Raising Paladins

Episode 73. Battle for City Hall (5)

Until yesterday, the courtyard of City Hall was infested with security forces and mercenaries.

Silence flowed there.

Entering the bleakly quiet courtyard, Carl headed straight for the cellar he had seen before.

There, two mercenary members were guarding the entrance.

“Who are you?”

“This is Carlos, priest of the Temple of Dawn.”

“fuse? Why did the priest come here?”

“You don’t know anything yet.”

The basement where some bad experiment is going on.

The mercenaries guarding the place would not know much about other tasks.

Originally, the rule is not to entrust other tasks to those who manage important objects or facilities.

There was a high probability that those mercenary members did not know that a big fight had taken place in the central square or that the security forces had been imprisoned.

“How did you get in here? It’s not a place anyone can enter.”

“You really don’t know anything. The Meirium Police Corps has already been disbanded.”

“What?!”

A mercenary member who was consistent with an easygoing attitude while leaning against the wall.

they were amazed

Soon after, two more mercenaries appeared from under the cellar.

“Who is that skinny guy?”

“They say he’s a priest at the Temple of Dawn. But he said the security guard was disbanded?”

“What bullsh*t.”

“I don’t know, ask him.”

sereung.

A mercenary member with grim eyes pulled a dagger from his waist.

Then he approached Carl and asked with a bloody spirit.

“Tell me straight up what you mean. Otherwise… … .”

Crunchy!

“evil!”

Clink.

In an instant, the mercenary member whose wrist was broken by the knife dropped the dagger.

Then Carl said.

“Your leader, Marlon, is dead. Chief Chamberlain Eileen was arrested and imprisoned in the temple. The security guard was defeated in battle with me and the servants and was disbanded. Did you get an answer?”

“Now, wait… … !”

As surprise came out of Carl’s mouth, the mercenary member’s face turned blue.

“Didn’t I just say that Captain Malone died? Is that true?”

“of course.”

Carl pulled out a small vial from his bosom.

It was the same vial that Marlon had been carrying with him.

“That one!”

The mercenaries, who were worried about Carl’s words, finally believed them.

“Well, if that’s true, we’ll leave! Without Captain Malone, there’s no reason we’d be in City Hall anymore. So let this go.”

Crunchy!

“evil! why?!”

Carl silently applied strength to his broken wrist.

“You’ve got to tell me what you’ve been doing in the basement.”

“that… … .”

The mercenary’s eyes were stained with bewilderment.

When he hesitated and didn’t open his mouth, Carl surprisingly let go of his broken hand.

Took.

“Oh, thank you. we’ll just leave I still had a feeling that something was going wrong. If you are looking for Baron Astell, he will be near the withered tree.”

“A withered tree?”

“A tree that has dried up is on the west side of the courtyard. It’s hidden behind a red stone wall, but there’s probably no one there now. Go through the doorway under the wall and you will see a withered tree.”

“Thank you.”

Carl nodded, and the mercenaries rushed away.

No, I was going to.

Sureureung!

“What?!”

A knife blocking their way before they knew it.

In his hand was a steel sword boasting a blue blade.

“What are you doing?!”

“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think I can just let you go.”

“Why?”

“Because I know what you guys have done.”

Last night when Carl sneaked into the courtyard of City Hall.

At that time, Carl clearly heard.

Terrible screams from below the cellar.

I also saw mercenary members boasting about killing people as if they were joking.

The guys last night and the guys in front of me were definitely the same guys.

“I don’t enjoy killing. But you have committed the unpardonable sin.”

Carl’s footsteps moved smoothly.

At the same time, the steel sword gracefully flew through the air like a lie.

“Ouch… … .”

The mercenaries were unaware of what was happening.

A bright red solid line was already drawn on their necks.

dump.

He could hear them collapsing behind Carl as he descended the basement stairs.

But Carl just moved on with an expressionless face.

profit.

A basement with only one torch hanging in the hallway.

Carl took out the torch and lit the inside of the grate.

Then a terrible sight unfolded.

“God of the sun… … .”

Dozens of people were stripped naked and tied up in bizarre positions.

I couldn’t feel the soul in the eyes of those who were bound.

In addition, some parts of the body have turned black and are in a state of festering.

On a wooden tabletop in one corner of the cellar, glass bottles of a cloudy liquid were stacked.

“… … I’ll have to treat it with divine power.”

From nob le mt l dot com

Just applying medicine and sealing the wounds cannot save them.

Fortunately, in the Temple of Dawn in Meirium, there is an amazing priest who shows wide-area healing after trying long-distance treatment.

When he wakes up, he will be able to help them.

Okay!

The sword untied the chains that bound the people one by one.

I carefully set them down on the floor and found a large piece of cloth or rags nearby to cover the women’s bodies.

After that, the divine power was gradually injected into it.

It was an emergency measure to prevent them from leaving the world until Tira woke up.

“Ugh… … .”

Little by little the light returned to people’s eyes.

They couldn’t communicate yet, so Carl took them one by one and carried them out of the basement.

and.

“There’s no need to leave it there.”

Poof!

I tossed the torch near the wooden nightstand where the vial was rolling around.

Then, the straw on the floor caught fire, and in an instant, the basement was engulfed in flames.

“Ahhh… … .”

People drool at the sight of the basement stairs bursting with flames.

“Please bear with me for a little while. Soon people will come and take you to the Temple of Dawn.”

I want to take care of them more.

But Carl moved on.

If you wait too long, you might miss the baron, the culprit behind everything.

Besides, I sensed a very ominous aura from the west side of the city hall courtyard.

“Could it be that the summoning ceremony has been completed?”

Carl’s pace quickened.

I reached the west side with the red stone wall, waving my leather cloak.

Like the mercenary said earlier, there was no one guarding the entrance.

Carl immediately found a doorway under the wall and jumped into it.

Inside the wall was a fairly large vacant lot.

Among them.

I saw a huge tree that had lost its vitality and withered, and a magic circle that spread around it.

Below was a human with purple hair and a robe inscribed with all sorts of magical texts.

jerk, jerk.

The one who doesn’t look back even when he hears the footsteps of the knife.

He spoke in a strange tone that made it difficult to tell whether he was a man or a woman.

“We finally see each other, Carl.”

“You know me?”

“Of course. Because of you, there are more than one failed plan. I ordered Marlon to kill you, but since I haven’t heard from him, he must have failed too, right?”

“Marlon is dead.”

“also. What happened to my cute servant Aileen?”

“After being arrested, he was detained in a temple. She won’t kill.”

“Why? As you may have seen, Eileen has already been corrupted by the dark power. If you don’t drink the corruption potion periodically, you won’t be able to continue your life.”

Quadduk.

Baron Astel, who got up, turned around.

In his hand was a crushed golden apple.

Slurp… … .

From nob le mt l dot com

Juice flowing from golden apples.

Baron Astell, who put it in a large bowl, moved it.

Surprisingly, several people were leaning on the stump of a withered tree in a state of fascination.

From nob le mt l dot com

Judging by their outfits, they were all mercenary members.

The baron slashed the neck of one of them with a long fingernail.

“Ouch… … .”

Blood started gushing out immediately.

The baron took the blood into a bowl of golden apple juice and mixed it well.

Then he took out an unknown bottle of medicine, poured it in together, and began to stir it with a glass stick.

“The blood of those who deeply hold resentment toward others is effective. When I first discovered this recipe for Corruption Potion, I too had my doubts. But everything written in the book was true. Not only this corruption potion, but also the ritual to summon demons.”

The baron looked around with a hearty smile.

A huge magic circle surrounding the withered tree.

The magic circle made of strange patterns had a gloomy fishy smell, probably drawn with blood.

“It looks like you’ve obtained the ‘Book of the Devil’.”

“Hoo… … .”

The baron admired Carl’s words.

“How does a clown priest in a remote village know that? Even I, who have been looking for it for over 100 years, have finally found it.”

“100 years? Also, you weren’t human. Or maybe he was human but was corrupted by black magic.”

“It is the latter. However, it wasn’t that he was corrupted by dark magic, he was fascinated by its power. out of necessity.”

The baron’s gaze turned to a large wooden box near the stump.

“It doesn’t matter what it is. You’ve captured people and put them through horrific experiments, and that’s sin enough. Besides, I made a potion for the experiment using that withered tree that was presumably a golden apple tree. That is against the sacred law of the Sun Temple.”

“hehehe, are you referring to the Temple of the Sun, which has already lost its power and become a venue for power struggles for the elderly?”

“The sanctuary of the Sun Temple will soon recover.”

The baron gave a puzzled look at Carl’s confident voice.

“On what basis do you say that? The Church of the Sun is already crumbling due to internal rifts. The saintess, who should be the focal point, is not interested in the believers, and the cardinals and high-ranking priests are also eager to take care of their interests.”

“You seem to be well aware of the Sun Bridge situation. Were you a member of the Solar Bridge before you became mayor?”

“There was a time like that. Of course, now it’s all in the past, but it’s useless.”

The gaze of Baron Astel, who looked somewhat lonely.

He walked over to a large wooden box nearby and stroked it gently.

At that time, the steel sword the knife was holding was brightly stained with divine power.

Whoops!

The baron who saw that said with curious eyes.

“Oh, this is the first time that divine power is manifested through the human body. They say it was very common 200 years ago.”

“Now, the divine power will return to the priests. Because I will make it.”

“How?”

“That’s not what you, who will die soon, know.”

“It remains to be seen who will die.”

The baron gulped down the dark liquid from the bowl.

Then, he knelt down and infused dark power into the magic circle on the floor.

Soon after, the sign of a goat with horns was revealed in the five-pointed star, and it began to emit ominous energy.

Carl, who saw that, said with a pitiful face.

“Fool, there were many poor black magicians like you in my previous life. Those who only found one of the 72 ‘Books of the Devil’ and went on a rampage as if they had obtained all the powers of the Demon Realm. Judging by the pattern, it seems that you have obtained the 71st Book of Baphomet.”

“… … !”

Baron Astell was startled by Carl’s words, as if he was reading his thoughts.

“The most misunderstood thing that idiots like you do is about the devil. That strange and groundless delusion that if you summon a demon, something will grant you one wish! Probably something you want is in that big wooden box. Isn’t it?”

“… … !!”

“But, I don’t know where the story of how if you summon an alternative demon, that demon will grant your wish started spreading. People who believe that are more stupid. Why would you call them ‘devils’ if they’re going to grant your wish simply by calling them out in the first place? It would be more appropriate to call her an angel.”

“… … !!!”

“You pitiful warlocks.”

Carl shook his head.

It was thanks to the fact that among the warlocks he met in his previous life, he remembered those who did the same thing Baron Astel was trying to do now.

They managed to summon a demon, a spiritual body that was not the main body, and then the demon took away their souls.

To Carl, one of the stupidest guys in the world was just that kind of warlock.

“Everything, you are… … .”

“You may not believe me even if I tell you, but I am the Paladin Carlos of Dawn. You’re going to die soon, so I’m telling you.”

Woo woo woo woo!

The summoning circle drawn on the floor finally burst with evil energy.

At the same time, the blood drawn on the floor began to wriggle in the air in the middle of the magic circle.

Soon after, the gore took shape.

A naked woman with a slender body.

However, where the face should have been, there was a goat’s head with long, curved horns.

It was the spiritual body of ‘Baphomet’, one of the 72 demons that rule the demon realm.

But at that moment, an amazing thing happened.

“Long time no see, goat demon.”

“Carlos… … !”

A devil who proudly looked down on his surroundings while boasting a captivating naked body.

He was surprised to see the knife.

“I heard you died!”