1839 Spread

Gino fell asleep in the middle of all the caretaking. He was extremely exhausted.

Even though he had trained to become a knight since he was young, taking care of a hundred people at once had proven to be an extremely difficult thing.

Standing in the shadows outside the storeroom, several priests watched over the scene.

As guards, they carried out their duty faithfully.

As for being infected by the plague?

Since they were able to be within the plague's proximity, it's proven that they wouldn't get infected.

By experiencing the Black Cataclysm firsthand, the members of War God Temple could easily differentiate who was infected. The powerful members didn't even have to be worried about being infected, such as the armed priests.

During the Black Cataclysm, not a single armed priest was infected despite the fact that they stayed in the infected zone for a long period of time.

Therefore, the priests outside the storeroom were all armed priests.

The armed priests were certainly the higher-ups of War God Temple. They were only second to the bishop, bishop in council and the archbishop, a position that had been empty for a long time.

It was rare for so many armed priests to be gathered up at a single spot during normal times.

As a matter of tact, the armed priests were in charge of their respective sectors throughout Edatine Castle, so it was difficult to get all of them together at a single spot.

Since the opportunity was hard to come by, the armed priests, who were usually stationed in their respective sector, caught up with each other. They talked about everything from the petty miscellaneous stuff to the hidden secrets that were not made known to the public. Everything was part of their conversation.

The conversation was rather exciting at first but as time went by, all the armed priests fell into a state of silence.

Their attention was placed on the young knight Gino.

"Let's hope that he will be fine."

The younger armed priest who tried to say something earlier truly prayed and wished for the best for the young knight. He had never seen such an honest young man, he might even be comparable to those fabricated legendary characters written in tomes and legends.

No, young Gino might have surpassed them! This young man was truly honest!

"Our lord will bless his believers. If it's possible, I hope that he can come to my sector," said the other older armed priests sincerely after a soft prayer.

"Yeah, with a young man like him around, we can save ourselves a lot of trouble. But the bishop in council would never agree to let him go. If he is baptised, he will be a bishop… no, he should be the ideal candidate for the next bishop in council," said another armed priest.

This armed priest obviously was looking at the bigger picture.

All the other armed priests nodded in agreement at their colleague's words.

How could the bishop in council let such a decent young man go?

The bishop might have already requested for his Majesty to protect the young man.

The armed priests wondered. They then looked behind them together as a series of footsteps sounded.

Dak, dak, dak, dak.

A group of men appeared in their sight.

"Lord bishop," the armed priests bowed.

Cabio, the bishop in charge of the Dark Hall.

Cabio's reputation might not be widely known to the public but he was well-known by all the members of War God Temple.

Every single higher-up of War God Temple knew Cabio as the Inquisition's vice director.

What was the Inquisition again?

Everyone present at the scene knew exactly what the Inquisition was good at.

"Mm," Cabio nodded coldly. He glanced over the armed priests with his sharp and unpleasant gaze and when he spotted an uncomfortable reaction from one of the armed priests, Cabio retracted his sharp gaze out of satisfaction.

His Majesty required dignity!

And this would be the most important line of defense that he had to hold up for his Majesty!

Cabio believed it deeply, therefore he was fair to everyone! To the point that it made him harsh and cold.

Anyone who made a mistake would be sanctioned accordingly if they ended up in his hands, no one would be exempted!

With a wave of the hand from Cabio, the deacons behind the bishop, who seemed to be from Dark Hall but were core members from the Inquisition, carried firewood towards the storeroom.

The armed priests saw the firewood being carried to the storeroom, their eyes twitching.

They weren't idiots, they knew what Cabio wanted to do, but… no one dared to voice their objection to stop him.

It was Cabio! The cold and ruthless Cabio!

The armed priests watched the firewood being stacked up at the storeroom door and walls.

Can after can of gasolene was poured on the firewood and a torch was passed to Cabio by a deacon.

Right before the torch was tossed towards the firewood, the younger armed priests couldn't hold it anymore, "Lord Bish-"

Huu!

Before he even finished, Cabio had tossed the torch towards the firewood and when the fire came in contact with the gasolene, the whole place was set ablaze instantly.

Standing beside the fiery structure, Cabio turned around and said, "What's wrong?"

Under the fiery light, his eyes grew dark and deep, as if there wasn't any temperature in the man.

The younger armed priest looked at the storeroom engulfed in flames, his jaw dropping and not a single word coming out of his mouth.

...

Gino had a nightmare.

He dreamt that the infected, who were burned to death, came after him.

Every single one of them was engulfed in flames, the fiery flames burning his mouth and nose, making him suffocate and stinging his eyes.

"I didn't do it on purpose! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Gino repeatedly apologized as he failed to distinguish the dream from reality.

Thick smoke soon entered his mouth and stung his lungs

Cough, cough.

Fierce coughs woke Gino up from the unpleasant dream and he saw… fire!

Fire from outside the window!

"Wake up! Everyone! Wake up! There's a fire!"

Gino shouted for everyone to wake up after a quick daze.

The infected clergy, knight, deacon, and priest were all awoken by Gino's shout.

They saw the fiery flames burning into the storeroom. They had a hard time getting up from their sick bed, but they wanted to escape the fiery fate.

"It's useless, we have nowhere to run."

A voice sounded all of a sudden.

All the infected turned to the source of the voice, seeing a middle-aged man in a priest robe, looking dispirited as he sat down in the corner in despair.

"This is an act of arson, it's not an accident! As for why? Don't you understand?"

Under the gazes of the crowd, the middle-aged priest gave a bleak laugh.

Kaboom!

A huge explosion went off. Those who managed to stand up after all that effort fell back to the ground as the shockwave knocked them off their feet.

Those who were able to stand were at a loss for action.

Of course, there were also some who couldn't believe the situation.

"Impossible! The bishop in council wouldn't do something like this!"

Several of them shouted out of disbelief and ran towards the exit.

Sou Sou Sou Sou!

Arrows then rained in through the window beside the exit, shooting the infected who got too close.

The infected patients were dead after they were pinned down on the floor by the arrow. They didn't even get to touch the door and they had lost all signs of life.

Everything went silent right away.

When the people in the storeroom looked at the fallen bodies in a daze, all they could hear in their ears were sparks as the fire burned away at the wooden structure.

"Why are they doing this to us?" a young deacon sobbed.

He started a chain reaction as many more started to sob. The thought was shared amongst all the patients.

Why were they treated with such cruelty?

Weren't they the believers of God of War?

"Your Majesty, I beg of you, please save us!"

The young deacon continued to sob louder.

His voice spread far in the night but there was no response at all.

"It's useless. We, the infected, are destined to be abandoned. Our survival will only threaten others. Only with our deaths and our bodies burned can those higher-ups can sigh a breath of relief," the priest said once more.

The dispirited voice and the despairing look influenced all of the others around him.

Many of the patients fell weakly to the ground.

Death was scary, no one could ever ignore death.

Gino looked at the dispirited patients around him, the guilt in his heart growing heavier.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault. It's me…"

His apology suddenly sounded in the burning storeroom.

The apology was very inappropriate for the timing. Those who were in despair looked at the young knight. They saw the guilt on his face and it made their hearts skip a beat.

'He is guilty because he is unable to save us?'

The thought rose in everyone's heart and it moved every single one of them strongly.

There was also a sense of warmth to it.

After they were abandoned by the bishop in council, the sense of warmth became very precious and rare. Even the priest who fell into despair first felt the warmth.

He stood up and walked to the young knight, placing his hand over the young knight's shoulder.

"You are not wrong. We are the one who are wrong. It was our fault that we couldn't see what kind of God that we believed in. It's self-deception to think that God will save us, we deserve to be abandoned!" The middle-aged priest said loudly, tears flowing out from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. He said this with utmost grievance and grudge.

The grievance and grudge soon infected the others who were in the bleak situation.

'Yeah! Until now, what are we still hoping for? If we can really be saved, would we still come here? Would this place be set on fire?'

The sobbings went quiet, everyone weeping in silence.

The middle-aged priest then continued, "I think after we die, we won't end up in that God's kingdom, we might not even have a soul left. After all, it's best to keep this incident a secret from those naive believers, but I am unwilling! I am unwilling to be burned to death like this, dying in silence. I might not even have a soul after this, but those people out there will surely claim that I've returned to that God's kingdom."

The middle-aged priest was able to captivate everyone's attention in the storeroom with his words. He then looked down at the kneeling young Gino.

"Gino, can I ask a favour? Tell the people what happened here."

The middle-aged priest begged the young knight and the latter unconsciously nodded.

Then the middle-aged priest looked at all the other patients in the storeroom.

"Are you guys willing to take one last risk for this young man who truly tried to save us? There is nothing in return, no reward, only death, similar to how he never asked us for anything in return. He did this without reward and even risked his life to help us!" said the middle-aged priest loudly.

"Yeah!"

Right after his voice faded, the young priest replied immediately and a chain effect started as many more of the patients voiced their agreement.

"I am willing to!"

"We are willing to!"

The patient fought and stood up.

"Very well, you did not disappoint me like a coward." The middle-aged man nodded and then said louder, "He shouldn't die here with us! Now, let us fight for a path for him to leave!"

Right after his voice subsided, the middle-aged priest charged towards the storeroom door.

Cabio saw the movements from outside the storeroom, but he coldly chuckled.

"Struggling until your last breath, maggots? Fire!"

Right after the command, arrows rained down on the blazing storeroom like the storm, but unlike before, the arrows were all blocked by the middle-aged priest. He was quick and nimble, afterimages left in his trail. As if he was plucking flowers, he gathered all the arrows into his arm.

On top of that, at the next second, the arrows were tossed out by the priest and flew back with a sharp, air-breaking whistle!

Sou Sou Sou Sou Sou!

Pam!

The deacons who fired the arrows were all shot to the ground.

Cabio dodged the incoming arrows but his eyes showed astonishment.

The priest that counterattacked was rather familiar to him and although he couldn't remember the name, he was certain about one thing: given the priest's power, he shouldn't be just a priest, he should be at least an armed priest.

However, armed priests shouldn't be infected by the plague.

Many thoughts gushed into Cabio's mind in an instant but before he could carefully filter them, the door of the storeroom was kicked down by the priest.

The door shattered into pieces as it flew towards Cabio and the others with a blazing trail.

The knights and deacons from the Inquisition managed to dodge the door.

The middle-aged priest then shouted loudly at Cabio, "RUN, EVERYONE, RUN!"

Right away, all the infected patients from inside the storeroom gushed out from the door.

They might be weak and couldn't even stand still on their feet but those who were supposed to stop them avoided them like the plague.

No one wanted to be infected.

The armed priests standing on a side were shocked by the abrupt scene. They were at a loss of action and even when the infected patient ran past them, they didn't move a muscle, as if they were sculptures.

"All of you will die!' said Cabio in gnashing teeth as the situation went out of control.

He swore he would teach these infected patients a good lesson after he killed the priest that made this happen.

Layers of keen holy light enveloped his fist and when he dished out his holy punch, the layer of holy light was blasted into the priest, perforating his body completely.

Then—Kaboom!

The middle-aged priest was blasted to pieces.

Although the priest seemed suspicious, Cabio would not hold back at such timing.

Not a single one of the infected could escape!

With that thought in mind, he turned around.

Rays of holy light were fired from his body, tearing the infected patients into shreds.

The vice director of the Inquisition did not notice that the shredded body of that middle-aged priest was quietly disappearing. He would never pay attention to a dead person.

He had to gain control over the chaotic situation.

Soon enough, under the indomitable power of the vice director of the Inquisition, the situation was under control, but at that very moment—

Cough, cough, cough!

Cabio started to cough fiercely, a sense of weakness spreading from inside his body.

Cabio was shocked, his face turning sour.

'HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?' he shouted loudly in his heart.

His body started to wobble and his fierce attacks stopped. Everyone looked at Cabio, whose body had started to fall ill.

Everyone's faces instantly turned sour.

Then, the knights, deacons, and priests of the Inquisition started to cough and feel weak.

The plague spreads.