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Chapter 388: This is an Opportunity. (2)

The village surrounded by wooden fences to fend off the attacks from monsters and wild beasts appeared quite calm and peaceful.

One of the villagers on watch smiled at Raviere.

“Are you a traveler?”

“Yes, I came to take a short rest.”

“I see. Wish you a comfortable journey.”

At first glance, it looked like the villagers were warmly welcoming the guests.

However, even seeing the bloodstains on Raviere’s tattered robe, the villagers didn’t bat an eye. They didn’t even bother to ask about his identity.

Passersby greeted the traveler with smiles as well.

“Oh my, it’s been such a long time since a traveler came to our village!”

“Wow, nice to meet you!”

“Our village has really delicious cheese. You must try it.”

Contrary to when he fought, Raviere wore a benevolent smile and nodded at them.

It was a peaceful yet deeply surreal scene.

Dark, watching this, felt a chill run down his spine.

They were all smiling. All the villagers, without exception, were laughing.

— What’s going on with these folks? Why is everyone reacting this way? Are they all acquainted?

If this was a sanctuary set up by the Salvation Society, everyone might be on the same side. Still, looking at Raviere’s behavior, it didn’t seem like they were that familiar.

“Who are you?”

An old man with a white beard asked, prompting Raviere to finally stop.

“Are you the one in charge here?”

“I asked who you are.”

The old man didn’t hide his watchful gaze. This wasn’t a place where outsiders could stroll in so peacefully.

Raviere held out his palm in front of the old man.

Ssssss…..

From his empty palm, a black sun emerged. Strange characters that Dark couldn’t comprehend were written beneath the black sun.

The old man seemed to recognize it, bowing his head respectfully.

“I stand before a distinguished individual.”

“Right, I suppose I need to rest at the altar for a while.”

The old man looked around, a troubled expression on his face.

“This is a place where even distinguished individuals shouldn’t casually wander in.”

“I know. But circumstances were pressing, so there was no other choice.”

“Um, understood. However, you cannot stay for long. The great ceremony is nearly concluding, and this place must not be discovered, right?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve shaken off any pursuers without a hitch.”

Still, the old man couldn’t hide his unease. It seemed Raviere had gone through quite an ordeal.

If a Church’s judge experienced this much trouble, it meant the other side was no easy opponent.

The old man hoped nothing would happen to this peaceful village.

“Please, do come in. It’s not for anyone’s benefit to be out in the open.”

“Alright, I understand.”

With a displeased look, Raviere followed the old man. However, since he himself had broken the important rules of the Church, he couldn’t exactly punish him for it.

The old man was the village chief. Leading Raviere into his home, the old man lifted a carpet on the floor and touched something.

Kugugugugung!

Suddenly, the floor opened up to reveal a staircase leading underground.

The old man went down first, and Raviere followed behind.

The basement was a vast cavern. It was quite dark, with bizarre devices scattered here and there.

In the center, a huge magic circle glowed blood-red, and various incomprehensible shapes were drawn around it.

Raviere cringed, momentarily pinching his nose at a foul smell.

The old man, seeing this, spoke.

“I’ll prepare food for a few days. You cannot stay more than a week.”

“I understand. A few days will suffice, so don’t worry.”

Once the old man bowed and left, Raviere sat down and began healing his wounds.

“I need to recover my body quickly and head to the Duke’s house to share this news.”

Everyone must already know that his identity revealed the Church’s existence. However, they wouldn’t know that it was Count Penris behind it.

There must be a traitor within the Church. That’s why Count Penris knows his name and title.

He needed to inform someone about this as soon as possible.

Ssssss…..

Raviere attempted to extinguish Ghislaine’s lingering energy from his body.

If he could completely heal his wounds and restore his spent magical power, he could definitely cut through the enemies and reach the south.

As Ghislaine’s energy began to dissipate under Raviere’s pressure, Dark’s consciousness shouted.

— Ugh! Master! This guy started recovering! He’s in a safe place!

“Is it that village?”

— He’s sneaked into the basement of some old man’s house! But……

“Why? Is there something more?”

Ghislaine asked hopefully, finding it suspicious that Raviere had hidden in a crucial location from his previous life.

Then, Dark screamed in horror.

— These lunatics! This place is filled with corpses! Hundreds…? No, when counting the bones, it looks like thousands! It’s piled up like a mountain!

“What?”

The place where Raviere rested was anything but ordinary.

Surrounding the blood-red magic circle were strange containers, and inside those containers were trapped human beings.

The tubes connected to the magic circle continuously fed the blood of these individuals.

It seemed that a staggering number of people had perished, filling the expansive area with human bones.

— Master… I was stuck to this guy for too long… I barely held on, but now it’s at its limit…

He hadn’t replenished his magical power for days, and in that time, the magical energy slowly began to dissipate. Using force now meant it couldn’t stick around any longer.

Fsssssss…..

— Phew! Now it’s gone! I’m completely chased out!

With that comment, Dark’s essence, which had clung to Raviere, fully vanished.

Ghislaine, with a serious expression, immediately summoned the knights.

“Two hundred of you, don your gear and follow me right now. We move as quickly as possible.”

“Yes?”

“There’s no time. I’ll explain as we go.”

“Understood!”

After all, they had moved without explanations plenty of times. The knights quickly donned their gear and mounted their horses.

“Gillian, we don’t know when the Duke and Marquis Roderick will move, so keep the army ready to deploy at any moment.”

“Understood.”

“Kaor, Belinda, and Vanessa will come with me.”

Thinking they were off to fight again, Kaor grinned. Belinda packed her things as usual, preparing to accompany Ghislaine.

However, Vanessa looked uneasy.

“Lord Alfoy! Don’t just waste time while I’m gone! You must study!”

“Oh, of course! Studying is the best!”

Vanessa gave Alfoy a dubious look as he confidently proclaimed this, but she had no choice but to trust him.

In no time, Ghislaine and the knights were ready to move.

“We’ll travel down the roads as swiftly as possible.”

None understood why the lord was in such a hurry. But just like always, they thought there must be a reason behind it.

The roads were paved throughout the Crown Prince Faction’s territory, and the knights had become quite proficient in horsemanship.

Thanks to that, they could move at an incredibly fast pace.

While moving, Ghislaine constantly deduced the current situation using the information from his past life. He was gathering more significant intel than expected.

‘I was just going to get some other characters or the location of the hideouts of the Salvation Society, but… we’re heading towards a rift.’

In his past life, it was referred to as the Door of Turmoil or the Rift, where unknown monsters emerged.

Those monsters endlessly multiplied, filling the continent, forcing people to fight against them in limited areas.

All the mages and scholars of his past life had gathered to discuss, but nobody knew why the rifts appeared.

The locations seemed random; rifts emerged all over the continent without any specific rules. Sometimes one disappeared, only for another to suddenly rise somewhere else.

Nobody knew their identity or cause.

The end.

Everyone thought it was the start of the ‘End of Humanity’ written in the scriptures of the Four Great Churches.

Some flailed while others accepted it humbly.

The Four Great Churches were the same. Some fought to the bitter end, while others suggested following the Will of the Goddess.

‘That’s when the Salvation Society appeared.’

The Salvation Society was different. They constantly proclaimed they were helping people.

— Our goddess will protect and save you.

And they called for resistance against the goddess who brought about the judgment of the end of the world.

Thus, the Four Great Churches and the Salvation Society became sworn enemies.

‘This is an opportunity.’

Raviere learned that the Salvation Society was connected to the Age of Turmoil.

However, he still didn’t know how to open the rift. He assumed, as known in his past life, that they opened randomly.

Even when he discovered that Raviere had gone to where the rift opened, he only guessed that the Salvation Society had prior knowledge about the rift and were attempting something.

‘But what if the Salvation Society opened all those rifts themselves?’

Ghislaine’s heart began to race. This was truly an unexpected opportunity.

He had wandered the continent as a mercenary, battling countless monsters. Thus, he was familiar with many of the rift locations that had spawned across the continent.

Of course, he couldn’t block every rift. He was currently unable to escape this kingdom due to the Duke’s house.

However, if he utilized this situation well, he could significantly reduce the number of rifts. Even that alone would greatly improve humanity’s life compared to his past life.

Ghislaine could confidently say that among the information he possessed from his past life, the locations of the rifts were the most valuable.

He was preparing to fight fiercely against the rifts alongside the Duke’s house.

“Run! We must arrive as quickly as possible!”

It wasn’t just to catch Raviere. Such a person could be killed at any time.

He needed to see with his own two eyes what was happening in that village.

Dudududududu!

Fortunately, the place where Raviere was hiding was within the Crown Prince Faction’s territory. The route was seamless thanks to the roads.

“Step aside! Count Penris approaches!”

Thanks to Ghislaine’s shout and the flag of Penris, they were not deterred by any orders.

Due to his frequent travels around the capital, any checkpoint guards would open doors merely upon seeing the flag of Penris.

No questions were asked. Ghislaine was now revered as a significant figure in the Crown Prince Faction.

Dudududududu!

As they passed through the North and neared the capital, Ghislaine’s forces had grown by about a thousand men.

This was because he had conscripted some of the kingdom’s forces stationed around the capital.

Without questioning, the commander of the kingdom’s army readily lent his troops to Ghislaine, ordered to cooperate with Penris.

These soldiers were set to become witnesses. Ghislaine was deliberately bringing them along to spread rumors throughout the kingdom.

Dudududududu!

After several days of relentless marching, Ghislaine and his party finally arrived at the village where Raviere was hiding.

“Soldiers, quickly surround the village!”

At Ghislaine’s command, the soldiers dispersed swiftly. Ghislaine and the knights charged into the village.

As they approached, it seemed that the sentries had already notified the villagers, who all gathered at one location.

They stared blankly at the invaders with expressionless faces.

Chaang!

Dismounting, Ghislaine leveled his sword at them and ordered, “Bring forth the one responsible for this place.”

“…….”

None spoke. They didn’t even appear frightened. The waxen expressions of the villagers caused the accompanying knights to feel an uncanny chill.

Ghislaine, knowing this phenomenon, smiled coldly.

“It seems I’ll have to kill them all.”

As if his words served as a signal, the villagers began to exhibit strange behaviors.

Crack, crack! Snap!

With sounds reminiscent of breaking bones, the villagers’ bodies twisted grotesquely in all directions. Their movements didn’t cease but continued.

The knights of Penris muttered with bewildered expressions.

“What, what’s going on? Are they really human?”

“What on earth is happening?”

Snap! Crack! Crunch!

After twisting their necks and bodies several times, even more bizarre phenomena unfolded among the villagers.

Pop, sizzle, crackle.

Their heads began to split open from the crown, as if shedding a skin, and they started to peel off their human guise.

What emerged from beneath this peeling was a shockingly grotesque creature.

It looked as if thick tentacles wiggled inside a human brain. These tentacles were embellished with ore-like substances here and there.

Where it appeared to have a head, like eyes, glimmering red gemstones were attached.

It was an utterly unrecognizable creature. Such things hadn’t been seen even in the Forest of Monsters.

While everyone was speechless and just gaped, Ghislaine took a step forward.

“So they were already mutated.”

These were ‘mutants’ that had been consumed by the energies of the rift.

 

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