The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 22: Downward Spiral
Because of the astonishing progress made the previous day, Eric wasn't in a rush to clear the mines. However, by noon, the guards at the City Lord's Mansion had mostly rested, and the head nun had indicated they could continue the fight, so Eric assembled his forces and reentered the mines.

Because of the lesson learned the day before, Eric decided early to come out when it got dark, and asked the villagers who were responsible for carrying the corpses in and out of the mine to remember to remind them of the time.

With their backs to the sun and stepping into darkness, the group went deep underground.

The more undead are cleared out in the mine, the fewer there are. It is basically impossible to encounter enemies in the first half, so the atmosphere is relatively relaxed.

"What's up Miss Sophie?"

Eric asked casually when Alena caught up from the back of the team. Before he came down, he saw Sophie hold her and say something.

"No big deal..."

Alena glanced at him with a complicated expression. "Sophie said she wanted to come down and take a look, too. I felt it wasn't safe enough, so I persuaded her to stay."

Eric turned his head and looked at the corpse movers following the team. "If you just come in to take a look..."

Alena understood what he meant. These ordinary people could follow them into the mines, and Sophie was not much different from them.

"The main thing is... I'm worried."

Eric looked at her again, expressing his understanding. "If it's Irene who wants to come in, then I'll have to stop her outside no matter what."

Thinking of his sister, a small smile appeared on his face. "But if I confirm that the mine is safe, I will definitely bring her down to see... She hasn't been to any place."

Alena looked at him, a little surprised. She thought he would try his best to avoid mentioning the original saint heir in front of her.

"It seems Mr. Eric cares about Miss Irene very much."

"She's my only sister, after all. We even look alike." Eric gazed into the darkness of the mine. "Our parents passed away before we even learned to speak. Irene and I can't afford to lose each other again...and my uncle can't accept losing us either."

Alena's eyes lingered on his face for a moment.

There was a hint of pessimism in his words, as if loss was inevitable - although separation brought by death is inevitable for everyone, few people at this age think about such a distant separation.

Is it because of the early death of parents?

Alena had something else to say, but after thinking about it, she swallowed it all back.

Eric was silent for a while, and when he spoke again, he talked about another topic.

The team went deeper and passed several forks in the road. These were all passages that had been cleared before. The entrances were simply closed to prevent undead from sneaking in when they retreated.

"The structure of this underground mine is truly bizarre," Leslie lamented. "It looks more like they're constructing an underground prison, layer upon layer, than mining ore."

To give the closed beta players a sense of progression, Eric thought, but couldn't say it out loud.

"If the terrain is too complicated, it will be a trouble for us." He just sighed in agreement.

The captain of the guards nodded and his eyes fell on the rock wall next to him.

Although the ground beneath his feet felt flat, with no discernible slope, Eric had seen a 3D diagram of this underground mine in his previous life. The main tunnel was a massive downward spiral, indicating a considerable depth. The branching passages along the way, each containing a mini-boss, were one-way dead ends; you had to exit the same way you entered. The structure itself certainly resembled an underground prison.

Judging from the number of small bosses eliminated in the past few days, they have reached the middle and lower part of this spiral. Going further down, the end is the final boss room.

Considering what happened yesterday, Eric suspected that the necromancer who was the instigator had awakened and was doing something secretly, but there was no trace of him for the time being. He could only be more vigilant in dealing with all the variables in the battle.

pat!

A stone kicked by an unknown guard hit the rock wall with a loud bang, which then gradually became dull.

The underground mine was deep and dark, but not silent. Besides the sound of footsteps, the mine tunnel was also filled with the rumbling sound of the villagers following behind, pulling the trailers used to transport the bodies.

Fighting requires skills, but moving corpses is a purely physical job. Of course, you should use tools if you have them, and the less effort you put in, the better. No one likes to carry corpses the old way.

After going deeper for a while, Leslie, who was leading the way as a pioneer, suddenly stopped and saw a rotten corpse lying on the ground in front of him.

"We've arrived at the site of yesterday's final battle."

When they withdrew yesterday, the corpse collection team also withdrew, leaving behind several rotting corpses.

Coming back here also means that the leisurely map-running stage is over and it’s time to prepare for battle.

The captain of the guards held up a torch. "Those at the back, keep your distance. Everyone else, be ready to fight!"

"Yes!"

After praying a few words and adding a permanent buff, Eric swung the straight sword in his hand, and golden light instantly covered the sword.

After a few days of actual combat, he has discovered that when applying the buff, only certain fixed prayers need to be chanted in order to be successful, and there are not many requirements for the movements, so of course, just do it as cool as you can.

Look, even Sister Alena is taking a few glances at it.

Of course, Alena was not impressed by his little tricks. What she really cared about was the brightness of the golden light on the straight sword.

She was sure that she had seen and remembered correctly; the light was indeed brighter than before.

"Mr. Eric is a good and pious man..."

Sophie's words echoed in her mind again. Alena remembered not responding because she didn't know what to say. She had her own standards for judging piety, but they didn't seem to apply to this unusual aristocratic boy.

Anyone else would be executed for their outrageous behavior and words, but he seemed to be truly blessed by God. Not only could he foresee the unknown, but like her, he could also borrow the power of God, and he was even becoming more and more proficient at it...

Her judgment can only interfere with her own emotions and cannot decide anything.

The judgment of the saint can decide everything.

Calculating the time, the letter she wrote to the saint had been sent out for three days. If there was any immediate response from the other side, the reply should have arrived by now.

Perhaps Sophie should go to the monastery again today...

As soon as this thought came to Alena's mind, she felt that it was unnecessary. If the monastery really received a letter from the saint, it would only care more about it than they did, and would probably send a messenger directly to fly here.

"Encountered the enemy!"

Before any more thoughts could come to her mind, she was startled by the sudden shout and sank to the bottom. Alena came to her senses and saw several wandering undead in the passage ahead.

A fist-sized ball of light flew over and stuck to the top of the rock wall. It wasn't too bright, but it was enough to illuminate the passage instead of a torch.

That was the lighting technique Eric learned from her yesterday.

He instantly appeared in front of the zombies and stabbed one of them through the heart with a sword.

He quickly drew his sword again, spun his body, and the sharp blade swept across the necks of the other two corpses at incredible speed.

Cut throats and slash continuously!

Plop, plop, the rotten corpses fell one after another.

Leslie flashed over almost at the same time and quickly dealt with the target in front of him. Then he couldn't help but look at Eric.

Storm footwork, followed by a throat-breaking combo... he used all his moves!
"There's more ahead." Eric didn't look at him, but looked at the passage ahead and threw out another ball of illuminating light.

Leslie immediately followed suit and chopped down any rotten corpses he saw. There was no need to worry about it now. The most important thing was to clean it up as soon as possible.

With the undead fewer in number, and Leslie and Eric in the front, the others had little chance to attack. Although Alena had drawn her dagger, she wouldn't move forward unless necessary.

The team slowly moved forward, and corpses continued to fall. Now it was time for the villagers following behind to come into play.

The bodies were loaded onto the carts until they could no longer hold any more bodies. Then several people pulled or pushed the carts together and retreated. Another group of villagers immediately followed the team in front.

The speed of transporting the corpses could not keep up with the speed of cleaning. Fortunately, the mining areas that had been stepped on had been cleaned up and there was no danger.

The team in front would occasionally stop to rest for a while, and the distance between the two sides would not be too far.

At another fork in the road, Eric and Leslie separated temporarily and continued along the main mine road and the fork road respectively.

Lighting magic!
The ball of light stopped along the rock wall, illuminating the passage. The area around Eric had been cleared, and he looked ahead, but saw no other undead.

To be on the safe side, he continued walking forward for a while, cleared out a few undead on the road, then turned around and walked back to the fork in the road.

"You two stay here."

He pointed out two guards and asked them to stay at the fork in the road to protect the villagers and prevent any accidents. "If anything happens, come in and inform us immediately."

"Yes!"

Going along the fork in the road, Leslie had already cleared a path, and Eric quickened his pace to catch up.

The deeper you go, the shorter these branch passages become. The reason is to improve the player experience: reduce the frequency of encountering monsters that you are tired of killing, and make it easier to challenge the small BOSS at the end.

They didn't chase for long before they saw the light of torches ahead. Eric passed through the back of the group. Leslie and the head nun stopped in front and waited for him.

"Master."

The captain of the guards made way for him and showed him a stone window carved into the rock wall of the passage. A rare solemnity appeared on his face. "It doesn't look easy to deal with."

Eric moved closer. The head nun had already cast a lighting spell, illuminating the relatively spacious hall below. In the middle, a fat giant about four or five meters tall was looking up at the ball of light above, and there was no movement for the time being.

"We've already reached this point."

Eric recognized the distinctive little BOSS below at a glance, and felt both nostalgic and relieved, but also a little headache.

Having reached this point, it means that the final BOSS is not far away, and the giant creature in front of you made up of corpses is the most difficult small BOSS at the bottom level.

"I remember the recommended challenge level was 30 or above..."

Eric muttered, looking over at Leslie.

A fifth-level warrior should be able to withstand it.

"Captain of the Guards, it's time to show your courage."

(End of this chapter)