Weak (3K)

Holy City Latina was a city of water. Originally, it had merely been a massive harbor, but after the Church of Healing moved its headquarters here, it gradually developed into a vast city built upon the water.

The Church drove enormous wooden stakes into the mud and sand, then laid down thick, massive slabs of Istra Stone. This stone possessed exceptionally superior waterproof properties, and thus the city was built up bit by bit.

The city’s residents traveled by boat, creating the distinctive scenery of a water city.

Moreover, this unusual construction had served as a natural barrier during the era when the Church of Healing fought its fiercest battles against those dangerous Mixed-bloods, helping the Church repel wave after wave of ferocious Mixed-bloods.

At this moment, a faint bloody hue lingered over the waters within Latina. Strands of Scarlet Sheen continuously emanated from every corner of the city, ultimately converging upon the highest cathedral of the Church of Healing.

Inside the cathedral, a gigantic man over three meters tall stood with his back to the towering ancient god statue at the Church of Healing’s entrance, gazing at the dazzling stained-glass window that seemed like a wall.

Sunlight passed through the glass, casting multicolored radiance that made Lawrence recall many long-forgotten scenes from the past.

Dragons had stood high above all else, while humans had been raised like livestock. Humanity’s status had not been much different from the hunting dogs and poultry raised by humans in the present world.

Humans could be used to experiment with novel abilities. Humans could be enslaved. Humans could be killed. Humans also made rather good food.

Lawrence closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Scarlet Sheen flickered faintly beneath his skin.

Yet that miserable history had eventually reached a turning point.

A group of humans had seen a glowing lifeform atop the Alps. It was known as the ancient god, The Old One.

No one knew how long the ancient god had existed. It possessed knowledge and abilities utterly beyond human comprehension. The ancient god began enlightening humanity, and humanity began obtaining knowledge entirely different from that of Dragon Clan civilization.

In the end, guided by that wisdom and the Knowledge of the Stars, humanity began continuously offering young virgins to the powerful Dragon Clan, breeding Mixed-bloods with Dragon Bloodline through this method.

More importantly, this act had ultimately caused a rift between Male Dragons and Female Dragons. The proud Dragon Clan had finally begun a civil war because of this ugly scheme.

After prolonged slaughter and brutal warfare, humanity gained dominion over the world…

"Your Excellency, Lady Seraphina has been located by the Hymn Choir. We encountered some beasts, as well as… resistance from the Ash Hunters."

A heavy voice rang out from the cathedral entrance. The man who entered wore a top hat and an exquisite aristocratic formal suit. Beneath the black attire was a white lining, and his elaborate, elegant collar made it clear that he was a human of noble status.

But now, his face was completely wrapped in white bandages. The area around his mouth was blood red, while black smoke curled above his head.

Rather than a human, he looked more like… a beast!

Lawrence was not surprised by the report. He opened his eyes, and through the enormous stained-glass window, his gaze instantly reached hundreds of kilometers away.

He clearly saw the Ash Knights, who had been relentlessly fighting the knights of his Church, standing resolutely in front of that red-haired girl.

They desperately repelled wave after wave of attacks from the Hymn Choir.

Of course, the Ash Knights’ numbers were steadily dwindling. Those humans whose willpower was strong enough to resist the ancient god’s corruption time and again were rapidly dying…

Lawrence lowered his eyelids, pity showing in his gaze.

Clearly… everyone could evolve alongside him, ascend into that boundless starry sky, yet they were pointlessly bleeding out their noble blood in a place like this.

"How… ignorant."

The Crimson Pope, Lawrence, turned around and opened his eyes. Beneath each eyelid were more than a dozen pupils crammed within a single eyeball.

"Gilbert, I saw that Etoris has met two strange humans. Go kill them, and while you’re at it… bring Seraphina back."

"You know we need her. Her precious blood should not flow inside those ignorant creatures."

The man called Gilbert gave a slight nod. He raised the rapier in his right hand before his chest, a symbol of his oath.

Gilbert then turned around and bent his knees. The next moment, with a bang, he kicked up blazing white wisps of cloud and flew straight out of the cathedral. He stepped twice across the sea’s surface before vanishing from sight.

Lawrence raised both hands, and countless howls immediately echoed through the city.

The illusory bloody color in the water seemed to solidify into stairs at that moment, converging toward the cathedral.

As that bloody color flowed with the seawater, it resembled blood vessels on an enormous invisible heart, rapidly surging as they gently contracted.

From high above, Holy City Latina itself emitted Scarlet Sheen amid the sea, endlessly twisting.

"Lady Seraphina, we can hold on for about five more minutes. Please leave immediately."

The man in the gray cloak held a short sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other. He wiped the blood from his face with his arm, his expression calm.

The Hymn Choir knights opposite them had also had their formation broken. Two of them had even revealed beastly forms.

The leader’s head had already vanished, replaced by several pitch-black serpents constantly winding their bodies.

The red-haired girl frowned as she looked at the Hymn Choir knights displaying beastly forms and shouted angrily.

"Alice, take your people and retreat at once! Once I investigate the widespread beastification in the surrounding towns, I will naturally return to the holy city to meet His Excellency Lawrence!"

The girl’s red hair trembled, and her face was flushed. She had vaguely realized that the Hymn Choir was not here because she had supposedly defied His Excellency Lawrence’s orders.

Something on that level was nowhere near enough to cause such large-scale bloodshed.

And besides…

Who could have imagined that those standing before her at a time like this would be the Hunters who lurked in the shadows and constantly hunted the Church of Healing’s knights?

The knight called Alice wore a heavy helmet. Without saying a word, he drew the Claymore from his back and swung it forward.

The Hymn Choir charged once more. This time, all of them sank their bodies as blood mist erupted from within them.

The next moment, amid roars of beasts, every one of those knights began to change.

One man’s body suddenly became incomparably huge. As his flesh and blood swelled, he grew beyond eight meters tall, and his armor burst apart completely.

Another’s head rapidly expanded, his skull turned inside out, and muscles and fascia covered his brain. Scarlet light gleamed from the staff in his hand.

One by one, the Hymn Choir knights began beastifying, while the few remaining Ash Hunters gathered together.

"Lady Seraphina, go!"

"Many say you are the hope of this world. Please let our deaths have value!"

After saying this, the man gave a low shout and fired a rapid volley from his crossbow. Every bolt precisely exploded one of the serpents atop the snake-headed man’s body as he swiftly rushed forward.

He raised his short sword and severed the opponent’s neck with a single slash.

But in the next moment, Scarlet light lit up beneath his feet. He only had time to leap forward before one of his feet had already corroded and rotted away. Before he could struggle, a gigantic arm smashed down from above.

Boom!

The terrible impact shook the ground, and a bloody aura rapidly spread.

Seraphina gritted her teeth and sliced open her wrist. She raised her arm high, and the blood flowing out transformed into droplets that shot in every direction.

When a drop of blood entered the body of a huge, twisted Hymn Choir knight, he immediately let out a pained howl. The next moment, his body began shrinking. His beastification was completely reversed, and he began changing back toward a human.

Several others were struck as well.

At the very rear, the man called Alice removed his helmet. Beneath it was a fully beastlike face covered in scales. His body was packed with sinewy muscles covered in grayish-brown scales, his hands were like claws, and his entire being radiated the tough aura of a dragonman.

He slightly tilted his head to evade the incoming blood droplets, then walked toward Seraphina step by step.

"Lady Seraphina, your noble blood should not flow through the filthy bodies of people like us, much less through the bodies of those lowly beasts…"

He advanced step by step. An Ash Hunter rushed forward, gripping a blood-red katana in both hands and delivering a desperate slash, but Alice merely raised a hand and easily caught the blade.

Crack—splurt!

Alice took one step forward. The broken blade pierced out through the Hunter’s neck, and by the time blood shot into the sky, he had already arrived before Seraphina.

He stretched out his hand to seize Seraphina.

Whoosh!

A fierce whistling sound tore through the air. Alice slightly turned his head and saw a Claymore spinning toward him.

He raised his hand, about to catch the sword, when his expression suddenly changed and his body abruptly sank.

Buzz!

A figure suddenly appeared behind the Claymore. Etoris, who had approached while invisible using the Nether Shadow Spirit of Words, grabbed the Claymore and unleashed a fierce horizontal slash.

As the air screamed, silver-white sword light exploded.

But Alice evaded the strike. In the next instant, he slammed a fist into Etoris’s chest. The air seemed to liquefy and cave in before violently shattering.

Bang!

Etoris’s body twisted, his limbs hanging limply before him. That overwhelming force sent him flying, and only after bouncing across the ground several times did he stop nearly a hundred meters away.

He clutched his chest. Amid the agonizing pain of broken ribs, the Hamon Breathing Style naturally began circulating. His injuries quickly began healing, while his muscles tightened even further.

As expected of the leader of the Hymn Choir. That strength far exceeded his imagination.

"Etoris, you have joined us in the end too~"

Alice saw that Etoris had survived his punch, then noticed the obvious signs of beastification on his body.

The red-haired Seraphina noticed it as well. She covered her wrist and was about to heal her knight, but Etoris raised a hand to stop her.

"Don’t do that, Lady Seraphina. For now, I still need this power…"

His voice was low as he continuously tried to stir the restless blood within his body, praying that those people could spare someone to come support him in time.

But when he recalled that the one who had intercepted them from the sky was Gilbert, that famous French swordsman, he had never expected such a person to join His Excellency Lawrence’s camp.

Even the man known as His Excellency Mercenary Tao might have difficulty escaping Gilbert quickly…

Whoosh—boom!

A pitch-black figure fell from the sky like a cannonball, moving so fast that it produced a terrifying shriek in the air.

When it struck the ground, everyone felt the earth tremble.

Whether it was the beastified Hymn Choir, the severely wounded Ash Knights, or Seraphina, Alice, and the others…

Their gazes instantly turned toward the enormous crater in the ground.

Aisli arrived beside the crater. Charred black remnants still lingered within it, as though the other party’s body had caught fire from falling too quickly.

Inside the crater, a twisted humanoid creature convulsed faintly. Its exquisite formal attire was completely shattered, and its flesh had become somewhat loose.

"Gilbert…"

Aisli murmured the name, then suddenly turned to look behind him.

In the sky, a long-haired man completely ignored gravity as he slowly descended. His long black hair danced in the wind. He tilted his head slightly upward, looking down at them with only his lower eyelids, his voice full of mockery.

"Tsk, this is the upper echelon of the Church of Healing?"

"So weak."

Thump!

Thump!

Etoris’s heart began pounding uncontrollably, and the fire of hope ignited once again.