Chapter 525: Crying in a Huddle, Eerie Flesh, and Talking Birds

With a twist of his wrist, Weier pulled his sword back and flicked it, casting the bloodstains from the tip onto the wall of the room behind him.

The frustrated Priest Bataer touched his hair and found it covered in blood that had splattered onto his head, which made him kick the enemy corpse on the ground in a huff. However, the enemy soldier's corpse was wearing plate armor, making it hard as a rock to kick, but fortunately, the tip of Priest Bataer's foot was protected by a layer of Divine Power Shield, so he did not get hurt from kicking the enemy so hard.

"I really owe you one, Weier. But this guy is truly detestable, getting blood all over me. Sigh, my perfect meeting with the rescued villagers is ruined just like that. In the future, when they talk about today, they will likely only remember me covered in blood."

Priest Bataer looked annoyed; he had already prepared a passionate speech and had even adjusted his emotions before coming up, but this head full of blood had ruined everything he had prepared.

Weier felt a bit awkward; he knew the kind-hearted Priest Bataer was not using this to criticize his fighting style, but simply meant it literally.

Still feeling a bit guilty, Weier sheathed his sword and stepped forward, rubbing the bloodstains on the priest's blood-soaked head with his gloved right hand. He then told the priest not to move, and proceeded to smear some of the enemy's blood onto the priest's face with his hand.

"What are you doing?" Priest Bataer was a bit puzzled by Weier's actions.

Weier explained: "Since the enemy has already splattered blood on your head, we might as well put some on your face, so that those who see you will know you just went through a bitter and intense battle not long ago."

After a pause, Weier added: "Priest, haven't you been through several battles since this morning? This can't be considered misleading; it's just a necessary makeup effect. Believe me, this will let those rescued female villagers understand how much effort you have put in, and how many hardships and dangers you have experienced these days."

Priest Bataer was initially a bit embarrassed, his face turning slightly red, but as soon as he thought of the countless experiences of these past days, he unconsciously straightened his back. He thought of his hesitation and helplessness when he traveled west alone, the loneliness and despair while waiting in the Mengtuoka Cheng Jiao Qu, and his unease and caution when he first met Jier and the others.

He thought of the sorrow and the urge to help when he saw the countless people in pain at Baishiguan, the tension and despair when the refugee team encountered bandits, and the corpses and wounded civilians after the narrow victory over the bandits—his helplessness at that time and that firm sense of responsibility.

He thought of the anxiety and helplessness in Duoen Town, the tension and panic upon hearing that his hometown, Borisfa City, had fallen into trouble, the resentment and sorrow of the countless people he saw rejected outside the city walls in Yemei Town, the joy and happiness upon discovering the perfect settlement after Huitou Forest, the surprise and pressure after receiving the personal arrival of the Agricultural God, and the urgency and tension when rushing south.

Thinking of the various feelings and experiences along this journey, Priest Bataer's eyes became firm, and he suddenly became much more composed.

He gently pushed away Weier, who was still smearing blood on his face, and nodded to him: "That's enough, this is fine."

Weier could not help but take a step back, subconsciously making way for Priest Bataer. Only then did he realize his previous action; he paused, smacked his lips, smiled silently, and quickly followed Priest Bataer.

Just as he reached the stairs leading to the third floor, Weier heard Priest Bataer tell him to be careful and step back, followed by the priest's instruction for the female villagers upstairs to retreat to the room furthest from the stairwell.

Half a minute later, after Priest Bataer confirmed that there was no one else besides him on both sides of the blocked third-floor stairwell, he directly raised the wooden Agricultural God Statue in his hand and released several Divine Power Impacts in a row.

Boom—

Boom—

Boom—

Sharp wooden spikes exploded and scattered, filling the entire staircase, but Priest Bataer stood on the stairs, steady and unmoved, not shifting a single step.

Countless wooden blocks and spikes of various sizes bounced off as they approached him, unable to touch him at all, and naturally, they could not hurt him in the slightest. After the debris had completely settled and the dust had dispersed a little, the priest walked step by step to the third floor of the house, his feet wading through scattered wooden fragments that were deep enough to cover a person's ankles.

"I am Luosa-Bata'er! Everyone! Is everyone alright?"

Priest Bataer asked loudly. He pushed open room after room, which contained nothing but beds. A faint, fishy stench drifted from the rooms, which made his expression unreadable, but it allowed him to accurately understand how these village women, who had been locked up here, had survived while he and Jier and the others were traveling along the way.

Finally, he pushed open the last locked wooden door, and what greeted him were haggard faces and nervous expressions of women.

"Luosa! Is that Priest Luosa?" Among the female villagers, the youngest was not yet twenty. She was in the best physical condition and her spirit was also good. Seeing the priest with a face full of blood and wearing unfamiliar church vestments as he pushed open the door, she asked in a low voice.

Most of the others were still terrified by the loud noise and vibration just now; many kept their eyes tightly shut, mouths agape, hands covering their ears tightly, crouching in the corners of the room and shivering.

"It's me! It's me..."

The priest could not hide his agitation. He clenched his fists tightly, and tears could not help but fall, mixing with the blood on his face, eventually turning into reddish teardrops that dripped from his chin to the ground.

"Waaah—"

The young girl was much more lively; she rushed over directly and hugged the familiar yet strange young man in front of her tightly.

"Brother Luosa! Do you know how we have survived these days! Many people died, Liya also died, woo—" The young girl hugged the priest's arm too tightly, which ended up triggering the Divine Power Shield, making it impossible for the girl to touch the priest's body through a layer of air, no matter how hard she tried.

"This?"

The young girl cried out in surprise. The priest was stunned, then personally unbuckled the armed priest equipment he was wearing. The heart protector, the wooden shoulder guards, and the leather straps connecting them fell to the ground. Priest Bataer reached out and wiped the tear stains from the young girl's face.

"Don't be afraid! Those nightmares are all over. Really, they are all over, phew, they are all completely over."

The priest looked at the others in the room, holding the wailing young girl with one hand, and helping up the female villagers one by one with the other—they were physically weak, listless, and had pinch marks and bite marks on their arms, faces, and even necks.

"I have failed you all, letting everyone suffer so much and so many people die. If I had realized that the appearance of those people was a sign of danger back then, and had gathered all the men in the village in time to arm everyone, perhaps everything would be different now."

The priest gently patted the shoulders of these familiar female villagers, speaking words of apology with bitterness in his mouth.

Many of them cried together, thinking of the relatives and friends who had died when the enemy attacked the village, and the endless torture they had endured these days, which made their grief even deeper. They could only release their long-suppressed emotions by wailing uncontrollably.

But some were still sensible. A female villager in her thirties shook her head and said to the self-blaming Priest Bataer: "Luosa, Luosa-Bata'er!"

Priest Bataer was startled, came back to his senses, and stared blankly at this peasant woman.

Seeing this, the sturdy and broad-framed peasant woman spoke: "Wake up, Luosa. It wasn't you who harmed us, nor was it you who harmed the others in the village. It was those deserters from other counties; they turned into disgusting and greedy locusts and devoured our Changmai Cunzi. They were the ones wielding swords, they were the ones beating us, and they were the ones bullying us. It wasn't you, and it wasn't us; they were the ones doing evil, how could it be our fault?"

"You did very well, Luosa. I have been secretly telling everyone these days that the fact that you were able to hide back then was the most correct thing among the series of mistakes we made at that time. Because you lived, you saved the children of everyone, you took the children and fled to a safe place, and, better than the best we could ever dream of, you came back with power stronger than theirs! And you killed them!"

Speaking of this, the peasant woman's face also became twisted with satisfaction: "Kill them! Kill them all! How they treated us and the others in the village, we must take revenge five or ten times over!"

"Yes! Take revenge! Take revenge ten or fifty times over!!" The others also had twisted faces. Just a moment ago, they were all crying and unable to stand, but now, not knowing where they found new strength, they shouted loudly and waved their arms vigorously.

Priest Bataer was stunned, but he took a deep breath, then nodded vigorously and replied: "We will, we will, that day is not far off, or rather, the moment of revenge has already begun..."

Jier rode his horse around the outskirts of Changmai Cunzi twice, but did not find anyone else fleeing from the village.

He also ran into the drivers of the carriages. When they approached, Jier rode his horse alongside the carriages, exchanging information about the battles both sides had encountered earlier.

"What? That person just exploded?"

Jier had a look of surprise on his face, and he looked up at the cloudless, scorching sky. He scratched his face, still finding it unbelievable.

"No, how could a person just explode, and yet the armor and weapons on their body remained in place? Shouldn't they have scattered along with the exploding body?" Jier gestured with his hands, unable to understand how such an unreasonable thing could happen.

He wondered if the drivers and Xueya Site were nervous and had seen it wrong?

"Jier, it really was like that. I know you must think everyone saw it wrong, but while one person might have a mental lapse and see it wrong, it's impossible for a whole group of people to see it wrong, right? That person died not far from the north side of the village; you will definitely be able to find it easily once you go over there," Xueya Site explained.

The drivers in the carriages also said one after another: "Really, Knight Jier, you'll know what's going on once you go over and take a look."

"We didn't touch the weapons and equipment left behind after that person died, but the large package he dropped earlier was also very strange. It was full of tattered supplies, all bitten to pieces by house mice; there wasn't a single useful thing in it."

Jier was also curious, so after parting ways with the drivers and Xueya Site, he immediately increased his speed and rode over.

From far away, he saw a large, circular, slightly reddish area in the withered, uncultivated fields, and there were some birds circling in the sky above.

When he went over to take a look, good heavens, the slight redness on the ground was actually all human flesh and blood tissue scattered into powder, spread out over a large area. The various birds flying in the sky were not there for the view; these little things landed one after another and were actually fighting to peck at the scattered human flesh.

The surrounding air carried a bloody smell, and Jier sniffed a few extra times to confirm this. But the Tianxuecao did not seem to like this smell; it snorted twice, then refused to get any closer, and stopped its hooves voluntarily several meters away from the ground covered in flesh and blood.

Jier also had a vague, unusual feeling. He patted his warhorse's head, then jumped off the horse's back and approached the area cautiously.

The birds were startled and flew up, but they did not fly far, only circling and hovering in the air overhead, waiting for that annoying human, Jier, to leave so they could continue their meal.

Caw—caw—

They called out chaotically, watching the human on the ground.

Jier took down the Dwarf Soldier Spear and carefully used the spear tip to pick up a piece of flesh with slightly larger edges, bringing it close to look, but he could not make anything out of it.

But his intuition had been faintly telling him all along that the flesh and blood of this enemy, which had exploded in such a bizarre way, was strange.

He raised the Long Spear toward the birds hovering in the sky, and soon one bold one among them swooped down, grabbed the piece of flesh with its talons, and then gulped it down while still in the air.

Jier was just about to enter the area of the flesh on the ground to get closer and inspect the enemy's remaining weapons and equipment when a voice of thanks suddenly came from the sky.

"You're welcome," Jier replied casually.

But he realized it in an instant, and the hair all over his body stood on end.

He was the only person here; there was no one for hundreds of meters around. Who had said thank you to him?

Jier hurriedly looked at his warhorse, Tianxuecao, and asked it, "Tianxuecao, was that you saying thank you just now?"

The tall warhorse was completely confused, not knowing what its master was going crazy about; it was clearly the bird overhead that had made the sound of thanks.

Then it shook its head, indicating a denial.

"Then who was it?" Jier looked left and right; there was indeed only him around.

Caw—

"It's me, it's me!"

Another speaking voice came from overhead. This time Jier looked up at the sky. A gray and white bird slightly larger than a palm landed, alighting on the top of Tianxuecao's head, and opened its mouth to caw.

Caw—caw—

"It was me who thanked you, human."

Caw—

"Thank you for the meat you gave."

Jier looked at the little gray bird on the horse's head that was spreading its wings as if saying something, then looked at the large amount of human flesh and blood scattered on the ground, his face full of strangeness.

He took off his Helmet and tried to dig at his ear with his hand, but even his smallest pinky finger could not fit in because of his Glove.

Then he put his Helmet back on and said to the little gray bird looking over curiously, "You can understand what I say? And I can understand what you say? Do you know why? Is it related to these scattered flesh and blood of the enemies on the ground?"

The little gray bird chirped and twittered for a while. Jier clearly heard the chirping of birds, but for some reason, a young and crisp Human Common Language voice appeared in his mind.

"Human language is so simple, of course I can understand it! Not just me, but my family and everyone in the flock, as long as they aren't fledglings, can all understand it. That you can understand what I say must be related to this precious, magical flesh the flock leader talked about? Anyway, the flock leader told everyone to eat more of these little meat chunks, saying there are benefits."

"I didn't expect that after eating them, the things we say could actually be understood by you humans? It's truly magical, truly magical! Finally, thank you for the meat, and the flock leader hopes you can leave for a while so we can finish eating these magical little meat chunks. After eating them, everything everyone says will be able to be understood by you humans!"

Jier had a strange look on his face. He didn't expect that after eating the flesh of this Defeated Soldier who had bizarrely self-destructed, these surrounding birds would actually be able to have their speech understood by humans. Was it related to the opponent's bizarre self-destruction? Or was the opponent themselves very peculiar?

Jier could not know, but he still subconsciously picked up a larger piece of meat from the ground—it was a thumb from a foot—and casually put it into his pocket.

This action made the little gray bird quite angry, and it opened its mouth to say that they had discovered it, that they had discovered it.

But Jier smiled at the little bird, ignored its squawking with the thick-skinned nature unique to humans, and led Tianxuecao back a few dozen meters.

Once he had walked further away, those birds all swooped down in a flurry. In this short time, it seemed more birds of different species had arrived from the surroundings. They all seemed to know what good things this human's scattered flesh and tissue were, landing one after another to fight over them, even spreading their wings to fight each other to compete for larger chunks of meat.

Before long, the already scarce human flesh was swept clean by the birds. They chirped and twittered around, and Jier could actually understand quite a bit of what they were saying.

But most of it was useless nonsense. Yes, birds of different species seemed to be masters of nonsense; they commented on Jier not far away, spouted off about Tianxuecao, complained about today's weather, and were very dissatisfied about having to queue to drink water.

"Although the matter is strange, in the end, it doesn't look like anything remarkable."

Jier muttered.

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