Bear School Astartes

Chapter 897 - 879: Undead Settlement

Riding on the Qilin, with Rong Buqiu, Lann once again arrived at the outer reaches of the Profound Church.

This time, not having to worry about the speed of the convoy, they let the Qilin exude crackling electricity, allowing it to nimbly traverse the valleys and highlands.

"Neigh!"

Lann gently tugged on the Qilin’s mane, causing it to momentarily pause its joyful run.

This was already atop a small mountain near the Profound Church.

In the distance were the spires of the majestic Gothic church, and looking down from the mountain top... wandering souls were swaying shoulder to shoulder along the road.

Their parched throats emitted wheezy sounds akin to those near death.

Their bodies resembled skin and bones due to the depletion of humanity in their souls.

Even some hunting dogs and household dogs had undergone changes due to the decline of the primal fire.

Their bodies also turned to skin and bones, so much so that the vertebrae on their hind legs were visible, yet their bulging fur remained disheveled and vigorous.

The primal fire affected all life in the Fire Age.

Lann retraced their steps along the path they once traveled with the convoy.

The Qilin’s strength provided an extraordinary speed; on their last journey to the Profound Church, they even had to spend a night in the wild.

But in front of the free-moving Qilin, Lann estimated it would take less than two hours to return to the Undead Settlement, which they were about to enter last time.

Yet along this journey, he accidentally encountered a strange figure.

That person was portly, wearing a wide-brimmed lady’s hat, holding a heavy scripture in one hand and a terrifying long-handled Wolf Fang Club in the other.

When Lann saw her, she was engaging in some cruel actions.

It was an undead who had turned into a wandering soul, while the portly woman opened the scripture and chanted the stories written within.

Then, with a wave of her hand, a dark swarm of tiny insects, accompanied by an eerie buzzing, flew from her palm and burrowed into the body of that wandering soul.

The swarm seemed to be flesh-eating insects and were extremely efficient at devouring.

In nearly an instant, after the swarm landed on the wandering soul, large holes were gnawed into that skin-and-bone body!

The portly woman seemed to relish the scene in front of her, almost unable to restrain from letting out a delighted laugh after unleashing the swarm.

Strangely, those summoned insects gnawing at human bodies made Lann feel a sense of familiarity.

As if... after seeing the essence of Elderidge, similar darkness had invaded his own body.

Those who touch the darkness experience a sensation as if their insides are being gnawed by countless insects.

And this "miracle" seems to be a story that narrates those feelings.

Undoubtedly, this was a follower of the Profound Church.

During the time spent reading, this preacher must have been dispatched by the Profound Church to spread the faith.

However, those who believe in the Profound tend to prefer spreading their beliefs through such bloody, cruel methods.

Lann easily dealt with her.

Or it could be said that the Qilin dealt with her.

This preacher, in terms of combat strength, was far inferior to the battle-hardened Church Knights.

Lann merely instructed the Qilin to carefully avoid the supernatural swarm, after which the Ancient Dragon performed freely.

Even carrying Lann, the Qilin’s speed was far beyond what an ordinary person could catch up with.

After deftly circling a few rounds, it reached the back of the portly woman.

Then with a dip of its head, "Squelch," it pierced her kidneys with its azure horns.

The protective armor she wore was as if it didn’t exist.

Sitting on the Qilin, Lann coldly watched the woman with the pierced kidneys crawl and convulse on the ground until she moved no more.

Then he dismounted, kicked aside her corpse, and using the sheathed Aron Dite, prodded the scripture.

Sure enough, it was filled with stories of the Profound.

"It seems Elderidge wasn’t a brave individual, sir," Mentos mused within Lann’s mind.

"After being truly harmed by you, he even fled without bothering to gather his subordinates, epitomizing a ’never looking back’ retreat."

"These preachers probably have no idea what’s happening inside the Profound Church right now, right?"

After flipping through a few pages with his sheathed Long Blade, Lann lost all interest in the scripture.

With a snap of his fingers, a flame ignited by the Igni Rune began to burn the hefty scripture.

These preachers were only spreading basic Profound stories, much more superficial compared to the books MacDonald recommended inside the Profound Church.

However, if used to preach to poorly educated commoners, it would undoubtedly suffice.

"Elderidge was never renowned as a combat leader or a heroic king; he was just known for his ’ability to consume’."

After the scripture was consumed by fire, Lann patted the end of Aron Dite’s scabbard to shake off the ashes.

"Even in life, he was the highest archbishop in the White Sect. It’s not surprising he never engaged in blood-soaked battles, being a bit cowardly is quite normal."

As Lann spoke with Mentos, he remounted the Qilin.

Rong Buqiu was standing on the Qilin’s neck, using a cloth to wipe its azure horns.

"It’s clean, meow."

Lann watched the interaction between Rong Buqiu and Qilin, while contemplating the matters of the Undead Settlement.

Back then, Fodolink mentioned searching for something near the Undead Settlement, perhaps this time I can check on him.

It would be great to have an acquaintance when arriving at a new place.

Lann thought absentmindedly.

Thanks to Qilin’s all-terrain mobility, Lann didn’t pass through the courtyard where the Crystal Elder was, but instead, jumped directly over the mountain.

He was actually interested in this world’s magic, wanting to see how the mages’ worldview explained this world.

But now, the primary focus was completing the plan to rescue people in Losric, this goal had to be temporarily postponed.

Anyway, the Crystal Elder looked like a shut-in researcher who didn’t want to leave his home, it should be easy to find him later.

Lann quickly rode Qilin, retracing the path he had previously traversed, and then entered the unexplored route.

Back then, he and Fodolink encountered the convoy escorting the Goddess on the way to the Undead Settlement.

And going further, Lann hadn’t been. Now, he was advancing according to Klimte’s directions.

This path led to a tall tower at its end. And at this height, it should correspond to the tower’s base level.

Lann dismounted, leading Qilin inside.

"Is this it?"

After entering the base level room of the tower, they found a device resembling an elevator.

However, unlike the structure in Lann’s impressions, which would have a counterweight on the opposite side of the lift, this thing seemed to have no concept of a counterweight at all.

Stepping on the raised wooden board in the middle of the lift, the entire wooden structure began to operate with a ’gurgle gurgle’ sound.

Carrying a person, a horse, and a cat upwards.

"Tsk, I wonder who researched this?"

Lann curiously tapped the rod of the lift with his toe, while Rong Buqiu looked on inquisitively from the side.

This unknown principle lift was both stable and fast, quickly transporting them to the mid-level and stopping automatically.

This room was decorated with many lit candles, with wax tears stacked in large piles in the corners of the floor.

It had a somewhat bright and warm feeling.

After leaving this room, they would be at the Undead Settlement.

Under the ’bleeding sun’, the sky was dim to the point of near darkness.

Flocks of crows circled and called out in the sky.

What attracted so many scavenging birds was this vast complex of buildings.

Ricketty wooden houses were piled together, making one question how such a mechanical structure could stabilize the houses and allow people to live inside.

And the decaying wooden materials indicated that the economic condition here had never been good.

But at most, this was a common sight of a medieval slum.

What attracted crows was only flesh and blood.

And the Undead Settlement was precisely the place with a large concentration of ’flesh and blood’.

This was the primary processing site for the undead. Therefore, it had the privilege of directly connecting the village entrance to Losric City’s entrance bridge.

In the normal past, they would give those undead a quick and dignified death in the village, with the process being nearly ritualistically solemn and meticulous.

But as the flames dimmed, the power maintaining the world’s stable operation mirrored people’s inner hearts.

Along with the already intensifying panic, and the worsening situation caused by more and more undead... the atmosphere here was by no means ’good’.

Under psychological pressure, the originally solemn rituals were quickly collapsing.

Just as Lann walked out the door and looked up, he saw a continuous stretch of wheels on the rooftops of those wooden houses.

The villagers of the Undead Settlement laid the wheels sideways on the rooftops, and tied irrational wandering souls to them, leaving them to the crows.

The villagers who did such things... even if the wandering souls were almost like zombies, Lann didn’t think their mental state was any more normal.

Compared with the otherworldly people like Lann, whose souls and humanity were significantly different, the state of the First Flame directly affected the mental and physical state of the ordinary people in this world.

But fortunately, it seemed that the Undead Settlement was still barely maintaining some order, and hadn’t completely turned into a gathering place for lunatics and wandering souls.

"Hello?"

Lann hesitantly reached out to stop a passing villager.

The villager was holding what seemed like a large slaughtering cleaver, with fresh blood still dripping from it.

His stature had grown somewhat tall and thin, the cuffs of his old coarse cloth long pants were even pushed up above his ankles. He wasn’t even wearing a decent pair of shoes.

But his height was still within the normal range. This was one of the reasons Lann wanted to approach and talk.

He turned his head, the empty eyes beneath the ragged straw hat looked at Lann, seemingly evaluating whether he was a wandering soul.

But after a slow, stiff glance, his sluggish brain finally realized that the person in front of him was full-bodied and strong, with smooth, fair skin.

Not to mention compared to the dry-as-kindling wandering souls, even in a normal state, this was undeniably a person with the appearance of nobility.

So, he painstakingly removed the tattered straw hat from his head and placed it on his chest, still somewhat remembering basic etiquette.

"Please, please speak... sir."