Grayblood Lesion, the Most Terrible Calamity Descends!

At the northern end of the Tear Knight Defense Line stood a cremation ground shrouded year-round in a pungent stench.

Castian arrived with Wolf, the old knight Yasol had sent, and a team of scouts.

At the center of the group, a young cleric closed his eyes and murmured prayers to the Most Holy, opening his spiritual sight to seek the source of the evil.

Eyes born able to see unclean things were a gift precious even within the entire Church.

Fragments of prayer spread through the wind again and again. The little Holy Silver pendulum hanging before his chest began to sway gently in midair, tracking the lingering taint.

Through his spiritual sight, he saw dark red veins invisible to the naked eye slowly shifting beneath the ground.

Suddenly, the Holy Silver pendulum in his hand shook violently, tracing chaotic silver arcs through the air. His eyes flew open, and two streams of bloody tears ran down his cheeks.

Wolf's hand went straight to his sword hilt, his gaze turning cold.

Castian had already stepped forward. He caught the cleric by the shoulder and poured a heavy surge of Battle Aura into him, forcibly steadying his disrupted channels of perception.

The cleric shuddered. His chanting stopped dead, and the backlash from having his spiritual sight severed surged through him. He bent over coughing violently and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Only when he had recovered a little did Castian ask, "Did you see it?"

The young cleric nodded, blood still on his lips. "Th-there—"

He forced his weakened body to lead the way. The others followed, struggling between piles of corpses that had not yet been fully burned.

The piled bodies gave off a piercing stench. Most were the remains of Demonic Beasts or warriors who had fallen