Chapter 87: A Foreign Faith

"How does it feel?" Wang Yu looked at Avia, who had her eyes closed and was absorbing the unique atmosphere around her.

"It's strange. The environment here is unlike anything I've ever experienced. At least half of the void here overlaps with reality. While it can't compare to when the void god descended at Villa Mayene, it's still quite unique," Avia replied, opening her eyes. As she did so, a cluster of twinkling lights appeared around her, hovering and dancing in the air. This was one of the most basic spells in a wizard's repertoire: Starlight.

Even so, the difficulty of the spell increased exponentially with the number of stars. Controlling the trajectory of each star while balancing the distribution of void energy and maintaining proper runic structure required immense skill from the caster.

"Nineteen stars—it's so much easier to manipulate the void here than on the surface. I've already broken my best record. It's a very interesting place, and I think opening an alchemy workshop here will be a fantastic idea."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you had to come down here daily..." Charles, who was nearby, responded weakly. He had insisted on tagging along when he heard Wang Yu was with the Church of Nightfall, ostensibly to check out the workshop of future alchemy phenom Avia. Wang Yu had no objections and let him tag along.

Wang Yu suspected that Charles was just intrigued by the Eternal Darkness spell he used during his fight with the vampires.

After all, Wang Yu had mentioned that anyone who worshiped the Lady of the Night could receive her divine spells. Charles, a self-proclaimed impious believer in the god of light, probably felt compelled to make an appearance just to save face.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

As for why Charles seemed so lifeless, Wang Yu had a pretty good idea. He had read Charles' reports, which were thorough and detailed. However, Charles had subtly cast the Professor in a bad light throughout.

Not that it mattered much—Charles wasn't a malicious person. In the end, as a "reward" for his hard work, the Professor had given Charles with a mana crystal card worth twice his usual salary, specifically for purchasing supplies from the Nightblades' food vendor.

Said vendor was a professional military supply company that sold mostly dry rations. If Charles wanted to eat well, he was out of luck. Even selling the card would be nearly impossible, as trading military goods was illegal in Aleisterre.

This was especially problematic because, according to Daniel, Charles had severed ties with the Ryder family, leaving him without any source of income. He really was a poor guy.

Fortunately for Charles, Wang Yu was happy to consume those military supplies. He had bought the card from Charles, sparing him the indignity of busking at a tavern or on the streets.

Thinking back, Wang Yu recalled that he had once mentioned the Church of Nightfall to the Professor before. He had the sneaking suspicion that Sieg had orchestrated this chain of events, knowing Wang Yu would need large quantities of food and had no good sources of acquiring it.

At any rate, they had all come to the capital's shadow together. The Lady of the Night had asked Wang Yu to check on the situation here, and he was paying a visit now that he had some free time after completing a mission.

He reflected on the vision the Lady of the Night had sent him last time. It was strange, but he supposed it would be ultimately beneficial.

Ignoring Charles's grumbling, Wang Yu led Avia and him through the chaotic underground city. For convenience, as soon as they entered the capital's shadow—where the Lady of the Night's powers could be freely used—Wang Yu cast Concealment, one of the Lady's most basic divine spells.

Darkness flowed like water, enveloping the three of them and hiding them from sight. By deliberately avoiding main roads and gang territories, they were able to pass unnoticed.

However, passing through the smaller alleys inevitably exposed them to the grim realities of the underground city. Sudden assaults and robberies, gang battles spilling into the streets, and the occasional corpse or nearly-dead individual lying on the ground—it wasn't as though there was a daily bloodbath, but violence and greed were undeniably the most prominent aspects of the place.

Wang Yu was long accustomed to it. So was Avia after having spent so much time with him. While she found it unpleasant, it didn't weigh on her.

Charles, however, still frowned at these sights. This wasn't a bad thing; in a way, it showed he was the most normal among them.

After navigating through a series of small alleyways, they finally arrived at their destination: the Church of Nightfall, located at 7 Black Street. At first glance, it looked no different from before. There were gang members loitering about and people hurrying by with covered faces, focused on their own tasks.

However, Wang Yu had already spotted someone waiting for them at the street entrance. The figure's horns and dark skin stood out—a dark elf druid.

"Hello, I'm Wang Yu," he called out as he approached the druid, whose identity he had learned of in advance.

"Greetings. You must be Archbishop Wang Yu of the Church of Nightfall, whom Lady Darkness herself spoke to me about. Please allow me to extend my utmost respects. My name is Holo, and I'm a devoted follower of the Lady of the Night. Lady Darkness sent me to guide you."

The druid bowed deeply before introducing himself.

"Darkness" was the name the Lady of the Night used among her followers. When she had asked Wang Yu to suggest a name, he had come up with the uninspired "Darkness." To his surprise, she liked it.

After all, it would be too shocking for a god to appear personally in her own church. Some form of disguise had been necessary.

Within the church, Lady Darkness held a status akin to that of a saintess. Since she was the deity herself, no one else could possibly claim the title.

Holo had joined the church by chance. In this world, dark elves were as poorly regarded as they were in the fantasy literature of Earth. They tended to be shunned and persecuted.

Most of the stigma stemmed from the dark elves of the Sunken Swamp, but the entire race was tainted by association. Reality was harsh and prejudice rife, exacerbated as it was by the limited flow of information in this world.

Dark elves were generally unwelcome in most cities. Their aversion to sunlight made it even harder for them to find work. Only places like the capital's shadow—vast underground spaces—were suited to them.

Even so, few dark elves could make their way into Aleisterre, let alone its underground city. Holo had managed to reach the capital's shadow by pure coincidence.

This underground city had supposedly been constructed by Aleisterre's royal family to house the kingdom's sea of consciousness. It was part of Aleisterre proper, and naturally had robust security measures.

Even so, it was inevitable that underground rivers and cave systems would exist in a space as massive as this one. Holo had entered through one of these rivers, which flowed from the surface into the capital's shadow.

"I am an apostate..." Holo's tone grew somber and sorrowful as he spoke, though his words carried an undercurrent of joy at the newfound salvation he had discovered.

"I betrayed the church of the God of Nature—but I don't think I was wrong to do so. What they do is not the will of nature." He clenched his fists, his emotions evident. Though he appeared to be in his fifties, as an elf, he was likely over two hundred years old.

As they walked, Wang Yu had wondered why a druid like Holo wanted to join the Church of Nightfall. The idea of a member of another race joining this obscure little church piqued his interest.

"We were originally a branch of dark elves living in the Sorensen Mountains. Despite having been exiled, I still cherish those days..." The druid's voice was filled with nostalgia.

The druid's account allowed Wang Yu to gradually piece together the story of his life and of the tribe of dark elves to which he belonged.

They were a secluded community of dark elves that had once lived in the Sorensen Mountains. Except for their preference for darker, shadowy places, they were not much different from other reclusive elves.

Their faith was straightforward—they believed both in the ancestral spirits and the God of Nature. However, Holo preferred to say that he was devoted to nature itself.

He delighted in listening to the voice of nature, communicating with plants and animals, and seeking ways to live in harmony with the natural world. Nature deeply fascinated him; this was the main reason he became a druid.

He fondly remembered those tranquil days, and the changes that followed were all the more sorrowful as a result.

At some point, a frightening corruption had emerged within the depths of the Sorensen Mountains. Wherever it spread, animals perished and vegetation withered. Every day, Holo could hear the agonizing cries of the affected lifeforms.

He had tried to stop the corruption using his own powers, only to fail utterly. He was far too weak to combat a force capable of consuming an entire mountain range. Even his most potent druidic magic couldn't save a single forest being overtaken by corruption.

The same was true for the other druids. Faced with this widespread blight, the guardians of nature seemed powerless.

With the forest dwindling and its ancient guardians dying, Holo and several younger members of their community opted to relocate—only to be met with staunch opposition by their elders. To them, their ancestral land was more important than anything else.

The dispute persisted until the Church of the God of Nature made a discovery: life itself could halt the spread of corruption. Killing creatures along the border of the corrupted area and burying their "life essence" in the ground could prevent the corruption from advancing.

In the end, the elders' proposal became the community's course of action. By hunting wild animals and burying them on the edge of the corruption, the tribe avoided the need for relocation.

But over time, the corruption demanded more and more life to be contained. What began as sustainable hunting gradually turned excessive and eventually reached a fever pitch.

At some point, the church of the God of Nature shifted its targets. Realizing that overhunting would harm the forest ecosystem, the dark elves started hunting other races—orcs, goblins, even lone dwarves and humans. They discovered that the life essence of sentient beings was more effective in satiating the corruption's appetite, leading to even more frequent hunting.

To the Church, these beings were not part of nature and their deaths thus carried no moral weight. However, to Holo and some of his fellow dark elves, this was simply unacceptable.

Holo was sickened to see the lifeless bodies of sentient creatures, eyes wide open in death, consumed by the corruption. He was revulsed. Surely this wasn't right. He tried to voice his opposition to the archdruid.

In response, his peers looked at him as if he were insane, as though he were the one in the wrong.

Holo felt that the dark elves had gone mad, that the mountains had drained them of their sanity. He chose to flee with a few like-minded dark elves.

Unexpectedly, the church of the God of Nature decided to take extreme action against him. A day after Holo raised his concerns, he was captured and branded a heretic.

For a believer, such a brand meant permanent exile from any other sect. Holo would forevermore be an apostate, shunned and disgraced.

Meanwhile, the other dark elves who had intended to escape with Holo were exposed by a traitor within their ranks.

The church began to hunt their own kind, seeing the elimination of "heretics" as a way to protect nature. These renegades would be killed, and their life essence buried at the edge of the corruption.

Cornered, the heretics made a desperate attempt to escape. Most were captured, killed, and buried to feed the corruption.

A rare few, including Holo—thanks to his considerable skill and a stroke of luck—managed to flee. He even brought along his own family.

Even so, the church's hunt continued. Fanatics relentlessly pursued these "heretics" in hopes of killing them and offering their life essence to the corrupted land.

Holo and his family spent a long time in hiding. Their identities as dark elves and brands as heretics made it impossible to seek refuge in other settlements or cities. They could only evade the church's pursuit by hiding in the forests around the outskirts of Sorensen.

One day, having made a mistake and revealed themselves, Holo and his family were cornered and forced to dive into a raging river that wound through the forest. They vanished into its depths.

By what could only be described as a small miracle of fate, they survived. Through the underground river, they emerged in the capital's shadow.

"Your Grace, as you know, a dark elf like me, with no protection and a heretic's brand, doesn't stand much of a chance in a place like this," Holo spoke bitterly and helplessly.

"I was fortunate to find myself accepted by a church with extraordinary scripture and faith." Holo bowed deeply, drawing Wang Yu's gaze forward.

Wang Yu's eyes widened as he glanced before him.