73 Sealing Temple
The oak door emitted a brass luster after being enhanced by metal-type spells.
When hoes, woodcutters, axes, or other tools that weren’t meant for killing knocked on the door, the heavy banging made the scalps of the survivors hiding in the hall tingle.
Why was this happening?
Should I have chosen to leave back then?
Woolt thought to himself as he pressed the magical medium against the door and released Brass Door.
However... This is the Sealing Temple... Why has the Holy Spirits Church given up on the Sealing Temple?
With this in mind, Woolt realized that his thoughts had crossed the line. He shook his head fiercely and shook off those thoughts he shouldn’t have.
The Sealing Temple was an important component of the Holy Spirits Church’s power, or rather, the most important component.
Typically, every parish would have two to three branch halls. There were a total of about 30 branch halls distributed in every corner of the continent.
The clergy of the Sealing Temple didn’t need to be in charge of preaching, sacramental work, sacrifices, or purification. Their existence was semi-confidential. Most citizens didn’t even know of the Sealing Temple’s existence.
As for the Sealing Temple’s duty, it was to ensure that the Church’s teachings weren’t distorted. Of course, this was only what was made public. In essence, the Sealing Temple was a violent mechanism that was rooted in the Church’s authority. It used a less benevolent method to maintain the Church’s authority.
In short, they were responsible for interrogating the spreaders of all kinds of heretical theories, collecting intelligence from all over the world, sealing and managing holy relics, and maintaining the large-scale teleportation nexuses.
The overlords who held secular power didn’t actually like such an armed force that didn’t heed their orders. Therefore, other than cities like Platinum City or Myriad Feet City that served as the center of faith, most places’ Sealing Temples were only allowed to be built in the countryside or small towns. They typically weren’t too close to the core cities, but of course, they weren’t too far away.
For example, the Sealing Temple in charge of all the matters in the northern parish of the Blackwater Province was located in a town called Red Spring Town about 80 kilometers away from Thorn City, the political and economic center of the Blackwater Province.
It was built underground under the cover of the Holy Spirits Church in the center of the town.
The status it had was akin to an uncrowned king of the entire northern parish of the Blackwater Province. Any work the Holy Spirits Church wanted to carry out in the northern part of the Blackwater Province couldn’t avoid them.
It should have been like this...
But what was the problem?
A loud bang sounded from outside the door. This time, the things outside seemed to have rolled over a very heavy thing before slamming it into the door.
With this, even the door that had been reinforced cracked slightly.
Millstone? Or something else?
“Roy, try activating the communication nexus again. It might just be a temporary malfunction.”
Feeling the pressure gradually increase, Woolt turned his head and said to the woman who was sitting in a corner and bandaging her wound with a hand and teeth. A chunk of flesh had been ripped off by something.
“You’ve been saying that for two weeks. It doesn’t take the Church two weeks to rebuild a communications nexus, right?” the woman named Roy with bloodless lips said weakly. Then, she gritted her teeth and tightened the bandage. After panting in pain a few times, she continued, “It’s useless. The Church has already given up on this land. Our last chance to leave was half a year ago. If you had chosen to do so back then... Forget it, it’s too late for such words. Instead of counting on the Church to send reinforcements, it’s better to count on the few people who escaped to Thorn City to find the Sage of Scorching Scars to send reinforcements...”
“Try activating the communication nexus again. This time, use my authority to contact the Demon Burial.”
Woolt ignored the other party’s analysis. Instead, he took off a key with a heptagram relief around his neck and threw it to the woman named Roy.
“With such large-scale Lunar Monster activity and such a large-scale spread of heretical faith, it’s impossible for the Holy Spirits Church to ignore it.”
As Woolt spoke, he increased his mana output, and the brass color on the oak door became richer.
The knocking outside the door became much more muffled.
Roy took the key and sighed.
Unlike Woolt, who had been adopted by the Church since he was young and had a firm faith, Roy had grown up in a slum and had only converted to the Holy Spirits Church to earn a living. She didn’t have any faith in the Holy Spirit deep down, but she was aware about matters to be being used or abandoned.
From her point of view, other than the hats they wore being higher, making them look more elegant when eating with knives and forks, there was no essential difference between the leaders of the Church and the hooligan leaders in the downtown area.
When hooligan leaders fooled their goons to head to their deaths, they often talked about loyalty and dignity. As for the Church’s higher-ups, they would talk about faith and dedication.
Don’t listen to what the other party promises you. Instead, watch what the other party is doing. This was Roy’s standard of determining if a person was reliable.
Therefore, in recent years, the Holy Spirits Church had constantly withdrawn the executors of this Sealing Temple, transferred the sealed holy relics, stopped the regular maintenance of defensive nexus, and transferred the imprisoned prisoners... All of this made her very uneasy.
This uneasiness reached its peak when the Platinum City Church appointed Woolt as the person-in-charge of the Sealing Temple. Indeed, Woolt’s faith in the Holy Spirit was the most pious here. Perhaps the rest of the people combined weren’t as pious as him. However, as the person-in-charge of the Holy Temple, piousness couldn’t resolve problems, especially problems that needed more pragmatic methods...
“The Holy See has explained that the previous arrangements were mainly because of financial problems. They want to prioritize transferring the resources here to the Platinum Province. We need to rely on the Church here to develop ourselves in the future.”
This was what Woolt told her when he returned from the meeting in Platinum City.
“Rely on the Church’s faction in the Blackwater Province that’s already on shaky ground to develop the Sealing Temple? And they let you be in charge?”
Roy almost laughed out loud. They were clearly leaving the Sealing Temple in the temporary hands of a fool who wouldn’t complain just to keep the lights on.
He had been completely abandoned by the Church as an abandoned pawn.
That was what she thought back then.
However, even she had misjudged the extent of this “abandonment.”
More than a month ago, the Eighth Order’s relic hunter’s visit reignited her confidence, but that woman didn’t stir up any waves.
Then, it was the news of the Undead Tide and the Eighth Holy Spirit’s manifestation at Thorn City’s graveyard more than two weeks ago.
After Woolt reported the information to the Platinum City’s Sealing Temple headquarters, the entire communication nexus lost its effectiveness the next day.
Then, they found themselves in the current situation.
The Church that worshiped the Lady of Starvation, the Bloated Church.
Not long ago, that group of Moon Realm worshipers disguised themselves as merchants and sold bread that had been blessed by the Moon Realm to the residents of Red Spring Town under their noses. Last night, half of the town’s residents turned into bloated walking corpses.
Woolt commanded the few clergymen in the Sealing Temple to save a portion of the surviving residents and evacuate them, but this also exposed the temple hidden underground. Hundreds and thousands of walking corpses covered in gorgeous fungi came knocking on their door.
All of them were trapped here.
Using a key to open the iron door sealed with three magic barriers, Roy walked into the dungeon that smelled of mold.
She didn’t head to the communications nexus under Woolt’s instructions; she wasn’t going to waste her time trying to contact the Demon Burial or other Church departments.
She wanted to live.
Therefore, she came to the Sealing Temple where the heretics were imprisoned.
Since the combat strength of the Sealing Temple wasn’t enough, she would replenish it with the prisoners here, even though the prisoners here couldn’t add much to their combat strength.
Originally, most of the felons imprisoned here were heretical mages or Moon Realm worshipers, but in the past year, those prisoners had been transferred to other Sealing Temples to be imprisoned. Now, there was only one prisoner left in the entire dungeon.
This person claimed to be a prophet and was the spokesperson chosen by a great existence.
A few days ago, he had predicted what would happen today, but no one believed him back then.
Roy took out a key and knocked on the cell door engraved with various sealing runes.
“Your prophecy has been verified. A crisis caused by wheat and corruption has befallen all of us. Why didn’t you just make it clear that the Bloated Church planned on summoning undead walkers in this town? Did you have to speak in riddles with words like ‘wheat ears devouring humans and sprouts growing from the living’?”
“I’m only in charge of relaying the prophecy. It’s not my mission to interpret it. Moreover, prophecies are like this. Before the event happens, you have countless directions to interpret, and people will always choose the direction they want to believe in.”
After hearing Roy’s words, a man’s voice sounded and he got closer and closer to the cell door.
“And after something unexpected happens, they will think deeply about the other possibilities of the prophecy. Then, they will come to a realization and begin to regret it. Ah, I didn’t heed the prophecy’s arrangements. I misunderstood the meaning of the prophecy... People will only complain that they have misunderstood and won’t blame the prophet.”
A man with skin as pale as a drowned person appeared at the viewing window at the cell door. His cheeks were thin, and his black hair stuck to his forehead like it had been drenched in oil.
“...Forget it. I’m not here to discuss your prophetic riddles. There is about a thousand bloated undead surrounding the Sealing Temple’s door. It won’t be long before they break in. Our combat strength is severely lacking. I read your file when flipping through it. You seem to be an Expert-level Viper magic chanter, so you should be proficient in Morph and Metal spells, right?”
As Roy spoke, she observed the expression on the other party’s face.
Unfortunately, the other party’s expression didn’t change at all.
Roy continued, “I need you to help reinforce the door and try your best to hold on until Thorn City discovers the problem here and sends reinforcements. Is that fine?”
The man shook his head and said, “I don’t see what benefits I can gain from helping you.”
“Then aren’t you worried that that bloated undead will rush in and skin you alive?” Roy asked curiously.
“Don’t worry, I’m different from ordinary people like you. I won’t die before fulfilling my destiny,” the man who called himself a prophet replied.
This again...
Roy thought helplessly. It was too tiring to communicate with these people who were suffocated by faith. It looked like she was the only person seriously thinking of a way to survive.
“Alright, alright. State your conditions quickly,” Roy asked; she couldn’t care less now.
“I want freedom. Of course, you can’t restrict me. In addition, I want to take something from your Holy Artifact Room,” the man said.
“The Holy Artifact Room? Almost everything inside has been moved. I can’t guarantee that what you want is still inside,” Roy replied.
“No, what I want is definitely still inside,” the person said with certainty.
“Alright then... I’ve already warned you that it might not be there. I’ll open the door and let you out now,” Roy said. The other party nodded.
As she opened the door, she casually asked, “You just said that you won’t die before completing your destiny. What’s your destiny?”
The person replied solemnly, “To help my Lord return whole.”
As expected, another person whose brain is muddled by faith...
Roy thought before asking, “So who’s your Lord?”
With a crack, the cell door opened, and the man crouched and walked out.
He was surprisingly tall and his frame looked very large. However, perhaps because he had been in prison for too long, he was thin to the point of being skin and bones. His limbs were as slender as bamboo poles, and he looked like he could topple over from a gust of wind.
“I can’t say His name because He is concealed. People who know His existence will be excommunicated once they say His name.”
Looking at the other party’s serious expression, Roy smiled and said, “Isn’t that an exaggeration? I don’t think even the Void Sovereigns are that arrogant, right?”
The person shook his head and said, “That’s because the Void Sovereigns constantly want to expand their domains, so They are willing to let the world know of Their existence. As for my Lord, it’s the opposite. Only a few people are destined to hear His mysteries. His existence is destined to be known by only a few... However, it’s fine to tell you that we call ourselves His believers. This is because we usually transform into ominous birds with pitch-black wings on the night of the storm. Therefore, we call ourselves...”
“Crows.”
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