The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 12 Advance and Retreat
The so-called method of purification during battle is actually to fight with special buffs, and at the same time carry out physical and mental double attacks to directly destroy the souls of the undead.

After all, they were all dead more than two hundred years ago, and the consciousness in their souls has long been almost wiped out. They are the type that will drool even if they are cured. The purpose of purification is more to prevent them from turning into vengeful spirits - not to make them better, but just to prevent them from turning bad.

It would be much easier to just destroy the souls at once, so that you don't have to purify them one by one after the battle.

Apart from sighing that the people of the Holy City were decisive and ruthless in their actions, Eric had no other opinions. He could even learn a skill for free.

"...Please pay attention, Mr. Eric."

When he came to his senses, the nun in front of him was teaching him the techniques of divine magic alone.

"Yes, please continue, Sister Alena."

The nun clasped her hands before her chest, her calm gaze swept across his face, and then dropped it.

"If you want to borrow the power of the gods, the first step is always to calm your mind and visualize the image of Yela..."

She explained in great detail, as if she were instructing a novice monk, and Eric listened carefully, trying his best to remember and understand every word she said before he understood it.

The nun explained it twice, and unlike his previous studies, the moment of understanding had never been so clear and visible.

[You have mastered the technique of the "Divine Judgement Blade."]

"Divine Judgement Blade": Divine spell. Imbues the weapon with divine power, dealing additional holy damage, enhanced by "Faith." More effective against undead targets. Casting requirements: Spirit 5, Faith 8.

"Well, do you understand?"

Seeing Eric's staring eyes, Alena thought he had encountered some difficulties. After all, this magic was more difficult to understand than "Soul Purification".

"no problem."

Eric nodded quickly, raised the straight sword in his hand, and chanted directly, "Supreme God Yela, please grant me the power to eliminate evil——"

As he prayed, a faint golden light covered the sword and gradually enveloped the entire sword.

This is a skill that was originally available to players in the game. It is equivalent to enchanting a weapon, but the effect is limited to the player themselves. For most players of the clergy who tend to be auxiliary, it is just a bonus.

Eric is different. He is a deadly outputter, and any increase in himself is real combat power.

When Alena looked at the glowing straight sword in his hand, she realized that he had completely mastered the magic she taught him, and her heart was in a trance again.

Unlike magic, divine arts is about borrowing power from the gods. It does not require any talent - the prerequisite is to have a basic understanding ability - the deeper the faith, the faster the understanding and learning, and the stronger the power obtained from the gods.

On the other hand, the faster one understands and accepts divine arts, the more devout one's faith is.

But this point doesn't seem so accurate when applied to Eric - if he was such a pious person, how could he dare to forge a miracle so openly?

Alena pondered in vain and could only sigh that the true God Yela was merciful and forgiving, and had a high tolerance for his believers.

"Any questions?"

Seeing that Alena started to become dazed after he released the magic, Eric asked a question.

"……no problem."

Alena looked at him deeply, then shifted her gaze to his sword. "This way, we can complete the purification in battle."

After the teaching was over, the two joined the monks who were purifying, purified the remaining corpses, and then continued deeper along the mine.

Leslie walked forward, occasionally looking back to communicate, and his eyes couldn't help but glance at the straight sword in the young master's hand that was shining with golden light.

When he learned that there was no way to paint his sword with gold, he felt regretful for a long time. He didn't understand what the young master said about getting him a +10 luminous weapon when there was a chance.

After walking for a while, they heard messy footsteps in the mine ahead. The undead were coming again.

Just as Eric gripped the straight sword tightly, he saw that the nun next to him had a dagger in her hand, and the golden light on it was much brighter than the sword in his hand.

"Sister Alena?"

"For efficiency." Alena looked at him, holding the dagger. "I will protect myself and will not interfere with you."

She also wants to join the battle directly.

Eric had no objection, and the captain of the guards certainly wouldn't say much either. He rushed into the enemy camp first and dealt with the thrower who was hiding in the back and posed the greatest threat.

To save trouble, he didn't kill them directly, but just cut off their arms and legs to make them unable to move.

Looking back at the battlefield behind him, Eric was killing his way into the group of zombies step by step. With that golden sword, he seemed to be able to kill the undead completely without beheading them. He slashed or stabbed, and an undead fell to the ground with two or three blows.

The nun holding the dagger looked more like an assassin waiting for an opportunity, each strike aiming for a vital spot. As the dagger pierced the undead's heart, she muttered something.

The other guards who joined the battle were mostly there to assist, making the undead lose their ability to move, and then leaving the chance to kill them to these two.

After Eric fought his way to Leslie, he took out the two throwers on the ground with one sword each, and the battle was over.

"This is much more efficient." Eric looked at the ground and the undead behind him, a little breathless.

"The downside is that every undead has to be killed personally by the young master or Sister Alena," Leslie said. "Once or twice is fine, but with so many, it becomes too tiring to do this all the time."

Eric smiled, put away his weapon, and glanced at his attribute panel. "I couldn't ask for more."

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but Leslie always feels that after each battle, the young master’s strength becomes stronger and his movements become more flexible.

After observing it several times, he was sure that he was not mistaken.

What an amazing growth rate and adaptability, Leslie thought, as expected of a descendant of the Kimino family, the young master is indeed a natural warrior.

After putting the undead corpses aside, the group continued to move forward, repeating the process of fighting and going deeper.

The undead came in waves, and their numbers grew larger and larger.

If it was just a battle, it wouldn't be a problem for the City Lord's Mansion. No matter how many of these low-level corpses came, they would all die.
But as they went deeper, more and more undead seemed to have given up on tearing them apart, and just wanted to escape from the cave regardless of the consequences.

Stopping them all becomes a new challenge.

"...What's going on with these undead?"

Leslie swung his sword and cut the undead in front of him in half, but the other two zombies didn't even look at him and ran past him.

He dodged behind one of the corpses and stabbed it through with his sword, but the other one was stopped by Eric.

"Let's solve it first."

While dealing with it this way, Eric was also wondering in his heart: Speaking of threats, these living people are the biggest threat, what else can they be afraid of?

...Wait, these undead are basically controlled by the small BOSS inside. Is he planning to use these cannon fodder to break through the defense line and take the opportunity to escape?
"Pay attention to the more special undead." He reminded.

Leslie raised his sword to block the attack of a rotten corpse, then chopped it in half with his backhand. "What's considered special?"

“…Just go with your gut feeling!”

It has been ten years, and Eric now only remembers that the first BOSS was a magic monster. He has no impression of what it looked like - these corpses look or are rotten in the same way, so it is too difficult to distinguish them by appearance.

Just based on feeling...

Leslie licked them for a while, not knowing what to feel for, but he knew he couldn't let any of them go.

"Miles, stop that one!"

"Sean, come over here!"

He commanded his guards skillfully, but this strange situation continued.

The undead attacked in waves, and the frequency of battles became higher and higher, not to mention having to stop the zombies who were only concerned with escaping. The group had almost no time to rest.

"Master, if this goes on, no one will be able to hold on."

During the break in the battle, Leslie found an opportunity to come to Eric's side and said, "I don't know what happened to these undead. Let's retreat first. As long as we don't let them escape from the mine, it will be fine."

Eric had just finished a battle and his sword was almost bent. He was panting and unable to speak, but just nodded.

Leslie was also exhausted, but he still had more energy and could still shout out:

"Stop pushing and start moving out now!"

The group from the City Lord's Mansion changed direction and began to fight and retreat. As for the monks in the rear who were of no use in the battle and might be attacked, they were allowed to leave the mine first.

Alena was always involved in the battle, but her physical strength was limited, so most of the time she was just waiting for the opportunity to tire herself out, finishing off the corpses that the guards had stopped.

From advance to retreat, Leslie stayed at the back facing the undead, and Eric was at the other end, leading the team to retreat, and occasionally intercepting the undead that were not stopped in the rear.

The mine was deep and winding, and they had to retreat the same distance as they had walked in before.

The endless fatigue accumulated more quickly during the repetitive journey, and Eric at the end of the team felt it most clearly - his teammates would miss monsters.

Another group of undead rushed out of the mine as if fleeing. The guards tried their best to kill and stop them, but three of them still slipped through. Eric almost vomited blood.

Fortunately, Alena was nearby. She rushed over and stabbed one of the corpses in the back with a dagger, stopping it.

Eric seized the opportunity, kicked the undead in front of him to the ground, and then swung his sword at the other one behind.

"Ugh!"

The corpse, which had been trying to escape, suddenly sped up and pounced on him.

Eric was startled, but he did not panic. He aimed the straight sword, which had been buffed with the "Divine Judgment Blade" countless times, at the open mouth of the corpse and stabbed it directly through.

An abnormally small amount of experience came along with a golden light, and Eric noticed that both of his professions had reached the level cap and he needed to change professions, otherwise he would not be able to gain experience.

He was just about to open the panel to change his job when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the corpse that had fallen to the ground quickly getting up and rushing forward without looking back.

"Oh my god, he runs so fast!"

(End of this chapter)