Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1488 The new priest
"Thirty minutes, passed."

Seeing that the two had remained unconscious for thirty minutes after drinking the reagent, Krom finally nodded in acknowledgment of their talent.

"That's enough. You'll all study together for the next few days... Pharmacist, you'll be the backup."

"Hmm? Why?" the pharmacist asked.

“We need someone strong enough to keep an eye on things.” Rosalind, sitting beside them watching the test, praised the two's talent. “Krom has to take the lead; he can't get away. With everyone else just learning, you're the most suitable to step in immediately. What? Never done a cooperative mission before?”

"Yes." The pharmacist nodded.

“No wonder. Solo cultivators usually don’t need to worry about this kind of problem. They just need to know how to communicate,” Rosalin said. “In addition to learning this spell, all of you can’t slack off on your training. The military strength in this place is severely insufficient. Even if all two hundred people are deployed, it will not be enough to defend this area… I looked at the map. The area divided into blocks here is much larger than normal, which means… the defense zone is much larger.”

"I'm sorry, I didn't think about the need for a full-scale defense at the time..." Vanessa said hastily.

“Of course, so it’s not about blaming anyone. What we need to consider is how to defend effectively with limited manpower. You were defending all by yourself before?” Rosalyn looked at Vanessa.

“I’m in charge of keeping watch and dealing with the lone invisible monsters. Veronica is gathering people together. Father Thorne has designated an area where we plan to build several centralized shelters, but it’s still under construction.”

“Considering that the divine calamity occurred last night and the lockdown didn’t last long, your reaction speed is quite fast.” Rosalind was very satisfied. “I’ll help with this part. After all, I’m from the Warning Hub, so I have more experience in this area. It’s a pity there aren’t many monks from the Foundation Hub here.”

Those who lack the strength cannot repair these well-established defenses, especially when it is a god who breaches them.

“Yes… Anyway, you can’t practice spells all day long. You can use the rest of the time to practice combat skills with Rosalind.” Krom agreed.

But that afternoon, someone brought even worse news.

Kyrios, a senior monk of the Burial Grounds and a man who has carried out many dangerous missions, has entered this area.

Vanessa was the first to spot him, but fortunately, the apothecary was also practicing magic with him, so Vanessa didn't kill the suspicious person on the spot. Kyrios was in extremely poor condition; half of his head was almost gone, the severed surface covered with a layer of golden light that could obscure vision, and there were several holes formed by golden light on his body. His expression was relatively calm, but he was very weak, practically like a dead man.

Rosalind rushed over upon hearing the news and immediately saw Kyrios's condition.

"Possession into another's body? What did you encounter?"

“A… fellow blessed by the Plague Lord.” Upon seeing Rosalind, Kyrios seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief and immediately collapsed to the ground. “I couldn’t go too far, I didn’t have time to report to the Church of Ist… I’m back here to warn you. That fellow has a book on him; he’s been blessed by the Mad King and seems to be able to see things that ordinary people can’t. I couldn’t figure it out. I injured him, but I doubt it even worked.”

“You’ve encountered an infected alien,” Rosalyn said through gritted teeth. “So there are still some pests left in the city after all…”

"It's good that you know this. This new life I've been given... hasn't been wasted. Please bury me in the church, and the gods will welcome me to their kingdom." Kyrios slowly closed his eyes. "May you all..."

He collapsed before he could finish his final blessing.

“It’s been resurrected… that enemy is no weaker than the Queen of Insects.” Rosalind’s expression was solemn. “Given our current physical condition, if the enemy were to break in, we would both be killed.”

“We must bury him.” The apothecary sighed. “As for what comes after, you’re right, our fighting strength here is insufficient to deal with the next holder of the alien.”

“So at least in the short term, I need to train at least one person who can use the Space Slash.” Rosalind touched the empty scabbard. “Also, find a good sword.”

Although the power to truly sever space came from the attachment of that divine-transformed weapon, its own quality still had to be sufficient, so an additional item was added to everyone's schedule.

Krom's lessons were relatively easy, as eighth-order spells weren't easily mastered. The three cultivators he selected were making slow but steady progress. The apothecary, however, learned remarkably quickly, able to cast spells independently and even cancel them after just one lesson. It just goes to show that the divinely favored physique of a saint is truly rare and highly sought after.

But when it was Rosalyn's turn to train, it was very tough.

Father Thorne had hired a martial arts instructor for Vanessa and Veronica. Rosalyn, after observing their performance, commented that their basic skills were solid, but the techniques they learned were not very useful.

“You two are living in good conditions, and your strength and agility are better than the average person. Your teachers only teach you some points to pay attention to when fighting one-on-one. But usually, we are either facing people, or it is not one-on-one, or it is both.” Rosalind gathered all the able-bodied people in an open space in the church to teach them.

The pharmacist has already developed her own combat system, and Rosalind doesn't intend to change her individual combat habits unless under extreme circumstances. But the others are soldiers by nature, and with Veronica, Vanessa, and some of the younger, stronger members of the church, all of them must be prepared for combat.

"Many of you have already experienced the Zerglings released by the Queen. Can those things be measured by common sense? Sometimes you are not even at an advantage. In a war of this scale, you cannot lack the ability to strike at the vital points, to conserve your energy, and to have keen battlefield observation skills."

Rosalind picked up a knife that she had found temporarily for teaching purposes.

"My swordsmanship has no name; it's just something that has accompanied me through many battlefields. You can simply call it the Conquest Swordsmanship; it doesn't matter. Next, I will tell you how to find the enemy's weakness most quickly, and then the most swift way to kill them."

The pharmacist sat on a high point on the outer perimeter. Although she wasn't required to study it, she was still very curious about the fighting style of a first-level bishop.

Krom stood beside her, coughing occasionally.

“Baptiste Krom, your health…” “Not so good. The damage I took has also had a significant impact. Rosalyn’s body almost turned into foam. She probably knows her days are numbered, so she wants to pass on what she has learned as soon as possible,” Krom said.

The pharmacist turned around in surprise: "I thought your treatment had cured most of the symptoms."

“However, the only thing that is deadly is the contamination of divine power,” Krom replied. “You are still young and have never seen anything like this. Even those monks who accidentally came into contact with residual divine power in those ruins and had to return to heal them, many of them couldn’t hold on and died. How much more so would the contamination spread by a real god? The reason we two are alive is purely because this is not a direct influence of a god on us, but just residual contamination. That’s the absolute difference.”

"What if we could also communicate with the gods..."

"Don't be like that. You think the Fountain of Youth is unpolluted? We just don't call it polluting. Even though you're a saint, it's the same. There was a saint who used his status to take a bath in the Fountain of Youth and then claimed that he was immortal."

"...But later it became a tree." The pharmacist naturally knew this story as well. Just like the evergreen plants around the Fountain of Youth, the saint who was thoroughly soaked in it also turned into the same tree. This tree is still planted in the church courtyard in the capital, and it is unknown whether it still has human consciousness.

"The gods bestow magic and occasionally offer revelations; that's enough. If we can't solve problems independently, our gods will become problems too." Crom grinned. "Look, why does Rosalind hone her martial arts skills? It's because she doesn't want to rely too much on the gods of the Warning Hub."

"I understand."

=
The recapture of the Church of St. Ist was effortless, or rather, unnecessary.

When Charles and Remington returned to the church to prepare for battle, they saw some monks dragging the insect corpses to the central open space and burning them.

"The two First-Class Inspectors have finally returned."

A stern-faced monk approached them; clearly, this monk was the one in charge of this recaptured church.

“Brother Bavotteli?” Charles recognized the rather eccentric monk who had been standing out since arriving at East Church. The trials he had conducted had produced several classic cases that caused a great stir, so Charles still remembered him quite well.

"It's me. You two, the Church of East has been restored to order. When I brought people back, I found the scattered insectoids. They didn't put up a fierce resistance, but instead were looking for their own nests, so I cleared them out."

“Very good… Bavotley, you have demonstrated your abilities. Would you be willing to temporarily assume the bishop’s position in the Oathkeeping Council? We will likely be going through a period of time without administrators.”

"Yes, chaos requires strong enough management to resolve it. I will also conduct a faith check on everyone to prevent any traitors from emerging among us."

"You can do as you see fit, as long as it doesn't exceed the scope of a bishop's duties. But there's one more thing I need to tell you."

Charles informed Bavotley of the results of his communication with Vagiya. After listening, the monk pondered for a moment before saying, "We are still unable to organize an orderly evacuation within the city. Even if the church agrees, the various districts are in chaos. We cannot establish effective contact with the various shelters and churches in each district, nor can we determine how many hostile forces are still causing trouble in Violet City."

“Yes, so a lockdown is in effect now. First, the Church needs to negotiate the terms we agreed on with the others watching this place. Then, they need to research methods to cure the divine power contamination. Finally, Violet City needs to be cleaned up. All of these things must be done,” Charles said.

“Then we must gather our personnel. With our current manpower, we simply cannot meet these requirements,” Bavotley said. “I suggest we start by gathering personnel from the western part of the district. There has been no major unrest there, and the area is smaller. We should be able to gather a considerable number of church personnel, guards, and sheltered residents.”

Charles looked at Bavotley with considerable appreciation: "Your idea is indeed good, but the West End was a rather chaotic area before, and there's even a Lake of Rotten Juice nearby. We don't know if it has been cleaned up properly; we still need to investigate."

“Let me take a team of fifteen men,” Bavotley said. “Now that you two are back, it is only right that you two take charge of restoring order to the Church of East.”

“You all take a rest, we’ll set off tomorrow. Today we need to take stock of the remaining resources at the Church of East and tally the estimated number of members who haven’t yet been recovered,” Charles said.

"You call this letting people rest?" Remington couldn't help but say. "If these two jobs aren't finished by midnight tonight, then everyone will be working incredibly fast."

=
As the shadows left by the gods finally dissipated somewhat with the setting sun, the restless people in each district began to stir again.

Some of them were church-led, and the remaining priests worked to restore order and try to contact their counterparts in other churches. Poirot, Quirinal, and Elti were among them; they were all church elites who could quickly unite all the people and maintain local order.

However, the church can only effectively control a few places. If only the small chapel remains, it will be difficult to resist the demons and monsters that have infiltrated the city.

“This won’t do, my fellow countrymen.”

Danshi and the other young nobles stood in front of a church, looking at the monks and commoners at the entrance.

"Divine calamity. You may not be aware of this, so let me tell you: the seeds of divinity have been planted within us, and we will grow into divine beings. To be honest, to outsiders, we who have grown into divine beings are more valuable than we are now. This is the destiny ordained for us—we cannot accept it."

“You can’t prove it!” a monk shouted. “The Church will come to our rescue!”

"If the church prioritizes its own interests, then it will share in the natural treasures of God's transformation; if the church prioritizes human interests, then we will certainly be relegated to the back. In either case, we will not be the ones who are saved. Therefore, if we want to survive, we can only rely on ourselves and cannot depend on the church."

There weren't enough monks in the chapel, and it was clear that many were wavering after Danshi's words.

“I am not asking everyone to abandon their faith. I just hope that those who are saving themselves can unite and temporarily abandon those useless prejudices. After all, we need to prioritize life now, not only for us, but also for the civilians that you and I have worked so hard to protect. This does not violate the doctrine, does it?”