Chapter 157

A giggling voice was heard.

The man tried hard to close his eyes and discipline his mind piously.

All trials are given only as much as one can bear, and this too the deity must consider a proper test.

But the laughter that persistently clung to the man's ears was closer to the mischief of an evil spirit than to a divine test.

Oh, Lord. How could you bestow such hardship upon me?

The man passed by bodies that were practically naked.

Some of them might be dead, while others might still be alive.

But the man only looked at the people with slight disgust, without taking any particular action.

After all, merely touching them would be a sin unworthy of forgiveness.

Standing by the window, the man meticulously examined the outside first.

Through the cloudy window, unwashed for days, he could see the "daughters" lining up to go out to the garden.

They were chattering with faces full of joy.

On the surface, they looked like young and beautiful people going on a picnic, but the man was determined not to be fooled twice.

The "daughters" going outside like that surely meant that new prey had entered this mansion.

The man quickly gathered and put on clothes, not knowing whose they were, taking advantage of this opportunity.

The door to this room had been locked all along, as far as the man remembered.

Except when bringing in the "daughters" and their prey.

It was a door that wouldn't open unless unlocked with a key or unless the doorknob was broken.

The man grabbed the doorknob, fervently praying to the only deity, and felt along the door crack.

When he felt a slight resistance at his fingertips, the man sighed in relief and grabbed it, pulling slowly.

The thread, barely thicker than a hair, was pulled taut and touched the part caught inside the door,

And after a series of small rattling sounds, it finally fell silent with a clicking signal.

"Lord."

The man, who quickly made the sign of the cross, opened the door silently and escaped from the room where he had been confined.

He needed to find out what had happened to the city lord, and whether there were any sane people besides himself.

Though he had been confined all this time, inhaling only strange scents and with his sword taken away, his limbs weren't functioning properly.

Still, if he could find a helper, escape wouldn't be just a dream.

The man began to move forward, bracing against the corridor wall.

* * *

All deities essentially had more than one incarnation.

Since it was difficult for a deity's main body to move, and also because they couldn't come in their main form unless they wanted to completely desiccate the planet's life forms.

Therefore, they operated incarnations that projected the deity's personality and avatars that dwelled in ordinary bodies to convey their will to those who served them and to control them.

However, not all incarnations of a deity were created under the same level or conditions.

"There was a reason why the snowman Aphoom-Zhah couldn't properly detect that Shub-Niggurath was here as a black goat, even while knowing it. It's because of the characteristics of the incarnation."

"Characteristics? Are there characteristics for incarnations too?"

"Think about the goddess's incarnation, Pan, that we saw in Gallo. It was hiding behind the black goat avatar, watching us. So she probably used the goat incarnation, Pan, which is most similar to an avatar."

"Are you saying that a deity uses different incarnations depending on the situation?"

"Something like that."

Though he couldn't show the grimoire Pnakotic to Leandros, he explained while pointing to the text.

"Essentially, the goddess Shub-Niggurath has the qualities of twisted abundance and fertility. We should consider that all her attributes are contained in the epithet that refers to her: 'The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young.'"

"Considering the environmental characteristics of Valentine, the goddess would..."

"An incarnation in human female form. With excellent appearance. There's only one incarnation that meets those conditions."

"What is the name of the incarnation?"

"The Lady of the Forest."

The Lady of the Forest.

The Hunter, Ruler of Monsters, Red Woman, Whore of Babylon, Arwena.

Various aliases followed, but they were merely nicknames that humans gave after seeing the incarnation.

This incarnation, the Lady of the Forest, was one of the few human-form incarnations that Shub-Niggurath sent down.

An incarnation that bewitched people with beautiful appearance and irresistible charm, guiding them to the path of revelation and enlightenment.

However, that revelation was not right, and the enlightenment was also against reason.

Her worshippers, mere humans, sought misguided teachings and enlightenment until they went mad, and in their madness,

Eventually, they would only engrave wild nature and calamity that destroyed and annihilated everything into their instincts,

And become something that was not human.

"This incarnation is considered Shub-Niggurath's incarnation, but the preconditions for the creation of the incarnation are somewhat unique."

"What conditions?"

"It's said to be created when attempts to summon Shub-Niggurath fail, or in places where the goddess's contamination or mark remains."

It was paradoxical.

An incarnation of a deity that only appears if one fails to call the deity.

In other words, this incarnation wasn't a display of the deity's strength, but merely a product of human failure to call the deity.

That's probably why Aphoom-Zhah was uncertain about Shub-Niggurath's presence.

Leandros, who had been silent for a moment, asked.

"Are you saying that... if there's a mark of the goddess, or if contamination is progressing somewhere, the goddess's incarnation could appear multiple times?"

"Is, is that possible?"

"Incarnation, not limited by number. The great me. Make hundred snowmen? Possible."

The snowman asserted from beside his shoulder.

Wait, did this mean that the Lady of the Forest was being created somewhere else in the city right now?

He felt as if all the blood drained from his body.

Damn it.

"That absolutely cannot happen! Multiple incarnations? Is there any need to kill people? Leandros, search the entire city and find suspicious marks or strange places!"

Imagine if in Gallo, the incarnation Pan hadn't been just one, but two or three.

Could Leandros have won? Believing in him and predicting the outcome of a battle were completely different matters.

He felt dizzy.

Leandros answered calmly.

"Please calm down first, Your Grace. I have a place in mind."

"What?"

He had already found it while he was unaware?

Leandros's head tilted slightly.

"Would you like to go now? There might be some difficulty in gaining entry, though."

"How could we not go? Of course we must go!"

Was he being complacent because he had awakened in Gallo?

Or did he have something to rely on?

He wasn't finally going mad, was he?

Leandros obediently turned his steps according to the command.

And a moment later.

He looked up at the building where Leandros had stopped in front.

This place he had visited once before.

"It's the Central Temple."

White walls and cool air.

This building that was practically shouting about its sanctity was a place they had visited just hours ago.

Was there something suspicious about it?

Leandros set him down at a place somewhat distant from the temple's main entrance.

"Why here?"

"If I may be so bold, please wait a moment."

What was he waiting for?

Before he could ask, Leandros pushed the firmly closed door.

After pushing a few times, there was a rattling sound.

As soon as Leandros confirmed the sound, he suddenly took a step back, and then,

-Bang!

He stomped on the door with his foot!

This wasn't a gangster tearing down a door to seize the property of an illegal debtor, so what was he doing!

Leandros had finally gone mad!

"Stop it! What if someone sees us at the temple!"

As he approached, limping, Leandros had already kicked the door two more times.

The door, which had been creaking as it bore the tremendous force, finally opened with a huge noise as Leandros applied strength to his hands.

Behind the opened door, a reinforced wooden board was broken in half.

Leandros dusted off his clothes and said to him as he came to his side.

"It was fortunate it wasn't bound with chains. Actually, when we came here earlier with Your Grace, I smelled incense."

"Smell? Didn't you say it seemed like a misconception?"

"I thought it was a misconception, but it still felt strange that there was a fragrance in a place without people. I've shown you disrespect in front of Your Grace."

It was frightening.

Both Leandros, who had persistently recalled the smell,

And the force that had broken this door.

Avoiding Leandros, who was speaking politely, he slipped into the temple.

The interior was dark.

Originally, sacred fires should have been burning brightly on both sides of the corridor,

But as there were no people in the temple, only ashes were piled in the large, concave vessels.

Past the short corridor and up the stairs was the inner sanctuary.

The inner sanctuary, where visitors offered prayers, was quite spacious, and the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows was the only source of light.

"You said it smells of incense?"

"It's stronger now that we've entered. It definitely flowed from here."

"The air does seem a bit stuffy, but I can't really tell if there's a scent..."

He truly had the nose of a human dog.

A quick look around the inner sanctuary revealed nothing special.

In the deepest part of the inner sanctuary, where a deity's statue should be enshrined, there was only an ornate empty chair and extinguished candlesticks.

The offering table was clean, with only dust accumulated.

Leandros was examining the door connecting the inner sanctuary to the living quarters further inside.

While circling the inner sanctuary, a reading stand placed to one side caught his eye.

Something without a cover, just bound papers, was placed on it, and at a glance, it didn't seem to be scripture or doctrine.

What was this?

Taking advantage of Leandros not looking, he quickly went over to find words that were presumed to be names, densely written.

Magdalena, three copper coins.

Baldur, a basket of fruit.

Hockner, a roll of cloth...

It seemed to be a record of people who had visited the temple and the offerings they had made.

While skimming through the record that had become a kind of guest book, he found a familiar name near the very end of the list of names.

[Russel Nabilov, three silver coins.]

His head turned cold.

Come to think of it, what had Amelia said?

What had she said to him when he was searching for the Holy Knight?

-S-since there's no time to w-wait for him to come to the d-ducal residence. He would j-join us midway in the v-village we were passing through...

Calm down, Yoo Yaesung.

He might have already left from here.

You know, knights typically act quickly, so he might not have stayed long in Valentine and left immediately.

But his name was too far down the list for that.

A creaking sound of old metal was heard from somewhere.

"Your Grace."

He looked up at the voice calling him.

Leandros was holding open a door.

It was a door leading further inside.

And from beyond that door,

A thick, cloying scent of blood was seeping through the stale air.