Fanaticism

Dark brown snowflakes drifted slowly down from the sky, while crimson flames began burning from within the houses. Everything started from this moment...

"Fanafuna..." Leichina dragged his failing body out of his room. Thick smoke obscured his world; his nasal passages burned, his lungs felt ready to burst, and violent coughing shook his body.

"Fanafuna... Why... why did you do this..." Fire and smoke robbed Leichina of his sight. Pain, scorching heat, and numbness gradually gnawed away at the boy's remaining senses.

"Fanafuna..." In the final moment before his death, Leichina saw Fanafuna vanish beyond the sea of flames.

"Ah—"

The yellow-green sludge began to blacken. The undead crawling out of the mud gradually stopped moving, while flames began to burn from within the swamp and endless evil power started spreading through the entire city.

"Just about time—" Eliyi said with a faint smile as he looked into the distance.

The barrier set up by the witches had expired. Countless Lower District residents began flooding madly into the Upper District, while the tide of undead started to recede.

"Th-these monsters... are they... leaving?" Mr. Latopia asked tremblingly from within the black prison of light.

"L-looks like it..." The people around him all agreed.

"May the High God bless us—" Cardinal Labrador shouted from the dais. "Surely our devotion has moved the High God—may the High God bless Canfor—"

"Just about time..." Grand Duke Veil Nas of the Forest Elves found it rather boring. He adjusted the beret on his head and said, "It's time for me to leave as well. Staying here any longer will only make me burial goods for this city..."

"Get lost... bastard..." Yetara merely cast Veil Nas a contemptuous glance before continuing to savor his wine.

"Farewell~ I hope we can meet again in the future~" Veil Nas slowly disappeared within his magic circle.

"Time's up, everyone~" Grand Duke Veil Nas's butler strode openly into Tiadam's room. "If you're any later, you'll miss the ride out of here."

"A ride... out of here?" Tiadam asked involuntarily. "You... are leaving this place?"

"That is correct—" The butler bowed to Tiadam. "Since my master is leaving this city, we must accompany him and continue serving him."

"If you're leaving, why did you lock me up here?" Tiadam's voice held some anger. "If you're leaving, then just boldly go. No one could stop your mage master anyway."

"Mr. Bandit, allow me to correct several of your mistakes." The butler's smile looked like a mask. "First, our master is not a mage, but the Grand Duke of the Forest Elves. You were mistaken on that point."

"That noble girl from yesterday?" Tiadam said.

"Secondly, keeping you here was not my master's intention... it was my own decision..." the butler said slowly. "This was not out of any malice toward you, the bandit hero. It was merely to facilitate my master's later retreat."

"What do you mean by that?" Freed by the maids, Tiadam stretched his body slightly. His stiff joints cracked.

"Isn't it obvious?" The butler's smile became even more artificial. His narrowed smiling eyes and upturned lips resembled a Noh mask carved into place. "If you, the hero, had entered the battle early and then been defeated, the Upper District residents would have immediately erupted into chaos. In such chaos, my master's departure would have become rather troublesome..."

"Oh~" Tiadam gave a scornful laugh. "You've worked hard for your master's safety, as befits a lapdog."

"Thank you for the compliment. But as a hero, you should be able to gain some benefits from this as well~" The butler and the maids vanished down the end of the hotel corridor.

"I can gain something too?" Tiadam muttered to himself.

"Tap—"

"Tap—"

Two stones fell through the window into Tiadam's room. He then stuck his head out of his room and saw hundreds of people standing below the inn with torches and weapons, holding stones, eggs, and rotten vegetables.

"Damn bandit—you bastard, what kind of savior are you—" An egg flew up at Tiadam from below without warning.

"Damn bandit—when those monsters broke into Canfor, why were you hiding here? Do you know how many people died? You don't deserve the title of hero!" As he spoke, another rotten egg was hurled up from below.

"Damn bandit—"

"Damn bastard—" Incited by others, the rest of the crowd also began hurling the stones in their hands at Tiadam.

"You can actually throw eggs up to the fourth floor..." Tiadam brushed his short red hair. The foul-smelling egg liquid reeked like a sewer. "If these people dare come throw rotten eggs at me now, then the monsters in Canfor must have already been dealt with. In that case, it's not too bad... At most, I'll just be cursed at for a while longer..."

"May the High God protect us, and may we serve You forever... Angels sing immortal hymns, wielding swords that banish evil... Endless glory belongs to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords..."

At this moment, Cardinal Labrador was praying in his private confessional within Salat Church. The scripture this kindly old man recited came from Chapter Twenty, Section One of the High God's Canon: the passage in which Mi'erqila, the six-winged angel who played the High God's song, was wounded by demons and hurriedly led the angels back to the divine kingdom.

"May the High God soothe our bodies and minds—" After Cardinal Labrador finished reciting the entire chapter, a golden, warm, compassionate light enveloped the nearly ninety-year-old man. This miracle, known as Saint's Protection, was a teleportation array reserved for church use.

"——" Outside Salat Church, countless believers and priests loudly praised the divine power of that new angel. Not one noticed Cardinal Labrador quietly departing with one million gold coins.

"It drove back the countless monsters invading Canfor—it saved our city from the hordes of monsters—it protected our lives from the claws of the undead—"

"It must be—it must be—the miracle of ***—"

"May *** be eternally well—***—immortal—"

Within Canfor's Upper District, Mr. Latopia stepped into a place that had never belonged to him amid the cries of countless believers. The miracle that had occurred to him was no different from the miracles the High God had performed upon other priests.

The vast sea of people moved toward this new spiritual leader. Denolan, lying lost on the ground, was at a loss. Sitting alone at the corner of the street, he watched the crowd surge away like the wind and felt a sense of rejection. It seemed like doubt, yet also like fear.

"Should I follow that... *** together with them?" Denolan muttered. "I was never a believer to begin with... I just simply wanted to do something... I don't want to die while monsters tear me apart, nor do I want to burn myself to death alongside the people in my village... I want... I want to live... I want to change... I want to control my own destiny—I want to become king—"

"Then change—" An old woman beside Denolan said. "Since you want to change, then... take your first step..."

"The first step..." Denolan seemed to remember something. The Twin Lantern at his waist began to flicker with faint light, its twin serpents entwined like a spiral of destiny.

"Though this lamp is a piece of junk... it can still be useful once in a while..." The old woman's face emerged beneath the firelight held by the residents.

"Granny Rosa..."

"Kid, make up your mind already. If you don't hurry, that little brat's second wave of attacks will be here—" Rosa Kevin said.

"Second wave of attacks?"

"Boom—" Before Denolan could finish speaking, a massive dead being rose from the sludge swamp in the city's south. This undead monster was formed from the corpses of many people who had died from the Rosakavin Curse over the past ten years.

"Death—death—" Evil energy drifted from the dead being's body, while decayed power swirled around the giant zombie.

"Tap—tap—" One building after another was trampled into powder. The aura of decay gradually corroded the residents standing on Canfor's outskirts into undead.

"Help... help..." Hundreds of people began wailing. Tumors sprouted from their hands, and yellow-green fluid flowed from filthy blisters.

"High God—***—please—save us—" As devout believers, even in the moment of death, they should seek the protection of their god...

"Wh-what exactly... is that... monster..."

The crowd that had previously stood below the inn to "collect a debt" from Tiadam all dropped to their knees the instant they saw the Giant Dead.

"Tiadam—you are the High God's incarnation—you are the Holy Son—you are the Holy Father—you are the King of Kings—" The change in attitude downstairs caught Tiadam's attention, and he rose from his bed.

"No eggs, no stones... then it seems... the undead monster problem hasn't been resolved..." Tiadam leaned out the window. The dagger in his hand trembled faintly. "What... is that monster..."

The monster's body was far taller than the nearby Barrier mountain. Its eyes were filled with hatred for the living, while all the suffering it had endured in life had become evil flames burning across its skin and bones.