Those time travelers that year

325. Zawisha

The church's dispatched teams were certainly capable of tracking; in fact, after tracing the trail deliberately left behind by the vanguard, one of the expeditionary forces had already caught up with them. However, seemingly to be on the safe side, this team did not launch a direct attack on the vanguard, but instead lay in wait, hoping that the nearest other team would arrive.

Once the two teams joined forces, the Holy Temple's expeditionary force officially began its march towards the vanguard's location. Of course, many might assume that this so-called expeditionary force, comprised of religious figures and individuals with supernatural abilities, would consist of knights in tin cans, right? Unfortunately, no! Why rush in with swords when bullets can kill?

In fact, the two teams from the Holy Temple that joined forces to form a punitive expedition weren't all just swordsmen who would charge in and charge at anyone for the Alliance. The combined force numbered over a hundred, nearly half of whom were armed soldiers. After all, times had changed. Those tin can-like knights were practically sitting ducks against armed soldiers. While knights with supernatural abilities might be alright, ordinary people were far more vulnerable to the proliferation of firearms.

Therefore, even the Holy Temple must keep up with the times. However, the soldiers armed by the Holy Temple are all specially trained, each of them a sharpshooter. In addition, they have been modified by special magical potions and have physical qualities far exceeding those of ordinary people. This is why they can intervene in the supernatural battlefield instead of becoming useless cannon fodder.

Besides these soldiers, there were also formal knights who had officially mastered supernatural powers—the Templar Knights. Most of these knights were in the third or fourth rank; cutting bullets with swords was commonplace at this level. Their numbers were small; the two groups combined numbered only about twenty. However, only the Templars had the capability to field so many individuals with supernatural powers. The reason those cultists had fallen wasn't just due to individual strength; in terms of overall strength, both in quality and quantity, the Templars were practically overwhelming in this world.

This is all on the premise that a certain "true hidden boss" does not make a move.

In short, the Holy Temple felt they had a significant advantage. They reasoned that with two hundred people against the enemy, the enemy could only possibly have a dozen or so at most, so how could they possibly lose? Although intelligence suggested the enemy might have multiple Fifth-Order beings, the available intelligence indicated only four or five. Even doubling that number as their maximum estimate, it seemed like a huge advantage for them!

Given such a significant advantage, how can we possibly lose?

Zavisha was in this team, the third person to wield a holy artifact, but frankly, his combat strength was far too low. The other two holy artifact wielders were both men in their forties, whose experience and strength far surpassed his, a mere third-tier rookie. His third-tier status was highly questionable; he hadn't seen much of the battlefield, and even Father Brown, who had been assigned to mentor him, had been transferred out of the department.

Of course, for a 'chosen one' like him, this was his opinion. None of this was his fault, but the fault of that heretic named Charles. Why did that guy Charles possess power that even a superior person like him didn't have? Why wouldn't that guy just obediently die? Whenever he thought like this, the young knight Zavisha's originally handsome face would twist into an extremely ferocious expression.

The more he thought about it, the more the fear he felt when he looked directly into Ciel's eyes involuntarily resurfaced. And as time went by, each time he recalled it, the fear grew stronger, even causing nightmares to haunt him at night—a dark sun at dusk, and rolling flames rushing towards him, tearing him apart, and devouring him...

The pressure was immense, and to maintain his pride and save face, he refused to tell anyone. By the time it escalated, it was too late; the deep-seated fear nearly crushed him. Even psychologists couldn't help, and even when Zavisa listened to the teachings of some bishops and earnestly prayed to 'God,' it was all in vain—God could not save him.

Therefore, he later used his power in the secular world to communicate with some high-ranking members of the church, influencing the approach to deal with Charles Grete to directly eliminate him. When the church forcibly pressured the sanctuary and forced it to form a punitive expedition, he was very pleased, pleased that the 'heretic' named Charles would be directly 'purified'.

However, the outcome was completely different from what he had imagined. The first time, he was thrown out without even seeing the person's face. The second time, with tens of thousands of magic cannons aimed at him, the Templar Knight Commander, who was leading the group, directly ordered a retreat.

Even then, filled with resentment, he made a huge scene, trying to use his status and the name of the church bishop to force the Templar commander to lead the charge and launch an attack. However, the Templar commander immediately punched him, breaking several teeth and knocking him to the ground. Upon returning, the Templar commander was not reprimanded at all; instead, he was accused of disobeying military orders, violating church rules, and bringing personal grudges into official business, among other charges, totaling more than ten. The Templar commander directly stripped him of his right to use the sacred artifacts.

If it weren't for someone protecting him, he might have even been expelled out—his petty misdeeds had already spread throughout the Sanctuary after the group retreated. Not only did he protect and instigate a 'heretic' wanted and hunted by the Sanctuary to assassinate someone, but he even tried to make the Sanctuary take the blame… Did he really think everyone else was a fool?!

Because of this incident, everyone in the church, especially those in the executive departments—except for the administrative departments where the church had interfered—looked down on him. Even his father wrote a letter ordering him to stop this practice that was further damaging the family's reputation, and also gave him a severe scolding…

However, after these experiences, Zavisha's thinking became increasingly extreme, the fear that penetrated his soul grew stronger, and even the recurring nightmares became more frequent. But he didn't break down; instead, he buried his resentment, fear, and humiliation deep within his heart, letting them fester...

If a D&D demon or devil were to arrive at this moment, they would discover that the young knight's soul had inevitably fallen into evil. A demon would gladly kill him and devour this soul, which was enough to level it up. A devil, on the other hand, would go to great lengths to guide this soul to complete corruption, thus reaping a lucrative profit.

All that's said means this guy's broken.

Anyway, no matter how I write, some people will think I'm just padding my writing. Fine, I'm not going to care anymore. I'll just write according to my own ideas. Otherwise, seeing a bunch of people saying it's padding every day, and some haters relentlessly attacking me, I won't feel like writing anymore... Anyway, I'll just write according to my own ideas. I don't care about those XXX fans' complaints about me belittling their forever XXX. I'll just write at my own pace, slowly but surely.

326. Depravity

I wonder if everyone still remembers the Abyss, which is the opposite of the Primordial Flame.

The dark side of human nature gave birth to the abyss. In a sense, when that unfortunate fellow looked directly into Ciel's eyes, driven by the negative emotion of jealousy, the abyss had already taken firm root. Although he wasn't the only one who had seen Ciel's eyes at that time, neither Father Brown, who had crawled out of piles of corpses on the battlefield, nor Iris, who had just awakened, were filled with such negative emotions as he was.

For something like the Abyss, it would be incredibly easy to take root in someone filled with negative emotions, lacking self-control, and brimming with inexplicable arrogance.

Although it was only a tiny, insignificant part, and even Charles himself was unaware of it, at that time, when he thought there would be no accidents and that he could completely control the Abyss, a very small part of it secretly slipped out of his control.

According to the usual pattern, this abyssal power should have grown stronger by fueling Zavisa's negative emotions, ultimately leading to his own power increase and a counterattack against Ciel. Unfortunately, only a year had passed—which felt like several years to Ciel who was traveling—and in that short time, he underwent a leap in growth, becoming a cute newcomer who had just started his job.

Under the influence of the power emanating from the evil god's essence, these abyssal forces, originally rooted in the darkness within Zavisha's heart, were completely bewildered before they could fully mature. The moment they returned to this world, the connection between the abyssal forces caused these previously rebellious forces to immediately submit...

But this seems to be of no use. Rooted in the abyss of humanity's dark side, it cannot escape unless its host dies. Alas! Although this part of the abyss lacks independent thought, in the current trend of returning to the whole, this part of the abyss unconsciously continues to torment its host. As long as the host dies, it can return to the whole, and incidentally, it can also directly devour a twisted soul—a worthwhile deal!

In this assembled punitive force, although Zavisha had regained his sacred artifact, it wasn't because he had been forgiven. Rather, it was to preserve more fighting power as a precaution. Therefore, apart from the soldiers armed with guns, none of the Templar Knights with official knighthoods respected him.

Bathed in this 'different' gaze, Zavisha, outwardly expressionless, was increasingly twisted inside, even his hand gripping the scabbard was taut. He hated, deeply resented, resenting what he saw as the source of all this, Ciel. He hated those who refused to yield to him, hated this world that didn't go according to his wishes… These utterly delusional thoughts, influenced by the parasitic abyss, involuntarily surfaced in his mind and grew ever stronger.

Kill these guys, kill these people who look down on him, kill them all, kill them all...

A voice echoing within him urged Zavisha on. Head bowed, the young knight concealed the resentment and murderous intent in his eyes. He couldn't bring himself to kill everyone here. Even if he could activate the holy artifact, the two Templar Knights wielding it were beyond his capabilities. So he hid himself deeply, afraid of being discovered. But this unfortunate fellow didn't know that even so, cowardice was a negative emotion, still providing ample nourishment to the abyss he parasitized, further fueling the abyss's desire to obliterate its host, devour this increasingly twisted and ugly soul, and then return to its own body.

So, without anyone's knowledge, not even the parasitized Zavisa, his strength was gradually increasing, and the parasitized abyssal power had begun to actively enhance his strength in reverse.

This is probably not a good thing, especially in this world, where these parasitic abyssal powers actually originate from someone who has already ascended to the status of an evil god...

To put it more nicely, it's yet another pathetic soul falling onto the 'table' of an evil god; his pitiful and ugly soul will be a fine 'snack'.

——————————Divider Line——————————

If the vanguard had known the hidden flaws in this world, they would have immediately fled, as far away as possible, perhaps even regretting coming to this mission world. Unfortunately, reality doesn't allow for "what ifs." It seems that because of the promise they made earlier, and as if their superiors had taken over their duties, they repeatedly escaped danger from an evil god, never being caught by one of that god's kin. Instead, they gained much in this world and are about to embark on a path to replacing the god.

On the other hand, their boss was completely bewildered, being forcefully watched by a large group of lunatics. If it weren't for the fact that these lunatics couldn't reach an agreement on the distribution of the spoils, and that a certain silver-haired guy was constantly instigating and fanning the flames, leading to a chaotic fight that seemed to be a necessary prelude to external conflict, we would already be witnessing a dungeon being ravaged by these cheat-like lunatics.

Because their boss was about to fall from grace, these reincarnated individuals, who served as henchmen and cannon fodder, actually started to have good luck. Just as the five of them were idly playing cards, the high-tech alarm system they had prepared beforehand transmitted an alert back to them.

While purely high-tech weaponry was effectively rendered obsolete, that only applied to weapons; various reconnaissance devices were excluded. Meanwhile, reconnaissance equipment, hundreds of years ahead of this world's technological level, completely outclassed these primitive creatures. No one detected these mechanical insect reconnaissance devices because this world's technology simply hadn't developed ecological simulation reconnaissance equipment—no, they didn't even have computers. Therefore, the Holy Temple's extermination team focused solely on wild animals, especially small creatures like birds and mice suitable for use as familiars.

"It's finally here! I'm sick of playing Gwent!" Old Wang threw down his Gwent deck and jumped up from the ground.

"Alright! Let's play a few more games after we finish our work!" Old Wu threw down the cards in his hand and stood up. "ADC, get ready to last-hit minions, AP, activate the pre-prepared alchemy circle to block their retreat... Xiao Zhao, it's your time to shine!"

"Don't worry, Captain!" The paladin, enveloped in holy light, with his replica holy sword planted to the side and a seal and a jade pendant that looked like it was made of some kind of crystal in his hand, said, "More than two hundred D- to D-, and several D+, plus all of us, how could we not defeat a mere tracking team?"

Tomorrow's update will be a little late. I'm a bit tired and feeling unwell. The 7 AM update will be delayed. Sorry. There will probably only be two updates tomorrow... But tomorrow will be the start of the battle chapters, and two of them will be written in detail. Please bear with me! The plot for the battles has finally been laid out in this chapter.

327. Ambush

The two Templar Knights leading the group hesitated. Logically, they seemed to have the upper hand; having tracked their target all along, they had discovered that the enemy had now fled into a forest. This made the two Templar Knights uneasy, though they couldn't quite put their finger on it. They felt as if something was watching them, but they had driven away and killed all the animals in the area; there was no reason for any animals that could serve as familiars to still exist!

Moreover, after a careful inspection, no traces of magic or witchcraft were found... Well! That's why my intuition tells me that the target has a way of finding them, but my group is not far from the target. On the contrary, the target is currently in this forest, and according to some special prophetic methods, I am certain that they have not crossed this place to leave this forest.

So they hesitated...

To go in or not to go in—that was the question, a question of face and safety. But soon, that was no longer a question. The vanguard, which had discovered the pursuers' hesitation through mechanical insects, proactively helped the two Templar commanders make their choice.

"Captain! They're hesitating..." the ADC said in the team communicator, "They're currently outside the forest!"

"Shoot them!" Old Wu's voice rang out over the communicator. "Shoot them in the face!"

"OK!" the ADC responded in the team communicator, then gripped his longbow, drew an arrow from his quiver, nocked it, and aimed into the distance. A flash of blue light, and the arrow flew from the bowstring, hurtling rapidly towards the hesitant Templar expeditionary force at the edge of the forest. After its flight, the arrow instantly broke the sound barrier with an inexplicable acceleration, its speed rapidly increasing in a short period.

At the same time, the two Templar Knights who were hesitating changed their expressions drastically. "Dodge!" a roar came from one of the Templar Knights, but unfortunately, it was too late.

The supersonic arrow streaked across the vast distance in an instant, then exploded into dozens of scattered blue streaks of light as it approached the Templar expeditionary force. In a flash, the Templar knights and armed soldiers, who hadn't reacted as quickly as the two knight commanders, were caught completely off guard and pierced by these streaks of blue light. Some who weren't hit in vital areas were merely left with bleeding, piercing wounds, while those struck in vital areas such as the throat, head, and heart died instantly.

Neither of the two knights was hit; on the contrary, as the arrows scattered, both knights used their swords to cut down all the stray arrows aimed at them. However, this could not conceal the fact that they had lost more than a dozen men at that moment, including those who died on the spot and those who were seriously wounded. Nearly one-tenth of the entire team was no longer able to fight.

If the enemy were to use this attack again, wouldn't just ten arrows be enough to wipe out their entire army of two hundred or so? If they were previously hesitant about traps or ambushes, the two knight commanders were no longer considering such things. At this point, choosing to retreat would not only damage morale, but also expose their rear to the enemy, making them easy targets.

"Leave some men to care for the wounded; the rest, each knight, lead a group and disperse to enter!" The order was quickly given. Although they had been caught off guard and lost about ten men, their side still held a significant advantage. The two Templar Knight commanders led their men into the forest. With the trees providing cover, the threat posed by the enemy's sharpshooter was not as great as before. And once they broke through and captured their target, with their numerical advantage and the fact that two knight commanders were both users of sacred artifacts, plus one ordinary knight who was also a user of sacred artifacts, the two leading knight commanders were confident they could annihilate the enemy.

As if confirming the two knight commanders' thoughts, after they entered the forest, although they were still attacked by scattered arrows, thanks to the trees, they did not lose more than a dozen men at once as before.

However, they soon encountered the enemy, but not the heretics who had attacked the church as they had expected. Instead, they met a group of soldiers wielding ordinary weapons, emerging from a chilling wind and a ghastly green light. These soldiers appeared before the Holy Church's punitive expedition with a strange breeze, and as soon as these eerie soldiers appeared, the surrounding temperature began to drop rapidly, the sunlight became dim and devoid of warmth, and the eerie wind sent chills down everyone's spines.

"Filthy undead!" A knight commander was the first to react, recognizing the soldiers before them as undead. Seeing this, he understood why the heretics who attacked the church had, from their second attack onward, also destroyed the cemetery. "Despicable necromancers!"

The knight commander was unaware that the undead and ghost soldiers were two different things. The difference was that the former were mostly mindless weaklings, while the latter were professional soldiers. These ghost soldiers, seeing the undead as the Holy Temple's undead, did not foolishly swarm forward because of their numerical advantage. Instead, they formed formations and surrounded the Holy Temple's troops.

At this moment, gunshots rang out from the Holy Temple's punitive expedition, but to no avail. The ghost soldiers were completely immune to the bullets and began to besiege the Holy Temple's punitive expedition.

"Don't panic, gather together and form a formation!" the knight commander shouted. "Bullets won't work, everyone fix bayonets and smear holy water on them!" Under the knight commander's command, the soldiers, who had been slightly flustered upon seeing the ghost soldiers, quickly calmed down, gathered together, and began fixing bayonets to their weapons and smearing holy water on their bayonets from their water bags.

The next moment, the ghost soldiers engaged in close combat with the Holy Temple's punitive expedition.

However, the outcome was beyond the expectations of the two knight commanders. In the very first moment of close combat, the ghost soldiers overwhelmingly slaughtered the soldiers in the expeditionary force. Only the Templar Knights were able to barely withstand the ghost soldiers' onslaught. The holy water, which they had placed high hopes on, was ineffective against these ghost soldiers. Although the weapons coated with holy water could harm the ghost soldiers, they could not overwhelm them as easily as they had against other undead before.

Of course, it wouldn't be surprising if they knew these ghost soldiers weren't the undead creatures they traditionally believed in. These were ghost soldiers forged with the power of faith and the magic seal of the City God, not some wild, uncertified creatures; these were officially certified.

However, at this moment, the two Templar commanders had no time to worry about these things. They had been found and were now engaged in a fierce battle.

328. First Blood? Impossible!

The two knight commanders are now also in trouble.

So much so that when the ghostly soldiers began to overwhelmingly crush their own troops, they were unable to spare any effort to turn the tide of battle. They were then targeted by someone even more troublesome: the Reincarnators.

Perhaps to these two knight commanders, these reincarnators, who relied on unorthodox methods of enhancement, couldn't compare to them in terms of experience and combat skills. However, the near-omnipotence of the Supreme God wasn't just empty talk; if these reincarnators wanted to, they could exchange for combat and battle experience. The vanguard team that ambushed the two knight commanders, while not among the top teams in this reincarnation space—more of an average squad—wasn't exactly a novice either.

Having faced countless life-or-death missions, these seasoned veterans of the Reincarnation Team naturally sought to improve their weaknesses. Combat experience can be accumulated, and so can fighting experience, but is there anything faster than directly exchanging with the Main God? No!

After the exchange, a few battles are enough for these reincarnators to master it. Of course, there are still flaws. The so-called battlefield intuition is not available for exchange here. But it doesn't matter. As long as they can survive, what kind of intuition can't they have?

So the two reincarnators who arrived immediately began to brutally beat the two Templar Knights upon their arrival. The two Templar Knights were completely stunned. Once upon a time, they represented the highest fighting force of this world's supernatural society. In secular warfare, they were the kind of figures who could face cannon fire head-on, ignore bullets and ammunition, and single-handedly cut through enemy ranks with just two axes to take the enemy general's head. Even if they didn't have the protagonist's halo like Kang Shifu, they were far stronger than Kang Shifu, who was written as an assassin but read as a berserker.

However, this was of no use. They were still being overwhelmed and had no time to attend to the punitive expedition that was already struggling, and they themselves were in a precarious situation.

The silver-white mechanical armor, the incredibly sharp blade, and the swift, wind-like swordsmanship—each strike aimed at a fatal spot, each flash of light bringing a chill that penetrates to the bone.

The samurai's sword was cold, so cold that his captain, the knight commander, constantly felt the blade pressed against his neck, threatening death. This samurai did nothing but relentlessly hack at the knight commander, always aiming for his neck, displaying a completely reckless and suicidal fighting style.

If that's really the fighting style, then it's manageable. The knight commander isn't incapable of counter-attacking or defending, but this guy attacking him is just so despicable! If he's about to slash at your neck, would you block it? If not, you'd be beheaded; if you do block, you at least have to use your sword to stop the falling blade, right?

As the knight commander blocked the incoming dagger with his sword, intending to counterattack and overwhelm the skilled swordsman with his sharp swordsmanship, the swordsman's style of wielding the dagger suddenly changed. If before, his strikes were aimed squarely at the knight commander's head, swift and unpredictable, then at this moment, the swordsman transformed into a gentle breeze, his entire figure swaying with the wind, instantly flashing past the knight commander's left side.

At the same time, the samurai, having changed his fighting style, slashed his short sword unpredictably towards the knight commander's left side as the figure flashed past him. Caught off guard by this sudden change in fighting style, the knight commander could only frantically adjust the trajectory of his sword to deflect the short sword.

However, the danger was not over. Although the knight commander blocked the slashing dagger, it allowed the samurai to circle behind him. Then, another crisis arose. The samurai, who had just brushed past the knight commander, paused for a moment, then twisted his body and swung his sword.

As the samurai swung his sword, the wind was whipped up, and the area where the short sword passed was transformed into a vacuum, the air being sliced ​​open with a piercing sound.

At that moment, the knight commander had no time to turn around and use his sword to block the impending dagger. Furthermore, his knightly attire was utterly ineffective against a blade capable of slicing through steel. Yet, even in this fatal instant, the knight commander showed no trace of fear.

Just as the steel-slicing blade fell, the sword in the Templar Knight Commander's hand instantly melted into a liquid. Within a very short time, the liquid spread rapidly down his fingers, solidifying into an exquisite and ornate set of silver-white armor that adhered to his body. Then, a new blade emerged from the armor on his hand, which the Knight Commander grasped in his other hand, its jewel-encrusted hilt.

Clang!

The blade, which could have easily cleaved through steel and iron, struck the suddenly appearing armor with a resounding thud. The samurai's dagger merely managed to create golden sparks and leave a white mark on the armor. At that moment, the fully armored knight commander, with several times the previous speed, slashed back with his sword at the samurai, whose strength had waned and whose new power had not yet been generated.

……

Just when Lao Wang was confident that he could secure First Blood, the points that were within his grasp suddenly materialized into a magnificent silver-white armor. When he slashed at it with his short sword, it only left a white mark without causing any damage.

Before he could even react, the native, whom he had almost killed, suddenly seemed to have taken Viagra, his speed increasing several times over, and with a powerful backhand slash, sent him flying.

"Holy crap! These guys are cheating!" Old Wang, who had been struck by a sword and managed to block it with his short sword at the last moment, but was inevitably sent flying, said in the team communicator, "They're going to unleash a special power spike, be careful not to get caught off guard!"

On the other side, Old Wu, who was locked in combat with another Templar Knight Commander, immediately focused his attention. Sure enough, the other Templar Knight Commander also donned a new set of armor, and his speed and strength suddenly increased several times over. He was almost caught off guard. In the critical moment, Old Wu calmly activated his Ghost Form, becoming immune to the Templar Knight Commander's burst attack.

Meanwhile, after giving a warning in the team communication, Lao Wang began to deal with the Knight Commander, whose strength had suddenly increased. His opponent, who was originally of similar strength but a level slower, was now completely overwhelming Lao Wang in his current state, unleashing a storm of sword shadows upon him.

Faced with this situation, Old Wang focused his mind intensely and began to parry and dodge the knight commander's attacks. However, he soon found himself at a disadvantage. It seemed that this native was quite a mini-boss; this transformation wasn't a short-lived buff, but rather a direct entry into his second form.

I've found that updating three times a day doesn't seem to guarantee quality. I'll see how the quality of updating twice a day goes... By the way, this is a draft I've uploaded.