There was no longer any sign of Father Abraham at the church entrance. Norton withdrew his gaze, feeling a truly peculiar sensation.
"Nothing has ever given me such a lowly feeling, even worse than a rat! What exactly happened to Father Abraham? How did he turn into such a piece of trash?"
Although he felt Father Abraham was garbage, this was actually the first time he had witnessed such a bizarre mutation on a church member.
Norton stood up and, feigning the manner of a beggar with unsteady steps, made his way toward the rear of the church.
He intended to climb in and get a proper look at this Father Abraham.
Arriving behind the church, Norton carefully surveyed the surroundings, then once again scaled the high wall of the church using his wall-crawling method like a swimming dragon.
Today was just about observing Father Abraham's abnormality, so Norton didn't jump down. Instead, he used the towering wall to gain a vantage point, looking out to trace the movements of Father Abraham, who had already entered the church.
"Father!" The two Church Knights guarding the door respectfully saluted the approaching Father Abraham.
"Hmph!" Father Abraham suppressed the terror, unease, guilt toward God, and confusion in his heart, letting out a cold snort in his usual manner.
The foul stench in Rino City's air, mixed with a hint of the fragrance of blood, wafted over from the direction of the two Church Knights. He even felt he could hear the sound of blood rushing vigorously beneath the robust frames of these two knights.An intense craving surged from within Father Abraham, causing him to swallow hard involuntarily.
"Gulp!"
Feeling the increasingly strong desire within him, Father Abraham quickly quickened his pace, wanting to distance himself from here to delay his inner thirst for blood.
As he stepped into the church grounds, his heart grew even more tense.
As a priest, his rank was sufficient to know some of the church's secrets.
At this point, how could he not understand that he had undoubtedly turned into a species similar to a vampire!
The reason he said 'similar' was because the species he had become was completely different from the vampires defined by the church.
For now, only the need for blood was the same. So he still couldn't determine whether he had truly become a vampire or had transformed into some other mysterious creature.
He had taken such a great risk to come to the church precisely to search for the church's deeper theories on vampires and their subsequent expanded research, in order to confirm what exactly he had become.
After crossing the church wall, Father Abraham did not head directly toward the main hall as usual. Instead, he chose more secluded paths, constantly mindful of his location and avoiding areas with strong religious atmosphere as much as possible.
Such as the confessional room and the main chapel.
This was because these places either had images of God or decorations of the cross representing God's holiness. The former could effectively harm vampires and pinpoint their location, while the latter could directly burn and intimidate vampires.
The method to kill a vampire was to drive this cross into the vampire's heart.
Father Abraham didn't know if it was because, as written in "Ascension," God was nailed to the cross by the Divine Cause, which caused the religious object, the cross, to be imbued with God's holiness, granting it true damage effects against vampires. But that didn't stop him from being cautious beforehand, avoiding these things to prevent harm to himself.
It had to be said, having access to more information indeed had its benefits.
If Norton had his level of knowledge, he wouldn't have been burned and pinpointed by God's image upon entering the Holy Lord City back then.
Father Abraham arrived at the door of the side hall. The Church Knight standing guard immediately greeted him respectfully, and then Father Abraham walked in.
"What a brave man!" Norton, lying prone on the wall top, felt immense admiration!
He, Norton, had been lurking in Rino City for so many years, coming and going to the church countless times, and even now, he didn't dare enter the main church hall, afraid of being turned to ashes by the painting of God inside.
He never expected this Father Abraham to be so bold. Even after turning into... well, *that*, he still had the courage to enter the hall. It was truly admirable.
Norton lay on the wall top, waiting quietly.
Before long, Father Abraham, now holding a few church books, reappeared in Norton's sight and then retraced his path back the way he came.
It was worth mentioning that it seemed human-skin books were only used in places with a strong religious atmosphere like the Holy Lord City. The books in Rino City used more primitive paper, similar to papyrus, for recording things, while more prestigious ones used parchment.
It seemed that in the aspect of being inhumane, the Holy Lord City church was always ahead.
Norton kept his eyes fixed on Father Abraham's figure, then quietly descended from the wall, pretending to be a beggar again. Trembling and unsteady, he followed the scent in the air, tailing Father Abraham to his home.
The cellar of Father Abraham's home.
"Tap, tap, tap..." With the sound of footsteps, Father Abraham's figure appeared in the cellar once more.
The dim cellar was no different from when he had left in the morning. The corpse of the servant he had drained of blood still hung there, already beginning to stiffen.
Father Abraham placed the books in his hands on the table in the cellar, completely unaware that after he entered, a figure had followed closely behind. Like a gecko, it clung to the top of the cellar, hanging upside down from the ceiling, and then concealed itself within the darkness of the cellar.
Two crimson eyes flickered faintly in the darkness, fixed intently on Father Abraham's position.
Just as Norton had anticipated, if he didn't want Father Abraham to notice him, even crawling right over his head wouldn't attract attention.
The bloody scent on the wall once again stirred Father Abraham's bloodlust, causing his eyes to take on a slightly reddish hue.
"No, no, no, no! I can't..." Sniffing the bloody scent in the air, Father Abraham felt an increasing itch all over his body. Desire wove incessantly through his mind, making it difficult for him to gather his thoughts.
But his steadfast faith in the Holy Church and the despair of having become a vampire made him want to painfully rely on his firm willpower to overcome his bloodthirsty desire.
Although Father Mia quite wanted to become a vampire, Father Abraham did not; he would rather become the Pope.
Father Abraham resisted the vampiric desire within him, causing veins to bulge on his forehead and his face to flush red.
However, the intensifying desire still made blood vessels appear in his eyes, and even his two front teeth began to lengthen.
This appearance of his gave Norton, who was hiding behind various torture instruments, a real fright.
"Holy crap, a vampire!"
Two pairs of crimson eyes stared in disbelief at Father Abraham, whose mouth was open, revealing two long, sharp front teeth.
Norton felt his entire worldview was on the verge of collapse.
After becoming a vampire himself, he had never imagined a time would come when he would utter such words of shock aimed at a vampire.
But now, he was genuinely shocked!
Wasn't Father Abraham's current appearance exactly like the classic image of that... what was it called... Nosferatu vampire from the movies he saw in his previous life?
"This shouldn't be right. If you're a vampire, then what am I?"
Norton was dumbfounded!
He looked incredulously at Father Abraham, who was resisting his bloodlust, at those two sharp, elongated front teeth, and for the first time, felt doubt about his own identity arise in his mind.
Just who is the vampire here, you or me?
You, Abraham, look more classic than me, Norton!