[Vol. 8] Chapter 253: Earth Branch, Number Seven Breaks
Luckily, Ricardo had a strong will. Maybe some other power was also helping to suppress the evil energy inside him, so he still acted mostly normal and didn’t do anything strange.
Seeing that he was moving more freely now, and that the outside forces searching for them had almost completely disappeared, Sasha finally made up her mind after discussing with him. She left their hiding cave and hurried to the nearby city of Saint Tyr that same night.
Over the past few days, Ricardo still seemed worried and hadn’t told Sasha everything. But she had already figured out the main situation, the entire Theo Province, especially the big cities like Saint Tyr, had secretly been invaded by a scary outside force. The Church there could no longer be trusted, maybe not fully controlled, but certainly not safe to rely on in a crisis.
That evil force came from an ancient group called the [World Sustainers]. Ricardo only knew a little about them, but their goal this time was to spread [Corruption] quietly and carry out a huge, shocking conspiracy during an upcoming event.
When that happens, it will bring disaster and death to countless people.
Not long ago, Ricardo managed to learn some key information about this plot, though it came at a great cost. He had planned to secretly go to the eastern border of the Holy Empire and warn the Saintess in advance. But before he got there, he was discovered and badly injured while being chased by the enemy.
Then, something strange and unexplained happened... and now it was already too late. All he could do now was try to help the person who saved his life escape from danger first, and then think about what to do next.
The two of them arrived outside the North Gate of Saint Tyr. Because of the war happening in the eastern part of the Holy Empire, most of the people were coming in and out through the East and West Gates, so this gate wasn’t too crowded. There were also fewer soldiers and Holy Knights guarding it.
To be safe, Sasha didn’t mention her connection to the Xavier Merchant Group. She pretended to be just a normal adventurer. Ricardo also used a carefully made fake name to hide his identity. After a simple check, they passed through the gate and entered the city without any trouble.
But right after they got in, Ricardo frowned deeply.
“As expected, just like the reports said... Those Holy Knights earlier... I could faintly feel a familiar energy coming from them. I’m afraid they’ve already been influenced by that same power.”
“Huh? Really!?”
Sasha was shocked. She quickly looked back at those people, who had seemed perfectly normal, even smiling and chatting with her just a moment ago, and spoke in a quiet, disbelieving voice.
“But I didn’t feel anything strange at all! If they’ve really betrayed their faith, then they were acting way too well, weren’t they?”
Ricardo shook his head.
“Maybe they’re just good at pretending... or maybe they don’t even know it themselves. Unless someone willingly accepts and uses that power, most people who are affected don’t notice anything until the ‘gift’ fully activates. We don’t have time, Sasha. The situation is worse than we thought. We need to move quick—ugh!”
Suddenly, the young man grabbed his forehead tightly, like he was in terrible pain. A groan of suffering came out of his mouth!
“Hey! Ricardo!?”
Sasha panicked and quickly caught his shaking body. She was about to say something, but then, without any warning, she suddenly felt a cold, bone-deep fear.
It was as if something incredibly terrifying was looking at her from far away. Even though that gaze only brushed past her for the briefest moment and didn’t stop, the feeling of facing a true predator, something far above her, made her whole body freeze, and her pupils shrink in shock.
"BOOM!!!!!!"
In the next moment, a deafening sound shook the heavens. Suddenly, a loud explosion came from the sky, as if pulled by some invisible force. She raised her head up—
Only to see the clouds far across the sky being torn apart by some overwhelming power. Like a spreading shockwave, the clouds vanished in an instant. Along with that earth-shattering noise, a terrifying black crack opened up in the blue sky without any warning!
It looked just like a crystal mirror smashed by a heavy blow. The huge crack stretched for hundreds of miles across the sky. From it, wisps of a majestic and ancient presence began to leak out, quickly spreading across the world.
“!?” Sasha’s heart skipped a beat.
She vaguely felt that something around her was changing. But when she checked her own body carefully, everything still seemed normal. Instead, Ricardo’s face was twisted in pain, bulging veins on his forehead, his teeth clenched tightly, like he was trying desperately to resist something.
After struggling for a while, he could only force out a few broken words with great difficulty.
"It’s… Him… It’s His doing!"
The girl clearly saw that on the young man’s exposed skin, strange lumps, like pus-filled blisters, were rapidly growing. Each lump swelled more than an inch high. It was as if some unknown thing inside his body was trying to break free, pushing against his skin, trying to escape to the outside world.
Or maybe it was the early form of a new limb, something not from any normal creature. It was eerie and bizarre!
“Damn it, what the hell is happening?”
Sasha looked at the strange changes on her friend’s body in panic, but there was nothing she could do. She didn’t know anything about healing or magic. She was just a warrior, pure and simple.
And ever since Ricardo’s body started changing, or more accurately, ever since that terrifying crack suddenly appeared in the sky and triggered the change in him, everything around them began to change visibly as well.
Strangely, it wasn’t the people in the city who changed first. It was the city itself, Saint Tyr City.
As the unseen energy poured down from the sky crack, the solid stone walls of the city began to ooze blood. From inside the walls, strange fleshy growths sprouted outward like growing branches. The ground trembled, as if some network of roots was wildly spreading beneath the surface, causing loud rumbles.
“Oh goddess above! Is this divine punishment!?”
“Help! Somebody help—ahhhhhhh!!!!”
“Run! Run!!!”
Countless people screamed and ran in fear. Because among them, one after another began to change. Howling, screaming, their bodies mutating into something no longer human.
Not everyone was as strong as Ricardo in resisting this strange force. Sasha saw someone’s head suddenly swell to several times its normal size. That person opened a terrifying mouth and bit off the head of the person next to them, chewing with blood spraying everywhere.
Another person’s arms bulged and tore through their clothes, growing huge and thick like stone pillars. But the rest of their body shriveled up rapidly. In the end, they turned into a strange creature that moved only with its massive arms, which made up more than half of its whole body.
Even worse, some people completely melted into a pile of flesh, sinking into the ground. Then grew back from the blood-covered floor as trees made of meat, with faces still visible. These trees stretched out twisted branches, wildly grabbing and hunting any living thing around them.
They’ve gone mad. All of them have gone mad!