Chapter 4 Red Eyes

Benjamin glanced at Lucien and walked towards the ruins of the witch's hut with his unique elegant rhythm. His voice was low and soothing: "Evil witches always like to play with the minds and perceptions of kind people, especially on nights when the silver moon shines. However, that witch has not yet obtained truly terrifying evil power, and her magic can only affect one or two people."

Lucien was initially confused until Benjamin finished speaking, explaining why he was the only one who heard crying while nearby residents were still asleep even if they were awakened and listened carefully.

Without giving Lucien a chance to speak, Benjamin extended his gloved hands and continued: "And I and four church guards have God's favor, so we can hear this evil sound."

After hearing these words, the four guards walking in front immediately made a cross sign on their chests and shouted together:

"Only truth endures."

With this shout, their spirits became slightly excited.

The poor residents who watched from afar also whispered prayers: "Only truth endures."

Then they whispered to each other: "This is the power of gods. No wonder our esteemed priest is so noble."

Amidst faint praise sounds coming from afar, Benjamin's face became more serious as he slowly opened his gloved hands with a unique arc shape. He uttered a strange short syllable in a low voice:

"Paso."

As soon as the brief sharp sound ended, a faint white light enveloped the entire hut ruins as if silvery moonlight had shed its radiance from above.

In the white light, a strange blood-red shape appeared on a broken wall connecting the ruins and Lucifer's house - the shape of an opening.

Under the influence of mysterious spells and magic effects, Lucifer and the surrounding poor people were shocked and their emotions fluctuated. However, they were more intoxicated and fearful, while Lucifer was filled with fear mixed with deep longing.

Benjamin put his hands down and gave orders to the guards in front of him: "Gary, that's the secret door. There are no magical traps. Go open it."

Gary straightened his chest, and his chainmail armor made a clanging sound as he walked forward: "Yes sir, Lord Benjamin."

As Gary and another guard passed by, Lucifer heard Benjamin mutter under his breath: "Those arrogant judges at court only know how to use 'detect magic traps'. Can't they learn 'detect secret doors'? Hmph! Are they so negligent just because they're only apprentice wizards?"

With instructions from magic spells, Gary showed off his powerful muscles and broke down the broken wall in two or three strokes.

Then another guard drew out his long sword and shouted as he struck heavily at a mechanism until it shattered. This exposed a black hole in one corner of the wall.

The opening was not large enough for more than one person to pass through at once. As wind blew past it brought an unpleasant smell that wrinkled Benjamin's brow slightly; he covered nose and mouth with gloved hand while Lucifer almost retched involuntarily before taking two steps back.

Gary looked carefully into the opening then ran over: "Lord Benjamin! This is a passage leading to sewer!"

Benjamin frowned at Gary with golden eyebrows; His voice became low-pitched as if being suppressed: "Are you sure?"

"Yes sir! You can see part of sewer when looking diagonally downwards." replied Gary confidently.

Benjamin didn't speak. As a noble and elegant pastor, as a member of the prestigious Lafferty family that has been passed down for many years, he felt uncomfortable at the thought of the dirtiness and stench in the sewer. Although he had mastered several divine spells with imprint models constructed in his soul, there was no "purification spell" among them. To cast it, he needed to rely on incantations, gestures, and spell materials. Moreover, nobody knew where the secret room was located in the sewer or how many purification spells were required to get there.

"Well, I'm just an apprentice magician holding the emblem of truth; there shouldn't be any problem," Benjamin thought indifferently. Then he looked at Lucien and loosened his right hand while speaking with a dignified yet gentle voice: "You have been contaminated by evil power since you are associated with witches. You need redemption before you can cleanse yourself. However, your devotion to God has moved me deeply. I will lend you my holy emblem so that once you can purify the evil power left by that witch successfully, you will regain God's favor again."

Lucien relaxed after leading Benjamin and Gary over to the church smoothly because they had pastors and guards around them now who could help deal with resentful spirits or ghosts easily if necessary - even if it would not require him as an ordinary person who had just recovered from illness to do anything physically demanding.

However when Lucien heard what Benjamin said next about asking him to purify those resentful spirits himself instead of relying on others' help like guards or priests accompanying him along this task which seemed simple enough but still made Lucien feel nervous inside immediately: "He actually wants me to purify those resentful spirits?! But I am just an ordinary person!"

Seeing surprise and resistance written all over Lucien's face despite having no malice towards him whatsoever made Benjamin ask gently: "You don't want to?"

Lucien shuddered and came back to his senses. If he answered no, he might become a corpse immediately. But if he agreed, according to Benjamin's words, it seemed that the holy emblem would be lent to him and two or three guards would accompany him as well. It shouldn't be too dangerous for dealing with some residual resentful spirits left by an apprentice magician whom Benjamin didn't seem to value much.

Whether Benjamin really disliked going down into the sewer because of its filthiness or had other ideas in mind, there was no benefit for Lucien in messing up this seemingly simple task.

Suppressing his hatred inside, Lucien smiled stiffly and replied: "I am willing to serve God." Benjamin didn't care about Lucien's stiffness. He took off the holy emblem on his neck with his right hand and handed it to Lucien, saying, "This is the Emblem of Truth. I will cast a 'Blessing Spell' on you later. With it, you can concentrate more easily and use the power of God inside by combining spells and rubbing the emblem with your mind and fingers."

After suppressing his emotions, Lucien became curious about this holy emblem that could perform divine magic.

The emblem was golden in color with a white cross emitting a faint light engraved on it. Around the cross were many lines connecting various shapes such as circles, triangles, squares, rectangles in deep gold color which looked mysterious and solemn.

When holding the emblem in his hand, Lucien immediately felt a warm and gentle force spreading throughout his body. Even facing the cold night wind, he felt warm as if basking in sunlight.

"There are two unofficial divine magics inside: Light Magic and Minor Healing Magic which can be used three times per day; there are also three first-order divine magics: Holy Light Shielding Spell,Radiant Sword,and Holy Light Strike which can only be used once per day. Alright then listen carefully to their incantations," Benjamin said.

Lucien had no choice but to go down so he needed these magical powers badly. He studied hard to learn all of Benjamin's taught incantations even though they were short syllables but extremely difficult to pronounce due to extreme tone changes.

Benjamin nodded almost imperceptibly before extending out his right hand.

There was no spell this time. A white light enveloped Lucifer and slowly dissipated, making him feel full of strength and unprecedented health. At the same time, his mind became focused and sharp, able to hear conversations from further away.

"The priest actually let Lucifer go down and gave him the holy emblem?"

"Didn't you hear? It's the priest's mercy that allowed Lucifer to wash away his sins."

"Praise the Lord, praise the priest."

Lucifer didn't have much knowledge about this world yet, so after accepting the "blessing", he quietly waited for Benjamin to perform "blessings" on Gary and two other guards.

There was a gap of about two to three seconds between each blessing performed by Benjamin.

After everything was done, Benjamin looked at Lucifer and others: "Paul will guard at the entrance of the secret passage. Gary, Housen, Coreia - you three will go down with Lucifer."

Then he became serious and drew a cross on his chest: "May God's glory protect you all."

"Only truth endures!"

Gary and other guards were a bit excited as they answered loudly while Lucifer lagged behind in response or lack thereof.

Fortunately, Benjamin didn't care about it and watched as the four of them slowly walked into the secret passage connected to the sewer.

The other guard, Paul, lowered his voice and asked a question that had been bothering him for a long time: "Lord Benjamin, why him?"

There were spells and holy emblems. He and other guards like Gary could also activate the divine arts inside them. It's just that every time they activated it, they were slower than Lord Benjamin or those priests, apprentice priests or evil wizards. But even so, it was better than someone who couldn't do anything at all and hadn't even properly trained their body like that kid. If Lord Benjamin didn't want to go down there himself, he could easily hand over the holy emblem to Gary, Hausen or Koreya.

Benjamin looked at the entrance of the secret passage with his right hand covering his nose and mouth. His voice was low and soft: "His spiritual power is slightly higher than normal people's which can better stimulate the divine arts in the holy emblem."

"But he's too old to be worth training."

...

As soon as they entered the secret passage, a foul smell mixed with countless odors greeted them head-on. Lucifer couldn't help but retch twice.

"You're from Adjon District but you can't adapt to this smell in the sewer? It seems that you're not as poor as I imagined whether it's Holy Hymn City or Antiphellos where many real poor people live without even broken houses," said Koreya sarcastically before entering ahead of Lucifer. He had black hair with different features from Gary and Benjamin - high cheekbones but thin cheeks.

Before Lucifer could answer back, Gary who followed behind directly said: "Quiet."

Korea shrugged and closed her mouth, taking a few steps forward in the one-person-high secret passage before jumping out of the maze-like sewer.

Lucien followed suit, stepping on something wet and slippery under his feet.

These things were everywhere, while strange moss covered the walls emitting a faint glow that prevented complete darkness in the sewer.

Gary lowered his voice: "Hosen, Korea, and I are all high-ranking knight attendants. When you use your holy emblem, be sure to coordinate with us. If there is any danger, immediately summon 'Sword of Radiance'." He had golden sideburns but was very calm in every move he made which gave people peace of mind. Amongst the four guards present he seemed to be leading them subtly.

After speaking, Gary gripped his long sword with his right hand and held a round small shield with his left hand as he beckoned Hosen, Korea and Lucien to search for where the ghostly crying sound was coming from.

Lucien who lacked common sense could only follow along helplessly thinking: "How would I know what kind of strength high-ranking knight attendants should have?" But this was not something Lucien dared ask Gary directly about.

The miserable and desolate cry echoed more fiercely within this narrow environment of the sewer seemingly coming from all directions making it difficult to pinpoint its exact location.

However, after special training by Gary's guards themselves who also possessed decent spiritual power like Lucien did under "Blessing Magic", they easily discerned its direction.

This section of the sewer was so quiet that it was frightening; there wasn't even one poor person living here as Korea had said earlier. After passing through several forks in their path they stopped at an unremarkable corner in the sewer.

Gary looked at the wall covered with green moss, calmly and seriously said to Lucien: "Summon the 'Sword of Radiance'."

Lucien was both afraid and eager. With the help of blessing magic, he calmed down, concentrated his mind on the holy emblem, felt the warm and moist power, then held the holy emblem hanging around his neck in his left hand, rhythmically rubbed the white cross in its center while chanting a strange incantation:

"Chiseong."

Lucien only felt that his spirit focused on the holy emblem was contaminated by bursts of white light. A little bit of white light appeared before him and gathered together to form a shining sword.

"Is this my voice?" The voice that triggered divine magic had a low and hoarse tone due to its mysterious and eerie effect. Even Lucien himself was startled.

Holding onto the radiant sword and feeling its extraordinary power made Lucien's heart surge with excitement. But Gary's words immediately brought him back to reality: "The power of Sword of Radiance is there where you broke through that wall. All magical traps have been dispelled. It's just an apprentice magician after all."

Looking at where Gary pointed out, Lucien trembled slightly as he faced mysterious and powerful magical forces whose outcomes were unknown.

"A cowardly guy without any insight." Coreya sneered.

Lucien understood that he could only face it head-on. He took two deep breaths to calm himself down from the terrible stench before gritting his teeth inwardly: "It's just death!"

He fiercely swung out with his right hand holding onto Sword of Radiance which struck against wet slimy disgusting wall.

A flash of white light shone forth; stones seemed like soft mud unable to stop it.

As Lucian cut through it, some strange things seemed also cut apart; there was an inexplicable sense of fragmentation along with faint black gas rapidly disappearing under the sword's blade of radiance.

The entire wall collapsed completely.

Inside the wall was a deep darkness.

Suddenly, two strange, indifferent and ferocious red lights lit up in the darkness.

These two red dots became more and more numerous, densely filling the entire darkness.

Lucien's mouth was dry, his mind tense, and his palms sweaty. It seemed to be a pair of eyes!