Chapter 103: Numb

Chapter 103: Numb

Sofia was still recovering on the cold ground when Pareth brought back a limp middle aged woman in a priests garb. She had watched the whole scene through the skeletons vision, it had been a strange, almost otherworldly interaction. The priestess hadnt said anything, she hadnt fled, seeing the skeleton approach she had only used weak personal protection skills such as [Bubble of Prayers]. That had done nothing to stop Pareth, he crushed the immaterial shield with his bare hand and grabbed the woman, who went limp like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Is she playing dead to sneak attack me when Im near or something?

To be safe, she had Pareth do the handling, dropping her on the ground and checking her vitals.

Still alive, steady heartbeat Whats going on? Open her eyes.

Pareths large bone fingers held the womans eyes open, the pupils were unfocused and didnt move. Its almost like shes asleep

Sofia had a strong urge to kill her right now and move on. But she held back, she wanted to understand what was going on and why everyone she killed showed up as monsters. She felt the whole fight hadnt been very organic. The paladins hadnt screamed as they died, hadnt faltered, hadnt fled in face of the overwhelming defeat. It was unsettlingly un-human behavior.

Break one of her fingers.

She used [Heal Undead] but the finger didnt recover. Potion? She threw a potion for Pareth to force feed her. That still works

Wait, I never tried to use [Identify]... No result

Next she focused on the priestess mana. It looked normal if quite depleted. No its Shes connected to something.

It was a faint link from the priestess head going northeast, this looked similar to the state Alith had been in during the trial. Is my enemy An Archangel?!

The priestess on the ground spasmed suddenly and spat blood. She died.

Sofia didn't even get a kill message this time, nothing.

What the hell is going on?! She got up to personally go check on the dead woman when a slew of system messages stopped her in her tracks.

[WARNING, SYSTEM CORRUPTION DETECTED]

[ENTERING EMERGENCY STATE]

[Due to internal errors, you have been disconnected for your safety, you are now in Scribe Only mode]

[To avoid operating slowdown, please keep at least 10 000 mana available at all times]This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

[Anomalies may arise]

[You will be reconnected when possible, until then many sub-systems will be unavailable]

This This looks much worse than I had expected.

Is there a link with the trial towers safety being compromised which got us teleported to the safe house?

There were too many things happening all at once, Sofia had trouble making sense of it all in the moment. She stood up, finally having recuperated enough, and made way to the flaming Orphanage.

The bolts explosion had set it aflame, and perhaps it was better that way. Still she went back inside, Pareth's light opened the way through the burning and crumbling building.

She entered through the hole they had made, doing her best to cover her nose and hold back her tears. She wanted to blame the crying on the irritating smoke from the fire but the wrenching of her heart told a different story. She counted the dead bodies of the boys in their beds. All there.

With a heavy mind, she made her way to the girls room, stepping over the two fallen paladins in the way. Six, Seven A bed is empty! Chino isnt here!

[Will you accept? Yes/No]

Is this real?

The orator? Is that another Lord of the Deep? Why this? Why now?!

And what do you mean, defeat Scripture? Its a God were talking about isnt it? A GOD! Help or no help thats impossible!

Sofia was shocked to be answered by her own voice. I give no impossible task.

Then a crow that had been sitting on a nearby branch turned to look at her, When one isnt up to the task, they shall give up. The bird squeaked and flew away. One of the dead paladins on the ground got up like a zombie despite the large hole in his chest, Are you worthy of the name you bear? Sofia Aphenoreth.

The paladin fell back down and nothing could be heard anymore except for the howling of the fire as the whole village burned to the ground.

...

Sofia let herself lay on the ground too.

What a day

It was morning. Sofia had spent the whole night on the cold dirt. When all fires had died down, she got up. Deploying her wings, she flew up and observed what remained of Verenha and the orphanage.

The only penalty for failure is what not getting the rewards leads to, isnt it? Alright. Dont get your hopes up, Orator, I dont see any way I could go against a God. But whatever. They really want me to accept, going so far as to come in person to taunt me

Scripture is the Churchs god, right? I dont even have his blessing but I have the Deeps instead.

That a Lord would give me this quest NOW I dont think is benign.

She looked once more at the charred town.

If the god of Scriptures is responsible for all this shit then

No allies? Skeletons are all I need.

I accept.

[Quest Accepted!]

[Time limit : 100 years]

[Reach level 130 to claim your advance rewards!]

An advance reward? I see, 'more surprises!' I would have lost even that if I gave up before trying. 130 is a mere few paladins away. I know just the place.

Sofia landed again to store Pareth and give her last farewell to the lost souls here. No one deserved this fate. A voice in the back of her mind screamed that it was all her fault but that was something she had developed a deep rooted resistance to. She had known enough sorrow. She also dumped all the dead Paladins and Templars in a corner of her ring.

Deploying her wings a second time, she departed, heading west.

The garrisons at the border with Sovuln hosted some paladins in their ranks.

Not for long.