"This is Mr. Detective," Irene felt her spirits lift.
Even though they hadn't known each other long, that gentleman always managed to give her a sense of security.
She was just about to stand up when the next second, she saw the wooden door blast open from the middle.
At the chapel entrance.
Three circles of golden patterns lit up around William's pupils before he spoke: "There are many wooden splinters around the breach. These also need to be cleared away with tools, so we don't get scratched if we need to evacuate quickly."
As soon as his voice fell, Mark and Frenchie imdiately grabbed an axe and a pickaxe and stepped forward.
The sound of "renovations" echoed down the corridor once again.
Seeing this scene, Irene was montarily stunned, but she still jogged over.
"Mr. Detective, Father Burke, there is a powerful evil spirit in the abbey! It suddenly attacked the chapel just now, and the nuns here and I have been resisting it!"
Father Burke had a solemn expression: "Irene, you are the only one here."
Irene looked confused: "What do you an? They were clearly right..."
She turned around, and her face filled with shock.
She saw that the "nuns" beneath the holy statue were all suspended in mid-air.
Their upper halves still maintained the appearance of nuns, but their lower halves had completely vanished.
"How could..."
Irene ran over to the "nuns," whose faces still wore terrified expressions.
"Do you know who you were praying to just now?" William suddenly asked.
"The Holy Mother, of course," Irene pointed behind her, but the next second she realized the face of the Virgin Mary statue had already fallen off.
"A holy statue truly imbued with Holy Light wouldn't be destroyed by this little bit of power," William stated.
"And these nuns... knowing there is a powerful evil spirit in the abbey, they still tried to fight it solely with prayer."
He looked around.
"If this was really effective, then why would Holy Clergy mbers need to study Holy Arts?"
"And since we entered here, we haven't seen a single nun possessing a Brand. Does the Church use a group of ordinary Holy Clergy mbers to defend against evil?"
"Or rather... the people who truly possessed the ability to exorcise evil died a long ti ago."
Father Burke frowned slightly: "Did you discover sothing?"
William nodded and imdiately recounted the matter regarding the skeletons in the graveyard.
"There is Holy Power lingering on those remains, yet they all died. And these..."
He used his shovel to flip back the hood of one of the "nuns." Imdiately after, the eyes of the people beside him widened.
Beneath the hood was a patch of rotting, foul-slling skin, from which a pitch-black spirit thread protruded, extending all the way beneath the chapel floor.
At the sa ti, the faces of the "nuns" rapidly aged, becoming withered and shriveled in the blink of an eye.
"If they are living people, why didn't they seek help from the outside world? Frenchie has safely traveled back and forth to the abbey many tis before, aning information from here can absolutely be transmitted out."
"Considering all these factors, it's not hard to deduce that there's a problem with them." William added the final piece of evidence.
Irene opened her mouth. When she t the nuns earlier, none of this had crossed her mind. Only now did she feel a wave of post-traumatic terror, realizing she had been alone with evil spirits for so long.
Father Burke also rembered the words this gentleman had warned them with before entering the abbey.
"I apologize for my previous rudeness," he bowed slightly. "If I had believed you then, we wouldn't have encountered these dangers."
But William rely waved his hand: "Don't mind it. People can only truly believe sothing after experiencing it firsthand."
Father Burke sighed inwardly; in front of this gentleman, he felt like a rookie who had just begun studying theology.
"Then... what should we do next?" Unconsciously, he had already begun treating William as the leader.
"Let's exchange the intelligence we've gathered during this ti," William said.
"But before that, we have to deal with this guy first."
He pointed at the corpse of the nun nad Oana on the floor.
As soon as he spoke, the corpse suddenly rose and lunged at Gail.
Father Burke reacted swiftly, imdiately taking out a crucifix and pressing it against the corpse's forehead.
Before long, the crucifix turned glowing red, and Father Burke had to frown and let go.
Thwack!
At this ti, a wooden stick smashed over the corpse's head.
As the corpse fell to the floor, Frenchie gritted his teeth and swung the stick so fast it beca a blur, only stopping when the corpse's head was beaten into a pulp.
"Phew..." He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"What? This gentleman said earlier that when monsters have a physical body, sotis physical thods are more effective." Seeing the others staring at him, Frenchie explained.
William looked appreciative.
This is a true powerhouse capable of surviving Arican Horror Story!
Afterward, he set up isolation magic arrays in the chapel and also learned about the abbey's origins and the matter regarding the Holy Blood.
"Only a nun's blood can activate the Holy Blood?" William sneered.
"Irene is the only novitiate nun here. Isn't it obvious it was guiding you to target her."
Father Burke also nodded: "I thought so too."
"I guess... that evil spirit probably wants to obtain this holy relic, but it lacks a physical body, so it can only use you guys," Gail added.
"Then our only option next is to retrieve the Holy... Blood to destroy the evil spirit, right?" Frenchie summarized. "But... the abbey is so large, where is this thing?"
Hearing this, Irene took out a key: "This item should be related to the Holy Blood."
Seeing everyone looking at her, she pondered out loud: "This key was always in Sister Victoria's possession."
"The evil spirit's goal is to gain freedom, which requires a body. Therefore, that nun's death is highly likely unrelated to the evil spirit."
"And since suicide is considered unclean in the Church, the fact that Victoria was willing to protect the key with her life clearly shows how important this item is."
William raised an eyebrow; these people were finally starting to get the hang of things.
"But where is the door corresponding to the key?" Mark rubbed his chin. "The abbey is huge; there must be at least a hundred rooms in here."
At this ti, William spoke up: "Irene should be able to lead us to it."
The latter was montarily stunned: "I did have a dream earlier, but how did you know..."
William smiled faintly. Since she was the key character of the original plot, she would definitely drop crucial information at this ti.
But outwardly, he still said, "I can sense an unusual power on you. I believe this is a form of guidance."
This statent was ambiguous, but to the two people from the Church, the more vague it was, the more sense it made!
Furthermore, in the original work, Irene, just like Lorraine, was a descendant of Saint Lucy to begin with.
Sure enough, no one present harbored any doubts.
Subsequently, Irene proactively led the way, finding many items indicating directions within the abbey.
Of course, there was no logical connection between these markings; normally, even if you found them, they would be very hard to utilize.
However, being the protagonist, they could always spot the clues tailor-made for them.
Just like that, the group soon arrived before a heavy black door.
Behind the door was a descending staircase.
It was damp, cold, and dimly lit inside, practically having the words "this path is problematic" written on the walls.
William routinely placed holy artifacts around the area, then decisively chose to stand beside Irene.
Seeing this, the latter smiled slightly, feeling an even stronger sense of security inwardly.
After descending, a white mist drifted over the floor, and nurous crucifixes hung upside down from the ceiling, casting a veil of mystery over the place.
There were many forks in the cellar, and each passage had several rooms.
"Should we... split up?" Frenchie asked.
But the next second, the others said in unison: "No!"
"We encountered danger precisely because we split up not long ago." Father Burke shook his head decisively. "I won't make the sa mistake twice."
"Alright." Frenchie shrugged; he personally preferred sticking together anyway.
So the group looked at Irene, and the latter imdiately chose a direction.
After they left, a black-robed woman suddenly appeared around the corner of the cellar.
She was tall, her face long and sinister.
Watching the direction the humans left, the black-robed woman's eyes were filled with venomous malice.
Shortly after.
The group arrived at a stone chamber. It was very small and almost empty.
On one of the walls was a holy statue pointing its finger toward the opposite wall, where a crucifix-shaped relief was carved.
A sliver of light shone down from the ceiling, reflecting off the statue to converge precisely in the center of the crucifix relief.
With such an obvious hint, the group quickly found the keyhole on the relief.
Irene looked at the others, then inserted the key.
Accompanied by a soft click, a hidden compartnt appeared before their eyes.
Inside the compartnt was a transparent glass cover, under which sat a crucifix-shaped transparent vessel containing so bright red blood.
But in reality, long before entering the door, William had noticed the anomaly. The powerful Holy Power exuding from that crucifix relief surprised even him.
"Is this... the Blood of the Son of God?" He narrowed his eyes.
At the sa ti, the Book of the World also reacted.
If William hadn't held it down in ti, this black leather book would have flown straight toward the Holy Blood the next second.
"How can I trick it out..."
Just as he was pondering, Irene walked over.
"Please take care of this item," she handed over the Holy Blood.
William imdiately raised an eyebrow.
"I heard Father Burke talk about what happened earlier. Since you are a powerful Holy Clergy mber, only you can fully utilize the value of this item."
William certainly wouldn't refuse such an act of "aiding the enemy."
After safely storing the Holy Blood, the group walked out of the stone chamber.
"Now we should go find that evil spirit," Father Burke stated.
"No need for all that trouble," William took out holy artifacts and set up a five-layered magic array around them.
He then faced the direction they ca from and abruptly raised his voice.
"Hey, old hag! We've already got the Holy Blood. Skip the creepy noises and co out for a fair and square duel!"
As soon as his voice fell, silence reigned in the corridor.
The others, excluding William, couldn't help but look at the holy artifacts around them, their expressions sowhat peculiar.
A mont later, the white mist in the cellar suddenly churned, quickly condensing into a thin white line extending deep into the corridor.
Father Burke instantly widened his eyes; this works too?
Then what were my strenuous efforts to track evil spirits in the past all about?
Gail and Mark broke out in a cold sweat. Such a blatant act of calling out evil was sothing only Mr. William would do.
If it were the Light of Humanity, they would definitely conduct detailed data probes, and only after locking onto the evil spirit's position would they strike with the force of thunder—by handing the commission over to soone who could actually handle it.
The group was just preparing to move forward, but William spoke again: "You co over here yourself!"
Burke and the others were instantly confused.
"Right now, both the Holy Blood and the hostage are in our hands. It's the one who should be anxious," William said.
The group could understand the first half of his sentence, but this hostage...
"This gentleman couldn't possibly be talking about , right," Irene couldn't help but think.
Fortunately, William wasn't targeting her.
"If you win, we will willingly submit to your possession. Otherwise..."
The corners of the others' mouths twitched upon hearing this; that's unacceptable regardless of whether we win or lose!
The next mont, the entire cellar suddenly began to shake.
The walls on either side of the group started moving backward rapidly, and the floor beneath their feet was swiftly advancing along the white mist.
Before long, they arrived in front of an old wooden door.
"God send here." (May God be here)
Just as they clearly read the words on it, the wooden door suddenly flew open, and the group plunged straight inside.
After taking a few more turns, they finally stopped in front of a spacious hall.
William held his crucifix, continuously observing his surroundings, and raised an eyebrow upon seeing an altar not far away.
A pentagram magic array was drawn in fresh blood on the floor there, facing a small door shrouded in a dense evil aura.
"This is quite an unexpected harvest..." he thought to himself.
The reason William proactively provoked it earlier was to lure the demon out and test the true location of the Source Power passage.
After all, the abbey was so massive that finding it would be very difficult, and they could easily fall into the demon's traps again during the process.
But he didn't expect the other party to proactively lead him here.
William's eyes instantly lit up.
Tap... Tap...
At this ti, uniform and dense footsteps suddenly echoed in the hall.
The group looked toward the sound, only to see dozens of figures with white cloths covering their heads walking out from the shadows.
They exuded evil from head to toe, surrounding William and his group.
"Ignorant humans, you have no idea who you are facing."
A low, raspy voice suddenly spoke.
Imdiately after, the group saw a black-robed woman step out from the shadows, with a hooked nose, amber eyes, and a face devoid of any color.
"Your efforts are entirely aningless; failure is your only destiny."
Father Burke held his crucifix, but his fingers were trembling slightly.
Irene clenched her fists, constantly comforting herself inwardly—I must bravely face the evil before .
Frenchie's eyes had long since gone wide; this was his first ti seeing an evil spirit's true form.
Mark and Gail were much calr. The two unhurriedly took out their instrunts to assess the strength of the evil spirit before them.
Only William was the most relaxed. After hearing the other party's mocking words, he raised an eyebrow.
In the realm of "Trash Talk," he had never feared anyone.
Therefore, he imdiately spoke up: "No idea who I'm facing?"
"Hmph, Valac. Ranked 62nd among the 72 Pillar Demon Gods."
Valac narrowed its eyes slightly.
"Isn't it written clearly in those books you gave Father Burke? Next ti you want to play mysterious, at least get the details right," William said.
Of course he knew that the other party's statent was mostly to emphasize its formidable power as a demon.
But William wouldn't follow the other party's tempo.
"As for failure... I think you are the biggest failure here," he continued.
"As a demon of a region, the thods you use against humans are still just jump scares, ntal interference, and threats."
William spread his hands.
"Using tricks belonging to third-rate community evil spirits, and you have the nerve to call yourself a demon?"
"Please, a certain guy who mimics you has more creativity than you do!"
"If you don't have the ability, you should retire to the countryside early. Hell is never short of ambitious guys."
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