Holy Mountain.

How strange.

Sophie withdrew her hand and fell into deep thought.

No matter how she thought about it, even if the angel here was only a vessel, it was the ultimate guarantee of survival for the human race.

If the existence of the angel were revealed to the outside world, it would undoubtedly generate endless faith, win the support of the entire nation, and make the Holy Land the most authoritative organization.

As Pope, Altes’s status could even surpass that of the Saint Luo Empire’s emperor.

After all, the emperor only held royal authority, while Altes held divine authority above it.

So why was Altes hiding the angel’s existence?

Why had he specifically placed the angel inside this temple within the Holy Mountain, designating the area as a forbidden zone that no one was allowed to enter?

He strictly controlled all information about it.

Not only outsiders, but even the clerics within the Holy Land itself had no right to know.

Why would he do such a thing?

She could not understand it.

There was no benefit to this at all.

Back then, her mother had come to this temple, seen the angel, and recorded the event…

Sophie pieced together the possible events of the past based on the information she had gathered.

If her mother had wanted to spread news of the angel’s existence, she would have been going against Altes’s will.

To silence her, her mother might have met with an accident.

She felt this possibility was very high.

When her mother had gone out, she had always been protected by Holy Knights.

Yet on the day she was killed, the Holy Knights were suddenly reassigned elsewhere.

Right at that moment, the assassin struck.

After the incident, the killer was captured, but before any interrogation could begin, he mysteriously died in prison.

Although the Holy Land publicly claimed that the murderer was an extreme fanatic who had been incited to assassinate the Saintess, and that after being imprisoned, he felt remorse for his actions and chose to take his own life.

Sophie did not believe that.

A criminal of such importance managing to commit suicide under heavy surveillance in prison?

It was impossible.

If the core issue was that Altes refused to allow news of the angel’s existence to spread, then all the suspicious points became clear.

This had been a self-directed play by the Holy Land to eliminate Sylvia.

Of course, they still lacked concrete evidence.

Although the logic fit, it was still only speculation.

Sophie paced back and forth.

Suddenly, she sensed something strange—she felt as if someone was watching her.

A chill ran down her spine.

Goosebumps rose on her skin.

She looked up and froze.

Did I see that wrong?

The red-haired girl widened her eyes and instinctively took a step back.

She realized that the direction the angel was facing was exactly where she was standing.

That couldn’t be right.

When she had entered, wasn’t the angel’s head lowered?

Or had she misseen it earlier?

Sophie fell silent.

Facing such a sacred being, she actually felt a trace of discomfort.

She moved to several different positions behind it, but the angel’s facing direction remained fixed on where she had been standing earlier.

Could it be that she had been too nervous earlier and it was just an illusion?

“Whatever.

I should check the surroundings first.”

The temple was very large, but quite empty.

Sophie walked around the center of the temple many times, witnessing many magnificent and wondrous sights that greatly pleased her eyes.

However, she had not yet found any particularly important information.

In this way, another half a day passed.

She eventually returned to stand before the angel.

Was she really going to leave empty-handed?

Just as Sophie was considering whether she should withdraw from the temple, she heard footsteps.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sudden footsteps sounded especially jarring in the quiet temple, like thunder that made her heart race.

From the sound, she could tell there were two people.

Who could enter this temple?

The moment this thought appeared in her mind, the answer immediately surfaced.

She turned around and spotted a corner in the temple’s center that could hide her figure.

She quickly ran over and concealed herself behind a large metal ornament.

Using the stealth experience from her previous life, she controlled her heartbeat and breathing, making her presence as faint as possible so she wouldn’t be easily detected.

Once she was sure she wouldn’t be exposed, she removed a small metal piece from her saintess outfit and used its smooth, reflective surface to observe the situation outside.

It really is you.

Sophie narrowed her eyes.

She saw an elderly man wearing the Pope’s white robes—Altes.

The respected elder looked completely different from his usual self.

The kindness on his face was gone, replaced by cold ruthlessness.

The gentleness in his eyes had vanished, leaving only unquestionable authority.

He looked like an ambitious ruler.

Even his walking pace was no longer the slow, deliberate gait he usually showed.

Every step carried strong ambition.

It seemed the Pope’s usual image had been nothing but a disguise.

So the Altes she saw every day was all an act.

Sophie had long felt that Altes was not as simple as he appeared.

Seeing him like this now, she was completely certain.

The Pope of the Holy Land had another face.

This made her even more curious.

Besides Altes, who was the other person who could see the Pope’s true self?

Driven by curiosity, she didn’t put the metal piece away.

She adjusted it slightly and slowly shifted her view to the person walking beside Altes.

When she saw the other person’s appearance, she was somewhat surprised, but not entirely.

Of course.

In the entire Holy Land, probably only he was qualified to follow Altes into the temple inside the Holy Mountain.

Her earlier guesses had been correct—he shared a very special relationship with Altes.

Sophie had seen the man’s face clearly.

It was Altes’s designated successor, the future next Pope.

The most extreme radical within the Holy Land—Moen.