The Healing Solaris Cleric

Chapter 207: The Man of Darkness (3)

Chapter 207: The Man of Darkness (3)

At the twin peaks in the Tuhara Desert, a man standing on the right peak muttered quietly, "Impressive."

The man emitted a dark aura as if his entire body was enveloped in darkness. He was looking right through the desert sandstorms at the Holy Blood Order battling several kilometers away. His eyesight was truly unbelievable.

"Hmm. Judging by the holy power they're using, they must be some dregs from the Solarian Church," the priest on the left peak responded.

He looked reluctant to deal with the man of darkness.

Why would the Church send me to assist such an uncontrollable piece of trash...?

This priest was a first-rank priest of the Church of Muldine. Even though he had been thoroughly indoctrinated since he was young, he couldn’t help but question the Church’s decision this time.

He’s a scoundrel who doesn’t even believe in Muldine. And I have no idea what he’s even thinking.

However, the Church had ordered him to support the man completely. While his promotion to first-rank priest at a young age promised further advancement, at this moment, he had no choice but to obey orders.

As the priest suppressed his annoyance and groaned, the dark man asked again, "But those holy paladins' skills are quite impressive. Did the Solarian Church always have a force like that?"

"I don’t know."

"Didn’t you say just recently that the main branch of the Solarian Church was under the Church of Muldine's influence?"

"Well, there was a minor issue. We plan to reclaim it soon, so don’t concern yourself with it."

"Well, that’s your business, so I won’t say anything more. Just make sure nothing interferes with the plan."

"You don’t need to remind me. Even the Church is quite interested in the revival of the Demon King."

"Hmm." The dark man slowly turned his head and stared at the priest.

Noticing his gaze, the priest furrowed his brows, and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. Nothing important..."

The dark man raised his left arm, casually waving his hand. Suddenly, a black hand emerged from the peak where the priest was standing, and grabbed him.

Startled, the priest struggled, and said with rage, "W-what are you doing?! The Church of Muldine and the Demon King’s followers are supposed to be in an alliance—"

"As you said, we’re in an alliance, but that doesn’t mean I’m part of the Church of Muldine."

"If my tone was unpleasant, I apologize."

Barely concealing his irritation, the priest offered an apology, and the dark man gave a sly grin.

"Since it’s the first time and you apologized, I’ll forgive you. But be more careful from now on."

Snap!

As the dark man snapped his fingers, the black hand extended and brought the priest directly in front of him.

"W-what the..."

"Hm? I’m just gonna take one of your fingers since it’s the first time."

At the dark man’s nonchalant response, the priest said in anger, "Don’t be ridiculous! If the higher-ups in the Church hear about this—"

"Oh, will that be a problem? Well, I guess there’s no other choice then." The dark man showed deep regret in his expression, and slowly waved his right hand. "Goodbye."

"What do you mean by...?! Aaargh!"

Crunch! Crunch!

In an instant, the black hand transformed into the shape of a mouth and devoured the priest, leaving no trace behind. On the left peak, not a single drop of blood or scrap of flesh remained.

The black hand, having finished its meal, licked its lips before slowly vanishing.

"Hm. Much quieter now."

The dark man showed no reaction as he killed the priest.

Instead, he muttered to himself, feeling refreshed, “Contact the Church. Tell them to send someone new. Oh! And it would be nice if they could send someone with a bit more manners this time.”

At his words, an eagle hovering in mid-air flapped its wings and disappeared.

“Now then...”

After one hour, two hours, and finally four hours of watching the Holy Blood Order, the dark man put on an alluring smile.

“Hm. So, I’ve gauged their strength. That’s about the extent of it.”

With a look that suggested he had figured everything out, he slowly raised both hands.

“If that’s all they’ve got, they won’t withstand this attack.”

Like a maestro conducting an orchestra, his hands moved in intricate motions.

Snap! Snap!

The sound of two snaps pierced through the howling of the desert sandstorm. At the same time, a fierce sandstorm began to rise from below the twin peaks.

Rumble.

Like musical notes emerging at the conductor’s command, over five hundred monsters sprang out, charging toward the Holy Blood Order.

“When you crush a sprout, you need to know the size of the sprout and the depth of its roots precisely.”

Only then would there be no loose ends. The man of darkness had no doubt that the monsters would secure victory.

***

Slash!

Kai’s sharp blade made a clean cut through a desert scorpion corrupted by dark energy from head to tail.

[You have defeated the Demonically Corrupted Desert Scorpion.]

[+307,413 XP.]

Kai brushed his sweat-drenched hair back and let out a sigh. He didn’t feel tired thanks to his Reaper of the Battlefield title, but sweat still poured down like rain. Of course, he was the only one with such monstrous stamina on the battlefield.

“Huff, huff!”

“Are there normally this many monsters in the Tuhara Desert?”

“They just keep coming!”

“How many hours has it been?!”

The Holy Blood Order had been in the Tuhara Desert for four hours, fighting continuously without rest. Since they were highly skilled individuals, they had already defeated over a hundred monsters. Thanks to this, Kai, who was leading them, even leveled up once.

For now, things are manageable thanks to everyone’s stats being boosted by the Commander of the Holy Blood Order title effect, but...

Kai glanced frustratedly at the dust cloud rising once again in the distance. That dust cloud, which they had already seen several times, signaled the approach of yet another wave of monsters.

“Here they come again.”

“Commander, something about this doesn’t feel right,” Jafa, the member of the Holy Blood Order from Havier, approached Kai and said with a serious expression. “The Tuhara Desert is indeed a dangerous place. Its terrain is treacherous, its climate strange, and it’s highly susceptible to dark energy.”

"Right. I can tell it's a dangerous place after facing it."

“However, I’ve never heard of monsters swarming like this.”

“What do you mean?”

When Kai turned to look at him, Jafa swallowed and replied, “Isn’t it strange to you? Monsters typically act on instinct. When they’re hungry, they attack prey; when they’re tired, they sleep. And corrupted by dark energy, the monsters in the Tuhara Desert should be even more instinct-driven than usual.”

“Get to the point.”

“If we were simply unlucky enough to have this many monsters nearby, they would have all attacked us at once.”

Kai furrowed his brows at Jafa’s words.

All at once?

As he took a moment to slowly retrace his thoughts, his expression instantly hardened.

Indeed. If these creatures were just ordinary field monsters, this wouldn’t make any sense.

Fundamentally, monsters knew the concept of territory. As a result, they didn’t hesitate to fight other groups of monsters that invaded their habitat. However, the monsters that had attacked the Holy Blood Order so far had never once attacked each other.

I just assumed they happened to come from different directions by coincidence, so I hadn’t really thought about it...

But after hearing Jafa’s words, the situation seemed very suspicious.

Rather than assuming only the Tuhara Desert has some sort of bug...

It made more sense to consider that someone could be controlling the monsters.

In fact, those we’re pursuing are the kind who treat monsters as their own army.

Kai urgently looked back at Jafa and asked, “Jafa, is there any way to control monsters corrupted by dark energy?”

“I’m not so sure... Oh! Come to think of it...” Jafa, who had been watching the approaching cloud of sand, swallowed hard and said, “Commander, do you know why there’s so much dark energy in the Tuhara Desert?”

“It’s the place where the Demon King was resurrected.”

“That’s right. This place has always been a treacherous land, feared by even a nation’s army and powerful mercenaries. For that reason, the Demon King’s followers hid here and carried out the resurrection. As a result, this desert became cursed, with dark energy flowing through it all year long. But there have been strange rumors circulating for some time now.”

“Strange rumors?”

“Most Demon Kings possessed powerful abilities to control monsters. It’s why the world would tremble in fear of destruction the moment a Demon King appeared. There were rumors that some of the Demon King’s followers awakened similar powers to control monsters, though it’s never been proven.”

“Followers controlling monsters?”

"It’s not something we can dismiss so easily. There are many notorious dark wizards among those who follow the Demon King.”

A Demon King who controlled monsters, followers of such a king, and now, a mysterious force that controlled monsters.

It all connects somehow.

Kai believed Jafa's theory, even if it might just be a mere hypothesis. After all, it aligned with the events currently unfolding, and as always, his unique intuition warned him.

Always assume the worst-case scenario. If the monsters we’ve been facing were all controlled by someone...

Kai questioned why the enemy sent the monsters in waves instead of all at once.

If it were me, I’d never do it this way.

Sending all the monsters at once would have been far more effective, but the enemy had sent them in small, spaced-out waves.

Then Jafa added, "Moreover, the members are mentally exhausted. Being from the desert, I can hold out fairly well, but... damn it. It feels like some kind of training exercise—why are they sending the monsters in this way?"

“You’re right. It’s almost like... wait, training?”

Kai’s eyes sparkled as he muttered the word training repeatedly.

Training, training... Right. If the opponent was poking at us like this, using repeated trials to gauge our capabilities...?

Kai instinctively realized his thoughts were correct. The fact that the monsters sent at them had been of different types every time meant something simple.

They’re trying to find out our weaknesses, to see what situations wear us down the most.

What a terrifyingly meticulous enemy!

Kai broke into a cold sweat as he gazed at the approaching cloud of sand, sensing the wicked intent of his opponent.

If I were them...

If evaluating the capabilities of the Holy Blood Order was the purpose, then the past four hours would have provided more than enough samples. Meaning, the enemy had only one option left to choose at this moment.

“W-wait a minute. What is that?!”

“Commander! The monsters... The monsters!”

“Dang it, there's no end in sight!”

“There must be at least five hundred of them!”

It was a fierce offensive meant to cut the lifeline of the Holy Blood Order.