Osian looked down at the corpse of the believer whose eyes had lost their light. He didn't know what the man was actually seeing. However, from the perspective of someone who had played the game, it was sufficiently possible to infer that his consciousness had been devoted to the Red Eternity.
"How foolish."
In the continuous bloody battle, most of the believers who had been in the ballroom became cold corpses. Osian's gaze turned toward the second-floor balcony. The priest of the Eternal Faith was still looking down at them.
However, unlike before, his expression was rigidly hardened. He must have expected to see the believers randomly tear apart and kill those foolish ones who had stuck their heads into the tiger's mouth, but reality was the opposite.
"What the hell are you people?"
At first, he thought they were uninvited guests who had entered on their own. It was easy to recognize the two. Because all the believers gave off the same smell, but these two people were clearly different.
Just covering their faces couldn't hide that smell.
So he thought they were probably lackeys from the city government. Seeing how they had secretly infiltrated like this, they were people who could be killed without consequence. That's why he had planned to kill them cruelly, in front of everyone.
"They're not from the city government. Especially that woman, her abilities and skills...Indeed, could she be that terrorist who recently clashed with us?"
The priest belatedly realized from Grace's abilities that she was from the Blood Brotherhood, which had recently clashed with the faith. Perhaps thinking crisis was opportunity, the priest's lips curled up to below his ears."Heaven's fortune has come to me. Who would have thought that the one I was searching for would come before me on her own."
His eyes toward Grace Seeker in particular were glittering with greed. It wasn't because he was captivated by Grace's beautiful appearance. Rather, it was closer to a yearning for the blood and life force she possessed.
Grace Seeker was a survivor of the vampires, one of the ancient superior races. The blood she possessed was called true blood, which had a life force that far surpassed that of humans.
Blood is life - this also aligned with the doctrine of the Eternal Faith.
However, unlike the corrupted who shed human form and became terrible monsters as their rank increased, vampires became more noble as their rank increased.
And Grace, as seen by the faith's corrupted, was truly a being born with the most perfect blood.
Naturally, compared to the Red Eternity, her rank was infinitely low. But from the corrupted's perspective, there was no more tempting prey than that.
Just by drinking Grace Seeker's blood, they would gain tremendous life force. If not that, offering her as a sacrifice to the Red Eternity was also a method. A priest could become a high priest, and a high priest could receive enough divine grace to covet even a bishop's position.
-Clang!
The glass he was holding broke and red blood stained the priest's hand. The priest looked down at the two people for a moment, then hid himself inside the balcony.
Just when it seemed he would pounce immediately, he withdrew his body - it was a suspicious movement no matter who saw it. When Osian tried to rush out, Grace hurriedly stopped him.
"Wait a moment. That's a trap. He's luring us."
"I know that too. Acting so blatantly, it couldn't be anything else."
"But you're still going to move so recklessly?"
Osian said to Grace.
"A knight, even if the opponent digs a trap, simply defeats that opponent along with the trap."
Grace was speechless at that absurd logic. In the meantime, Osian naturally passed by Grace and leaped up to that high balcony in a single bound.
Grace also tried to follow quickly, but the remaining corrupted, targeting her and rushing at her came first.
"Still don't get it? The ball is already over."
Grace, interrupted, exhaled killing intent along with a cold voice. Her hair rippled long and assimilated with the surrounding darkness.
And from the darkness, countless whip-like tendrils shot out, sweeping through the banquet hall like a typhoon.
Osian ran through the mansion's wide corridor. The interior of the mansion, which received no light, was all designed in red tones, giving off a somehow gloomy atmosphere.
It was to the extent that one might have the illusion that the ceiling, walls, and floor were all stained with blood.
In that space, he felt like he might even lose his sense of balance. It wasn't just a simple illusion - the unpleasant bloody scent wafting from the entire corridor was actually shaking his mind.
"Truly abominable taste."
The paintings hanging on the walls depicted portraits of women, but at some point the women in the portraits had become demons shedding bloody tears with torn mouths.
At the same time, blood was trickling down along the portrait frames.
Blood dripped from the ceiling, blood rose from vases and overflowed onto the floor. With each step, the carpet not only sank deeply but wobbled as if stepping on leather filled with water.
The splendid corridor had at some point transformed into flesh as if he had entered the interior of a giant monster.
This wasn't just some simple illusion.
'The result of erosion.'
The opponent was a priest who handled the power of the Red Eternity. And not just an ordinary common priest, but one with considerable authority and skill. That's why he could have held a ball of this scale in Tirna.
Probably around a high priest level. In the game, he would occupy a position like a chapter mid-boss. Naturally, since he could use the outer god's authority, eroding space and distorting its form like this was entirely possible.
If the Gray Fungus indiscriminately eroded and devoured everything, the Red Eternity was the type to cleverly trap opponents in a swamp and make them realize they had fallen into a trap too late.
One only realizes it's a trap when it's already too late to turn back. Of course, Osian had openly pursued him knowing this was a trap because he had the power to completely break through this level of trap.
A knight is one who breaks through. If there's a wall, break the wall; if there's a trap, push forward along with the trap.
Pure white starlight surged from inside the blood-colored flesh passage. Just by touching that light, the flesh passage writhed violently and cried out in pain.
Osian gladly drove his Starlight Sword into the wall, then proceeded down the corridor scraping it along.
Through the cracked crevices of the wall, all sorts of filth emitting terrible stenches poured out. A scene like intestines vomiting intestines. Through those crevices, the remains of those presumed to have been sacrificed to the mansion were also glimpsed.
The appearance of the half-melted corpse was enough to make even a knight's stomach churn. Judging by the expressions twisted in pain, they had probably been swallowed by the wall and then melted alive by digestive fluid.
If he had been weak too, he would have suffered the same fate, or perhaps an even more terrible one.
Osian couldn't just leave this disgusting trap alone, if only to honor the dead. He emitted his Starlight Sword more strongly and sliced through the wall.
The flesh wall writhing in pain soon collapsed when the Starlight Sword scraped all the way to the end. It no longer pulsed, and the previously taut flesh rapidly dried up and shriveled.
"Kraaaah!"
At the same time, the scream of the high priest who had gone ahead and activated the trap burst out. The erosion trap he had manifested was conversely broken through, and the backlash returned to him in full.
Osian headed toward where the scream had come from. The high priest was gasping for breath while clutching his side.
"How is it? Does it feel different having your intestines scraped with a blade?"
The high priest, who had been moaning in pain, glared at Osian with wide eyes. He thrust out the hand that had been gripping his abdomen. His fingertips hardened into blades, and his joints elongated like tentacles, aiming for Osian.
Osian dodged the tentacle aiming for his face, lightly struck away the tentacle aiming for his body with his Starlight Sword, then firmly grasped the tentacle aiming for his chest with one hand. Then he pulled the tentacle with all his might.
"Uh."
The high priest's body was dragged along. Osian swung his fist to match the timing of the guy flying toward him.
The solid knight's fist properly smashed the high priest's face. The sight of his nose bone and mouth caving in made it seem like he might die instantly, but Osian wasn't worried.
With the life force of a high priest level, he wouldn't die even from worse injuries and would regenerate. Knowing this, Osian had no reservations.
He pulled the tentacle he was still holding to drag back the guy who was about to fly away again from the punch. And this time he delivered a kick to the abdomen.
-Kwang!
A kick that would burst an ordinary person's back and spill their contents the moment it hit shook the corrupted's body.
"Ugh!"
The corrupted vomited red blood from his mouth. He flew away again from that impact, and when Osian tried to pull his arm again, he boldly severed his own finger.
The corrupted rolled on the ground then quickly got into position. However, he couldn't stand up immediately and staggered greatly.
Even with the life force and regenerative ability of a high priest level, the wounds were too large to heal instantly.
He glared at Osian with bloodshot eyes. From the fact that the opponent holding a sword was using fists and kicks, he intuited that Osian was toying with him.
"How dare. A lowly human looks down on me?"
The high priest's body swelled greatly. The red robe covering his body tore, and the flesh that was expanding like a balloon from inside revealed itself.
The flesh stretched out and tore along the grain, and those torn pieces of flesh elongated and fluttered like sea anemones.
Countless tentacles with blades shot out from inside, and one arm became eerily huge with transformed bones protruding like blades.
"With this great power, I'll tear you apart and kill you! No! That won't be satisfying enough! I'll slice your flesh piece by piece, then offer it to god!"
It was a disgusting appearance that had shed human form, but the high priest had tremendous pride in his appearance.
Osian looked at that form and then disappeared from his spot as if extinguished. It was so fast that even the high priest's eyes couldn't read it.
At the same time, he felt a cold chill from both his arms.
The moment he tried to move his arms, with a crack sound, both arms fell off. The cross-sections of the fallen tentacle and thorn arms were covered with blue-white frost.
"Why? Are you confused because things aren't going as you wish?"
"Grr!"
The corrupted wasn't flustered by the voice heard from beside him. The one side of his face that had maintained some human form twisted bizarrely and transformed into a tentacle with a giant blade.
The tentacle swept through the space where Osian's voice had come from like a storm. Countless tentacle blades moving while leaving afterimages ground up the corridor walls like a blender.
But Osian wasn't there. At the same time, with hot yet cold pain in both legs, he fell to his knees. More precisely, he had to kneel on his own because both legs had frozen and shattered.
"Kraaaah!"
The corrupted screamed and tried to regenerate his wounds, but it didn't work as he wished. So he was bewildered because his regeneration isn't impeded just by being burned with fire and frozen with ice.
"It's useless. A knight's power exists to catch wicked things like you."
Moonblade's chill was excellent at preventing such corrupted's regeneration. The moonlight that far surpassed their regenerative power caused complete necrosis down to the cellular nucleus.
He would have liked to burn with Sunblade too, but it was still a difficult power to handle and might blow away part of the mansion.
In that case, the stealthy and fast Moonblade was much more effective. Freezing was also effective for subduing the Eternal Faith's corrupted.
"I won't kill you easily. You need to spit out everything you know."
"Krr! Do you think I'll yield to such threats!"
"You will."
The priest, who had fallen to the ground with severed limbs, opened his mouth wide. A tentacle shot out from his mouth, aiming for Osian's brow. The end of the tentacle had sharp teeth grown in a gear-like formation, like a lamprey's mouth.
Osian lightly dodged it, then grabbed it with his hand and tore the whole thing out.
At the same time, a Moonlight Blade was driven into the guy's abdomen. The cold chill quickly froze his body, reaching up to below his neck.
"Don't worry. I know you won't die from just this much."
The high priest was considerably flustered. A body granted the power of the Red Eternity was immune to ordinary pain. But Osian's sword made his entire body scream as if every cell felt pain with just a slight touch.
It was the same now. This terrible power felt from his abdomen, the pain of freezing his entire body, made his mind distant as if his soul was being finely sliced.
But Osian had no intention of going easy on his opponent regardless.
"The duration of pain will be shortened depending on your choice. If you have a thinking head, you'll know well what you should choose."
The high priest opened his mouth. What he said wasn't what Osian had hoped for.
"What are you doing! Hurry and help me!"
What that meant was simple. There were other corrupted here besides him.
0Step.
Footsteps were heard. Footsteps approaching from beyond the darkness of the corridor.
Osian and the corrupted's gazes simultaneously turned toward that place.
Soon a face revealed itself from the darkness. The corrupted expression brightened. That person was a believer who had been waiting in this mansion in case of an unforeseen situation.
However, it didn't take long for the corrupted's expression to contort.
First, because nothing existed below that head. Second, because someone holding that head in their hand subsequently revealed themselves.
"This is surprising."
Osian also opened his mouth upon seeing his opponent.
"Who would have thought I'd encounter you in a place like this."
"Hmm. That's the same for me too. Young colleague."
A legend of the fixer industry and the oldest resolver belonging to Violet Fox, Basilio, let out a small chuckle from behind his mask.