Chapter 4: Red Eyes

  I was sick at home this week, so the update time is later than usual. It will be back to normal next week. A new book has been released, I hope everyone can help promote it, click on it and recommend it, thank you.

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  Benjamin glanced at Lucien and walked slowly towards the ruins of the witch's hut with his unique elegant pace, his voice low and soothing: "Evil sorcerers always like to play with the hearts and minds of kind people, especially on this silver moonlit night. Only that witch hasn't yet obtained truly terrifying evil powers, her magic can usually only affect one or two people."

  Lucien was initially dazed and confused, until Benjamin finished speaking, then he understood that he was explaining why only he heard the crying sound, while the nearby residents were still asleep, even when awakened, carefully listened, but gained nothing.

  Without giving Lucien a chance to speak, Benjamin stretched out his white-gloved hands and continued, "And I and the four church guardians are blessed by the Lord, so we can hear this evil voice."

  The four guards walking back and forth heard this sentence and immediately drew a cross on their chest, shouting in unison:

  "Truth is eternal."

  As they shouted this out, their spirits became slightly excited.

  The poor residents of the distant slum also whispered in prayer: "May truth forever prevail."

  Then they whispered among themselves: "This is indeed the power of the gods, and he is truly a noble pastor."

  In the faintly heard praise, Benjamin's face with a unique arc became increasingly solemn and dignified, slowly opening his hands wearing white gloves, and uttering a strange short syllable from his mouth:

  "Pass."

  The brief and urgent syllables had just ended, the entire small cottage was covered with a faint white glow, as if the silver moon in the sky had poured down its radiance.

  In the midst of a white radiance, on a broken wall connecting the ruins and Lucien's house, an eerie blood-red glow appeared, taking the shape of an entrance.

  Under the influence of this mysterious and bizarre spell and divine effect, Lucien was shocked like the poor people around him, with ups and downs in his mood, but they were more intoxicated and fearful, while Lucien was fearful mixed with deep longing.

  Benjamin clenched his fists and gave orders to the guards in front of him: "Garry, that's the secret door. There are no magical traps. You go open it."

  Garry's chest heaved once, and the iron plates of his cuirass clattered: "Yes, sir, Benjamin."

  As Garry and another guard walked by, Lucien with pointed ears on the side heard Benjamin muttering under his breath: "Those arrogant judges at the Tribunal only know how to use 'Detect Magic Traps', can't they learn 'Detect Secret Doors' too? Hmph, just because they're only magic apprentices, they're so slow?"

  With the guidance of the divine technique, Gary displayed his powerful muscles and knocked down the broken wall with two or three blows.

  Then another guard drew his long sword and struck heavily, cutting off a mechanism and revealing the black hole in the corner of the wall.

  The entrance was not large, only allowing one person to pass through. As the wind blew by, it brought a foul odor from the entrance. Benjamin slightly furrowed his brow and covered his nose and mouth with his right hand wearing white gloves, while Lucien almost vomited and unconsciously took two steps back.

  Garry took a closer look inside the entrance and ran over: "Mr. Benjamin, this secret passage leads to the sewer."

  Benjamin furrowed his golden eyebrows at Gary, his mouth and nose seeming to be compressed into a slightly distorted shape, his voice becoming low and depressed: "Certain?"

  "Yes, if you look down at an angle, you can see a section of drainpipe." Gary replied affirmatively.

  Benjamin didn't say a word, as a noble and elegant pastor, as a member of the glorious Lafati family that had been passed down for many years. Just thinking about the filth and stench in the sewers made him uncomfortable all over. Among the several divine techniques he had mastered and constructed model imprints in his soul, there was no "Purification Technique". To cast it, he would have to rely on a combination of incantations, hand gestures, and casting materials. And nobody knew where the secret room was located in the sewers, so they would have to walk all the way there, needing several purification techniques along the way.

  "It doesn't matter, being just a magic apprentice, with the Holy Emblem of Truth, there won't be any problem." Benjamin thought casually, then he looked at Lucien, relaxed his right hand, and his voice became stern and calm again: "You have been in contact with witches, your body must have been tainted with evil power, you need to atone for your sins to cleanse yourself. But your devotion to the Lord has moved me, I will lend you my Holy Emblem. Once you can purify the evil power left by the witch, you will be able to regain the Lord's favor. Go, Lucien, do things for the Lord, the Lord's eyes will be watching you."

  After successfully running to the church and bringing Benjamin, Gary and others over, Lucien's mood relaxed a lot. With the pastor and guards present, getting rid of vengeful spirits and ghosts shouldn't be difficult, and even if it was, it wouldn't fall on him, an ordinary person whose body had just recovered. So when he heard Benjamin's words, Lucien's mind immediately buzzed: "He actually wants me to purify the vengeful spirit?! I'm just an ordinary person!"

  Seeing Lucien's face full of surprise and resistance, Benjamin asked calmly and kindly: "You don't want to?"

  Without any malice, Lucien shuddered and came to his senses. If he refused, he might immediately become a corpse. On the other hand, if he agreed, it seemed that Benjamin intended to lend him the sacred emblem and have most of the guards follow him as well. To deal with a somewhat neglected magical apprentice's lingering resentment, the danger shouldn't be too great.

  Whether Benjamin really dislikes the sewer because it's dirty and doesn't want to go down, or has another idea, messing up this seemingly simple thing doesn't do him any good.

  He suppressed the resentment in his heart and replied with a stiff smile: "I'm willing to serve the master."

  Benjamin didn't mind Lucien's stiffness, and with his right hand, he took down the holy emblem pendant from around his neck and handed it to Lucien: "This is the Truth Holy Emblem. Later, I will cast a 'Blessing Spell' on you. With this, you can concentrate your spirit more easily, and in conjunction with the incantation and spiritual communication through hand gestures, you can activate the power of the Lord contained within."

  Lucien suppressed his emotions and became curious about this sacred emblem that could cast divine magic.

  The holy emblem has a gold base, with a white cross that emits a faint glow. Around the cross, in the deep gold, are many horizontal and vertical lines, as well as circular, triangular, square, and rectangular patterns, which are strangely connected together, setting off the cross and giving it an air of mystery and solemnity.

  As soon as Lucien held the sacred emblem in his hand, he felt a warm and gentle power flowing into him, permeating his entire body. Even in the face of the cool night wind, he felt warm, as if basking in the sun.

  "There are two informal divine spells inside the holy emblem: Luminous and Minor Healing, each can be used three times a day. And there are also three first-class divine spells: Holy Light Shield, Radiant Sword, and Holy Strike, each can only be used once a day. Alright, listen carefully to their incantations."

  Lucien has no way out and must go down, so the power of magic is especially important to him. He studies the incantations taught by Benjamin with great care.

  The incantations were all short syllables, but the tone changes were extremely twisted and required a great deal of mental effort, and Lucien was barely able to get them right.

  Benjamin nodded imperceptibly and stretched out his right hand.

  This time, without an incantation, a pure white light enveloped Lucien's body, slowly dissipating, making him feel his body was filled with strength, healthier than ever before, and his spirit was concentrated and sharp, able to hear voices from farther away.

  "Pastor-sama actually let Lucien go and even gave him the sacred crest?"

  "Haven't you heard? It's Reverend-sama's benevolence that allowed Lucien to go and wash away the sins on his body."

  "Praise the Lord, praise Reverend."

  Lucien didn't have much common sense in this world, so after receiving the "Blessing", he quietly waited for Benjamin to cast the "Blessing" on Garry and two other guards.

  Benjamin has about a 2-3 second interval between each Blessing cast.

  Having done all this, Benjamin looked at Lucien and the others: "Paul guards the entrance of the secret passage. Gary, Hausen, Correa, you three, go down with Lucien."

  Then his expression turned serious, and he made the sign of the cross on his chest: "May the Lord's glory protect you."

  "Truth will prevail!"

  Gari and the other three guardians looked a bit excited, answering loudly. Lucien was half a beat slower, answering no, not answering also wasn't an option.

  Fortunately Benjamin didn't mind this and watched as the four of them slowly made their way into the tunnel that connected to the sewer.

  Another guardian, Paul, lowered his voice and asked a question that had puzzled him for a long time: "Lord Benjamin, why is it him?"

  There are incantations, there is a sacred emblem, and he and Gari can also trigger the divine technique inside, it's just that every time they trigger it, they are slower than Pastor Benjamin and his apprentices or those evil magicians, but even so, it's better than that kid who doesn't know anything and hasn't even formally trained his body yet. If Pastor Benjamin is unwilling to go, he can simply hand the sacred emblem over to Gari, Hausen, or Koleya.

  Benjamin looked at the entrance of the secret passage, his right hand covering his nose and mouth, his voice low and faint: "His spiritual power is slightly higher than that of a normal person, and he can better activate the divine technique in the holy emblem."

  "But he's too old, no longer worth cultivating."

  …………

  As soon as they entered the secret passage, a foul smell mixed with countless flavors hit them in the face, and Lucien couldn't help but dry heave twice.

  "You, a kid living in Adrien's district, can't even handle the smell of sewers. I guess you're not as poor as I thought, neither in Chantilly nor Antwerp, there are people living in sewers who don't even have a shack to call their own," Coreia said sarcastically as he stepped into the passageway ahead of Lucien, his black hair and sharp cheekbones setting him apart from Gari and Benjamin.

  Before Lucien could answer, Gary walked in and said directly: "Quiet."

  Corea shrugged and closed his mouth, advancing a few steps in the narrow passage one meter high, then jumping out into the four-way sewer.

  Lucien jumped out and stepped on something wet, slippery and unknown under his feet.

  These things are everywhere, and the walls around them are covered with strange mosses that give off a faint glow, keeping the entire sewer from being in complete darkness.

  "Keep your voice down," Garri said, "Hausen, Correa and I are all high-ranking knight attendants. When you use the sacred emblem, be sure to coordinate with us. As soon as we encounter danger, immediately summon the 'Sword of Light'." He had a golden goatee, but his every move was extremely calm, making people feel at ease. Among the four guards, he subtly dominated the situation.

  After finishing speaking, Gary held the long sword in his right hand and the round small shield in his left hand, calling out to Hausen, Correa, and Lucien, searching for the place where the ghost's crying voice came from.

  Lucien, who had no common sense, followed with a cry of laughter: "How do I know what kind of strength a high-ranking knight attendant should have?" But Lucien didn't dare ask Gari about this.

  A mournful and desolate cry echoed through the narrow environment of the sewer, growing louder as if coming from all directions, making it difficult to pinpoint its exact location.

  But Garry and the other guards who had received special training, as well as Lucien who still had a decent amount of spiritual power, were able to easily distinguish the direction under the effect of the "Blessing Technique".

  This sewer is so quiet that it's frightening, and you can't see a single one of the poor people Correa said live in sewers.

  After several intersections, Lucien and his companions stopped at an unremarkable sewer corner.

  Gari looked at the wall covered with green moss and calmly said to Lucien, "Summon 'Glory Sword'."

  Lucien was both fearful and eager, with the help of the blessing technique, calmed down, concentrated his mind on the holy emblem, felt that warm and gentle power, then held the white cross in the center of the holy emblem hanging from his neck with his left hand, gently rubbed it rhythmically, and at the same time, recited a strange tone incantation:

  "Qishuang."

  Lucien only felt that the spirit concentrated on the sacred emblem was being dyed by a wave of white light, and a faint white glow appeared in front of him, gathering together to form a shining light sword.

  "Is this my voice?" The sound of the spell being cast, along with its strange and awkward tone, sounded low and hoarse under the backdrop of magical power and effect, mysterious and eerie, even startling Lucien himself.

  With the Holy Sword in hand, Lucien felt an extraordinary power surge through him and he couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement. But Gari's words immediately brought him back to reality: "The wall that was cut open over there has the power of the Holy Sword, any magical traps were broken. You're just a mere magic apprentice."

  Looking at the position indicated by Garry, Lucien trembled slightly. He would be facing mysterious and powerful magical forces. What would happen? What dangers would there be? Everything was unknown.

  "A timid and inexperienced fellow." Koreya sneered.

  Lucien understood that he could only grit his teeth and bear it, so he took two deep breaths. The terrifying stench slowly calmed Lucien down, and in his heart, he gnashed his teeth and shouted: "It's just death, after all!"

  The radiant sword grasped in his right hand slashed out fiercely and struck the wet, slippery, and nauseating wall.

  A flash of white light, and the stone was like soft mud, unable to block it.

  Lucien cut it down, and at the same time, he seemed to have cut off some strange things, with an inexplicable sense of fragmentation emanating from it. A faint black gas rapidly disappeared under the blade of the Glorious Sword.

  The entire wall collapsed completely.

  Within the walls, there is profound darkness.

  Suddenly, in the darkness, two points of eerie, cold and ferocious red light lit up.

  Two red dots, more and more, densely packed, filling the entire darkness.

  Lucien's mouth was dry and his spirit was tense, with sweat on his palms, as if under the gaze of a pair of eyes!