"You want to recruit ?" Jolan raised an eyebrow. "For the North Arican officials?"
He imdiately shook his head: "In my eyes, there's no difference between the Church and the North Arican governnt."
"True," William nodded. "That's why I'm doing this for the ordinary people. Just as you said, there are too many parasites in this world, and too few people like you capable of taking real action."
Jolan lowered his head, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Seeing this, William rembered sothing and spoke up: "The conflict has already begun, and the entire world will plunge into turmoil. Do you want to be a prisoner who dies of old age here..." He gestured toward the dim, silent mine shaft. "...or a reforr who will be rembered?"
Upon hearing this, Jolan jerked his head up, his gaze sharp.
"Heh... I never thought I'd see the day I'd be convinced by you," he chuckled softly. "However, if you want to rescue ... I'm afraid it will be sowhat difficult."
He imdiately explained the anomaly with the food.
"While still serving in the Holy See, I had taken charge of prisoners in the Place of Suffering, so I know a bit about the situation here," Jolan said. "If my guess is correct, this food cos from a special farmland within the Place of Suffering. A vampire is buried in the soil. All the plants mature by absorbing its flesh and blood for nutrients, rendering them naturally toxic. Furthermore, they contain a portion of cursing power. Ceasing consumption for even a short period leads to sudden, violent death. Any dical or exorcism thods are useless."
William's mouth twitched, speechless at this bizarre dietary practice.
"The solution?" Since Jolan brought it up, he had surely considered the matter.
As expected, he continued, "The antidote lies with that vampire."
William waited for him to elaborate.
"Its flesh possesses a resistance to the toxicity within its own blood, which is why it can remain unhard," Jolan explained.
"You're planning... to eat the vampire raw?"
"No need for such trouble. You only need to collect so of its tabolic waste. Consuming it will neutralize the poison."
"tabolic waste... doesn't that an..." William's entire face scrunched up.
Is this a proper Church?! Why can he talk about eating bath dirt so matter-of-factly! Why did the genre suddenly shift to a 'Ji Gong' worldview!
William forced his breathing to steady, accepting this reality.
"Then... I'll have to trouble you to make a trip," Jolan said, his tone serious. "That farmland should be within this space. It's just that my power is suppressed, so I cannot sense it."
William shrugged.
Clink... Clink...
At this mont, the sound of keys clinking ca from the small door. William instantly vanished from the spot. Shortly after, the black-robed man from earlier walked out.
"Where is the farmland..." William thought. Three rings of golden patterns surfaced in his eyes as he observed the surrounding environnt.
"Jolan said he couldn't sense it because his power is suppressed, which ans..." He activated his [Missionary] ability, imdiately discovering nurous bright red spirit threads in a lower area.
A mont later, William stood beside a patch of farmland.
It was an artificially excavated large pit filled with soil, surrounded by a reversal magic array. At the sa ti, a pentagram pattern encompassed the farmland, with only its points exposed. Currently, a tal stand was placed at each point, each suspending a blood bag.
"A... B... O... Rh-positive," William's mouth twitched. "They even differentiate by specific blood types..."
Every blood bag had a transparent tube extending into the soil. However, for so reason, no blood was flowing from these bags.
Even without these clues, William could sense a dense evil power within the soil. It was just that the entity's aura was extrely weak, barely maintaining basic vital signs.
At this mont, William caught sight of a box by the field ridge out of the corner of his eye. He walked over and opened it. Inside were agricultural tools like hoes and shovels, along with... a glove?
William examined it closely. The item didn't differentiate individual fingers, and the surface material was extrely rough. The edge even bore the English words "Made in...".
"Don't tell this is..." He couldn't help but facepalm.
Just then, the soil in the middle of the farmland suddenly shifted.
William narrowed his eyes and imdiately tossed down a few holy artifacts near the farmland. At the sa ti, his figure blurred as he removed all the blood bags from the tal stands. These bags had special valves at the bottom, allowing them to be individually sealed.
He stacked the blood bags and wrapped them with three forty-year vintage amulet bracelets before stowing them in his bag among the pile of holy artifacts. This would prevent the blood bags from suddenly bursting due to "irresistible" forces, which could result in the vampire respawning on the spot.
Of course, he didn't forget to put on the glove either. After all, the trope of "accidentally cutting one's hand" and resurrecting the vampire was an absolute classic.
Having done all this, William slowly approached the farmland.
At this ti, a mouth "puckered" out from the soil, its surface covered in cracks. Its lips moved slightly, seemingly saying sothing.
William listened a few tis before figuring out that it was saying, "The blood bags stopped flowing."
He rubbed his nose. "Uh... good thing they stopped."
Seemingly realizing an outsider had arrived, the mouth forcefully turned toward William. Then, the soil in the middle of the farmland slowly bulged, eventually revealing a short, humanoid shape.
"So this is the vampire..." William rubbed his chin.
The creature before him was entirely shriveled, like a mummy, but its limbs were indeed moving, though the range of motion was extrely limited.
At the sa ti, he also saw tubes inserted into its limbs and heart, as well as dense tal needles protruding from the edges of its back.
The forr needed no explanation, and the ends of the needles were still caked with clumps of dark red soil.
It seed this was the Church's "irrigation" thod.
anwhile, the vampire also noticed that the surrounding blood bags had disappeared. It froze for a mont, then stared at William with hollow eye sockets.
William stared back, showing absolutely no intention of explaining.
Ultimately, it was the vampire who lost patience first. It trembled all over, and its lower limbs instantly flattened. Simultaneously, its head regained a ruddy complexion at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Kill !" The very mont its ability to speak returned, Dracula shouted these words.
William raised an eyebrow. "Before that, perhaps Your Excellency should start with an introduction." Saying this, he took a few steps back and observed the ground for any potential subterranean attacks.
"My na is Dracula..." It briefly introduced itself.
"Took revenge on the Church because his lover committed suicide, leading to his transformation into a vampire. Eventually captured by the Church and put to work as a farr..." William thought to himself. It seed to be the one from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
"Can you kill now!" Dracula looked at William again. "Just taking the blood bags is far from enough! Such dark, endless tornt... even a vampire finds it unbearable."
William didn't answer directly. "Aren't vampires immortal?"
"Heh... we are cursed by the sun, rely surviving in the darkness," Dracula sighed. It then looked at William again, its gaze full of pleading.
"There is an item right here that can kill . It's a crucifix made of white oak. As long as you can find it, I'm willing to give you all the treasure I plundered in the past..."
William imdiately thought of the crucifix he had found in the small room earlier, but outwardly, he remained impassive.
"I am naturally kind-hearted and truly unwilling to kill the innocent indiscriminately," he shook his head.
Dracula instantly looked anxious. "I have killed many innocents in the past. You would be doing the people a favor!" It then looked around. "Judging from your thods, you must be a Holy Clergy mber. You would also be practicing the Church's tenet of rcy!"
William glanced at Dracula's legs, a thoughtful expression on his face. "This guy can concentrate his localized power into one spot, so why doesn't he end his own life by overdrawing his power? It seems I still can't trust him easily. However, I can use this opportunity to fish for so information..."
Thinking of this, he shook his head with a serious expression. "No, a vampire's life is still a life. I cannot do such a thing!" His tone then shifted. "But if Your Excellency can answer a few more questions, it's not entirely out of the question."
"You opportunistic bitch..." Dracula cursed inwardly.
But outwardly, it still maintained a joyful deanor. "Of course! Ask away!"
"The people who died here in the past... where were they ultimately buried?" William asked.
"Are you looking for the residual power of the Pioneers here?" Surprisingly, Dracula actually guessed his objective. "That power is indeed very precious, but the Church set up a magic array here long ago. Whenever soone dies, the power within their body is absorbed by the array. You won't be able to get it."
"You don't need to worry about that."
Dracula pursed its lips toward a certain direction. "I don't know how those dead people are handled, but every ti there's a sll of blood, it cos from that direction."
William looked in that direction; it was the side of the underground space, quite a distance from the small room on the rock wall.
The Book of the World indicated that the Source Power passage was nearby, but this space was too vast. Finding it relying solely on perception would take considerable ti.
"Thanks," William said, walking toward that area.
"Wait!" Dracula suddenly called out. William turned back to look at it.
"Don't forget to co back later. I've been here for a long ti. If you can't find that power, perhaps I have a way," it said pointedly.
William looked thoughtful, then quickly left the farmland.
Shortly after, he indeed discovered an anomaly in the nearby rock wall.
The surface looked perfectly normal, but when perceived using [Missionary], he could see that the surroundings were saturated with dense Holy Power.
With almost no effort, William found a hidden door on the rock wall.
Behind the door was a stone chamber. It was quite spacious, and a stone statue of the Son of God was carved into the ceiling.
As soon as he entered, the sound of chanting scriptures echoed in his ears. At the sa ti, many orbs of light floated in the air, each containing formidable power.
But the most eye-catching feature was the circular well in the center of the stone chamber.
William walked to the edge and peered inside, only to see a suspended rift at the bottom, glowing with a pure white light inside.
He had seen a similar scene in the sewer where Pennywise resided.
"It seems this is the place."
William examined the surroundings. A powerful magic array was set up around the Source Power passage. Any energy other than Holy Power entering it would trigger an anomaly.
But as soone with a perfectly pure lineage, he naturally didn't have such concerns.
He opened his backpack and took out several long tal tubes. These were devices developed by the Light of Humanity specifically to collect Source Power. The energy collected by a single tal tube could satisfy the needs of hundreds of people.
Before long, he had filled all the containers he brought.
Subsequently, William began his theological cultivation. Faced with so much Source Power, he naturally couldn't let it go to waste, so he significantly improved his Holy Arts as well.
Even with this consumption, the energy within the stone chamber showed no signs of depleting.
However, to prevent the Church from noticing the anomaly, William stopped while he was ahead.
"It's a pity I didn't find the legendary holy relic..." But he also knew he couldn't be that lucky every ti.
So, after packing his things, William returned to the farmland.
Seeing him keep his promise, Dracula couldn't contain its smile. "Did you find that white oak!"
William pulled out a wooden crucifix from his backpack. Dracula sniffed the air, its eyes lighting up.
"That's it! Now, thrust the sharp end into my heart, and I can finally die!" Its tone was fervent, its eyes glued to the crucifix.
But William took a few steps back, placing the crucifix over a dozen ters away from the farmland.
"What is the aning of this!" Dracula frowned.
"Death is a sacred and solemn event. Before that, I must prepare a dedicated ritual for you," William said calmly.
"This... hardly seems necessary, does it."
"Are you harboring so misgivings?"
"Uh..." Dracula was montarily speechless. "Of course not... just hurry up."
William smiled faintly and imdiately took out so tools from his backpack. A small knife, a retractable long-handled grabber...
As a professional exorcist, his backpack was always stocked with various gadgets. Recently, due to his frequent visits to the laboratory, he had even prepared a set of tal extraction tools. These items seed to have disparate functions, but fundantally, they were all to minimize direct contact with evil existences.
Seeing this, Dracula was also sowhat confused. With its power at its peak, even a Cardinal would find it difficult to defeat it single-handedly. What could these gadgets possibly achieve?
anwhile, William had begun to act.
First, he set up several magic arrays around the farmland, then used [Divine Eye Confinent] to restrict the flow of spirit particles around Dracula. The latter instantly felt its movents beco sluggish.
"Facing death... doesn't Your Excellency feel any regret?" William asked suddenly.
Dracula, who was observing the surrounding power, imdiately broke into a wide grin. "Of course not. I've been looking forward to this for a long ti."
"Is that so," William smiled faintly. At this mont, in his eyes, a yellow-green aura flowed over the vampire—the manifestation of the "Sin of Deception."
"Guilty conscience, just as I thought," he mused inwardly.
Outwardly, William rely nodded. He then raised his hand, and a yellow-green chain wrapped around Dracula.
"What is this..." Feeling the bindings, Dracula frowned slightly. Although this power wasn't weak, once it recovered its strength, it could break free with a little effort, so it didn't take it to heart.
On the other side, William didn't respond, continuing his preparations. He pulled out the tubes left on the blood bags and modified them with the extraction containers, quickly assembling an extraction tool.
"Hey... are you done yet," Dracula's tone grew impatient.
"All set," William said, walking onto the field ridge with the tool.
He pressed the extraction tool against the side of Dracula's neck. He then used the long-handled grabber to hold the small knife and made an incision on the vampire's neck.
The next second, a small spurt of dark red blood gushed out, flowing through the extraction tool into the container.
"You! What are you doing!" Dracula's eyes widened.
"Bleeding you a bit," William said. "After all, vampires live on blood. What if so fresh blood remains in your body later, causing you to survive the blow? That would only add a lot of unnecessary sensory agony."
"You motherf..."
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