Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 284 The Return of the Black Tide

Just as Thomas was thinking about this with excitement on his face, the "Holy Inquisitor" Connor beside him suddenly turned around and looked towards the direction of the city wall in the distance.

Bang! A bright flame suddenly ignited from the top of the city wall, and then, not far away, more flames burst into the sky.

It was like some kind of "beacon" - a "beacon" that would only be lit when encountering an enemy.

Then, Thomas heard a high, loud horn.

Woo! — The loud horn sound echoed in the air, and Thomas saw that the "Holy Judge" Connor in front of him had a clear look of tension on his face.

"Enemy attack..." Connor muttered in a daze. His cloudy vision gradually became clear. He turned around and shouted loudly to the "patrol guards":

"——Enemy attack!"

"That is our biggest enemy, the first invasion from the Dark Army in half a month!"

"This is not within your responsibility, but this is your only home. According to the instructions and admonitions of the High Priest, I hope you can follow me again and drive them out!"

"Once you drive the enemy out again, the church will give you the reward you deserve and a warm place to live!"

"If you are willing to follow me and continue fighting, stand behind me!"

"..."

...The Dark Army? When Thomas heard these three words, a light flashed in his eyes.

Is that the army of the "Dark Principality" mentioned in the main quest, which is hostile to the "Nolan Empire" where he is currently?

If solving the "Dead Birth of God" crisis event can be considered a "side quest", this is the first time Thomas has come into contact with an event related to the main quest!

Previously, he had only used up one death resurrection in the battle with the deformed undead. He still had enough confidence to participate in the next battle, so he stood on the side of "Holy Judge" Connor without hesitation.

……

After Connor shouted a few words, he was not sure whether these patrolmen who were originally "refugees" would really follow him.

He just followed what Luo Xiu taught him before he left.

"If the beacon tower is lit and we learn that the Dark Army is attacking again, just tell these 'Church Patrols' loudly like this - tell them that the 'Dark Army' is attacking, and then tell them that they will receive the rewards they deserve, and they will naturally stand on your side."

Connor did so doubtfully, and then waited anxiously for the reactions of these "church guards".

During the brief period of waiting, he recalled the various strange things revealed by these new "church guards".

They were truly not afraid of death, and most of them seemed to have been resurrected after dying in battle...Except for a few patrol guards who had died too many times, the other patrol guards seemed to be standing here just fine.

As for the several patrol guards who had died too many times and had not been resurrected, their bodies had turned into strands of spiritual threads and disappeared, with no one knowing where they had gone.

As to why such a strange phenomenon occurred, Connor could only temporarily understand it as some kind of blessing or curse - there were indeed some ancient legends circulating in the continent of Fanor, that some races had a power called "immortality" flowing in their blood, and their long lives were a process of aging, transformation, aging again, and transformation again, but in Connor's cognition, legends would always be just "legends."

But now he had to think about the "legend" coming true. Fortunately, these refugees with unknown backgrounds were still quite weak. Even if they could be reborn after a certain number of deaths, they could still be controlled... Connor thought with half comfort and half relief.

While he was thinking about this, he was surprised to find that most of the new "Church Guards" were standing behind him.

Only two "patrolmen" chose to leave, and they said some meaningless words to Connor, such as "explore" and "open map". Connor didn't understand what they meant, but let them go and didn't care about them anymore.

The vast majority of the patrol guards chose to continue following him. Connor thought this result was good enough, so he led the patrol guards and hurried towards the city wall. Dozens of figures quickly disappeared at the end of the street.

……

Red Maple City, on the city wall.

The "Grand Inquisitor" Baines of the border court was looking at the dark mass of troops at the end of his field of vision with a frown on his face.

"Here he comes..." Baines murmured, "'Executioner' Cros, he really won't let go of this opportunity..."

Earlier, his scouts had reported to him that Koros had regrouped hundreds of thousands of troops.

There were even more "Fang Heads" and "Black Fangs" who returned to Koros's command. This made the situation in Red Maple City extremely serious again.

Baines also knew that this day was the day the church had scheduled to purify the "Death Birth God Heir". The "Holy Deacon" Hubert must still be fighting fiercely with the "Death Birth God Heir" at this time... In other words, there was no one in Red Maple City who could compete with the two "Saints" of the Black Army at the same time...

Baines thought with some despair, but his duty and the pride of belonging to the [Supreme] destiny made him stay here and not retreat a single step.

At this time, the two "generalists" from Fangbeiyuan were also nearby. Their faces were as stern as Baines', but they had each prepared to defend against the enemy.

"Where is Lord Luo Xiu?" Baines looked around and suddenly asked.

According to the agreement, the heads of the three major bases should gather on such occasions, but Baines has not seen the figure of "Rosius Carlos" for a long time.

He didn't know that Luo Xiu actually participated in the battle to purify the "Death Birth God's Heir" - this matter had been hidden by Luo Xiu and Hubert until now, and not revealed to the outside world at all.

This made Baines particularly anxious. If Luo Xiu was not present, the possibility of successfully resisting Koros and Baberon would be much lower.

Suddenly, a flash of bright golden light appeared at the edge of Baines' vision.

He felt a hot wind blowing, and the temperature of the air seemed to rise slightly, so he looked towards the source of the light.

Soon, Baines' eyes widened.

——Hubert, the "Holy Deacon of Purification"! He actually saw Hubert!

This made Baines a little suspicious, wondering if he was dazzled.

It has only been about half an hour since the "Death-Birth God" actually descended to the ground.

This took into account the time difference for the "Royal Guard Knights" near Gusta Street to report the progress to him. Baines had just received the news of the arrival of the "Heir of the Dead God" a few minutes ago.

As a result, he saw Hubert, who was in a fierce battle with the "Death Birth God", appear in front of him!

"Hello, Lord Baines."

When Hubbard greeted Baines, Baines did not respond.

"You..." Baines was a little stunned, and his speech became incoherent, "Shouldn't you be talking to the 'Death Birth God'..."

"He has been purified by us." Hubert said calmly.

Purification? Who purifies whom? Baines, who felt his brain was shutting down, could understand every word Hubbard said, but when they were put together, they became something Baines could not understand.

"'Death Birth God' has been purified by Luo Xiu and I." Hubert repeated and added some detailed explanations.

"...You and Luo Xiu?" Baines was still a little dazed. He then saw a calm, yet boastful smile on Hubert's face, and said:
"Rosius Carlos, he has been promoted to the 'Fifth Level of Destiny'."

"With his help, my purification of the 'Deathborn God' went much more smoothly than planned."

"..."

This time, Baines was completely stunned.

He felt that he could no longer understand what Hubert was saying. It was not that he could not understand, but Baines instinctively did not want to understand the meaning behind it - you have to know that Baines was almost a hundred years old and had only reached the "fourth level of destiny", while Ross Carlos - he was only eighteen years old, he was only eighteen years old!

"..."

"Now is not the time to discuss this, Lord Baines."

The next second, Hubert's voice reached Baines' ears, bringing him back to reality.

Baines looked up and glanced at Hubert. The faint smile on his face had disappeared, replaced by a serious expression.

It was as if everything I saw before was an illusion.

"Yes, yes..." Baines nodded, put aside the unnecessary thoughts, and listened to Hubert continue:

"Luo Xiu has other tasks and will come over later. As for me, I will come to help you first and help you resist the attack of the Dark Army."

"Okay, I understand." Baines nodded again and looked at the black tide approaching in the distance.

The dark army formation was getting closer and closer, and in the center, among hundreds of black cavalrymen covered in iron armor, were the figures of "Executioner" Koros and "Hidden Elder" Baberon.

Behind Koros and Baberon, there seemed to be dozens of tall giant puppets reflecting silver-white light. They were guarding around the core position, giving people a full sense of oppression.

……

There is still some time before the enemy actually reaches the city.

At this time, the gate of Red Maple City also slowly opened with a sluggish sound. Lord Nelson had already ordered the defenders in the city to go out of the city and form a battle line, also forming a dark formation.

In terms of the number of troops, the Red Maple City and the attacking Black Army were almost equal. However, many of the Red Maple City's defenders were voluntarily recruited militiamen, and their strength was slightly inferior to that of the Black Army.

But this does not affect the advantage of Red Maple City in defending the city. As for the Dark Army, the number of troops is not their reliance - the numerical advantage of high-level extraordinary people determines the victory, and Koros firmly believes in this.

There was a crowd of people surging under the city wall, and the defenders who were leaving the city were lined up in an orderly manner. The previous victories made their faces full of high morale and their morale was quite high.

Hubert looked down and found that the soldiers in the front formation seemed a little different from the other soldiers around them.

They were not strictly arranged in battle formation like other soldiers, and some even huddled together in a scattered group. If there were no border knights and clergymen maintaining order, they might have charged forward without looking back.

——Yes, charge forward!

Although their troops were in disarray, their faces showed extremely fanatical fighting spirit. They tried to rush forward several times, but were stopped by the border knights and clergy.

"Who are they?" Hubert asked with some confusion.

"Huh? Don't you know?" Baines responded with a puzzled look on his face, saying, "They are the refugees recently taken in by the church. With the recommendation of the church, they formed a city guard army here."

"Oh...I really don't know about this."

Hubert responded calmly, "I have been keeping a close eye on the 'Death Birth God', and I am not involved in the operation of the church."

"...So that's it."

Baines nodded and added, "The priest who sent them here conveyed to us what Lord Luo Xiu said - he said that they are a special group of refugees. We can send them to any battlefield where the situation is serious, and we just need to give them a sufficient reward afterwards."

"Oh, Luo Xiu asked them to come."

Hubert understood and said, "That's not surprising. He will know more. It is the 'oracle' that will be revealed in a moment. You just need to do what he says."

……

Thomas followed the "Holy Inquisitor" Connor and moved quickly towards the city wall.

Halfway through, he opened his task panel and found that the limited-time task [Disaster of Death] was indeed in the "Completed" status.

The rewards for the tasks had already been determined, so Thomas settled them.

[Completed the limited-time mission: The Disaster of Death (?? Difficulty)]

[The catastrophe caused by the "Death Birth God Heir" has been prevented. As a "Church Patrolman", you have fulfilled your duties.]

[The task is being settled...]

[Completion reward: Basic experience +5000, "Rare" quality specialty "Demonic Breaker"! ]

【…】

[Evil Breaker (Rare): You have purified the spirits of the dead and the born, and have begun to understand the way to break evil. 】

[Gain +2 skill slots, +2 skill slots, +3 "strength" and "constitution" attributes. The damage you deal to undead monsters increases by 30%, and the damage you receive from undead monsters decreases by 30%. Undead monsters of a lower level than you will spontaneously feel fear of you.]

【…】

...What the hell? "Strength" and "Constitution" attributes +3? Thomas raised his eyebrows, and after confirming the contents of the settlement, he couldn't wait to open the panel.

果然，他原本白值7点的力量已变成10点，而5点体质也变成了8点。对应的“物理攻击”数值已变为了20点，而生命值更是来到了80点之多！
Thomas was so excited that just one "rare" quality expertise had increased his strength by more than half that he invested the newly gained experience points into upgrading.

After consuming about 3 experience points, Thomas's level has been raised from lv.10 to lv., triggering a [Promotion Task], but apart from his own level, he has not yet met other promotion requirements.

He had not yet learned the skill of "Glorious Inscription", and therefore had not officially touched the level of transcendence. Even on the forum, there were no posts from players sharing how to advance to transcendence, and it seemed that no one had found a way in the short term.

And up to now - a few hours after the internal beta test of "God's Destiny" was launched, Thomas has not even seen any other players who have reached level 10 on the forum, which means that his progress should be the earliest among all the internal beta test players.

While thinking about this with some pride, Thomas has allocated the 5 free attributes given by the upgrade to "Strength" and 2 points to "Constitution", which instantly brought his physical attack value to 30 points, and his health also exceeded !
Compared to when he first "arrived", Thomas feels that he is incredibly strong now!
While fiddling with the panel, he had already followed the "Holy Inquisitor" Connor to the city wall.

The city gate was already open. Connor handed over to the Border Knights guarding the inside of the gate, then led the patrol guards out of the city.

"We will join the 'City Guard'."

As Connor left the city, he said, "They are refugees from far away, just like you."

"After that, the Red Maple City's shield array will protect you. Just kill the enemy, but don't make any unnecessary charges..."

...City guards? Refugees?
Thomas smelled the scent of his fellow countrymen.

While Connor was talking, Thomas had already opened the panel in his mind and joined the surrounding chat channels.

Sure enough, many players are eager to try in the channel. They are the players who chose the job of "city defender" at the beginning. They are sharing the information they know with each other and enthusiastically discussing various possible tactics.

"We are really from the same hometown..." Thomas murmured subconsciously.

Players who choose to become "city defenders" seem to have triggered a "limited-time mission."

It was a mission about resisting the attack of the Dark Army, but Thomas, who was also a player, did not trigger it. This might be related to their professional identities, or it might be that it was impossible to trigger two limited-time missions in a short period of time.

But Thomas didn't care about that. He just opened the chat box and quickly typed in a sentence:
"——Boring! I want to see a river of blood!"

……

(End of this chapter)