Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1483 First-Class Bishop

Even though the gods have departed, the situation within the city remains far from optimistic.

The four activated churches clashed with the suddenly appearing monsters; however, because the exorcism of the gods had used up most of their reserve energy, the churches failed to gain the upper hand in the initial engagement.

Their adversaries, however, are the so-called "flesh of the gods," which are no less threatening than the filthy things. Among them are mushroom people crawling out of rotting juice, crawling creatures emerging from shriveled fruits growing on withered branches, madmen who will get up no matter how they are killed and gradually adapt to the attacks, and giant corpse balls pieced together from cold, invisible bones.

Some temporary shelters were breached almost instantly, and many residents and guards became victims of the monsters' rampage. A few heavily defended neighborhoods were still resisting with the help of the church and the garrison, but since the Violet City's top fighting force, the Title Knights, had already left, they could only hold on and could not wait for new reinforcements.

Just then, a massive influx of insects began to pour out of the castle on the mountain. Like a tidal wave, they surged out of the doors and windows, rushing down the mountain under the command of the queen, whose size had swelled to four or five meters tall. Aggressive pheromones continuously sprayed from the queen's body, and the air was filled with an increasingly bloody stench.

Within minutes, the worker insects had burrowed into several buildings constructed on the mountain and quickly began building their nests. Then, the soldier insects dragged out the nobles still hiding in their homes, along with their guards, tearing them apart to make food balls, which were then handed over to nearby worker insects to be transported to the queen.

As the swarm moved forward, the giant-mouthed humans that Lu Ning had knocked out on the mountain with her potion were discovered by the soldier insects. After sacrificing a few of them, the soldier insects realized that their mouths should not be touched, so they transported them all to the top of the mountain and presented them to the queen.

Just then, the effects of the drug wore off, and the one with the largest mouth among the giant-mouthed men woke up. Upon seeing the enormous queen insect, he hurriedly waved his hands, tore open his clothes, and revealed the alien creature embedded in his body.

Then he saw the queen's drooling eyes and her open, sickle-shaped mouthparts.

Predatory instinct.

Four chelicerae suddenly grew from the queen's body, pinning him to the ground. Then, her huge mouth bit down, tearing the book off his body and swallowing it whole. Ignoring the swallowing power of her massive mouth, she continued to gnaw at him. After paying the price of several pairs of mouthparts, he was completely swallowed by the queen.

The infected created by the "alien" are not in a cooperative relationship. The queen of the insects will naturally not refuse the delicious food that is about to be eaten, even if it means suffering a little damage.

The second book appeared on the queen's body, accompanied by the release of more information pheromones, which stirred the swarm.

Pheromones, eating.

Wings began to grow from the backs of countless soldier insects. They swooped down the mountain, gnawing at the blockade line constructed by the Kishi Hub. Meanwhile, the more intelligent alien insects transformed their arms into sturdy weapons and began to demolish houses and collect building materials.

When they opened some sturdy basements, they found that the people hiding inside had either been transformed into insects or were being eaten by those transformed. The high concentration of pheromones had begun to damage the human nervous system, stimulating their wildness, and the shift in wildness would greatly accelerate the transformation process. However, these transformed insects were still too low-level, "slaves" even lower than worker insects.

The only building the Zerg swarm avoids is the Church of St. Ist. Named after a former pope, this church is protected by the gods. Before the queen is strong enough, anyone who dares to enter will be punished by the gods and killed instantly.

In other words, only the Church of the East has such power; no other church has the means to directly block the swarm of insects in this way.

The moment the defense line was breached, the swarm of insects smelled even more fresh flesh and blood.

And there was a female cultivator who had already led her men to stand behind the defensive line. She wore a crimson cultivator's robe, but the wide hem had been rolled up and tied tightly with a belt. She held a straight sword in one hand and a short-handled musket in the other, and there were nine deep red eyes circling around her.

"They're a bunch of disgusting insects... I'm afraid everyone on the mountain is dead, and I wonder if the people in the Church of East are safe." Rosalind cursed, then ordered, "Strangle them all, leave no one alive!"

The monks and knights following behind her shouted in unison, stepping on the halo and advancing. Rosalind, however, spun around and plunged into the swarm of insects like a tornado. Her blade flashed, leaving crimson afterimages, and in an instant, limbs flew off, and blood and flesh littered the ground. Neither soldier insects nor worker insects could resist the sharpness of that straight blade; a touch meant certain death.

"Tsk, too many." After Rosalyn fought her way through the horde of insects, she glanced at the seemingly endless sea of ​​insects. The cultivators and paladins behind her didn't have the same fighting power. Although they were still trying to stop the insects, more than a dozen of them had already been bitten or killed.

Rosalind's direct charge into the enemy ranks immediately attracted several nearby alien insects, which swung their arms, which had turned into weapons, and pounced on her. Rosalind swung her sword back and found that although she could still cut through them, she could not cut them as cleanly as before.

"Heh, I should have submitted an application to get a Divine Transformation type sword..." Rosalin sensed something was wrong and immediately retreated. Then, the nine eyes around her simultaneously emitted light.

The seventh-tier divine technique "Illusionary Eye"!
"However, the gap in quantity is not so difficult to bridge."

Nine Rosalyns appeared in the light of the eyes, surrounded by a deep red aura, their faces expressionless. As soon as they appeared, they immediately began to slaughter the surrounding insects with the same sword technique.

One of the alien insects scoffed, "Only nine?"

“Yes, and its strength is only nine-tenths of mine.” Rosalind appeared instantly in front of the insect that had spoken, and a crimson blade flashed across its neck.

Meanwhile, other Zerglings discovered that around several clones that had been killed more often, shadows with deep red eyes began to appear, also nine in total.

"Ha, never seen the strength of a first-level Archbishop of the Warning Hub? Well, you're going to have to broaden your horizons today, offspring of the Creeping King." Rosalind raised her knife and pointed at the remaining nearby alien insects. After the eyes around them solidified, the clones immediately emitted light again, and new clones took shape in the light.

In this brief moment, Rosalyn had already fought her way to another Zergling and severed its troublesome arms before it could react.

"Although my strength will be weakened every time I release it, it needs to be reduced to at least half its original value so that I can't defeat you. Why don't we calculate how many of my clones will be on the battlefield?"

Before the alien insect could react, its head was cleaved in two by a single stroke.

"You actually calculated that, you idiot."

At that moment, another First-Rank Bishop, Krom of the Saviour's Cabinet, appeared beside her like a ghost.

"Rosalind, stop dealing with the grunts here. Your fighting ability isn't meant to be wasted here."

Rosalind glanced back; the gray-haired monk still had a lifeless face, holding a mace in one hand and the head of an alien insect in the other.

"Ah...you asked it out?"

"The Grand Duke's youngest daughter, Tia, probably obtained some contaminant related to the Plague Lord, hoping for power and status." Krom smashed a swarming insect with his hammer and continued, "She's probably in the castle on the mountain right now. Getting rid of her will probably stop the proliferation."

“That idiot.” Rosalind’s face turned cold. “You mean the two of us should go up the mountain?” “No one else has the strength to rush up there.” Krom held up the Zerg head in his hand. “Are you going or not? If not, I’ll throw it away.”

"Walk."

The surrounding insects had already been killed by Rosalyn, who was separated from Illusion Eye. The two of them were just cleaning up some of the remaining ones. However, going up the mountain would not be so easy. Even with the strength of a first-level bishop, there was still a possibility of being swallowed up when faced with such a large number of insects.

That's why Krom is needed.

He spread his fingers, and a dim light enveloped the two of them. In an instant, all the scents on their bodies became indistinguishable from those of the alien insects. Then, a red beam of light shone from the eye behind Rosalyn's back, turning their appearances into illusions of alien insects as well.

Once the disguise was complete, Krom pushed aside the insects in front of him and began to walk up the mountain. Rosalind followed closely behind, drinking a bottle of medicine to restore the strength she had just used up.

Meanwhile, Lu Ning had already ridden her horse along the edge of the war zones, arriving near the Second District.

However, the place that should have been the command post was now only guarded by a few cultivators. All the paladins were gone. When they saw Lu Ning, these cultivators did not stop her as they had done before. Instead, they shouted for her to come and help.

help?

Lu Ning hurriedly followed to the defensive line between Zone 2 and Zone 1, only to be shocked by the swarms of insects charging down the mountainside. They were currently being held back near the defensive line, but the church's forces had clearly suffered some casualties, and they would certainly not be able to withstand a prolonged battle.

At this moment, Lu Ning couldn't care less about submitting Edwild's research notes. If this crisis wasn't resolved, the entire church, no, the entire Violet City, would be swallowed up by the swarm of insects!

She immediately moved to the side of an injured cultivator, had the healer drag him away, and then unleashed a palm strike that blasted two or three insects to pieces. She then swung her sword and engaged a soldier insect that had charged into the battle line.

However, this exchange surprised Lu Ning. The soldier insect was quite powerful. It took her a bit of effort to cut off its head. In terms of combat power alone, it was probably comparable to some regular knights.

No wonder the church had such a hard time. If it weren't for the fact that there weren't too many insects on the defensive line, their sheer numbers would have been enough to overwhelm this place.

“That won’t do,” a knight fighting next to Lu Ning suddenly said. “You need to aim a little above the heart. There, they all have some armor, and that’s the only vulnerable spot.”

As he spoke, the knight plunged his sword into the corresponding spot on one of the insect soldiers, then flicked it upwards, sending half of its shoulder and head flying.

"Because they have an outer shell, they have very few bones inside, making them similar to insects, and they can be easily torn apart."

"Thank you for your guidance." Lu Ning nodded and immediately followed suit, seizing a weakness in a soldier insect and breaking through its carapace defense. The Snowlight Sword was sharp enough that it could slice off the head without even needing to slash upwards.

"Hold on, just hold on until the people from the fundamental structure come back to reinforce it! Keep them trapped here!"

"Wounded soldiers, go down and recover immediately! Don't linger in battle!"

"We've received reinforcements from two knightly teams. Which line of defense has been hit harder?"

The shouts of magic echoed across the battlefield, and as Lu Ning gradually became more skilled and killed more and more insect soldiers, she encountered a new opponent.

This was a short, alien insect, a head shorter than Lu Ning, but with very long arms that were like drills, connected by jointed arms. When it swung, it made a powerful gust of wind, and there were also some barbs on the drills. Unless someone was wearing heavy armor, it would be difficult for them to escape unscathed if they were hit.

Before the alien insect could reach the front line, Lu Ning had already seen its attack warning. She immediately dodged the drill's attack and then slashed at the bone-like arm with her sword, but only managed to cut a shallow dent.

The destructive power of fourth-tier divine spells is no longer sufficient on this kind of battlefield.
Lu Ning crouched down to dodge the drill bit that was thrown back in retaliation. The drill bit smashed half of the wall, sending a lot of soil and rock debris flying. Without hesitation, Lu Ning immediately drew the gun from her back and fired a shot into the abdomen of the alien insect through the smoke.

There's always a chance things might go wrong, and besides, the first Na she used is almost fully replenished, so one more shot won't make a difference.

The rapidly spreading and corrosive divine power quickly gnawed the alien insect into an empty shell, and the insect collapsed amidst the chaos of battle.

=
"Ok?"

Near the castle, Krom turned his head and glanced around.

"What's wrong?" Rosalyn asked.

"There's the aura of the Salvation Core's secret weapon being activated. Strange, the force I sent out should still be near the area where the gods were expelled."

"Isn't that a good thing? It means that your Salvation Council has some more manpower to join this battle, which increases our chances of winning." Rosalind grinned.

"You war maniac... why didn't you enter the Burial Pit back then?" Krom sighed.

“I prefer protecting the innocent to dealing with disasters after they happen.” Rosalind glanced at the castle not far away. The rising sun shone on the castle, making the remaining bloodstains very conspicuous.

“Ah, it’s because… okay, I won’t ask anymore.” Krom nodded.

“Now is not the time for idle chatter. Do you see that large observation deck on the second floor of the castle?” Rosalind pointed with her knife.

"See, what?"

Rosalind sheathed her knife, grabbed Crom's arm, and simultaneously raised her gun to aim at the observation deck.

"My sword isn't divinely transformed, but this gun is. Let's go, warp fire."

The silent gunshot instantly drew the two into one "point," while in the blink of an eye, another "point" began to unfold on the observation deck.