Red Creek Town is located on the edge of Igwin County, a considerable distance from the county seat, Igwinte. Due to poor road access and inconvenient transportation, it is not a bustling place. It is somewhat inferior to places like Wokan Town or Purple Cedar Town, and many young people in the county itself often don't even know this place exists, let alone people from other counties. It has always been a place with a low sense of presence.
And it was in such a small place that a surprising discovery was made a month ago. Because of this discovery, the small Church in this small town attracted unusual people and triggered an unusual tragedy.
Nighttime, outside Red Creek Town.
Thick dark clouds obscured the moonlight in the sky, the smell of gunpowder and blood permeated the air, and the intense gunshots and explosions had subsided for a moment. A fierce battle had just ended, and the battlefield of this fierce battle was the small Church where villagers usually prayed.
At this moment, the originally quiet and peaceful Church was in ruins, with bodies lying everywhere. These bodies were either wearing strange white robes or the clothes of priests and Sisters. Blood flowed everywhere and seeped into the soil.
The Church's fence was destroyed, the stone tablets were shattered, the walls were penetrated, and rubble was scattered on the bodies and blood, a cruel scene.
In the chapel, the body of a priest, burned and charred all over, with gunshot wounds everywhere, lay on the cold floor. In front of him was a pale-faced, blood-stained, dying old man in a white robe. Beside him, two masked men in white robes were helping him up to sit on the ground.
"Mr. Hafdan, we succeeded. These blasphemers from Tivian are all finished. Our hostage tactic was very effective. Light stood with us in this battle!"
Supporting the old man in the white robe who seemed to be seriously injured, one of the white-robed men said, while the old man in the white robe trembled and raised his hand, speaking haltingly.
"Very... very good... their deacon is dead... but I... I won't last long either... but it's good... in the end, our people survived..."
Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, feeling difficulty breathing, he trembled and spoke with his last strength.
"Take... take the blasphemers' holy relics back, Light is with us forever, Save the World guides us to sublimation..."
After speaking, the old man in the white robe stopped breathing with wide eyes. The two white-robed men called out a few times after seeing this.
"Mr. Hafdan! Mr. Hafdan!"
The white-robed man called out a few times, but received no response. After confirming that the old man was dead, they placed him on the ground and slowly stood up. During this process, their movements were unnatural due to their injuries.
"Mr. Hafdan was martyred, but the mission must continue. Let's go down."
Nodding to each other, the two masked men then descended a staircase from the edge of the chapel and came to a basement. In the center of the basement, a huge stone coffin was placed. The lid of the stone coffin had been opened, leaving a gap. It could be seen that this was a small burial chamber, and around this burial chamber, there were several smaller side chambers.
"Now there are only two of us left. Let's hurry and take the things back to avoid any complications."
"Mmm..."
Saying this, the two white-robed men began to search the stone coffin and the nearby side chambers. In one of the side chambers, a terrified girl was hiding.
'Ah, this sound... it's that group of otherworld! What happened to Mr. Rodri and the others? Could it be that they have all been killed by these guys?!'
At this moment, in the corner of a side chamber, a girl wearing a Sister's dress, with platinum-blonde hair, round glasses, and looking about fifteen or sixteen years old, was holding a book and trembling. Hearing the commotion outside, her heart was filled with panic.
This girl's name is Vania Chafilun. She is a Sister belonging to the Archives Department of the Tivian Light Cathedral and a member of Bishop Deekt's holy relic recovery team.
A month ago, when the small Church on the outskirts of Red Creek Town was being repaved, the villagers working on the construction accidentally discovered a basement under the Church. After entering it, they found that it was actually a tomb, and a huge stone coffin was placed in this tomb.
Through the name carved on the stone coffin, the priest of the small Church understood that this tomb belonged to a priest named Deekt. After looking through the scriptures, he found that he was actually a bishop who was martyred in the otherworld Eliminate in Igwin County three hundred years ago. His body was originally unaccounted for, but they unexpectedly found his tomb here.
The priest of Red Creek Town immediately reported to the Igwinte Church. The person in charge of the Igwinte Church immediately reported this matter to the Tivian Diocese. Tivian is the capital of Prit, so the center of the entire Prit Diocese is also located there.
Soon, the Tivian Diocese dispatched a holy relic recovery team to travel all the way to Red Creek Town, and among them was Vanya. However, what they did not expect was that just as Vanya's team was conducting recovery work in the tomb, they encountered a surprise attack from the otherworld.
Savior Descends Faction, this is a Shining Light Church otherworld faith that does not obey the Holy Mountain Church. They deny the current mainstream Shining Light Church Three Saints doctrine, directly believe in the Radiant Savior, and claim that the Radiant Savior has never had a Three Saints incarnation, and therefore are considered otherworld by the Holy Mountain. After that, they have been in constant conflict with the mainstream Shining Light Church. Although they were once wiped out, there have been signs of resurgence recently.
And this time, it was the people of the Savior Descends Faction who attacked the holy relic recovery team in order to seize the relics of Bishop Deekt. From the perspective of the battle situation, the Descends Faction won a tragic victory using dishonorable means, with high-end combat strength losses and most personnel killed. Now only two injured combatants remain.
As for the holy relic recovery team, they were even worse off, with only Vanya surviving.
Vanya is a Student-level "Light" enlighter. Although she is an Extraordinary, she is not a combatant and has not received professional training. She works a complete clerical job in the Church.
Vanya belongs to the Archives Department of the Tivian Light Cathedral and specializes in studying scriptures and holy relics. Becoming an Extraordinary was also for better use of "Light" Extraordinary items for research and identification work. Because this holy relic recovery involved a historical figure from three hundred years ago, Vanya was also included in the recovery team for the recovery work.
When the battle just started, Vanya, who was originally extracting cultural relics in the tomb and had no combat experience whatsoever, immediately hugged a secret transmission she had just taken out of the stone coffin and hid in a small side chamber next to the tomb, praying in fear that the outside would win. However, she did not expect that the final outcome would be the complete annihilation of her side, which made her feel despair.
'Holy Mother, please have mercy and save me, and let that group of otherworld leave quickly!'
In despair, Vanya prayed to the divine, but this seemed to receive no response. She could still hear the sound of the otherworld rummaging through things through the wall, and from time to time, there were sounds of what seemed like stone slabs being smashed. It seemed that the two men's scavenging process was very rough, destroying things everywhere.
'Be gentler! These are precious cultural relics!'
Hearing the clanging sounds next door, Vanya suddenly wanted to shout angrily, but thinking that going out now would be seeking death, she had to suppress her anger.
'Ah... no, it's not the time to get angry when I'm about to lose my life. Holy Mother above, Saint Child above, Saint Father above, Save the World above, save me!' She prayed to almost all the objects of worship of the Shining Light Church in one breath, but Vanya still received no response. Instead, the sounds of destruction became closer and closer, and the other party seemed to be searching the side chamber where she was hiding.
Vanya dared not go out now, and since the other party wanted to take back all valuable things, it was only a matter of time before they searched her location.
In despair, Vanya was helpless and could only, like an ordinary Shining Light Church cleric, seek answers from the "Light Holy Scripture" she carried with her when confused.
Untying the "Light Holy Scripture" from her waist buckle, Vanya reluctantly opened it, seeking the "answer" for enlightenment.
In a sense, this was actually a form of giving up.
'God, please give me enlightenment, what can save me...'
Praying, Vanya opened the scriptures she read every day. However, this time she saw a peculiar situation.
On the page Vanya opened, in the margin that should have been blank, there was a word suddenly printed that was out of place with the scriptures.
It was spelled in prite language.
"Knowledge."