Chapter 198: Contrast of Black and White (4)
The Temple of Abundance, located in Crossbridge.
There, the saint Serena Ederlunt was looking at her trembling hands.
Boom! Bwaaang!
Outside, the blasts were ringing one after another, but that was a trivial matter for Serena now.
The reason why the story she had received a few minutes ago was still haunting her mind.
‘They have to kill the saint?’
A few minutes ago.
An apostle of the evil god had invaded the temple and delivered something to her and left.
It was shocking that he had broken through the barrier that was spread outside the temple, but what was more surprising was the content that the apostle had delivered to Serena.
The evil god wanted to tell her something through his apostle.
To be precise, not to Serena, but to the Goddess of Abundance who was watching over her.
And she, who represented the eyes of the goddess, had no choice but to face that content.
‘Why do they have to kill the saint of harmony in the Temple of Abundance?’
The content that the evil god wanted to deliver to the goddess through her.
It was that Laiteria, the saint of harmony, had to be killed by the Goddess of Abundance.
It was understandable that the evil god wanted to kill the saint.
But it didn’t make sense that the one who asked for it was not the apostle of the evil god, but the Goddess of Abundance whom Serena served.
Why did the Goddess of Abundance have to harm another goddess’s saint with her own hands?
Especially when that target was the saint of harmony who was considered to have helped the evil god.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand the evil god’s intention.
‘The saint of harmony was imprisoned, but that was because she betrayed the church. But why do they have to kill the saint of harmony who helped the church…?’
There must have been some dark purpose hidden.
The saint of harmony had fallen for the evil god’s trick, or so they said, trying to sow discord between the Temple of Abundance and the Temple of Harmony.
Maybe the saint of harmony was a victim too.
There was no reason for the evil god’s minions, who had killed Rian Crost, the vice-leader, to show any goodwill to the Temple of Abundance now.
It was reasonable to be wary of the power of Ascalon, which was known to be able to kill even gods.
“O Goddess, guide us on our path——.”
Deep in thought, Serena knelt down and clasped her trembling hands.
When her heart was heavy, the best thing to do was to clear her mind and pray.
After all, the great flow of the world was not something that Serena could resist by herself.
It was the goddess’s will that always led them on the right path.
The brilliant light that illuminated the way forward even in the thick darkness.
That was what Serena Ederlunt had been following until now.
“Give us courage to move forward even in hardship and adversity.”
As Serena closed her eyes and prayed, a warm light flowed around her.
In the flickering light, Serena felt a cozy sensation.
The holy light that the goddess bestowed always protected her.
While praying, she felt like she was in the arms of a merciful mother.
As she prayed, Serena heard the familiar voice of the goddess in her ear.
-“Darkness will cover the world, and a corrupted god will descend by taking a human body.”
-“Evil will stir in the land of harmony.”
Trust.
It was a trust that Serena Ederlunt had received from the goddess after a long time.
And the content of that trust was deeper and darker than the previous ones.
“…The descent of the evil god.”
The evil god would come down to the earth.
That was what her master was telling her.
There was not much that humans could do in the face of the unprecedented disaster of evil’s descent.
But it was something that they could not give up on.
-”Prepare for the final battle, chosen hero.”
The place where the evil god would descend was the Temple of Harmony.
And what was needed there was the hero of abundance who had Ascalon.
Serena, who had received the trust from the goddess, opened her eyes that were filled with golden light.
The revelation had fallen, and now there was only one thing that Serena had to do.
She had to find the hero who was out on the battlefield.
“…Gilford Proud.”
The hero of abundance, Gilford Proud.
She had to take him to the Temple of Harmony where the final battle would take place.
***
The northern part of the continent.
The Alterias region.
The Count Colt, who was sitting in his office in the ducal palace, looked around with a frown.
Ever since it was revealed that Count Colt was a vampire, the imperial army had been besieging the castle for a long time.
He had closed the gates and held on, but the supplies in the castle were slowly running out.
Besides, considering that most of the Alterias region was land where farming was impossible, it was impossible to stay inside the gate forever.
“How… How did this happen to the Colt family!”
Bang!
Count Colt slammed his desk hard and looked around with bloodshot eyes.
In his office, there were nobles who had already become vampires, bowing their heads.
While he was away from his domain, his son, Revoir Colt, had turned all the nobles into vampires.
From the inside, the Colt domain looked like nothing but a den of vampires.
Now it was not something that would end with someone dying.
“The food is running out, and our position in the empire is shrinking day by day. How did you manage the domain while I was gone that it came to this…!”
As Count Colt raged under pressure, one of the nobles who had been listening to his roar with their heads down opened their mouth.
“…Your Grace. I happen to have a solution for the food problem.”
“What did you just say? You can solve the food problem in the castle?”
The Count Colt stopped his rage and looked at the noble who brought up the food problem.
He was already troubled by many complex issues.
He was willing to listen to any solution that could solve at least one problem.
As Count Colt looked at him with a face that asked him to speak, the noble bowed his head and laid out his prepared proposal to the duke.
“Vampires don’t eat bread, they drink blood, right?”
“…”
“If food is the problem… why don’t we turn them all into vampires…”
“Cut off that bastard’s head right now!”
It was a blood-boiling suggestion.
He couldn’t believe that he had put such a person in a high position.
As Count Colt was about to execute the noble, a loud noise came from outside the office window.
Boom! Boom!
Everyone’s eyes turned to the window as they heard the huge sound in their ears.
“What’s that noise?”
The imperial army had been pounding on the gate for days.
So it was not usual for them to look out the window for any level of noise.
But the sound they heard this time was something essentially different from those noises.
Count Colt looked at the scenery beyond the window, and saw smoke rising from a distant place.
It was a completely different direction from the gate that the imperial army had been hitting every day.
“That means the imperial army must have bypassed some of their troops…”
“Yo, Your Grace, over there…”
One of the nobles who was looking out the window shouted in a loud voice.
At the same time, Count Colt’s eyes also spotted something coming from beyond the wall.
What appeared beyond the wall was a huge mass of flesh.
A huge body that rivaled the wall was moving toward us.
“What the hell is that!”
It looked like something that would happen if you twisted and mashed living creatures together.
It was a monster with a shape that made me wonder if the Creator had made a mistake, and it was advancing forward while breaking the wall.
Boom! Boom!
The monster’s advance made the surroundings vibrate.
The monster that broke the wall kept spreading the vibration and approached the ducal palace.
“How can such a monster come out of the mountains!”
“Did the imperial army release that thing…”
“Even the empire can’t create something like that! Do you think humans can control a monster that big!”
Boom. Thud. Boom. Thud.
The heavy footsteps shook Count Colt’s ears.
It was a horrible sound that made goosebumps rise on my back just by hearing it.
What we saw in front of us was a monster that shouldn’t exist in this world.
We couldn’t even guarantee that we could stop it before it reached the palace.
“Your Grace! Something is following behind that thing!”
“There’s more than one monster…”
And behind the massive body that moved forward, there was something of a similar size forming a line and advancing.
Monsters of enormous size were moving in a group.
There was more than one monster in sight.
There were at least ten of them by their numbers.
Monsters that far exceeded human size marched in a line and advanced together.
The sight of the monsters’ army was not something that human soldiers could stop.
“…”
Silence fell on Count Colt’s office in an instant.
In front of the overwhelming size of the monsters advancing toward the palace, all their struggles so far became futile.
Outside the gate, the imperial army was waiting for Count Colt’s neck.
And from the mountains, monsters that they had never faced before were coming to trample them.
They were in a situation where they could neither move forward nor retreat.
“How did this happen…”
Boom!
The houses lined up on the track collapsed like dominoes.
Crash!
The spire and the forge all fell down, and screams filled the streets.
Even if the imperial army didn’t set foot here, the Colt domain was over today.
There would be no residents who wanted to live in the ruined land.
Everyone here sensed that this land, where the history of the Colt family remained, would be abandoned.
“How did this happen… How did the Colt family end up like this.”
“Your Grace, you must get away right now.”
“Get away… Get away? Yes, I have to flee from here as soon as possible.”
“If you give me an order, I will lead the soldiers to the main gate…”
Huh.
Count Colt let out a hollow laugh.
It had been a series of incomprehensible events since when.
He felt too old and weak to keep up with them.
That’s why Count Colt decided to let go of everything he had in his hands.
“Open the gate. I surrender.”
Right after Count Colt’s last order was delivered to the nobles.
Crash!
The inner wall that was firmly built collapsed.
***
-You gained 8 karma.
-You gained 24 karma.
-You gained 6 karma.
-You gained 2 karma.
-A high level of <Causality Adjustment> occurred.
