I, Who Came From the Abyss, Will Save Humanity Again Today - Volume 2 Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Gate of Truth

 

***

 

Carlos was surely dead.

 

Looking at the swordsman with a beard who was walking with large strides while holding a struggling figure in one hand, I sank into thought with a gloomy expression.

 

This wasn’t as simple as just cutting off his head and eating him.

 

In a while, I would need to first skin and remove his hair, drain the blood and chop him into pieces, put them in boiling water to blanch, then add cooking wine, sprinkle in green onions, ginger, garlic, black pepper and other seasonings, slow cook on low heat for 2 hours until tender to make a savory soup.

 

At the same time, I can’t forget to add some vinegar at the right time, which would not only remove the gamey taste but also help break down the calcium in the bones, making the broth more nutritious, truly a finishing touch.

 

To preserve the natural freshness of the ingredients, I should add salt only after taking it off the heat.

 

Carlos, how dare you drop my pie on the ground and get my clothes dirty!

 

I’m going to eat you!

 

The killing intent churning in my heart and my vicious gaze even made Carlos, who was far away, shiver involuntarily and look around in confusion.

 

“Let me go! Let me go!”

 

The figure caught in his hand screamed shrilly, and Carlos impatiently punched them in the chest.

 

“Be quiet!”

 

Of course, he didn’t use much force, otherwise that punch would have killed them. After taking Carlos’s punch, the figure let out a groan and finally closed their mouth, probably too hurt to speak.

 

Carlos threw him in front of the Knight Commander, while weighing the seized package. Under the merchant’s fearful gaze, he brought it close to his nose to smell for a moment, then opened it to take a look, before raising his head with certainty in his eyes.

 

“We have both the criminal and evidence, it’s guguo grass leaves.”

 

The Knight Commander nodded upon hearing this, and his gaze toward the lead merchant was no longer indifferent, but turned fierce.

 

“Do you have anything else to explain to me?”

 

At this point, there was no point in denying anything. The lead merchant’s lips trembled, and after hesitating for a long time couldn’t say a single word, only continuously looking toward Carlos who had shown such overwhelming presence earlier, his expression filled with terror.

 

“Take them all away.”

 

The Knight Commander’s words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.

 

“What?! Respected Sir Knight, please tell us what exactly happened, what did that person do?”

 

“Yes, my lord, we don’t know anything! Why are we being taken away too?”

 

Some of the merchants seemed to still not understand the situation. Seeing the church knights preparing to take them all away, they immediately became panic-stricken.

 

Seeing the terror revealed on their faces, I felt somewhat sympathetic.

 

But I also understood the severity of this matter. Daring to traffic guguo grass right under the church’s nose, and even using the special transit route, the implications were clear without needing to be said. The orphanage was probably just a front, and taking everyone back for interrogation was undoubtedly the right choice to dig out the leads behind this.

 

The Knight Commander had no need to answer them, and after giving instructions to the knights, turned to leave.

 

I glanced at Carlos who was also preparing to leave, and quietly moved closer to him, planning to find a chance to first knock him out with a slap.

 

At this moment, an anomaly suddenly occurred.

 

Slightly flustered voices suddenly rang out from behind.

 

“Hey, what are you doing! Stop!”

 

“What is that guy doing?! Did he commit suicide?!”

 

Hearing the voices, I turned my head in shock.

 

I saw Lutz, who had been lying on the ground, now looked like he had taken a blood bath, with more than half his body dyed black-red. One hand painfully clutching his gurgling bleeding throat, the other hand wielding a dagger, repeatedly stabbing himself in the abdomen.

 

“Cough cough… ugh— heh… haha.”

 

The corners of his mouth pulled into a maniacal smile, appearing deranged.

 

A knight tried to approach to take away the dagger in his hand, to stop his self-mutilation, but unexpectedly was knocked back several steps by Lutz’s punch as soon as he got close.

 

The punch hitting the armor made a loud “clang”, actually denting it inward somewhat. That knight looked at the figure slowly standing up ahead in horror, his face full of disbelief.

 

“Clang clang clang——”

 

Seeing this, the other knights immediately drew their swords and pointed them at Lutz.

 

“Heh… haha…”

 

Lutz actually ignored the knights surrounding him, and just stood up swaying, his mouth opening and closing as if muttering something.

 

“Whoosh——”

 

Suddenly, there was a flash before my eyes as raging flames ignited from his body.

 

The color of those flames was unlike normal fire, being somewhat darker, intertwining with the blood to form a frightening crimson.

 

“…ugh—ah——!!”

 

Despite having his throat cut and being wrapped in such terrifying flames, Lutz let out a beast-like blood-curdling roar that was clearly not a scream of pain, but rather carried somewhat excited emotions.

 

He charged toward the knights.

 

“Crack crack crack——”

 

The next moment, intense freezing mist rushed forth, instantly extinguishing most of the flames on Lutz’s body. Fine frost spread out, in just a few seconds freezing half his body along with the blood on him.

 

At the same time, a bolt of lightning flashed overhead as Carlos suddenly appeared in mid-air, kicking toward Lutz’s head.

 

“Bzzt bzzt——bang!”

 

This time he aimed to kill with one strike, showing no mercy in his kick. The moment his foot made contact with the head, Lutz’s neck twisted to a bizarre angle, his body smashed into the snow by the tremendous force, rolling through the crowd before stopping in the snow over 10 meters away.

 

He didn’t move.

 

The flames on his body gradually extinguished.

 

People were stunned by this bizarre scene, and before they could come to their senses, another shout rang out.

 

“Ah——!!”

 

The lead merchant pulled out a dagger from his chest and charged at me while I was off guard.

 

Trying to target me first? Wrong choice.

 

I easily dodged the dagger swing with a sidestep, raised my delicate little hand and grabbed his face, forcefully pushing down.

 

With a muffled “thud”, I smashed his head directly into the snow. The snow wasn’t very thick and couldn’t provide much cushioning, this blow should have caused serious injury.

 

“Ah—ugh…”

 

The merchant let out a scream of pain but surprisingly still had strength to struggle. I immediately gripped his throat, while my other hand gripped empty air amidst rising blue light. A sharp ice spike aimed at his head, stopping just a hair’s breadth above his right eye.

 

Just a little force would pierce his eyeball.

 

“Don’t move,” I told him.

 

“Little Syl, don’t touch them!”

 

Carlos shouted, but before I could react, a fierce expression appeared on the merchant’s face as he threw his head back toward my ice spike.

 

“Squelch——”

 

The ice spike directly pierced the merchant’s eye socket. The sensation of a sharp weapon entering flesh came through, blood immediately spraying out, crimson droplets landing on my fair white hand.

 

The next moment, a wave of heat rushed forth as flames ignited on the merchant’s face.

 

The fire spread along the blood to my hand. I reacted quickly, immediately extinguishing the flames on my hand with frost while retreating two steps to distance myself from him.

 

Then I looked somewhat uncertainly at the lead merchant whose entire head was burning.

 

“What is this?”

 

“I’ll explain later, don’t hold back now, kill him,” Carlos told me.

 

Kill him? I felt some hesitation.

 

His face is already burned like that anyway, won’t he die soon enough without me doing anything?

 

However, the reality was exactly opposite to what I thought. The merchant suddenly stood up and pounced at me again, this time clearly several times faster than before.

 

“Tch.” Carlos clicked his tongue, pulled me aside, and kicked the merchant to the ground.

 

“Don’t show mercy to enemies.”

 

A large dent appeared in the merchant’s chest, clearly several ribs had been broken by the kick, but he seemed to feel nothing at all, quickly getting up to launch another suicide charge.

 

“Hiss hiss… cannot… fail…” The merchant’s face had been burned black, his lips fused together so he couldn’t even speak properly, looking absolutely horrifying.

 

“Whoosh——”

 

An ice spike pierced through the merchant’s right leg, immediately making him lose balance and fall. Then frost surged forth again, freezing his body stiff.

 

Carlos quickly stepped forward and kicked the merchant’s burning face like a football, sending him flying far away.

 

This time the merchant couldn’t stand up again, and the flames on his body gradually began to die out.

 

Carlos patted out the sparks on his pants leg, then turned to look at the still dazed Knight Commander.

 

“Take these people back and guard them strictly, don’t let any of them escape… Also, try not to let them bleed.”

 

“Sir Carlos, what was that just now?”

 

Carlos glanced at him and softly uttered a phrase.

 

“The Gate of Truth.”

 

The Knight Commander’s expression changed upon hearing this.

 

As if suddenly enlightened, he stopped speaking and turned to organize the aftermath, preparing to take these dazed-looking merchants back to camp.

 

I looked down at my hand that had been touched by the fire, it was a bit red and swollen but nothing serious. This kind of thing that barely qualified as an injury was insignificant to me.

 

Just felt a bit embarrassed. Silently following the group back to camp, only after getting on the carriage did I ask Carlos: “What is the Gate of Truth?”

 

“A group of heretics who worship demons, a crooked evil path. Under the banner of salvation, they offer their own blood as sacrifice to demons, attempting to exchange ‘blood sacrifice power’ for strength that can rival the gods… The Holy Church has conducted many purges against these heretics, but has never been able to completely eradicate them.” Carlos stared absently at the merchants being guarded in the distance, showing rare worry on his face. “Weren’t they always active in the Eastern Continent? Why would they appear here?”

 

“Demons?” I tilted my head, asking in confusion.

 

So this world not only has gods, but demons exist too?

 

“That’s right, demons. Although the heretics call it the God of Truth, anyway I stayed in the Eastern Continent for so many years and never figured out its true form, maybe it’s just a front… The only person who claimed to be a demon died by the Sword Saint’s hand over 20 years ago.”