For the last three years, the number of Gears of Impurity that Negary released wasn't few. Some were released in Lohr, while others were released in other regions.
However, Darr from three years ago was too weak, he didn't even know that the Gear of Impurity was one of Negary's means.
But by the time he had become strong, each time a Gear had been released, it either appeared in other regions or coincided with something else that he had to resolve no matter what.
"Ever since the Gears first appeared, the location, time, as well as the ability brought by the Gears are all correlated" Darr's expression could only be described as zealous, the scene he witnessed three years ago had once again resurfaced in his mind.
"I've thoroughly studied it, although I'm still not sure what meaning this pattern represents, I have definitely figured it out" Darr quickly stood up, his snake-like eyes carried nothing but excitement.
"Lord Negary, you must have predicted this as well, haven't you!?" Darr laughed hysterically as he left the underground room, leaving Fye and Lou with fearful expressions behind.
"Perhaps only deviants of his caliber would be able to worship that personage so zealously" Fye sighed and stated.
These brothers prided themselves as geniuses with talent far surpassing normal people, so when they first joined the Hermit Order, they also wished to join the most powerful group and pledge their allegiance to Negary.
However, when faced with the door of that personage's laboratory, they retreated. Forced to face their own fear, they admitted that their talents were insufficient and failed to pass Negary's test.
…
The chimes of the bell that signified evening began to resound, the majority of Lohr's citizens had already returned to their own houses to avoid the 'monsters' who came out to hunt at night.
Almost instantly, the entire city itself returned to silence, and for the next 12 hours, Lohr belonged to the monsters.
A mundane yellow-furred dog limped through the streets while uttering a faint whimpering. If one took a careful look, they would notice that something was writhing beneath the creature's thick exterior fur.
Some bright red blood began to flow out from its body, as the ominous moon slowly rose in the sky, the creature's body became distorted increasingly quicker.
"This ominous sensation…" all around Lohr, several people looked up at the same time.
…
"So that blasphemy has been spread again?" the Cardinal stood on the balcony of the cathedral and peered into the distance. Under the influence of his divine technique, the entirety of Lohr appeared within his vision, from which a lot of strange energy reactions could be seen.
"Did we really make the right choice?" most of the time, the Cardinal and Negary had a certain tacit understanding: that they were mutual beneficiaries of this 'competition', and both sides were careful not to harm the actual foundation of the other party.
It was because of this tacit understanding that the Impure Hermit Order had grown so powerful so quickly, and also why the reformation of the church had been able to proceed so smoothly.
Without an enemy, the church would have no motivation to reform, and the Conservative faction would once again rise to power, so for the current Sun Shadow church, the existence of a powerful Hermit Order to a certain degree was necessary.
"With God's protection, everything will eventually turn out alright" the Cardinal prostrated in front of Eternal Heat's statue, praying like he was repenting. Despite his beliefs, the Cardinal couldn't help but feel a sense of heavy wariness as he thought about that ominous presence from before.
…
[Sightings of a Beast of Blasphemy has been confirmed on the 7th square, requesting reinforcement!] as the voice resounded from a deep-violet tulip, a young man with neatly combed hair nodded, then calmly sent out the appropriate personnel.
"Sir Green, the Saint Hunters have arrived" a man in the Night Watcher uniform and bird mask knocked on the wooden door before respectfully reporting.
The Night Watchers' reformation also began around three years ago, which allowed this young man named Green Carole to quickly display his talents. Thanks to his rational and highly efficient combat commands, as well as his charisma that could rouse the scums' admiration, he became the supreme commander of the Night Watchers of Lohr.
"Captain Chromie, welcome" in the meeting room, Green personally greeted Chromie, as both of them were young men.
When he first saw Green, Chromie blanked out a bit, then finally shook his hand. The two sides exchanged information regarding the Beasts of Blasphemy and its source, the Gears of Blasphemy, discussed the details of how their respective forces would cooperate, then Chromie left with his men.
"That person…" wielding his longsword, Chromie was a bit hesitant, then recalled what he knew about the man called Green Carole.
Younger brother of the late Red Sun Knight, Reid, due to his inability to reach the church's requirement for faith, he chose to join the Night Watchers after his brother's death, which had yet to undergo reformation at the time.
On many subsequent events, he displayed an extremely high level of daily combat discipline and commanding ability, thus earning his great influence among the scums of the Night Watchers.
Due to this, after the reformation of the Night Watchers' administrative system, he quickly rose to become the supreme commander of the Night Watchers.
Although Chromie had not felt fear for a long time, when he thought back to when he first saw Green and the other party's figure as they read the documents, Chromie couldn't help but feel a chill.
That presence, that bearing, even though their faces were completely different, Chromie could confirm beyond any doubts that Green Carole was actually the founder of the Hermit Order – Negary.
So the Night Watchers have become untrustworthy, huh?
Chromie instinctively wanted to report this, but quickly gave up on the idea.
First of all, he didn't have any proof. The fact that the other party managed to reach the position of the Night Watchers' supreme commander meant that they had undergone rigorous testing and trials. It was clear that the other party had means to not expose their identity, and it would be difficult to judge them through something as obscure as presence and subjective feelings.
Secondly, Chromie didn't have the courage to do it. Indeed, he didn't have the courage to, not because of fear, but because he had very rationally judged that he couldn't handle the consequences.
Although Chromie didn't consider himself to be very smart, three years' worth of travels and work had greatly opened his eyes, giving him the ability to see the bigger picture to a certain degree.
Even if he had the means to expose Green's identity, the only foreseeable result would be the total collapse of the balanced status quo. Most of the Night Watchers would betray the church, the battle between the church and the Hermit order would not remain as subdued as they currently were.
Having completed his father's last wish, Chromie no longer had the drive and motivation he did in the past. Part of the reason he chose to return to his home town was also to spend the rest of his life here in a peaceful manner.
Furthermore, Negary didn't seem like he had any intentions of hiding himself, and the church wouldn't necessarily be clueless about this.
With that in mind, Chromie ultimately decided not to get involved. The only thing he wanted to do right now was to save Olga. Everything else could go on as they wished, and he would deal with them when he had to.
From a long distance away, Chromie could already see the blasphemous creature born from the Gears of Impurity.
It was a canine-like creature whose height reached 5 meters, on top of its seemingly newly-shed layer of skin, some patches of yellow fur could still be seen. Its body was still continuously morphing, black blood could be visibly seen moving along its bulging fleshy body.
The sounds of its heartbeat could be clearly heard, followed by the rickety sound of turning gears.
Quite a few people had already gathered around the monster at this point. Chromie sighed deeply before leading the Saint Hunters forward.
