RDR: NO REGRETS - Chapter 256: The Operation (Patreon)

Stephen slowly made his way to the front of the stage. As he passed Thomas, he discreetly gave him a look.

By now, Thomas had been stripped naked, so naturally, the ropes binding him were gone as well.

However, two burly men still stood beside him, both pointing guns at him.

Those were also among the very few weapons in the square.

Since everyone had come to attend the ritual, almost none of the people below the stage had brought weapons.

That was good news.

Stephen kept an eye on his surroundings as he deliberately walked at a leisurely pace, hoping to buy Charles and Sadie some more time outside.

But the distance was only so great. No matter how slowly he walked, he would eventually reach the end.

Before long, Stephen arrived beside the girl.

She was terrified. Her tiny body trembled nonstop, though Stephen couldn't tell whether it was from fear or the chill in the evening air.

Still, she was obedient. When Stephen held out his hand, she timidly placed her small hand in his palm.

Her hand was ice-cold. It felt as though Stephen were holding a block of ice.

"Hurry up, Mr. Stephen Adler."

Wood's deep voice came from behind him. Nearly 180 people in the square were staring fixedly at Stephen.

Holding the little girl's hand, Stephen walked toward the furnace one step at a time.

Seeing him move, Wood smiled in satisfaction.

As Stephen drew closer and closer to the furnace, he looked perfectly calm on the outside, but his heart was pounding.

"Hurry up, Charles!"

Stephen prayed silently, hoping Charles would make his move soon.

He had no weapon on him. If he turned against them now, his chances of winning were far too slim.

Closer.

Closer still.

With the furnace now right in front of him, Stephen couldn't help but stop.

He looked down at the little girl. Faced with the raging flames, she finally lost what little composure she had left.

As they drew nearer to the furnace, she burst into tears.

"Do it, Mr. Stephen Adler!" Wood urged again from behind him.

At his words, the entire square seemed to erupt.

"Do it! Do it! Do it!"

The crowd below the stage went wild, clamoring for Stephen to throw the girl into the furnace.

Stephen felt the small hand in his palm trembling. When he looked down again, her face was already covered in tears.

He crouched and gently wiped them away.

"What are you doing?!!!" Wood roared furiously.

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening explosion rang out.

A faint smile appeared on Stephen's face.

Charles had made his move.

"What's going on?"

Unlike Stephen, who was thrilled to hear the explosion, everyone else in the square immediately descended into chaos.

Panic spread across Wood's face as he stared toward the source of the blast and shouted at his men, "What the hell is going on?! Go check it out!"

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

Before he could even finish, two more explosions erupted from among the buildings ahead.

These were even closer.

Seeing the square descend into confusion, Stephen immediately scooped up the terrified little girl and strode toward Wood.

"Church Leader, Church Leader! What's going on? Has the Holy Lord become angry?"

Stephen's attempt to play the fool was, admittedly... rather poorly timed.

But it was enough.

By now, he had reached Wood. The only things standing between them were the two armed guards, the only two people in the square still carrying guns.

While pretending to panic and shouting at the top of his lungs, Stephen gave Thomas another look, signaling him to get ready.

"Th-this is the Holy Lord's enemy! It's the Evil God!!!"

But Wood seemed to have genuinely smoked himself senseless. Even now, he somehow hadn't realized that something was wrong with Stephen.

Instead, the moment he saw that Charles was Black, he pointed at him and shouted, "That's a servant of the Evil God! This is a trial bestowed upon us by the Holy Lord!!!"

"Warriors of the Holy Lord, go forth and vanquish the Evil God's servant!"

Stephen had to admit, the man had an impressive talent for making up nonsense.

...

Meanwhile, Charles was racing between the houses, an explosive charge in one hand and a torch in the other.

He sprinted toward the square, dropping one lit explosive charge after another along the way.

"BOOM!"

"BOOM!"

One explosion after another rang out, and numerous houses were instantly engulfed in flames.

To make matters worse, every one of those houses was made of wood, and they had been built far too close together.

The cultists clearly had no idea how to properly plan their settlement either. Once one house caught fire, the flames immediately spread from building to building.

And tonight, the wind was strong.

The fire fed on the wind, and the wind drove the flames onward. With the gale behind them, the flames rapidly swallowed one house after another.

Charles moved astonishingly fast. Barely any time had passed since the first explosion, and before the cultists in the square could even react, he had already reached a spot not far away with the last three explosive charges.

He lit all three at once, then threw his torch into a nearby house.

When the fuses were almost burned down, he hurled all three charges straight into the crowd.

The explosive charges traced perfect arcs through the air and detonated before they even hit the ground.

As everyone knew, the destructive force of an explosion came in two forms.

The first was the fire produced by the gunpowder, which actually caused comparatively little damage.

The second, and far more devastating, was the shockwave!!!

By exploding in midair, the charges unleashed their full power, pouring every bit of their force into the crowd below.

Three explosions thundered across the square, nearly wiping out the cultists directly beneath them.

Agonized screams immediately filled the air. Some cultists were dead, others badly wounded. In an instant, they had suffered devastating losses.

"Kill him!!! Kill that bastard!"

The moment Wood saw what had happened, he completely lost his mind.

These cultists represented years of painstaking effort.

Did anyone have any idea how much work it took to raise a proper cultist???

And now, just like that, Charles had wiped out a huge number of them with only a few explosive charges.

How could Wood not go berserk?

He pointed furiously at Charles in the distance and screamed at his guards, "Go! Kill him!!!"

At the command, the guards raised their weapons and charged after Charles.

Seeing so many people coming after him, Charles immediately turned and dashed into the buildings behind him.

"Catch him! Go after him! I'm going to boil him down into oil!!!"

Seeing that his men couldn't even catch up to a Black man, Wood stamped his feet and cursed furiously.

"You'd better worry about yourself."

Suddenly, a sinister voice came from behind him.

Wood's entire body stiffened.

He slowly turned his neck around like a machine.

Stephen, who had been so deferential only moments ago, was now standing behind him with a dagger in his hand, his body covered in blood.

Wood lowered his gaze.

At some point, all the henchmen who had been surrounding him had collapsed to the ground.

"You... I..."

"Goodbye, Archbishop~"

Stephen didn't attack.

Instead, he slowly stepped aside, clearing the way.