The duo escape team consisting of Edwina and Natalie had a hard time but finally managed to bypass patrols and hidden scouts, finding the storage room mentioned by the latter.

 

For some reason, Miss Holy Knight couldn’t help feeling that the defense here wasn’t as tight as she imagined. The occasional enemies they encountered seemed to be in a hurry, making it easy for them to avoid detection.

 

Although she couldn’t understand the reason, it was still a good thing no matter how you looked at it.

 

Perhaps due to frequent visits for item retrieval, although the storage room door was closed, it was not locked. After rummaging through the messy room for a while, the two managed to find their respective items and equipment.

 

Everything was still there. Edwina, unlike ordinary people, had the more precious Holy Emblem and Holy Seal bound to her and could not be activated in the short term but remained intact.

 

The Six-Winged Holy Emblem had storage capabilities, and the Miss Holy Knight kept some particularly important things inside.

 

Natalie’s equipment seemed to have been stored in this mess for a while, as it had items piled on top of it, but it was still usable.

 

Wearing the Holy Knight armor, picking up weapons, and re-wearing the holy items that only goddess devotees could use, although their physical condition had not fully recovered, the difficult sisters somewhat regained their combat abilities.

 

“Miss Natalie, you’re more familiar with this place. What should we do next?”

 

The young knight moved her body, tried to swing her weapon lightly, and decisively handed the decision-making power to her senior.

 

Also clad in white armor, the elegant and heroic “Pure White Lioness” pondered while looking at the slightly ajar door, her face showing contemplation.

 

“Do you find it strange that the density of those cultists on the way shouldn’t be this low? Most of them seem to be in a hurry. Could something have happened outside?”

 

“Oh! Could it be High Bishop Wade Heywood brought reinforcements to rescue us?”

 

Edwina seemed somewhat skeptical. She couldn’t easily believe that a devout and senior Bishop would collude with cultists. She tried to envision the situation in the most positive light.

 

Not immediately countering this naive idea, Natalie shook her shoulders. At the same time, the exaggerated fullness in front of her chest swayed, and the armor, which hadn’t been worn for a long time, finally fully adapted to her body.

 

“Maybe, but regardless of what’s happening outside, this is a golden opportunity. To attack the Eternal Thrones’ stronghold head-on, there are only a few forces in this royal city that can do such a thing—either the Temple or the Kingdom’s official forces. They are our allies. We can try to break out with a coordinated attack.”

 

“Even if it’s not the case, we can take advantage of the infighting between the two sides and quietly escape. What do you think?”

 

“Alright, I’ll follow Miss Natalie’s lead!”

 

After reaching a consensus, the two quietly left the storage room and, following Natalie’s memory of the route, began moving towards the main gate of the Iris Orphanage.

 

The orphanage was divided into four main sections: the front hall, the academic area, the residential area, and the rear hall. The underground cells where they were held captive, as well as the area used by the Eternal Thrones for experiments, were in the rear hall.

 

The residential area was the main dwelling place for the cultists, while the academic area and the front hall tried to preserve the original appearance of the orphanage as much as possible. With the original staff being coerced or controlled to provide cover, they created a facade of normalcy here.

 

In other words, leaving this area would soon lead them to the most densely populated enemy zone. Even if the unidentified attackers in the front drew the majority of the attention, it wouldn’t be as easy as before.

 

This point was soon proven true.

 

“!”

 

Natalie, who was exploring ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks. With her back to Edwina, she extended her hand and signaled a warning. The vigilant Edwina, already on high alert, immediately understood. She discreetly moved to the shadowed corner of a wall, throwing an inquiring glance to her companion.

 

Perhaps to avoid disturbing the enemies with sound, the experienced adventurer lady refrained from speaking. Instead, she gestured towards two locations outside and made a hand sign indicating the number ‘2’ to Edwina.

 

Following her guidance, Edwina focused and listened intently. Sure enough, there was faint breathing and a slight, putrid smell—distinctive signs of those peculiar undead beings. They were very close, perhaps no more than ten meters away. Although not very noticeable amidst the distant footsteps and explosions, Natalie had surprisingly detected them so quickly.

 

Truly an experienced and seasoned adventurer, far more reliable than Edwina, who had recently ascended to the skies.

 

Giving a thumbs-up, Edwina and the other holy knight communicated through eye contact, affirming their determination.

 

The environment here was too dim, and as Holy Knights, once they engaged, their radiance would immediately expose their positions. The two hidden scouts were positioned at a critical intersection, covering the unavoidable path through the corridor, making it impossible for the two Holy Knights to discreetly bypass them, as they had done before.

 

Judging by the sounds of combat they heard, the attacking forces in this area had likely breached the front hall and were advancing towards the academic area, not far from the current positions of the two Paladins.

 

With this in mind, they decided to take the risk!

 

As previously discussed, Natalie stayed in place, while Edwina, shielded by the shadows, quietly moved to a blind spot closer to one of the hidden scouts. Holy energy began to infuse her longsword.

 

“Four, three, two, one…”

 

Counting down silently, the young knight focused her concentration and activated her most familiar and straightforward technique.

 

And as the countdown reached zero, the two Holy Knights erupted into action simultaneously!

 

“Holy Radiance Slash!”

 

“Holy Radiance Slash!”

 

Golden sword radiance flashed like startled swans, illuminating the dim corridor and revealing the astonished expressions on the faces of the undead as the blades passed through their necks.

 

Plop, plop.

 

Almost simultaneously, the sound of two blades slicing through flesh rang out. The heads of the undead soared high, and the vile black blood attached to the sword blades sizzled and burned under the scorching Holy Light.

 

Only when the two hidden scouts fell simultaneously under the joint attack of Edwina and Natalie did black blood gradually flow from the severed necks, spreading beneath the feet of the young women.

 

The young knight looked somewhat surprised as she observed the distinctly non-human black blood beneath her feet. This was her first time personally slaying such creatures, even though she had sensed the strangeness beneath the normal appearance of these cultists when she smelled the odor of decay.

 

When retrieving their equipment in the storage room, Natalie had warned her to aim for the head when attacking. This was the only way to quickly kill these bizarre entities.

 

“Wow… what are these things? Even their blood is so disgusting. They don’t feel like undead at all. Goddess above, where did they come from?” Edwina said, waving the black blood off her sword and moving a bit away.

 

Natalie also didn’t hide her disgust towards these undead.

 

“These things have long lost the concept of normal living beings. They feel more like corpses driven by some dark force, more profane than undead in the conventional sense. Hmph…”

 

“But, you may be a bit peculiar in the head, your strength is indeed quite decent. It looks like teaming up with you was the right choice. Let’s go, the next battle is likely to be tough.”

 

“Hehe… Miss Natalie, you’re too kind. I’m actually very weak, still far from being strong.”

 

Edwina, feeling a bit embarrassed, smiled and adjusted the golden long hair around her neck, seemingly completely oblivious to the first half of her teammate’s evaluation.

 

“…?”

 

Retracting her previous statement.

 

How did this natural airhead manage to survive from the Holy Empire to the Courage City without falling for any traps? It truly was a miracle!