Chapter 644: The Hunter
In the Church District of Northern Tivyán, above the Grand Square before the Historical Records Office, terrifying wails of fear swelled and roared like a storm. At this moment, countless low-tier Extraordinary Beings and ordinary soldiers on the Radiant front line experienced a mental breakdown, screaming as they fled their posts and the battlefield, while many others directly fell into shock, foaming at the mouth, unconscious on the ground.
Among those who could survive this wave of fear in the Radiant front line were only a few White Chalk stewards. They stared in shock at the enormous figure that emerged from the dust. Even under the protection of the Commandments, which shielded them from the wails of fear, a spontaneous sense of dread arose within them upon facing this horrifying monster.
“What is this…?”
“What kind of monster?!”
In the face of this suddenly appeared beast, the Radiant members felt both alarmed and confused. At that moment, a series of orange-yellow characters suddenly appeared before their eyes.
“Stewards, what stands before you is the Red Tier Extraordinary Being of the Wolf bl**d Association. You are no match against it. Abandon any guard tasks immediately and retreat! I repeat, evacuate the scene immediately! Apart from the two Blazing Brothers providing cover, do not attempt any attacks. Sister Anre, maximize the life blessings for the two Blazing Brothers!”
These characters that directly appeared in the sight of the Radiant members were generated by Vania’s use of the emergency transmission function within the St. Hymn Cathedral’s extraordinary system. Within the Cathedral and the surrounding large area, Vania could directly modify the visual perceptions of the “Lamp” Extraordinary Beings among the Radiant followers, presenting the Commandments directly in front of them.
Upon seeing the new directive transmitted by Vania, the Radiant White Chalk members immediately grasped the severity of the situation. Without hesitation, they urgently retreated together with the fleeing ordinary soldiers, while Duval, to eliminate potential hazards, did not simply let them escape.
With a muffled roar, the massive two-headed Demon Wolf struck. Despite its large size, it moved with incredible speed, lunging toward the few fleeing Radiant White Chalk members. The two Blazing Brothers ordered to provide cover immediately suppressed their fear and breathed out large jets of flames at the approaching Demon Wolf.
Although the flames were fierce, they were like small sparks compared to the enormous body of Duval. He easily shrugged off the minor burns and advanced, raising his claws to attack the two Blazing Brothers. One of them, while dodging an attack, was struck by a claw, and the sharp tip of Duval’s claw pierced through the Blazing Brother’s chest and abdomen.
Almost completely disregarding the “Stone” protection of the armor that the Blazing Brother wore on his skin, Duval’s claw ended up penetrating his body, creating a wound nearly twenty centimeters in diameter. The Blazing Brother coughed up bl**d, dropping his sword as he completely lost the ability to resist. Duval then lifted the foe as if impaling meat on a skewer and brought him toward his massive jaws.
Seeing his comrade about to be devoured alive, Gaspare couldn’t help but steel his heart. He ignited the blade in his hand with fire, and with the dual life blessings from Anre and Vania backing him, he leaped several meters into the air, aiming to slash the wolf head that was about to consume his fellow.
“Accept purification, monster!”
Shouting, Gaspare’s fiery long sword swung toward Duval’s wolf head. Faced with this situation, the wolf head that was initially prepared to engulf its prey turned aside, clamping its mouth onto the flaming sword. Ignoring the intense heat, it suddenly bit down hard, shattering the blade into pieces.
However, that was not the end. After his sword was crushed, Gaspare pulled another long sword from his back. After igniting it again, he continued to target the eyes of the Demon Wolf. This sword had been picked up from a fallen comrade, and this time, his target was the Demon Wolf’s eye!
Gaspare thrust the fiery sword toward the Demon Wolf’s eye, and as Duval had closed his mouth to retaliate, he straightaway swung his right claw at Gaspare with blinding speed. Unable to dodge in time, Gaspare was struck by the back of the wolf claw, and the immense force shattered his armor, causing cracks to ripple all over him. Like a cannonball, he was sent flying a considerable distance, crashing into a tall building, breaking through several thick walls before finally coming to a stop in a pile of rubble, motionless. The Blazing Brother who had been skewered on Duval’s claw was also flung far away due to Duval’s arm movement, only to land after smashing a statue.
In an instant, Duval dealt with two Blazing Brothers. His heightened sense of smell still allowed him to track the escaping and near-d*ath White Chalk members. Just as he was about to swiftly collect them, an unexpected change erupted in the area. From the buildings surrounding the square, countless dark figures suddenly lunged toward Duval, and a closer look revealed they were vicious Beastmen!
With howls echoing around, numerous Beastmen surged toward Duval from all directions, attacking him. Startled, Duval immediately roared and retaliated. With just a wave of his hand, those Beastmen rushing towards him were shattered into pieces. Unlike the Blazing Brothers, who possessed double life blessings and “Stone” protection, the fate of the Beastmen was not to be knocked back, but to be completely pulverized; they exploded into a gory mist, raining bl**d and flesh down upon the ground.
Ultimately, after Duval seized two Beastmen and tore them apart, the remaining ones were finally cleared from the area. Duval looked at the bl**d-strewn ground, a hint of confusion appearing in his furious eyes. He had sensed the presence of these Beastmen before—they had approached him earlier, but since he assumed they were allies, he hadn’t paid them much mind. He never expected that they would launch a sudden assault against him.
These Beastmen… were all under the control of Doro. As soon as the three White Chalk from the Wolf bl**d Association entered the Church District, she had used her powerful intelligence capabilities to locate the waiting Beastmen forces on the outskirts of the Church District and covertly manifested Spiritual Threads to transform these sleeping Beast Slaves into her living puppets. Doro could easily exert total control over these mostly mindless beings, stripping their command from the werewolves and placing it in her hands.
To ambush the Cathedral, the Wolf bl**d Association had prepared a considerable number of Beast Slaves, and without hesitation, Doro used nearly all of them to create chaos for Duval. Clearing out dozens of second-tier Beastmen was a task that would require some effort from Duval.
Once he had dealt with the numerous Beastmen, Duval began to sniff for the scent of the fleeing Church White Chalk again, only to find they had already made a considerable distance. While he could still pursue and devour them all without losing any, it would be somewhat time-consuming.
“Go chase… the White Chalk… delicious…”
“No, the main task is urgent!”
One of Duval’s heads greedily declared, while the other head sternly objected. Because of the interruption caused by this horde of Beastmen, Duval had not managed to devour the few White Chalk members he had seen earlier; this left him somewhat angry. However, he quickly suppressed it and turned back, rapidly moving toward the center of the square, where his subordinates gathered.
At that moment, Braun and Vorn were still struggling to recover from their injuries, bloodied and panting heavily. After being bombarded by the heavy machine guns and mortars of the Radiant forces, even the three main “Cup” White Chalk members were deeply exhausted. Their spirituality was nearly depleted from the continuous assaults, and recovering from their wounds had become noticeably slower than before.
If Duval had come a moment later, they likely would have been defeated; they would have been worn down and killed by mere mortals, unable to inflict any real harm on anyone in the Radiant front line. The Radiant’s White Chalk members would not need to take any risks to watch them d*e pitifully.
Although their wounds remained severe, Braun and Vorn managed to approach Duval, moving slowly and bowing before him with the demeanor of wolves. Upon seeing his subordinates, Duval couldn’t help but snort coldly and addressed one of them.
“What was the situation with those Beast Slaves? Where did they come from?”
Faced with Duval’s questioning, Braun and Vorn trembled, and it was Braun who, after a moment of fear, spoke.
“Reporting to the Elder… those Beast Slaves… should have been meant for our assault preparations here. But for some reason, we lost contact with them completely when the plan began. Their sudden appearance here attacking you was also unexpected for us…”
“You lost contact with them all before the plan began? Someone stripped you of your command? Who did it? Those Radiant zealots? Or other werewolves? How could you let so many Beast Slaves slip away? What have you been doing!” Duval’s voice was infused with anger as he questioned Braun further, while Braun continued to tremble.
“I… I don’t know…”
Upon hearing Braun’s response, the head of Duval that was angry seemed to ignite with fury, as if wanting to grab him and devour him, but in the end, he suppressed this impulse. The other head then replied.
“Hmph… forget it, now is not the time to dwell on this. Where is that little pest named Sander?”
“I, I’m here, Elder Duval.” At this moment, Sander limped his way to Duval, bowing respectfully. Upon sighting him, Duval immediately spoke again.
“Where’s the prohibited books repository of those zealots?”
“It, it’s in the basement of that building! Once you go in there, you can find the passage to the underground!” Sander pointed to the Historical Records Office. Hearing his words, Duval paused slightly and then directed his gaze downward.
“Underground…”
Saying this, both of Duval’s heads lowered to the ground, sniffing carefully. Eventually, it seemed they caught a whiff of something.
“Don’t go looking for the underground passage…”
One head of Duval said, before raising his hand high, forming a fist before smashing it down onto the square’s ground.
“Boom!!!”
Under the enormous force, a significant pit was instantly created in the square floor, with cracks rapidly radiating outwards from the center. The tremor caused everyone present to shudder.
This was not over. After creating a large pit, Duval kept going, smashing the surrounding area down into that original deep pit, making it deeper with successive strikes. Accompanied by the constant earth-shaking punches, the square continued to tremble until, after a few blows, the solid flooring was directly crushed, collapsing downward with a resounding thud, creating a large hole.
Duval, along with the three who had been beside him, fell into a massive underground space. The area was initially shrouded in darkness, only illuminated by the light streaming in from the collapsing hole above.
This vast underground space was supported by several pillars, standing over ten meters high, filled with countless rows of steel frameworks. On these frameworks were securely mounted safes made of solid stone and iron, which housed a collection of extraordinary forbidden items. The Church collected various secret transmissions and heterodox items throughout Prit, and those deemed to have preservation value and not to be destroyed were sent here for tight storage. Important forbidden books and items would be sent to Sacred Summit.
During the process of clearing out heretics and evil societies, it was occasionally necessary to reference their corresponding secret transmissions to understand their habits. For the upper echelon of the Church, preserving these documents also facilitated their understanding of the true hidden history. While the Church conducted all sorts of propaganda filled with fabricated history to indoctrinate the masses, its higher-ups remained comparatively clear-headed regarding the true hidden histories; they could not allow themselves to be deceived.
Although the entrance to this repository was beneath the Historical Records Office, due to its scale, it extended directly underground to the Grand Square. After realizing this, Duval opted to directly break through the heavy flooring to reach this area.
Crouching slightly, Duval scanned the underground repository before focusing his gaze on Braun and speaking sternly.
“Where are the fragments of the pages?”
“In here!”
With that, Braun began to cough violently, and from his throat, he expelled a small cloth bag, quickly grasping it. After cleaning off the residue from the bag, he opened it to reveal a small, cornered fragment of a torn page.
What was strange was that at the torn edge of this page, small red fleshy nodules were sprouting. These nodules, upon exposure to the air, briefly unfurled and then began to squirm, as if sensing something, ultimately extending outwards in unison to point in one direction.
Upon seeing the fragment in his hand, Braun immediately set off, following the direction indicated by the nodules. He swiftly arrived at a large bookshelf and, after carefully confirming the direction, he pointed to a safe on the shelf, declaring, “Elder, it’s inside this one!”
Hearing Braun’s statement, Duval moved his enormous body, knocking over two shelves as he approached Braun’s position. Then, he focused on the safe Braun indicated and lowered his body, extending a claw at it.
Predictably, the safe was pierced. Duval retracted his claw, and Braun reached into the hole created by the claw’s puncture. A moment later, he indeed pulled out an old red-covered forbidden transmission, and the shredded page corner in his hand seemed to sense this tome, immediately writhing towards it, eventually making its way into the pages of the forbidden transmission.
“Elder, this is it!”
Holding the forbidden transmission aloft, Braun said excitedly. Seeing this, Duval also extended his massive claw to place it before Braun, who then placed the forbidden transmission into Duval’s claw.
As Duval stared at the small red forbidden transmission on his gigantic claw, he opened one of his wolf jaws and raised his claw, bringing the forbidden transmission toward his mouth. Just as he was about to swallow it, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
“Whoosh!”
With a sharp sound slicing through the air, a shadowy figure shot out from the depths of the repository and passed swiftly by Duval’s hand. Afterward, Duval felt a rupture in the artery of his wrist; a torrent of bl**d gushed out while the forbidden transmission vanished from his palm. Duval even found himself momentarily stunned and unable to react.
“Roar!!
“Who is it!!”
Covered in his own bl**d and seeing the item he had almost secured vanish without a trace, Duval let out an angry roar. He immediately began to sniff the air, tracking the new and unfamiliar scent that suddenly presented itself. Following the scent led his gaze toward a newly emerged figure amidst the debris in the massive repository.
In the center of the sprawling forbidden books repository, amidst ruins caused by the fallen ceiling, a figure stood, dressed in a bloodied and worn-out cape and a short trench coat, with a slender body wrapped tightly. Various small knives, from daggers to surgical blades, hung from its utility belt and all over its person. Its leather boots were caked in bl**d and dirt, and it wore a tattered gentleman’s hat that sat cockeyed atop its head.
In the left hand, it gripped the freshly stained forbidden transmission from Duval, while in the right hand, it wielded a large saw-like cleaver, stained with Duval’s bl**d. Bandages that appeared to be made from torn cloth covered its face, revealing one crimson eye that emitted a dangerously predatory glow.
The light from the open hole in the ceiling shone down into the repository, illuminating the mysterious figure. Rather than portraying a noble holiness, he appeared haunting and terrifying. The aura of danger radiating from this diminutive figure felt as if it could rival the towering monsters beside him.
