Luan's cathedral is located in the oval square in the center of the city. This broad square is paved with neat white stone slabs, and is surrounded by twenty-two avenues extending out, like the backbone of a spider web, leading to every corner of the city. As a
A typical city of the Order State, the cathedral is also the administrative center of Luan. Therefore, it is the only large building in the center of the city. There is no other building comparable to it for several kilometers near the square, or even in the entire city.
A building comparable to a church. But now, this once glorious and magnificent spire church, like other places in the city, is shrouded in the shadow of darkness and chaos, gradually sinking into decline.
Countless zombie-like figures swayed on the avenue, shadowy and eerie. They were the former citizens of Luan, poor people, nobles, and even monks and city guard knights. Their faces were stiff and their eyes were dull.
Moving towards the cathedral step by step in the darkness, it was like those eternally lingering souls and shadows in the legendary land of death.
This scene is horrifying even if you watch it from a distance, let alone walking close and witnessing it with your own eyes from a short distance away. Even a well-informed person like Hao Ren can't help but feel a chill in his skin at this moment.
Everyone in the Sanctuary Investigation Team looked nervous. Karasius drew a sacred symbol on his chest: "It must be the evil power of chaos that has distorted these innocent citizens... They have lost themselves.
"
A church knight drew his long sword, but after drawing the sword and looking around, he only felt at a loss: "We can't let them desecrate the sacred cathedral... but there are too many of them!"
Yes, there are too many. Everyone at the scene can see that the target of these walking zombies is the holy cathedral. Stopping them is everyone's first thought. However, the figures surging on the streets are not just one or two, but dozens.
Thousands! Maybe even hundreds of thousands! Even if each of them is powerless to resist, it is impossible to stop them with the strength of just a few knights and monks.
Hao Ren looked solemnly at the cathedral in the center of the square. He knew that it was impossible to stop such a "tide of zombies" with the power of people like himself. In the current situation, there was only one way to stop those walking corpses from entering the cathedral.
To prevent it before, it would be to forget all the worries with one shot and simply blow up the church before it fell. But there is a problem with doing this, that is, Carathius may go crazy...
And just when Hao Ren was pondering the feasibility of solving thousands of worries with one shot, he suddenly saw a "walking corpse" in the square shaking on the spot for a few times out of the corner of his eye, and then seemed to evaporate and turn into a black stream.
The smoke disappeared.
Then, the second, the third... more and more walking corpses seemed to be purified by invisible power after approaching a certain range of the cathedral, instantly turning into black smoke and dispersing in the air. This process made Hao Ren unbearable.
I remembered those slain chaos monsters. Those monsters also turned into smoke and quickly disappeared after being killed by the power of order.
"It seems they can't get within a hundred meters of the church." Lily muttered in a low voice after noticing this scene.
A trace of relief appeared on Carasius's face: "The power of the great goddess still remains in the holy land, and the church is still protected by divine grace."
More and more walking corpses were purified by the invisible holy power around the church like moths to a flame. It didn't take long before the black shadows shaking in the square were reduced by most, and the surrounding field of vision seemed empty. And here.
At that moment, Hao Ren saw a glimmer of light in his peripheral vision, and he saw something shaking in the glass window on one side of the cathedral, which seemed to be a human figure.
"There are people in the cathedral!" he immediately warned.
"In the church?" Carasius and an assistant bishop looked at each other, "Under the protection of the goddess, maybe he can still maintain his sanity!"
Everyone immediately ran towards the church. They passed over the sparse walking corpses in the square. The latter were still walking forward unsteadily, seemingly unaware of the people running around them and showing no signs of attack.
With their will, Hao Ren, Carasius and his entourage were able to arrive at the church door without any hindrance. But just when they were still a few meters away from the door, a white light suddenly came out from a narrow window next to the door.
It exploded in front of Carasius with a warning.
At the same time, a vigilant voice sounded out of thin air: "No further approach!"
"We are high-ranking priests from the City of Gods!" Calasius immediately stood still and shouted loudly, "We have no ill intentions, we just want to find a place to stay and ask some questions by the way!"
"The City of the Gods?" The voice in the church hesitated for a moment, obviously surprised and suspicious of the answer, and soon he asked, "In front of the sanctuary of the goddess, lies will bring ten times the punishment!
Are you really from the City of Gods?"
Karasius was a little confused: "Is there anything wrong with coming from the city of gods? I am Karasius, the senior bishop of the Icon Palace. If you don't believe it, you can check the directory of senior priests stored in your library. I will
Standing here, you can compare the portraits in the directory!"
The voice in the church hesitated again and became more severe: "The City of God's Favorite has long been... How could there be any high-level priests coming out of there at this time!"
"What happened to the City of the Gods?!" Karasius was startled. He heard a message that made his hair stand on end from the other person's words, "What do you mean?!"
The people in the church did not answer, but instead questioned: "You don't even know this? Then your identity becomes even more suspicious."
"No, we are indeed from the City of God, but it has been more than a month since we left there." Carathius knew that the situation might be beyond his expectation and quickly explained, "We followed the Pope's order more than a month ago.
The investigation team set out from the City of Gods to Ansu Continent. Our trip has records. The investigation team encountered an accident in Ansu Continent and only returned today..."
"Investigation team?" The people in the church seemed to finally believe it. "It seems that there is indeed something like this... But it is said that the investigation team encountered a storm before it arrived at Ansu Continent. The last news received by the Sanctuary was
It was their emergency call to the police. Did you escape?"
It seems that the affairs of the Holy Domain Investigation Team are not a secret here, and the people in the church are also priests with a certain status in the church system. He even knows this information.
"Blessed by the Goddess," Karasius couldn't help but recite, "We received help from a local leader and luckily survived the Chaos Storm, but we lost the Hammer of Light and were cut off from the Holy Domain.
Unable to send rescued message back."
The people in the church were silent for a while, seeming to be thinking, and then said after a moment: "You don't seem to be the minions of the nightmare. Wait a moment, I will inform the bishop that you should not break into the church without permission. The indiscriminate defense of the church has been activated.
You will be attacked if you break in."
Then the sound became quiet, and Hao Ren and his party waited patiently outside. After a few minutes, they heard footsteps coming from behind the door.
There was a faint glimmer of light flowing on the church door, and a gap opened in the defensive array covering the entire building. The door opened, and a middle-aged man wearing a white holy robe with a broad and square face appeared at the door.
The middle-aged man looked at the people standing at the door. He noticed that the subordinates led by Calasius were all dressed in the attire of holy priests and combatants, but their clothes and armor were mostly damaged. This was in line with the other party's idea of the sacred hammer.
However, Hao Ren, Lily, and An standing next to Calasius were a little confused.
Not to mention that their attire is different from that of the Holy Realm, even in the secular kingdom, they can be considered strange. Although An's cloak and hood are slightly better, if they are thrown on the street, they are still a typical example that will easily make people call the police...
"They are from Ansu Continent." The situation is unclear now. Even these survivors hiding in the church may not be completely trustworthy. Even if they can be trusted, there is no guarantee that there are no eyes and ears of dark minions near the church, so Karasius
Si carefully considered what he should reveal, "I can guarantee the reliability of the envoys from the Kingdom of Talos. Can we go in now?"
The middle-aged man made a way to reveal the dimly lit assembly hall inside: "Come in, before the second nightmare begins."
Everyone entered the church, and Carasius frowned and looked at the dim hall. This was originally a place where believers and priests worshiped. It was brightly lit all year round and filled with sacred music. However, now all the lights seemed to have been withdrawn.
Even the magical array at the top of the church remained silent. The dim mithril patterns intertwined into obscure patterns on the vault of the hall, making the entire assembly hall look gloomy and depressing.
Between the rows of benches, the senior monks saw many crouched figures.
There seem to be more survivors hiding in the church than expected?
"Why don't you light a lamp?" Hao Ren felt that it was strange to be so dark in a shelter, so he asked casually.
The middle-aged man leading the way sighed: "The light in the dark will attract those unclean things, and our sacred crystal reserves are limited and cannot withstand too much consumption."
Carasius glanced at the middle-aged monk: "What position do you hold in this church?"
"I am in charge of the archives of Rune Cathedral. I have received divine grace and am now an official priest," the middle-aged man replied, "You can just call me Bernstein."
“Where is the regional bishop?”
"Bishop Holtzman and other refugees are in the underground palace. Your Excellency suffered a mental backlash when he resisted the nightmare last time. Now he needs to rest. I will be responsible for the affairs on earth for the time being. Of course, you can go see him."
Karasius nodded slightly and stopped talking.
All questions can be answered once you meet the person in charge here. (To be continued.)