Chapter 278
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 278
Chapter Title: Merdein (2)
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"This is Merdein..."
Entering the interior following the holy knight, the group stepped into Merdein.
Unlike the entrance area where purification efforts had been steadily progressing, the deeper they ventured, the more horrific scenes assaulted their eyes.
A wasteland filled with traces that could have been filth or human blood.
"Hmm."
Jun, peering into a parched well, asked the holy knight who was leading the way.
"How much farther do we have to go?"
"Just a bit more ahead, and we'll reach the road where carriages can pass. We'll take a carriage from there."
"I see. You've definitely been thorough with the purification."
"Haha... It's only the supply routes for now, but restoration work is slowly underway as well."
They rode the rattling carriage for quite some time.
As dusk approached, a small castle came into view in the distance.
"That's Gurtaren Castle."
"The place where the Order of the Sun first succeeded in purification, from what I've heard."
Unlike the villages that were little more than ruins, Gurtaren Castle clearly showed signs of extensive repairs.
"Someday... if Merdein regains its peace, that place will become a new branch of our Order of the Sun."
"That day will surely come."
Jun offered a gentle smile to the holy knight's resolute determination as they entered the castle.
"There are... more people here than I expected."
"This is a shared base for all the groups involved in Merdein's purification efforts."
"They all look pretty tough, but aside from that, it's not much different from other cities?"
"Yeah, you can really feel how well-organized it is. Even those eerie wails we heard earlier have completely vanished."
As their impressions were exchanged, the group soon arrived where the saintess was waiting.
"Normally, there are procedures to follow before meeting the saintess, such as washing with purified water..."
All such steps had been skipped, it seemed.
At the saintess's own insistence.
"Well then, please come in."
Jun scratched his head, imagining the saintess waiting beyond the door.
The Order of the Sun's saintess was one of the companion NPCs recommended to all newbies.
She even had a solid fanbase in the community.
"Shall we go in?"
Opening the door and stepping inside, a woman with intensely orange hair, blazing like the sun, greeted them.
"Welcome, White Whale Mercenary Corps. We're glad to have you in Merdein."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jun, leader of the White Whale Mercenary Corps."
The saintess rose from her seat regardless of protocol and extended her hand first.
Jun shook it and gestured to his companions.
"White Whale Mercenary Corps member, Aiden."
"Maya here."
"...Eleanor."
"It's an honor to meet the famed saintess. Bern, holy knight of Ariclotos."
"Nice to meet you all. You must be tired from the long journey. Please, have a seat."
The saintess welcomed them with a radiant smile.
Apart from her strikingly vivid hair color, her gentle, serene smile gave her the pure look of a country girl.
"Ah, and the person we requested has indeed come."
"...Pleased to meet you."
The saintess gazed at Eleanor with a soft smile.
Eleanor, meanwhile, subtly averted her eyes from the saintess.
Even through the black bandages covering them, she could feel a dazzling light emanating from the saintess.
"You don't have to be so formal. This is my first time sensing divinity from someone other than myself."
As a saintess, she must have met many priests, including those from other orders.
So why did she claim this was her first time feeling another divinity?
"Can you see it? The power of that being dwelling within me?"
"Yes... it's so bright it stings a little."
"Oh, that must be uncomfortable. Um... could you wait a moment? This is a first for me. Ah, that should do it. Is it better now?"
"...Thank you for your consideration."
"No, no. I'm the one who should be grateful. For coming all the way to this dangerous place."
Her gentle smile once again melted the group's hearts.
There was a unique aura about the saintess.
The warmth of the Order of the Sun, felt in its entirety.
"Ah, I've gone on longer than expected. We shouldn't waste time when you've come such a long way. Shall we get to the point?"
"Thank you for your understanding. Yes, straight to it."
"Hehe, you're just as the rumors say."
What rumors exactly?
The saintess chuckled briefly and took her seat, prompting the group to settle into theirs.
"Well... where should I begin?"
"According to the request, there was some anomaly detected inside Merdein."
"Yes, that's the best place to start."
Though progress was slow, the areas purified by the Order of the Sun had not been eroded by evil spirits.
But recently, that rule had been broken. Naturally, the Order was in an uproar.
Merdein's purification was already sluggish, and now even purified zones were reverting to evil spirit infestation.
Decades of effort were on the verge of going down the drain.
Then they came across information about Eleanor.
Her divine power that had even eradicated the lingering aura of the God of Death in the north.
They hoped that power might counter the anomaly appearing in Merdein.
"Purifying Merdein has been our order's lifelong dedication. To put it crudely, we've gone 'all in' on it."
Unlike other orders that had expanded even to Blackout.
They had poured everything into Merdein alone.
"We wanted to bring you here as soon as possible, but unfortunately, you were in Blackout, and only now have we met."
"Hmm. So, can we check out the problem area right away?"
"Yes. I'll accompany you."
"The saintess herself will be joining us?"
"Ah... it's not widely known outside. But I do participate in the purification work. Haven't missed a single day in decades."
Aiden stared at her in surprise and muttered unwittingly.
"Decades...?"
The saintess smiled faintly for the first time.
"Asking a lady her age is..."
"S-Sorry!"
"Ah, so normally you use an artifact to come out like this."
"That's right."
Her hair, which had blazed with distortion magic in an orange hue, was now a plain brown, and her distinctive aura had vanished. She looked just like an ordinary country girl.
In regular priestess robes, it was hard to believe she was the same person from earlier.
"Well then, let's go."
"No escorts?"
Jun asked even though he knew the reason, and the saintess smiled lightly.
"No. It's fine. Honestly, it's more comfortable without them."
As the others tilted their heads at her meaningful words—all except Jun—the saintess set off first.
"We'll take this."
"Oh? Is this the famous flying carriage from Ranes Mage Tower?"
"Yes. Limited to purified areas, but it's the most convenient for getting around."
"Great. This'll save us a ton of time."
Soon, the flying carriage departed with the saintess aboard.
Curious about the scenery below as they ascended, the saintess's expectant expression turned bitter the moment she looked down.
"There's still so much left..."
The companions also turned their gaze to Merdein's overall landscape.
Countless cities and villages reduced to ruins.
Within those spaces engulfed by purple evil spirits, hordes of undead surely wandered the living world.
"Don't make such a face, Saintess. Your efforts are known to everyone in the empire."
"Thank you. But I know all too well. That our results don't match the effort we've put in."
"Ugh..."
Bern tried to comfort her, but the saintess's expression remained downcast.
Then Jun spoke up.
"The reason Merdein's purification is delayed is because we still haven't found the lich's phylactery."
"Yes, exactly. The whereabouts of the Life Vessel of the lich summoned back then, Eldaimon, remain unknown."
Merdein was already overrun by undead across its expanse.
Finding the lich's soul-bound Life Vessel in such a place was exceedingly difficult.
'Even in the game, its location was random.'
That was why even Jun couldn't pinpoint the lich's position right away.
The Life Vessel's location changed daily.
This was another aftereffect of the Dimensional Reversal.
Purify the undead in a city one day, and by the next, they'd reappear as if nothing had happened.
It shared traits with Blackout's resets.
"And then this anomaly occurred. It might seem bad at first glance, but it means the enemy is finally on the move."
"The enemy... the lich?"
"Yes. From now on, we follow its traces."
"Traces. We haven't found any so far. Is it possible?"
"It is. Finding a motionless enemy in a desert is hard."
But a moving one stands out easily.
Jun looked down at the carriage's underside.
Amid the evil spirit-corrupted landscape that appeared as mere black fog to normal eyes.
His vision caught a stronger ripple of evil spirits.
"Let's go take a look."
The carriage, which had climbed high, began its descent.
The saintess, no longer needing to hide, released her distortion magic and emanated divine power.
A blazing sun hovered above her head like a halo.
"The evil spirits..."
As if fearing her divine power, the evil spirit fog receded.
"Here..."
"Look over there."
"Ah!"
A human corpse, torn to shreds, came into view.
Freshly dead, it seemed.
The twitching flesh jerked like a puppet on strings, rising with creaking sounds.
Krrr...
Undead.
Beings ensnared by evil spirits rose, their souls captive.
Aiden and Maya, swords already drawn, severed their necks.
Still in the early stages of turning, the creatures fell without proper resistance, collapsing back to the cold ground.
"These people..."
"You know them?"
"Yes. Not personally, but they've been dedicated to purification for a long time. They've appeared in our order's reports countless times."
"I see."
"Why would such people be out here...? They usually stuck to areas near purified zones. Um... how did you know to come here?"
"I saw it. The dark magic aura."
Jun couldn't see souls, but he had eyes for magic power.
He'd descended where the dark magic aura was strongest.
"But Saintess, doesn't something seem off?"
"Pardon?"
To the saintess's puzzled question, it was Eleanor who answered, not Jun.
"Undead monsters in Merdein don't generate dark magic. They're spontaneously created from souls trapped in the lich's Life Vessel."
"...!!"
"Which means someone deliberately created this scene..."
Bern scanned the surroundings with a grave expression.
The ruined city already, but the collapse patterns stood out unusually.
Traces of battle.
"Let's go."
"Yes!"
Suddenly, without explanation, Jun dashed off, and Aiden and Maya followed to support him.
The saintess, bewildered, trailed after the group.
Arriving with even [Burning Step].
Not far from the incident site.
"Hid pretty skillfully, but..."
Jun's gaze fixed on the floor of a ruined building.
"Too bad. I'm a pro at finding this sort of thing."
[Air Bomb]
A clump of compressed mana expands and bursts the air.
The floorboards shattered effortlessly.
And the beings hiding beneath sprang out.
"Kill them!"