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The village residents, upon seeing them, cautiously moved away, trying to avoid drawing attention.

“What are the priests doing here so early in the morning?”

“And why does the atmosphere seem so… strange?”

Their expressions were unusually stern.

Having fought a fierce battle the night before, it was no surprise that none of them looked particularly well.

They passed through the village and climbed the hill until they reached the gate of the Count’s castle.

Now it was time to convince the knights and soldiers of the Count’s house to uncover evidence that Hudel was involved with the cult.

The castle gates were firmly shut.

Belton, surveying the castle, muttered, “Strange. They should have opened the gate by now.”

Two gatekeepers peeked out from above the gate.

One of the priests shouted up at them, “I command you in the name of Saisha! There is suspicion that the Count’s family is involved with heresy, so open the gates at once! Delay any further, and you too will be accused of heresy!”

They fully expected the gatekeepers to be terrified and open the gates immediately.

Being accused of heresy in the Empire was no small matter.

But the response was completely unexpected.

“Hah!”

“Filthy heretic scum!”

The gatekeepers hurled insults and shot arrows at them!

“Wha—!”

“Th-those bastards?”

The priests hurriedly cast holy shield spells.

Though their offense might be lacking, defense was a hallmark of holy magic, so the arrows harmlessly deflected.

One of the priests cried out to the gatekeeper in disbelief.

“Darlin! How could you shoot an arrow at me? I officiated your wedding!”

One of the gatekeepers lowered his head, ashamed.

“I-I’m sorry…”

But then he remembered the situation.

“…No, wait! My loyalty belongs to my one true master!”

His speech wavered between respectful and casual, reflecting the awkwardness of the situation.

The gatekeepers retreated behind the castle walls. The priests, too, fell back, glancing at each other.

“Could it be that the entire castle of Count Grenthal has fallen to the cult?”

“If so, this is the worst possible scenario…”

It seemed their worst fears were coming true.

A group of knights appeared above the gate.

“It’s been a while, Priest Belton.”

It was Ancent, the strongest knight of the Grenthal family and a red aura user. Behind him were other knights and a 5th-circle mage named Kamiros.

“Sir Ancent…”

Belton scowled and asked, “Surely you all haven’t joined the cult too?”

Ancent, a knight in his thirties standing in front, looked down at Belton and smiled coldly.

“Who are you calling cultists? Lord Tesranak is the only one who can truly save this world!”

There was no doubt. They had all fallen into the hands of the cult.

Belton let out a sigh of despair.

“I’ve made a grave mistake…”

He had assumed that the forces they fought last night were all the cult had, so he only brought the priests and soldiers.

Karnak and the others weren’t even here.

If aura users and mages were among the cultists, there was no point in trying to fight.

“Everyone, retreat!”

At Belton’s command, the temple soldiers began to withdraw down the hill, casting wary glances at each other.

“Hah! You think we’ll just let you go?”

Watching them, Mage Kamiros raised his wand.

“Come forth, fog. Creep and spread, and cover all directions.”

***

By the time they had fled down the hill and re-entered the village, the priests were confused.

The streets were completely empty.

“What’s going on?”

“Where did everyone go?”

Just moments ago, the streets had been bustling with people. Now, it was as if they had vanished like ghosts.

Belton gritted his teeth.

“Those cultist bastards, what are they scheming?”

An eerie sound echoed from all directions.

Saaa… Saaa…

Fog began to roll in. It grew so thick that even the buildings across the street became barely visible.

It was clear that if they stayed, they’d soon lose their way.

Alius raised his wand.

“Hatoba, shine your light and guide our way!”

A brilliant light cut through the fog, allowing the priests to faintly make out the outlines of the village.

But through the fog, something strange was approaching.

“Lord Tesranak…”

“Save us…”

It was the missing villagers.

They were muttering strange words as they slowly approached the priests with glazed eyes.

Just like the others from the night before, they appeared to be under the influence of some drug.

“Are they cultists again?”

“But… there are so many of them.”

The priests exchanged shocked glances.

No matter how large the cult’s influence, it was impossible that the entire village had turned into cultists.

It seemed more likely that innocent civilians were being mind-controlled after being drugged.

“Which means… perhaps those from last night…”

A terrible realization swept over the priests, causing them to shudder.

Had they mercilessly killed the faithful followers of the Goddess, mistaking them for cultists?

“Ah, Lady Saisha…”

“What shall we do with this sin…”

Alius shouted at the despairing priests.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together! We need to get out of here first!”

“Thanks to the sun being up, the power of necromancy was significantly weakened. The controlled villagers were not as strong as the cultists from last night. We were able to handle them.”

Alius let out a sigh of relief.

“Also, we were lucky the cult mage made a mistake.”

The mage had blanketed the entire village in thick fog to hinder the temple forces.

Normally, they would have lost their way in the fog. However, most of the priests of Saisha, just like the cultists, were from this very land.

They had lived here their entire lives and regularly traveled in and out of the village.

How could a little fog make them lose their way?

If anything, it was the fog that caused the mind-controlled villagers to lose track of the priests.

“So, we were barely able to escape the village and return to the temple.”

Hearing this, Karnak stared up at Grenthal Castle from the distant hill.

‘Has the entire castle been taken?’

Concentrating his senses, he began to detect traces of malevolent energy.

‘Ah, they’ve set the whole stage.’

Even from this distance, he could feel the evil energy. If it was this strong here, the scene up close must resemble the fortress of a demon king straight out of a storybook.

One of the priests who had escaped with them murmured fearfully, “I don’t know what the enemy will do next…”

Serati shook her head.

“We know exactly what they’ll do.”

They had only managed to escape because the sun was up.

“They’ll wait for nightfall, and then attack again.”

The soldiers’ faces grew tense at the thought. They all remembered the bloody battle from the night before.

The priests began to whisper among themselves.

“What should we do?”

“Maybe we should temporarily abandon the temple and retreat to Kalat City?”

“What are you saying? We who serve Saisha cannot submit to those filthy cultists!”

“All they want is to destroy the evidence. As long as we hold onto the prisoners…”

“At this point, does evidence even matter?”

Belton shouted in frustration.

“Leaving the temple is out of the question!”

This wasn’t just about pride or faith as clergy.

It was simply impossible in practical terms.

The temple of Saisha was a massive structure, and over a hundred priests and soldiers were stationed there.

“How would we even move such a large group all at once?”

The temple was fortified with holy barriers and was structurally built for defense.

If they were attacked by cultists out on the road, they would likely be massacred.

“We must face them here.”

Fortunately, there were many wounded among the temple soldiers, but few had actually died.

Priests specialized in pulling soldiers from the brink of death and sending them back into battle.

With Karnak and his group around, they could hold out for several days.

Belton encouraged everyone and spoke resolutely.

“We’ll hold out here until the Evil Slaying Brigade arrives.”

That night, the undead army came once more. Just as Serati had predicted.

But there was something she hadn’t foreseen.

The attacking undead were merely zombies and low-level monster corpses.

There were only about a hundred of them at most.

For soldiers blessed with holy spells, they were easy to dispatch.

It made no sense.

The confirmed cultist forces included a red aura user, a 5th-circle mage, nine knights, and nearly a hundred soldiers from the Count’s castle.

Not to mention the necromancers and the worshippers of the Dark God hidden within.

So why were they only sending a meager force of low-level undead?

“I don’t understand.”

“Why would they waste their energy like this?”

The priests were utterly confused.

Only Karnak allowed himself a small, bitter smile.

‘I was confused at first too.’

It wasn’t until after interrogating Lehane and Sephedes that he understood the cultists’ behavior.

They were followers of the Dark God as much as they were necromancers. In other words, they were a secretive cult.

‘That’s the weakness of a decentralized organization.’

The leader of this area, Hudel, was away.

Bishop Lehane, who had taken charge in his absence, had been captured.

Sephedes, the only one with a practical mind, was also now a prisoner.

So, who was left?

A few middle-ranking executives who barely knew each other by name, let alone face, were forced to play leaders.

-We have to wait for Count Hudel to return!

-No, we must strike down the heretics and rescue our comrades now!

The cult had split into two factions.

One group had holed up inside the castle, while the other led a force of zombies to attack the temple.

The latter group was far weaker.

After all, the main forces—Lehane and Sephedes—had been wiped out the night before.

That’s why the cult’s attacks were so half-hearted.

The undead army came every night after that, but it was always the same: zombies and low-level monsters.

Of course, they were easily repelled.

But even though they couldn’t launch an effective counterattack, the temple forces also couldn’t march on the Count’s castle.

Their forces weren’t strong enough to take advantage of the daylight, and the undead weren’t strong enough to overwhelm them at night.

Of course, if Karnak and his team got serious, they might be able to turn the tide.

But they deliberately stayed in the temple, not taking the lead.

“If we move too aggressively, it could be a problem.”

Hudel needed to return to the territory. Only then could they capture him and extract the information they needed.

“What if the situation resolves itself before he gets back?”

The enemy might slip away, disappearing into the shadows.

“Until then, we need to lay low as well.”

***

It had been seven days since the cultists in Grenthal’s territory began their rebellion.

A carriage passed through the main road. Inside was Count Hudel, returning home after finishing his business in the capital.

As he entered his territory, Hudel opened the carriage window.

The castle should be coming into view soon.

He looked forward to resting and shaking off the fatigue of travel after returning to his home.

But as he turned his gaze toward the castle…

“What?”

Hudel blinked in disbelief.

Dark energy was swirling around the castle.

Dark clouds loomed overhead, wraiths floated about, and the village was shrouded in thick, ominous fog.

Shocked, Hudel muttered under his breath.

“What the hell… is going on?”