Volume 2: The Growing Flame Chapter 108 Torch Town
A small country in Europe.
Xinhuo first-level branch.
Under the management and construction of Paladin Roland, this town, which was once invaded by evil and was dilapidated, chaotic and filled with despair, has now changed dramatically.
And it was renamed "Torch Town".
The small buildings in the town that were destroyed by evil spirits and awakened people have been repaired, the roads have become smooth, the hands of the clock tower in the center of the town are ticking, and the small square under the clock tower is crowded with people. It is already bustling early in the morning.
This is a market.
Not only do they sell all kinds of daily necessities and food, but there are also many awakened people trading here.
Even the entire Torch Town itself now has a population of several thousand, all of whom are refugees fleeing from various places and some surrounding countries.
Gradually settled here.
Because it is so safe here. Compared to the dangerous environment outside, this place is paradise!
As long as you are diligent and hardworking, you will not be short of food here. At least you can have enough to eat and keep warm.
How could the refugees, who had experienced so much suffering, be willing to leave?
Even the awakened ones hope to find a safe place in this world. Not all awakened ones want to be king, and they cannot do it with their strength.
"Thank you, Lord Roland, for providing us with shelter."
"Here, I finally don't have to worry about someone breaking into my house while I'm sleeping, or about thugs robbing me of everything..."
A civilian gnashed his teeth.
Another person said, "Under Lord Roland's protection, no thugs dare to enter our place, right?"
"How come there aren't any? A few days ago, a group of thugs came. Everyone had a gun. The leader seemed to be an Awakened one, but he was shot dead by the patrol team in an instant. His body is still hanging on the road south of the town as a warning."
"Isn't this... too cruel?"
"Cruel? When you are robbed and killed , you won't think it's cruel anymore!"
"In fact, the thugs are a minor matter. The real horror is those invisible monsters."
"Invisible monster?"
This is still a secret for most ordinary people. Even if they often see people die strangely or hear weird roars in their ears, etc., if they can't see it, it remains unknown.
It’s different after coming to the small town. After seeing the power of the patrol team and getting to know the awakened ones, many people gradually realize the horror hidden beneath reality.
That would be the real disaster.
There are even awakened ones among the refugees - don't think that the awakened ones can deal with the evil spirits. The awakened ability is not offensive. Without awakened weapons, it will be difficult to deal with the most ordinary evil spirit.
I don’t dare to fight at all. The more I can see, the less I dare and the more terrified I become.
Keep running away.
Until I came here.
An awakened person whose ability is related to eyes said, "Dealing with the thugs does not show the strength of the patrol team at all. In fact, the patrol team is as powerful as cutting melons and vegetables when dealing with those terrible monsters. It is unbelievable."
"In comparison, I, an awakened one, am just a fake."
"Yesterday I even saw Lord Roland kill a monster that was over ten meters tall with just a few moves."
"A monster that is more than ten meters tall?"
"hiss--!"
"I heard that many of the Awakeners in the patrol team were taught by Lord Roland. Next time the patrol team recruits new members, I will definitely sign up."
"Let's go together."
The name Roland has already made him a well-known and powerful figure in the surrounding area.
If communications and transportation had not been almost cut off, his reputation would have been even greater.
But there is no doubt that Torch Town has become a "powerful force" that cannot be ignored by this small country and the surrounding countries.
However, few people know about the organization behind Torch Town.
More than a thousand meters away from the clock tower, there is a six-story building. This is the tallest building in Torch Town and also the daily office of the patrol team.
At this time,
The basement of the small building is a "restricted area" for ordinary patrol members. Roland, a powerful man admired by countless people and a double awakener with the talent of Knight's Heart, is facing him with a respectful look.
He is not one for flattery.
But the man in front of him gave him stronger power, taught them how to deal with evil, and gave them weapons and potions. Even the supplies needed to build and operate this town came from the support of the man in front of him.
No amount of praise or gratitude could express even a fraction of what he felt in his heart.
It was not Roland who provided shelter to so many displaced refugees.
It wasn't Roland who taught the patrol members to become stronger.
It wasn't Roland who kept the refugees well fed and clothed.
"Teacher, now the townspeople think that it is my credit. I really feel unworthy of it."
Fang You roughly guessed what this upright paladin was thinking. If it wasn't necessary, Roland really didn't want this title.
"Now, many countries on our Blue Star are in the open, but the cultists are hiding in the dark, so we must also hide ourselves so as not to alert the cultists and give them a fatal blow at the critical moment."
Including the Langhua Kingdom's stronghold, it is now almost dormant.
Not much action has been taken.
First, most of the actions are useless, and second, it is to paralyze the cultists and then slowly look for clues in secret.
He continued,
"This town was indeed built under your leadership. You have made a great contribution. Don't underestimate yourself. Of course, in addition to building Torch Town, your mission is to secretly select suitable talents for training."
Roland opened his mouth and said, "I understand."
What the mentor said made sense. He could only kill more evil spirits, rescue more refugees, train talents... and contribute more to the organization.
Walking out of the entrance of the secret realm, Fang You came to the rooftop of the patrol team’s base and looked around.
Compared to the last time I came here, this place has really changed a lot.
The town is in good order, the market in the distance is bustling, and there are very few evil spirits within the map. Once an evil spirit appears, patrols will immediately arrive in no time.
These are naturally secondary apostles.
But there are not many, as the number of secondary apostles is limited. Roland only has eight of them, but the number of awakened ones is far more than that.
Most of those who returned from organized training were recruited by Roland himself.
The development of Torch Town far exceeded his expectations.
The townspeople were grateful and loved Roland, and he fully deserved it.
and……
Fang You looked up and noticed some differences.
The last time I came here, wisps of gray fog were floating throughout the town, and it was marked as a medium-level pollution area on the map!
Severely eroded by the ghost world.
At this time, if you look closely, there is indeed gray fog floating above the Torch Town, but it is much thinner and less than before!
In other words... the erosion of the strange world has decreased and regressed ?
"According to Yi Yueluxi, the erosion process of the strange world is irreversible."
"But, the Black Stone Oasis where Yi Yue Luxi is located is, after all, just an oasis force. It may be relatively powerful in the oasis, but what she knows may not be correct."
"Besides, I have a cheat!"
He looked around.
What was the reason for the erosion? Was it the popularity of the people around? This was impossible. Excluding all the impossible reasons, the only thing left was the entrance to the secret realm!
The secret realm of Xinhuo is nailed to this land!
However, this issue will be considered later. What we need to solve now is the problem of cultists.
He stood on the rooftop for a while, accompanied by Roland.
Soon, Roland saw someone approaching.
It was one of the patrol members, the Awakened Cliff.
But he is not a member of the organization and is still in the probation period. He was about to ask what was going on when he saw Cliff's face in front of him suddenly change, turning into an ordinary...it's hard to tell whether he is a man or a woman.
Even the clothes seemed to dissolve like a wax figure, transforming into a cloak in the blink of an eye.
Roland just felt his scalp was in trouble.
"Who are you...where's Cliff?!"
"Don't worry, nothing happened to him. He is still patrolling outside the town. I just borrowed his identity to make it easier for me to go upstairs."
"tutor."
The cloaked man nodded slightly and glanced at Roland again.
Is he a strong person in the organization?
Roland thought about it and understood what the cloaked man meant. He immediately took his leave without any curiosity.
After Roland left, Qianmian walked forward, less than half a meter away from Fang You, and said in a low voice, "We have already discovered part of the cult's plan."
"Tell me about it."
Fang You looked at Qianmian.
Today his/her hood did not cover the face, revealing an ordinary, neutral face, but he did not think that this was Thousand Faces' original appearance.
He was still very curious, but he had to get down to business today.
Qianmian spoke up, "They are followers of the evil god 'Scarlet Moon'. In addition to ordinary followers, there are also a few strange people who traveled from the strange world - the blood-bearded people."
"However, the evil and intelligent races coming from the Weird World will be rejected and suppressed by our Blue Star world. The priest who came in now is just an incarnation of a prop. The real body of the priest and other powerful blood-bearded people cannot come to our Blue Star."
But the strength here refers to the strong men of the strange race called the Bloodbeard People.
As a race that has surrendered to the evil god and has developed for who knows how many years, the Bloodbeard people are far more powerful than the oasis forces that can only survive. Their priest is at the Six Awakenings Throne level, and obviously there are other Throne-level and Commander-level people in the tribe.
They cannot come.
At least at this stage, as the erosion of the Blue Planet intensifies and the world's repulsion weakens, it will be easier for evil and strange races to enter the Blue Planet.
But according to the information provided by Qianmian, even now there are inhuman-level blood-bearded people who have arrived on Blue Star, and the priest incarnation has also recovered from the third awakening when he just arrived to the fourth awakening strength.
"Not only that, the Bloodbeard Priest is planning a super large ceremony."
"The ceremony was held at seven important points on Blue Star. It seemed that he wanted to use the power of the ceremony to allow his true body to break through the barrier of Blue Star and descend."
Qianmian handed over a parchment scroll.
A strange and eerie pattern was drawn on it using a mysterious material as ink.
Qianmian came here specifically to show this picture to his tutor.
"This picture is a picture of a ritual sacrifice at one of the sites."
"But besides this one, there are six other ritual sites scattered around the world. I have only explored three of them so far, and the others will take time."
Even so, Qianmian's information is quite detailed!
There are even specific steps for the ritual drawings.
Uh, he suddenly became curious, "How far have you gotten in the cult?"
Qianmian said, "I am the person in charge of one of the ceremony sites."
Fang You: “…”
