Mage? Spell Engineer!.

Chapter 581 Spirit and Fire

Saga is cautious, even to the point of being cruel at times just for the sake of safety.

On the night he arrived in the city of Opfer for help, a small team began to enter the countryside from the outskirts of the city.

Their actions were covert and quick. They investigated house by house. If there were any unknown statues, props that could be used in rituals, or suspicious symbols in the house, they would be knocked down, taken away, and thrown into the carriage.

The items will be sealed and moved, and the life and death of those associated with the cult will be decided after a hasty trial, and in order to avoid missing any targets, most of them will be burned completely.

Those responsible for the execution are the "firewood bearers" of the Tower of First Flame, who are similar to the star-robed mages of the Valois Guild, and carry out some special tasks that require force and loyalty.

For example, now, it is unlikely that the guild can "clean up" the situation, unless they intervene forcefully.

The clearance went very smoothly. The "harvest" from five or six surrounding villages filled thirteen horse-drawn carriages, with both people and property. It was obvious that the underground cult was spreading and developing among the farmers.

It was not until the early morning that something unusual happened in the seventh village, far away from the city.

The local villagers discovered them, and then all of them surrounded the outsiders, holding torches and waving plows and pitchforks.

The defensive magic that the firewood carrier casually cast could withstand the attacks of these villagers, and he was not afraid of even the crudely made hunting rifles.

The three-person team in charge of this village faced the frenzy of the villagers, called for reinforcements using [Radio Communication Technique], and walked towards the large barn where the villagers had the most protection.

Before they even got there, they heard the wooden door of the barn banging. It looked like the barn and the door had been reinforced with crisscrossing wooden bars, and even so, the iron lock and chain that sealed the door seemed to be shaky under the impact.

There was a sickening stench coming from cracks all over the building.

After realizing that they could not stop the three outsiders, the desperate villagers threw away their weapons and began to kneel and cry in front of the barn.

The crying sounds gradually became one and the louder the crying outside, the more violent the impact from inside.

"Get ready for battle." The firewood carrier finally got serious.

The sound of hinges and wood bending pierced through the cries, followed by the most powerful impact yet. This force was incomparable to that of an ordinary human, and as expected, there was no human figure that broke through the door.

Four or five white monsters came out, their bodies covered with pink tumors, roughly the size of gorillas. Some of them had particularly thick arms, some had short and thin legs, as if they were shriveled, and some had twisted and deviated spines.

The monsters' skin was covered in grass and dirt, and had many wounds and bloodstains.

Not only did they dodge the wizard's probing attacks, but after rushing out of the barn they quickly deployed their formation and tried to surround the three outsiders.

They are tenacious and aggressive, and they will cooperate with each other.

After the firewood bearers finished their assessment, they quickly cast the most powerful magic they could. A wall of high-temperature plasma stood up around the three of them, and then whizzed past at an extremely fast speed, like the most severe wildfire passing through, quickly engulfing the monsters and villagers that rushed over.

After the incident, the firewood bearer began to interrogate the surviving villagers and learned the reason for the village's changes:

Almost every household in this village had men who went to the battlefield. Some never returned without being heard from again, while others returned with great difficulty, often using crutches or with one arm missing.

In other words, there were a few more useless people in the small village.

They had some pensions, but the village was not rich in supplies, and money was of no help. Until one day, a mysterious monk came to the door and cheated all the money of these retired imperial soldiers, leaving a few bottles of potion.

Hearing that they could become normal again, these young people drank all the wine with a desperate attitude. Their idea was simple:
If what the monks said was true, it would be great if their lost arms, legs and feet could grow back;

If not, since they had no money left and no worries, they could just commit suicide together.

But they were wrong. After drinking the unknown potion, these people's appetite began to increase dramatically. Some of the young people got food, and the missing body parts actually began to grow. The others were ecstatic and began to find food in every possible way. They were willing to rob, steal, beg, and even eat raw meat and drink blood.

The end result was that the monsters, which sometimes went crazy and sometimes remained relatively stable and would not blindly attack the villagers, were locked up in the master's barn.

The monsters had not been burned completely yet. The firewood carriers turned over their skeletons and found that they were larger than ordinary people, with bone spurs growing and even inside their skulls. It was hard to imagine how the brain tissue could coexist with them.

After taking samples and packing up the surviving villagers, the three burned down the entire village.

Similar serious pollution incidents were discovered several times in marginal villages overnight. These "firewood carriers" turned into fire starters, wiping out several poor settlements.

At the same time, Saga moved around the city, spreading his senses as far as possible, looking for the source of his discomfort.

There are many sources, and when he locks on one, he will directly break through the cover of the building, and sometimes he can find the altar, and the gathered and screaming believers.

When these people saw Saga, they fled in all directions like a nest of rats, but they could not escape the range of Saga's flames.

The fire magic used by the Tower of First Fire cannot be simply summarized as "shaping". The flames they ignite contain special features and have a stronger function of expelling evil spirits.

This is not something that Spell Cloud can easily replicate. The root cause is that since ancient times, people have been worshipping fire, its symbols, and the gods who hold related powers, and accumulating the power of faith.

These accumulations did not dissipate, but were all carried in the "Original Fire". It is both the first and the original source of the Holy Fire.

Mages who enter the tower will hold a ceremony to establish a connection with the fire.

Now, the holy fire began to burn all over the city. Saga was confident that he could control the fire and not hurt innocent people or let any evil go.

Shouts filled the air as the security team rang bells to wake up the city residents, who shouted in an attempt to put out the fire.

The great wizard watched all this with indifference. Without his permission, the fire would continue to burn and ordinary people would not be able to put it out. But as long as the purification was completed, the fire would be quickly extinguished according to his will.

"Excellent spellcasting, able to control so many flames at the same time." Below him, lazy voices and weak applause suddenly appeared, right on the roof below him.

"who are you?"

"Nice to meet you, I am Gregory, the Pope of the Empire."

"The empire has no state religion, so where does the Pope come from?" Saga frowned. He judged that the other party was also a person who was infected and tortured by dreams and went crazy, so he planned to burn him together.

"You're still planning to burn me?" The evil monk saw through the other party's intention: "Master, can you guarantee that there are no wronged souls under the flames?"

Gregory put his hand to his ear and said, "I can hear the wailing and crying of the civilians. This tragedy was caused by you. Please listen carefully."

In an instant, a shrill scream poured into Saga's ears, breaking through his eardrums and occupying his brain.

(End of this chapter)