Goldstown.
"The people of Goldstown welcome Bishop Archon and hope his powerful might erases the evil from our town." The Chief of the town, Marigold Roger, greeted a special envoy from the Holy Land in the hopes that their town would finally be able to generate money again.
The crowd then moved to the cave entrance with much grandeur. For the crowd, a Bishop was equivalent to a viscount or count rank, so there was a lot of weight behind him.
The Bishop giddily ordered that the stone sealing the cave be moved so he could get inside with his two assistant Archpriests. Then, since they had no idea what they were going against, they prepared the Holy Book, weapons, the Solarium crystals, and fire torches that they could magically ignite.
"Keep chanting the hymns and use the Solarium crystals to purify the cave. I will keep an eye out for the creature." Bishop Archon ordered. He was a burly tall, middle-aged man, and now, the smile on his face had disappeared. He looked more like a Knight than a wizard clergyman.
They didn't allow anyone else to enter to not be held back due to a weak link.
Inside the cave, it was mostly pitch black and cold. Underground water also made everything humid since a Gold River tributary flowed not far away. The sound of water dropping here and there, mixed with the air brushing past the minor airways, was haunting enough for the faint of hearts.
"Stay close," Bishop ordered and kept chanting.
"The creature from the other side, you belong not here. Leave or perish! Leave!..."
They kept moving deeper into the cave, to the part where the last attack took place many months ago. The Church was late to react, but after many requests from Duke Gracia, they sent this new team.
Crunch!—The Bishop felt like he stepped on something fragile. Then, aiming the torch down to look, he noticed something awful.
"T-This is the Archpriest's… skeleton? Why is there no skull?" Bishop recognized the ornaments on the clothes over the bones.
Knock!—Out of nowhere, a rock hit the cave walls, creating an echo. The sound was odd because it seemed like the stone hit the wall with force.
Knock!
Another knock came, followed by another one. Slowly they increased to the point where they fell like raindrops.
Grrr…!
Then came the sound of something, possibly a pickaxe, being dragged on the surface. It was coming from the curve ahead of the three, and the intensity of the sound kept increasing. It felt ominous, so they started chanting faster.
"Creature of darkness, you shall not touch us, for we are protected by the graceful light. We banish you, we order you to persi… W-What… what happened to the sound?" Bishop Archon asked his assistants.
The sound of stones colliding and metal dragging had abruptly stopped.
In fact, there was more silence now, and the air became chilly. They could not look further than a few meters either as mysterious mist developed around them, turning the already dark cave into a terrible threat.
"Stay close!"
Tip!—A drop of water fell on Bishop's shoulder.
"What's this?" He touched it and felt it was too sticky for water.
The three hastily looked up at the same time while lifting their torches. Only a faint light could reach the high ceiling, but they noticed something up there, something moving as if crawling on the ceiling. It was as dark as night and at least as big as a bull.
"Cast your magic o…."
Bishop stopped mid-speech when suddenly the thing's head turned around, and a scalp-tingling face presented itself. There was a big salivating smile, ear to ear, on the creature's dark face. It widened until the three could see many layers of teeth in its throat.
Woosh!—It jumped in a flicker and landed on one of the Archpriest's backs. It screeched like a banshee with a low-pitched voice and chomped off the man's head with its massive jaws. The blood sprayed like a fountain everywhere, drenching the Bishop and the remaining Archpriest.
"What abomination is this? Use all your strength!" Bishop Archon commanded.
Both used fire magic and amplified it with runes and incantation to hit a concentrated stream of fire waves. It soon connected and made the creature cry in pain… or so they thought. As it screeched in mere annoyance, it started to make way towards the Bishop, albeit slowly. Its creepy grin was still dripping blood. The Bishop's move was hurting it, but not enough to bother it.
The Bishop knew what was coming next. He knew his limits and that this intelligence about the creature could be crucial. With a frustrated expression, he looked at the Archpriest. "Go! Run away and inform the Church! A creature viler than any has taken hold so close to the Holy Land.
"Go! I can hold it off a little, but we both can't defeat it."
The Archpriest hesitated only for a second to follow the order. His eyes filled with helpless tears as he heard the grunts at the back, as the Bishop knowingly fought a losing battle with a creature so vile.
The Archpriest sometimes stumbled and nearly fell on his way back. He ran as fast as he could, not knowing how long Bishop Archon could hold on. The noise of the attacks had already started to subside.
Grrr…!
The noise soon completely died out, and yet again, the sound of metal being dragged came, following the Archpriest.
He looked back for a split second and noticed a faint dark figure jumping from walls to ceiling and ground while following him, gaining distance.
The man hurried as much as possible as the exit was in sight already. "Close the Cave! Close the Cave!..."
He kept shouting to give the people a hint. Only after his fifth shout did those outside start reacting.
"Close it!"
The Archpriest reached the end in the nick of time and jumped out from a small gap. Then the gate closed with a loud thud as if something collided with the stone from inside. The force was strong enough to shake the lands.
He fell face-first on the grass and stayed there for the next few minutes. His clothes were bloody, but his heavy breath made it clear he was alive.
Just then, the previous Archbishop that survived months ago came forward. "W-What happened? Where are the rest?"
"D-Dead! Eaten by that thing… whatever it is. Bishop tried to hold it off and allowed me to escape to bring the world outside so more inexperienced men wouldn't go inside. I-It's demonic! I must tell the Church. This cannot be allowed to exist… we need the Pope."
"No, we need light!" the older Archpriest added.
…
At the School of Dawn, the final yearly assessment was to take place. For this, all the Deacons were studying hard.
But Sylvester had hypothesized something to his friends, that their assessment would be different from the rest of the school because of the weight behind the tag 'God's Favored'. The school will try to test them in all ways possible and sort them out. They will be ruthless and won't care if, by the end, none survive. That would only mean there was no God's Favored.
Felix agreed with him. "I think so too. They said today it will be our written exam, but for some reason, the Physical examination is planned to span fifteen days."
So the four made their way to the classroom and noticed there were multiple mentors present, from Archpriest Edmund to Sir Baldreak, Archbishop Noah, Mother Meredith, and Bishop Norman.
Archpriest Edmund, being the main coordinator, gave the instructions. "Each of you, today you can't sit together. So move and take one bench each."
Sylvester stayed seated, and his friends moved to different seats around him as instructed. He looked around to feel the atmosphere, and all he could sense was fear. Many were nervous about the exam, including Romel Riveria, who had a golden spoon up his mouth.
"Good, now we shall conduct your written examination to see if you remember what we taught you. We will give each subject one hour, each of them containing five questions. All of you shall have different questions that we will give you personally.
"Any subject mentor can give you questions for any segment of examination. This means everything will be random, and this shall truly be your test. After this examination will be your practical examination which will be conducted in two phases.
"In phase one, you will be tested by each mentor in their subject. In phase two, each of you will leave Holy Land with three guardians or aides if you have any. Your task will be to help those in distress and spread the name of the Church. Therefore, you will be evaluated not by us this time but by those who will accompany you."
"Archpriest, what if someone fails?" the weakest boy in the class, Willis Leroy, asked. He was considered a candidate only because he had the unique ability to breathe fire. But in magic talent, he was the lowest with only Adept Wizard and Golden Knight. By comparison, Sylvester was already an Adept.
Archpriest smiled wryly, as he didn't want to dishearten the child. "If you fail, we shall move you to the regular classroom because even if not God's Favored, you are valuable as a clergyman.
"Now, let's start the examination. We have decided to start with the Runes first. Bishop Norman, please provide your instructions so we may proceed."
Sylvester eyed as the most hated man to him locked eyes with him. 'Alright, pal, what do you have? What mess do you want to create in your numbered days?'
Bishop Norman strictly instructed. "Anyone who gets more than two answers out of five wrong will fail my class and year. Of course, I expect all the God's Favored to know all the answers, but we can't be that strict with children. Good luck."
With that, Bishop Norman moved straight in line towards Sylvester while other mentors took different columns. He first gave five questions to those ahead of him.
When he reached Sylvester, the taste of bitterness was as clear as day. 'He hates me so much.'
Bishop Norman smirked evilly, making it clear that he wished to fail him. "Write down the questions on your paper."
1. What is the theory of Balanced-Exchange?
2. Who discovered Runes first and how?
3. What is the process of making overlapping duel Runes? How is it used?
4. Describe the process of casting Elder Runes.
5. How do Runes overpower incantation?
'Is he allowed to ask such vague questions? There is no undisputed recognized creator of runes. And Elder Runes? They aren't even in the school's curriculum.' Sylvester was confused about what to do.
However, when he looked behind, he noticed Felix's tense expression. He had just received the questions, and they were likely similarly bad.
'May Solis save this lad.'
[A/N: I know, this Bishop Norman is frustrating. He's meant to be. This way, the revenge is sweeter.]
MONKEY SHALL BRING THE NEXT CHAP IN 30 MINUTES!
**1069 Stones = Bonus Chapter!**
APE TOGETHER STRONG!
