Thousand Moon Extinction Bird Turning Underworld Sword

"That's... the church?" Naimus froze for a moment, then pinpointed where the noise had come from.

He then looked up at the others around him.

Signaling the Village Guardian, Pur, and Downs to be ready, Naimus charged toward the church.

The villagers who had joined the search were also stunned at that moment. Should they follow such a commotion?

Naimus was extremely fast. Though it was a mountain road through the wilderness, he crossed it quickly, and the church soon appeared before him.

The sight of the church gave Naimus a slight shock. Things had gone somewhat beyond his expectations.

He had sent Isabella out to probe the situation, but he had not expected her to uncover something like this.

More than half the church had collapsed. Beside it crouched a humanoid "Big Black," its entire body covered in black fur, on all fours as its scarlet eyes stared fixedly at Isabella on the other side.

This Big Black stood about five meters tall, and its black fur greatly resembled that of a Nest Beast.

However, its black fur was much longer. The fluffy coat made it appear even larger.

"So everything really was being set in motion by the Old Priest." Naimus understood after a brief thought.

Back when Otto had come to deliver the house and asked Naimus to move out, the Old Priest had most likely been behind that as well.

This church had in fact been remodeled by the Old Priest. Beneath it lay one of his experimental bases.

Otherwise, with the Old Priest's limited mobility, there was nowhere else for him to hide while spending every day in the church.

That was why the Old Priest had found a way to make Nigel move out back then.

He had even generously overlooked Naimus's disregard for the rules.

Isabella had clearly realized this as well. Moreover, unlike Naimus, she knew that the Old Priest was still conducting Bloodline Experiments. Once she confirmed that something was wrong with him, she came to investigate the church.

Just now had been a good opportunity. When she returned, she had planned to find Naimus first, but the villagers told her that the Old Priest had unusually left the church earlier.

Having lived here for over ten days, she had roughly learned the Old Priest's routine. Knowing how rare this was, she immediately entered the church to search.

She soon found the entrance to the basement in the confessional. But the moment she opened it, she discovered this Big Black.

Having caught the scent of a stranger, Big Black went berserk, snapping all its restraints in an instant.

If Isabella had not run fast enough, Big Black would likely have caught her and swallowed her in a single bite.

Isabella then used the faith of The Church to cast divine arts, but she still could not restrain Big Black.

It clearly radiated an intense evil aura, yet it possessed powerful resistance to divine arts.

Isabella had no choice but to cast every kind of divine art on herself, enhancing her mobility and defenses so she could keep evading it until now.

"Enormous body, holy resistance... This isn't a Black Stone Breed. It's an undernourished Steel Breed!" Naimus immediately exposed Big Black's true nature.

He raised the Divine Sword. As both hands gripped it tightly, one Divine Script after another lit up. Power flooded his body, lifting his spirits.

This was the sword's "Incentive" effect. It could inspire morale and draw out the body's potential.

Without the slightest fear, Naimus charged at the monster.

The danger Naimus brought forced Big Black to temporarily abandon its "desire" for Isabella. Though huge, it was not slow.

Its body sprang upward, and as it raised an arm, claws emerged from beneath its black fur.

The next moment, claw-light flashed.

Several massive black streaks descended from above, as if they would tear the earth apart, crushing down upon Naimus.

Naimus raised his sword and slashed upward. Blade met claw, and sparks scattered.

His raised arm could not help bending downward.

Using that pressure, Naimus retreated, spun around, and swung his blade into Big Black's other incoming claw.

His feet scraped across the ground as he slid back several meters before finally steadying himself.

"This thing's stat is around eighteen." Naimus made his judgment. Just as expected, it was an underdeveloped Steel Breed.

"Support me!" Naimus shouted, then took the initiative and rushed at Big Black.

His blade scraped across the ground before cutting diagonally upward!

But Big Black merely raised its arm against the attack. Massive amounts of black fur writhed along its arm, weaving together and wrapping layer upon layer around Naimus's blade.

It intended to restrain Naimus's weapon that way.

The black fur wriggled before Naimus's eyes, and only then did he realize what it truly was—blood vessels.

He turned and spun, flicking his blade to cut through the black fur. White radiance descended upon Naimus.

Divine Art: Shelter had fallen upon him.

It slowed Big Black's swinging claws, allowing Naimus's spinning horizontal slash to arrive in time and collide with the claw, successfully blocking it.

"As expected, one of the Old Priest's research results was the Nest Beast." The Nest Beast's black fur was its embryo.

In order to provide nutrients for those embryos, the black fur was directly connected to the Nest Beast's blood vessels.

As for the Big Black before him, its black fur had completely ceased to be embryos and had fused with its blood vessels.

"The Nest Beast disaster eight years ago was not entirely an accident."

"The Old Priest's Nest Beast research had reached its final stage and encountered a problem, causing the Nest Beasts to leak out."

"Otto was also parasitized by a Nest Beast during that incident. That was probably when the Old Priest bought him off."

"So what purpose does this Big Black serve?" Naimus retreated, dodging another pounce from the Nest Beast. Then he raised his hand slightly and twisted his palm, making the longsword in his hand begin to spin.

Secret Sword: Spinning Flying Swallow!

It was clearly a long, broad knight's sword, yet as it spun, it transformed into a white line.

That white line shot forward and collided with the incoming claws once more.

Black fur flew everywhere. A hand soared into the air as Big Black's claw was severed.

Behind Naimus, Isabella stared at everything in disbelief and murmured, "Thousand Moon Extinction Bird Turning Underworld Sword?"

Isabella remembered this strangely named secret sword art vividly. The moment Naimus used one of its techniques, she recognized it.

She never imagined that Naimus knew this sword art, which had earned such immense fame several years ago.

This sword art had been developed by a genius Paladin and could bring out two hundred percent of one's stat potential.

Though the sword art had been passed down, very few people could successfully learn it.

It was said that one needed soul and mental control no less than that of a Meditation Technique practitioner to master this sword art.

That genius had also been considered someone who could have reached great heights even if he had trained as a priest.

Isabella had only ever seen a priest who enjoyed training use this move.

She had not expected to see it here again today.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.