The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 296 Endless Pursuit
After appearing before the survivors of Lessier, Eric climbed the Tower of the Virgin and looked out over the devastated holy city.

"Why did the Papal Tower collapse?" Eric asked.

“It seems we were caught in the crossfire of His Highness’s attack,” Alena replied.

Eric remained silent, his only consolation being that there was no one left to hold him accountable.

As the rings and bracelets on his hands changed color one after another, Alena couldn't help but look at the black crown on his head, and could intuitively feel how strong the mental attack he was enduring at this moment.

"Your Highness, can't you try to take it off now?"

“I already tried it when you weren’t here.” Eric raised his hand and grabbed the thorny soul crown floating above his head. With a little force, black energy surged on the crown and his head, looking quite frightening.

"It can't be picked off."

hum-

A buzzing sound suddenly rang in Eric's ears. He turned his head and saw that the jewel-encrusted bracelet on his right wrist was trembling incessantly.

With a whoosh, one of the gems flew out, crashed into the wall, and shattered into pieces.

Whoosh whoosh!
Gems kept flying out, two of them even hitting him in the face, causing him a sharp pain.

Eric suddenly felt the bracelet getting extremely hot, and the next moment, as if struck by some force, the bracelet shattered.

"..."

Dodging the flying fragments of the bracelet, Eric also released his grip on the crown on his head, and the other pieces of jewelry on his body that had been making similar noises all stopped immediately.

Natalia and Alena could only put a few more new bracelets or necklaces on him and never mentioned removing the Thorn Soul Crown again.

"The Demon King strengthened my soul, partly to control me, and partly to make me withstand the erosion of the Thorn Soul Crown, so that I wouldn't suddenly fall into madness, nor would I be unable to maintain a clear mind, and could only act according to his orders in a daze."

Eric touched his face. The force of the gems that had just been sent flying was fierce, but they couldn't cause him any real damage. His body had reached its peak strength under the enhancement of the Thorn Soul Crown.

"That's it for today."

After spending a short while on the Saintess Tower, Eric returned to the Saintess's bedroom, removed the precious equipment that enhanced and restored his mental power, and lay down again like a living dead.

Alena and Natalia examined the equipment. Most of it slowly returned to its original state after being removed, but a necklace and two rings completely changed their nature. When the two touched them, they even briefly fell into a nightmarish hallucination.

These originally sacred objects have now become evil artifacts.

Eric guessed that this was also the effect of his attempt to remove the Thorn Soul Crown, a strong backlash from the violent resentment.

Alena used a stick to pick up the necklace and two rings and took them away, intending to have the priests try to purify them.

Since Eric did not actively connect his consciousness to the Thorn Soul Crown, the equipment would not be corrupted. So Natalia put several rings and bracelets on him, and also hung two necklaces on him, so that he could choose to act consciously for a while when necessary.

Two days later, the people Alena sent to re-establish contact finally returned to Lessier, bringing intelligence from the outside world.

The demons who fled from Lesel brought with them a force that was originally heading to Grandia, and they are now approaching Lesel.

Meanwhile, the main areas of Grandia have been occupied by the demons. The human army that came from Lutia is engaged in a major battle with the demons on the northwestern border of Grandia, and the two sides are currently deadlocked.

In the south, Arsha's army has completely captured Tallinn, Dorne, and has occupied it, with no further developments at present. In the southwest, Cogano, after repelling the invading Arsha army, has also chosen to hold its ground.

“People outside already know that Lesser has not fallen, and messengers will be arriving here soon with more news. We have also tried our best to spread the news that the two princes are still alive,” Alena said.

“Lesser couldn’t even find a single messenger before?” Eric sat up, putting on his gear as he spoke.

“Even a church messenger wouldn’t stay in Leslie to die, Your Highness,” Alena replied. “Life is far more important than faith.”

Eric hung a necklace around his neck. "How many days will it take for the demon forces approaching Lesser to arrive?"

“Within two days,” Alena replied, her voice filled with worry.

“Just let me out when they arrive,” Eric said. “If it proves that my current state doesn’t affect the fighting ability I’ve shown before, we should even take the initiative.”

Alena looked at him, "Your Highness..."

Natalia wholeheartedly agreed.

Two days later, a demon army approached Lesser and was already in the outskirts.

To avoid damaging the equipment that enhanced his mental strength during the battle, Eric did not wear it. Instead, he had someone escort him outside the city and disconnect him to wait.

When the first demon squad appeared in front of him, his body was like a robot that had been reactivated on command, suddenly standing up and appearing in front of the demons the next second.

In a fully conscious state, Eric watched as his right hand swung out a familiar sword strike, yet the power it unleashed was strangely unfamiliar.

The sword energy swept across, instantly annihilating the demons in front of him, leaving not a trace of ash.

From the perspective of another group of demons not far away, Eric found the same feeling he had when he faced Simago, who had just gained a little soul power, in Lutia.

Divine factors extracted from countless souls... this is indeed godlike power.

Without any suspense, the battle quickly ended with an overwhelming advantage.

Eric, alone with his sword, completely annihilated the demon army and carved the ground outside Lesser City even deeper.

After the battle, Eric was still wandering outside the city. He discovered that in this state, he only needed to expend a little mental energy to control his body.

Before the semi-activated combat state ended, Eric quickly swept around the outside of the city to test the true speed and destructive power that this body could unleash.

An invisible wave spread out, even reaching mid-air. A winged man looking down from above felt a chill run down his spine and wanted nothing more than to descend immediately and kneel in worship.

Eric noticed him as soon as he landed on the ground.

"Your Highness—"

"Where did you fly from?" Eric found that he could still communicate with people in this state, but his voice was cold and his emotions were completely flat.

"Your Highness, on the northwestern border of Grandia," the winged messenger replied, "there is a letter for Her Highness the Holy Maiden."

Eric took the letter and opened it; it was from his uncle.

Edgar was overjoyed at his nephew's resurrection, which also brought him the latest news from the front lines.

Eric scanned the contents of the letter. The situation on the front lines was in complete chaos. Both the demons and humans were determined to occupy and reclaim the granary of the empire, Gradia.

"Gradia..."

Eric put away the letter, looked northwest, and without warning, his body suddenly moved, uncontrollably leaping in that direction like a dragonfly skimming the water.

The winged man was stunned, and Eric himself was equally stunned.

Even though he forcibly reconnected to the Thorn Soul Crown and regained control of his body, he could only stop for a short while because the equipment that enhanced his mental strength was left in the city.

When he could no longer withstand the constant onslaught of violent resentment, he disconnected, and his body began to move again.

Thus, Alena and Natalia, who remained in the city of Lessier, simultaneously received news that the demon army outside the city had been routed by the Holy Maiden at a single touch, and that the Holy Maiden had fled far away from Lessier.

"……What did you say?"

Natalia stared in disbelief at the winged man before her. "The Holy Maiden suddenly ran away?"

"Yes... after His Highness received Duke Gimino's letter, he ran towards Gradia..."

Alena's vision blurred. "Your Highness, are you going to run all the way to Grandia...?"

"Your Highness is very fast," the winged messenger said, "faster than I can fly. I can't catch up, so I had to come and inform you first."

The two looked at each other, but both realized that this was probably not Eric's intention.

Just as the messenger was about to leave, Natalia finally came to her senses, called him back, and asked him to wait a little longer, as she had a letter for him to take back to the front lines.

"Wait a little longer. Given this situation, I need to write another letter explaining Her Highness's condition."

"Yes."

When Natalia wrote the letter, Alena went with her.

“Those sacred objects that can enhance spiritual power are all left here.” Alena said with a worried expression. “If His Highness stops halfway, will he still be able to control himself to start again or return here?” “I don’t know.”

Natalia shook her head as she wrote the letter, “So I plan to take those things with me and follow in his footsteps.”

Alena opened her mouth slightly.

“I was originally heading to the front lines or Lutia,” Natalia continued. “Could you please make the arrangements for me, Deacon Alena?”

Alena readily agreed, but added that the departure would not be possible until tomorrow at the latest, as there were no horses or carriages in the Holy City except for some clergy.

Given these conditions, Natalia had no choice but to accept them.

The letter to the front-line military council was quickly written, and Natalia handed it to the messenger. Watching him fly away, she couldn't help but stare in a daze.

Alena also sent a messenger with a sealed message to the nearest human settlement, asking them to send a carriage or two horses.

In addition, she also had to find a way to get the remaining people in the Holy City to accept the news of the Holy Maiden's sudden departure.

"I think Eric must have gone to Grandia to kill demons on the orders of the Demon King."

Natalia offered her advice, "Just tell the truth, but be careful how you do it. Eric just wiped out a demon army, so you can say that he was tracking down the remnants of the demons and went to continue hunting them down."

Alena nodded. "That's what I'm planning to do too."

That evening, a nearby human settlement sent several horses to the convent.

“It’s alright, I can ride a horse, and this isn’t my first time traveling long distances,” Natalia said, looking at the horses that had been delivered. “Riding a horse will be faster.”

“I’ll pack those things up and put them on the horse.” Alena looked at the bag on the horse’s back and suddenly remembered the first time she saw Eric off here.

"After using those sacred relics from the treasury, the surviving knights have mostly recovered from their injuries. I will send two knights to escort Your Highness all the way to Lutia."

Natalia was also worried about her safety on the road, so she expressed her gratitude.

Alena sighed softly, "If I didn't have to leave this place, I would prefer to go with Your Highness to find the Holy Maiden."

Natalia paused, changed her gaze, and looked at her again for a moment.

She didn't say much in the end, but thanked Alena again for her arrangements and went to rest.

The following morning, escorted by two church knights, Natalia bid farewell to the convent and left Leslie.

After the demons ravaged the land, Tebuni was left in ruins.

This was Natalia's first feeling after leaving Lesser, while Eric, who had left even earlier, felt it even more deeply.

He had already learned of the church's inaction and the demons' rampage throughout Tebunet during his travels in the south, but only now did he truly witness the destruction the demons had caused to this land.

He realized that the demons seemed to be planning to physically erase Lesser's existence.

Even with the Thorn Soul Crown, Eric's stamina was not limitless. After running for a whole day, leaving Lessier with leaping strides, he finally slowed down and switched to walking.

Eric's current control over his body is limited to slightly adjusting the direction he is moving forward. If he wants to completely change direction or stop altogether, he can only take over his body through the Thorn Soul Crown, but this consumes a great deal of mental energy and cannot be maintained for long.

He estimated that Natalia would definitely chase after him once she learned where he was going, so after his initial dash, he made himself travel as far as possible along Hero's Avenue.

It was already dark, but Eric kept walking. He vaguely felt that his current state of walking was already a form of rest for his body. Perhaps if he walked all night, he would be running again when dawn broke.

Where exactly is the limit of this state...?

Eric couldn't help but wonder, did the old Demon King intend for him to completely annihilate the demon army on the continent by himself?

Judging from the outcome, he would naturally be happy to do it, and given the destructive power he displayed in battle, it was not impossible.

Once the main force of the demons that invaded the empire is wiped out, the old demon king will have no way to make a comeback for at least ten or twenty years.

Perhaps this was his plan, Eric thought, to start from scratch, to spend decades developing his own power deep within the Demon Realm, and to make his move gradually.

After all, the old Demon King was the one who had truly conquered the entire continent; he had his own experience, and this time, even lifespan could not hinder him.

"The connection of life..."

Eric looked down at his body.

Once he has wiped out the demons on the continent, he will personally shatter the old demon king's dream.

After walking for half the night, Eric was mentally exhausted and wanted to rest for a while. As soon as the thought came to mind, his body, which had been moving forward, finally slowed down.

Controlling his body, Eric walked to a tree by the roadside and sat down against it.

"Won't you be unable to get up tomorrow?"

With this sudden thought in mind, Eric fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, when he woke up again, it was almost noon.

"She slept for so long."

The good news is that he is still able to move around and did not fall into a deep sleep like he did in the snow outside Lessier before.
The bad news is that his body then started running uncontrollably again.

At this speed, it would be very difficult for Natalia to catch up with him.

After running and resting for two days, Eric reached the territory of Guradia and encountered his first battle since leaving Tebuniti in a village he passed through.

There is a demon army stationed here, and it looks like there are quite a few of them. However, whether there are five hundred or a thousand people, it doesn't make much difference to him now.

The battle was swift and fierce, ending quickly. But looking at the crisscrossing trenches on the ground and the villages that had been mostly wiped out, Eric realized that the destruction he had caused might have been greater than that of the demons.

He was the one wielding the sword, and his fighting skills came from him, but the destructive power was beyond his control.

Perhaps they were kept to be enslaved, as there were still many humans in the village. When they saw him eliminate the demons in this way, the fear on their faces was no less than when they saw the demons themselves.

Eric had no intention of communicating with them, and his body wouldn't allow it. After eliminating all the demons, he continued flying forward and soon left.

After the battle, Eric found it more difficult to control his direction, and it took a greater toll on his mental energy.

After another battle, he gradually realized what this meant—as he used more and more power, the Thorn Soul Crown became more and more integrated with his body.

However, the control of his body no longer belongs to him, but to the curse of the old demon king. If he tries to control it through the Thorn Soul Crown, the consumption of mental energy is almost two or three times that before. He could barely last half a minute before, but now he can't last more than ten seconds.

Eric knew very well that this meant that it wouldn't be long before he would completely lose control of his body and become a pure fighting machine.

—From a combat perspective alone, his destructive power will only continue to increase.

After entering Gradia, they encountered more and more demons, and battles broke out frequently. This time was almost visible to the naked eye.

Eric could only remain calm in the face of this.

This body will eventually stop, he's just worried about whether he'll have the chance to leave his "last words".

I just hope Natalia listened to him and made those two preparations...

Night fell again, and Eric stopped in the wilderness, leaned against a large tree, looked in the direction of Lutia, and then fell asleep.

In the direction he was gazing, a change was quietly taking place.

In the western suburbs of Lutia, the magic academy, sealed by amber-like crystals, suddenly became more active after a long period of silence.

Click!

Outside the academy, a moon elf raised its head.

Click click click——

All the moon elves turned their gaze to the gradually shattering amber crystal.

A figure burst forth from within, shattered crystals flying everywhere.

“I felt a truly pure power…” Eileen murmured, gazing in the direction of Gradia.

(End of this chapter)