Chapter 31: Chapter 31 Remnants


    Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio


    Vanna raised her head to look at thedy in ck, who was checking the mental state of some heretics. Noticing Vanna’s gaze, she too lifted her head and nodded slightly in her direction.


    The woman appeared to be in her early twenties but possessed aposure that seemed far beyond her years. Her long ck hair was coiled up behind her head, and the pale blue crystal earrings dangling from her earlobes reflected the light of a nearby gasmp.


    “…Heidi is also here… Did the city hall send her?” Vanna asked the young guardian by her side.


    “No, Lady Heidi just happened to be nearby when the incident urred. She came over directly after hearing the news—is there a problem?”


    “No, nothing. Although Heidi is an employee of the city hall, she has also been working with the church for a long time. All she has to do is make a record of the scene when she gets back,” Vanna shook her head and quickly refocused on the matter at hand. She inspected the Cult Priest who had died in delirium and casually inquired, “What else did themunicable heretics say? What exactly happened at that time?”


    “Their speech was very confused. Two of them mentioned that the normal sacrificial ceremony had already ended, but then someone caught a runaway sacrifice near the assembly area, so the messenger decided to offer this sacrifice to the Sun God…” the guardian recounted, “Those two heretics were standing far from the altar and couldn’t see the specifics of what was happening. They only mentioned the sacrifice was stabbed through the heart but did not die. Instead, the sacrifice shouted the name of the Sun God and designated the messenger as the sacrifice… and then the messenger was sacrificed.”


    “…A person designated as a sacrifice shouted the name of an Evil God and just like that sacrificed the person conducting the ceremony?” Vanna felt like she had heard some unbelievable tall tale. It seemed absurd to her, but since the words came from a well-trained, trustworthy church guardian, she had no choice but to take it seriously, which made her expression turn peculiar. “How could such an absurd thing happen—if that’s possible, then wouldn’t many victims at the scenes of heretical sacrifices be able to turn the tables on those heretic priests just by speaking up faster?”


    “Exactly, even the most inept priest dominates the ritual. How could a weakmon person utter a single sentence to disrupt the ceremony to such an extent—and we’ve also examined this priest. He indeed bore traces of Corrosion from the ‘deeperyers’ of our world, a true ‘Baptized’, and ording to the testimony of the heretics at the scene, he was holding a ritualistic dagger blessed with a benediction in his hand…”


    As the young guardian spoke, he shook his head and then moved to another body lying nearby.


    “But… take a look at this, this is the ‘sacrifice’ who ‘counter-killed’ the priest.”


    Vanna nced at the guardian and then her gaze fell on thepletely lifeless body. In the next second, her eyes sharpened.


    It was a frail young man, so gaunt that his physique was more akin to a boy’s, and the most striking abnormality on him was the gaping hole in his chest.


    “…He has been sacrificed…”


    “Yes, this is a sacrifice who has already been offered. Combining the traces at the scene and the testimonies of the heretics, this ‘sacrifice’ had probably lost his heart before being brought onto the altar,” the guardian said solemnly, “So… the real situation was that a walking corpse, in full view of everyone, walked onto the altar and killed the priest conducting the ritual as a sacrifice.”


    “…Necromancer’s trickery?” Vanna mused to herself. “No, the power of the ck Sun has a significant suppression effect on necromancers; their controlled walking dead couldn’t tantly approach the ck Sun’s totem… Was it a re-animated being under abnormal control?”


    “Have you checked the lighting around here?” she suddenly raised her head to look at the guardian beside her, “Within a five-hundred-meter radius, is there apletely dark underground space?”


    “We’ve checked, there are no lightless pits— even the heretics are aware of their danger. In the caves where they discard bodies, they’ve left torches and oilmps; they were very cautious in this regard.”


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Farna didn’t speak immediately but instead bent down in front of the young man’s corpse with a heavy sense of doubt. She meticulously examined this “sacrifice,” which had, in full view of everyone, been offered to a Transcendent and caused the ritual to spiral out of control. She stretched out her hand to turn over the stiff eyelids, attempting to find any traces of heretical powers left on him.


    Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, it seemed like a faint glimmer shed — she thought she saw the young man’s corpse slightly open its eyes, with pale green mes flickering within those empty sockets. A tiny spark shot out onto the fingertip of her extended right index finger then promptly dispersed with the wind.


    Farna’s eyes sharpened, and in an instant, she drew the dagger from her waist with her left hand and, without hesitation, sliced off her right index finger, then in a backhanded move, she nailed the dagger into the corpse’s forehead. The cult priest dagger, engraved with runes, suddenly burst into fierce mes thatpletely engulfed the body.


    It took her less than a second to do all of this, and the moment the body was consumed by the mes, she had straightened up and backed away two steps. Then she quickly took out the blessed holy oil from her waist, bit off the stopper, and poured its contents over her right hand, which was frantically bleeding — upon contact with the flesh, the holy oil let out a sizzling noise and emitted a thick white smoke.


    A piercing pain rushed forth, but Farna’s facial expression didn’t change in the slightest. She saw that the guardian who had been by her side had quickly drawn his steel sword and decapitated the burning “sacrifice’s” head. He then threw a concoction mixed with seaweed extract and silver powder into the mes.


    Apanied by continuous booming noises and the mes that suddenly shot high up, nearly licking the ceiling, the mutated corpse turned to ashes in the blink of an eye.


    Yet this sizable me didn’t spread to any of the other corpses nearby.


    The surrounding guardians had already snapped into action, with half of them drawing runic steel swords to form a protective circle around Farna, while the other half drewrge-caliber revolvers to quickly form a perimeter. The two priests on-scene also drew the revolvers hidden under their robes, blessing the muzzles with their censers while chanting the name of the Storm Goddess Gomona and continuously aiming at the heretics who were agitated by the sudden changes in their surroundings.


    “Your Excellency Judge!” A young guardian holding a steel sword approached Farna then, “How are you? Just now…”


    “There was some force remaining in that ‘sacrifice’, a force that bypassed all the protections bestowed by the Goddess, and even my Spiritual Energy rms,” Farna gestured dismissively, her gaze on her right hand — the Goddess’s blessing had taken effect, and the severed index finger was wriggling, slowly regenerating; yet even as the intense pain began to subside, she didn’t feel reassured at all.


    “Something’s not right. There’s not only the ‘ck Sun’ here, there might also be another powerful force that visited this sacrificial ritual… and this force has notpletely left. It’s still plotting something,” the Judge quickly made her assessment. “Move all the people and evidence away, take them to the church for strict custody, and conduct all the inspections and interrogations within the church. This scene needs to undergo thorough purification… Are there others elsewhere?”


    A guardian nearby immediately replied, “Yes, we rescued a group of ‘intended sacrifices’ from another nearby cave earlier. They’re currently being temporarily sheltered in an adjacent pipe room.”


    “Take them too, to the church — even though they are victims, they must undergo strict inspections before we can let them go home,” said Farna quickly, and then as if she had just remembered something added, “What about Miss Heidi? Is she alright?”


    “I’m here,” a calm female voice responded from nearby at that moment. The “psychiatrist” hired by the city hall, dressed in a ck skirt, walked over unhurriedly and nodded at Farna, “No need to worry, I didn’t react at all just now — so what exactly happened?”


    “… As many ssic tales tell, the heretics have summoned something more sinister than themselves,” Farna nced at the “psychiatrist”. “I strongly suggest that you take extra precautions when examining these heretics and conducting hypnosis on themter… There was a presence here that should not have been, and it lingers.”