The thought of "removing" flashed through his mind, and then he noticed the roots of the Aberration plant loosening without applying much force.
He shakily pulled the Symbiotic Tree from his own flesh and blood, and while the wound was still healing, he threw the [ Resilient Beechwood ] seed into it.
Having arrived in a familiar and suitable environment, the [ Resilient Beechwood ] seeds quickly began to take root and sprout.
It contains plenty of nutrients, enough to support the growth of its leaves from the surface of the Motley plant.
With each step forward, Motley felt his strength returning, bringing him closer to his former self as a Grand Knight Commander.
But after walking a few steps, he changed his mind.
After this period of intense production activities that took a toll on his body, coupled with the fact that his repetitive work had worn down his edges, Motley even felt that he was a little stronger than before he was captured, at least in terms of mentality, he was not so easily enraged.
The Grand Knight, who had been temporarily released from prison, left the jail and headed towards the open space in front of the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant.
At this moment, there were already more than a hundred people watching him slowly walk over in the open space. Most of them were unfamiliar to Motley, but he could vaguely recognize some of them. They seemed to be priests from the towns under the Aduolin Province.
But they are completely different from what I remember them to be.
These priests gave off an eerie feeling. Their skin was incredibly pale, barely more alive than Blood Corpse. The symbiotic plants on their bodies were half-dead, just like themselves. Moreover, each of them seemed to have an indescribable sense of Shattered, as if their bodies had been put into a meat grinder and then reassembled.
Seeing Motley's tall and strong figure, the living and the dying priests all lowered their heads and awaited his orders.
Motley then came before everyone, intending to announce the agreement he had made with Ed.
These people were his new subordinates, and as for their identities...
They were the Stained Ones carefully selected by Ed, all from former churches in various towns, each one a heinous criminal with the blood of countless innocent people on their hands.
If the crimes of the Stained Ones were to be ranked, the priests who participated in the cruel experiments in the secret chambers beneath churches in various towns would certainly be at the top of the list.
Selecting these people wasn't easy, but they were here because Ed had also reached an agreement with them.
Over the past few months, these seasoned Stained Ones, whose humanity had long since been extinguished, have witnessed firsthand what true inhumanity truly means, and everyone present shares almost identical memories:
After failing to "protect" the town and the church, their symbiotic plant was taken away, their original abilities were forcibly sealed, and they were subsequently imprisoned in the church after the rules were changed.
Although these churches still have areas such as prayer halls, lounges, storage rooms, and bell towers, they are no longer the churches they remember, at least not in terms of function.
Every day, every hour, every minute, a steady stream of Soul Returner enters the church through the main gate.
They arrived in groups of more than a dozen, then split into several smaller groups, muttering something they couldn't understand.
Nonsense like "This time I'll treat you, everyone can kill as many as you want, just remember to give me two legs," "Is it true that the drop rate is higher at midnight? Today, A Le will take everyone to investigate," and "Everyone, give it your all, I want the hidden achievement number 888 to dedicate to the Kong Lao'er " are uttered from the mouths of those Soul Returner every day, and they can't understand the meaning of these words at all (no translation is enabled).
Shouting slogans they couldn't understand, the fully armed Soul Returner would yell and scream before indiscriminately hacking at anyone they saw.
After hacking their way from the outside in, from the first floor to the top floor, these Soul Returner will collectively stand at the entrance of the Bishop's Chamber (BOSS room) and start inexplicably eating and drinking (applying buffs), then charge towards the Bishop and his guards in the last room with a roar, after which they will most likely be wiped out.
From the moment they first encountered these creatures, all the priests imprisoned within the Dungeon realized one thing: they were utterly devoid of any semblance of "humanity."
Even though they did so many bad things, they knew that their humanity had once existed, because they were still able to recognize that some of their actions were evil.
But when asked whether these young men, who only knew how to use cruel methods, had ever had any humanity, they could only say "it's hard to say." These people would always laugh and joking as they dismembered and killed them, even discussing what to eat for their next meal (forgot to turn off the translation), as if they were just doing simple labor like cleaning a church.
However, the inhuman enemy was merely the first torture they faced.
Faced with such an enemy, they certainly wouldn't surrender easily, and they were also prepared to die.
Although they were stripped of their original Symbiotic Tree, their bodies were filled with several similar Aberration plants, and they still retained basic combat abilities.
Relying on their long-trained muscle memory and combat experience, killing those Soul Returner was not difficult for them.
They wiped out the initial invading Soul Returner with almost no effort; those people, shouting strange things like "backboard" and "recording," all died under their blades.
The matter should have ended there, but in reality, it was only just beginning.
The Soul Returner with the same faces quickly re-entered the church, chanting the same slogans and saying similar words, and charged forward again with their weapons, making the priests wonder if they had entered some strange cycle.
As time went by, their moves were figured out, and death finally Descent them.
The priests knew their sins were heinous, and to avoid further humiliation, they simply died.
But things took an unexpected turn here, because their consciousness did not completely disappear after "death," and most of their bodies, which were in excruciating pain, were still attached to their torsos.
In the endless darkness, countless tiny roots rustled and rubbed together, piecing their bodies back together amidst their barely audible wails.
Then the light Descent, and another wave of Soul Returner entered the church...
Victory, defeat... survival, death...
The priests are trapped in an eternal cycle; they struggle, they give up, but they are always reassembled and placed in fixed positions to launch surprise attacks.
After teetering on the brink of death for months, their spirits teetered on the brink of collapse.
But that terrifying being, whose nature was unclear—whether god or demon—initiated a deal, the terms of which were very simple:
You have repelled the invading enemy, and as a reward, you will work for a month in High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant.