The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 169 Eclipse of Light
[...Those who sincerely convert to heresy, upon repentance, will be redeemed. Their souls will ascend to the Kingdom of God, and their bodies will remain imperishable; their bones will be made of gold.]

Eric suddenly realized that this mummified demon corpse might actually be guarding the church.

Are they demons who worship Yela...?

There are some such records in church history, some even written into the sacred texts, referring to them as converts.

If the mummified demon corpse before us is truly a convert, then there's a huge misunderstanding.

Misunderstandings aside, the battle has already begun, and the demon corpses have ascended to the divine realm, fighting purely on instinct—there's no explanation for it—they just can't stop.

Eric's offensive paused slightly, allowing the demon corpse to catch its breath. He raised his curved sword and slowly ran his other hand over it, covering the sword with a layer of golden light.

Elise and Molly stared at each other simultaneously: "Eric, that's..."

Eric grinned, his face contorted in pain.

"The Church's forefathers."

That's divine magic, and it looks about the same as his Holy Judgment Blade.

This demon is truly a convert.

The problem is that even though it had turned into a dried-up corpse, it could still perform divine magic. If it were outside, it would be a veritable miracle.

Miracles are coming to kill him again.

when!
As Eric blocked the slashing curved sword, he noticed that its attack power had increased, seemingly due to the golden light emanating from the sword.

It was incredibly strong, agile, and impervious to blades. It remained unharmed even after being slashed so deeply in the back. It even possessed a golden skeleton. Eric knew he couldn't handle it alone.

"Molly!"

Eric's counterattack was blocked, so he quickened his pace and flashed behind the demon corpse, thrusting his short sword out again.

"Find a way to restrict its movement!...Use the Frost Path!"

Molly immediately raised her staff, aimed it at the passageway in the middle of the church, and cast a frost spell that could slow down or even freeze people.

Eric fought and retreated, a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet, affecting him as well.

After all, this isn't a game where there's no immunity to friendly fire.

The demonic corpses chased after him, and Eric quickly jumped back. It continued to pursue, then stepped onto the Frosty Path, where its speed suddenly slowed down considerably.

"continue!"

After reminding Molly, Eric launched another counterattack. He was already known for his agility, and with the buff, his speed was almost at its limit, making him far less affected by the Frost Path than his opponent.

when!
The chill crept up from below, and the demon corpse barely managed to block his sword strike, but it couldn't stop his swift change of attack and subsequent slash.

The blade, carrying a golden light, pierced into the mummified corpse's body, cutting another gash.

"Eric!"

Upon hearing Elise's warning, Eric immediately dodged, a chill surging from behind him and rushing straight towards the front of the demon corpse, quickly frostling its surface.

The demon corpse's body stiffened, and its movements became increasingly slow, making it look similar to the low-level undead outside.

Eric seized the opportunity to slash at its wrist, severing it completely.

Eric's right hand, along with the curved sword, plummeted downwards. He used the momentum to rush forward, kicking the sword directly in mid-air, sending it flying far away.

Without its weapon, the demon corpse's threat level dropped by 90%, especially under Molly's continuous chill, which rendered it almost immobile.

It has strong physical defense, but not much resistance to magical effects. In his previous life, this would have been Eric's favorite type of boss in dungeons—just have the front line hold the line and let the mages deal damage.

However, in this world, it is up to him to deliver the final blow.

Eric gripped his sword with both hands, gathering strength in his arms, and slashed the misty longsword straight at the neck of the demon corpse.

Rest in peace.

As the longsword slashed down, the head of the demon corpse rolled off, while its body, corroded by the cold air, remained standing upright.

"It's dead." Molly continued to unleash her icy aura until Eric spoke up to remind her.

She put down her staff and let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's a good thing I came along, otherwise, with just the two of you, wouldn't you be finished this time?"

"Yeah, it's good that you're here," Eric replied casually, while Elise assured him that their escape wouldn't be a problem.

Eric put away his weapon, bent down, picked up the head of the demon corpse, and examined it closely.

Even with its head severed from its body, the demon's head still had wide-open eyes, and despite being completely dead, it still carried a certain majesty.

"I wonder if it has a name..."

"What's your name?" Molly asked.

“In the holy scriptures, or some other book.” Eric cupped his hands, lowered the head, and prepared to place it in front of the statue of Yera along with the body after the search was complete.

Boom, boom.

The tightly closed church doors suddenly made a banging sound. The three looked over, and Elise whispered, "It's the undead that were just attracted here."

"It's okay, keep your voice down, it won't be able to get in and it will leave on its own."

The three of them walked quietly and spoke in hushed tones, bypassing the stiff, desiccated remains of the demons, and arrived at the statue of Yera in the deepest part of the cave.

Eric released another sphere of light here, and with no shadows obscuring the view, the surroundings became much clearer.

The Yera statue from six or seven hundred years ago is quite different from the one widely circulated on the mainland today.

“The goddess’s ears look long, like an elf’s.” Molly stared at the deliberately sculpted ears on the statue.

"This is what God looked like in the hearts of believers at that time."

Eric looked at Yera's face as well. "Back then, there were no fixed standards. Even statues sculpted at the same time might have different faces. It all depended on how the craftsmen used their skills. It wasn't until 204 that the Church of Yera was established as the state religion by the newly formed empire, and the standards for building statues were set accordingly."

Molly was taken aback, then muttered, "How do you even know this... Nobles must have so much free time, always learning this kind of stuff."

"Aren't you monks the same? You can talk about what famous monks did in which year and in which year with great knowledge."

"Hmm? I don't know. The most powerful mage I know is my teacher."

Eric turned to look at her for a moment, then quickly realized that this girlfriend was an unorthodox woman.

"Okay, pretend I didn't say that."

Eric prayed a few more times to the statue of Yella, roughly meaning that he did not intend to disturb the heroic spirits this time, but came with the mission of spreading the holy faith and bringing the covered holy relics back to light.

Molly wanted to grin, but seeing Elise quietly standing beside him praying, she could only pray along with her.

After the prayers ended, the three began searching for what Eric needed.

He had already seen it; there was a wooden box under the statue, and the divine spell skill books he wanted should be inside.

Eric bowed again, opened the wooden box, and found it filled to the brim, containing far more than just a few skill books.

"So many?" Molly exclaimed in surprise.

“There are probably only a few that are truly useful…” Eric picked up one of the leather-bound notebooks, opened it, and found that it was a notebook left by a clergyman named Gary.

He flipped through a few more books; although they bore different names, they were all notes left by clergy. From a theological perspective, these notes were far more valuable than divine arts, since the theological texts that clergy were studying were essentially notes left by renowned sages.

Eric glanced at them a few more times and discovered that several notebooks recorded the entire process of the underground cathedral of the ancient battlefield from its construction to its destruction and burial from different perspectives.

……

In the year 39 of the Gaia calendar, under the supervision of Saint Samuel, some clergy began to secretly excavate and build the West Star Underground Cathedral.

In the 43rd year of the Gaia calendar, the underground cathedral was completed, attracting a large number of believers from the Star Plains to come and practice.

In 74 AD, Samuel left the West Star Cathedral and headed north alone.

In the year 76 of the Gaia calendar, the Demon King died suddenly, triggering internal strife within the demon race. The original followers of Yera in the Western Star were hunted down and wiped out by the remaining demons, and were forced to abandon the underground cathedral.

……

The notes also mentioned the identity of the demon corpse.

His name was Queller. He was converted to Christianity by Saint Samuel on the battlefield and became Samuel's student. After humanity's defeat, Queller volunteered to stay behind to protect the church, and eventually died in the dark underground with other clergy.

One of the notebooks mentioned that Quiller himself had also left some written records under the influence of his teacher Samuel. Eric rummaged through the wooden box and found a notebook with a black cover.

Mr. Samuel said that even after death, the words left behind can make the spirit live on forever. I decided to start recording.

……

My teacher told me that the Demon King Degoth was the root cause of the Dark Ages.

I am in great pain. Believing in Yela is the first betrayal of my race. If I tell my teacher the secret of the Demon King, it will be a true betrayal that will never be forgiven, and the Demon race may even be destroyed because of it.

Mr. Samuel comforted me, telling me that the destruction of the demon race was inevitable, and that it would only come from the endless slaughter brought by the Demon King.

I think the teacher is right.

……

I told the teacher that the Demon King's excessively long life came from a life-extending ritual that consumed countless souls.

The Demon King has been collecting souls with even greater fervor than before, presumably in preparation for his third life-extending ritual. And this time, it might grant him near-eternal life.

……

Mr. Samuel decided to head north.

……

News came from the north that Professor Samuel had been captured by the demons and burned to death.

……

The Demon King is dead?

……

The demon race has split again, and the civil war has begun once more.

It seems the Demon King is truly dead.

……

The Demon King's tribe has begun to sweep away the Yera followers on the Star Plains.

I cannot leave; I must stay and protect the cathedral that Professor Samuel built.

Eric quickly skimmed through Queller's notes, paying particular attention to one particular point.

The Demon King's life-extending ritual?
According to Quiller's description, this ritual requires a large number of souls, which is consistent with the records he learned from continental history of demon kings slaughtering continental tribes and harvesting their souls.

Could it be that this is what Xinmagu was researching in the demon race?
"Did you figure something out?" Molly leaned closer, interrupting his deep thoughts. "We're still underground. Let's take it out and study it later."

Eric snapped out of his reverie, nodded, and put away Queller's notes to carry with him. He also planned to find a way to take as many of those notes out of the box as possible.

"Look around the church to see if there's anything else there."

After rummaging through the entire box of notes, Eric finally found the skill books he had originally wanted.

[Skill Book: Wings of Purification]

'Wings of Purification': Advanced Divine Spell. Gathers divine power to form wings on the back, granting a brief period of levitation. Divine spells cast while in the 'Wings of Purification' state receive additional bonuses. Class Requirement: [Devoted One] Class. Attribute Requirement: Faith 500.
[Skill Book: Sacred Realm of Devout Faith]

'Sanctuary of Devout Faith': Advanced Divine Spell. Creates a sacred domain imbued with divine power centered on the caster. Non-hostile targets within this domain receive continuous healing, and the power of any Yela Faith spells cast is greatly enhanced. Class Requirement: [Devoted One] Class. Attribute Requirement: Faith 500.
[Skill Book: Light Erosion]

'Erosion of Light': High-level Divine Spell. Centered on the caster, continuously releases corrosive holy light in all directions, dealing massive holy damage to all hostile targets. The caster cannot move while casting. Class Requirement: [Devoted One] Class. Attribute Requirement: Faith 500.
All three skill books only had job class restrictions and no requirements for sub-jobs, so Eric could learn them all. His attributes were already up to par, so he learned all three skill books on the spot.

Elise and Molly were searching other areas of the church to see if there was anything else they could take when they suddenly saw a golden halo resembling a magic circle appear beneath Eric's feet, with golden light constantly surging upwards from it. A pair of wings of light sprouted from Eric's back, and with a flap of them, they lifted him into the air.

"You... how did you fly?"

Eric spread his arms, holding a sword in one hand and an unfolded holy book in the other. Suddenly, golden light emanated from him, as dazzling as the sun.

The two squinted and discovered that the golden light flying past them was like silk threads, almost tangible. When they reached out to touch it, they felt a burning pain.

Both Elise and Molly were somewhat uneasy.

"Is he about to ascend to the realm of gods?"

“…Probably not.”

Just then, the golden light dissipated, and Eric flapped his wings of light, falling from mid-air.

"This is a divine technique I've just mastered," he explained to the two. "Try it out."

Using the Wings of Purification to ascend into the air, although one cannot move freely, allows the caster to escape threats on the ground. The Holy Realm of Devout Faith is a powerful buff in positional warfare, while the Erosion of Light is the large-scale attack method he desperately needs.

Each of these three divine spells is a powerful skill when used individually, and when combined, they can maximize the damage of Light Erosion even when far from ground threats.

In "Thorns of the Soul", these three skill books only drop when a hidden BOSS is triggered, and you might not encounter one even once a month. Each time, only one book will drop randomly, so trying to collect a complete set by farming dungeons is as difficult as climbing to the sky.

Fortunately, this world can be taken care of in one go.

“You looked just like a Holy Flame Priest in the church,” Elise said.

Eric smiled, but felt a little regretful—most ranged damage-dealing divine spells require the support of a subclass, otherwise he could really fill in as a Holy Flame Priest when necessary.

"Have you discovered anything else?"

“We found some suicide notes written on parchment.” Molly handed him a roll of parchment.

Eric unfolded it and looked at it for a few moments. Sure enough, it was left behind by the clergy who had stayed behind at the cathedral.

"Putting aside other things, at least I have to take these out and give them to the church." He gestured for the two to look again to see if there were any more suicide notes.

"So how are you going to hand it over to the church?" Molly asked. "Should you say you found it on the street?"

After all, one can tell where these suicide notes came from just by looking at their contents.

Eric stated that he had plenty of methods at his disposal.

"That's true... You can freely enter and leave churches and monasteries."

After searching around, the three of them found the most parchment scrolls behind the statue of Yera. Eric carefully folded them up, stuffed them into his pocket, and prepared to take them out first.

“It seems there’s nothing else.” Molly glanced around. “This is probably the poorest ruin you’ve ever brought me to, if you don’t count the things that can’t be sold.”

"Are you really short of money?" Eric looked at the whole box of notes, wondering how to take it out.

“Take a few important ones with you,” Elise said. “Or clean up all the undead outside.”

"That's the only way." Eric sighed, rummaging through a pile of notes, finally taking two with him and having Molly and Elise each slip a few into their pockets.

Finally, before leaving, Eric moved the corpse of the demon who might have saved the lives of the continent in some way to the front of the statue of Yera and sat it down—of course, he also retrieved the head and placed it on the cleanly cut neck.

Molly and Elise prayed with him for a moment, then turned and left.

The three prepared to return the way they came, but as soon as they climbed onto the eaves, they found that all the undead in the courtyard were looking over—the phantom smoke and the human scent smoke had been ineffective for half a day.

"run!"

Eric did not hesitate.

The item has been found, so there's no need to worry about alerting the undead. The undead aren't as fast as them, and there's another door before the exit, so it doesn't matter how much chaos we cause.

The three of them walked quickly along the veranda, returned to the tower, climbed through the window, and then immediately went downstairs and out through the gate.

The undead who had been attracted by the Boiling Bomb were now wandering aimlessly again.

Eric rushed down the stairs first to attract their attention, shouting, "You guys run to the exit!"

Elise and Molly followed closely behind, running towards the passage they had come in through, while Eric, after circling among the undead, also ran this way.

Upon entering the passage, Elise and Molly were waiting for him at the stone door at the end. Eric rushed over and pulled the lever to lower the stone door.

With a rumbling sound, the stone gate slammed down, sealing off the path to the outside world once again.

"Next..."

Eric fired a ball of light overhead, illuminating the long staircase. "The problem is how to open the floor at the top. Let's go up first."

Coming down was easy, but going up was difficult. The three of them climbed the dozens of meters of stairs for quite a while. Eric and Elise were fine, but Molly ran out of energy halfway up and Eric had to carry her to the top.

Upon reaching the top, the three began to explore the area around the steps, searching for any possible mechanisms.

If we really can't find it, then we'll have to break it by force.

“It’s highly likely that it exists,” Eric said. “Otherwise, those believers back then…”

He suddenly fell silent. Molly was about to ask a question when Elise covered her mouth.

The next moment, Molly also heard distinct footsteps outside.

“...There are people outside!” she whispered.

Eric nodded.

"Could it be that the church discovered us and came looking for us?" Molly couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Just as Eric was about to reassure her, a sudden vibration occurred above their heads. The three of them quickly took a few steps back, and a beam of light shone through the floor above them before it opened completely.

"..."

The stone pillar next to it was shining, and a church knight was standing beside it.

The three of them went up the steps and found a whole squad of church knights waiting outside. They were in perfect formation, fully armed, and staring intently at them.

“It’s over.” Molly gripped Eric’s arm tightly.

The next moment, the leading knight suddenly lowered his head and knelt down on one knee before her.

With a clatter, all the knights knelt down and bowed to her.

Molly was stunned.

Immediately afterward, she realized that they were bowing not to her, but to the person next to her.

"Your Highness, the Holy Maiden commands: Please return to Lessier immediately."

·
[Stellar Stroll - End]

(End of this chapter)