After the Lady in the thick, layered black dress left the street, a pauper, huddled in a sheltered spot, suddenly began to cough.
He clutched his throat, making a rasping sound, and fell to the ground, reaching out a hand for help from passersby.
The pedestrians passing by recoiled in terror, fearing he was a patient with pneumonia, afraid of contagion, but they quickly joined the ranks of coughers, coughing so hard they couldn't walk, gasping for breath.
The fog permeated, and one by one, workers, paupers, old people, children, along the route the Lady had taken, continuously fell ill and collapsed, like straw blown down by the wind.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
The carriage galloped, and Levto, who was driving, constantly shouted, urging away the pedestrians blocking the road.
His fierce tone and his tall stature made the pedestrians on the street not dare to block him, and they all retreated to both sides.
Inside the carriage, Amelia said worriedly, "Lex, tell your friend to slow down; we don't need to rush this much. It wouldn't be good if we hit someone."
Lex smiled but did not do as his mother said: "It's fine, Mom. Bal has a sense of proportion; he won't hit anyone."
At this moment, he vaguely heard coughing, initially just one or two coughs, but soon it became a continuous chorus.
Lex quickly glanced outside, only to see people continuously falling down in the street behind them.
People seemed to suddenly fall ill, suffering from severe bronchitis, coughing intensely, and then rapidly falling silent.
Lex's heart immediately grew heavy.
It has begun.
Backlund's Great Smog incident!
Today wasn't the time the Watcher had indicated, but Lex knew that the various fragmented messages he had sent out through different channels must have taken effect, simultaneously stimulating the Witch hidden in the shadows, making her accelerate her pace and act early.
Now, he could only hope for the Three Great Churches, hoping they could react in time and intervene.
"Hurry, Bal, let's get out of here quickly." Lex called out from the window.
But at this moment, as they passed a crossroads, a carriage also rushed out from the street on the left, resulting in a violent collision between the two carriages.
Inside the carriage, Lex quickly embraced his mother, using his body to absorb the impact.
The whole world spun in his eyes; after the spinning stopped, a ball of crimson fire erupted in Lex's palm, blowing open the carriage wall, and only then did he stand up and say, "Mom, how are you?"
Amelia looked up and smiled, "I'm fine, my child protected me."
Lex pulled her up and, holding her, jumped out of the carriage: "Mom, we need to leave here quickly. I suspect this fog can spread disease. You saw it on the way here; many people were coughing and collapsing."
"Fog?"
Amelia's eyes brightened; a gust of wind suddenly blew around them, making the fog slightly thinner, but it quickly enveloped them again.
"It seems my wind can't blow away such dense fog; after all, it's just a 'trick'." Amelia said with some regret.
"This is no longer a problem we can handle. Come, let's go quickly."
Lex glanced behind him; he still hadn't heard any coughing, indicating that the disease-carrying fog hadn't spread here yet.
But now without a carriage, on foot, it might not be as fast as the fog's spread.
"I remember there's a church nearby." Amelia looked around, then pointed in a direction, "There."
She pointed to the edge of the East District: "There's a public elementary school there, and next to it is a church."
"Let's go quickly."
Lex pulled her, and they started running. Levto followed behind them. After running a distance, Lex's spirituality suddenly tightened, and at the same time, he felt that his mother also became nervous.
They immediately stopped.
Then they saw, in the dense fog of the street ahead, a woman wearing a thick black dress and a veil walking out slowly.
Behind her, in the fog, passersby continuously coughed and collapsed, only she was completely unaffected.
Lex's breath hitched, and he uttered two words: "Witch!"
Although Amelia didn't understand what was happening, her rich past adventure experience, coupled with Lex's hint, allowed her to immediately make a judgment: the woman suspected of being a Witch ahead was spreading disease.
And to be able to spread a large-scale Plague, one would at least have to be a Sequence 4, at the level of a demigod, to be able to do so.
Just as she was about to tell Lex to hurry, she saw Lex suddenly raise his arm, crimson flames leaped around him, rapidly condensing onto his arm and fist, forming a giant fireball the size of a fist.
Lex suddenly punched out at the Witch, and the giant, fist-sized fireball immediately tore through the fog, whistling away and engulfing the Witch's figure.
A moment later, a flash of fire erupted on the other side of the street, followed by an explosion of fire mixed with smoke, and a shockwave swept away the surrounding fog, temporarily clearing it.
"Mom, you go quickly!"
Lex continuously waved his hands, throwing out fireballs one after another, creating fierce explosions.
He didn't act impulsively but wanted to use the flames and explosions to delay the Witch, and at the same time, send a 'signal' to the Church.
At the same time, Levto strode forward, the Giant's body surged with dawn light, donning a suit of armor, and simultaneously condensing a greatsword of dawn light.
He charged fearlessly towards the flames, towards the dense fog, towards the Witch.
He was a Marionette; he was no longer human and was not afraid of Plague or disease.
At this time, the Lady of Despair was spreading the Plague in the East District. Before this, she hadn't expected to encounter such fierce resistance. She hadn't expected Lex to seem to know her origin and launch an attack without hesitation.
From his ability to control flames, it could be concluded that he was a Pyromaniac, but his flames, both in temperature and power, were higher and greater than any Pyromaniac this Lady knew.
Flames and thick smoke obscured her vision, preventing her from seeing the Pyromaniac's figure for a moment, but suddenly, her field of vision was occupied by a tall figure.
That figure, clad in full body armor condensed from dawn light, swung a two-handed greatsword, striking down fiercely!
This sword strike landed in front of the Lady of Despair, immediately creating patches of light that instantly transformed into a storm, roaring and sweeping all around.
In the Light, the nearby fog was dispersed, and the colors of yellow and iron-yellow blended and faded considerably.
The storm of light engulfed the Lady of Despair, but her figure shattered like a mirror, and she herself appeared outside the storm's range.
"Although a Dawn Paladin has high attack and defense, he cannot be immune to disease, so why does it not affect him?"
As this Lady wondered, the tall Dawn Paladin charged over again, and at the same time, a group of intensely hot fire crows surged in, forming a pincer attack with the Dawn Paladin.
The Lady of Despair's lips curved up, and just as she was about to counterattack, her mind suddenly went blank, forgetting what she wanted to do.
Immediately following, a Flame Lance, entirely crimson with a blazing white tip, struck her squarely in the chest, lifting her up and sending her flying. And before this, she hadn't even noticed this long spear, as if it had appeared out of thin air!