Chapter 911 Abnormality

A strong smell of blood filled his nostrils, causing Bishop Fernanco, who had just stepped into the room, to frown subconsciously, with a solemn look on his face.

As a regional bishop who has personally been on the battlefield, and even still practices the God of War's creed, and personally goes to several dangerous areas every year to assist the local knights in exterminating monsters, he is very familiar with this aura. but.

The other two priests in the room noticed the arrival of the regional bishop and immediately stepped aside silently. Fernanco looked past the others and slowly scanned the rather spacious priests' lounge. Pass.

The scene in the room is clear at a glance - beds, tables, chairs and other items are all arranged as usual. There is a shrine symbolizing the God of War against the wall on the north side. There is a large area of ​​blood on the floor in front of the shrine that has not yet completely coagulated. , and in the center of the blood pool is a completely mixed mass of meat that cannot be seen in its original form.

Many connected fibers can be seen in the creepy flesh, as if they are in the process of forming some kind of fascia, and fine hairs are spreading from some gaps in the flesh. When he came out, his hair was as thick and hard as thorns, and many pieces of completely corroded clothing were scattered at this horrific death scene. Dots of blood spattered on the ground three meters square outside the blood pool.

Even the God of War Bishop, who was used to seeing bloody and strange scenes, could not help but feel horrified in front of this scene.

"Your Excellency Fernanco," a priest came from the side, "I salute you, may your heart be as steel."

"Heart as steel, my compatriots ," Fernanco nodded to the priest, turned his attention back to the death scene in the center of the room, and asked in a deep voice, "When was it discovered?"

"In the early morning, a man The priest on night watch was the first to notice the anomaly and raised the alarm. "Where is the priest?" Fernanco frowned, "Bring him to see me."

Fernenko shook his head: "It doesn't matter, I'm also good at spiritual comfort - bring him here."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The priest took the order and left. A moment later, footsteps came from outside the door, mixed with a frightened and repeated muttering. Fernanco looked for the sound and saw two church attendants supporting a young man wearing ordinary priest's robes into the room. The latter's condition made the regional bishop immediately frown. ——

The poor man was trembling all over, his face was as pale as a dead person, fine beads of sweat covered every inch of his skin, and a layer of turbid and blood-colored haze covered the whites of his eyes. He was obviously He had lost his normal mind and kept mumbling in a low voice all the way. Only when he got closer could he hear those fragmented words.Language:

"The God of War bless...bless...the heart is like steel, the heart is like steel, and I can survive hundreds of battles...the God of War bless...I have converted, I have converted..."

This poor man kept talking like this from beginning to end, as if he had not noticed the regional bishop who was already standing in front of him. It was not until a few seconds later that his distracted eyes suddenly noticed the scene behind the regional bishop. , that mass of lifeless flesh and blood seemed to stimulate the greatest fear deep in his heart for an instant. He instantly let out a scream that was almost impossible for humans to utter, and actually broke free from the shackles of the two strong attendants, and suddenly rushed towards Li Li. The nearest Fernanco shouted a fanatical prayer that had changed his tone: "In the name of God! Eradicate the heresy! In the name of God..."

The surrounding priests suddenly exclaimed. However, Fernanco only took half a step to the side. He grabbed the clothes of the out-of-control priest with his backhand, and while pulling back, he suddenly struck out with the elbow of his other hand. After a muffled sound, the out-of-control priest was gone. He fainted with resistance and fell to the ground.

It was only then that the priests nearby reacted, and they hurriedly stepped forward: "Your Excellency Fernanco! Are you okay?"

"I am fine, but he may need to recuperate. A few days," Fernanco waved his hand and looked at the priest who fell on the ground with a frown, "...take him down."

The attendant immediately took the unconscious priest away. Away from here, Fernanco sighed deeply, and a priest on the side couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency, what do you think about this..."

"Has that priest always been like this? Constantly praying, constantly calling on our Lord...and treating normal fellow churchmen as heretics?"

"Yes, that's how it was when we found him," the priest immediately replied, "he was found. He collapsed at the door of the room. He was insane and even nearly killed an attendant. However, no matter how he checked, there was no sign of mental erosion or soul curse... It was as if he was acting entirely according to his own will. It's like doing these crazy things."

Fernenko nodded seriously, and then asked: "Who else knows what's going on here?"

The priest thought for a while: "Apart from the people in the church, we have only informed you... Oh, the count may also have received the news - he should not know what happened in the church, but we urgently sent a messenger and The fact that the church was sealed after dawn could not be hidden from the count's eyes."

Fernenko's brows furrowed even more, the situation was developing in the direction he least expected to see, but everything was going wrong. It was irreversible, and he could only force himself to focus on the incident itself - the pool of flesh and blood on the ground was obviously the deacon who died tragically in the church, the church's god of war priest Costo himself. He knew this priest and knew The other party is a powerful extraordinary person. Even if he is attacked by a high-level strong person, he will never die without resistance. However, there is no trace of blood except blood stains in the whole room.There are no traces of the fight, not even the residual breath after the battle magic was released...

The flesh and blood is located in front of the God of War shrine. There are still some uncorroded cloth fragments left there. In addition to the clothes, there are other It should be the mat used during prayer... Coupled with only a small candle left in front of the shrine, the remaining incense in the vessel, and the prayer book spread out on the table, all of this can only produce an uneasy result:

The deceased God of War priest seemed to be in the normal process of praying to the gods...and his own flesh and blood suddenly melted.

Fernenko believed that he was not the only one who had guessed this horrifying possibility. He saw an indescribable gloom on everyone's faces.

Thinking back to the priest who went crazy after witnessing the first scene, the weirdness of the whole thing is even more disturbing.

"Your Excellency," a priest couldn't help but say, "what do you think happened to Priest Costo?"

"...There may be a very powerful evil spirit. Raided our temple, it interfered with the prayer rituals of Costo priests, distorted the ritual direction and polluted the souls of the priests," Fernanco said in a deep voice, "But this is just my personal guess, and such a powerful If evil spirits really appear in the town, then the matter must be reported to the archdiocese..."

"The Earl's Palace should send someone to inquire about the situation soon," said another The priest said, "How should we reply?"

Fernandez thought for a moment - from the perspective of the regional bishop, he really did not want this matter to be made public to the eyes of forces outside the church, especially not I hope this matter will attract the attention of the royal family and its vassals. After all, since the coronation of Rosetta Augustus, the Typhon royal family has been tightening its policies towards various churches. After countless confrontations between light and dark, today's God of War The church has lost a lot of privileges, and the war priests in the army have also changed from independent representatives of theocratic authority to "helping soldiers" who must obey the orders of noble officers. Under normal circumstances, this is the case. Once what happened here today is exposed, , I am afraid that it will soon become a new excuse for the royal family to further tighten policies...

But things cannot be hidden, and the managers of this area must be given an explanation.

"Clean up the scene and burn these twisted things with holy oil and flames," Fernando ordered to the people around him. "There are soul-eating monsters that have parasitized humans and sneaked into the church. Priest Costo is here." After the discovery, we fought to the death with him, and finally died together. However, due to the corrosion of the soul-eating monster, it was inconvenient to reveal the priest's body. In order to maintain the dignity of the fallen priest, we purified the priest's body before dawn and returned it to the Lord. The kingdom - this is the whole truth."

The priest on the side lowered his head: "Yes, Your Excellency."

Fernenko hummed, and then looked at the room again. Seeing the tragic scene, a vague sense of uneasiness and disgust surged up from the bottom of his heart again. He subconsciously put his hand on his chest, clenching his right fist as if he was holding on.Sword, and silently prayed in my heart: "Blessed by the God of War, my heart is like steel. I can survive hundreds of battles without dying. My flesh and blood are weak. Only steel can live forever and will not fall into hell. I have converted..."

As he prayed, his mind gradually calmed down, and the power of the gods descended silently, making him feel at ease again.

……

That afternoon.

A secret report sent from the communication tower and copied by the intelligence officer was delivered to the desk. Rosetta Augustus opened it and took a look at it. It had always looked gloomy and solemn. A more serious expression suddenly appeared on his face.

Matilda, who was sitting next to him to help with government affairs, immediately noticed the change in her father's face and subconsciously asked: "What happened?"

"Another Ares priest died, and the cause of death is unknown," Rosetta Augustus said. "The local church reported that a soul-eating monster had sneaked into the church. The deceased priest was killed in the battle against the monster - but there was no No one saw the corpse of the priest, and no one saw the ashes of the Soul Eater. There was only a battle scene that was not known to be true or false."

Matilda's beautiful brows frowned slightly, her tone of voice. She became serious: "This seems to be the sixth time in half a month..."

"Yes, the sixth time," Rosetta said in a deep voice, "The cause of death is unknown, and the body was moved in advance. Destroyed, the evidence is full of doubts..."

"Those churches must be hiding something!" Matilda couldn't help but said, "Six priests died mysteriously in a row, and they were also distributed in different churches. ...The news has already been leaked to a certain extent, but they have never responded directly to the royal family’s inquiry. What is the Church of the God of War doing?”

“Yes, six churches, located in different places. Places... The two furthest apart are even located on the northern and southern borders of the empire. This is not an ordinary 'attack'... There is no force in the empire that can carry out such a long-span attack, and it cannot be a coincidence caused by a monster raid. "

"The most suspicious thing is that those churches are obviously hiding something," Matilda said, and then shook her head, "It's a pity that under the current imperial law, we can't rely on suspicion alone. Search the church..."

Rosetta nodded: "We must uphold the laws we have made. This is the basis for maintaining the royal authority, but...necessary investigations are still necessary for you. If you go to the Great Cathedral recently and get in touch with Malm, he probably won't say anything to you - after all, as the Pope of War, he has not taken the initiative to discuss anything about the mysterious death of the priest with me, but I believe that with your With my keenness, I may be able to observe some situations."

Matilda nodded: "Okay, Father."

Rosetta then pondered and said. He tapped his fingers on the table and whispered in the direction of the deserted person: "Diana."

A dignified woman wearing a black maid uniform then emerged from somewhere that no one noticed. Came out of the corner, looking at Rosetta Augustus with a calm face.

The latter nodded to her: "Send out the wanderers to investigate the places mentioned in this report - remember, operate in secret, do not conflict with the church, and do not have to conflict with the local people. Official contact."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The woman in black maid uniform bowed slightly, took the note handed over by Rosetta, and then He returned to the depths of the shadows as quietly as he had appeared.

After the room became quiet again, Matilda broke the silence: "Father, what do you think...what is going on?"

Rosetta O Gustus sat quietly in his high-backed chair, lost in thought in the sinking sunset. It was not until half a minute later that he sighed softly: "I don't know, but I hope this will happen." It's all just an 'attack' against the Ares Sect..."

Matilda glanced at her father unexpectedly.

In her memory, there were only a handful of times when her father showed such an almost powerless posture.

But in the end, she didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

......

In the evening, Daniel returned to his mansion.

The young apprentice Mary was cleaning up the living room. When she saw her tutor appearing, she immediately came up to her and showed a smile: "Tutor, did you come back so early today?"

"Experiment" There's nothing in the room for now, so I'll be back." Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "Didn't you take the technicians to the God of War's Cathedral to modify the magic network? "

"Originally, we took people there, but the priest of the Great Cathedral suddenly said that the area we were working on would be temporarily closed off - and the project was postponed to the next time."

Daniel heard what the apprentice said Then she immediately frowned: "So, they kicked you out suddenly?"

"That's right..." Mary said casually, but soon noticed that the instructor's expression seemed to have a deeper meaning. "Mentor, is there any...problem?"

Daniel pondered for a moment, with a slightly serious expression: "I'm not sure yet, but I've heard some rumors recently that something seems to have happened to the Church of God of War... Maybe you need to report it to the owner."