Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 1272: Chapter 695: I Am the Flame (Finale) (2)

He seemed to see a person holding a torch moving forward in the darkness... Those followers were like burning torches, silently but radiating light and heat, delivering the saints here.

The church’s people entered the dungeon through the Door of Oblivion, maintaining a strong core during that time thanks to the followers’ sacrifices.

Moreover, the dungeon then did not have as many bizarre Flesh Monsters as now, and even if there were, they found it hard to resist such powerful beings.

They cleared one level, then camped here to study how to break the ritual.

However, don’t assume the church’s people only engage in prayer; they have stronger channels to acquire Extraordinary information than any Supernatural Organization, with deeper accumulation, and notably have saints among them.

In their research on the dungeon, they obviously discovered the Ancestor’s ritual and devised a plan to disrupt it.

On the next level, there are three cores, which are weaknesses of the ritual, and breaking them could end this calamity.

But they fell into a dilemma: everyone could see the cores, the Ancestor wasn’t foolish and surely made preparations.

Near those cores were strong ritual protections, so special tools were required to break the ritual.

Without much hesitation, they made a choice. Three Legendary figures cut off their left hands, crafting three [Hands of Praise].

Lance, upon seeing this, naturally turned his gaze to the seated corpses, noticing they all indeed lacked left hands, except for the saint who had both hands intact.

This does not imply that the saint was hypocritical; rather, the tool required his creation.

Logically, activating the tools should destroy the cores and end all this.

But the issue is the Ancestor wouldn’t just watch them fail; considering the church’s power, he might only underestimate the saint.

However, by this point, confrontation between both sides was inevitable.

No one could tell Lance how frightening the Ancestor, who devoured a city, was, but clearly the church’s people retreated back here before finishing the second level.

It might also be due to their power declining after making the [Hands of Praise], but discussing this now is pointless.

At that time, realizing defeat, the saint wrote down cause and effect, leaving tools and methods to break the Sacrifice Ritual, hoping future generations would fulfill this task.

In simple terms, even though the saint realized they’re powerless to solve it, it’s "trusting in the descendants’ wisdom" to leave these things behind.

Using their last strength, they set up seals to buy more time for future generations.

Why doesn’t Lance call the saint hypocritical? Because ultimately, the saint ignited himself...

"I am the flame," a slogan repeated many times, yet they undeniably achieved it.

Today it seems more like a belief. They feared neither evil nor death, even willing to ignite themselves and transform into flames.

To suppress and seal that evil, relying solely on three Legendaries and various tools was insufficient; the true core was the saint.

Even if Lance does not particularly like the church, he cannot erase their accomplishments.

Exaggeratingly speaking, Hamlet’s ability to breathe relies on the saint’s legacy; if he hadn’t burned himself to seal the Ancestor, things might have become far more complicated.

Now Lance understands why the Ancestor hasn’t appeared; he was sealed by the saint.

No wonder he made so many arrangements: Legendary equipment, chaotic fearsome creatures, a host of priests, all aimed at wearing down and breaking the saint’s seal.

Seeing the Sanctuary’s influence, perhaps the Ancestor only needed a bit more time to succeed, but unfortunately, Lance unexpectedly emerged, disrupting it all.

The Flesh Rite was destroyed, all Heretic Priests dead, chaotic fearsome creatures freed and fled, only the seal remained.

Lance now faces two choices: stop here, join the church to maintain the seal, essentially nailing the Ancestor in the coffin; unless removed, he can do nothing.

This way, he wouldn’t need to risk further ventures and could comfortably spend his remaining days, leaving future matters to imagine descendants’ wisdom; after his death, why care about the flood?

However, the Sacrifice Ritual persists, and even if they reinforce the saint’s seal, it’s a problem of spreading thin resources.

No matter the final outcome, as long as death persists on Hamlet’s land, perhaps in decades or centuries, eventually the Ancestor would break the seal.

Lance’s crisis awareness and compulsive nature won’t allow him to accept these conditions; who wishes to live in constant anxiety? Better to take this chance to break the seal and destroy the Ancestor.

He acknowledges the saint and other’s sacrifices for securing time for Hamlet and the world, but it doesn’t mean he would ally with the church.

Unlike religious forces in his understanding, here exists Supernatural Power; the strength of feudalism and religion keeps the world mired for millennia, showing no hope for ordinary people.

Truly letting the church intervene and putting a "savior" veneer on them would only complicate matters, making it difficult to deal with.

In Lance’s eyes, both the Ancestor and the church are parasites, sucking blood from humans to fulfill their indulgences.

The difference is one seeks humanity’s destruction, the other seeks to keep humanity eternally downtrodden.

To choose one turd from two? Lance would flip the table and scatter both.

I screw you all up!

Lance hesitated momentarily, collected everything, then turned to leave the Sanctuary’s light.

"These were powerful church figures seeking to break the ritual during Hamlet’s great disaster but failed here, instead sealed by heretic followers, only struggling to maintain..."

Lance couldn’t outright deny their existence, but he could cleverly weaken or even negate their roles.

What would have been a grand "holy war" was twisted by Lance into a failure of those unable to combat even one level, sealed by heretics as luckless souls.

Though unfair to them, the saint himself never said anything.

"These fellows are weak~," Boudica starkly commented upon hearing that, "We fought through it."

Amanda rolled her eyes at Boudica’s words; without the Lord, their fate wouldn’t differ much, perhaps except they’d have whole bodies.

Not to mention the swarm of Heretic Priests, even the Limping Walker would challenge them terribly; excluding the Lord, who could face such monsters? Who could tame them?

But she remained perplexed, as many doubts lingered, although she refrained from pursuit due to Lance’s influence.

Audrey cared little about this, often targeted by church hunts due to her Tomb Robber status, lacking much reverence or pity.

Lance glanced at their reactions, sensing his Enchanting Voice had taken effect, inducing them into uncritical acceptance.

Thus, Lance could breathe and simultaneously digest this experience.

The scroll following was haphazard likely due to time constraints but mentioned the upcoming dangers and terrors.

Moreover, despite the Ancestor’s constraint by the seal, he had the Sect of Ascension’s entire evil cult as henchmen, continuously bringing bizarre Flesh Monsters in.

Undoubtedly, the Dark Dungeon’s current state plunged him into thought, as the enemy’s strength would increase progressively through deeper depths.

Hence, Lance needs to unite with the Limping Walker, any leverage could tilt the balance in his favor.

Yet, he hesitates moving forward...

"What do we do next?"

Amanda’s call stirred Lance from his thoughts, observing everyone maintaining resilient, though tired, spirits and instantly gesturing with a smile.

"Mission accomplished; let’s go home."

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