The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 159 Battlefield Winter
Winters in the South are colder than Eric had anticipated.

Elise said it was because she was used to living in the South, while he felt it was due to the gap caused by some inexplicable expectations, such as the warm spring-like winters in the South.

Molly, a true Southerner, said his expectations were indeed quite absurd.

“Even in Wimer, the southernmost port on the mainland, it gets cold in winter.”

"you've been to?"

"My guess."

"...I see not a trace of the caution a mage should have in you."

"Make bold assumptions, but verify them carefully."

The three huddled together, hiding in a corner of an alley in the ruined city, waiting for an opportunity to escape.

With white mist billowing from his mouth, Eric pressed himself against the wall as much as possible to avoid being exposed to the large number of undead lurking outside the alley.

"what--"

A scream came from not far away, then quickly subsided.

“Those people are going to be killed by you…” Elise pressed close to him from behind, trying to stop the loss of body heat.

Eric sneered, "When you want to use us to lure away the undead, you should have considered this outcome."

Elise sighed silently, "Six months have passed, and the most reliable teammates are still the same few people who came here when we first arrived."

"You mean the one named Lund?" Molly leaned against Eric and turned to ask.

“It’s Leonard.” Eric stared out of the alley. “It’s not very safe here either, Elise. See if you can climb over there from the back.”

Elise nodded, and as soon as her arm left him, she was enveloped by a chill, and couldn't help but rub it.

She's gotten used to living in the South...

She climbed over the wall, surveyed the surrounding ruins, and listened carefully to the sounds around her. After all, it wasn't just the living who would hide in the ruins; the undead would also wander here.

"I'll go down and take a look," Elise said to the two of them in a low voice.

When Eric turned around, she had already jumped.

rustle--

Just then, the sound of dragging came from outside.

The two immediately held their breath and pressed themselves against the wall.

Soon, a two- or three-meter-tall ghoul dragged a half-dead wood elf past from outside the alley.

Dragging along, blood flowing in all directions, the wood elf's head was facing inward, and it immediately saw the two people poking their heads out. It opened its mouth, but no sound came out.

Eric watched expressionlessly.

This wood elf was one of his teammates who went deep into the ancient battlefield with him. He was a sixth-tier expert with rich experience and particularly skillful archery.

Just now, when the group split up, the whistling arrow he fired in their direction almost perfectly attracted the attention of all the undead on the road, causing a group of undead to chase them for a long time.

If it weren't for his superior skills, which led the undead to the other side and even broke through the defenses to kill one of them, the three of them would be the ones stuck in this situation now.

“It seems they couldn’t get in there either,” Eric said in a low voice.

Molly turned to look at him. "Did you know all along that they would betray us?"

Eric glanced at her sideways. "If you had known, would we have been chased like dogs across half the city?"

Molly leaned closer. "You seem pretty at ease with this."

"Of course I'm fine. As a sixth- or almost seventh-tier warrior, escaping on my own is no problem at all. The same goes for Iris. The problem is having you as a burden."

Molly, the mage, was the main reason for their miserable escape.

But you can't blame her. Mages in this kind of place rely on their teammates for protection. Who would have thought that another group of teammates would suddenly betray them?

"Don't call me a burden." Molly pinched him.

"That soldier said to split up, that must be his plan." Thinking of the horrific scene just now, she cursed bitterly again, "I wonder if he's dead or not."

"The scream I heard just now sounded a bit like his."

"Really? I hope something's happened to him..."

The two whispered to each other. Meanwhile, Elise checked around, then climbed back onto the wall. Looking at the two huddled together intimately, she raised an eyebrow and picked up a small piece of pebbles from the wall.

She had just raised her hand when Eric turned around. "So, is there a road over there? Is it safe?"

She pursed her lips and tossed away the small stone. "The road is blocked by the collapsed wall, but it's safe inside. We can take shelter there for a while."

Eric nodded, pulled Molly over, easily climbed onto the wall, and then together with Elise, pulled Molly up as well.

Turning over to the other side, Eric glanced around. It looked like a courtyard, with walls on three sides, and the only entrance was completely blocked by the collapsed walls, so it was basically safe.

The three of them found an even more secluded corner inside, both to avoid danger and to shelter from the cold wind.

"Are we going to wait here until dark?"

"It's more dangerous for us when it gets dark."

Eric shook his head and had Molly cast a spell to light the charcoal fire in front of them. "Most of the undead in the city have been stirred up and attracted to the vicinity. We can only wait for them to disperse before we can find a way to escape the city."

A flame suddenly appeared, igniting the charcoal and bringing long-lost warmth. The three of them gathered around the fire, waiting for peace and quiet, and also roasting their food.

"Do you want to go out and take a look?" Elise suddenly asked, looking at Eric who seemed to be deep in thought.

He glanced up and nodded. "I want to see if those people are all dead yet."

"Then I'll go with you."

Molly was taken aback. "Am I supposed to stay here alone?"

“Don’t worry, it’s safe here. Even if some undead find this place, we’ll be the first to come back,” Eric said.

"Ok."

The two groped their way out, jumped onto a section of high wall in the ruins, walked along the high ground for a while, and came to the roadside outside, looking down.

A long trail of blood on the ground drew their attention from one side to the other, where the wood elf's corpse, missing most of its body, lay at the end.

"One."

Elise heard Eric count, turned to look at him, and saw that he had already discovered the body of one of the soldiers on the other side.

"two."

The remaining two were nowhere to be seen, and it's unknown whether they died or not.

Various undead still roam the road, from skeletons to undead cavalry. The main danger of the ruined city lies in these undead who never sleep or rest.

Over the past six months, Eric has explored almost all the undiscovered ruins outside the city, but hasn't touched any of the ones inside the city, not only because they are dangerous, but also because there are too few reliable teammates.

Occasionally, Eric would encounter one or two honest, reliable, and experienced teammates like Leonard, but they would all become rich under his guidance and then quit, leaving Eric feeling utterly helpless and heartbroken.

However, his main goal was to level up. Although he was disappointed that he couldn't explore the high-level dungeons in the city, he wasn't too disappointed. After all, equipment is static, but people are dynamic.

“We need to go somewhere else,” Elise suddenly said.

Eric looked up and saw that one of the undead cavalrymen below had noticed them, stopped and looked at them for a moment, and then charged at the wall.

He clicked his tongue. "Lead it away, then circle back here."

"Ah."

The two ran along the high wall of the ruins into the distance, going up and down, rising and falling, with the undead cavalry following them all the way, which also attracted a large group of undead who followed behind them.

It's only because they are both agile and quick-witted that they are able to survive; otherwise, even a seventh-tier warrior would be lying on the ground by now.

The two had circled around for most of the time, using various blind spots to shake off most of the undead on the street, but then they ran into a group of agile little ghouls in some ruins and had no choice but to continue their escape.

Eric jumped onto the wall of another ruin, turned around and gave Elise a hand. Just as the two were about to jump to the next spot, Elise suddenly looked down.

"Yo?"

Eric looked down and said, "Oh."

"..."

In the narrow gap formed by the broken walls below, a former teammate, an injured soldier, looked up at them, his face grim and speechless.

It is clear that Eric broke down the moment he drew his sword and prepared to jump.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, it was all Hubbard's idea! Please let me go!"

Eric raised his hand and hung it on the wall again, not even remembering whose name Hubbard was. "I didn't mean to hurt you, really."

"..."

The soldier was stunned, not immediately understanding what he meant.

Eric and Elise glanced at him twice, then jumped to the next spot, ignoring him. Staring at the place where the two had disappeared, the warrior felt both fear and hatred—hatred for them, hatred for his former comrades, and hatred for himself.

He suddenly realized that he was seriously injured and those two people might be his only hope of survival, so he struggled to stand up and tried to call them back.

But as soon as he stood up, he noticed several small ghouls surrounding the broken wall.

"..."

He understood what Eric meant when he said he didn't intend to harm him.

"Eric—"

Eric glanced back. "They're chasing us so closely... but he should be able to distract a lot of the little ghouls. Let's go back around."

“Hmm.” Elise followed him closely, and the two climbed over a wall, then both paused for a moment—there were a few people hiding below as well.

The faces were unfamiliar; they were adventurers from other teams exploring this place.

Looking up and down, the people below all drew their weapons.

"Watch out, there's a bunch of little ghouls over there, they might come after us." Eric pointed in the direction he came from, then jumped away again.

“That’s Elise.” After the two jumped away, one of the adventurers below suddenly spoke up, “That very beautiful Aran woman.”

“So the guy with her is Eric? I’ve heard his name several times, so this is what he looks like,” another person chimed in.

"They don't have a good reputation, they're always sabotaging their teammates. Very few of those who teamed up with them ever made it back alive. Especially that Eric, his strength has improved by leaps and bounds in the last six months. I heard that when he first arrived at the ancient battlefield he was less than level four, but now he seems to be almost level seven. It's said that it's because of that female mage from the south in his team who used evil magic to transfer the abilities of everyone else to him."

"But what I heard was that they made a lot of money with them... Andy, who stayed at the same hotel as me, came in with them and took several thousand gold coins back to his hometown and quit!"

"Really? That's so exaggerated... But it's true that Eric killed his teammate in the street in town, right? Many people saw it with their own eyes. He's broken the rules. If more and more people follow suit, Northtown won't be safe anymore."

"It's not in town, it's outside the town. You're not considered back in North Town until you get to the church. Besides, the church people handle these kinds of things, and they haven't said anything, so Eric should be fine."

"Why are you talking to him? You're not after his money, are you?"

"I'm just stating the truth as I know it..."

"—I said, how long are you going to keep arguing? He just said there are little ghouls over there, why don't you move over now?"

Eric and Elise had already gone far away, so they naturally couldn't hear what these people were saying.

Having finally shaken off the undead behind them, the two became much more cautious. On their way back, they only disturbed a small ghoul, which they quickly killed. After taking a short detour, they finally returned to where they had been.

Molly's heart finally settled when she saw the two return alive. "I heard some screams earlier, and I thought it was you two."

“Even if we become immortal, we will come back for you,” Eric said.

Molly glared at him. "Then just forget about me."

"I have good news. The soldier you've been holding a grudge against has been almost completely devoured."

Eric was freezing. He sat down by the fire, rubbing his hands constantly. "There's more bad news. Elise and I just took a look around and realized it's unlikely we'll find a chance to escape today."

To be precise, it was with her in tow.

Molly herself understood this. "We still have enough food for a few days. If all else fails, you and Elise should go out of the city to the outpost to replenish your food supplies, and then we'll figure out a solution."

“I won’t abandon you,” Elise said, reaching out to warm her hands over the fire.

Molly smiled. "That's what you guys said."

The two of them laughed.

Before it got completely dark, Eric checked the surroundings again to make sure that there were no ghouls or anything like that that could climb to their resting place before he went back to rest.

The three huddled together around the fire, Eric roasting biscuits and jerky with his sword, while the other two looked on with disdain.

"How many undead have you slain with this sword today?"

"Didn't I just water and wash it? I even wiped it twice carefully."

Even so... don't you feel uncomfortable?

"If you feel uncomfortable, it means you're not hungry enough."

Are you that hungry?

"Do you think my constant jumping around is powered by burning gasoline?"

"What gasoline?"

After grilling for a while, Eric tore off a small piece of jerky, blew on it twice, and put it in his mouth.

"Hmm... Using human blood and the bodily fluids of the undead as seasonings is simply delicious."

"You're disgusting."

"Are you going to eat?"

"……eat."

After filling their stomachs, the three rested by the fire, waiting for the more dangerous and cold night to pass. Fortunately, there was no wind inside, otherwise they would have frozen to death or frozen stiff after a whole night.

Even though this place is very safe, someone still needs to keep watch at night to prevent even the slightest possible accident.

Molly and Elise were assigned to guard the time before sleep and before dawn, respectively, while Eric was responsible for the most difficult period in between.

With his back against the wall and Molly and Elise on his shoulders, Eric took the opportunity to rest. When he woke up again, it was pitch black all around, with only the fire on the ground emitting a dim light.

"I can't hold on any longer..." Molly closed her eyes and hugged his arm tightly. "Take care of me."

"Ah."

Eric rubbed his face to clear his head, then added two more pieces of charcoal to the fire. Listening to the faint sounds outside, he spent the long night alone.

The north wind cannot dispel the thick fog that permeates the ancient battlefield, but when passing through the ruins, it still emits a continuous howling sound, which makes people uneasy.

Sitting still was not enough to keep him awake, so Eric leaned Elise against the wall and stood up, turning around in the darkness.

For the past six months or so, he has spent far more time sleeping in the wild than in hotels because he has been leveling up so diligently. As a result, he hasn't seen a proper night sky in a long time.

It was hard to tell the exact time, but he estimated it was probably just past midnight, since Molly wouldn't last much longer.

Leaving the still-warm campfire, a chill suddenly enveloped him, making him even more alert. He went outside and looked around; as expected, it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

He launched a huge, bright sphere of light into the air, and the white light instantly illuminated the surroundings.

The undead cannot comprehend such a being, so there's no need to worry about them finding their way here. Using the light overhead, Eric made his way outside, climbed to a higher vantage point, and surveyed his surroundings.

The undead still roam the city, and day and night make no difference to them.

Thinking of the group of adventurers they had encountered earlier, Eric estimated that there were at least one or two more adventure teams hiding in the city—given the chaos of the day, it would be difficult for the three of them to find a chance to escape, let alone a large group of seven or eight people.

After observing for a long time, until his body was almost frozen, Eric returned to his hidden hiding place below, carrying a chill with him, and carefully sat back down between Molly and Elise.

The two women then moved closer, using their warmth and unique softness to entice him to sleep.

Eric had no choice but to activate [Burning of Penance] and use the continuous pain in his forehead to keep himself awake.

After using healing magic to replenish his life force for what felt like the umpteenth time, he could no longer hold on and estimated that his time was almost up, so he woke up Elise, who was keeping watch last.

"..."

She woke up groggily and was suddenly struck by the golden mark emerging in the darkness. She became much more alert and quickly realized what was happening.

"It's my turn."

"Hmm." Eric had already closed his eyes, then turned off the mark on his head, and finally cast a healing spell on himself.

"Help me wake up."

With his eyes closed, he only felt Elise pull his hand up, then slip it under her clothes and cover her stomach.

"hiss--"

His palms were as cold as ice, and she gasped, but the warmth of his hands also helped to dispel Eric's drowsiness.

"I think I have a little bit of extra fat," he said with his eyes closed.

"...If you want to keep sleeping, then shut up."

"It's okay, being a little chubby is healthy."

"Shut up."

Eric closed his eyes and shut his mouth, saying nothing.

She held his hand and pressed it against her stomach for a short while, then pulled his hand away, held it with both hands, and slowly leaned against his shoulder.

The night was not yet over, the sky was not yet bright, and the warmth of the long night lingered.

"Don't fall asleep!"

"...Shut up."

(End of this chapter)