Chapter 56

Karl gasped for breath, while simultaneously vomiting large amounts of blood.

He struggled to his feet, his body covered in blood. His fight with Ketchum had left him battered and bruised. In the end, he was impaled on the ground by something resembling a spear.

Ketch didn't go any further; he merely weakened Karl's fighting strength and left him there, submerged in the heavy rain. Karl lay in the water, looking at the dark sky, lost in thought.

Perhaps he did make a mistake; he shouldn't have protected something he knew to be extremely dangerous.

The rain completely soaked him, and Carl had to prop himself up to breathe in just enough air to barely get into his lungs.

But Carl didn't want to do that; he soaked himself completely in the rain, and the world became peaceful for him.

The duties of a priest are, first, to prevent the resurrection of demons; second, to maintain order; third, to protect humanity; and lastly, to repay one's own debt.

In the quiet, he pondered what he should do.

The importance decreases in that order: if maintaining order cannot prevent the resurrection of the demon, chaos is acceptable. If protecting humanity will disrupt order, then killing is acceptable. If harming pure humanity is done to do what is right in one's own heart, then going against one's conscience is acceptable.

What he did was in accordance with his own conscience, and it was also the lowest level of his responsibility.

Carl stood up from the water, using the rocks beside him to straighten himself.

That day, it was raining so hard that the child practically crawled into the street, huddled up, and lit a fire to warm himself.

That's how she was discovered. She even managed to start a fire based on the stones in the water, which helped her stay a little warmer.

It was a child, and Carl hesitated for a long time before deciding to take the child in.

“I can’t allow you to use open flames here, but if you don’t mind, I have a place that’s not too warm.”

He said this as he brought a guy of unknown origin back to his home.

She took a bath and changed her clothes—clothes Karl had sewn for her from simple cloth. Then she ate and rested there.

Neither of them mentioned how long they could stay there, and Lori ended up staying there for a week.

But the heavy rain didn't stop, and she had to leave. She left a message of thanks and went out without saying goodbye to Karl, but Karl followed behind her the whole time, watching her run away helplessly.

It's a very cliché plot, there's not much to say about the details, and in the end, Carl brings her back.

"Are you a demon?" Karl asked this question and received an affirmative answer.

“So you only need to kill one person to get a place to live,” Karl continued, looking at her. “Say something, at least let me hear your voice.”

“My mother said that if we hurt others, we will be punished,” Lori said. “It’s a sin, and God will not forgive my sin.”

"Is your mother a normal human being?"

“I’m a normal human being too… but, but…” Lori curled up into a ball as she said this, “I just don’t know why, a few months ago, I became a monster.”

Their conversation ended there; Karl patted her head, and that was the end of it.

And so the child officially settled in with Karl. No one mentioned that Karl's duty was to kill anything that threatened human life.

The demons would choose those among humans who were worthy of being their successors. Why was this child chosen? Karl didn't know. He wanted to know if this child was truly the good child he thought he was.

Karl pulled the spear from his chest, feeling the pain of it piercing his flesh, his face contorted in agony.

He gasped for breath in the icy rain, trying to grab onto the wall, but he pushed it over and fell into the water.

He didn't know if Lori was hiding her true self, but if she really was, her acting was superb. She could even make him believe it... She was so devout, like a child raised in church. So timid, like a mouse constantly trying to escape. So kind, even though few people had ever shown her kindness.

If all of this was an act, then Carl would truly feel like a fool.

He now feels like a fool.

He couldn't circulate his holy magic power. He had been under high stress for the past few days, and his holy magic power was simply insufficient.

But he still had to go. She was a good child, and he had to keep her alive! At least in death, she could atone for her sins. If she died now, she would surely go to hell, but that wouldn't do. She had to go to heaven; that was where she belonged.

This was his creed, and he became a priest by adhering to it, which speaks volumes about the extent of his stubbornness! He was the kind of guy who would walk right into a knife's path, completely unconcerned about being pierced. As long as he upheld his beliefs, he was never afraid of death.

Carl dragged his weary body forward, pushing through the water, feeling the pain all over his body, recalling every detail of the child's life with him. When he thought of those things, he always felt sorry for the child.

She did nothing wrong, yet she was burdened with sins she shouldn't have to bear.

He lifted the door in the ground and pulled out a huge box. He pushed aside the ruins and carried out a huge scripture.

There was also his long staff leaning against the corner of the wall, his usual staff. But now it was shining with a strange light.

He inserted the long staff into the box, and when he pulled it out, the wooden planks shattered, revealing the huge hammerhead that was originally attached to the slender staff.

Inside the box was an exaggeratedly large suit of armor, a full set of heavy armor.

How long has it been since I was fully armed? As Karl thought this, the armor suddenly melted and solidified on his body.

He was wearing heavy armor that was two meters tall, and he carried a hammer on his shoulder while holding a scripture in his other hand.

He slid all the water off his body into the water, and as he took a step forward, the ground cracked and the water surged up into high waves.

His breathing was heavy, and golden patterns appeared all over his body, even illuminating the raindrops.

As a priest, one cannot properly fulfill one's duties without some means of self-defense. Thinking this, Karl was struck by the sudden surge of water, and he vanished from the spot.

Holy power originates from faith. It has no end; even if it is exhausted, it can be replenished again.

......

“I don’t want to hurt you. You’re a remarkable guy. Getting into a conflict with you would give me a lot of paperwork to do.” Ketchum pointed his greatsword at Deedri. “Besides, you know very well that you can’t beat me.”

“What an arrogant and conceited fellow.” Deedri gasped for breath, steam still billowing from the gaps in her armor.

She took this opportunity to check how much magic she had left, and the conclusion was truly disheartening: in just a few minutes, she had become utterly exhausted. To her, Ketchum was like a god she could never defeat. He simply stood there, like a fortified wall before her.

She took a deep breath, inhaling even the rainwater. If you lifted her armor, you would see her entire body was a pale red, and the temperature was so high that even her sweat would instantly turn into steam.

The water flow was instantly emptied, and a huge burst of steam erupted, and in just a moment she was in front of Ketchum.

His left hand held a broadsword, while his right hand wielded a pair of giant fangs, one a dragon's and the other a serpent's. They were swung simultaneously in two completely different directions, yet both were extremely ferocious.

However, both attacks were blocked simultaneously, and Ketchum maintained his upright stance. Two shields formed from holy magic blocked both attacks.

Dedeline was sent flying again, rolled several times in the water, and finally regained her balance by leaning against the greatsword stuck in the ground.

She looked up in surprise at the paladin who had appeared before her. He grabbed Deedri's helmet and ripped off her visor.

"Cough, cough, cough." Deedri coughed violently because her helmet was filled with dirty water. She was already feeling nauseous, and then she was struck hard in the abdomen with the hilt of a knife, and now she felt so uncomfortable that she just wanted to vomit.

Ketcht could have easily pierced her with a straight thrust, and no matter how confident she was, she didn't think her armor could withstand the paladin's attack.

But he flipped his greatsword around and used the hilt to deflect the attack. He had come over and ripped off her face armor because he noticed it had many holes that allowed water to seep in.

"Shall we continue?" He sheathed his greatsword and looked at Deedri, who was forced to kneel in the water.

“You’ve already gone this far, there’s no need for me to continue.” Dedeline sighed helplessly, “So this is what it means to be a person blessed by God.”

“Don’t mind it, your attributes are suppressed by the weather. You can’t take advantage of being a Fire Goat, and this armor is too heavy in the rain.” Ketchum turned to leave: “You’re strong, I acknowledge that.”

"Ha, do you feel more accomplished saying these things to a defeated opponent?" Dedeline said with a wry smile. "You're not even willing to unleash your own holy sword? At least in the end, let me see what this so-called holy artifact is all about."

"You mean this?" Ketchum patted his scabbard. "I'm sorry, I can only use it in a crisis. It's a power that God gave me to overcome desperate situations, not to use it as an ordinary sword."

"Let me translate for you, what this means is that I'm incredibly weak, you can beat me without any problem, and there's no need for you to even show your real weapons."

"Sorry, I'm not good at talking."

The exchange ends here, because it has already covered enough ground.

Deedri was the only one left in the heavy rain. She tried to stand up, but she was too tired and wanted to rest in the rain.

"Hey, hey, hey, you'll definitely catch a cold if you rest here." She was lifted up and looked at Denos, who was biting a notebook, with some surprise. He spoke a little unclearly because he had something in his mouth.

Before she could react, a pill was shoved into her mouth. These kinds of things made with witchcraft were never cheap, and their effectiveness was naturally linked to their price. She could feel her body beginning to recover.

"What are you doing here?" She choked on the medicine.

"Um... well, Ark asked me to stop the knights who were rushing over." Denos took down his notebook. This book was made entirely of waterproof material, otherwise it certainly wouldn't have survived to this day.

He took out his notebook with his free hand and mumbled something, while the rainwater on the ground foamed. He also made a trap on the ground to deal with any guys who might approach from here.

This guy is awful; he's skilled at all sorts of underhanded tricks. He used to be a guy with impeccable morals, but now he's completely warped.

What about Nakchit?

"Ark said he'd figure something out! That guy finally gave in, he promised to deal with Ketchum!" Denos shouted. Damn, it was so inconvenient in the rain. You had to yell to even talk.

But I'm still happy, because that guy made a promise. And once he makes a promise, he always keeps it! Denos has been with that guy for so long, and they've had their share of arguments, but this is the only thing that makes him feel good about the bastard. If he promises to solve something, he'll definitely do it.

"Do you really think he can beat Ketcht? He's a paladin."

“I’d believe you if you said Ark was a Demon King! His team isn’t without ruthless individuals who have become Demon Kings! You’ve been away from this guy for too long; you don’t know how heartless and insane he is.” Denos laughed heartily. He had been in a repressed state since arriving here, but now he felt as if he had been freed from his constraints, completely at ease.

In contrast, Deedris looked utterly dejected. Having just finished her exhilarating adventure, she was back to reality, her entire armor completely destroyed. Whether this dragon scale armor could ever be repaired was uncertain. Perhaps the only consolation was that her weapons remained intact.

"What a huge loss! What a huge loss!" That's what she was thinking, but the guy next to her seemed to be in high spirits right now, and if she said something like that, she'd probably get dragged into the mud.

"Who are you people?" At the edge of their vision, a group of armored figures indeed spotted Denos. These men had been drawn by the sounds of fighting and, seeing what appeared to be a group of people returning from a disaster zone with wounded soldiers, mistook them for civilians who hadn't evacuated.

"Hey! Everyone in front, pull out your knives and stuff!" Denos roared, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handful of talismans. As they fell to the ground in the pouring rain, water dragons and earth dragons surged forth: "Don't mistake us for good guys!"

The powerful shout was truly invigorating, and given the current chaotic environment, the only discordant element was that Deedri was accidentally thrown into the water. However, Denos, who was inexplicably excited, didn't even bother to look at the guy who was still calculating his losses. The inscription he chanted loudly stirred up towering waves in the rain and ruins.