Chapter 81: The Sufferer (Fifth update, thanks to Golden Alliance Ren Zai Wu Tong Xia)

After feeling the light dim, Lu Mian hurriedly opened his eyes.

The black robe worn by the "invisible person" lay on the altar, its surface full of charred traces, but it didn't stop, topping the clusters of golden flames produced by Valentine, struggling to stand up again.

Those transparent faces, including Raymond's, kept disappearing and reappearing, as if returning from the destroyed "future" to the "present" where nothing had happened.

Seeing this, Ryan shouted in a low voice:

"Crouch down!"

Lu Mian bent his knees without hesitation, crouching downward.

If it hadn't been too late, he would even have wanted to lie flat on the ground.

Franca and Valentine weren't much slower than him and crouched down as well.

At the same time, Ryan inserted the "Morning Mist Sword" in his hand into the center of the altar, into the black robe.

Silently, that giant sword of light disintegrated into countless fragments, turning into a brilliant morning mist storm in the altar, tearing everything, destroying everything.

When the hurricane composed of light subsided, Lu Mian looked up and saw the entire altar had shrunk by a third. Everything—the thorn symbol, candles, essential oils, black robe—had disappeared, turning into powder and drifting in the air.

This move is so strong... Lu Mian had wanted to sigh like this yesterday afternoon.

"Is it over?" He asked.

Franca stood up and turned around in place. The four small silver bells on her veil and boots rang ding-ding-dang-dang again, not slow, nor intense.

"There's hidden danger." She reminded Ryan and Valentine, then sighed to herself suspiciously, "The altar is gone, where does the danger come from?"

While she was speaking, Valentine produced golden flames, letting them float into mid-air, shining toward the surroundings.

On the edge of the basement, except for piles of human skeletons and a few sheepskins, there was nothing else. The ceiling was even simpler and more plain, without even a chandelier.

Lu Mian "eh"-ed:

"No Beyonder characteristics?"

"Maybe they were sacrificed." Ryan said simply, "Or maybe they didn't receive many 'gifts' at the beginning and their strength wasn't strong, so they could only catch ordinary people to serve as sacrifices. Once they had good supernatural abilities, like this time, they started targeting Beyonders."

It could be seen that they weren't unfamiliar with the phenomenon of accepting "gifts."

Ryan added immediately:

"There are no other discoveries for now. Let's leave. There's no need to clash head-on with hidden danger."

Lu Mian didn't react, scanned the surroundings again, and searched for any traces of secret doors.

The answer was no.

He led the way in front, taking Franca, Ryan, and Valentine along the safe route toward the basement exit.

Just after coming out and returning to the narrow and steep stairs, Ryan suddenly groaned in pain.

His body flew up on its own, banging into the side of that brown wooden door in the basement, causing the stair area to feel a clear vibration.

"Pfft"!

Ryan's chest seemed to be pierced by an invisible spear, revealing an exaggerated wound, which caused him to be nailed to the wall, blood gushing out.

If he hadn't reacted extremely quickly, instantly moving his waist and back and twisting his body, this blow would definitely have pierced his heart.

And Franca, who always had "Spirit Vision" on, couldn't find the attacker at all!

This was like Ryan suffering the punishment of a god.

Before they could find the source of the problem, Franca's always smiling expression twisted instantly.

Her arms folded backward on their own.

With a crack, her bones broke, and her arms hung down softly.

Immediately after, a clear depression appeared on her abdomen, as if hit by a giant fist, which made her unable to help but take a step back, hitting the side wall.

Valentine, who hadn't climbed the stairs yet, screamed in pain.

The ribs on his chest folded inward one by one, as if hit heavily by a giant hammer.

Pfft-pfft sounds rang out continuously, and bloody wounds appeared on the abdomens and chests of Franca and Valentine, which pierced through their bodies and inserted into the stone wall.

Lu Mian was a bit stunned, bewildered by this inexplicable change, while also rejoicing that he didn't seem to have suffered this eerie attack.

Did that black thorn symbol protect me? Just as he flashed this thought, he felt himself pushed by invisible power, leaning against the wall on the side of the stairs.

In his "Spirit Vision," there was nothing in front of him.

Thinking of Ryan and the others' encounter, Lu Mian moved his body to the side immediately.

Intense pain instantly occupied his mind. The skin on his right chest split open, and the flesh and blood bloomed, vaguely allowing him to see the lung lobe inside.

Lu Mian only felt as if there was a substantial rod-like object there, piercing through himself and nailing him to the wall.

When his bright red blood flowed out, Ryan filled this area with points of light like morning mist, which could effectively drive away evil and crack illusions.

However, the four of them still couldn't see anything.

Bang!

Ryan's chest suffered an invisible hammer blow, sinking deeply inward.

As the silver bells on Franca's veil and boots echoed intensely, the fingernails on her hands were pried open and pulled out one by one by invisible power, stained with blood.

This indescribable pain made her unable to control her expression anymore, her face twisting and terrified.

Valentine opened his hands and let the holy pillar of light descending from nowhere fall onto himself.

The sun's light erupted, clearing all evil, igniting Valentine's body.

But under the illumination of the "Sun," his hands uncontrollably stretched backward, sticking to the wall.

Two bloody holes then appeared on his wrists, nailing them to the wall surface.

When the light subsided, Valentine's face had many charred areas, and his skin was being peeled off inch by inch, hard-peeled off.

Seeing their encounter, Lu Mian couldn't help but feel the pain for them.

And I don't know if the black thorn symbol played a role, but he was relatively not so miserable, just constantly being slapped by invisible power, one on the left, one on the right, one on the left, one on the right, slapping his cheeks red and swollen, teeth loose, unable to speak a word.

When the next round of attacks was about to come, Lu Mian's eyes blurred, and he actually saw a wilderness.

In the distance were mountain ridges, and nearby was a wilderness of green grass.

Two devil-like creatures with goat horns pulled a dark red convertible carriage like a conch, arriving in front of Lu Mian and the others from the distance rapidly.

Sitting on the carriage was a woman wearing a fresh green dress and a flower wreath on her head. Her brown hair was high, her brown eyes were bright and watery, and her temperament was dignified and noble, clearly a much more mature Madame Pualis.

She kept her promise and came to provide a bit of help? Lu Mian was surprised first, then joyfully discovered that they were no longer attacked by that invisible power.

For some reason, he never felt that this person was Madame Pualis, or rather, not completely equal to Madame Pualis. She was like an unnatural product of Madame Pualis stitched together with some kind of will.

Relatively speaking, Lu Mian was more willing to call this one "Lady Night."

Unlike their meeting in the Other Shore World before, Madame Pualis held a branch of oak wrapped with mistletoe at the top in one hand and a small bowl made of green jade in the other.

Inside the small bowl was liquid shimmering with rippling light.

Madame Pualis dipped a bit of the liquid from the jade bowl with that oak branch and sprinkled it toward Lu Mian and the others.

After she sprinkled it three times in a row, Lu Mian discovered that the wounds on his chest began to heal rapidly, the redness and swelling on his face faded quickly, and he no longer felt like he was nailed to the wall unable to move.

Franca, Ryan, and Valentine also received complete healing, unable to see the cruel injuries they had just suffered.

"What attacked us?" Lu Mian asked with the attitude of asking wouldn't cause any loss.

Madame Pualis, sitting on the dark red carriage, said with a condescending posture:

"You were stained with a bit of the 'Sufferer's' aura. Fortunately, it was only a bit; otherwise, you would have to consider restarting."

"'Sufferer's' aura, what is this?" Lu Mian looked at Ryan and the others, finding they were also full of confusion.

Madame Pualis answered with a soft voice:

"I only know this much."

"Then do you know what's going on with the dead wizard and the owl in the cemetery?" Lu Mian asked while taking the opportunity.

Madame Pualis looked at him:

"If I knew, things wouldn't have turned out like this. I originally intended to manage this place as my 'territory,' but now I have to leave."

Manage as your territory? Lu Mian was startled in his heart, actually feeling that falling into the cycle wasn't entirely a bad thing:

"If Madame Pualis had really achieved her original goal, Aurora and I wouldn't know how many children we would have had by now!

"Compared to this ending, falling into the cycle and being destroyed at any time isn't so unacceptable.

"At least I died clean and white!"

Madame Pualis swept a glance at Franca and them, didn't speak again, and let those two black creatures like devils pull the conch-like carriage and turn toward the depths of the wilderness.

After her figure disappeared from Lu Mian and the others' eyes, the wilderness also disappeared.

At this time, they discovered that they were still in the basement, half on the stairs and half near the wooden door.

If it weren't for their blood and fallen fingernails still remaining on the ground and wall, they would definitely have thought that what just happened was just a real hallucination.

"Leave first." Ryan quickly regained his senses and instructed Valentine, "Handle the traces we left behind."

Valentine nodded, summoned illusory golden flames, and burned the bloodstains and fingernails.

All the way back to the church, the four didn't suffer any more attacks.

That bit of "Sufferer's" aura didn't know if it was consumed clean or cleared away by the liquid Madame Pualis sprinkled.

Lu Mian was about to leave this place from the side door when he suddenly saw the deputy assistant parish priest, Michel Galigou, standing outside the room where several unconscious servants were placed, staring blankly inside.

This guy came back after filling his stomach? Lu Mian just wanted to avoid him, but Michel, with brown curly hair and a clean-looking face, turned his head abruptly and saw them.

Ryan was about to go over and knock this guy out, but Michel Galigou had already asked with an unusually enthusiastic smile:

"Are you here to pray? Do you need to make a confession?"

Everyone else in the church is down, but you care about confession or not? Lu Mian looked at Michel as if looking at a crazy person.

Compared to last time, this guy's abnormality was clearly expressed!

PS: Fifth update, seeking monthly votes~ Hmm, at 0:05, there will be tomorrow's first update.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 82 =====