Chapter 123 Slaughter

Vanna didn't immediately recognize the figure that suddenly appeared before her, because the other person was completely obscured by a long black trench coat and a large black umbrella. Furthermore, her own consciousness had been briefly impacted by suddenly piercing the veil, causing her to lose her usual acuity.

But when the monster opened its mouth and emitted a hoarse, low-pitched noise, when its foul, blasphemous aura was revealed, and when it raised its hand and displayed that corrupted and defiled silhouette, she recognized it.

A Heretic. A Heretic of the Sun.

That made things simple—Vanna liked simple things.

The heavy alloy greatsword roared terrifyingly through the air, the holy lantern dispelled the unclean aura, and Vanna's soaring figure was like a giant wave. As she fell, this strike carried the power of a collapsing tsunami—the crushing force of tons of seawater concentrated into a single blow. The sun heretic with the umbrella clearly hadn't expected such decisiveness from their opponent, and thus lost the initiative to dodge. They could only hastily raise the black umbrella to defend.

Then, like a small boat broken by a giant wave, the heretic and the umbrella were cleaved in two.

The scraps of the Sun's spawn flew away in two directions, its filthy, blasphemous flesh splattering everywhere. The large umbrella, made of tough alloy, was also split in half, falling to the ground with a clang. Tiny blue sparks erupted from the fractured ribs and handle of the umbrella, and scattered crystals broke away from its frame, their faint light rapidly fading.

Vanna crushed the fallen parts underfoot, her gaze already fixed on the bloodied flesh she had severed in the distance. It had already begun to squirm and regenerate rapidly. Before long, the tall, slender figure in the black trench coat reappeared in the sea of fire. This time, without the black umbrella to shield it, the hideous true face of this desecration was clearly visible in Vanna's sight.

Its head was like a flower blooming with flesh and blood, its body composed of countless twisted and knotted tentacles. At this moment, the flower of flesh and blood was emitting an angry and shrill roar, a sound that would be enough to make ordinary people faint on the spot, but which brought a smile to Vanna's face.

Regeneration isn't the same as invincibility. This thing was weakened, and after losing the protection of that strange black umbrella, it seemed to be in great pain.

The young Inquisitor casually hooked the lantern on her belt, adjusted her grip on the sword, and strode towards the monster. But suddenly, the corner of her eye caught a glimpse of a momentary distortion in the flames near a bookshelf.

Years of combat experience and a sixth sense for danger made her stop abruptly and turn around. The next second, a coiling tentacle emerged from the distorted flames, and a chunk of red-hot steel plate, snatched up by the tentacle, hurtled towards her like a cannonball!

At the same time, the sun heretic who had just finished regenerating suddenly transformed into a black shadow, launching a sneak attack from the side. Its body, in a brief exchange of light and shadow, reached several meters from Vanna's side, and two whips of flesh and blood lashed out from its hands, simultaneously aiming for Vanna's neck and back.

Vanna clicked her tongue and twisted her body, raising her sword and directly throwing the greatsword like a huge javelin at the attacking sun heretic. The greatsword struck with tremendous force, and with a loud bang, sent the attacker flying, pinning it to the wall dozens of meters away. At the same time, the scorching steel plate flew towards Vanna—she raised a hand to block it. The red-hot steel stopped as if hitting a mountain, and where her fingers gripped, steam hissed between flesh and steel, the metal visibly twisting and curling.

"Looks like you're the ones causing trouble." Vanna seemed to feel no pain. She casually tore the steel plate in half and threw it aside, then beckoned behind her. The greatsword that had pierced the enemy was drawn back by an unseen force, bringing with it the wildly squirming, roaring remains of the sun spawn, back into the hands of its owner.

Vanna flicked her right wrist, casually flinging the monster impaled on the sword onto the ground, and walked forward without looking back, leaving behind only one sentence: "You can regenerate here. I'm going to purify your comrades."

The mass of writhing flesh, pierced by the greatsword and deprived of the black umbrella's protection, roared madly, as if spewing incredibly blasphemous and furious subspacial curses. However, Vanna had already calculated its regeneration speed. She knew that after suffering such a severe blow and losing the protection of the black umbrella, its recovery rate had been greatly reduced, so she strode confidently towards the burning bookshelf not far away—another figure had emerged from the flames. It was the second sun heretic.

This was the one who had thrown the steel plate.

Watching the Inquisitor striding towards it, the tall, thin shadow emitted a series of vague and low-pitched murmurs and roars. In the sickening sound of slimy limbs writhing, tentacles extended from its "coat."

"Fear, anger, confusion… It seems you also have emotional reactions, unlike what many believe—that you are just a bunch of 'splinter-selves' lacking complete minds," Vanna walked forward, calmly speaking while watching out for more ambushes. She wasn't one for idle chatter, but in the face of the blasphemous murmurs and roars of these chaotic monsters, the rational words of a cleric were actually an effective weapon of resistance. "Remnants of the Sun's spawn… Since you've appeared here, it means that at least one Sun Spawn, as the main body, is also hiding nearby… Where is it? In the depths of the fire? Outside the church? Or is it…"

The monster attacked, a shadow leaping from its side and lashing out at Vanna's neck.

Vanna tilted her body slightly, casually grabbing the tough, bone-spurred tentacle, her wrist shaking violently.

“…In the great fire of 1889? In that small church in 1885?”

The tentacle in Vanna's hand exploded in a cloud of blood, and the explosive blood mist quickly spread along the tentacle towards the monster in the distance. The shaking force was only completely dissipated after the entire tentacle, along with a third of the monster's body, suddenly exploded. The next second, Vanna had already charged behind the monster, her greatsword raised high, and then, like a swinging baseball bat, she struck the monster's side.

With a loud bang, the monster's roar stopped abruptly, and it flew away like a dirty lump of meat, landing near the remains of the first sun spawn.

At this time, the first spawn remnant was nearing the end of its regeneration. The writhing flesh already vaguely revealed the tall, slender form, and the "black coat" that had been mimicked, which was essentially a protective shell of some kind.

Vanna came to the two attackers, looking down at the two monsters.

"Although I don't know why the Black Sun can meddle in the pollution of history, and I don't know what surprises your 'main body' has prepared for me, one thing is definitely right.

"I will fight to the death here, to see if you are truly endless—either I kill my way out of here, or… I prove my loyalty and true faith to the Goddess."

The greatsword was raised, followed by…

Continuous and meticulous chopping.

Vanna's thinking was incredibly simple—the Sun's spawn possessed powerful regenerative abilities, but even the strongest regeneration wasn't the same as invincibility. As long as their recovery had a cost, then solving the problem wasn't an issue.

Chop them into minced meat. If that doesn't work… chop them twice.

…

Shirley opened her eyes and saw the ceiling that was still unfamiliar to her, and the sunlight streaming in through the nearby windows.

The bed beneath her was very comfortable, and the quilt had a fresh and dry scent—it was hard to find such dryness in the slums, because the oldest pipes and clogged sewers all converged in those shadowy alleys, where the air was always damp and smelly. Even after being aired for three days, the quilt would only be thoroughly permeated with the stench of the sewers.

Shirley lay quietly. The overly comfortable feeling made her reluctant to even turn over, but finally, she propped herself up with her hands and looked around.

Nina was no longer in the room, and judging from the sunlight outside the window… it was probably close to noon.

"Argo…" Shirley called out softly, "How long have I been asleep?"

Argo's voice immediately sounded in her mind: "It's at least ten-thirty now, maybe eleven—you went straight to bed and fell asleep after eating and showering yesterday. You've been asleep for at least twelve hours… It's normal. Big expenditure of energy will do that."

Shirley was still a little muddleheaded. What had happened yesterday floated through her mind like a dream. It took her a long time to sort out her memories and confirm which were real events and which were bizarre dreams during her sleep.

Then she looked up at the corner of the room.

A simple little box was quietly placed there.

Ah, that was all of her past dozen years… All of hers and Argo's.

"We really… moved here," Shirley murmured to herself, "Argo, it's like a dream."

"Don't even mention it. I'm freaking out right now. Mr. Duncan is cooking in the kitchen. I can't even imagine what I'm going to see at the dinner table later…"

"Argo, why do you have such a big opinion about the food here? You've been talking about it more than once…"

"Damn it, don't ask…"

Listening to Argo's complaints, Shirley suddenly smiled.

The sun was really nice today.

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