Chapter 258 - Ugliness of Humanity

"Light is constant and eternal…" Slanbrea said, holding out his hand slowly. Compared to a common believer, he appeared much more logical and less zealous. There were two distinct groups once people become as powerful as someone like Slanbrea. One type was filled with wisdom and treated everyone with justice and logic. The other type took their beliefs as everything they had, and they would do anything for it. The first type gained their power through tireless work and wisdom, the second through determination. It was hard to say which type was more powerful, but it was easy to tell which type had an easier time gaining respect. Slanbrea was from the former group, which could be seen judging by how respected he was.

A ball of light raised up from Slanbrea’s hand and floated towards the second floor. The light hovered near the ceiling for a few seconds before exploding into thousands of tiny sparks. The room burst into light, columns of light shone through the walls and windows. The entire courtyard was lit up. Everyone in the room had to cover their eyes and cower under the light.

Anfey opened his eyes and glanced at Slanbrea after the light disappeared. He was confused. Usually, before a priest use large scale magic like this, he would warn everyone around him. Slanbrea did not warn anyone, which seemed out of character.

Everyone standing in the lobby slowly recovered from the shock. Some were stumbling around, but most were already adjusting. The woman who passed out earlier was awake, but she was curled into a fetal position and wailing, clutching her stomach.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of," Slanbrea said with a sigh.

What was he afraid of? Anfey frowned and looked at Slanbrea. Except for the woman who appeared to be in excruciating pain, nothing was too bad about the situation.

"Darkness shall not prevail against the light, and guiltless souls shall find peace within the walls of heaven…" Slanbrea whispered under his breath. He raised his arms and waved. A curved blade of light shot up and hit the wailing woman. Light magic did not have many attacking spells, but this was one of them. The woman was spliced into two pieces by the light blade, and thrown backwards. A dark, bloody thing crawled out of the woman’s body, wailing like a child. Slanbrea raised his hand, and the thing turned to dust under strong light.

No one knew why Slanbrea had killed the woman, but now everyone knew what must have happened. Who would have thought that the person that lived with them was carrying a demon in her body?

The woman was still alive, however, though her eyes were dim. Her lips were closing and opening, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t make a sound. Slanbrea walked over and held the woman’s body in his arms. "Be at peace, child," he said. "Leave your sufferings behind. May god be with you."

The woman looked at Slanbrea, and the corners of her lips twitched. Then she closed her eyes and stopped breathing.

Slanbrea placed the woman’s body on the ground carefully and stood up. Everyone around him took a collective step back, as if they were afraid something else would crawl out of the woman’s body.

Anfey sighed and turned away. Suddenly, he noticed something and frowned.

Anfey had very good short term memory, good enough to notice that something was off about the statue across the room.

When he first arrived, the statue was standing between two staircases. It had been holding its lance in its right hand, shield in left hand, and standing upright. Now, the statue was moved back a few feet, and was bent over as if it was getting ready to pounce on its prey. Anfey frowned. He grabbed his lance and threw it towards the statue. The spear struck the statue in the head and cracked the helmet. A dark figure jumped out of the statue and bolted towards the skylight.

Slanbrea was already looking at him when Anfey threw the spear. The shadow was fast, but not as fast as the light. Light flashed, and the shadow was on the ground, writhing and wailing.

It was a monster in the shape of a bat, but much larger. The light had clearly caused irreversible damage to its body, and its body was turning into dust. The more it struggled, the more its body withered away.

"What is that?" Anfey asked.

"A demon," a guard said, his voice shaking. "We’ve been living with demons!"

Slanbrea walked over to the statue and walked around it. "Move this over there," he turned to two guards and said, pointing at the statue. He was one of the most powerful men, but his magic wasn’t omnipotent and he couldn’t do heavy lifting.

The two guards walked over unwillingly and picked up the statue, moving it to where Slanbrea had indicated.

Anfey frowned. He walked over and grabbed a guard’s longsword and joined Slanbrea at his side. He tapped the stone under the statue and said with a smile, "It’s hollow."

"I know," Slanbrea said. "Why did you think there was a guard here?"

"This isn’t a trap, is it?" Anfey frowned and turned to Suzanna. "Will you?"

Suzanna nodded. She walked over and drew her sword, slamming it into the ground. The stone shattered upon impact, and a dark hole in the ground appeared.

Suzanna drew a deep breath and the light from her combat power became brighter. She looked into the hole and was about to jump into it when she was stopped by Slanbrea. "Allow me," he said.

"But sir, you are a priest!"

"I’m so much more experienced than you with these things," Slanbrea said with a smile. "I’ve been dealing with them my whole life."

"Please be careful," Anfey said.

Slanbrea smiled and used a levitation spell. He floated down the hole, followed by Suzanna and Anfey. Christian had to protect Niya and did not follow them.

"I didn’t realize you know how to use a levitation spell, my lord," Anfey said. He glanced at the cellar. There was no lamp in the dark cellar, but as long as Slanbrea was there, lamps were not necessary. Slanbrea himself, surrounded by holy flame, was more than enough to light up the entire cellar.

"Do farmers know how to grow flowers?" Slanbrea asked.

"I suppose."

"It’s the same thing," Slanbrea said. He suddenly frowned and whispered, "There’s dark magic at work down here. I can feel it."

Anfey gathered up fire elements and summoned his fire sword and shield. Suzanna positioned her sword and appeared very nervous.

The cellar was not wide, but had a long corridor. After a few minutes following the dark hallway, the three saw a dead end. There was an alchemist lab to their left with hundreds of bottles lining the shelves inside. To the right was a study with two bookshelves full of books. In the corner of the study was a cage with dark shadows inside.

Slanbrea walked into the study and the three saw clearly there were two zombies in the cage, one bigger than the other. The zombies wailed and tried to crawl away from the light. When they realized they could not run away from the light, they curled up in the corner.

The large zombie’s body was riddled with wounds, puss dripped down from its rotten flesh. The smaller zombie was curled up next to the larger one, its body shaking.

Slanbrea frowned and glanced at Anfey and Suzanna. It wasn’t hard to guess what had happened. Nana’s wife and child went missing, and there in his basement were two zombies. The two zombies seemed to still have human emotions. What kind of man would turn his own wife and child into zombies just because he was lonely?