Bear School Astartes

Chapter 889: Chapter 872: Occultism and Natural Science

”Clear the scene, Qilin!”

Lann shouted.

And the noble warhorse neighed as well, beginning to unleash its power.

”Whinny!”

The high-pressure environment was forming under the Qilin’s power.

In the church, there suddenly was an oppressive feeling as if dark clouds loomed overhead.

Soon, blue-white glowing spots appeared gradually on the floor of the Profound Church’s hall, due to accumulated charges.

Charge disparity formed, high-voltage electric phenomenon simultaneously occurred!

”Crackle!” *N

Several bright and ear-piercing thunder blasts suddenly appeared in the church.

This was nature’s thunderous force, the natural blue lightning.

A large group of Subterranean Bishops, caught off guard, were turned to charcoal by the thunder, not even having time to cry out.

The high-voltage electricity scorched their flesh, causing it to crack open with heat, revealing the tender deeper tissues inside.

In an instant, the density of fireballs being fired towards the second-floor terrace for suppression drastically dropped a level.

And on the church’s walls, Rong Buqiu, wielding the Thunder Cat Sword, used [Light Body Skill] to leap back and forth between the church’s wall carvings and decorations along the wall ledges.

”I’ve long seen you’re not good people, meow!”

To date, relying on the inherent agility and lightness of the Elu Cats, Rong Buqiu’s [Light Body Skill] hadn’t quite reached the level of Ancient Greek Phoebe, or the nimbleness of the Ninjas.

But it can certainly be said that running on rooftops and walls is no problem.

The slaves, weak and only capable of harming through slow climbing and sudden ambushes, were no match for the agility of the small cat.

So whenever Rong Buqiu dashed across the wall, those slaves either fell bleeding or failed to grip the wall tightly and were kicked down.

The threat from high above the terrace lessened considerably.

It seemed the pressure in the room where Rosalie was was reduced a lot.

But on the ground floor of the hall, Lann frowned after the Qilin released a burst of thunder.

The Qilin snorted in surprise.

”Huff?”

Lann had considered, that the priests entrusted to oversee Elderidge’s coffin and host such a Great Cathedral couldn’t be simple, nor could they be entirely wiped out by a single call of thunder from the Qilin.

Yet despite the initial loss of personnel, the damage was unexpectedly limited, catching both Lann and the Qilin off guard.

After the glaring and ear-piercing thunder, most of the bishops and Church Knights who reacted and counteracted merely had slightly charred outer garb under the Qilin’s thunder.

Most of them kneeled on one knee, clutching a hand to their chest in a prayer posture.

Moreover, following this motion, a dark and deep glow appeared on their bodies.

”Miracle [Profound Shelter].”

Lann murmured the name of the magic softly.

This was the first story in the Holy Scripture recommended by MacDonald.

Actually, before Elderidge committed the cannibalistic crime, Losric City had already discovered the power of the Profound and conducted some research, one of the outcomes being this [Miracle].

However, noticing the danger of this power, the research was timely ceased and sealed.

Afterward, the Profound Church was established, becoming a funeral church for the Undead, with this [Miracle] existing as technical support given by Losric to the bishops before taking office, teaching them to protect themselves.

After all, handling the dark blood accumulated by Undead required sufficient defense power; otherwise, nothing could be done.

The Profound was originally a peaceful and holy place, which therefore became a breeding ground for those terrifying beings.

This story detailing the [Deep Sea] could protect the worshippers of those terrifying beings.

To Lann’s understanding, this was a form of occult [Shelter].

But the issue was—the Qilin’s lightning was purely a natural force.

Although in the New Continent, countless absurd and exaggerated monsters emerged, all of them were naturally born creatures within the environment.

The Ancient Dragon was merely the group standing at the apex of the biological chain in nature.

The Qilin’s azure lightning was proof of this.

Yet pure natural lightning seems, due to the lack of mystery, suppressed by their magic in this world.

The life forms in this world originated entirely from the first flame, meaning that the ’life’ in this world, rather than biological ’life,’ is more akin to occult ’life’ in concept.

Can natural lightning effectively attack supernatural occult life forms?

Perhaps it can, as those priests who failed to react and began to cast spells unquestionably died in numbers.

However, once they cast [Profound Shelter] upon themselves, the Qilin’s lightning indeed ceased to exert lethal force upon them.

The Qilin shook its head displeasedly, the pale mane flaring up, but quickly Lann smoothed it down again.

”It was somewhat expected, after all, the foundation of this world is different from what it used to be.”

Lann rode on the back of the Qilin, watching the priests and knights under the [Profound Shelter], cloaked in black halos.

Trying to solve everything with the Qilin’s wide-range attack seems unlikely now.

Moreover, at this moment, that [Lord of Cinder] appeared to be running out of patience as well.

”Too slow... too hungry... there are still plans waiting... need to be quick, need to be quick!”

Elderidge, that pool of black sludge, seemed to feel nothing from the outset, even when struck by the Qilin’s lightning without any defense.

Actually, although Elderidge did not move much on the battlefield due to his body having turned into a puddle of filth,

he was still the most noticeable presence.

Even more so than Lann, because that profound power brought a lot of pressure, especially on those whose minds were intact and not yet eroded by the faith of the profound.

Just looking at him made one’s insides feel like they were being gnawed by insects, a painful sensation.

Lann, seemingly due to the [Holy Chant Gland], also demonstrated a greatly enhanced mental endurance, maintaining his composure.

But even the Qilin, when occasionally glimpsing that puddle of black sludge from Elderidge, instinctively stomped its hooves in unease.

He began to spread his body, and the corpses of the knights and priests slain by Lann were drawn into him in the process.

He was originally the ashes left after the first fire burned, most of his power and soul consumed.

To prepare for the prophesied era of the deep sea, he was now desperately eager to gather souls as nourishment.

So now he no longer cared about the earlier claim of ’giants being bland and tasteless’.

The black sludge climbed onto the giant’s corpse, whose head Lann had cleaved open.

Climbing upward, the sludge wormed its way into the opening created by [Muddy Stream·Destruction].

The once reposed giant corpse began to make eerie sounds from within.

Like the noises of bones being shattered and flesh being ripped apart, muffled by the intervening skin.

Simultaneously, there were occasional strange protrusions on that body, which then sank back in.

Finally... the giant’s corpse stood up.

The face that used to be a mask woven from thick iron strips, as well as the entire head, was completely replaced by a continuously swelling mass of black sludge.

This body could no longer be called a ’giant’... it was called Elderidge!

”Awoo! Awoo!”

Even though no mouth was visible anymore, Elderidge still let out a roar using the giant’s body.

He controlled the body, using the stone pedestal beneath to stand up.

The pedestal’s edge, which originally bore only a dent from the fallen weight of the off-balance giant, now bore a clear handprint from where Elderidge propped himself up!

The giant’s hand formed a fist, once again swinging it toward the heavy gate of Rosalie’s chamber.

But unlike before, this time the giant’s fist was covered in a terrifying mass of black sludge!

”Get out of the way!”

Leonard on the terrace, who had been casting magic downward to help Lann suppress the priests,

hurriedly put down his Magic Staff, shouting loudly as he saw Elderidge emptying the giant’s body and making it throw a punch.

The power of the [Lord of Cinder], even after having burned once, was clearly different from that of a mere slave giant!

Several maggot men, knowing they were too late to dodge, willingly positioned themselves between the fist and the gate, protecting their Mother of Rebirth.

They ceaselessly chanted the [miracles] taught by the Angel, thrusting their twin-forked white light spears at the fist, but ultimately resembling the futile effort of an ant trying to stop a chariot.

Elderidge hardly noticed how many twin-forked spears generated by [miracles] had impaled his fist.

”Boom!!!”

A deafening crash.

The fist, empowered by Elderidge’s strength, crushed several maggot men against the gate, splattering blood. Their bodies were crushed into chunks by the iron grille grid.

And that gate, which remained unmoved before the giant, now displayed a terrifying distortion in the face of this fist.

The thick and mighty bars bent inward, resembling a sheet ready to be pierced with a bit more force.

On those bars, the religious reliefs and incantation patterns, tasked with mystical defense, grew dull and rusty, their designs blurred and corroded after Elderidge’s sludge passed over them.

Before Elderidge formally acted, Lann and the warriors and maggot men on the terrace endeavored to turn the situation in their favor.

But once he decided to act, the tide immediately turned against them.

[Lord of Cinder]... is the honorable title in this world for the person sustaining the world’s operation through the first fire.

Such a person might not be very skilled in combat, but their soul would be unimaginably vast, vast enough to serve as a fuel to stabilize the world.

In a world where soul and body, power, are intricately connected, a [Lord of Cinder] could simply be defined as ’strong’.

Someone must stop Elderidge!