Chapter Twenty-Three
The flames grazed the bandages, leaping away just before hitting the ground, thus avoiding being burned by the explosion.
The cloak was completely torn, and even the bandages on his body were severely damaged, revealing the black skin underneath.
As a human, it has a magic core embedded in its body, in order to make its physical qualities reach a level that it is more satisfied with.
The focus now shifts to the warrior charging at the forefront, Mummy Twelve.
It got this name because its entire body was covered in bandages, like a mummy. It's simple and straightforward, with absolutely no other meaning.
As far as the Witcher is concerned, this team is far more repulsive than others, because it consists of an assassin, a bug exorcist, a half-human, half-demon monster, and a lump of black mud.
Within just a few days, one of them had died.
That guy who was detestable even after he died, I bet his body hasn't been dealt with yet, and it's probably been completely devoured in Carl's house by now.
Twelve didn't want to think too much, but that Mushishi was indeed a very, very good friend of its. A rare friend, after all, no one would have any dealings with monsters.
Twelve was implanted with this thing from a young age, and the guy who did this to it is now a monster race that is on friendly terms with humans.
Within this species, they have always sought to become closer to humans.
Twelve was one of the experiments they conducted, and at a very young age, a magic core was implanted in her chest.
Then came the second and the third, and now this thing has become a necessity for it.
It needs magic to move, to use its abilities, and even its daily life, or simply to live, requires magic.
Therefore, it needs a lot of magic cores, and once the one in its chest is used up, it must be replaced with a new one.
After being rescued by the church, it has been trying to become a knight.
But even the most basic step stopped him, because it was impure, and the gods did not approve of it. Even the most fundamental sacred powers were not entrusted to it with the power to use.
In order to survive, it has been engaging in more lucrative industries, just to buy enough magic cores to keep itself going for a while longer.
This only lasted for a period of time.
When he was so poor that he was destitute, a simple task saved him.
A family asked him to help guard their door.
That night, a monster transformed from a wild wolf appeared before them.
It fought tooth and nail with the monster until it was severely injured, and finally obtained its first magic core through its own efforts.
Twelve killed the family to get enough money to pay for treatment of its corruption at the church. Then, because it was wanted by the authorities, it had to go on the run.
In order to avoid being recognized, it wrapped its head with bandages.
Of all the many things that happened afterward, the few things that made it happy all came from the team of monsters.
This group of monsters makes a living by hunting other monsters, which sounds like a logically contradictory thing.
And now one of them is dead, because they came for that damned demon.
That damn thing can't be found anywhere. People die in this city almost every day. They're all these outsiders.
Not long ago, at least two teams of witchers died here.
Several of them were among the twelve kills.
But the death of someone else and the death of someone you know are two completely different feelings. Twelve knows very well that it is a mockery for a killer to be sad because of the death of his teammate, so he has been holding back that painful emotion until now.
And now, there is a perfect opportunity to let myself vent.
It went a little crazy, but a good opportunity brought it back to its senses.
Because a sharp spike pierced through his body, he coughed up twelve mouthfuls of blood, punched the mouth that was trying to swallow him, and dug out a murky stone from it.
It vanished in an instant, then bounced up instinctively after hitting the ground.
It's a strange experience. My muscles are already injured from exhaustion. Even the slightest movement causes me pain.
He had no intention of coming back. He had killed enough people and was ready to die.
However, my muscles are still injured, and the injury is getting worse and more painful.
The pain felt as if even the soul was being torn apart.
Twelve fell to the ground again, and when she looked up again, she saw a monster twice the size of two people standing in front of her.
And there was that huge monster behind it; I had originally planned to get a closer look at it.
But clearly, that opportunity is no longer available.
A beam of light flashed by, and suddenly, the whole world fell silent.
Twelve was stunned. It slowly turned its head and saw the guy lying on the ground.
"You should get some rest," the man said softly as he landed. "Thank you for your contributions to this city, kid. Leave the rest to me."
The area was instantly cleared out, creating a large space where countless demonic monsters had been.
Because of a flash of golden light, everything that came into contact with the light was instantly turned into powder.
Even the sky was split open, the fireballs in the sky suddenly stopped, and even the blizzard stopped.
In an instant, the whole world fell silent, so silent that you could hear the sound of a sword being swung.
You can still hear the sound of light gushing out. Can you imagine the sound of light? It sounds like water, or like the sound of air flowing.
Stand straight, holding the greatsword high. Swing it, swinging it with all your might.
It was as if time had stopped, because when the sword was swung, the whole world stood still, with only the greatsword slowly falling.
And that light that cut out roared like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down.
The sound returned, and a huge wail echoed through the void. It was the wail of a giant monster. This pitiful thing, which had only been born for less than an hour, had not yet learned where it had come from before it suffered a fatal blow.
......
"What the hell is that?" Dedeline swallowed slightly, staring blankly at everything in front of her.
She had been worrying about how to clean up that thing, but when it arrived, everything that might have made her sad suddenly seemed insignificant.
Because the paladin has arrived. It has been endowed by the gods with enough power to protect the city's safety, and even before such a monster, it has no intention of retreating a single step.
It not only has no intention of backing down, but it has also begun a real battle with this monster.
What would be the outcome of a battle between a human and a mountain? Anyone with common sense would find this hard to understand and wonder if the person doing it would be crazy.
However, if in the end everyone believes that this person can conquer the mountain, and even treats this as an axiom or common sense, then we should question whether something is wrong with the world and that it has broken down.
When it returned, the monster had already escaped. In order to survive, it sacrificed almost all of its body parts, using its remaining magic core and almost all of its magic reserves to flee at high speed.
The reason why Ketcht didn't catch up was that he led Twelve back from the monster horde.
Throughout the ordeal, a barrier of holy magic protected Twelve's wounds, preventing them from decaying and allowing the monster to return to the city alive.
"That's amazing," Flame said softly. "Brother, even if we had the Ember, I don't think we would stand a chance against something like that."
Yan didn't answer, because he didn't know how to persuade his sister to be more optimistic.
It's a truly disheartening situation; the enemy we're facing has completely crossed the line.
Those rules that should have been normal didn't apply to this guy. He was a warrior recognized by the gods, an executor who walked the earth to proclaim divine power to the gods.
“At least a demon of the Demon Lord level would be able to fight him.” Yan sighed helplessly. “But the Church has more than just him as a paladin. The number of paladins is increasing, and they hardly consume any. They are slowly accumulating. Even if a demon were to rise up now, it would probably be suppressed very quickly.”
"Brother, what's wrong?" Yan felt a little strange because her brother would always comfort her and cheer her up no matter what.
But Yan was just as negative as her this time, as if her last bit of fighting spirit had been worn away.
It shouldn't be because of the paladins, because they all know the power of the paladins. Although what he saw was indeed shocking, he had seen it many times before.
"Do you remember where he should be right now?" Yan turned his head and asked Yan, "He should be defending the city wall."
Yan paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that something was wrong with this statement.
Yes, no one can leave the area he's defending. He's the only unit there; if he leaves, how will that wall be defended?
But now, he's still standing here, as if he's treating that monster that nobody likes.
So, who should be in that place now?
"The third high-ranking clergyman?" Yan said with a wry smile, "It turns out the matter of demons here is true... and it really shows that the Church values that guy highly. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent another one over."
Who do you think it could be?
"It doesn't matter who it is. After seeing this blood-red sun, how much power will they have left? This city can't be shaken. It's perfectly safe now." Yan turned his head and looked at the guy next to him.
This is my neighbor, at least for now.
Ark, wearing a smiling mask, stood to the side, waving at the two of them as if to say hello.
Yan was a little confused. Although he knew that everyone was a demon, his sister had been clearly rejected when she tried to talk to him before. Therefore, their relationship was not good enough for them to greet each other.
“Look at everyone here, all fired up and standing by. Don’t you think it’s infuriating to see two people just standing here doing nothing?” Yak said, handing over two red fruits: “Want some? These are Fire Cloud Fruits from your hometown.”
This red fruit is used by humans as an alchemical ingredient, or as a consumable in many spells. This is because the pure fire element it contains will completely burn the body of the person who consumes it.
Yan originally wanted to refuse, but Ark didn't wait for them to say they refused before stuffing one into each of their hands.
"We might not be able to go back, so let's not worry about saving face," Ark said, taking out a piece of the mask from somewhere. He then pulled the mask open halfway and began to devour the substance that could kill an ordinary person on the spot.
"You..." Yan was stunned. Although he knew that many monsters could also eat this kind of thing, the guy standing here should not belong to the Flalos series, yet he could still eat this pure fire element.
Not only that, he didn't show any discomfort.
Yak ate it all in a few bites, then took out a small bottle, blew on the mouth of the bottle, and flames immediately ignited at the mouth of the bottle.
It looks like an alcoholic beverage with an astonishing alcohol content. He must have had a lot of fire element left in his mouth after eating the fruit, so he could ignite it with a breath.
He took a big gulp and let out a satisfied sound, then put the lid on and hummed contentedly.
"You haven't answered my question yet, so why should you be here now?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet? I just wanted to find a place to get some dessert." Ark put his mask back on. "Now that the Paladin has arrived, there's nothing more for us to do. Most people are preparing to return to the city to deal with the monsters that have mutated there. Do you want to come along?"
Flame frowned as she looked at Ark, then said, "I'm only now realizing that my unease these past few days probably stems from you, isn't it?"
It can subconsciously perceive a little bit of the future. Although it is not to the point of prophecy, it can still roughly understand whether its future will be smooth or not through the fate line.
Knowing that it had witnessed the beginning of the Blood Sun and now the arrival of new clergy, it figured that this was the reason for its unease. It truly admired how heaven could so thoroughly torment it.
But upon seeing this creature, it suddenly realized that perhaps those things weren't what it needed to worry about. Compared to this unidentified individual, it truly didn't know what was making it more uneasy.
"Can I sue you for defamation?" Ark turned to look at him. "But why aren't you planning to leave? You're not still planning to search for the demons, are you?"
Yan didn't answer, he just stared at the mask.
His meaning is easy to understand: the Red Demons and humans have not yet gone to war, nor have they committed any crimes sufficient to serve as evidence against them.
They could simply report their origins and be expelled. That way, they would admit defeat but still survive.
"Forget it." He walked past Yak. "I don't have the habit of admitting defeat."
"Like a torch burning its last flame, even if it's just smoking, it still wants to find more kindling?" Yak shrugged. "You're a good torch, but you'll probably go out in the water."
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