Chapter 20: The Purge! Eradicating the Cult of the False God

“Lord Mora, what orders do you have for me?” Falss, the deputy commander of the Royal Capital Knights, arrived promptly at Mo Xuanyu’s office upon receiving the command.

Mo Xuanyu was leafing through the dossier sent by the Sun King—a strange man with black eyes, belonging to a niche cult of an evil deity, numbering around twenty members.

In response to Falss’s puzzled look, Mo Xuanyu handed him the file.

“The Sun King’s secret order is to exterminate all heretics before dawn tomorrow.”

Heretics?

The moment Falss heard that word, his expression turned grave. “Understood, Lord Mora. How many men should I prepare?”

“Bring all the senior knights. This mission must be kept strictly confidential. Do you understand?” Mo Xuanyu said as he grabbed his coat from the nearby rack.

“Yes!” Falss nodded solemnly.

At dusk, the senior knights, cloaked in black, rode their warhorses out of the city under cover of darkness.

According to intelligence, the cult’s stronghold was located in a small seaside town not far from the capital.

The Sun King had not disclosed the nature of these cultists’ connection to him—only that Mo Xuanyu was to lead the operation and eliminate every last one.

“There must be some secret hidden among these cultists,” Mo Xuanyu mused silently atop his galloping steed, glancing at Mo Xiao beside him and mouthing a silent message.

Mo Xiao was sharp; he understood immediately, pulling his horse back to the rear of the formation.

After about half an hour’s ride, they reached the small town called Caslena by the sea.

The town was modest, its livelihood dependent on fishing, with dilapidated wooden houses dominating the landscape.

The only prominent structure was a white church perched on the edge of a coastal cliff.

The pounding hooves of the horses echoed through the town, yet what puzzled Mo Xuanyu was that every door and window stood wide open—yet not a single soul stirred.

The entire town lay in deathly silence.

Still, the knights pressed forward without hesitation.

They were the elite under the Sun King—corruption or not, their loyalty was unquestionable. They would gladly die if the Sun King so commanded.

Moreover, any senior knight stationed in the capital had fought their way through mountains of corpses—how could they fear a mere strange little town?

They halted slowly before the church. Mo Xuanyu dismounted and swept the church inside and out with his gaze before ordering, “Prepare for battle.”

“Yes!” The knights drew their weapons, spears and heavy swords alike.

If an adventurer had come here, they would have cautiously probed around, trying to unlock the sealed doors or find another route, as though in some horror puzzle game.

But the knights did not bother with such trifles.

Faced with the locked doors, a towering man clad in heavy armor—easily over two meters tall—stepped forward.

Warming up briefly, he swung his massive hammer with a running start, smashing the church doors with a thunderous crash.

The heavy wooden doors shattered into splinters.

Inside, the congregants praying were thrown off balance by the sudden assault.

As the dust settled and moonlight poured in, Mo Xuanyu stepped through the ruined doors, followed closely by Falss and the senior knights, their eyes cold and ruthless beneath their helmets.

“By order of the Sun King, we have come to execute the heretic cultists,” Mo Xuanyu declared coldly.

Among the gathered worshippers, his eyes immediately found that same strange man he had seen before.

He shrugged off his cloak and drew the sword at his waist, speaking with quiet menace, “You’d best not resist foolishly.”

At last, the cultists came to their senses. They were merely timid townsfolk, frightened and ill-prepared. The sudden appearance of the knights nearly sent them into fainting fits.

“Bishop Sarr! What should we do?!” one cried.

The only calm figure among them was the strange man—the Bishop Sarr.

He looked leisurely at Mo Xuanyu, the knights’ leader, and sneered hoarsely, “Heh… the Sun King.”

“I taught him the secret of surpassing limits—this is how he repays me?”

Suddenly, Sarr’s voice rose to a deafening scream.

Whizz!

An arrow shot from a senior knight’s crossbow pierced through Sarr’s throat, abruptly cutting off his sonic assault.

Sarr stumbled back, clutching the bloodied wound—not red blood, but black.

The senior knights were no strangers to facing the supernatural; surprise attacks were futile before them.

“Heh… hahaha!” Sarr burst into manic laughter, his hoarse voice enough to chill any normal person to the bone.

But the knights’ muscle-bound warriors were unfazed. Three of them stepped forward, raised their flintlock guns, and fired simultaneously, striking Sarr’s head with brutal precision until it exploded in a bloody mess.

Yet even after his head was shattered, the flesh on his neck writhed and began to regenerate.

“A regenerative supernatural ability. Keep firing!” Falss snarled. He would not give Sarr a moment to recover.

The knights fired in coordinated volleys, relentless, until Sarr’s entire body was a bloody ruin.

Smoke hung in the air at Mo Xuanyu’s nostrils; his expression grew grave.

[You have triggered a hidden challenge quest.]

[Due to your actions, the World’s Will has taken notice and granted you partial information on the target.]

Name: Sarr

Identity: Bishop of the Hell Monastery

Strength: 19

Agility: 15

Constitution: 20

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 1

…

Skill 1:

Flesh and Pain: Level Max (Active) — Bishop Sarr worships pain and flesh, chanting infernal verses that inflict extreme agony and hallucinations on all within range.

Skill 2:

Gate of Hell: Level Max (Active) — Sarr opens the gates of Hell, summoning demonic apostles from Leviathan’s realm into the world.

Skill 3:

Demonic Scale Armor: Level 20 (Passive) — Baptized by Hell, Sarr’s body grows non-human scales offering immense defense.

Skill 4:

Combat Mastery: Level 40 (Passive) — Beast-like instincts grant Sarr terrifying close-combat prowess.

…

The knights had exhausted their ammunition, yet through the rising dust, Bishop Sarr slowly rose, his bones cracking audibly.

His skin had turned pale, covered with gray-white scales; his gaunt figure was skeletal, eyes glowing crimson; bony spikes protruded from his exposed spine.

He opened his mouth, reciting distorted, hoarse verses that grated harshly like metal being scraped.

Those closest to him—ordinary cultists—were the first to suffer; unable to endure the hellish incantations, their heads exploded like ripe melons.

Even the knights with supernatural gifts clutched their heads and fell to their knees, their insides feeling as if being torn apart inch by inch.

Mo Xuanyu covered his ears, drew his “Twilight Mourner” from his waist, and fired at Sarr.

Boom!

The explosive round interrupted Sarr’s chanting, but he paid no heed. Using his own blood, he drew an inverted cross at his feet, and the gates of Hell slowly opened.

Countless fiends from Leviathan’s domain burst forth from the magic circle, possessing the corpses of the fallen cultists, transforming them into horrific monsters.

“Wake up, all of you!” Falss shouted, rallying the knights from their torment.

Fortunately, these were senior knights with strong wills; they quickly regained their fighting spirit and charged at the abominations with weapons raised.

“I’ll take the bishop,” Mo Xuanyu called to Falss, dodging the monsters and sprinting toward Sarr.

“Cover the captain!” Falss swung his heavy sword horizontally, cleaving a leaping monster in two.

Mo Xuanyu reached Sarr, who showed no fear. Bone spikes sprouted from his hands as he met Mo Xuanyu’s charge head-on.

Statistically, Mo Xuanyu and Sarr shared equal strength, but Mo Xuanyu’s agility was three points higher, and he possessed swordsmanship expertise. Logically, he should have no trouble defeating Sarr.

Yet, though Sarr’s agility was lacking, his constitution was a staggering 20—the maximum in this world.

Combined with his Demonic Scale Armor, his defense was nearly impenetrable.

Mo Xuanyu’s repeated strikes against Sarr’s arms and head barely cracked the gray scales, their resistance formidable.

Within ten minutes, they had exchanged hundreds of blows; Mo Xuanyu’s hands had gone numb, and he had only managed to split a small fissure in Sarr’s head scales.

Meanwhile, the “Voidbreaker” sword in his hand had developed several cracks.

This was a green-quality weapon—considered divine arms in the Nora Kingdom.

The battle inside the church had reached a fever pitch. Bloodlust consumed the knights.

One wielding a warhammer smashed a monster into a bloody pulp.

Seeing this, Mo Xuanyu’s mind sparked with inspiration.

He closed in again on Bishop Sarr, relentlessly hacking at his head.

Though the gray-white scales boasted excellent defense, after hundreds of strikes, cracks began to appear.

Sarr too was going mad; his bone spikes clashed fiercely against the blade, shattering the green-quality sword in two.

Yet Mo Xuanyu did not retreat.

He discarded his shortsword, seizing the moment of Sarr’s exhaustion, and stepped forward.

His right hand, adorned with the Demonic Gauntlet, clenched tightly as he delivered a powerful uppercut to Sarr’s chin.

[Demonic Gauntlet (Hand)]

Equipment Effect: +3 Strength, +50% hand strike power; features a self-cleaning function to maintain elegance at all times.

Question: With a 50% increase in hand strike power, what type of attack is most suitable?