Stray

Chapter 103: The Living Building

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“If you think that Aurora will still come at the original time, you are dead wrong—”

“Aurora?” Oliver paused and held his spoon in his hand for a few seconds.
“Who’s Aurora?”

“…” The Knight of Judgement narrowed his eyes, squeezed the edge of the soup bowl, and studied his opponent’s reaction.
It was a pity that what discouraged him was that the reaction didn’t seem to be false.
“Are you really here just to do a general task?”

“Mm-hmm.” Oliver scooped a bowl for himself and stared carefully at the movements of the Knight of Judgement, ready to release icicles at any moment.
“Either way, you can tell me more, and I’ll give you some information about our mission.
The records of the Mercenary Guild can’t be falsified.
How about it?”

“How about starting with your name?”

“Let’s start with something else,” Oliver laughed.
After all, their consultant was once famous and no one knew whether he, as the leader of the team, had been blacklisted by the Laddism Church.
“You see, I’m also a Black Chapter so I don’t want to be on a Knight of Judgement radar.
You guys don’t get along with us little people.”

The fuller goat behind Oliver stretched out its tongue and began chewing on Oliver’s hair.

Parish Sherman, the Knight of Judgement, held his forehead weakly.

Although he personally hated the Black Chapters, if this team had no intention of disrupting the game, he really had no need to fight against such opponents.
On the other hand, it seemed that the equipment of this team was extremely poor.
They didn’t look powerful at all.
When was the last time he saw a regular team transporting the entire team’s supplies using a fuller goat? Ten years ago?

The young man in front of him seemed to be the leader.
He didn’t look old and didn’t put on any airs— Rather than air, his tone was a bit too cautious.
He also seemed proficient in cooking, so it could be seen that he does a lot of chores.

Snake level, Parish frowned.
He had attacked them first and considering this person easily repelled him, nothing was making sense at this moment.

These two people were completely different from the arrogant and domineering Black Chapters he had encountered before.
They were frighteningly low-key and didn’t seem to have a strict hierarchy relationship.
At present, the two leisurely Black Chapters were minding the pot of soup carefully, as if it was the most important thing in the world.
He could almost believe that they were tourist who seemed to have gotten lost.

What the hell is this team up to?

“In fact, I don’t know much about Aurora…” Ann soaked the bread into the jerky soup and ate it.
“I remember that he’s not an enemy of the Laddism Church.
What’s he doing here?”

“Information for information.” Parish sat upright as he drank the soup solemnly.

“You first.”

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“Why?”

“That soup is ours,” Ann said solemnly.
“And the soup contains our most expensive jerky.”

“…” Now Parish was pretty sure this Black Chapter team really didn’t have anything like ‘pride’.

“Knight of Judgement Parish Sherman.
I’m here to record the battle between Aurora and the Abyssal Church.” He held the soup bowl in both hands and carefully placed it to the right of his body.
“Now your turn.”

“We’re here to accompany someone sightseeing.” Oliver considered his words.
Mr.
Virgil’s task was public, so it shouldn’t be a problem to reveal tidbits of it… He activated the black badge, used his magic to cover up key information, and briefly showed the content of the task to Parrish.
“Our client wants to enter the catacombs of the Abyssal Church… Er, you can look for yourself.
He designated one of us to accompany him.”

“Are you joking with me?” Parrish took a deep breath.
“If you’re using magic, I have to say…”

“No, Mr.
Virgil, he really—”

“Who?” Parish shouted suddenly causing the fuller goat to take a step back in fright.

“Duran Vergil.” This time it was Ann’s turn to frown.

“Describe what he looks like.” Parish stared into Ann’s eyes.

“Information for information,” Ann shrugged.
“You scared our goat.”

The Knight of Judgement was silent for a while before he seemed to make up his mind.
“What do you want to know?”

“Before you said that we ‘sure know how to pick the time’.
I hope you can explain why.” This time Oliver spoke before Ann.
“And— If Mr.
Virgil is the person who you’re thinking of, are you after him?” A Knight of Judgement would not lie which was quite advantageous in negotiations.

“No,” Parish replied quickly.
“If it’s really that person, then it’s just a personal matter of mine.
It has nothing to do with the Laddism Church.
I swear to Zenni that unless he starts killing humans indiscriminately, I won’t act against him.”

“Well, we’ll tell you the appearance and characteristics of Mr.
Virgil.” Oliver put down his bowl of soup.
“After you.”

“There is a powerful superior demon sleeping in the Abyssal Church and those crazy cultists have been working to awaken it,” Parish snorted.
“Although Aurora is also a superior demon, it has been committed to eradicating unstable factors that ‘may cause mass destruction’, so it’s on our amnesty list.
According to records, it will come here every three hundred years to strengthen the seal of the superior demon.”

“Then there’s conflict within the Abyssal Church,” Ann answered.

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“According to text, this has been the case in recent times.” Parish’s tone was serious.
“I need to observe and record the process and result of the conflict to ensure that no accidents occur.”

“I was under the impression that Aurora is known as the ‘Superior Demon Slayer’,” Ann raised her brows.
“Wouldn’t it be better for it to just kill the superior demon in the Abyssal Church?”

“It’s probably because the one in the Abyssal Church is too powerful.” There was more disgust in Parish’s voice.
“Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worshipped by those lunatics.
They’re counting on it to wake and realize what they call… ‘the sky will fall, and the Abyss will rise’,” he sneered.
“Aurora will arrive early in the next few days.
If you’re not here to muddy the water, then you’re simply too ignorant— It seems like you’re the latter.”

“That superior demon… It’s not sleeping in the catacombs of the Church of Silence, right?” Ann murmured, throwing the last piece of bread into her bowl of soup.

“I’m not certain of that,” Parish shook his head.
“Our intelligence isn’t as detailed.”

Despite what the other party said, an ominous premonition crawled over Oliver’s back in an instant.
“The Mr.
Virgil who entrusted us… is more than 1.9 meters tall, with brown skin, short brown-gray hair, and brown-yellow eyes.
He carries a lot of things on his back, looking like a painter,” he described skillfully, omitting the part about the “demon warlock”.

“It’s him,” Parish sighed.
“Damn it, he definitely has a purpose.”

“Why do you say that?”

This time Parish didn’t plan to haggle with them with trading information.
“He has sneaked into churches of various religions several times to steal research results on erosion spells, but he has also been committed to exorcizing demons.
His enthusiasm is frighteningly high, so everyone generally turns a blind eye to him.
I just don’t think he’s a bit pleasing to the eye, but in front of his merits… I have no position to be hostile to him.”

“Does the Abyssal Church also have research on erosion spells?”

“Yes,” Parish affirmed Oliver’s question.
“Sneaking into the catacombs may just be a cover.
Virgil’s strength is mind control.
Whether it’s a human or a demon, as long as their strength is lower than his, they can’t escape… What’s with expression?”

“Oh, nothing.
Continue,” Ann coughed.

“…Can’t escape his control.
You shouldn’t be nervous though.
Your teammate isn’t a demon warlock.” Parish seemed to be holding back an eyeroll.
“I hope I didn’t mistake my judgement— You don’t seem to be lying.
Since you have no plans to get in the way, I have to continue to move on.”

“Do you mind we go together?” Oliver stood up while Ann raised one of her brows.

“What?”

“Our client seems to be hiding many things,” Oliver said slowly.
“Before the task is completed, I have to tell him in person that I’m considering raising the price.”

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‘No wonder,’ Oliver thought.
‘I hope this ‘enthusiastic’ exorcist will not try to control Nemo.’ He wasn’t too worried that Nemo could be controlled.
The issue was the chaos that was about to happen.

Nemo’s identity must not be exposed.
Mr.
Cross and Dylan haven’t arrived yet at the Church of Silence, and no one knew if they could get to Nemo in time.
The disposable communication crystal in his hand was one way, and there was nearly an entire day before sunrise tomorrow.
If something goes wrong before then, they need to ensure that all their combat power was present.

It was only the first day.
He adjusted his breathing.
There was still time.

The person that Oliver was worried about was currently looking at the special dungeon he was assigned to of the Abyssal Church with interest.

This was more like a high-end room than a prison— if he ignored the tapestries painted on the walls full of imprisonment arrays and the wallpaper inlaid with erosion spells.
It almost felt comfortable in a way.
Nemo picked up a few biscuits from the saucer on the tea table and started chewing on them and was relieved to find that it was better than dry food.

The long-lost sweetness calmed his mood a bit.

The Abyssal Church was very cautious.
There wasn’t even a surveillance array from the outside world, eliminating all possibility of any two-way influence.
Unfortunately, this was just a room for a “piece of flesh from a superior demon”.
No matter what his race was, this couldn’t possibly stop a complete superior demon.
Rather than letting the Abyssal Church monitor him in fear, it was better to let them think that he’s been locked up tightly.

“Bagelmaurus,” Nemo whispered as he took another biscuit.
“Attack the wall… Don’t shiver.
‘Please’ attack the wall.”

The gray parrot still shivered and spewed out a dark ball of light, which blasted towards the wall but dissipated seconds before hitting it.

“Um, seriously.
Don’t shiver.
Would you like some biscuits?” Nemo felt a little helpless.
He even missed the strutting of “Lord Bagelmaurus” for a few seconds.

“Lord Bagelmaurus” didn’t touch the biscuits in Nemo’s hand.
It trembled and pecked the biscuits in the bowl instead and almost pecked them away.

“Weaken, imprison, and erode.” Nemo recognized the reaction of the magic array.
The construction of it was very delicate, and this room couldn’t have been just prepared.
In other words, it wasn’t prepared for him.
A church that believes in the Demon King had carefully set up a special cell for a superior demon.
Looking at the reaction of the Bishop of the Abyssal Church, they seem to have a lot of research on how to deal with superior demons.

If he’s not mistaken, the Abyssal Church’s expectation was the last “guest” for this place should be Aurora.

However, he wasn’t sure if he would become a sacrifice.
Nemo rubbed his chin with his fingers.
Superior demons who are imprisoned for no reason would indeed feel angry, but there many superior demons behind the Abyssal Church who secretly support them.
Ordinary superior demons won’t offend their compatriots on the surface just because they lost some face.

He had to make sure that Hagen wasn’t lying.
After all, it was about the next plan.

Nemo opened his lips slightly and took a deep breath.

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Jesse Dylan once told him that he was “just bound by cognition”.
He now knew well that there wasn’t anything wrong with what he said.
The cognition of ordinary mages would be bound by power, and their limited power prevents them from doing things outside the scope of their abilities.
He was the opposite.
His power growth depends on the cognition that comes from his own heart.

If he thought he was an ordinary person, then he was an ordinary person.
If he firmly believed that he was a demon warlock, he could indeed exert a matching power, and now…

Imagine.
There are no spells, no runes— Imagine and turn it into reality.

Nemo closed his eyes as he frantically drew out his own power.
Invisible peeping nets suddenly spread out.
He wanted to see every detail of this church, and then…

He gasped and the biscuit fell to the ground.

He found something more compelling than the location of the human sacrifices, or the military division of the Church of Silence, or even the mysterious catacombs.
Since he stepped into the Church of Silence, all the details of disobedience had been answered.

The asymmetrical distorted shape, the strong incense and vaguely rancid smell, the slightly higher temperature in the room.

It was alive.

He saw something in the stone bricks.
This huge and magnificent building was built on the bones of a giant beast.
Those solid bones became the most reliable pillars of the church, but this was only part of it.
Nemo could see more at this time.

The scene before him was no stranger.
The situation of this superior demon was exactly the same as Pandorater that was bound by the Mercenary Guild during the Black Chapter’s test.
Part of its body was exposed to the surface while the other parts were bound by the law of the abyss, stuck in the cracks.
Unlike Pandorater, the parts above ground were almost just bones.
It was dying, rotting alive, every minute and every second.

……But it was still alive.

The author has something to say：

Oliver is going to rush over XD

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Parish: ? Don’t be nervous.
Your teammate isn’t a demon warlock.

Ann: Ummmmmmmmmm

Oliver: …