Nun

This is no ordinary individual.

It was a size larger than the others, and its shoulders and back were covered with a layer of dark brown keratin, like it was wearing a natural armor.

[Environmental Perception: Enhanced individual detected... Great Ghoul (Half-Evolved Individual)...]

The moment it landed, the bronze floor beneath its feet cracked.

The surrounding Night Watcher opened fire simultaneously.

The bullets struck the stratum corneum, scattering sparks, but none penetrated.

It didn't even slow down.

The Great Ghoul swatted away the wreckage of the barricade blocking its path with a single claw and charged straight toward the center of the position.

Another Born went to greet them.

The metal frame clattered beneath the black robe, and a long blade sprang from the forearm, aimed straight for the Great Ghoul's throat.

The blade tip pierced the stratum corneum.

But it only went in an inch.

The Great Ghoul grabbed the Born's arm, gripped it tightly, and twisted it.

The sound of metal twisting and turning is enough to make your teeth ache.

The Born's left arm was twisted into a spiral shape, with Gear and springs flying out of the crack.

But it still hasn't retreated.

The short spikes on its other hand pierced the Great Ghoul's eye socket.

This time, the Great Ghoul failed to dodge, roared, released its grip, and took two steps back.

Black blood flowed from its eye sockets as it growled, its keratinized skin swelling.

The wound is healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just when everyone thought the Defense Line was about to completely collapse.

A voice came from inside.

It is chanting.

From behind.

From a higher place.

[Environmental Perception: A small amount of divine Source of Pollution detected...]

Several voices rang out simultaneously, in unison, carrying a penetrating power that was impossible to ignore.

"Lost sheep, you need the guidance of Angel, the Blessing of the Angel."

The sound wasn't loud, but in this night filled with screams and gunshots, every word pierced everyone's ears clearly.

Lu Yuan suddenly looked up.

On the rooftop behind the Alchemy Workshop outpost.

Four figures stood there.

The white robe with gold trim gleamed softly in the light of the Marching Lamp.

Each held a Scripture in their hand, the Angel wings on the cover faintly glowing in the darkness.

Nun.

She was a nun from the church.

Lu Yuan stared at them. Were they all Source of Pollution? And when did they arrive?

It's important to know that the Bronze Age doesn't have any church strongholds.

They stood on the rooftop, looking down at the battlefield of blood and fire, their faces calm, as if they were performing a daily morning prayer in Church.

The leading nun raised her right hand.

Palms down.

Golden light emanated from her palm; it was Holy Light.

Pure, scorching Holy Light.

The light, like Mercury spilling onto the ground, poured down from the roof and covered the entire position.

Lu Yuan felt a warm sensation descend from the top of his head, down his shoulders and arms, and all the way to his fingertips.

I looked down.

A layer of pale golden light enveloped his body.

It is as thin as a cicada's wing, almost transparent, but you can clearly feel its presence.

Warmth.

It felt as if it were gently wrapped in something.

At the edge of vision, gray-white text flickers:

[You have been Angel's Blessing; for a short time, your attacks will be imbued with Holy Light.]

[Note: Holy Light is extremely effective against Contamination creatures.]

Not just Lu Yuan.

Boer was also enveloped in the same golden light, as were the Night Watcher.

Everyone.

Apart from...

Three members of the Ascension Society.

The two Born with bird-beak masks, and the woman with gray hair.

When the golden light reached their vicinity, it seemed to be repelled by some invisible barrier.

The light film dissipated automatically at a distance of half a meter from them, without attaching to them.

The same goes for women with gray hair.

The golden light veered slightly as it passed by her, like water flowing around a stone, without a trace clinging to her.

She herself seemed completely unconcerned, not even glancing at it.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan thought to himself, "The Ascension Society and the Church are still the same as ever..."

The leading nun's chanting had changed at this moment.

"My Angel, your most loyal apostle begs for your protection, grant strength to the Lost Soul, courage to the helpless, and the Holy Light to cut through the darkness for those who keep watch."

With each recitation of the prayer, the golden light on the battlefield intensified.

Lu Yuan felt the temperature of the Revolver in his hand rising.

It was a sensation that permeated from within, a gentle yet undeniable warmth and light.

A very faint golden sheen appeared on the barrel.

The other Night Watcher noticed the same change.

The bronze sword was coated with golden light.

The nozzle of the Short Shotgun is glowing.

"What is this...?" Boer paused for a moment, looking down at the gold gleaming on the bronze sword in his hand.

He was the Night Watcher of the Bronze City and had almost no contact with the Church...

The second round of Blessing followed immediately.

The other three nuns simultaneously opened their Scripture, their voices merging with the lead nun's chanting, creating a fourfold harmony that echoed through the night sky.

"The Angel bestow upon your believers and warriors the strength of Copper Wall, the blazing of holy fire, and the Immortality of souls."

[An additional Blessing effect detected: Temporarily increases physical endurance threshold.]

[An additional Blessing effect detected: Melee contact inflicts Holy Light burn.]

[An additional Blessing effect detected: Temporary increase in mental resilience.]

Three gray-white notifications popped up one after another.

Lu Yuan felt the golden light solidify on his body surface, no longer a light, thin film, but with a certain thickness and hardness.

The Blessing has concluded.

The four nuns simultaneously fell silent.

The leading nun turned to a new page in the Scripture.

Her lips moved slightly, and she began to recite a completely different prayer.

This time it's not Blessing.

It's for myself.

"My Angel, may you bestow your merciful gaze and cleanse the world of its filth..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, but her speech became faster and faster, the last few syllables almost squeezed out between her teeth.

Lu Yuan couldn't understand those words and phrases.

But he sensed a change.

The golden light emanating from the nun intensified.

The original soft pale gold turned into a dazzling bright gold, and the whole person seemed to be enveloped in a ball of Holy Light.

Her eyes opened.

Lu Yuan saw it.

Those eyes were no longer human eyes.

The pupils disappeared, leaving only two pure golden lights.

It was as if something was looking at the world through her eyes.

[High-level divine spell detected: Angel's Eye (temporary)]

[Note: This nun briefly gained power output far exceeding her own level.]

The nun held up the Scripture.

The pages turned automatically, and golden light seeped from each page.

A golden beam of light shot out from the Scripture and landed straight on the Ghoul in front of the cave entrance.

Boom.

A burst of golden light erupted.

The Ghoul within a five-meter radius were swallowed by the Holy Light.

There were no screams.

Because they didn't even have time to scream.

The grayish-red body instantly disintegrated in the Holy Light, like boiling water poured on a candle, melting into a pool of smoldering ash.

First strike.

The nun didn't stop.

Turning the page of the Scripture.

The second beam of light was fired.

The third course.

The fourth one.

The frequency is increasing.

Golden beams of light poured out of the Scripture like a barrage of bullets, each beam accompanied by the instantaneous annihilation of a Ghoul.

White smoke rose in plumes in front of the cave entrance, the stench of burning flesh overpowering the smell of blood.

The other three nuns also acted at the same time.

They did not unleash the same powerful divine magic as the leading nun, but each opened their Scripture and chanted incantations.

The beam density is a bit low, but its precision is its strength.

Every single one was perfect.

The Ghoul that circled in from the left was pierced through the chest by a golden light, fell to the ground, and turned to ash.

The right flank maneuvered, and two beams of light crossed and struck, instantly disintegrating the target.

Those who tried to climb over the pile of corpses and rush in were blasted back to the cave entrance by a golden light.

On the battlefield, all the Night Watcher were stunned.

Boer stared with his mouth agape, forgetting to sheathe the bronze sword in his hand.

Even the two Born had their bird-beak masks tilted slightly to one side.

"A nun from the church?"

A Night Watcher's voice was filled with confusion.

"People from the church? When did we ask for outside help?"

No one answered.

But Lu Yuan didn't waste time thinking about these things.

Holy Light attribute.

It has an extremely high inhibitory effect on Contamination organisms.

Lu Yuan raised his gun.

Aim at a Ghoul climbing along the edge of the cave entrance.

Pull the trigger.

Bang.

The moment the Silver-Plated Bullet was launched, its surface was coated with a layer of visible golden light.

The bullet pierced the Ghoul's chest.

The next second, golden light spread outwards from the bullet hole, as if a fire had been ignited inside its body.

The Ghoul's body began to split open from the middle, with golden cracks spreading along its skin.

Two seconds later, its entire body shattered into countless charred fragments, which drifted in the air.

One shot.

One.

What used to take two to three Silver-Plated Bullets to take down Ghoul now only takes one.

A glint flashed in Lu Yuan's eyes; the effect wasn't this strong back in Grim Port.

"Stop standing there! Open fire!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for the Night Watcher around him to hear.

Boer was the first to react.

He glanced at the bronze sword in his hand; the golden light on the blade was still there.

Boer did not wait for confirmation.

He charged at the nearest Ghoul and slashed at it with his sword.

The copper sword cuts into the stratum corneum.

Hiss hiss hiss...

The burning sound was ten times louder than before.

The scorching heat of copper combined with the properties of Holy Light creates a double effect.

Where the blade passed, the stratum corneum was cleaved like paper, the blade cutting all the way down from the shoulder to the waist.

The Ghoul's body split in two.

The tissues on both sides of the incision rapidly charred in the golden light, before even the black blood had a chance to flow out.

Even Boer himself was startled.

He spent all night trying to cut through the stratum corneum, but now he can cut right through it with a single stroke?

The Night Watcher around them also came to their senses.

"Fire! Open fire!"

Gunfire erupted once again.

But this time, every bullet fired was enveloped in golden light.

Each one was several times more lethal than the previous ones.

Ghoul fell in droves amidst the golden hail of bullets.

The Great Ghoul, its shoulders and back covered in dark brown keratin, was still struggling.

One of its eyes had been gouged out by its Born, but the other was still turning, flashing a look of fury.

The three Night Watcher opened fire on it simultaneously.

The bullet, imbued with Holy Light, struck the stratum corneum.

This time, it penetrated effortlessly.

The golden bullet pierced the muscle tissue, exploding inside and causing a burning sensation.

Golden cracks began to appear on the Great Ghoul's body.

It hissed and retreated, but Boer had already arrived.

The bronze sword pierced its abdomen from below, into its soft belly that lacked any keratinous protection.

Holy Light exploded inside its internal organs.

The Great Ghoul's roar abruptly ceased.

The rage in his eyes turned into fear.

In the end, it became a blank page.

As it fell, its entire body began to shatter from the inside out, and golden light seeped out from every crack, burning it into a huge, charred, hollow shell.

Boer drew his knife and flicked away the shards from the blade.

He turned and glanced at the nuns on the roof.

The four figures in white robes continued to unleash their attacks.

The leading Scripture had already turned more than half of the scroll, and the frequency of the golden beams of light showed no sign of weakening, turning the area in front of the cave entrance into a golden sea of fire.

The remains of Ghoul piled up around the cave entrance.

Billowing white smoke.

It had a burnt, pungent odor.

But nobody cared about that.

Because everyone felt it.

The pressure is dropping sharply.

The number of Ghoul pouring out of the cave is decreasing sharply.

It's not that there are fewer of them.

Instead, every single one that came out was immediately killed.

A golden beam of light sealed off the cave entrance.

Bullets imbued with Holy Light and bronze swords swept across the flanks.

The two Born protected the front.

The gray-haired woman held fast to the far left. She Blessing, but she didn't need any.

Although there was never any tactical coordination between the Night Watcher and the church.

But the partnership has already been established.

"Counterattack."

Lu Yuan's voice was calm.

Boer glanced at him.

Then he laughed.

It's the kind of smile that only a veteran would show when they suddenly see a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation.

"I heard you!" Boer turned and roared at the Night Watcher, "Don't stand there! Push it up! Clear the bodies off the barricades!"

The Night Watcher moved.

The three men rushed to the front line and used their bronze swords to pry the charred corpse off the chevaux-de-frise, revealing the bronze spikes once again.

The two men repaired the collapsed copper wire mesh.

With the remaining men under the cover of the nun's fire, Boer led his men toward the cave entrance.

Each cut was accompanied by the burning light of Holy Light.

Every shot was fatal.

The Ghoul were forced into retreat by the Night Watcher's counterattack.

They were driven back to the front from the wings, and then forced back to the cave entrance by the golden beams of light from the front.

Dilemma.

A dead end.

Lu Yuan stood in the center of the position, Revolver raised, calmly firing at each Ghoul that tried to break through from the side.

He didn't waste a single bullet.

Every shot takes a life.

At the edge of my field of vision, gray-white text danced quietly:

[Sanity: 69/120]

[The Angel's Blessing is fading...]

That's enough.

At least, enough to hold on until the next chance to catch one's breath.

Lu Yuan looked at the nun on the roof.

The leading nun's face was so pale it was almost transparent; the output of Holy Light was draining her own power, and it was draining it very quickly.

But her eyes remained two pure gold orbs.

The Scripture in his hands continued to swirl and turn their pages.

The golden beams of light continued to pour down.

It didn't stop.

They didn't stop firing at all.

Lu Yuan looked at her for a few seconds.

[Detection Target: Church Nun (Believer Transcendent)]

[Dedicate everything to the Angel, a vessel of absolute and pure Holy Light...]

Lu Yuan glanced at the prompt, then looked away and raised his gun again.

This is the Night Watcher's battlefield.

The church came, regardless of who invited them or what their purpose was.

At this moment, they are comrades-in-arms.

We'll talk about the rest after we get through tonight.

Gunshots and Holy Light mingled together.

The Ghoul's howls grew increasingly faint.

The white smoke from the direction of the cave entrance grew thicker and thicker.

The Defense Line are being rebuilt.

The position is being consolidated.

The counterattack has begun.