Chapter 717: Red Assault
As the endless radiance gradually dimmed and the sound of destruction slowly subsided, the colorless world began to regain its hues under the blazing light. Yet, everything had changed completely once the colors returned.
After the white light that illuminated the night disappeared, the dark sky enveloped the desert of Busairite once more. The green fungus mist that once covered the land, resembling a sea of clouds, had vanished along with the countless flying insects, turning into ashes.
With the dispersal of the fungus mist, the desolate earth was revealed again under the starry night sky. However, the earth no longer looked as it did before. A massive crater over two hundred meters in diameter and several dozen meters deep appeared on the desert. Beyond the edges of this crater, traces of sand and stone spread by the powerful shockwave extended for kilometers. The surface of the crater glowed with intense red light, indicating extreme heat. From a distance, it looked like a giant pot of hell, filled with molten high-temperature fluids that had yet to cool down visibly.
There were no signs of any living beings around or above the terrifying hellish pot. Under the complete silence, only the sound of the late-night breeze and solidifying lava could be heard. The only movement visible was a mighty eagle soaring high above the kilometer-high sky, overlooking the strange scene below.
‘Purification Light… Bombardment Mode? I didn’t expect that the Steel Nun’s main cannon has so many modes. ‘ Far away on the dunes, Dorothy, utilizing the zombie puppet’s vision, observed the battlefield after the cataclysm, thinking to herself.
‘Compared to the previous scorching mode, this bombardment mode seems to concentrate the energy more efficiently. It transformed the large-scale roasting into pinpoint explosions. Although the area of effect is smaller, the power is more concentrated. The explosion not only destroyed the ground nest of Amayaba but also obliterated the underground part. The heat killed all the flying insects, and the shockwave dispersed the vast fog of bacteria…’ Dorothy continued to marvel inwardly. Before this, the largest explosion she had witnessed was from Fredrico’s self-destruction. This shot from Evie was even stronger than Fredrico’s uncontrolled explosion, far surpassing the scale of conventional weapons in her original world.
That single shot from Evie had eliminated over ninety-nine percent of the numerous avatars generated by Amayaba after obtaining a large amount of spirituality. Previously, Amayaba could hide so deeply because it found a natural cave system underground where it could reproduce. Now, Amayaba could not use any natural caves and had to dig its own. After digging just tens of meters, both the above-ground and underground parts of Amayaba and its nest were annihilated by Evie’s bombardment.
‘However, even such a powerful artillery attack couldn’t completely eliminate that worm. This guy was quite cautious, preparing escape worms early on. Although most were disabled and eliminated by Vania, some managed to slip through… But it doesn’t matter; with Vania here, it can’t escape… After all, this is the ‘Lamp’ of the Red Tier plus a temple…’
Dorothy thought to herself as she glanced at the distant sky where the steel warship was still floating in the air.
…
Under the night sky, across the vast desert, a huge, bizarre flying insect was rapidly flapping its wings, desperately trying to fly forward amidst the continuous buzzing sounds of air vibrations. Amayaba was desperately struggling for survival.
“Quickly… faster… even faster…” These were the only thoughts in the mind of Amayaba in its insect form. At this moment, it knew that the overall situation was lost. It had no way to resist the formidable power of the Radiant Church. It must use every ounce of strength to escape quickly.
‘Why… why could those people break the Holy Plague? Why did the Holy Plague suddenly fail?! What did they do? If the Holy Plague was still effective, I wouldn’t have lost!’ Amayaba was extremely confused about its defeat and the sudden disappearance of its ultimate trump card, the Holy Plague. However, there was no time for it to ponder the reasons, as ominous stars were about to descend upon it.
While flying, Amayaba could occasionally hear distant booming sounds and see beams of light falling from the sky, causing violent explosions in various directions.
Each time these explosions occurred, Amayaba felt as if it had lost a piece of its consciousness. Every strike from the Purification Light accurately took away one of its escape insects, and among the few escape insects that had managed to flee before the Purification Light was launched, most had been eliminated. The remaining escape insects were now few in number.
After a rapid reduction, Amayaba’s last surviving escape insect was left with only one. Just as this final insect was making its last desperate struggle, a whistling sound suddenly echoed through the night sky, followed by a massive explosion nearby.
“Boom!”
A projectile came hurtling down from above, hitting the ground near Amayaba, then exploding violently. Amidst the spreading flames and smoke, a powerful shockwave surged towards Amayaba. With only one flying insect left, Amayaba was struck by the shockwave and flipped away, crashing harshly onto the ground. The intense vibrations from the shockwave severely injured its internal organs, almost rendering it immobile.
‘C… cursed…’
Struggling on the ground, Amayaba tried to fly up and escape, but due to severe internal injuries, it couldn’t rise again. It merely wriggled on the ground, spewing green fluid, seemingly on the verge of d*ath.
After Amayaba lost its ability to move, the massive steel warship hovering high in the sky also stopped its bombardment and slowly descended, approaching Amayaba.
After destroying Amayaba’s nest, Evie immediately began pursuing the escaped insects. Guided by Vania’s super-biological radar, she quickly locked onto all thirty-four targets and eliminated thirty-three during the chase. When facing the last escape insect, Evie deliberately aimed the projectile to miss, using only the shockwave to incapacitate the flying insect.
For a Red Tier individual, capturing alive naturally held greater significance than killing.
Evie lowered her ship to about four to five hundred meters above the ground and then ceased descending. A white figure slowly drifted out of Evie’s ship and landed on the ground.
With Dorothy’s assistance, Vania left Evie’s ship and successfully landed on the ground, approaching the large, struggling flying insect about a meter long. She silently watched it, her current mission being to personally capture Amayaba.
“It doesn’t look good…” Vania murmured, observing the trembling and struggling Amayaba. At this moment, she had already begun using her abilities to suppress Amayaba’s regenerative capabilities, leaving it unable to use its remaining spirituality to heal its wounds.
“That’s expected. The cannonball I just fired wasn’t small. Even if it didn’t hit directly, the shockwave caused significant damage. It’s fortunate it didn’t disintegrate completely.”
At this moment, Evie’s semi-transparent figure gradually appeared beside Vania, looking coldly at the scene. Then, she shifted her gaze to Vania and continued speaking.
“Alright, now we need to completely contain it, depriving it of its mobility, Vania Nun.”
“Mm…” After hearing Evie’s words, Vania nodded and stretched out her hand to capture Amayaba. Sensing something, Amayaba opened its mouth and emitted a sharp, eerie sound.
“!”
Hearing Amayaba’s strange, piercing shriek, Vania paused slightly, her brow furrowing. Just as she was about to say something, a familiar voice interrupted.
“That’s too sharp, Amayaba… You should be mindful of your manners in front of important figures of the Church…”
Upon hearing this voice, Vania froze, then turned sharply towards the direction from which the voice came. She saw a tall figure slowly approaching from a distant dune.
It was a woman, dressed in a tight, short black-gray nun’s outfit, with a striking figure, pale skin, and slightly curled hair peeking out from under her headscarf. Her brown eyes stared ahead, a faint smile on her lips.
“You are… Sister Feith! What are you doing here?”
Seeing the familiar figure approaching from afar, Vania said in surprise, her expression showing clear astonishment. She was not only surprised by the sudden appearance of this spy nun of the Church but also by her inability to sense the other’s arrival.
Vania was now a Red Tier “Lamp” extraordinary being, with extremely sensitive perception regarding living entities. Despite this, she had failed to detect the other’s approach.
Who exactly was this Sister Feith?
“Stop! Don’t come any closer!”
Seeing Feith’s advance, the floating Evie’s figure became serious, loudly warning her. However, Feith showed no intention of stopping and continued to walk forward with a smile.
Seeing Feith ignore her warning, Evie didn’t waste any more words. She immediately controlled the warship to take action, turning its cannons toward Feith and firing a projectile. Upon hitting Feith, a tremendous explosion erupted, sending fire and dust everywhere. The sweeping shockwave made Vania stagger, and Amayaba, hit again, let out another shrill scream.
After the explosion, dust obscured the area where Feith had been. Vania, who had covered her face, reopened her eyes and saw a towering wall of dust.
‘Dead…’
Thinking that Feith had been hit by Evie’s attack, Vania’s thoughts froze when she heard a voice emerging from the dust wall.
“As direct as ever, Evie Emerico… Four hundred years have passed, but you haven’t changed your ruthless nature…”
After speaking, a figure slowly emerged from the massive dust wall, unscathed. Feith calmly walked out of the explosion created by Evie, her demeanor unchanged, not a single thread of her clothes missing.
“Impossible…” Seeing this scene, Vania muttered in disbelief, while Evie, rarely seen, widened her eyes, showing surprise. However, her surprise wasn’t about Feith surviving her cannon blast unharmed.
“Who are you! How did you know my name?!”
Facing Feith, Evie asked seriously. Feith waved her hand lightly and said,
“Four hundred years ago, the renowned Sister of Binding Steel, leader of the Second Division of the Radiant Church’s Holy War Knights, the Purging Knights, was well-known. How could I not have heard of her? You were one of the most famous heroes in that Holy War…”
Looking at Evie, Feith spoke with a calm expression. Hearing Feith’s words, Evie’s surprise increased.
“You…”
“Great Mother above! Great Mother’s grace! I am here! Great Mother… please save me!”
Just as Evie was about to speak further, the struggling Amayaba suddenly let out an extremely sharp human voice. Both Vania and Evie turned their attention to the struggling insect.
Seeing the situation, Vania abandoned her attempt to capture Amayaba. She used her ability to amplify its injuries, increasing its internal and external wounds several times. Under Vania’s interference, Amayaba instantly exploded, showering fragments and green fluid. Evie, without mercy, fired a scorching beam at the remains of Amayaba, attempting to extinguish its vitality completely.
“It’s useless… No matter when, you cannot k*ll Amayaba because I am here…”
Seeing Evie and Vania’s actions, Feith chuckled and gently waved her hand. A small object flew out from the beam Evie had fired, and upon closer inspection, it was a piece of meat wrapped in red light, charred on the outside but still pulsating internally.
This piece of Amayaba’s flesh flew towards Feith and, after she caught it in her hand, it turned into a pool of liquid that merged seamlessly with her palm, leaving no trace. Seeing this, Evie and Vania prepared to act against Evie, but in Vania’s mind, Dorothy’s urgent voice suddenly rang out.
“Run! This woman is the Supreme Mother of the Placenta Sect! She might be a key figure in the leadership of the Placenta Sect! You can’t handle her! Suppress her with firepower while evacuating!”
Dorothy’s voice echoed in Vania’s mind and through the zombie puppet on Evie’s ship. Upon hearing Dorothy’s words, Evie and Vania were startled and immediately acted accordingly.
While Evie prepared to quickly retreat, several scorching beams shot toward Feith. Instantly, Feith was engulfed by these beams, her entire body subjected to temperatures exceeding five thousand degrees.
After being engulfed by Evie’s beams, Vania, aided by Dorothy’s magnetic force, detached from the ground and returned to the sky-bound warship. Throughout this process, Vania continuously exerted her force on the figure within the beams, maximizing their impact and deteriorating Feith’s regenerative abilities to help Evie suppress her.
However, the more Vania targeted Feith with her abilities, the more difficult her expression became, as if sensing something terrifying.
“This… is impossible… impossible… How could there be such regeneration speed… How could there be such reconstruction ability… Is this still ‘life’?!”
With a slightly trembling voice, Vania exclaimed in disbelief. In the center of the intensely glowing beams, a faint, ethereal voice echoed.
“Ahh… the long-awaited purification flames… Though they fall short of the divine light wielded by Phaethon, they are enough to evoke nostalgia…”
As the voice faded, sudden movements arose. The desert, continuously baked by the radiant light, suddenly turned crimson, starting from the focal point of the beams and expanding outward at high speed. Within moments, the sand within a kilometer radius turned bl**d-red.
The bl**d-red sands began to rhythmically undulate, accompanied by a unsettling thumping sound echoing through space, as if a giant heart was beating beneath the earth. As the ground continuously rose and fell and the “heart” beat, large amounts of “bl**d sand” coalesced into real “flesh.”
On these vast expanses of flesh, veins and bl**d vessels spread, forming massive cracks. From these cracks, eight-meter-long giant eyes and ten-to-twenty-meter-long mouths with fangs opened wide. From a high vantage point, the ground was covered with countless enormous eyes and mouths, their slight opening and closing adding to the grotesque scene.
‘What the hell is this?!’
Facing this dramatic change beneath the earth, Dorothy couldn’t help but think in astonishment. Seeing this, Evie immediately aimed all her cannons at the ground and unleashed a barrage of fire.
“Destroy! The filthy evil!”
Amidst the deafening roar, countless steel shells and energy projectiles rained down on the flesh-covered ground. Unexpectedly, as soon as the steel shells approached the flesh, they began to deform. The hot metal shells transformed into elastic, bl**d-red skins, sprouting eyes on the sides and bat-like wings on top.
Evie’s energy projectiles successfully hit the flesh-covered ground, but after causing a few drops of bl**d, the ground reverted to its original state. The deformed shells, now cone-shaped monsters, bounced back after hitting the ground and flew towards Evie’s warship, wings flapping rapidly. Evie immediately engaged the close-defense cannons, and the impacted shells exploded violently.
While Evie was dealing with her deformed projectiles, the mouths on the flesh-covered ground began vomiting, and thick arms emerged from them. These arms, devoid of skin and severely malformed, protruded from the giant mouths and rapidly extended upward.
Innumerable giant hands reached toward the sky, defying Evie’s close-defense systems and grabbing the rapidly ascending steel battleship. The ship was instantly seized by the deformed hands and pulled downward by a powerful force.
“What… terrible…”
As Evie was grabbed by numerous hands, Vania, who was approaching Evie, was also captured. Before she could react, countless arms rapidly extended and seized her. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free from the dense entanglement.
“Mmm… what…”
Meanwhile, as Evie’s ship was dragged down, the originally glowing emitter could no longer aim. Feith reappeared, illuminated by the glow, seemingly undamaged except for the loss of her original clothing.
As Feith was lifted by the deformed giant hands from the ground, strands of bl**d formed and wove together into a red nun’s habit, which was then put on Feith. Once the “habit” was fully worn, its red material gradually faded to a darker shade.
Wearing the new “clothing,” Feith, supported by the deformed giant hands, approached the restrained Vania and carefully examined the young nun, who seemed anxious but was trying to remain composed. Her eyes were full of curiosity.
“What… are you looking at?”
Looking at Feith, Vania said sternly, frowning. Feith continued to observe and replied.
“I want to see more closely… what kind of existence Olivia valued most among the younger generation over these centuries…”
While stroking Vania’s body, Feith spoke with a peculiar expression. Vania then spoke seriously.
“You’ve been observing me in the camp for so long… haven’t you understood everything?”
“Of course not… otherwise… I wouldn’t be curious about how you managed to modify the Holy Plague on such a scale in an instant… Your secrets aren’t only from Olivia; they’re enough for me to explore for a long time…”
Feith continued to stroke Vania’s cheek. At that moment, countless thunderbolts descended from the sky, striking Feith. Using her infinite arms extending from the ground, Feith blocked the lightning, replacing one arm after another as they were shattered.
“The ancient Lightning of Enlightenment also favors you… Vania Chaffelin, what allure do you possess to attract so much favor? I need to look at you more closely…”
Defending against the lightning, Feith leaned close to Vania’s face and whispered, then placed her other hand on Vania’s chest, standing up and plunging it in with a fearful gaze from Vania.
Amidst Vania’s painful cries, Feith’s hand pierced Vania’s chest. When Vania’s bl**d splattered, a plain-looking Holy Mother pendant inside her clothing burst into brilliant light, piercing through her clothes and illuminating the surroundings.
“What…”
Seeing the light emanating from Vania’s chest, Feith shuddered, immediately withdrawing and covering her eyes. The arms that had restrained Vania released and retreated, and Feith stepped back far away.
“Olivia… I didn’t expect you valued her to this extent…”
Covering her face, Feith looked at Vania with a surprised expression. Under the light, Feith’s face began to melt, revealing a new face gradually appearing on her.
When this face was seen by Evie, who was beginning to rescue Vania from afar, she froze and her expression turned to one of utmost anger.
“Yunina Dotina!!!
