"Don’t dwell on it. We have too little information; thinking about it won’t confirm anything."
Saying this, the group bypassed the wreckage and began to circle the other half of the area.
Their passage through this half was uneventful. Afterward, they continued in a straight line from the side, exploring toward the central area.
As they ventured deeper, the fishy smell returned.
The group had to raise their vigilance again.
"Stop," Chadite said, squatting down. The group followed suit.
She extended her hand, pointing. The group looked closely and saw an arm protruding from the side of a large tree.
It hung limply, touching the ground. A metal plate was visible on the exposed part of the arm.
Lucilia’s voice came softly from above. "There’s another one at our nine o’clock."
Hearing this, Alka looked over. That one was much better concealed.
A clump of bushes grew there. Only by looking carefully through the gaps could one spot an out-of-place color, suggesting something was hidden inside.
Alka snapped his fingers, then waved his hand to both sides, giving a signal.
Alka first threw a Blue Card, while Jason shot an Ice Bullet at the ghoul in the bushes.
Chadite and Pororo charged toward different monsters.
Apparently, those two ghouls hadn’t been intentionally hiding; they had simply fallen there.
Only when one was frozen by the Ice Bullet and the other bound by a blue Water Chain did they begin to stir, as if startled awake, trying to stand.
But by this time, they were already immobilized.
Pororo and Chadite had reached their sides.
These two monsters didn’t have mechanical limbs, only some metal plates on their skin.
They were dealt with easily.
The group then approached, examining the two corpses. They were no different from the ones they had seen before.
However, Chadite seemed to notice something. She squatted down and used a little water to clean a patch on one of the corpse’s clothing.
A somewhat blurred symbol was revealed.
"Holy Machine Church?" Alka said, looking at the mark.
"Is this the mark of the Holy Machine Church?" Jason leaned in for a closer look.
It was a gear symbol with an eye in the middle. The mark was very recognizable.
"Can someone tell me what the Holy Machine Church is?" Juanlu raised his hand slightly and asked.
He looked at the others, who all seemed to know, but he was utterly confused; he had never heard of this Church. In the Homeland Sea, there was only the Holy Mother Church.
Julia, beside him, explained, "It’s the Church belonging to the Wise One, one of the Divine. You could think of it as the equivalent of the Holy Mother Church in the Ocean of Illusions; they should be of the same rank."
Upon hearing this, Juanlu nodded in sudden realization. Although he was the last to join them, Alka and the others had also told him some information about the outside world, such as the four seas controlled by the Divine, and the Four Gods. And of the Churches corresponding to the Four Gods, besides the Holy Mother’s, they only knew of the Holy Machine Church.
"So this is a member of the Holy Machine Church?" Juanlu asked.
The clothing on the corpse before them was tattered. Only a portion still clung to the body, stained black by the pus from its decay. It was impossible to tell if he was wearing some kind of Church uniform.
"It’s very possible," Alka said, a hint of puzzlement in his voice. He then asked aloud, "Would people from the Church actually leave the seas controlled by their Divine? After all, if they were merely believers, they wouldn’t be wearing attire resembling that of Church Staff."
Although he was from Home Island and born a believer of the Divine, he knew perfectly well what kind of person he really was.
As a former Preparatory Saintess of the Holy Mother Church, Chadite nodded and said, "Yes, I’ve read such records in some Church archives. But such people are very rare, mostly those cultivated by the Church from a young age. With an adventurous spirit, they left the Homeland Sea, and then there were no further records. I’m limited by the confidential information I know. If we were to ask my father now, he might have higher clearance."
As she spoke, Chadite couldn’t help but think of her father, who had become a Regional Bishop. At that level, he was already considered a core member of the Church, with access to much of the core information.
"Is that so?" Alka mused. "Never mind. Let’s keep moving."
As they drew closer to the center, ghouls appeared more frequently, and they even encountered partially mechanized monsters. Fortunately, these partially mechanized monsters weren’t fully developed, which made their movements exceptionally awkward. Even those with the strength of Five Spirals were dealt with easily through their coordinated efforts. Mainly, Alka and Julia could handle them effortlessly.
"Looks like we’re nearing some kind of core on this island. How many have we encountered on the way?" Pororo said as he smacked a ghoul covered in iron plates, sending it flying into a nearby tree trunk where it was flattened like a pancake. Latest content publıshed on n0velfire.net
Hearing Pororo’s question, Jason raised his left hand, froze a ghoul with an Ice Bullet, and then replied, "Including this one, it’s the twelfth."