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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 29: The Campbell Incident
As Ray burst through the door of the mayor's office, the outside was already in chaos.
"Protect the Bishop!"
At Ray's command, Jenny and Henry immediately moved to safeguard Bishop Yuna.
At the same time, Ray gestured toward the corpse that had been disguised as a secretary.
"Aaron! That thing!"
"Ugh...!"
When the corpse whose neck Ray had severed began to move, Aaron immediately hacked it to pieces.
But this was a corpse that continued moving even after its neck was cut.
The secretary's corpse scattered into hundreds... no, thousands of insects, then quickly fled the scene.
"Damn it! What the hell is that thing?"
"What kind of demon did he pact with?! Anyone know?!"
"That's not important right now! The people...!"
The birth of fiends, likely started by the warlock's machinations, had turned the city hall into a wasteland in an instant.
If all the people Ray had seen in city hall had ‘hatched’ there would be at least thousands.
Even if they were just baby fiends, thousands had been born.
"They're still babies! Stomp them to death!"
Ray stomped and killed the fiends that were gnawing on the blood and flesh of their hosts, and chopped them with his axe.
"Keeek!"
The newly born fiends were slightly larger than the one they had caught from the fanatic in the church.
But still small enough to not be threatening. What if these fiends had been born more developed?
That would have been terrifying.
"Keeek!"
With a thud, Ray continued to hack the fiends to pieces with his axe. It would take time, but if they were this small, they could somehow be dealt with.
The problem was the warlock. The escaped warlock was likely somewhere nearby.
"...!!"
Just then, mana strong enough to be visible wrapped around the interior of city hall.
The warlock's spell!
The power was so great that they couldn't even pinpoint its source.
"Everyone be careful!"
As their vigilance reached its peak, the storm of mana descended like a dark cloud and began to be absorbed somewhere.
Into the newly born fiends.
"No way...!"
Ray swung his axe toward the nearest fiend.
But at that moment, the fiend leaped upward with incredible jumping power.
Clinging to the wall, it now had four legs that hadn't been developed previously.
"Kiyak!"
The fiends that had grown legs scattered in all directions, avoiding Ray's group.
Some were already trying to escape outside the city hall.
"No! Stop them!"
The newly born fiends abandoned the nearest host corpses and headed elsewhere.
They were clearly moving under ‘orders.’
If those fiends spread into the city, the disaster would be unimaginable.
"We have to stop them...!"
Aaron, who had been chasing the fiends, was forced to retreat when faced with a swarm of insects blocking his path.
"Doonnn't huurrrt themmm~ They just got born."
"You bastard...!"
The voice, as if countless insects trying to speak, came from the second-floor railing.
The warlock, in a grotesque form that looked like thousands or tens of thousands of insects clumped together, gradually regained a human face and voice, leaving only a leisurely smile.
"What a shame, such a shame."
The warlock's voice and skin gradually became more human-like. His previously slurred pronunciation improved.
"Just a little more and I could have swallowed the entire city."
The warlock, now completely returned to human form, looked down at Ray's group.
"I'm really curious, how did you figure it out? My disguise was perfect."
Clear malice could be felt in his smile. The warlock continued speaking as he pleased.
"Well, fine. It's a pity that the cult leader died so easily, but I was planning to blow everything up soon anyway."
The warlock's plan had a more deliberate and clear objective.
He had planned to weaken the Solar Theocracy, natural enemies of fiends and demons, replace it with a cult, and feed the seeds of fiends to all believers.
After the situation broke out, he had also taken over city hall to destroy the city's administration and military.
Now he just needed to distribute the fiend seeds well and leisurely wait for them to grow...
But this guy had ruined everything.
How?
"You. Face. Remembered it."
The warlock's face distorted grotesquely. His clear malice manifested through a spell.
<Growth Spell: Rapid Growth>
The fiends still remaining in city hall absorbed the warlock's mana and began an impossible rapid growth.
Six limbs grew, teeth protruded sharply, and skin hardened like stone.
While biological growth requires time and stages, this magic was defying the laws of nature.
"Kill them."
Kyaaaaaaak!
The fiends roared and leaped forward.
Just the ones visible numbered thirty.
Four people weren't enough to handle them.
Click!
At least until a clunky piece of metal appeared in Ray's hands.
"Get down!"
Instinctively ducking at the urgent shout, Aaron felt a sharp metallic sound pass through the space he had just vacated.
Shwik!
Kieek!
The fiend charging at Aaron fell backward. But that wasn't the end.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A barrage of bolts pierced through the charging fiends.
The speed was so incredible that the three people's eyes widened.
"What the hell is that weapon?!"
Ray answered with a smirk.
"Helsing's crossbow."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ray rapidly emptied the bolt magazine.
The Helsing Arcane Crossbow, capable of firing over 100 bolts per minute, was truly a revolutionary weapon.
Kiyak!
Kyaak!
fiends fell one after another. There were some close calls, but the fiends were cut to pieces by Aaron and Jenny's sword and halberd.
"Bishop! Come inside!"
Ray, Aaron, Jenny, and Henry stood back to back, forming a circle around Bishop Yuna.
The four of them skillfully fended off the swarming fiends, but there were too many.
And Ray's crossbow needed reloading.
"Reloading! Hold on!"
"What? Now?!"
With the crossbow's firepower gone, the uninhibited fiends charged all at once.
Just as Ray tried to reload the crossbow, a fiend threw itself at him.
"Mmph...!"
Ray dropped the bolt magazine as a fiend tackled him with its full body.
Just as the fiend on top of him was about to thrust its vicious maw forward, a blue-cold blade passed through with a crunch.
Crunch!
The fiend's neck flew off. It was Jenny's halberd.
"Thanks, I owe you my life!"
"Take my hand!"
Jenny helped Ray up. He hurriedly pulled out his axe and swung it, but the absence of the crossbow was keenly felt.
"Ray! Can't you use the crossbow anymore?"
"That magazine was the last one!"
"Why do you only carry one magazine?!"
Ray had an answer to Aaron's complaint.
"Hey! Do you know how heavy these are? One magazine weighs three kilos!"
"Commoners have no endurance!"
Ray had a lot to say, but he was too busy chopping down fiends.
"Argh!"
"Henry!"
The formation began to falter. And every time there was a gap, fiends would pour through.
"We're... breaking!"
Amid the urgent voices in this desperate crisis, a gentle voice flowed.
"The Lord Sol Invictus is my refuge, my fortress. The glorious name in whom I trust."
The voice flowing from Bishop Yuna turned into light.
The fiends swarming from all directions couldn't withstand its energy and backed away.
"A... barrier?"
"It's a barrier of light!"
The fiends were physically separated from them.
Dozens of fiends repeatedly pounded on the barrier of light, but it remained unshakably firm.
"Hmm... as expected of a bishop-level priest. This is why I wanted to drive her out of the city."
Warlock Luka realized that the barrier Bishop Yuna had deployed couldn't be easily broken.
"But that barrier is only effective from a fixed position."
"......"
He immediately grasped its structure and limitations. Bishop Yuna realized that warlock Luka knew how to deal with priests.
"Stay there until the city burns."
"No...!"
The warlock turned into a swarm of insects again and disappeared into city hall.
Not just the warlock.
The fiends also ignored Ray's group huddled within the barrier and rushed out of city hall.
"We must pursue them!"
"Don't rush, Aaron. Regrouping takes priority."
Ray picked up the abandoned bolt magazine and surveyed the surroundings.
"It's a mess."
"I wonder if there are any survivors."
City hall was completely wrecked.
This was inevitable since most of the city hall staff had been infected.
The warlock must have steadily secured hosts while working as the mayor's secretary.
"Let's head to the Church first. There are infected people there too."
Ray's group hurried toward Campbell Church.
And along the way, they encountered streets in disarray.
"Kyaaaak!"
"M-Monster! Monster!"
"What's the guard doing?!"
The fiends released by the warlock were attacking people.
The smaller specimens weren't much of a threat, but the problem was the specimens the warlock had forcibly grown with mana.
Slash!
"Th-Thank you!"
Unable to ignore the people, the group engaged the fiends while rescuing citizens.
"It's... it's the Solar Theocracy!"
"If it's the Solar Theocracy, they'll protect us from the monsters!"
As citizens gathered around, the number of people they needed to protect increased.
The problem was that they were still only five.
Actually, only four were armed.
Kyaaaak!
"Cough!"
"Kyaaaak!"
Fiends attacked the growing crowd.
At this rate, most would die before reaching the Church.
"Everyone run to the Church!"
"Aaaah!"
At Ray's shout, people hastily began running toward Campbell Church.
Unlike them, Ray's group stopped and fought the fiends.
Ray fired the crossbow continuously and hit the fiends, while Jenny forcibly cut through fiend bodies even as they bit at her.
The fiends focused their attacks on the four people who confronted them.
Strategically, they could have ignored the four and moved on.
But their attention was focused solely on the four people right in front of them.
'They're not receiving instructions. They're just running wild on their own!'
That means the warlock can't control the fiends when he's not present.
Which also means the warlock is not here.
"Where did he go?"
"Probably to the cult headquarters! It's the easiest place to nurture hosts!"
"That reduces our burden, but..."
The problem was what the absent warlock might be plotting.
"Brothers! Hurry inside!"
Priests welcomed the four who had barely reached the Church.
They locked the Church doors as soon as the four entered.
"Hoo...! Hoo!"
"Ah, damn. This hurts. Anyone badly injured? I'll treat you."
"Um, Sister Jenny. Please help with this bite on my shoulder."
The four sighed in relief.
Bishop Yuna hurriedly approached.
"I'm glad everyone is safe."
"Bishop, will the fiends invade the Church?"
To Ray's question, Bishop Yuna shook her head.
"Unless there are holy relics, it would take power close to divine authority to drive away corporeal fiends. The Church's energy alone won't be enough."
"But what about your barrier, Bishop? The fiends couldn't even scratch your barrier!"
Despite Henry's hopeful voice, the bishop couldn't give a positive answer.
"It won't last long. And its range is limited, only enough to block one entrance."
The Church is a massive building. It normally has multiple entrances open to believers.
It's impossible for the bishop alone to cover all that area.
"What if... there's a way?"
At Ray's voice, everyone's attention focused on him.
***
The fiend outbreak in the free city of Campbell had thrown the city into chaos.
The city hall and guards, who should have been commanding the crisis response and rescuing citizens, were annihilated early in the crisis.
Citizens panicked as fiends were born by tearing through people's bellies everywhere.
They instinctively knew.
That the tragedy now enveloping the city was the work of evil beings.
If so, there was only one place they could trust and rely on.
Campbell Church.
A sacred ground that could accommodate more than 20,000 people and was antithetical to evil beings.
Citizens rushed toward what they thought was the safest place.
"Kyaaaak!"
"M-Monsters here too!"
"Run! Run!"
Fiends attacked the citizens, and all they could do was run.
"Kyaak!"
"Mary...!"
Despite being pulled by parents, a child's stride has limits.
Parents who couldn't leave their child who had tripped and fallen shielded the child even knowing they would die.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Huut!"
Just as the fiend's jaws were about to tear into the parents shielding their child...
Thunk!
The fiend rushing forward with terrifying momentum fell backward. As if it had hit an invisible wall.
"Huh?"
The child's parents, who had resigned themselves to death, stared blankly at the fiends struggling from the impact.
Soon other fiends charged forward roaring, and the parents squeezed their eyes shut, but all they heard was a sound like clawing at glass.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Kieek! Kieeek!"
The fiends slashed with sharp claws and smashed with heavy bodies, but couldn't even scratch the invisible wall.
"What... is happening?"
A melody reached the ears of the bewildered people.
"Do not be afraid of anything..."
A song resonating throughout the city.
Not sung by just one or two.
A desperate melody poured out until voices went hoarse, loud enough for the entire city to hear.
"Do not be afraid of anything."
"The Lord, my Sol Invictus, protects us."
The song emanating from the wide-open Church was spreading throughout the city.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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