Chapter Twenty-Seven
A steam-spitting monster rushed into the church, and the moment it entered, the high-temperature steam blocked all vision.
Before the poor monster could react, it was grabbed and slammed to the ground.
A series of explosions came from below the church; close-range, heavy-caliber musket fire ended the monster's short life.
Lady looked up at the spiderwebs on the church ceiling and at the small black ball of fur, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
She and the abandoned child were temporarily pieced together, and this enormous body fought its way through the corpses of the monsters outside.
The streets were teeming with mutated insects. That dead man had truly caused a great deal of harm; the insects he had hidden away for observation had all transformed into disgusting monsters under the influence of the Blood Sun.
This caused a lot of trouble for everyone, but fortunately, none of the guys here were idle. Almost everyone here could handle those seemingly ferocious monsters.
"Wow!" Lori stared wide-eyed at Lady as she walked out of the mechanical shell.
Indeed, it is a cool and stylish thing. In an era where everyone uses cold weapons, suddenly pulling out a musket and a machine feels strangely incongruous.
The sight of a girl so perfect it chills to the bone emerging from the cold machinery is yet another stunning scene.
"Are you alright?" the little spider asked with some concern.
After just a short while, or rather, after Lady herself had disappeared for a while, she reappeared before her in a strange state.
This is really hard to feel at ease with.
"Were these all made using alchemical matrices and alchemy?" Lori asked, her eyes sparkling as she looked around Lady.
"There's also an element of sorcery involved." The abandoned child seemed to enjoy boasting about his abilities to the child, demonstrating some simple sorcery in front of her.
Amidst Lori's exclamation of "How amazing!", Lady made her look around.
She had originally thought there should be many people in the church, because that was the result she had sensed just now.
But only Lori and Spider-Man were there; the people who were supposed to be hiding here had disappeared.
“They’re all resting now,” the little spider whispered beside Lady, knowing what she was thinking.
It took Lady a few seconds to understand what the little spider meant by "resting".
"I'm sorry, if only I could have come a little more." Lady slowly closed her eyes, thinking of those lives that should have been vibrant but had vanished like bubbles.
So fragile. Life is such a fragile thing. Without the power to protect it, it would vanish in an instant in such a world.
Everyone desperately wanted to survive, especially in such a hopeless environment; their will to live was surprisingly strong.
The little spider turned its head away; it didn't want to think about those things either.
Even so, a few seconds later it still looked up at Lady.
"The dead will find peace, and the lucky survivors should move on after praying for them," it suddenly said, a statement perfectly in line with the current atmosphere.
It's as awkward as inserting classical Chinese poetry into an essay. It's a truly unpleasant way to insert something.
Lady paused for a moment, then realized that Christon had used those words to comfort her.
“This is what Ark told me… I can’t save everyone, nobody can.” The little spider sat on the ground, curled up in a ball: “But as long as there is hope of survival, I will do my best… But now they are dead, no matter how hard I try, it’s useless. I can only hope that their souls are clean and that they went to a place like heaven after death.”
It turned its head and looked at Lori, who had walked to the mural and was kneeling after visiting the machinery.
She clasped her hands together and seemed to be saying something.
They must have been praying. There are so many people who need prayers. They just died recently, so their souls are probably still nearby.
There are so many dead people in the church that if souls had a volume, every inch of this place would probably be filled with ghosts.
“I’ll go keep watch outside,” Lady said softly. “Someone has to go and deal with those crazy monsters.”
Krisen nodded; it didn't object to eliminating those irrational monsters. They were incapable of communication; their only value was perhaps the magic cores obtained after their destruction.
Aside from that, I really don't know what other function it serves.
After hesitating for a moment, Spider-Man also went to Lori's side, kneeling in the same position.
Its kneeling posture was strange. Because it was a rugged monster, it lay on the ground looking as if it were dead.
Now that it had nothing else to do, it prayed to the gods that the dead could find peace.
After the sun went out, the city finally returned to tranquility a day later.
Strangely enough, at this critical moment, even the blizzard and fireball rain outside had stopped. The city returned to calm.
It was very late when Carl returned to the church.
When it saw that the church doors had been damaged, its heart sank.
Because you can see the empty interior of the church and its severely damaged furnishings from the outside.
The entire church was almost completely reduced to ruins.
He leaned against the wall to calm himself down; he had also expended a lot of energy today.
Fortunately, even though everything was terrible, Lori was still alright.
She seemed to be praying to the gods, but she fell asleep on the mat because she was tired. Because it was a little cold, the child curled up into a small ball.
Carl picked up the child and sat down in a corner.
He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the child was not injured and prepared to rest.
Although falling asleep sitting in the corner is not a good option, now is not the time to be particular. Making do for the night and then considering a better option is the priority.
Besides, he was really tired right now, so tired that all he wanted was a good night's sleep. Whether the sky fell or the earth collapsed, he could deal with it tomorrow.
He stood alone atop a city wall, enduring a horde of monsters for an entire day. He was indeed a priest; entrusting him with such a demanding task was a bit much.
Fortunately, in the latter half of the battle, reinforcements from the major cities finally arrived.
There was only one reinforcement, but no one could see that person clearly.
After all, it is a high-ranking clergyman.
Ascetics are a very strange group; they are different from normal clergy and are initially filthy.
They were all sinners, some guilty of serious murder, others of minor rape. They were all condemned by God.
Mistakes can be corrected, but crimes must be repaid.
This is the church's consistent view: they are willing to accept anyone, but they must be clean. After atonement for their sins, the church will treat everyone equally.
Including these bad-dealing guys.
They can choose to atone for their sins through volunteer work, flogging, or other means. Once they have truly atoned for their sins, they become members of the clergy. As sinners, they join the church's fighting ranks, and unlike knights, these individuals are primarily responsible for vanquishing monsters.
Similar to the Witcher, but the members of the Church do not ask for anything in return. They clean up those monsters without expecting anything in return.
Once a sinner receives divine approval, they are granted the same infinite lifespan and full access to holy power as other high-ranking clergy. In other words, they become ascetics.
Now that a hermit is coming here, it's obvious that the church at the center of the matter is finding the situation here a bit troublesome.
It was good news, but Karl still felt uneasy. He rarely interacted with ascetics. These kinds of people were almost never seen in the church; they were either on their way to fight monsters or in their rooms using almost morbid self-punishment to find spiritual satisfaction.
Getting along with this group was quite a challenge; Carl had witnessed their physical torture of him. They really would do anything as long as it didn't kill him. Even the whipping eventually became unsatisfying, so he had two people take turns striking his body with sticks.
These guys are far more violent than other clergy when it comes to monsters. They show no mercy to themselves, let alone those who are no longer on the same side as humans. Sending such guys here is a disaster for most of the monsters in the city right now.
Just as Ark warned Yan, they'd better leave now. Ascetics aren't like paladins who might make exceptions for the sake of social order; if their tracks are discovered, their fate will be quite grim.
Karl thought of monsters and suddenly remembered some strange things.
He has discovered signs of battle in several locations in the city. It seems that this time it was a bit unexpected, as a large number of monsters were also found in the city.
Most of them were cleared out; those guys who seemed to be causing trouble were quite capable.
But how come Lori was completely unharmed?
He looked up and smiled helplessly.
He saw the spider webs; the threads, formed by magic, possessed a resilience that prevented the church from collapsing.
It seems that, just as the child said, the monster is her friend.
To be fair, Karl doesn't hate monsters. The same goes for Ketchum.
Because monsters, if they possess the ability to think, are mostly like humans. Some monsters go to near-powerful limits just to survive, and as long as they don't violate the rules, within the bounds of authority, the two of them will generally turn a blind eye and absolutely won't go too far to kill them.
That little guy who might have helped Lori now might have a tough few days ahead. Ascetics don't understand mercy; they only talk about repayment.
......
There are inexplicably many more people sitting in the hotel now.
In Ark's room, there were two red demons and Deedri, plus the guy who was installing an arm on Lady.
This room is practically overflowing with people, all from different factions. They're scattered across almost every corner of the world. It's unclear what twist of fate brought them all together here.
Fortunately, Ark and his companions had enough food reserves. It took them a long time to prepare enough food for everyone.
“We’re neighbors, your rooms are right next to each other. Why are you all gathered here?” Yak looked at Deedri helplessly. “I remember your room was bigger than mine. Now that you’ve made something of yourself, you’re really extravagant, booking one of the biggest rooms.”
“It’s safer here. There are ascetics in the city now, and I’m not safe outside.”
"Aren't you a monster whose identity has been recognized?"
“Even so, the ascetic still gave me a lot of trouble. I still can’t beat that guy.” Dedelie said dejectedly, “As expected, no matter how hard a person tries, they can’t fight against a god.”
This is a very real and distressing truth. Normal monsters and humans could never, by their own power, defeat demons or high-ranking priests.
Deedris was quite self-aware and initially resentful. However, even now, as one of the highest-ranking mercenaries, she still couldn't defeat them. She had no choice but to accept it; this system of judging by bloodline was truly unpleasant.
The Red Demons were invited by Ark. Just a few minutes earlier, someone had come to check on their room.
The little spider can hide, but Lady has the priest's proof.
However, no matter what, if the two red demons are seen by the ascetic, the ending will certainly not be pleasant.
Therefore, they made it appear as if they had moved away, and then temporarily settled in Ark.
It was all Ark's suggestion; they simply agreed and followed him here. They didn't say anything else, just sat there the whole time.
They didn't even touch the food; they just placed the two pieces in front of them and remained motionless.
They even returned the Fire Cloud Fruit that Ark had given them, and the two of them haven't eaten anything since.
Ark understood the reason: monsters can only convert magic into the energy their bodies need when they are extremely hungry.
Therefore, they keep themselves in a state of hunger, constantly absorbing the magic around them.
At this point, eating anything would end what they had managed to do so far. They would have to endure pain again.
"Actually, you don't need to worry about food. You'll leave with our carriage. Until then, I'll still provide meals for two people, I pray. Don't let my appearance fool you, I'm actually quite wealthy." Ark subtly indicated that they didn't need to maintain a state of combat readiness.
These two guys look like they're just stopping by here, ready to go out and cause trouble somewhere else at any time.
But they've been very well-behaved until now, because they've also fallen into confusion.
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