A strong bloody breath poured into his nostrils, causing Bishop Fernanco, who had just stepped into the room, to subconsciously frown, with a solemn look on his face.

As a regional bishop who had personally been on the battlefield and still practiced the Ares Creed, personally traveling to several dangerous areas every year to assist the local knights in exterminating demonic beasts, he was all too familiar with this aura.

The other two priests in the room noticed the arrival of the regional bishop and immediately stepped aside silently, and Fernanco's gaze passed over the others and slowly swept over the rather spacious priest's lounge.

The scene in the room was clear at a glance - the beds, tables and chairs were all furnished as usual, and on the north side against the wall was a shrine symbolizing the god of war, and on the floor in front of the shrine there was a large patch of blood that had not yet fully coagulated, and in the center of the pool of blood was a completely mixed mass of flesh that could not be seen in its original form at all.

In the creepy flesh, you can see many connected fibers, as if in the process of forming some kind of fascia, there are fine hairs spreading out from some gaps in the flesh, the hairs are thick and hard like thorns, and there are many fragments of clothing that have been completely corroded scattered at this terrible death scene, and the blood stains are splashed on the ground three meters square outside the blood pool.

Even the God of War Bishop, who was accustomed to seeing bloody and strange scenes, couldn't help but feel horror from the bottom of his heart in front of this scene.

"Your Excellency Fernanko," a priest said, "I salute you, may your heart be like steel." ”

"Hearts are like steel, my compatriot," Fernanko asked in a deep voice with a nod to the priest, returning his gaze to the death scene in the center of the room, "when did you find out?" ”

"In the early hours of the morning, a priest on night patrol was the first to notice the anomaly and raised the alarm at the same time."

"What about the priest?" Fernanko frowned, "Bring him to me." ”

"The priest ......," the priest next to him had a strange look on his face, "He's in a bit of a normal situation, we've just calmed him down with a powerful psychic appeasement spell - I'm afraid he'll get out of control again and even attack you." ”

Fernanko shook his head: "It's okay, I'm also good at mental soothing - bring him in." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

The priest was ordered to leave, and moments later there was the sound of footsteps outside the door, interspersed with a terrified, repetitive mutter. Fernanco looked over and saw two church attendants walking into the room with a young man in an ordinary priest's robe, and the latter's state made the regional bishop immediately frown—

The poor man trembled, his face pale as a dead man, fine beads of sweat covered every inch of his skin, and a cloudy and blood-stained haze covered the whites of his eyes, and he had obviously lost his normal senses, and was constantly muttering all the way, and only when he got closer could he hear the fragmented words:

"God of War Blesses...... Blessing...... The heart is like steel, the heart is like steel, and it will not die after a hundred battles...... God of War Blessing...... I have taken refuge, I have taken refuge ......"

The poor man was muttering like this from beginning to end, as if he had no notice of the bishop of the region who was already standing in front of him, until a few seconds later, his scattered gaze suddenly noticed the scene behind the bishop of the region, and the lifeless mass of flesh seemed to stimulate the greatest fear in his heart for a moment, and he instantly let out a scream that could hardly be made by humans, and he broke free from the shackles of the two strong squires, and suddenly pounced on Fernanko, who was closest to him, At the same time, the mouth shouted the fervent prayer that had been transposed: "In the name of God!" Eradicate heresy! With the ...... of God"

The surrounding priests suddenly exclaimed, but Fernanco only took half a step to the side, he grabbed the clothes of the runaway priest with his backhand, pulled it back and slammed out the elbow of the other hand, and after a muffled sound, the runaway priest passed out without resistance and fell to the ground.

It wasn't until this time that the priests next to them reacted, and they hurriedly stepped forward: "Your Excellency Fernanko!" Are you alright? ”

"I'm fine, but he may need a few days to recuperate," Fernanko waved his hand, frowning as he looked at the fallen priest on the ground, "...... Take him down. ”

The attendant immediately took the fainted priest away from here, and Fernanko sighed deeply, and a priest on the side couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency, what do you think of this ......matter?"

"Has that pastor always been like this? Keep praying, keep calling our Lord...... And to treat normal fellow Church members as heretics? ”

"Yes, that was it when we found him," replied the priest at once, "and he was found collapsed at the door of the room, having at the time gone insane, and had almost killed one of his attendants. But no matter how you check it, you can't find any signs of spiritual erosion or soul curses...... It was as if he were doing all this crazy act of his own volition. ”

Fernanko nodded with a serious face, and then asked, "Who else knows about things here?" ”

The priest thought for a moment: "Except for the people in the church, you have only been notified at the moment...... Oh, and the Count may have heard the news - he shouldn't know exactly what was going on inside the church, but the fact that we sent messengers urgently and sealed off the church after dawn was not in itself. ”

Fernanko's brows furrowed even more, the situation was developing in the direction he least wanted to see, but everything was irreparable, he could only force himself to focus on the incident itself - the pool of flesh and blood on the ground was obviously the deacon who died tragically in the church, the priest of the god of war in this church, Costo himself, he knew this priest, knew that the other party was a powerful transcendent, even if he was attacked by a high-ranking powerhouse, he would never die without resistance, However, there was no trace of a fight in the entire room, except for blood, not even the remnants of the battle magic......

The flesh was located in front of the shrine of the god of war, where there were still some pieces of fabric that had not corroded cleanly, and what was left was supposed to be the mat used for prayer except for the clothing...... Add to that the small candle left in front of the shrine, the remnants of incense in the vessels, and the prayer books spread out on the table, all of which can only combine to create a single unsettling result:

The priest of the god of war, who had died, seemed to be in the normal process of praying to the gods...... Suddenly melted by his own flesh and blood.

Fernanko believed that he was not the only one who had guessed the possibility of this horror, and he saw a haze that was so thick on everyone's face that he could not dissolve.

When you think of the pastor who went mad because he witnessed the first scene, the weirdness of the whole thing is even more disturbing.

"Your Excellency," said one of the priests, "what do you think happened to the priest of Costo?" ”

“…… It is possible that a very powerful evil spirit has raided our temple, it has interfered with the prayer rites of the priests of Costo, distorted the ritual and polluted the priests' souls," Fernanko said in a deep voice, "but this is only my personal speculation, and if such a powerful evil spirit does appear in the town, then the matter must be reported to the archdiocese......"

"Someone from the Earl's Court should be sent soon to inquire about the situation," said another priest, "and how shall we reply?" ”

Fernanko thought for a moment - from the perspective of the bishop of the region, he very much did not want this matter to be made public in the eyes of forces outside the church, especially did not want this matter to attract the attention of the royal family and its vassals, after all, since the coronation of Rosetta Augustus, the policy of the Typhon royal family towards the various churches has been tightened, and after countless open and dark confrontations, today's God of War Church has lost a lot of privileges, and the God of War priests in the army have also changed from the original independent theocratic representatives to the "war assistants" who must obey the orders of noble officers, Normally, this is the case, and what is happening here today, if it is revealed, will soon become a new excuse for the royal family to tighten policy further......

But the matter cannot be hidden, and the managers of this area must always have an explanation.

"Clean up the site and burn these twisted things with holy oil and flames," Fernando instructed his men, "A Lifeeater parasite infiltrated the church, and the priest of Costo fought to the death after discovering it, and eventually died together. However, due to the erosion and corruption of the Eater of Souls, the priest's body is not visible to anyone, and in order to maintain the dignity of the fallen priest, we purify the priest's body before dawn and return it to the kingdom of the Lord - this is the whole truth. ”

The priest on the side bowed his head: "Yes, Your Excellency." ”

Fernanko snorted, then glanced at the tragic scene in the room, a faint sense of unease and disgust surged up from the bottom of his heart again, he subconsciously put his hand on his chest, his right fist was clenched as if holding a sword, and at the same time silently prayed in his heart: "God of war bless, my heart is like steel, I will not die in a hundred battles, my flesh and blood are weak, only steel will live forever, I will not fall into hell, I have taken refuge in ......"

As he prayed, his mind calmed down, and the power of the gods fell silently, reassuring him once again.

……

In the afternoon of the same day.

A secret message from the Transmission Tower, transcribed by an intelligence officer, was brought to the table, and Rosetta Augustus casually opened it and looked at it, and a more serious expression suddenly appeared on his face that had been gloomy and solemn for a long time.

Matilda, who was sitting next to him to help with government affairs, immediately noticed the change in her father's face, and subconsciously asked, "Did something happen?" ”

"Another God of War priest has died, the cause of death is unknown," Rosetta Augustus said, "The local church has reported that a Eater of Souls has infiltrated the church, and the priest who died was killed in the fight against the monsters - but no one saw the corpse of the priest, no one saw the ashes of the Eater of Souls, only a battle scene that I don't know if it was real or not. ”

Matilda's good-looking brows furrowed slightly, and her tone became serious: "This seems to be the sixth time in half a month......"

"Yes, for the sixth time," Rosetta said in a deep voice, "the cause of death is unknown, the body was destroyed early, and the evidence is full of doubts......"

"Those churches must be hiding something!" Matilda couldn't help but say, "There have been six mysterious deaths of priests in a row, and they are all distributed in different churches...... The news has already leaked out to a certain extent, but they have never responded positively to the royal family's inquiry, what is the God of War Church doing? ”

"Yes, six churches, in different places...... The two furthest were even located on the northern and southern borders of the Empire, which was no ordinary 'raid'...... There is no force in the empire that can carry out such a large-span attack, and it cannot be a coincidence caused by a monster raid. ”

"The most suspicious thing is that the churches are clearly hidden," Matilda said, then shaking her head, "but unfortunately under the current imperial law, we cannot search churches on suspicion alone......"

Rosetta nodded: "We must uphold the laws we have made, which is the basis for maintaining the authority of the royal family, but ...... The necessary investigations remain essential. If you visit the Great Sanctuary and get in touch with Malm, he probably won't say anything to you - after all, as the Pope of the God of War, he hasn't taken the initiative to discuss anything with me about the mysterious death of the priest, but I'm sure with your acumen you may be able to observe something. ”

Matilda nodded, "Yes, Father." ”

Then Rosetta groaned, curled her fingers and tapped lightly on the tabletop, whispering in the direction of the empty person, "Diana." ”

A dignified woman dressed in a black maid's uniform then stepped out of some unnoticed corner and looked at Rosetta Augustus with a calm face.

The latter nodded to her: "Send the wanderers to investigate the places mentioned in this secret report - remember, act in secret, do not conflict with the church, and do not have contact with local officials." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The woman in the black maid's dress bowed slightly, took the note from Rosetta, and then quietly returned to the shadows as she had appeared.

When the room was quiet again, Matilda broke the silence: "Father, what do you think...... What's going on? ”

Rosetta Augustus sat quietly in his high-backed chair, lost in thought in the sinking sunset, and it wasn't until half a minute later that he sighed softly: "I don't know, but I hope it's all just an 'attack' against the God of War Sect......"

Matilda gave her father a surprise look.

In her memory, there were only a handful of times when her father showed such a gesture of almost weakness.

But in the end, she didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

……

In the evening, Daniel returned to his mansion.

Mary, the young apprentice, was tidying up the living room, and when she saw the mentor appear, she immediately greeted her and smiled: "Mentor, you came back so early today?" ”

"There's nothing going on in the lab for the time being, so I'll be back," Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "Didn't you take the technicians to the Great Sanctuary of the God of War to do the magic net transformation?" Why are you still at home at this time? ”

"I was supposed to go with someone, but the priest of the Great Church suddenly said that the area we were working on was going to be temporarily sealed off - the work was postponed until the next time."

Daniel frowned immediately after hearing the apprentice's words: "So, they suddenly kicked you out?" ”

"Sort of...... Mary said casually, but soon noticed that the Mentor's expression seemed to have something else meaningful, "Mentor, what's the ...... Questions? ”

Daniel groaned for a moment, his expression slightly serious: "I'm not sure yet, but I've heard some rumors lately, and something seems to be wrong with the Church of the God of War...... Maybe you need to report it to the owner. ”