Chapter 142: Haze Extermination Dead City (Part Four)
“Should we take a look first?”
Carlos turned his head to ask, “We waltz in here without facing a single obstacle, yet the streets look like a warzone. Clearly, whether it’s the Temple Church or the Council, those who could escape are a bit unclear to me, but I bet the ones still hanging around aren’t many.”
“This situation has exceeded our predictions by a landslide. The whole city is eerily silent; who knows what deadly things are hiding around here? Look up at the sky, those dead smokes are hanging like storm clouds and show no signs of clearing. I’ve never seen anything like it, not even during the Valen Calamity.”
He paused for effect, “Little Shay, do you think you can handle it?”
“You mean, release that enormous amount of dead smoke all at once and keep it from dispersing?”
I glanced up at the sky, asking him while mentally calculating, and realized I had no clue about the answer because I had never tried it. It felt doable, though.
But how long could I sustain it? That’s something I’d have to test—definitely couldn’t keep it up for days, I’d get tired, bored, and would want to do something more fun instead.
So I shook my head, “That’s hard.”
“Then what we’re facing might be beyond our abilities.”
Carlos decisively concluded, “From what we heard from that choir earlier, it’s almost certain that the Mother Deity is awakening. The fact that it’s just the two of us here was a bit rushed. I think the wisest choice right now is to turn back without hesitation, report about the destruction of the Holy City, and decide on our next steps afterward.”
“However, the consequences of doing this could delay matters, and I won’t even get into that. If we return with nothing, just relying on our words, hardly anyone will believe us. It’s like we wasted a trip—worse, that woman Victoria will make things harder, and your father over at Shanter Castle won’t take it lightly either.”
“So, we have a dilemma—do we retreat or advance? Retreating leads to unpredictable consequences, but advancing carries our own risks. Little Shay, you seem to have the clearest understanding of the situation. What should we do? You decide.”
Me decide?~
If it were up to me, there wouldn’t be much to ponder.
“Then let’s—”~
But just as I opened my mouth, Carlos cut me off, “Don’t even think about suggesting I let you go back alone while I stay here. Not happening.”
His tone was calm, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes.
“……”
What a buzzkill.
With just a look, he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Alright, then let’s go.”
I nodded, decisively turning east, “To the Temple Church. At least we should find someone alive first, then we can plan our next move.”
With my back to him, I couldn’t help but smile slightly—maybe even unknowingly to myself.
I refuse to believe that in such a huge city, there’s not a single living soul left…
…………
However, along the way, we indeed saw not a single living person.
Destruction everywhere: crumbled buildings, crushed roads, fallen cathedral walls spanning the cracked streets, and corpses half-buried, their powerless hands reaching out forward. It was a grim scene of grotesque d*ath and decay.
They wore civilian clothing and had clearly been dead for a long time; their innards shriveled and darkened, half-buried under ash, bl**d already congealed into the yellowed brick rubble. Some must have died by accident, but many looked as though they were fleeing, only to be slain in desperate struggles. In some houses that hadn’t been entirely demolished, Carlos and I ventured inside to find chaos—everything of value stripped away: food, silver coins, you name it, gone.
As we moved cautiously, we stumbled upon more and more bodies—most were citizens of the Holy City, though we also encountered soldiers sprawled across the streets.
These soldiers donned intricate golden armor, draped in yellow cloaks, and massive, flashy helmets. Carlos informed me they were heavy infantry of the cult in the city, kind of like the royal city’s enforcers, maintaining order in the Holy City, but they were few and stationed further south at the Temple Church.
We gazed at that area from afar, and it was essentially a wasteland, ravaged and scarred from battle.
After that, we dropped our caution and instead risked it by throwing a couple of ice blasts, hoping to draw some attention—any attention, be it from the Temple Church, St. George, or Angel, anyone. Yet, no response came.
Carlos and I grew more silent as we traversed; starting with our initial reluctant exclamations, we soon lost any interest in conversation as we neared the Temple Church.
Every time I looked up at the swirling black smoke, it felt as though countless eyes were watching me closely.
At last, the Magnificent Hall loomed ahead.
The wind howled, lightning crackled, sweeping past like some divine force had blasted open a gaping hole in the estate. The vast Temple Square appeared, still echoing the chaos of battle; these marks weren’t from recent events, the scorched earth had accumulated ashes, signs of devastation likely a month old at least.
Yet, amidst this, there seemed to be fresh marks too.
“Ugh, that stinks…”
Carlos and I paused in the middle of the square. He glanced at a toppled statue beside him, then focused on a heap of dark, writhing shapes further off, piled high on the square—far taller than the original statue.
The air was filled with a foul odor.
“What’s that?”
“Be careful.”
We skirted the statue, easing in cautiously. Once we got closer, we realized those grim shapes were wriggling; beneath them lay hints of brown bl**d, dried on the square. My mind immediately jumped to the conclusion—corpse piles. Flies!
Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz—
In a flash, the flies erupted into a frenzy, the swarm clouding up into the sky, thick as storm clouds. Many headed in our direction, and suddenly, my heart dropped as I conjured an ice wall, producing a thunderous crash. In my peripheral vision, I saw Carlos dart behind the statue.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz!
The flies fluttered past us, some freezing mid-flight and tumbling down due to the chilling air. After what felt like an eternity, they finally dispersed. I turned back to see Carlos leisurely emerging from behind the statue, shrugging at me. I rolled my eyes at him.
“Who would’ve thought, from entering the city till now, the first living things we’d see would be a horde of flies…”
Ignoring Carlos’s sarcasm, I stepped around the ice wall and got a clearer look—the pile was truly a heap of rotting corpses emanating an unbearable stench.
Carlos joined me, still swatting away flies around his head. We fought the urge to gag as we neared the corpse pile, keeping a distance of over twenty meters, the stench became nearly unbearable. Many bodies were near skeletal, bones rotting with decayed flesh hanging off them—there had to be at least hundreds of bodies.
“Such a tragedy…”
After a long silence, Carlos sighed, “They’re all clerics.”
At that moment, I noticed that most of the corpses—almost all of them—were clad in what was left of clerical robes.
“Faith Organization?”
“Unclear.” I shook my head, “They’ve been dead too long; this was before St. George entered the city.”
“Infighting…”
Carlos pinched his nose while speculating, “Looks like before St. George even stepped in, the city was already embroiled in severe internal conflict, clerics turned on each other. Look over here… these marks all appear to be from divine miracles, Holy Lance, and Nefiloda’s white wings… it’s obvious.”
“……”
I didn’t feel like talking, a heavy sense of dread settled in my heart.
Angel…
What on earth are you doing…
Or rather, what have you done?
Steps began to retreat as I raised my gaze toward the cathedral at the end of the square—a luxurious, opulent structure foul with the smell of corruption. It didn’t resemble a church but rather a golden palace. I had seen my fair share of palaces in this world—the Royal City, Winter City, and even Chielis City’s grandeur. Yet none could compare to the palace before me, shining like it was crafted from gold.
The Temple Church.
For me, it was a place that everyone talked about but that I had never seen firsthand.
Now, it stood right before my eyes.
Magnificent, awe-inspiring, a miracle of human history, though scarred, still not fully destroyed compared to what I’d seen before. It merely felt desolate, vast… empty.
The square was silent, and so was the palace—d*ath was the only thing present.
I was left a bit dazed.
“Hey, Little Shay.”
Coming back to reality at the sound of Carlos calling, I turned to see he had scampered up a lamp post on the square road’s edge and was standing on top, pointing toward the Temple Church’s grand doors. “Look at those bodies over there.”
Before the massive arched doors of the church lay steep stone steps, sparsely scattered with bodies—about ten or twenty. Unlike the piled bodies in the square, this suggested someone had cared to clean up back then; the steps’ bodies hadn’t seen anyone take them away.
Not only that, but from a distance, those corpses were covered in relatively little dust. They had clearly been killed recently—possibly in the battles of the last few days.
Carlos and I exchanged looks, grasping each other’s thoughts.
“Be careful.”
He leaped down from the lamp post and together we cautiously approached. When we reached the nearest body at the stairs, I crouched to examine it while Carlos investigated further ahead. After a moment, I realized this was a cleric’s corpse, already beginning to rot, estimated to have been dead for about a week—definitely no more than half a month.
Thinking back, this would roughly coincide with when St. George and others entered the city.
Looking up again, I spotted another male corpse not far away, dressed in expensive armor with a pierced chest—it was hard to see his age, but the cloak draped over his back was unmistakably that of a Pope Knight.
“Huh?”
After standing up, I heard Carlos say from up ahead, “Wait, I recognize this guy!”
Hmm?
He was halfway up the stairs, crouching over another corpse. I hurried over and found Carlos flipping the body over with the hilt of his sword, staring at its decayed face. He confidently stated, “Mad Dog Muse, appointed as a Pope Knight in the Holy City in 1178. I know him; he’s one of the Star Association people.”
