Soul Trigger

Chapter 684 Kneeling
Windows shattered, cars collided, people barked and dogs howled; chaos had spread across the streets, gradually transforming the peaceful, picturesque town into a scene of apocalypse.

A crimson, rotting monster crawled out of the house, turned its head and saw the lively, running human spirit, then pounced and struck the crowd.

With a gaping maw of gleaming white serrated teeth, it bit down hard, tearing a person's neck apart amidst a spurt of blood, killing them instantly.

"A demon! The demon has come!!!"

An evangelical priest, in a panic, raised a cross and gestured towards the monster:

"Everyone, hurry to the church!! The Lord will protect us!!"

But before he could finish speaking, a commotion erupted from the side street, where a group of students and clergy members, covered in blood and dressed in church robes, gathered.

They looked terrified and screamed repeatedly.

Upon seeing monsters on this side of the street, they scattered and fled. A fleshy cross grew hands and feet, dressed in a priest's robe, and chased after them relentlessly. Once they got close, tentacles would grow out and pull them into the huge mouth in the center of the cross.

The priest's faith nearly crumbled instantly: "How could this be..."

The next moment, he was completely cut in half at the waist, blood gushing out—

That was another swollen creature, its whole body swollen, carrying a meat cleaver, with half a human skin dragging behind it, through which one could vaguely see its internal organs being dissolved and absorbed.

The continuous bursts of bloodshed amplified the screams.

The chestnut-haired girl, clutching a pink rabbit, stumbled and fell to the ground in a panic, her heavy glasses shattering instantly. She frantically groped around, only to find her hand covered in blood. Terrified, she scrambled about, then looked up and saw the blurry figure of a swollen monster:
"Help!!!"

Amidst screams, the swollen monster's abdomen burst open, unleashing a multitude of tentacles that engulfed her.

In an instant, the fiery red javelin shot out like a meteor, tearing the monster apart and splattering the girl with blood and flesh.

The Red Ant Knight appeared at the end of the street, sweeping in like a red lightning bolt, quickly obliterating several monsters, even tearing the cross-shaped monster to shreds along with them:
"Hey, are you alright?!"

She helped the girl up from the ground, who shook her head and stared blankly at the red knight in front of her.

"Can you still speak? Where have all the people from Darvo Supermarket gone!?"

When Aquil discovered the unusual spiritual energy in the town, Green Manor was already deserted, a monster had crawled in from outside, and no one else could be contacted.

Once outside, chaos reigned, with malevolent beings slaughtering the townspeople everywhere.

Thinking of Aunt Duke, who was still working at the supermarket, she didn't even have time to consider Odin and Pulitzer's situation. She immediately activated her soul armor and rushed over, only to find the supermarket in complete disarray.
"Dalvo...supermarket?"

The girl was stunned, clearly still reeling from the bloodshed.

At that moment, a middle-aged man rushed over, calling out the girl's name loudly, and hugged her tightly, disregarding her disheveled appearance.
"Thank goodness...you're alright! God bless you...may God protect you! Thank you, thank you for saving my daughter!"

At the same time, the man also overheard their conversation, picked up the girl, and quickly said:

"Dalvo Supermarket is in the west, so everyone in the west should have gone to Yuke High School! A helicopter from the Green family just flew by, saying they'll be protecting us at Yuke High School!"

School?

Only then did Aquile realize that he was surrounded by a crowd of hopeful people.

Seeing the police car in the corner, charred and still emitting wisps of smoke, she instantly understood:
Police officers and evangelicals had perished before the crowd, and now all their hopes rested on the sudden appearance of Aquile.

They chattered and jostled as they rushed toward Aquile, eager for her protection, and began pushing and shoving each other to get closer to her. Their relief at surviving quickly turned into mutual hatred.

Having never dealt with such a situation before, Aquile panicked for a moment, when suddenly a sharp shout came from the crowd:
"A bunch of lowly commoners dare to touch Odin's Valkyrie?! Get out of my way! Get out of my way!!"

It was a man with a vine pendant hanging from his head, acting crazy.

He possessed inexplicable strength, pushing his way through the crowd and suddenly kneeling before Aquile:
"Valkyrie! You must be the Valkyrie sent by the Allfather to save us, right?!"

"What... Valkyrie?"

“That’s right, Odin is back! I heard the Grimm family say so! The great Father will protect us! The Valkyries will escort us to Yuk High School, the starting point of Valhalla!”

Before the man could finish speaking, the monster reappeared, forcing Aquil to rush out of the crowd and kill it.

"What kind of rubbish is this?! Odin..."

At that moment, she felt a tremor, and she quickly broke through her armor to take it out.

Seeing the caller ID, I was startled, then took a deep breath and answered the call as if I had mentally prepared myself, my voice deep and muffled:

"Hey."

Ji Li's voice came from the other end:
“I see you in the town center. Bring those people to Yuk High School.”

Aquil looked around and then noticed the flashing red dot high in the sky.

Drones? But...

That thing looked like some kind of mechanical construct, nothing like a drone, so was it Odin's doing?
Aquil gritted her teeth, she had countless answers she wanted to ask the other person, but in the end she just tried to keep her voice cold:
"Where are my family?"

“Our family is at Yuk High School right now, they are safe, and so is Bob.” Bob is the family’s Border Collie.

Aquil took a deep breath.

Our family...

"What happened?"

"It's a backup plan for the sheepdog, but don't worry, I've got the situation under control."

Upon hearing this, she silently hung up the phone, glanced at the anxious crowd trying to approach in the distance, and then dashed off towards Yuk High School.
"Everyone, follow me..."

She wasn't used to the feeling of being expected of something by people.

As they ran wildly with the crowd, they gradually approached Yuk Middle School.

The ground was littered with corpses and all sorts of monsters, which terrified the crowd.

But what attracted Aquile's attention even more were the bouncing mechanical creatures.

They were cold, swift, and incredibly powerful, their destructive devices, far ahead of their time, constantly taking down those malevolent lives with a swift and agile maneuver.

Equiel remembers these creatures, or rather, "machines".

It was an artificial spirit that Ji Li fought against in the clay puppeteer's laboratory.

She also remembered the names of these things in the notebook:

"Jump...wolf?"

But compared to those made of mud, clay, and gear parts, what she saw before her seemed to be the real killing machines.

Are all of these Odin's things?
She suddenly gritted her teeth.

At this moment, crimson erupted—

A massive, blood-red array enveloped the entire town, as if the prelude to the second phase was about to begin, and another anomaly was about to unfold:
The rabbit in the chestnut-haired girl's hand came to life and scratched her father's face.

The lucky wall of the convenience store next door, covered with messages, shattered, and countless malevolent creatures emerged and pounced on the crowd.

The surviving clergyman was holding a crucifix and praying earnestly when the crucifix sprouted a huge mouth and bit off his head...

The earth cracked open, and the inanimate came back to life.

Everything imbued with human emotions is rapidly corrupting, transforming into malevolent offspring that slaughter people.

As Aquile was stunned by the sudden turn of events, it was too late to save everyone. But the wolves had already pounced into the crowd, leaping across the crowded footholds, their knuckles constantly spewing out energy to provide mobility.

Its forelimbs were torn apart, its snout was crushed, and the small machine gun on its back fired a barrage of bullets. The precise trajectory and kinetic energy calculations ensured that not a single town resident was harmed, and it swiftly slaughtered these newly added malicious offspring.

A group of people rushed out from the side street. The three leading figures had creaking joints and heavy steps. They were covered in exoskeletons with an alien-tech feel, and wore simple amulets with intertwined branches around their necks.

"The Father of Gods will protect us!!! For Red Maple Town, for the Holy Father!!!"

Their voices, a cacophony of static, surged into the crowd.

A man flashed an electric baton and smashed the evil creature into a charred corpse.

A wrist blade leaped from one of the men's arms, the technique amateurish yet slicing the monster along with its claws and body.

Another person's arms bounced up and down, transforming into a giant steel fist. With a single punch, a shockwave burst forth, crushing the evil entity.

Aiquier was stunned to see three alien soldiers suddenly appear in front of him, along with the other survivors.

What are all these things?!

The disheveled, beggar-like man who had previously shouted the name of the Holy Father rushed out, knelt down directly before the three exoskeleton soldiers, and bowed deeply, holding the pendant in his hand:

"Praise be to Odin! Praise be to the Allfather!! Great Odin, I am your most devout follower... I revere you, I worship you, and I thank you for rescuing me from this boundless underworld!"

He kowtowed repeatedly, his voice even louder than the sounds of the grotesque deaths around him.

Just as the people around him couldn't bear to watch any longer and tried to pull him up, a beam of light descended from the sky and struck him.

When the azure beam of light dissipated, a new exoskeleton mechanical soldier appeared before everyone, the pendant still hanging around his neck:

He remained kneeling on the ground, but his whole body trembled as if in disbelief, and even his voice carried a hint of a sob:
"...By the Holy Father..."

As if his years of perseverance and devotion had finally been rewarded, he slammed his head into the ground, creating a large crater.

"Thank you, Holy Father... Thank you for your mercy!!! Your devout followers will forever uphold you and revere you!!!"

He suddenly stood up and joined the slaughter, shouting as he did so.

While everyone was still in shock at the scene, a tattooed rock youth had a sudden inspiration and, imitating him, knelt down on the ground:
"Great Father, I also revere you! Please grant me strength to fight for you!!"

A beam of light descended from the sky—

Is this even possible! ?

A ragged boy witnessed this scene. He glanced at his unconscious sister beside him, removed the cross pendant from his neck, gritted his teeth, and knelt down on the ground.
"Praise be to Odin! Give me strength to protect my family!"

The second beam of light erupted.

Immediately, the crowd knelt down in unison.

……

Evangelical schools and churches.

Beneath the colossal crucifix, a priest covered in blood shielded a group of nuns behind him, gripping a massive crucifix in his hand and pointing it forward.

"Evil! Retreat! Retreat!"

The twisted, malevolent beings that had already surrounded them remained unaffected, slowly approaching the spirits of these beings as if mocking them—

They lack the capacity for thought; they are merely the lowest form of malevolent beings catalyzed by the sheepdog's magic.

But they could sense the emotions constantly erupting from the spirits of the people before them:

Panic, despair, collapse, pain.

For them, these negative emotions are like the best food, so they linger, they crave, and they want these human spirits to unleash more negative emotions.

The priest's hands began to tremble, and the students and nuns behind him finally broke down and screamed.

At that very moment, the red light split the earth, and the image of the Passion of the Father behind them collapsed and crashed down.

The crowd scattered in panic, and the icon overwhelmed the priest.

Seeing the bloodshed unfolding before him, his heart sank to the ground, and he threw away the crucifix he was holding.

“Great Heavenly Father… no, great God, if you truly exist, please appear in this world and drive all these demons back to hell! I will lead my students to offer you our absolute devotion! I beg you, I beg you…”

The next moment, a huge hole exploded in the sky, and blue light poured down from above—

【Mortal, I have heard your prayer.】

The priest was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with fervor, and tears welled up in his eyes:

"Heavenly Father...Heavenly Father answered me?! My Lord...I..."

But the other person's next words made him freeze:
I am not God the Father.

The endless ramblings flooded the priest's mind, causing him a splitting headache and a struggle and pain stemming from a deviation from his faith.

But in the end, he made a decision and ripped off the cross pendant from his chest:
"I beseech you, Odin! Great Father of the Gods! Grant me the strength to protect my students, and I will lead them to build magnificent churches for you and offer them their devout faith!"

The beam of light exploded with a resounding clang.

When the light faded, the enormous statue of the Father, lifted by his towering body, broke apart—

A large centaur exoskeleton armor was spreading and enveloping his body.

Amidst the astonished gazes of countless students, he raised the mechanical halberd in his hand, which creaked and deformed, and its automated laser blades suddenly gleamed.

Amidst the roar of machinery, it rolled towards the "demon" before it like a war chariot:
Praise be to Odin!!!

School, town center, hunter's lodge, shopping mall...

Amidst the bursts of red light, blue light peeked in, and Odin's voice echoed in the ears of these lucky ones.

Ji Li stood on the roof of Yuke Middle School, with the phantom of the Hall of Heroes flickering behind him. Countless blue data streams were constantly flowing from all directions of the town back into the phantom behind him.

"In this way, this town can become my fortress, and perhaps, the World Tree can stand on this land once more..."

As more and more voices began to praise his name, he even felt a slight fluctuation in his spiritual essence:

Is it because it carries a promise or expectation?
He didn't pay attention to that; instead, he was pondering the red array on the ground.

Is this a backup plan, just in case? Are they trying to escalate the situation in Red Maple Town?

Such a large-scale change will definitely attract more patrolling knights, but he has already made preparations, and now it's up to Angelica to decide.

At that moment, his mind jolted, and his pupils contracted sharply—

No, it's not a matter of expectations.

He gently raised his hand and felt an inexplicable power of control over the ground beneath his feet:

"This is... the power of laws?!"

"This is a characteristic of the Soul Aristocracy system; these people are worshipping me and admiring me..."

Is Red Maple Town being transformed into my "territory"?
(End of this chapter)