He turned, intending to walk in the direction of the Natural Church, but suddenly stopped and looked at Xia De.
Xia De raised his left hand, holding a Red Butterfly pendant:
“I know I can’t beat you now, but you must know one thing—bringing the dead back to life comes at a cost. I know two girls who, even with divine blessings, still paid a heavy price to gain life beyond what they should have. Do you know what that price was? Perpetual entanglement, the torment of separation, and the cycle of time. Mr. Barton, what price are you prepared to pay?”
“Any price, everything.”
He paused and looked at Xia De:
“Mr. Watson, in half an hour, the power of True Death will once again impact the Gap, causing Middelburg’s third and final major earthquake. At that time, I will guide all the undead in the Gap City to assault the Natural Church; I will guide all the undead on Sicar Mountain in the Gap to assault the mountainside and summit. At least eight figures worth of souls will launch a final attack on the three seals. Even if the Church can stop them, I will merge the remaining undead into a final death aggregate. This is the decisive battle.
No matter which ‘me’ it is, one will eventually be able to pass through one of the passages, enter True Death, and bring back my beloved.”
“Why tell me this?”
“I hope you can leave here.”
Xia De covered his right shoulder, shaking his head; his arm was truly broken:
“The Church will start the ritual early. Advancing the ritual will weaken the seal’s effect, preventing it from lasting for three years, but at least, after the ritual succeeds, most of the souls in the Gap can fall into slumber again.”
“Then, let’s see whether the Church is faster or I am faster.”
The deformed middle-aged man walked alone into the fog, his figure gradually disappearing.
“Another troublesome race against time.”
Xia De walked out of the ruined shop, retrieved his Night Watchman, and picked up the kerosene lamp that had fallen to the ground. For his multiple bone fractures, he could only use a pre-prepared potion to suppress the pain, then walked along the street towards the Natural Church.
The battle around the Natural Church had not yet ended. With high mobility, the bride, riding a crimson mount and holding a man’s head, was engaged in guerrilla warfare with two High-Ring Sorcerers from the Church.
Those two Ring術士s, belonging to the Creation Church and the Peace Church, could not leave the Church too far, so the woman on horseback could temporarily disengage from combat by moving away from the Church. But she did not leave; instead, after a slight recovery, she resumed her harassment.
This approach would sooner or later give the Church’s Ring術士s an opportunity, but before the Church could counterattack, the woman noticed Xia De limping out of the fog, his right arm dangling, looking incredibly disheveled.
Tightening the reins, the crimson horse reared its front hooves in the air. The woman in the wedding dress swung the scythe in her hand and charged at Xia De from above.
Xia De looked up at her:
“Do you think I’m easy to bully in this state?”
The people at the Church also noticed Xia De, dressed in a black coat and wearing a mask. Although they didn’t know who he was, they didn’t want to see him die under the scythe.
The two High-Ring Sorcerers in the air had already flown over, and Iluna, standing at the Church entrance, also ran over with a small team of Ring術士s.
Xia De stopped, watching the woman on horseback get closer and closer. As she swung her scythe at him, Xia De’s body dispersed into a swarm of Red Butterflies, allowing the scythe to sweep through the swarm.
Due to the excessive speed of the downward charge, the horse slid forward a distance after touching the ground before stopping. Xia De, holding the Red Butterfly pendant, then appeared behind the horse.
He lightly sidestepped a backward kick from the horse’s hoof, then raised his hand with a clang, parrying the dark scythe. Having witnessed Joey Barton’s strength, Xia De actually felt the scythe’s power was so weak.
He was right beside the horse, so he clearly saw the wedding ring on the wedding dress woman’s finger holding the scythe.
The scythe flung Xia De’s longsword away and swept at Xia De’s neck again. Xia De thrust his left hand forward, accurately striking the woman’s wrist, then sharply dodged backward, avoiding the black mist spewed from the man’s head, and continuously retreated.
With the clatter of hooves, the blood-stained bride turned her horse around, and the undead, holding the scythe high, appeared before Xia De once more.
This time, Xia De also sidestepped the scythe, and even at the moment of contact between them, he used the Night Watchman to strike the horse’s body.
The woman, as the final nail, was indeed powerful, but unfortunately, she had been imprisoned by the Church for too long, and her power had significantly diminished. Moreover, she was not skilled at using a special weapon like a scythe, while Xia De could already reluctantly call himself a “Sword Master.”
The two weapons clashed a few times in the fog. Although Xia De could only use his sword with his left hand, he continuously inflicted wounds on the bride and her mount.
After a brief exchange, the Church members had arrived. Iluna directly threw a Sunlight Gun in that direction, so the horse carried the woman and flew into the sky amidst the thick fog.
But on the horse’s hooves, Xia De’s Great Sin Chains were somehow wrapped around them. Even if Xia De wasn’t injured, he couldn’t pull that horse down; he wasn’t a strongman from a story. But the Great Sin Chains’ effect of restricting mobility still exerted some power.
The horse in the air abruptly paused, and the golden lightning spear that followed immediately pierced through the woman’s heart.
The Great Sin Chains loosened, the High-Ring Sorcerers descended, and Iluna also walked over with her nearby team.
The horse slowly carried the woman to the ground, then slowly lay down, emitting an indistinct whinny. Gray dust continuously flew upward from the woman’s body, but she simply caressed the head she held in her arms.
“Do they have a story?”
Xia De asked, not intending to move away from the Church Ring術士s.
The twelve-Ring術士 middle-aged man, holding a long staff and with a white dove perched on his shoulder, spoke in a local accent:
“This is Lady Maria, an undead from three hundred years ago. Her husband was a very famous knight. On the night of their wedding, the knight was summoned by the lord and went to the front lines. What Lady Maria finally received was the knight’s head, ransomed by the lord, and the knight’s warhorse.”
He did not continue, and a group of people quietly watched the last nail disappear into the Gap.
“Oh no, we haven’t received the signal that she’s been eliminated yet.”
Iluna said with some distress, her eyes secretly glancing at the masked Xia De:
“Killing her prematurely might cause the Gap to change prematurely.”
Of course, she knew who the person in front of her was. Even if Xia De hadn’t held the Night Watchman, she could guess that the strange person appearing here at this moment must be Xia De.
“Don’t worry about that, I know some things.”
Xia De said, and everyone looked at him; the long stick on his back certainly attracted attention.
He coughed laboriously to show that he had internal injuries and blood stasis in his lungs. Then he stuck his sword into the ground and, with a trembling left hand, pulled out a letter:
“I’m here to deliver a letter, and also, can you help me heal?”
He pointed to his dangling left arm.
“This one…”
The Peace Church’s twelve-Ring術士 hesitated:
“Sword Master, may I ask which organization you belong to?”
They had all just seen Xia De, despite his disadvantage, entangle with the blood-stained bride through his swordsmanship. The extraordinary system of this era leaned more towards using so-called “incantations,” and there weren’t many Ring術士s skilled in cold weapons. Therefore, they did not associate Xia De with a Summoner.
After all, the characteristic of a Summoner was the complex, varied, and dazzling Moonlight series of Miracles.
“I am a lone traveler from the New World, aiming to hunt demons. I heard there was an Balrog in Middelburg. I came here last month, but I didn’t find the Balrog; instead, I encountered the situation here.”
He handed out the letter, and the Peace Church’s Ring術士 took it and introduced himself as Newman Landau.
“I think you need help, and I also need help.”
Xia De covered his right shoulder:
“I just drank some pain-relieving potion, but the effect is wearing off. The Natural Church should have a doctor who can treat me, right?”
Mr. Landau, with the pigeon perched on his shoulder, nodded, opened the letter, glanced at it, confirmed it was fine, then looked at Iluna.
Iluna nodded and stepped forward, extending her hand to Xia De:
“This… um… Demon Hunter, you also know the current situation. The Church will not allow suspicious individuals to enter the Church in the Gap. But you have gained our friendship, so after a small test, you can come with us.”
Xia De took Iluna’s hand, then noticed the seventeen-year-old girl was desperately trying to suppress her laughter.
A brass-colored ring appeared behind her, and as the Destiny Ring rotated, in dazzling golden light, the Destiny Ring transformed into the dark gold Balance.
The Balance, symbolizing the power of the ancient gods, appeared and immediately dispersed the surrounding fog. Iluna, suppressing her laughter, asked seriously:
“Good, evil?”
Time seemed to return to that summer night, the moment Xia De and Iluna gained further trust in each other. Xia De missed that time very much, and it was clear that Iluna, so close by, did too.
Xia De did not have to answer the question, because the Balance behind Iluna tipped overwhelmingly to the left. It seemed that in three months, the Outsider’s good and evil had not changed at all, and he was quite proud of this.
After all, besides trying to illegally occupy someone else’s cat, he really hadn’t done anything bad.
“Very good, sir, it seems you are a good person. Now, order, chaos?”
The Balance returned to Balance, then in the dark golden light, it tipped to the left again as if pressed by a finger. Xia De even thought that if it were any faster, the entire Balance would completely tip over.
