11. The news spread
"Grrrr…" Hilda's screams resembled groans, but others were unconcerned about the pus and blood that were erupting from her skin, much like a pork belly in hot oil.
All of her mane and fur fell off in a blink, and the live rotting of her skin just exposed muscles and bones while splattering blood everywhere.
The golden light enveloping her body was constantly destroying her inner organs, so it wasn't just the outside of her body that was visibly rotting.
There wasn't a single orifice in her body that wasn't leaking any blood or pus. Some grey matter was leaking out of her ears while one of her eyeballs fell out of her eye socket.
[
[The primordial light has triggered
[
[Recovering…]
If Hilda were conscious at that moment, she would have realized that the 'light' of the
Alas! She wasn't in a position to understand that she would have turned into a puddle of blood and rotting flesh without the effect of the
[
[Constitution: 31.4>31.3]
[Strength: 21.7>21.6]
[Dexterity: 26.9>26.8]
….
[The primordial light has triggered
[
[Recovering…]
[
[
The primordial light mana was continuously destroying and recovering her body. Although the cycle showed no sign of stopping, the curse seems to have the upper hand.
"This one is more tenacious than it appeared. No wonder Zahr is fond of it." Brom was pulling the body of the dead crusader along with him. "Wouldn't he say anything if this one died here?"
"As if Lord Zahr would care about mutts like this." Gavon snorted.
"He might not be wrong." Knir sighed. "The inheritance circle that 'Zahr' had bestowed upon her is just a beginner inheritance circle."
"A beginner circle?"
"Heee… Someone must have duped this mutt."
Knir nodded, adding, "It doesn't make sense that a bastard elf would ask a small tribe of gnolls to take care of a human caravan to begin with."
"For Lord Zahr, it would be like breathing."
Brom ignored Gavon as he was in deep thought before asking, "Is there someone who would dare to impersonate an Omen?"
"I can't confirm if it wasn't that dammed elf."
"Of course, it won't be Lord Zahr." No one was more confident about it than Gavon. Alas! The other two don't care about his opinion.
"The shaman of its tribe couldn't confirm, but he had seen him using a yellow aura. The last time I saw him a couple of years ago, he used a yellow aura, and I don't know if there was a way to mimic aura…"
Brom also didn't know a way to do it. "What should we do about it then?"
"This one is really surprising." Knir checked on groaning Hilda, adding, "Even if it were me, I don't think I would have survived this long.
"Yet it is holding onto her dear life, like…" Brom paused momentarily, looking at the body of the crusader he was dragging.
In Brom's mind, strength always regained supreme. Although he couldn't use dark mana like a magician, it still mutated his body to the point where he didn't need to use it to fight against any warlords.
However, it was true that if this hyena hadn't killed the saint, who was increasing the ability of the Crusaders and the Paladins, he would still be fighting with the Crusaders. For some reason, he felt a little bad for her.
He raised the dead body in the air and pulled its heart out. Even if Hilda was struggling like a headless chicken and had nothing called skin on her body, Brom still gabbed her jaw and stuffed the crusader's heart into her mouth.
He didn't let her go until she swallowed it instinctively.
"What are you doing?"
"Although light bastards don't have a core, their essence is mainly concentrated in their hearts. She might survive if she can absorb it."
"It might work. She is affiliated with the sin of gluttony. She might be able to gain some ability by eating it, but that won't be enough unless her body becomes immune to light mana. And that would be impossible."
"We won't know unless we try." Brom pulled out the hearts of the Paladins one by one. He would have fed her the saint's heart if he could, but Knir has already taken that.
"I never thought you were so compassionate."
"It is as you have said. Even you wouldn't have survived the curse. But she is still fighting."
"What about it? Even if she gains immunity to light mana, it won't help. Unless she learned to harness it, it would fill up her body, and after some time, it would be released with a light pillar. Regardless of whether it means venturing into desolate lands, the church will seek out the assassin once they find out what happened to the saint candidate."
"Is that why you have used her?"
"It is a little price to pay to take care of future problems." She shuddered her shoulders, saying, "Don't look at me like that. The council of witches had decided on that. As the youngest, I must do the dirty work."
"They had decided to use her?"
"Of course not. How would they know about a little unevolved gnoll? I have selected her. An intermediate inheritance circle, mana stones… I have compensated her well."
The awkward silence lingered for a moment. After being ignored for a long time, Gavon said, "I think we should leave now."
"Your ability won't work on her, right?"
"Do you want to see?" As Knir said, the ground under Hilda glowed, and tentacles started to come out of the circle. However, as soon as they touched Hilda, they were turned into ashes, fracturing the magic circle.
"The only one you can rely on is you." After stuffing all the hearts in her mouth, Brom stood up and walked to Knir. The ground beneath them glowed, the dark tentacles appeared, and the three vanished.
Hilda wasn't in any position to pay attention to them. Even if one ignored a string of notifications, the pain was unbearable, and Hilda could not decipher what was happening around her. Neither could she read the notification that was piling up in her vision.
[The host absorbs the blood rich in eternal mana.]
[Constintiution: 30.9>31.0]
…
[Charm: 11.0>11.1]
…
[Intelligence: 100>100 (!!!)]
[Dexterity: 26.2>26.3]
…
Unlike the creatures of darkness, beings blessed by light don't create a core in their hearts. Instead, they generate aura rings around their hearts.
An aura ring can energize a person's heart instead of a core, mixing aura with blood. As a result, eating the creatures of light strengthens the body.
However, it was little to no help to Hilda. The curse was constantly destroying her body. If it weren't for the
[The eternal mana is resonating with the
[The eternal mana has triggered a change in
[
…
[
[
[Constintiution: 31.0>30.9]
[Constintiution: 30.9>31.0]
…
[Dexterity: 26.3>26.2]
[Dexterity: 26.2>26.3]
…
For the first time, the healing was catching up with the curse's effect. However, Hilda lay unconscious and groaning without showing any signs of recovery. Nothing changed until the blood of the crusader triggered another change in her body.
[The Primordial light is resonating with the
[
[
Only then did a thin layer of skin appear on the exposed inner organs.
*****************
Rinoy was running through the long marble corridor. Nuns covered in white turned to look at the ever-so-calm young priest, drenched in sweat. They looked at each other for an answer, but none knew what worried him.
"Ahhhhh…" One of the nuns lost all the strength in her leg and fell to the floor. When showered with a questioning gaze, she pointed at the giant statue in the middle of the garden.
Like any other day, the sunlight reflecting off the marble surface gave it a golden hue. This was the very essence of the primordial light; it was neither an angel nor a saint—the embodiment of the primordial light itself.
Some even claim that only primordial light was responsible for carving the marble slab.
No one knew if the legend was true or just a myth, but they knew that scarlet blood was coming from its left eye.
The nuns didn't understand why it was happening, but all they could do was fall to their knees and bang their foreheads on the cold marble floor.
It caught the other priests or servants off guard. However, the direction of their kowtowing soon gave away the reason.
Soon, anyone who could see the statue was on their knees, asking for forgiveness for a crime they didn't know about.
Rinoy didn't notice what was happening as he soon stood outside the door, separating him from the woman he needed to see most.
He might have banged too hard on the door, but the voice from the other side sounded relatively calm when it asked him to come in.
On the other side of the door was a long hall, and a woman was sitting on her knees at the end of the hall. Rinoy tried to make as little sound as possible as he almost ran to the woman.
The woman was still praying to the pillar of light from the small hole at the top of the dome. Without looking back, she said, "The light had dimmed a lot."
"Linka… Linka has…"
"He has returned to the embrace of the primordial light."
"It's the…"
"Followers who denied the faith of light are making a move."
"Many villages and towns, along with a few cities, had already fallen to the horde of the demonic beasts. If we don't make a move…"
"That is not what we should be worried about." The saintess touched the floor with her forehead before standing up. "The council of witches is moving. They don't care about killing a few."
"A few?" Rinoy almost voiced his thoughts out loud. He did not doubt that the saintess was aware of the fact that the attack had claimed the lives of thousands upon thousands of humans, dwarves, and elves.
Potentially, more than 10,000 had died, with 50,000 refugees trying to escape the demon tide.
"It is a small price to pay. A small price for our better future."
'Better future!' Rinoy didn't want to see a future that needed the sacrifices of thousands of people.
"We might be able to save a few thousand now, but if we let the witch of Torrefy and the Warlord of Mountain Troll go, they might kill more than a few hundred thousand."
"But we have already captured both of them; do you really need two saints and four cardinals to transport them?"
"We used so many people that the council didn't dare to attack them directly. They were taking the lives of the innocent so that we would divide our forces."
"But Linka was just a small child."
"He was a saint candidate. He has done his job and returned to the embrace of the primordial light."
"But…"
"WE DON'T QUESTION THE WILL OF PRIMORDIAL ONE."
Rinoy opened his lips, but he couldn't say anything.
"
Rinoy looked at her, failing to understand what she was trying to say.
"If one kills a saint or saint candidate is killed, the murderer will be cursed. We call it
"What about those creatures?"
"Their existence will be wiped out of existence."
"Even if it is a witch?"
"Even if it is a witch... Maybe Omen… An Omen might survive, but it would be just strong enough to breathe. That is why I have sent someone to check."
"Will they be able to find him?"
"