320 Chapter 320: Dark Fores (2/2)
”…you're right! They are out of their natural habitat! How did they get here?!”
Gabriella gasped when she realized that he was right. Ducking under the ungainly punch of a Grotesque before she kicked it, she scowled. Lashing out with an electric whip, she electrocuted the staggering Grotesque and sent its smoking corpse toppling to the ground.
”Don't tell me…”
”Yeah.” Gabriel glanced up at the dark shadow who was concealing himself very well beneath the trees. ”The Dark Church is involved.”
Gabriella smiked. ”Do you want the honors, or you want to let me try?”
”I'll take care of the Grotesques. You get the guy.” Gabriel grinned at his beloved. ”You have quite the way of handling guys, after all.”
”Roger that!”
”Leave this to me and go!” Taking a deep breath, Gabriel raised his sword. ”Enryuu Kagutsuchi!”
In a moment, the entire clearing vanished in an immense inferno. A fiery dragon emerged from the flames, bellowing ferociously before incinerating the remaining horde of Grotesques in an instant. Even though the ranking system wasn't absolute, it still served as a good estimate. After all, it was still difficult for a single ant to bite an elephant to death (of course, a cobra could still kill an elephant with a single bite, so…).
As the Grotesques burned, Gabriella was lunging out of the clearing, leaving the hellish inferno behind her. She shot toward the dark shape. The Dark Church dude recoiled, realizing that he had bitten off more than he could chew, and turned tail to run.
”Oh no, you don't!”
Gabriella gleefully lashed out with her whip, which curled around the guy and ensnared him tightly. The panicking hooded figure toppled over with a crash, cursing and swearing under his breath, but found his restraints indomitable. Realizing that he couldn't break free, the Assassin rolled over the ground and gritted his teeth.
”Now then…we'll have a few questions for you.” Gabriella held onto her whip tightly, refusing to relinquish her prey. Behind her, Gabriel and his Soul Beast finished the last of the Grotesques – not that there were many left after Enryuu Kagutsuchi's summon – and proceeded toward their newly captured hostage.
”Don't dismiss your Soul Beast just yet,” Gabriella told him. ”We'll need him to transport this guy back to base.”
”Yeah….” Gabriel began, but his eyes widened and he rushed toward the Dark Church dude. Gabriella blinked at his sudden movements.
”What is it, Gabriel?”
”Damn it! We're too late!”
”…huh?”
Gabriella studied her lover, looking utterly confused. She then moved her gaze toward the motionless hostage.
And then she realized something was amiss. The guy was too lifeless. Even if she had electrocuted him – and she didn't – he shouldn't be so still.
”He killed himself.” Gabriel knelt next to the Dark Church guy and tilted his head to study him. Foam covered his lips, and his eyes were rolled up in their sockets, showing only whites. Gabriel slightly pried the mouth open and grimaced. ”I knew it. He crushed the poison capsule in his mouth to terminate his own life.”
”Did he really need to go that far?” Gabriella inquired, her voice a whisper. ”I heard they were zealots, but…”
”It's not unusual. Faith can drive people to do remarkable things. Both amazing things and horrible things.”
Gabriel was neither an atheist nor religious. He was…well, probably agnostic, if he had to describe himself. While he was aware of the atrocities that certain extremists committed in the name of religion, he also knew of the many charitable things that pious people did for the poor, the vulnerable and the innocent. Just like any other system, religion was exposed to both good and bad people, and could be used for both good and bad.
Unfortunately, a lot atheists enjoyed focusing only on the atrocities and completely ignoring the good that religion did. On the other side of the coin, you had zealous proselytizers who seriously believed that non-believers in their ”one, true religion” would go to hell and regarded non-followers condescendingly. Gabriel was neutral toward religion, fortunately.
But the Dark Church wasn't a religion. It was…well, a cult. A doomsday cult packed full of nutjobs and maniacs.
”We'll report this back to base.” Gabriel sighed. Another bust, huh? If they could have captured the Dark Church dude alive and prevent him from killing himself, they might have been able to interrogate him. Even if he refused to talk, they should have truth serums that would make him…well, submissive. Of course they would have to ask him questions, unlike what Kippo believed, truth serums didn't make people talk automatically. It was just tedious to go through an interrogation scene, so I skipped those details. But questions were asked, and…well, I would leave the other details to your imagination. Feel free to indulge in your grisly fantasies, or stay safe in more comfortable territory.
Gabriel glanced at the forest and sighed again. He wondered if his sister, Lilith would be assigned to this city along with her team. Even though he knew it was irrational, he prayed that she wouldn't. This place seemed dangerous.
However, Gabriel knew that every venue was equally dangerous. He was willing to bet that the other mercenaries and patrol teams in the other sectors had their own run-ins with elements of the Dark Church. He prayed that they would have better luck capturing a Dark Church operative. Even a single apprehended target could yield invaluable information.
”We're going into this blind,” he complained softly to himself. ”There's too many things we don't know.”
”Huh? What did you say?”
Gabriel shook his head and smiled reassuringly at a concerned Gabriella. She had been watching him the entire time, worried by how pensive he had gotten.
”No, nothing.” He straightened and glanced around the forest. ”I'm hoping we'll be able to root out the Dark Church before the tournament begins. That's all.”