Why are all your skill bars full of weird moves?

The silver moon hangs high in the sky, and a gentle breeze blows.

On the wasteland outside the main hall, Balk was sticking his buttocks up, his long mouth slightly open, his pink tongue resting on his teeth, digging at the yellow soil with a huffing sound.

Well... although it has some human genes, it is essentially still a dog.

Ula summoned a light spell for illumination, then manipulated the mage's hand to transform into an excavator driver, digging a pit on the other side.

Mia wrapped the children's heads in white cloth and prayed for each of them.

In a hurry, as the last head was buried, Mia pressed the surface of the mound with her palm.

She then knelt upright, clasped her hands together, and the silver pendant dangled in front of her snow-white chest, swaying twice.

"Serenne above, may you guide lost souls back to the moonlight, so they may no longer wander."

After praying, Balk stuck his broken sword into the ground as a marker and patted the mud off his hands.

If he knew what these brats were doing, he would probably mark the target with his legs crossed instead of using the broken sword.

"Let's go back and wait for Gauss."

The three had only taken a few steps when the sound of scattered footsteps came from the direction of the town.

The firelight flickered in the distance, and dozens of townspeople blocked the three people's path.

Balk raised his cross-shaped greatsword, but Ula stopped him with her staff.

"Listen to what they have to say first."

The old woman walked closer, her gaze passing over the three people and landing on the mounds of earth lined up behind them.

"Those... children who were brought out from underground, children who belong to us?"

Mia hadn't expected this question and frowned.

"The children you're talking about, are they the children from town?"

The old woman nodded, her lips trembling violently.

"They...they can finally see the light of day again..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the townspeople behind the old woman rushed forward, hugged the mound of earth, and burst into tears.

Unaware of the situation, the three could only lower their heads and remain silent, letting the townspeople vent their emotions.

An old man stepped forward, knelt down on the ground with trembling knees, raised his hands to the sky, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Someone has avenged the children..."

Balk puffed out his chest, slapped his hand three times, and his tone was full of undisguised smugness.

"Of course, there's nothing our Silver Thorn Squad can't handle."

The townspeople's cries gradually subsided, and a young man with dark circles under his eyes looked up at the cross-shaped greatsword behind Balk.

"That sword... I remember it! It belonged to Karl!"

"Yes, it's mine now." Balk pushed the hilt of the sword upwards.

The old woman got up from the mound, wiped her face with her sleeve, and her expression changed from grief to a kind of relief.

"Thank you, heroes from afar. We can feel it... the curse cast by the demon is fading."

She waved behind her, and two townspeople came running over quickly, carrying wooden trays.

The plate contained toast, cured meat, and several pieces of cheese.

Please accept this; it's a token of our appreciation.

Balk sniffed. Since entering the forest this morning, he had only eaten a few "proteins".

With delicious food right in front of me, my stomach rumbled at the most inopportune moment.

"We're having a bonfire dinner in the square tonight."

"To celebrate the lifting of the curse, and to thank you for saving the entire town."

"If possible, we earnestly request that you, heroes, grace us with your presence and allow us to give you a proper welcome."

Balk reached for the bread, took a bite, and mumbled, "No problem."

"Wait." Mia tugged at Balk's sleeve and lowered her voice. "Gauss said before he left that we shouldn't rush back to town."

Balk chewed the bread a couple of times, swallowed it, and looked rather helpless.

"My brother is great in every way, except he's sometimes too sensitive. Karl's dead, and these people are unarmed; what trouble can they possibly cause?"

At this point, Balk proudly patted the heavy sword on his back once again.

"The day the broken sword is reforged will be the day the king returns."

"It's obvious that I'm that kind of person."

Mia was about to say something when Ula came to her ear and whispered something.

"Mia, don't forget we still have 56 children to find."

"Let's go to the banquet and see. Maybe we can get some useful clues out of the townspeople when they're drunk."

Mia hesitated for a moment, then looked back at the mayor's manor nearby.

They're right. If they can find the child before Gauss returns, it will save them a lot of trouble.

"Alright then, hopefully Gauss will be able to find us when he comes back."

……

Under the cover of night, orange flames licked the air in the square of Ox Horn Town, crackling and popping. This bonfire burned even brighter than before.

The townspeople stood hand in hand around the bonfire, singing folk songs in their local dialect, a mix of joy and eeriness.

The table was laden with glistening roast chicken, fragrant ribs, and rather cloudy ale.

This atmosphere contrasted sharply with the deathly stillness of the daytime, as if the entire town had come alive in an instant.

"Cool!"

Balk held a chicken leg in his hand, stuffing it into his mouth with the meat and bone, chewing it heartily, not even having time to wipe the grease dripping onto his breastplate.

"This tastes even better than what I had in Maple Leaf City!"

Compared to Balk's gluttonous eating and drinking, Ula and Mia, no matter how hungry they were, dared not eat a single bite of these foods.

Because of the different flow of time, Gauss had just obtained the scroll and had not yet emerged from the trial.

"Everyone!"

In the square, a man in a long robe stood on a makeshift platform, raising his hands high with an almost crazed expression.

"The chains of evil have been broken! Now is the time for the gods to bestow their blessings!"

All the townspeople stopped what they were doing and came to the man, clasped their hands together, knelt down on both knees, and murmured prayers that were unintelligible to them.

Balk stopped chewing and pointed ahead with his dog head.

"They're quite particular about the ritual; should we join in?"

Mia's expression suddenly turned serious.

As a pastor, she has read prayers to the gods from different churches and professionals.

But what these townspeople were saying... didn't sound like a known prayer; it sounded more like some kind of abyssal language.

"Boom—!"

The earth suddenly trembled, and the three of them stood up.

Before they could figure out what was going on, they saw that behind the crowd, large sections of the bluestone slabs on the ground were slowly sinking.

"What happened?"

Balk picked up the greatsword and assumed a fighting stance.

"I don't know." Ula shook her head. "If things don't look good, we'll retreat."

Just as the three were discussing, the bluestone slab rose up again.

The three of them widened their eyes in surprise.

On the platform, dozens of children were kneeling in three rows, their eyes blindfolded with black strips, and their hands tied behind their backs with hemp rope.

The missionary leading the event had a fanatical look in his eyes as he pointed at one of the children.

"The divine teaches us that sharing is the ladder to eternal life. These pure souls will be the most delicious gift tonight!"

"By eating them, we will gain extraordinary power, and we will no longer be tormented by ordinary illnesses!"

Upon hearing this, the townspeople's features contorted with excessive fervor, saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths, and their eyes gleaming with an inhuman, beast-like greed.

Dozens of people took out knives and forks from their waists and rhythmically tapped them on the wooden table.

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

"Praise be to the gods!"

Balk vomited, his stomach cramping, and he threw up all the chicken he had just eaten.

"These lunatics... what are they doing!"

Mia picked up the hammer with her left hand and gripped the pendant with her right, leaning her body slightly forward, preparing to chant a blessing spell.

"Gauss was right... there really is something wrong with these townspeople!"

"Calm down, Balk," Ura's voice was low and urgent. "Chicken is from normal livestock, not human flesh."

"We cannot retreat for the sake of these children."

"At least... we need to hold out until Gauss returns."

"Kill all heretics!"

The missionary raised his hand and pointed sharply at the three men.

"Now, they are no longer of any use. God says that the flesh of professionals can unleash our infinite potential!"

The townspeople in the square all turned their heads, their faces contorted in rage, their faces covered in dark, bloody lines.

With the seals removed, their original forms gradually began to emerge.

Its skin quickly turned ashen and rough, its nails grew wildly into sharp black claws, its mouth tore to the base of its ears, revealing two rows of yellowish sharp teeth, and even tiny bone spurs emerged from its back, making strange hoarse noises.

Dozens of monsters launched an attack!

Balk roared out the "War Roar," and then swung his greatsword.

call--

The massive sword blade whipped up a powerful gust of wind, cleaving the three demons charging in front of it in half, splattering foul-smelling black blood onto the ground.

Even though these monsters had lost their lower bodies, they still crawled towards us, gripping the ground with their hands.

"You all stand behind me!"

Ula waved his staff and chanted continuously.

"Magic Missile!"

Bang bang bang!

The missile exploded on the monster, splattering flesh and blood as its body fell heavily backward.

After a long while, the monsters stood up again. Although their wounds had not healed, it did not diminish their desire for prey.

What's even more chilling is that those severed bodies actually grew new bodies again!

This is body splitting!

The more they kill, the more there are, an endless number.

The battle reached its climax.

Mia continuously released [Holy Radiance], but when this energy landed on the monsters, it only stirred up black smoke and did not cause any actual paralysis or killing damage.

Her strength was rapidly depleting, and the channeling time for divine magic was getting longer and longer.

Backed into a corner, Balk swung his greatsword to slay the monsters that charged at him, his silver light armor completely covered in the stench of blood.

"Damn it! We can't kill them all!"

Suddenly, a monster found an opportunity, rushed up from the side, opened its huge mouth, and instantly tore off Balk's flesh.

Bang bang bang!

Ura's magical missiles struck, giving Balk a much-needed respite.

In that brief moment, Ula was pounced on by the monster, whose sharp teeth were trying to tear through her [Mage Armor] which resisted physical attacks.

"No... don't come any closer..." Mia was cornered against the stone wall, facing three monsters with their mouths wide open, exhaling foul air.

In despair, she could only close her eyes, clasp her hands together, and hope that the person in her heart would appear as soon as possible.

"call out--!"

The sound of something cutting through the air pierced the night.

Puff puff.

An arrow pierced the heads of three demons in an instant, splattering black blood.

The monsters stopped biting and looked up, all gazing in the same direction.

They vaguely sensed that a terrifying aura, no less terrifying than Karl's, was slowly approaching.