Chapter 181. Church headquarters

I survived another day and it was all thanks to Violet.

Because of my new armor, I forgot that I wasn't invincible and could still be killed with one mistake.

I fought more recklessly than usual, I trusted my tools too much instead of my mind.

I wasn't a veteran soldier who trained their sword their whole life. I was someone who won fights by preparing beforehand and laying traps.

I'm very thankful that Violet intervened, otherwise, things would've been difficult.

After the Monster Lord left, the guards stormed the floor with panicked expressions ready for a big fight.

The Noble was still confused about what just happened but was thankful that we saved him.

As for how we knew about the attack, Alexa woke me up telling me that a mass of energy from the Void was in the other room.

I told it to wake up Merry as well and quickly went to attack it.

"Is that the Shadow Lord?"

"I think so, and his ability to teleport it's going to be a nightmare to counter."

After we found that nobody died in this battle, the noble sent his guards to search the perimeter of the mansion, but no monster was found.

Soon the whole town knew that something happened which made it more agitated.

"He wasn't as strong as I expected, you even cut one of his legs."

It wasn't me who did that, but she doesn't know about Violet so I'll take the credit this time.

"I don't think we saw his abilities in the first place. His weapon was a bow, but he didn't manage to fire a single arrow."

"That's true, maybe the bow has some powerful enchantments."

"Trader, Merry! Where are you?"

A loud voice called after us which made our heads turn.

Green was panicky looking for us between some intimating guards.

We called her name and soon she was beside us.

"What happened? I heard a loud bang, then something that sounded like a fight. And now all the guards are here and they look angry."

Merry told her the short version of the story, which scared her even further.

"We have to leave, this place is no longer safe!"

I don't think this place would be attacked twice unless the Shadow Lord wants to take revenge, so it should be a safe space.

But I don't think I'll be able to fall asleep with all the noise around me now.

Plus there's a high chance that the Noble would force us to stay and protect him.

"What do you think Merry?"

"I feel the Zombie Lord is getting closer. I'm afraid the two of them may meet at this rate."

That's not good, I'm confident that we can defeat the Zombie Lord ourselves but with the help of someone who can shoot from afar....I don't like the odds.

"I think we should go to the church and regroup, we can't do this by ourselves anymore."

While they are not able to kill a Monster Lord, they should be good enough to work as a shield or slow them down.

I showed my aprovel to this plan so Merry went to talk with the noble about our leave while me and Green went after her lamas.

"Mister Trader, why are the monsters attacking us? Did we do something bad for them, or are they like animals just trying to survive?"

Now that was a tough question to answer.

The monsters appeared when the great war started, but from what Alexa told me it was a battle between the Void and the System, not the humans.

The humans are only collateral damage in that battle, and they continue to be to this day.

The System is connected to this world, so monsters are attacking the world since they can't attack the System directly.

But the question changes to why only humans?

Animals and trees are part of this world, but I don't see them getting destroyed by monsters.

You could argue that the Enderman and the Creeper do that, but one of them explodes when a human is nearby while the other I don't think they're the same type of monster as the others.

That means that humans have a special connection with the System that the Void is trying to destroy.

But this is all speculation on my part, I could be all wrong about it, and the only reason the Void hates the humans it's because the System decided to take the same form as them.

The point I'm trying to make is that I don't know, and I don't know If we want to search for that answer with how the System tends to react to void-related research.

"I don't know honestly, but we know they aren't willing to make pace with us, only to destroy us."

Until Merry came to us we stayed in silence as the town was getting more rowdy.

"Let's leave before the old man changes his mind. He wanted me to stay with him, can you believe that? I told him that I intended to meet with the church which seems to be enough to silence him."

Merry said as soon as she arrived.

I got on a lama and the girls on the other one and galloped out of the city.

The moon was high in the sky and its light was powerful enough to illuminate the desert.

Monsters were all over the place, but they were too slow to catch up with our mighty lamas.

"I feel that the Zombie Lord is getting further. I think the two Lords met."

Looks like we were too late to prevent that.

Such a shame, but it looks like we'll have to do this the hard way in the end.

The moon was going down and the sun was going up.

As the sun was getting up, so were the monsters getting burned all over the desert, it was a scary sight to see even though I knew we were safe.

But there was something that I hadn't managed to see in the desert yet, and that was the Zombie husk.

First time I was too preoccupied by the fact that I was a prisoner to ask this question, but now that I was seeing the Zombie burn under the sky, it made me wonder if those species of Zombies existed in the first place.

I knew that drowned zombies existed since I'd seen them, but no husks.

To my surprise, Merry seems to know the answer to this question.

"Yeah, I've seen a monster similar to the way you describe it in a monster encyclopedia. From what I remember, for a Zombie to become a husk it needs to survive in the desert for a whole day, and when night comes again it would dry and become a husk. That kind of monster is much more dangerous than normal since it would give you the hunger debuff besides the damage. But while the husk can survive under the sun, it enters a deep sleep state which is why they don't tend to survive for long."

Interesting, that would explain the lack of husk and how easy it is to hunt them when it's daytime.

There's a probability a special team that hunts those kinds of monsters to not get out of control.

We traveled for two more days until we finally arrived at our destination.

The church headquarters.

A huge temple was built in the desert with 5 towards that had a dome-shaped roof and the image of a golden angel on top of each.

The entrance was huge and always open.

But even if it was opened, it wasn't unguarded as two people with enchanted diamond armor looked at us with suspicion.

<Sir, I feel the connection of System is more powerful in this building. should wait outside for you or else I'll get found out.>

"I'm I in danger of being found out?"

<As long as you wear that armor, are invisible to the System."< p>

That's good to know.

Who would've thought that a building dedicated to the System would have a deeper connection to it?

The guards stopped us and asked who we were, but once they found out that the one in diamond armor was Merry the Hero, they let us in without a problem.

Inside the church, the walls were all beautifully decorated not by Crafting but by hand. Almost everything was made in gold and I could see certain images here and there.

Some of them stood alone while others were long and told a story.

At the longer one, I stayed to study them more carefully. I saw a cube-shaped planet and then a light came to it.

The light seems to merge with the people of the planet forming the System.

Is this the origin of the System?

Did it come from a comet and take over the planet?

"Many believe that since the System is not the one who created the humans it shouldn't rule over them. But those people tend to forget that we got to this level only with the help of the System, otherwise, we would've been as mindless as the common animals."

The three of us turned towards the voice to see a hunched old man with a big white beard and golden robes that were three blocks long.

He looked fancier than the last time I saw him, but there's no mistake, he was the Pope.

"Ah Pope, good to see you as well. I came with bad news, I managed to destroy the Spawner but he ran away and I'm afraid he already met with the Shadow Lord."

The Pope was running his hand over his beard murmuring how things weren't so good.

"But where is the army then?"

"We split up as soon as the Zombie Lord ran. They dealt with the Zombie army while I kept their boss busy. They haven't arrived?"

"No, you're the first one to do that. Do you think something happened to them?"

"They're one of the most equipped groups in the whole world I don't think they'll lose in a fight."

So that only means we managed to outrun them, what a twist.

"Oh no, what should we do now? We need well-trained people to help us in the upcoming fight. It's too much for the two of us."

The Pope was thinking about something before coming up with a surprising solution.

"It's already well known with in the noble community that the Prince has some kind of deal with the Shadow Lord ravaging through the desert. But if the two Lords met, maybe you can deduce the location of the spawner by following the Zombie Lord."

"That's true, but I still need an army to distract them."

"Yes, that's why I'll be sending a message to the Royal family, telling them that we know the location of the Prince, and that they need to send an army to help us deafet him."

That was a pretty good plan, and the army would not be inferior to the one from the church, and if our timing would be right, maybe the church army would join us after.

"We should do that then, ill use the emergency contact so it they should be here in about 2 days, 5 if they have to gather everyone."

That fast?

I wonder what kind of message system they have to work so fast.

But the Pope didn't seem to be willing to explain it to us, instead he wrote a letter and gave it to one of the sisters besides him.

The woman bowed and left the room.

"Now, I see you came back with some guests. Can you introduce them to the old man?"

"Oh sorry, I completely forgot about them. This is Green, she's a Wondering Trader and I was wondering if you have a job available here at the church? As for the scary looking man, he's the teacher that I told you about. Trader!"

"Trader you say?"

The old man was looking at me with an interested gaze.