The cardinal smiled slightly and looked back in the direction of the door, making sure there was no sign of anyone eavesdropping. "It stands to reason that I should not say a word, only to reveal that they are still alive for the time being, and as for more things, it is inconvenient to reveal them."

The bishop stood up, and saw that he was also affected by his age, and involuntarily supported his lower back with his hands. "Please don't try to go deeper into this matter, forget about it, trust the church's decision, and everything will be fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open again, and this time the man who entered, a mysterious man in a white robe with a white veil on his face, bowed respectfully to the cardinal and spoke.

"Bishop, Your Holiness the Pope has summoned you urgently."

The rain fell intermittently all night, and the makeshift shelter lasted for most of the night, but at last a hole was revealed under the wind and rain, and thin drops of water seeped in and fell onto Cesare's face.

When he opened his eyes, it was already dark and he could continue his journey, and his hand reached to the side, Cesare quickly got up, and the side of himself was empty, and the gravure marks of Anya sleeping were still faintly visible on the haystack next to him, but the living person did not know when it was gone.

Here you go again, what kind of fame are you doing? Cesare crouched down and walked out of the shelter with some impatience, and as soon as he came out, he saw Anya standing not far from the shelter with her back to him.

The girl had already tied her braids, her clothes were neatly dressed, and she was holding her shoulders and tilting her head, as if she was looking at something straight.

"Anya? What are you doing? Cesare brushed his stray hair and moved the joints of his hands and feet as he walked in Anya's direction. As soon as he took a few steps, Cesare froze in place, his gaze rounding Anya's body to see what Anya saw.

That's a person? Cesare couldn't make a precise judgment for a moment, and in the grass directly across from Anya stood an adult man, but the man's head was small, a morbidly deformed atrophy, and the position of the brain was almost a madly inward depression.

Cesare first put his hand on the bone staff at his waist, lest it be a monster infected with mycelium, and react immediately if the other person wants to make something.

As Cesare got closer, he saw the man's face more clearly.

Her eyes bulged outward, her pupils looked in very different directions, she was dripping with snot, her yellow teeth were bared, her drooling was full of mud and dark spots on her neck and joints, and she was wearing a woman's yellow dress.

It doesn't seem to be a monster, but it's not much better, and I don't know how long Anya and this freak have been staring at each other like this.

Anya's eyebrows were slightly raised, wrinkling the tip of her delicate little nose, watching the freak standing in the grass shaking her head left and right, her expression was confused and puzzled, her eyes sometimes narrowed and sometimes widened, as if she was constantly coming up with new answers and constantly vetoing herself.

Seeing Cesare coming, Anya lowered the arm she held on her chest and put it behind her back, smiling cutely and silly. "Are you awake? How was your sleep and are you still comfortable? ”

"Not bad." Cesare replied lightly. "So what's going on, did you pick up the friend?"

"I don't know, he's been standing here watching us sleep since midnight last night, and he doesn't run when I find him, he doesn't eat or drink, he doesn't move." Anya's eyes lit up, and she had an idea. "Can we keep it? Please! ”

"Absolutely not." Cesare had never liked to answer boring questions, but this time he had to veto the proposal himself, not to mention how ridiculous the idea was, and not to mention what the other person was.

Pulling Anya back so that the freaks wouldn't look at each other for too long, Cesare yelled at the deformed head. "Either explain your intentions, or get out of here."

He was just about to pull out the bone staff on his waist, when the freak immediately realized something, and immediately protected his shrunken little head, squatting down and shaking.

"Uh... Don't hit me... I remember, there are cats that bite people......"

"What cat? What are you talking about? Cesare couldn't understand what this man was talking about, and he couldn't bear to beat him at this sudden pitiful appearance, so he was left standing here by himself, and we went on our way.

As he thought to himself, the freak covered his face with his hands, opened a slit between his dirty fingers, looked at Cesare with his eyes out, and spoke as if he were about to cry out of grievance.

"It's coming...... ...... in the back"

"What? Who? Cesare and Anya turned to look behind them at the same time, and in the clearing where there was only shelter, a majestic beast appeared, its fist-sized eyes shining golden, and its golden fur glittering in the morning sun, its huge body and magnificent mane, it was a ......

Cesare repeatedly confirmed that this was not an illusion, that it was not a pattern on the coat of arms, that it was not a legendary symbol of courage and strength, that it was a real lion, a prostrate beast that was baring its fangs at two children.

Even Anya couldn't help but scream softly, but it sounded less like fear than excitement.

"Is this supposed to be here?" Not to mention the Hunyati Territory, even in the entire Papal State, there has never been a case of a real lion attacking a person, but when it really happened, Cesare stared at the beast with his eyes, paying attention to every small move of the other party.

The muscles clearly visible on the lion's body contain incomparable power to the naked eye, and when those muscles drive sharp claws through the human skin, the end is not much easier than that of any monster.

"Cesare-san, it doesn't look hungry."

As soon as Anya finished speaking, the lion's front paws slammed into the ground, growing into a bloody mouth as large as an arm, and the roar was deafening, startling the birds of the forest to flee in all directions, and saliva splashed on Cesare and Anya. "Oh... It seems to be hungry now. ”

The lion's muscles are tense, and his mane flutters in the wind like a battle flag. Cesareton felt bad for the moment his huge pupils met his eyes, and sure enough, the lion lunged in his direction, its claws on its forepaws standing up, but for some reason, Cesare seemed to get used to the scene.

He clutched the bone staff in his hand, and Cesare, who had never tested the possibility of such a fight, couldn't help but be a little nervous, but time was short, and whether he could do it or not, he had to fight against it.

Cesare knocked the rag-wrapped bones to the ground, a powerful suction force that wanted the bone staff to take deep into the ground, but Cesare would not allow that to happen, and instead he would take the power out of the surface.

As the bone staff was pulled out of the ground, countless mycelium attached to it were brought up. If you look at it from Anya's point of view, Cesare seems to have summoned the evil hidden in the earth, and the mycelium spreads upwards along the bone staff, climbing up Cesare's arm at great speed.

This time, Cesare did not reject them, but allowed them to grow and extend, forming a black external skeleton or some strange pattern of heavy armor on Cesare's right arm.

The lion was about to hold Cesare's predecessor, the beast had evolved with a speed that no prey could have reacted to, but the mycelium seemed to be more agile than Cesare's mind, and they bonded to Cesare's skin, driving Cesare's muscles and joints to move.

"Sure enough... It feels like magic. Cesare breathed a sigh of relief, and before anyone could react, the mycelium had completely covered Cesare's right arm in the shape of a monster's claw arm, with the bone staff as the new bone and the mycelium as the new flesh, and the claw arm formed was some distance longer than the ordinary arm, and the lion choked the male lion's neck with strange force before it could hurt Cesare.

Hearing the lion's howl, he threw the beast of more than 300 catties like a rabbit with a random flick. Dangerous contact, but the hyphae continued to spread to Cesare's chest.

Sensing that something was wrong, Cesare quickly flicked his arm outward, and the mycelium turned into shattered slime and scattered on the ground as if it had been swept away, and finally disappeared. Cesare was left intact as if nothing had happened, his bone staff in his hand.

It seems like a powerful magic, but it always feels ...... The risks far outweigh the benefits.

"Ahem, though I don't want to disturb your mood as you discover a new world." Anya leaned over to Cesare's side and tilted her head slightly towards Cesare's shoulder, pointing to the lion that had just flown out. "But the kitten got up again."

The lion threw a puddle of mud out of the earth, and after a few howls he got up again, shook the mane of his head, and bared his fangs at Cesare again, not at all convinced.

"It's really troublesome......" The bone staff turned in a circle in Cesare's hand, Anya also drew a sword in her right hand, and held a crossbow in her left hand, it seems that cat meat or human flesh must have a belly today.

Both sides are ready for another round, imitating the lion's leaning movements, accumulating their strength, ready to attack or counterattack. Just when the nerves on both sides of the confrontation were tense to the extreme, the freak with the shrunken head suddenly ripped away Cesare and Anya.

Then he quickly rushed between the two, I don't know whether he was crying or shouting, the strange momentum frightened the lion into losing his arrogance, staring at the big eyes, and his mouth drooping to reveal a frightened look.

"No! Biting! The freak man threw his arms around the lion's neck, and Cesare was surprised that a heavy beast was brought down in an instant.

I saw the lion struggling for his life, but the freak's arm was like a shackle made of steel, and no matter how much the beast moved, it could not break free.

"Finally found you! I don't have to be beaten! Don't get beaten! The freak's demented face was silly happy, until at last the lion had exhausted all his strength, and collapsed helplessly, his tongue resting on the mud and panting, and Cesare looked a little sorry for the lion.

The freak dragged the lion's mane and forced it to stand up, and the lion at this time completely lost the ferocity that he had just been arrogant and domineering, but really squatted beside the freak like a well-behaved kitten, but it felt like it was out of some kind of fear.

"Thank you!" The freak rejoiced, watching the snot run down his mouth and down his tongue deeper into his throat.

Cesare gasped and looked at Anya, the girl who was usually always smiling finally couldn't laugh at this time, her hands covered her mouth and her face turned blue, Anya's appearance made Cesare find it very funny.

Not noticing the strange expression of the two men, the freak stroked the lion's hair with his hand, and suddenly "Oh! Cesare and Anya took a step back in unison. I know! Come with me, we have a car! Arima! There is food, there are friends!! ”