And at the same time.
Elsewhere.
The Church.
Sanctuary Holy Library.
As the only official authority of the Holy Kingdom, it naturally also assumes the responsibility of educating the people. Each church has a library. The three floors listed on the front are free and open to all Holy Kingdom people, and they can freely enter and read.
And in the two additional underground levels of the Sanctuary Library, there are the “Archive Room” areas, which are not open to the general public. Only internal church personnel and specially invited guests are allowed to enter and browse.
Early in the morning, Durin strode in. At the entrance leading to the library’s underground, there were four knights in “Holy Armor” standing guard.
The “Holy Armor” is the knightly order’s advanced gear, combining the exoskeletal machinery from the “Mechanoid Alliance” with the power of the Goddess. Well-trained members of the knightly order equipped with it would see a phenomenal increase in their abilities.
The machinery brings immense strength, while the Goddess’s crucifix at the center provides energy and a powerful holy light that greatly restrains the Tainted Miasma. A paladin combining the two could easily subdue an “Eclipse” on their own, and when assembled into teams, they have many records of containing even “Danger Rank” Eclipses.
“Captain Durin!” The four holy knights, upon seeing Durin’s arrival, immediately stood at attention and saluted with their mechanical arms.
They thought Durin was there to enter the Archive Room, so they cleared the way, and another went to register Durin. However, Durin waved them off, shaking his head to indicate it was unnecessary.
“From today, for this week’s patrol phase, you’ll all be joining us in deployment.”
“What are you standing around for, take off the Holy Armor.”
Faced with Durin’s urging, the four holy knights, finally coming to their senses, hurriedly said, “But Captain Durin, the priest’s orders are that the Archive Room must be guarded at all times.”
“The big incident that happened last night, you must have heard about it too. The Callewa leader is dead, and now the Blackhole Plains settlement is in complete chaos. The usual patrol and security forces are simply not enough. The Goddess’s teachings are for us to protect the people, not for you to guard some broken Archive Room that no damn person has come to in hundred of years!”
“Understood!”
Under Durin’s stern reprimand, the four holy knights were persuaded. It was evident that Durin’s authority was highly respected among these knights, and they did not doubt him at all.
After taking off their Holy Armor and handing them over to Durin, they saluted again and quickly ran towards the knightly order’s location to join the upcoming patrol team.
In this way, the entrance to the Archive Room became completely quiet, leaving only Durin there.
The knight captain, with a look of disgust, coldly glanced at the gloomy staircase leading to the library underground. He then took out a dagger he carried with him and expertly pried out the Goddess’s cross from the center of the Holy Armor, the source of its power. After placing the Holy Armor back in its place, he prepared to leave, leaving the Archive Room unguarded, with its doors wide open.
After that, even if someone from the knightly order came by later, the most crucial “Holy Armor” would already be unusable.
‘I had fulfilled my job Renji’
‘Now it was time to see… what you will do’
Durin recalled the young man from the coffee house last night,
However.
Before Durin could take a few steps, as if someone had been waiting for a long time, a person who emerged from the shadow behind a pillar blocked Durin’s path.
He was dressed in a black robe, with a conspicuous cross hanging on his chest. His hands were crossed and hanging down, holding a holy book in the palms of his hands.
The few strands of early morning sunlight that passed through the window fell on the man, making his already serene face appear even more charitable. It instinctively evoked feelings of closeness and trust in others, as if one were willing to confess all their sins to this man.
Yes.
In the settlement, only one person could achieve this – the leader and ruler of the Blackhole Church, the priest, Gralon.
“It’s no surprise, Captain Durin. It’s an honor for the people of Blackhole to have a knight like you.”
The priest applauded, a benevolent smile on his face.
He took steps toward Durin, who was stiff in his place.
“Intentionally omitting details in the report, the murderer who killed Ajax last night, the mastermind behind the destruction of the factory, and now suddenly pulling away the guard I placed at the entrance to the Archive Room, and even…”
Gralon moved behind Durin and then took back the four energy crosses that had just been pried from the Holy Armor and hidden behind him.
The priest shook his head.
“Captain Durin, I am so disappointed in you. I thought you could become one of us, but now it seems…”
“You have not only given up the chance for promotion, but you have also abandoned your wife.” 𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ
As soon as the word “wife” was mentioned, the veins on Durin’s forehead bulged, and the knight who had been on the verge of losing his temper suddenly exploded. He attempted to pounce on the priest in front of him, but the priest didn’t move at all, and a huge rebound force sent Durin flying.
The previously benevolent old man had disappeared, replaced by a priest with a distorted face, full of wrinkles, enveloped by the Tainted Miasma.
An Eclipse, and from the fluctuations of the Miasma, he had surpassed the ‘Common’ and reached the ‘Danger Rank’!
“Damn it! You filthy piece of ***! One day, the true Church will rid itself of vermin like you!” Durin, pinned to the ground by the pries, cursed angrily as he struggled.
Instead of getting angry, the priest seemed even more intrigued.
“Durin, actually, I used to have the same thoughts as you. I was afraid that the higher-ups in the Church would find out about my heretical behavior, that they would discover I was conducting forbidden experiments, but…”
“Just yesterday, a big shot from the Church really did come, and they came directly to me, a true big shot, someone who ranks above a bishop… a Light Bringer.”
At this point, the priest’s face was full of respect. Then, with a mocking and sarcastic tone, he squatted down next to Durin, who was glaring fiercely, and whispered word by word:
“But do you know what that Light Bringer chose after learning everything about me?”
The priest still found it unbelievable, but that didn’t stop him from stating the fact with an arrogant and mocking tone. Gralon spread his arms wide as if the Light Bringer from last night was standing in front of him, so beautiful and flawless, a figure that he was infatuated with, even adoring.
After all, only a Light Bringer with such beauty and wisdom could understand him…
“She chose to…”
“Assist me!!”
Seeing Durin’s look of utter disdain, as if he couldn’t believe it himself, yes, after all, the Light Bringer is transcendental to the church hierarchy, only belonging to the “Goddess” herself. How could she possibly stoop to Assist with him?
Even Gralon himself felt like he was dreaming. It was too normal for Durin to not believe him.
But…
With a cold snort, the priest lifted his foot off Durin and pulled the captain up from the ground.
Immediately after, the priest took out a surveillance device from his pocket and turned the screen towards Durin.
“Take a good look, now these two pitiful little mice lured by cheese into the sewer.”
Following the priest’s words, Durin looked at the monitor, and his already grim complexion turned completely ashen. .𝒎
Because on the screen, in the dark abandoned underground drainage, there were three figures slowly moving forward.
Among them, a man and a woman, Durin recognized at first glance — it was the young man from the coffee house and the female companion he had once taken to the Sea Sand Bar.
And leading them was a nun that Durin had never seen before, completely unfamiliar.
Renji definitely didn’t enter through the Archive Room, the underground entrance he had told the young man about. Combining the priest’s words and the surveillance footage, Durin realized in an instant
‘That young couple…’
‘Had fallen into a trap’
This was a snare set by the priest and that unfamiliar nun. The young man had already been exposed, and now Renji and his companion were no longer hunters, but prey walking step by step into a death trap.
“Do you see that? That’s Lady Maria! Tsk tsk… Truly worthy of her title. In order to achieve her goal, she can easily put aside her noble status and even act as a crucial bait, making these two excellent test subjects cooperate willingly.”
” Excellent test subjects!?”
Durin clenched his teeth, it seems he understood why the priest and the Light Bringer had gone to such lengths.
“That’s right, although I don’t know what exactly happened at the Callewa factory last night, one undeniable thing is that the man and woman can cause the ‘Relics’ to react. It’s unbelievable, truly unbelievable! Is there a better test subjects in this world?!”
“If he could awaken the ‘Crimson Star,’ then he can definitely activate my two ‘Emperor’s Crests’! Durin, do you know how long I’ve spent trying to use those two Emperor’s Crests? How much time I’ve invested to integrate the crests into my body, how many rats I’ve used for experiments?”
(HailTheLoli: they don’t know the real name of the [Brand] so they refer it to as Crests )
Updated from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮