Bear School Astartes

Chapter 885: Chapter 868: The Contagious Abyssal Faith

Originally, Lann thought that his action of directly kicking open the wooden door leading to the hall should already be considered quite loud.

The Profound Church itself is a tranquil religious place, and the people of this world generally do not speak much.

So in this high-domed, empty hall, even the sound of footsteps can normally echo and drift far within the building.

However, recently, more and more restless souls have gathered outside, and their roars and shrieks faintly seeped in.

But the architecture of the Profound Church is grand and solid in the end. Once these sounds entered, they became as faint as the whimpers of the dying, leaving only some chilling resonances behind.

Unexpectedly to Lann, the noise from his door-kicking was really not that much in this current scene.

”Bang!”

At the very front of the hall inside the Profound Church, there is a wide platform, on the middle of which stands a statue wrapped and covered with a red cloth.

Behind the statue lies the deepest part of the Profound Church where the innermost room is built.

And now, from the deepest room, a huge mass of dark substance with twisting tentacles is oozing out!

And with just a light thump from its own weight, it directly smashed a pit of rubble into the solid platform!

The tall statue wrapped in red cloth, its base tilted and slanted, sinking into the pit of rubble.

And from Lann’s perspective, the black semi-solid matter with debris stuck to it, the menacing tentacles were clearly extending longingly toward Rosalie’s direction on the second floor!

Klimte and Leonard, the two leaders, were initially drawn toward the edge of their balcony by the loud noise, looking down.

The moment Klimte saw that huge mass of dark substance, a look of horror flashed across his face. Leonard’s impassiveness was mainly due to the silver mask covering his face.

But the hand he pressed against the railing, the leather glove suddenly emitted a friction sound against the stone railing.

”Prepare for battle!”

The shout coming from the first floor of the Profound Church made Klimte and Leonard’s gaze shift slightly to the side.

It was Lann, coming toward them.

”No one in the Profound Church supports the Fire Transmission anymore! They’ve all been beguiled by the power of the Profound!”

Lann had already given a loud warning, yet on the balcony of the second floor, Klimte and Leonard did not respond immediately.

In fact, upon witnessing Elderidge, the legendary [Profound Saint], [Lord of Cinder], in person, they were indeed shocked.

But soon, they managed to suppress this emotion well and saw the priests emerging from behind Elderidge.

”The bell rang, and Elderidge’s awakening is normal.”

The White Sect Archbishop was clearly familiar with Losric’s Fire Transmission protocol, which allowed Klimte to explain to Leonard beside him.

”And the priests of the Profound Church originally had the duty to ’escort Elderidge to the Fire Transmission Altar after his revival.’ Seems fine at the moment.”

In fact, not every Lord of Cinder willingly participates in the Fire Transmission, such as in Elderidge’s case.

And Losric, to ensure these unwilling Lords of Cinder do not cause disruptions during the Fire Transmission ritual, often dispatches the formidable Losric Knight Order to accompany them.

This is both to gather the quantity of souls needed for the First Fire to burn and to ensure by force that these Lords of Cinder do not sabotage the ritual at the last moment.

It’s a part of ensuring Losric’s Fire Transmission procedure is perfect.

Thus, each transmission, Losric Knight Order deploys teams of Losric Sword and Shield Knights, Spear Shield Knights, Greatsword Guards, Holy Order Priests...along with other teams of powerful knights, to burn with the Lords of Cinder.

These knights turn into ashes after the ritual and are buried in the Ash Cemetery beyond the cliff of Losric City.

So now it seems, Elderidge before us, though notorious as per the legend, actually appears to be following procedure from the surface view.

”And this guy...” Leonard glanced down at the Demon Hunter heading their way with a frown.

”He’s been getting too close with the other two archbishops lately.”

”It’s hard to say whether he’s trying to provoke us into making the first move, thereby leaving evidence so that those two archbishops have a rightful excuse to wipe us out.”

Lately, the other two archbishops have not only made things easier for the ’knowledge-thirsty’ Lann.

It seems they want to internally dismantle this small team that serves Rosalie by showing kindness and generosity to many team members.

And now, it is true that many who were originally organized by Klimte have unknowingly left the team and have never appeared on this balcony again.

This is, after all, the approaching apocalypse with the dying First Flame; disappearing without a word is too normal.

Lann then clearly felt the distrust from the two above.

”Don’t be stupid! Those archbishops and priests aren’t escorting prisoners. Haven’t you noticed they don’t even have any battle scars on them? Is Elderidge the kind of Lord of Cinder who obediently comes forth to be burned just by being talked to?!”

The logical thread Lann figured out in a very short time clearly surprised Klimte and Leonard, who originally relied on inertia thinking, believing everything was proceeding as per the standard procedure.

But immediately afterward, they also realized... Lann was right!

”Defend!”

Klimte’s mouth opened wide beneath his grizzly white beard, roaring to the point that one could even see the throat in his gullet!

”Close the Goddess’s door, and the outer iron gate! Close them all! All!”

On the terrace now, only those Maggot Men who worship Rosalie Goddess remain, along with the Warriors who stayed out of desire for the ’rebirth ritual’. There aren’t many others left.

After Klimte shouted, the Maggot Men immediately sprang into action.

They struggled to crawl, wanting to offer their last effort for the Goddess.

Leonard also immediately began organizing the remaining Warriors.

He himself drew out the Crescent Curved Sword, along with a Shield.

”Look, the food is starting to move.”

Archbishop McDonald, clutching his stomach, laughed as he spoke to Archbishop Louis beside him.

”The blood circulation before eating will surely make them taste better.”

Louis glanced sideways at this brother.

He served because he was intoxicated with the master’s profound power, but Archbishop McDonald and his group of obese Priests were different.

They even inherited the cannibalistic habits of the Profound Saint, in this declining and exhausted world they had eaten themselves into the likeness of drowned fat pigs.

”Oh, there’s a little friend eager for our knowledge.”

Archbishop McDonald, like a benevolent old Priest, looked at Lann approaching the second-floor terrace from the other side of the hall.

However, at the corner of his mouth, transparent and sticky drool glistened.

His fat tongue instinctively extended a circle around his lips.

”What a pity, he’s such a lovely child. Just that now, it seems he hasn’t truly taken to heart those truly precious knowledge.”

He was a bit aggrieved.

”It’s such a shame I even sorted the books for him by depth, the shallow story of [Profound Sanctuary] was the very first one.”

”It doesn’t matter, he’ll be devoured by the master anyway.”

Said Archbishop Louis calmly.

The Profound Church is filled with their people, the Profound belief is like it is contagious... no, this belief in this age where the First Flame is waning, is literally contagious!

When the remnants of the profound knowledge emerged from Elderidge’s coffin.

When Archbishop McDonald, responsible for pouring Undead blood, discovered the immensely deep human sediment in that deep lake suppressing dark blood.

The profound knowledge and belief swept through the entire church, red cloth, candlelight, idols... none could stop the priests’ descent.

Outside is a large group of wandering souls that can tear people apart, but running outside is uncertain if you can survive.

But this young man chose to run inward... all paths to upstairs are blocked.

Blocked by a Lord of Cinder.

Simply courting death!

Upstairs, Leonard at this point trusted Lann’s intentions completely.

Holding sword and shield tightly and focused on the terrace below, he shouted without turning his head.

”Find another way, Lann! Don’t be foolishly direct...”

The word ’directly rush over’ hadn’t even left Leonard’s mouth when abruptly there was a mechanical ’click’ from the stone railing beside him.

The silver masked face suddenly turned aside, and before Leonard’s astounded gaze...

With the pulling of the rope mechanism, Lann’s [Light Body Skill] activated, like a giant eagle charging up!

He deftly flipped and landed, left hand merged with the forearm guard hook lock device to recover the rope completely.

”You are...” Leonard looked as though he had seen a ghost, worse than when Elderidge had attacked. ”How did you get up here?”

”In this moment and place? Talking about this?” Lann rolled his eyes irritably. ”You must be joking.”

”Well, well, true that.”

Leonard blinked, regaining his tension.

But Lann’s series of movements were not just shocking to Leonard alone, Elderidge’s group of bishops also started buzzed in astonishment.

Following this, seemingly led by the incensed Archbishop McDonald, the priests raised the candlesticks they held, and the candlelight began to swell, then launch!

Dense fireballs arced through the air, leaving trails behind.

But on the terrace, they weren’t completely without power to fight back.

The Maggot Men also pulled out their casting catalysts and began chanting stories taught by Angels.

Pairs of white glowing forks formed in front of the Maggot Men, then projected downwards.

These fork-like weapons were identical to those in Klimte’s embrace, accompanied by falling white feathers.