The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 343

Chapter 343: Strange

 

“Not pagans.” Hao Ren could almost guess what had caused the destruction just by looking at the damage. “It was most likely the rock monsters.”

“Rock monsters?” Big Beardy was baffled. “What’s that?”

Becky came up to them. She realised that since the Orb of the Holy Synod went missing months ago, the four ascetics must have been clueless about what had happened to their hometown. She said, “It all happened during your disappearance. About two months ago, we came face-to-face with some rock monsters when we scaled Dragonspine Ridge…”

Becky briefly described the rock monsters, and the state of chaos in the Kingdom of Holetta after the Orb went missing. Big Beardy’s face was becoming more animated now. He frowned and inadvertently rested his hand on the pouch that was hanging around his waist. “Monsters appeared in Dragonspine Ridge and tried to go to the sacred lake? Could it be related to the disappearance of the Orb of the Holy Synod?”

Hao Ren dropped a piece of wood he had picked up earlier from the ground. He looked up at Big Beardy and said, “In the beginning , I suspected that the Orb of the Holy Synod was used to suppress something in town. When the Orb left The Plane of Dreams, the monsters in Dragonspine Ridge were resurrected. But now, things don’t seem to add up…”

The MDT chimed in quietly, “Because that thing is just a data vault.”

They began to worry about the situation in Leyton. Leyton sat between Dragonspine Ridge and the Beinz Blood Lake; considering that the outpost was already destroyed days ago, it was too late to go to Leyton now, because it may have met the same fate. So, Hao Ren decided to stay where he was a little while longer. He wanted to see if he could scour the area for clues, which may be useful someday.

Lily’s natural instincts were instantly triggered. When she heard that, she began to lower her head on the ground and sniff around. Hao Ren knew Lily was the best at this, so he let her be. After a while of digging and sniffing around nearby buildings, she lay on the ground. She continued to listen hard and smell before she finally locked on to a spot. Wielding her claws and digging, she soon found herself almost buried in the hole. Vivian looked at her and said scornfully, “We’re asking you to find clues, not bury a bone…”

“Shut up, man. I’m looking for clues,” Lily said from within the hole. Her tail was visibly sticking out, wagging as she continued to dig. “You found blood, but no bodies right? Judging from the scene of the destruction, I don’t think the guards would have made it out—even the walls were crushed. They were outright defeated.”

Hao Ren thought Lily was just messing around at first. He did not expect the maiden to be so observant. He started to take a second look at the scene and agreed with her. “That’s right… Where are the bodies? And by the way, what are you looking for?”

Lily replied without looking up, “I heard something down here.” Her voice indicated that she even deeper in the hole now.

The husky was no slouch at digging holes. Hao Ren could see that the maiden was digging at a speed discernable to the naked eye. He stood there looking as broken stones were thrown out and beginning to pile up to his knees. He looked down and wondered. “…This high ground is a rock?”

But, Vivian had another thought on her mind—a kind of evil thought. “What do you say if I summon a storm and bury her in there?”

Hao Ren said, “Can’t you two just call a truce?”

While they were talking, suddenly Lily let out a scream in the hole.

Shortly after, the sound of falling rocks and objects were heard from below. They looked down, but Lily had disappeared into the black hole. Hao Ren poked his head inside, feeling nervous. “Lily, what’s happening?”

Light suddenly shone from the bottom of the hole as Lily called up, “There’s a cave down here! It’s a tunnel!”

Everyone hurried to the hole, marvelling at Lily’s digging skills before they turned their sights to Becky almost simultaneously. Nangong Wuyue pointed down at the hole and asked, “There’s a cellar under the outpost?”

Becky shrugged. “How would I know? I’m just a mercenary, not a soldier here. But thinking about it, there aren’t supposed to be any bunkers or tunnels down here. It’s just a small outpost, plus the shore is unstable. Who would want to dig a tunnel down here?”

Becky stomped the ground and said, “And let’s not forget that beneath the outpost is a piece of rock.”

Hao Ren could not help but think of his last tunnelling experience. He could still vividly recall the horrifying moment of being attacked by knight wraiths beneath the ruins in England. He was done with tunnels. Vivian shared his fear as her mouth twitched. “Why must all conspiratory stories have something to do with tunnels?”

Meanwhile, Lily was calling out from below. “Hello! Do you guys wanna come down or not? I’ll go up if you don’t. And, please don’t block the hole!”

Screw it! Hao Ren thought. “Wait a second! Here I come!”

They went down to the cave through the hole without any difficulty. After all, they were all not normal human beings. Lily had made a fire inside, so they were not making blind jumps from the hole. When everyone was down in the cave, Han Ren realised how the fire came about: Lily had summoned her fire and ice claws. The flame on her claws was enough to provide illumination and it was pretty bright. Even Vivian could not help but shower praise. “Flamejoy’s pretty handy, eh…”

Lily growled at her. “I’ll bite you if you ever mention that name again!”

Big Beardy took a gander around and muttered as he used his hand to scrape the slippery walls. “It was bored using magic.”

Hao Ren started to notice that the place, which Lily discovered was unusual: there were no supporting structures in the tunnel and the whole space seemed like a one-piece work. There were also no gaps, holes, or whatsoever on the walls as if the tunnel was carved out from a single piece of rock. If this was on Earth, he would have suspected it to be the work of a small, tunnel boring machine. But in The Plane of Dreams, what if it was truly the work of magic just as Big Beardy said?

Becky was considered part sorcerer. She touched the walls and appeared to be deep in thought. She then said, “To make a tunnel as large as this, the person has to be at least a master of magic. What’s more, the tunnel itself was given a long-term cure, which requires a higher level of ability. A tunnel like this in a small outpost seems like overkill.”

“I smell blood.” Vivian furrowed her brows. She was sensitive to blood and her olfactory senses were just as good as Lily’s. “But the weird thing is, there’s no body here. Where’s the stench of blood coming from?”

It was a dark and creepy tunnel, with both ends extending far out from where they stood. Hao Ren used his mind’s eyes to gauge his surroundings. He could feel a breeze coming from one direction, so he pointed at it and said, “Let’s go in that direction, see where it leads to.”

No one objected. Lily raised her Flamejoy… Okay, let’s not mention the name. Let’s just say she was holding up a torch and walking in front of the group. Everyone followed the husky as they staggered along the tunnel, their nerves becoming more tense with each passing moment. Originally, Hao Ren thought that this was all simply a monster attack. But the tunnel, which had been carved with magic and wreaked with the stench of fresh flood pointed at the involvement of humans. Something was definitely wrong and his sixth sense told him that it had something to do with the Blood Lake.

If it concerned the Blood Lake, then it also concerned the goddess. The legend of the world’s destruction was like a heavy rock on Hao Ren’s mind. His gut told him that the peculiar relationship between The Plane of Dreams and the Surface World was not that straightforward. He could not just stop himself from thinking about it, especially when things seemed to involve both.

They kept going for a long while, but did not meet anything unusual. The path’s gradient slowly slanted upwards and the tunnel came to a stop at an exit on the surface. However, it was blocked by rocks. Fresh air could be felt rushing through the gaps between the rocks. The rocks were no match against Lily’s digging firepower and they soon came out in the open again, where the sky was filled with twinkling stars.

Hao Ren looked back and he could see the outpost. He figured he had probably travelled a great distance underground.

“That’s it?” Lily looked a little disappointed. “I thought we would find the consipracy.”

“What do you want?” Vivian gave Lily the side-eye. “Isn’t it great that everyone is safe?”

Lily puffed her cheeks. “That was boring. At least if there had been some little monsters, the whole exploration would have been more exhilarating.”

Before Lily’s voice trailed off, Hao Ren suddenly heard loud, earth-shattering steps coming from the Gnarled Grove.

Vivian slapped Lily on the head. “Speaking of the devil!”

Chapter 344: Under Seige

 

The heavy footsteps and tremors sounded all too familiar. Everyone braced themselves and just as expected, a group of recognisable shadows emerged from the Gnarled Grove—they were the rock monsters!

“Sure enough, we’ve run in to them.” Hao Ren took a deep breath. “God knows what’s happened to the town.”

Big Beardy was stunned when he saw the rock monsters. A pale, golden light radiated from his body as he got into his combat stance and muttered, “What are these things? The rock monsters?”

“That’s right,” Y’zaks said. A glowing, red light lingered around his body as he walked towards the rock monsters. “Be careful, they can resurrect themselves. You must get them off the ground in order to totally kill them.”

*Boom*

Before Y’zaks voice trailed off, a rock monster closed in on him. The great demon raised his leg and struck the rock monster on its knee. The kick smashed its limb into pieces. Likewise, Y’zaks crushed its’ other limbs before grabbing its’ body and lifting it off the ground. In a blink of an eye, it was dead; easy-peasy. Already having prior combat experience, Y’zaks did not find these solid and powerful monsters challenging at all.

Everyone lunged forward and engaged the rock monsters. Unlike their previous encounter, they were better prepared this time. Despite her mediocre skills and inability to kill the rock monsters, Becky the swordswoman did not get hurt. Roars, explosions and rock-crushing sounds filled the air between the Blood Lake and the Gnarled Grove like a rolling thunder!

The four ascetics were meeting the monsters for the first time, and they were a little clueless when it came to fighting them. But as ascetics of the Church, they were not slouches. Big Beardy was covered in a golden light; even his eyes were glowing. He was using a very peculiar fighting technique. With a swing of this fist, he was able to smash through the rock monster! He had learned about the monsters’ regenerative abilities and as he took two steps back, he began to chant something. Gravity in the surrounding field changed as pebble stones on the beach began to tremble and float in the air before descending slowly as if in slow motion. Affected by the strange gravitational magic, the rock monsters began to tumble: although they were equipped with basic fighting instincts, the rock monsters lacked inteligence.

Big Beardy noticed that the monsters could barely hold themselves steady under the influence of his magic, so he lunged forward. With his Rising Dragon Fist, he threw the monster, which weighed several tonnes into the air and blew its’ limbs into pieces. Well, monkey see, monkey do, so the other three ascetics followed suit.

Such were the ascetics trained by the Disciples of Glory. They practiced a type of fist fighting technique, blessed with powerful magic. They were able to remain calm and they were powerful as well as skillful in all types of battle—long ranged or close quarters combat alike. Under the almost weightless gravitational field and continuous thrust of their fists, the rock monster remained suspended in the air for minutes. But Big Beardy had no clue how long he had to keep the monster suspended before it would completely lose its strength. So, he had to keep asking his comrades while he kept the thing afloat. “Can you see if mine’s already done?”

“It’s still moving… Keep whipping!.”

“Is mine done yet? I’ve already battered it with 10 rounds of Rising Dragon Fist.”

“Yours should be done. It’s already turned black. Mine too. But, can you take a look if the colour is right, just to be sure?”

Hao Ren was perplexed when he overheard their conversation. He turned his head and took a look at them: if he had not checked on what the four were up to, he may have actually thought they were in a cooking class…

Ten rock monsters were down. Broken rocks and pits were strewned across the battlefield, but the pressure they faced was only increasing. Hao Ren had to divide his attention to protect Nangong Wuyue, who only had minimal fighting power, and keep an eye on the forest. More rock monsters were coming out from the Gnarled Grove!

Meanwhile, in the distance, the sound of heavy footsteps did not stop. It seemed like there was a large group of monsters—the main course of the battle— coming their way! The rock monsters before them were just the appetisers!

All of a sudden, a blinding flash of lightning filled the sky. A large swarm of bats then expanded outwards from the centre of the lightning and travelled into the forest. Shortly after, the bats regrouped and transformed into Vivian. She flew up into the air and called out to Hao Ren. “There’s another wave coming! Hundreds of them! We’re under siege!”

“Did we just stir up their nest?” Running up to him like a silver whirlwind, Lily began to pant despite her extraordinary stamina. She gave her wrist a little massage and allowed Nangong Wuyue to reinvigorate her as she kept her ears on the forest. “No… fighting like this is way too slow.”

Hao Ren also realised that they lacked an effective fighting power. Forget about where these gazillion rock monsters were coming from; they were already being surrounded. The biggest problem for them was the impossible task of fighting so many monsters! They could keep attacking the enemies’ weakest point by lifting them up into the air for a certain amount of time before totally destroying them. However, this was difficult to execute when the number of enemies were this many. Hao Ren scrunched his eyebrowd together as his mind race to look for a better way in dealing with these strange creatures. Then, he heard Y’zaks yelling from afar. “If worse comes to worse and there’s no better way, you guys better take cover because I just discovered an asteroid belt 20 AU¹ away—talk about pure iron core, which is particularly great for handling…”

Hao Ren had cold sweat trickling down his back. He tried to calm the meteorite maniac down while his mind went on overdrive, trying to find a solution. Suddenly, he had a light bulb moment!

“Watch me!” Hao Ren aimed at a rock monster, who was in a fight with Becky. Then, he pranced forward.

Becky was very not good at dealing with such monsters and she was getting a little frustrated at it. She was elated when she heard Hao Ren was coming for her. Wielded her Flaming Sword, she forced the monster back, and bounced to the side. Meanwhile, Hao Ren grabbed that moment of opportunity to raise his hand and swipe the rock monster into his Dimensional Pocket.

Everyone was in awe, but Hao Ren did not stop there. He looked inside his Dimensional Pocket, feeling elated. He then ran amok, collecting all the monsters he could find. “Move out of the way, people. Bring them to me! Give this one to me too! This one too… Umm… it’s already dead…”

Hao Ren ran a circle around the battlefield and the fierce battle at the lakeside subsided just like that. He went and found himself a large open space, after which he took out the MDT, checked the time and waited. With a swipe of his hand, his Dimensional Pocket was opened.

The rock monsters—dead and blackened, came crushing out, and piled up like a hill…

Vivian flapped her wings and descended to the ground. She looked at Hao Ren, wide-eyed. “…That’s pretty creative.”

“There’s no such thing as a wasted skill—all you need is some creativity.” Hao Ren looked up and saw a group of rock monsters coming out from the forest. He could not help grinning from ear to ear. “The most valuable asset nowadays is a creative talent!”

Hundreds of rock monsters were turned into blackened rocks by Hao Ren’s creative skill. The amount of rocks was so great that it filled the valley and beach to the brim. Hao Ren stood on the tallest heap of rocks, clapped and jumped down. “With these many rocks, I wonder how many siheyuans² I can actually build.”

Lily squatted at the bottom of the heaps, clawing away. She discovered some black stones, which she found beautiful, and shoved them into her pocket. Hao Ren was perplexed. “You’re collecting these rocks?”

“I love them.” Lily looked happy. “We left in a hurry the last time. But this time, I’m gonna collect all my favourite stones!”

Everyone back home knew that Lily was a stone collector. In fact this hobby of hers was one of the few things considered artistic. In fact, when she first arrived in Hao Ren’s place, her suitcase was partially filled with various kinds of stones. Lily treated her stones like precious jewels. She would not let anyone touch them. For this reason, Vivian had given the stones a name: the Treasure of Woofie.

Of course, Lily had her opinions about that.

When Lily was done with her stone picking, they began to leave the creepy and dangerous lakeside. They wanted to take the short route to Leyton by cutting through the Gnarled Grove. But before they moved, a rustling sound came from the nearby forest.

This time, it was a human voice.

Chapter 345: Things That Have Been Happening All This While

 

Not long after the dust had just settled, there was loud shouts coming from the Gnarled Grove. It sounded like the movement of brigade marching in the forest. Torches glowed like fireflies began to gather in the forest. Lily summoned her Frostfire Claws instinctively while others were on their guards.

A group of knights emerged from the shadow of the forest amid the rushes of the hooves. They were riding on tall warhorses, draped in armour, marking them as Knights of the Church with a sacred gown printed with the blaze of the Disciples of Glory on the outside. Each of them was wielding a sword shining in a magical glow, as if they were going to war. Behind these knights was a group of mage soldiers who also rode out on horses.

More soldiers had come out of the jungle on their horses. The latter groups of people were obviously members of the Royal Knights. They scampered to the open beach on the lakeside, but they were dumbfounded to find only black boulders all over the place, and a small group of unknown stranger. The ‘prey’ that they had been chasing was gone.

“Halt—”

There was a shout and the knights stopped. Several captain-like soldiers trod their horses up before Hao Ren. They did not dismount, but clenched their swords cautiously. “Who are you guys? Why are you at the Sacred Lake?”

Hao Ren was a bit worried and did not know what the situation was like, but he could still told the familiar narrative that he had memorised beforehand. “We are travelling magicians from the northern empire, a mercenary group registered in Holletta. We came to look for the Orb of the Holy Synod.”

He was not sure where these knights came from, so he had only mentioned that they were a mercenary group searching for Orb of the Holy Synod but not mentioned that the Orb had already been found. The middle-aged knight, presumably the captain, became more cautious when he heard the explanation. “Orb? The search operation was called off two weeks ago! You…”

Just as Hao Ren realised that the situation had changed and began to wonder how he would flip his story, Big Beardy suddenly came up from behind. “Is this the Knight of the Church? Which parish? We are the ascetics carrying the mission of the goddess.”

Big Beardy and the other three ascetics were all wearing tattered grey robes. They usually had a low sense of presence; no one would pay attention to them when they remained quiet. The Knight captain had initially thought that the four grey-robed men were just some desponded mercenaries; but he quickly recognised the grey robe was actually symbol of the ascetics of the Church. He looked at the ascetic when he spoke. Big Beardy drew out a shiny piece of metal from his bosom and waved it before the Knight’s eyes. The latter carefully identified it and alighted from his horse. “Ascetic? How is it that you are here? We haven’t heard that the Church has sent ascetics here…”

It seemed that the captain was very cautious; even if he had seen the ‘identity proof’, he was still convinced. After all, ascetics were a very special group of people among the Disciples of Glory, they were not regular troops, but an elite force only the pope and the goddess had authority over; a small group of ascetics appearing in this place was indeed looked suspicious. Big Beardy carefully examined the insignia of the officer before he removed his hood. “You are the senior knight of Bishop Gelton. You should have seen us four months ago at the Reception Ceremony.”

Reception Ceremony was held just a few months ago when the Orb of the Holy Synod arrived in the Beinz Diocese. When the captain heard the ascetic mentioning about the Orb, he immediately sized up Big Beardy and the other three beside him. He looked shocked. “You…you were the ascetics guarding the Orb of the Holy Synod? How could you be here?”

Becky now jumped out before them, pretending as leader. “You’re asking the obvious! Of course, we found the Orb of the Holy Synod and the four masters. I just don’t know how much extra money I can get in return for the four masters other than a manor…”

Hao Ren quickly dragged back to the big-mouthed mercenary maiden. In fact, there was nothing wrong with Becky, just that when it came to money matter, she would get overly excited. Listening to her words, those in the know knew that the masters had been found, for those not in the know, it almost sounded like she had kidnapped them…

Big Beardy glanced over his shoulder at Becky emotionlessly. “We may not as precious as the Orb, but we should be worth a few fine horses.”

Hao Ren quickly smoothed it over by saying, “You are too humble, master. People like you, if get kidnapped, should be at least two-unit house worth of ransom money…”

Vivian punch Hao Ren in the back. “Don’t say anything if you don’t know how!

The captain of the knights and the other team leaders were still confused at this time. The Orb of the Holy Synod that had been missing for several months were suddenly found, and even the four masters who were initially listed as ‘martyrs’ were intact and standing before them. This sudden change of event made them feel unreal. However, these professional soldiers had quickly come to grips with reality. The knight captain suddenly turned to the adjutant behind him. “Send my words! Call the other team members! Escort the sacred object back to town!”

An aide-de-camp immediately shot a flare into the sky. After the flare exploded in the air, a thought suddenly crossed the knight captain’s mind. He looked at the piles of black rocks at the scene in amazement and then at Big Beardy unbelievably. “Master, just now there was a group of rock giants here… Did you cleanse them?”

Big Beardy pointed at Hao Ren honestly. “He was the one who finished them off.”

The knight captain swallowed. He was already shocked when he first saw the remains of the rock giants on the beach. He looked at the few mercenaries; he was certainly not going to believe that these mercenaries had killed more than a hundred rock-giants singlehandedly. At the most, he could be barely convinced that the powerful ascetics had created this miracle. But now the ascetic had admitted that the credit should go to the unassuming mercenary, which made him feel a little bit unbelievable. “He? Alone?”

“Each of them killed two on average,” Hao Ren smiled and pointed at those around him. “I got the other one hundred and twenty-two.”

The knight captain was wide-mouthed for a long moment before he finally uttered, “Are all magicians of the Northern Empire monsters?”

With arms crossed, Hao Ren was trying to look master. The MDT vibrated in his pocket and spoke directly into his mind. “Keep bragging! Other than running around and burning some calories, what have you actually done? Even Becky’s DSP is way better than yours!”

The knight captain did not know what had actually happened, but he already treated Hao Ren as a monster. However, he was just an order-taking, low-ranking officer; he would not pursue the details. As there was no more misunderstanding, Y’zaks stepped forward and asked, “What is going on here? Did you drive the rock giants out here? We also passed by the sentry post at the lakeside. What happened over there?”

The knight captain stared at the two-and-a-half-metre-tall giant, instinctively held his helmet. “You don’t know? Where were you all these two weeks?”

“I was with them, not in the Beinz area,” Hao Ren pointed at Big Beardy. “We just came here through the portal. It is about the Orb. It’s confidential. We can only reveal it when we see the bishop. You just explained to us what has been going on here.”

The ‘Orb of the Holy Synod’ excuse worked. The captain of the knights was not suspicious of him now. He sighed. “The rock giants came from the Dragonspine Ridge… Do you know this? Well, the basic situation is that the number of rock giants had suddenly surged a few months ago. They had once breached the line of defence in Leyton, and an ancient mountain pass had appeared on the mountain flank, allowing many monsters to infiltrate this forest right up to the area around the sacred lake. We were ordered to raid those monsters tonight as we had been tracking them for two days and two nights, and we had successfully driven them to the encirclement this evening. But little did I expect that you have already finished them off. As for the lakeside sentry post, it had fallen a few days ago. The few sentry posts around the sacred lake have been under attack almost every day… These are not really secrets. You would know when you get back. Many mercenaries are now guarding the perimeter to prevent the rock giants from entering into the interior of the Kingdom.”

“What happened to the town of Leyton?” Hao Ren asked casually.

“Marshal Ophra is there guarding the town. It has been recaptured. You can rest there,” said the captain of the knights, shrugging and smiling. “I just can’t guarantee you a good night’s sleep because the earth will shake when those big monsters are on the move. And the nearby mountains have been cracking open several times a day.”

Big Beardy suddenly asked nervously, “How about the sacred lake? What did the monsters really want to do with the sacred lake? Did they damage the lake?”

Chapter 346: The Town’s Situation

 

Hearing about the breach in Leyton’s defence, Big Beardy’s utmost concern was whether the sacred lake had been attacked. After all, the rock monsters were already very near the lakeside. Though no one really knew what the rock monsters were going to do to the lake, they had to be stopped from moving forward. When the knight heard Big Beardy’s questions, he reacted with a strange expression on his face. “Well, we really don’t know yet. Where the rock monsters want to go is still a mystery. At first, it appeared as though their destination was the sacred lake, but when they reached and gathered, they were just loitering around the Gnarled Grove and the lakeside.”

“They didn’t try to contaminate the lakewater?” Big Beardy said, perplexed. He could not think of any other reason for the rock monsters to come to the sacred lake other than to spoiling it. “Is the sanctuary in the centre of the lake safe?”

“It’s safe,” the leader or commander of the knights said as he shrugged. “The Lake Sanctuary was not affected even one bit. But, Bishop Gelton opined that it did not matter what the rock monsters wanted to do, they had to be stopped from gathering. So, we were ordered to clean them up in the area.”

Big Beardy nodded, indicating that he had no more questions.

There were more pounding sounds of hooves in the forest as the knights summoned to escort the Orb arrived. Hao Ren looked ahead and saw a sea of torches everywhere. He was amazed by the sheer number of knights. It seemed like the Beinz Diocese had committed a significant part of their forces to this mission and they were determined to clean up the rock monsters, which had breached their defences.

The knight was frank about the area surrounding the sacred lake not being safe. Battles were going on in the Beinz Diocese, hence he suggested that everyone retreat back to Leyton through the Gnarled Grove and return the Orb as soon as possible. Even though there were other monsters in the Gnarled Grove, they seemed less problematic than the rock monsters, which were still loitering around. The four ascetics were desperate to return the Orb, so they agreed at once.

Everyone except Y’zaks hopped on the horses that the escorts brought. Hustling through the Gnarled Grove on the path to Leyton, the Church and Royal Knights escorted them all the way. Having been a mercenary all her life, Becky had never been so proud of this moment. She felt like she was coming home after saving the world; she felt like a hero with so many knights as he bodyguard. She hurled her horse in front of the group, working hard to make herself look like a returning hero. However, she realised that no one was looking at her after almost two hours into the journey, so she felt dejected. She slowed down her horse and rode side-by-side with the leader, asking him loudly, “Will there be a welcome party? Will there be a parade? What about an award ceremony back in the Royal City?”

The knight looked at Becky as if she was missing an eye and it took him a few moments before he turned his head away. “How would I know?” Then, his mouth twitched as he spoke, not bothering to lower his voice, “Tsk, tsk, typical of a mercenary—all they care about is money. You should pray more; pray that the goddess will cleanse you with her holy will.”

Becky did not get it. Instead, she shouted happily, “I want to be rich!”

Hao Ren had been observing the knights, who were escorting them; they were travelling on a long path through the Gnarled Grove, passing by a few patrol posts. There were different groups of knight escorting them, but almost eight out of ten groups were knights from the Church. There was only a small number of knights from the kingdom and they mostly patrolled on the side as if they were just ornaments. So, he was particularly curious about that. “Why are most of the knights pursuing the rock monsters from the Church? Aren’t the Royal Knights the main forces?”

The commander answered, “The soldiers under the command of Marshal Ophra are responsible for defenses outside of Leyton and in Dragonspine Ridge. They have to get rid of the rock monsters that came from the mountain in order to prevent them from coming inland, and at the same time, give instructions to the mercenaries on the outer defence positions. Areas within Leyton’s defence belong to the Church so naturally, the Church’s knights are the main forces in this case. Don’t worry, the knights from the Church are capable of defending the sacred grounds. Our unswerving faith is a guarantee.”

True to form, the knight serving the goddess would always sway the conversation to his faith. Hao Ren nodded, agreeing with what he said—two different kinds of knights were responsible for two different layers of defence; that was totally understandable.

No one talked after that. Under the escort of an army of knights, they did not bump into any Gnarled Grove monsters. By the time they were finally out of the forest and arriving at the valley where Leyton was, it was already dawn.

As the sun slowly rose up to the sky, the first light of the day shone across the land from behind Dragonspine Ridge. It woke the sacred grounds up from its rocky nightmare. The protective shield shrouding Leyton could be seen from afar, glowing under the morning sun. The knights’ spirits were visibly lifted as many of them breathed a sigh of relief. The battle there had been raging on for half a month with defence breaches, surprise attacks, destroyed outposts, and even the sacrifice of a whole battalion of knights. Those left standing were worn out and suffering great mental stress. The glorious glow of Leyton’s fortress was the only strength they could draw on to keep fighting.

The convoy slowed down and Hao Ren went to the side to scan his surroundings. He noticed that marks of battle were everywhere: there were large rock pits and burned bushes outside the Gnarled Grove; makeshift structures of stainless steel and stones, which had clearly been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times lined the road; protective slates engraved with runes could also be seen strewn along the way. These runic slates were magic barriers used to block the advancing rock monsters. Their magical power had been exhausted and the runes were broken, extremely telling of how brutal the defeat was. Of course, there were signs that indicated that the rock monsters had also suffered a fair share of destruction; the lifeless black rocks piling up around the forest, some of which were cut, dug, and used as construction materials by the defending soldiers.

The commander sighed. “We don’t know when it will end. The bishop has been studying the secrets in Dragonspine Ridge, but so far he still can’t figure out how the rock monsters split from the mountain.”

They arrived at the entrance of Leyton as they talked. The tall wall of the town was still standing, but it had taken some damage.

“…Looks like there’s been a brutal battle.” Seeing the conditions of Leyton, Y’zaks could not help whispering. “The rock monsters went straight through the town?”

Despite Leyton being a town, it was practically the biggest military fortress on the edge of Beinz Blood Lake. It had very thick walls and strong inner wall buildings. Nonetheless, the fortress had suffered huge damage. Everyone could see large cracks on the outer walls. Even the wall facing the Gnarled Grove had its missing gate replaced by a 100-metre-wide gap. Debris was everywhere. Evidently, no one had cleared it up. Groups of soldiers were also seen patrolling inside the town and outside its walls as if another battle was about to erupt.

Hao Ren could see most of the destruction in Leyton Town. Collapsed buildings were everywhere.

When he recalled what happened that day, the knight was still visibly terrified. “Yes, we couldn’t believe that we actually managed to keep the town intact. At that time, Dragonspine Ridge had another collapse and thousands of rock monsters came down from the mountain. Half of the defensive forces were in another battle with the monsters up north and they could not come back in time. The rock monsters soon breached the outer shield and they stormed straight through the town towards the Gnarled Grove.”

The knight spread his hand out and said, “Fortunately, Marshal Ophra came back with reinforcements. She went straight to the back and cut off the advancing rock monsters from behind. With that, we were able to keep the town under the command of Bishop Gelton. But, as you can see, the destruction is still pretty massive.”

The patrolling units at the town’s gate had spotted the returning forces and a muscular man on horse, who appeared to be an officer came out to greet them. “What happened?”

The knight solemnly said, “Inform the bishop quickly, the Orb of the Holy Synod has return.”

Chapter 347: The Return of the Holy Orb

 

The sudden and safe return of the orb brought the town into a furore. Leyton was a special township, only sparsely populated by normal civilians. It was mostly inhabited by clergymen as well as Royal Knights, and perhaps a contingent or two of militias. All present had been involved in the search for the missing Orb to some extent, because they were aware of its significance to the kingdom. So, it was no surprise that the entire town rose into a huge cheer when a knight came bearing good news across the street, shouting, “The Orb has been found!”

Hao Ren and his group followed a group of knights as the latter escorted them into Leyton. They were soon mobbed by the townsfolk, who came to see what was going on and they were soon joined by the receiving troops. As they reached the town’s trunk road, someone toiled away in the town’s bell tower. The distant and loud sounds of the bell seemingly functioned to dispel the gloomy atmosphere that had canvassed the town for about half a month. The ringing also drew an ever bigger crowd and Hao Ren could not help but turn towards the leader of the knights beside him. “Is it alright to let the news out? Logically speaking, the return of such an important treasure would normally be kept secret…”

“This is the land of the goddess.” The commander’s face was grim as he pointed towards the church. “The people here are the most loyal servants of the goddess. The Orb of the Holy Synod has returned to its rightful home and…” The captain stopped for a moment as he broke into a smile. “Every sorry sod here needs something to be happy about. It has been nothing but sorry news for months. We need good news to let everyone know that the goddess is watching over her people.”

Big Beardy as well as the three other ascetics were surrounded by knights and they could not care less about the commotion. The young ascetic with the hoarse voice only glanced up for a second before looking back down again. “…Too noisy.”

“At least, we’ve completed our mission,” Big Beardy said softly. “Much has happened since and I will be praying for the night once we get back. Perhaps this is an omen by the goddess.”

The town still bore the scars previously left by the rock monsters’ invasion. The main road had clearly been repaired recently and some parts of the pavement were obviously new as well. The houses along both sides of the road had sustained visible damage while some had totally collapsed. Hao Ren still remembered how the town looked when he first came. Some of its buildings had since disappeared and only rubble or wooden frames were left where the buildings originally stood. Simple wooden shelters or tents dotted the streets and that was how the citizens of Leyton had been living since the attack. Based on the commander’s description, the rock monsters had charged directly through the centre of town, ignoring the two side roads. Their objective was obvious and the headlong charge destroyed the trunk road and everything around it. The only structure still unscathed was the church in the centre of the town. As it was protected with a powerful, magical forcefield, the rock monsters had circumvented the church and laid waste to everything else around it.

Thus, the plaza on both sides of the church was nothing but rubble now.

It did not take long for the group to reach the church. In front of it, an old man in magnificent robes was waiting for them. Hao Ren recognised the figure as Bishop Gelton. The clergyman had personally come out to welcome the return of the Orb of the Holy Synod. The old man looked even frailer in the cold wind and Hao Ren really wondered how long this man could hold on. Since the last time they met, the bishop had aged even more, and he was now as gaunt as a corpse.

The group dismounted from their horses and the four ascetics walked forth towards the bishop. Big Beardy and the bishop then exchanged greetings. “Bishop Gelton, it has been a while. By the goddess’ mercy, we have made it back alive.”

Gelton nodded and quivered as if his frail body would collapse at any time. But, his voice was still crystal clear. “It is great to see all four masters back, safe and sound. The thought of putting your names into the Book of Martyrs just did not feel right.”

The ascetics were a special group within the Disciples of Glory. To receive the title of a “master”, one needed to constantly practice and study all forms of arcane knowledge. This not only meant that these people were strong in faith, they were also learned in academia, theology, history and all sorts of fields. Most common believers treated the ascetics with reverence, which was only reserved for someone with more seniority. For high level clergies, the title “master” was used as a “professional title”.

Big Beardy waved the bishop off. “Being a martyr is something I could only dream of. If needed, I am ever willing to trade my life for the glory of the goddess. But, it seems that she would like for us to wait and she has brought us back safely. Alright, let us not tarry. We need to bring the Orb back into the church.”

Gelton nodded and looked at Hao Ren as well as the rest with rather cloudy eyes. “These mercenaries here… Ah… I still remember you lot. So, it is you…. such awe-inspiring youngsters. I never thought you would be the one to complete such a divine calling. The goddess will be pleased, and the kingdom will remember your contributions.”

At that point, even Becky was too embarrassed to even mention the rewards. The mercenary lass held a heroic pose as she said, “You’re welcome, you’re welcome. It is my honour to serve the goddess and the kingdom…”

Gelton was an experienced man and could tell that Becky was just another money-loving mercenary. However, he did not say anything more and simply nodded. “Come along, I would like to hear how you managed to find the Orb of the Holy Synod and the four masters.”

The group then headed into the church. The structure was protected by a powerful forcefield, thus it was safe from damage during the rock monsters’ assault. Inside the church were a group of monks in black robes—the church’s combat specialists. Their numbers seemed to have doubled, or tripled since the last time Hao Ren was there and they looked as formidable as ever. Hao Ren then entered the meeting hall where he first met the bishop. He also remembered another prominent figure who graced the room: the Royal Marshal, Ophra.

But, the general was not around today. Perhaps, she was stationed in the outer defensive perimeter.

The group sat on the benches and tall chairs in the room with Gelton being the last to be seated on his own tall chair. He coughed softly before he looked at Big Beardy. “So, Master, where did come from and how did you return?”

Big Beardy threw a glance at Hao Ren and narrated the story the way they had discussed earlier. “We were trapped in an alternate dimension for a few months until we were saved not too long ago by this group of young ones.”

A glimmer of shock flickered through Gelton’s cloudy eyes. “Alternate dimension? What is that about?”

“It appeared to be the remnants of the Ancient Magic Civilisation,” Big Beardy explained. The Plane of Dreams indeed had ruins of alternate dimensions dotted across it, even more so than Earth. This was the unusual restures’ “land of origin” after all. Thus, this was the best excuse available. “This is another trial by the goddess. We survived the cold and hunger in the alternate dimension and we had to hunt the strange beasts in that dimension to keep going. Our faith has led us till the end. We found a weakspot in the dimension and managed to re-establish contact with the outside world. This group of youngsters hail from the Hognar Empire. Their knowledge of dimensional magic is astounding and they were the ones who managed to open a pathway for us to escape. However, the exit is very far away, in the northern wasteland.”

Hao Ren nodded slightly as he listened and glanced at Becky. This whole hogwash tale was her doing. Or else, how could Hao Ren and Big Beardy come up with a story that fit the locals’ understanding without getting busted? Becky had spent countless nights in the taverns throughout her mercenary days and over-the-top stories were never short in supply.

After carefully curating your typical tavern tale off of parts where the hero slayed a dragon or demon king, most of the other parts would pretty much be true. A little salt and pepper made the story of the four ascetics, who disappeared believable. Besides, there was no way to disprove the matter or that such incidents were not unheard of.

But most importantly, most common people wouldnever think that the ascetics would play them for a fool…

Gelton nodded and seemed to trust what Big Beardy had told him. He knew that this was not the first time someone was trapped in the alternate dimensions left by the ancient ruins. The stories of other survivors were equally harrowing, and for that to happen to the goddess’ most fervant of servants, the only explanation was: it was her will. As such, the bishop stood up and faced the statue of the goddess, bowing before it. “Thank the goddess for her mercy.”

He then turned towards Hao Ren. “I am interested in hearing your story…”

Hao Ren quickly perked up, knowing that his time to act all cool and heroic had come. He sat in his most heroic posture before Gelton’s first words put a damper to it. “I remember that your group being called the ‘Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names’, right?”

Hao Ren’s heroic facade crumbled in an instant before he nodded gingerly. “…Uh… right…”

“Such stoic heroism.” Gelton laughed. “The captain of Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names sure is mysterious.”

Hao Ren could only keep a straight face on. “…Umm… thanks…”