Gun of Ashes Chapter 309 5 What is Fear

The vocabulary from past mories was brought up again, as if reaching the present through mories once more.

Lorenzo looked at everyone, his gaze heavy and cold.

It was as if the language possessed magic power. Accompanied by Lorenzo's gentle narration, an unknown force slowly bred in places that the fierce flas could not illuminate,

"We spent several days to reach that town. They called themselves Valley Town. Due to its inaccessibility and the eerie fog that enveloped it, the locals had an odd, morbid aura about them."

"The entire Valley Town was cloaked in a highly bizarre color, and according to a certain postman, several terrifying murders occurred there... In fact, they can no longer be described rely as murders, as it's difficult for humans to manage such acts."

"Those?" asked Red Falcon, seemingly entranced by the story.

"Very brutal tortures, you might even call it a sacrificial ritual of so bizarre cult,"

Lorenzo said slowly.

"Humans have innate protective chanisms towards their own kind. When you kill a human, you instinctively feel a bit of disgust, let alone do sothing even more cruel, unless you are not a normal person or have undergone cold-hearted training."

"Our arrival did not attract anyone's attention, or rather, the locals actively pretended not to see us. We ultimately reached the church in Valley Town, where the priest led us to the murder scene."

"There we saw that brutal scene: human bodies were hung, dismbered, and slaughtered. This was not a vent of anger or a sick pleasure, the perpetrator was purposefully killing, akin to a slaughterhouse selectively cutting useful parts."

Lorenzo continued speaking.

"This was far more bizarre than any mission I had dealt with before. When ordinary people encounter a demon, their injuries are usually from bites and tearing. But this ti was different. Although the mission was bizarre like a demon, this 'demon' was rational, and moreover, we felt no erosion at the cri scene."

Though these words had no specific imagery, upon entering the ears of Red Falcon and others, they felt similar nausea, as if sothing squird in their stomachs, and the stale air was filled with the scent of blood.

"So deducing from this, the attacker was human, right?" Bluebird said, noting that the lack of erosion ant it was unrelated to demons.

However, Lorenzo did not directly answer, instead responding.

"This is the intriguing part of the mission. From an outsider's perspective, everything seems full of loopholes, but when you're truly in it... you beco lost, and even demon hunters are no exception."

He still did not clarify the mysterious truth, and the atmosphere grew more suspenseful, the unknown story echoing around the four.

"At that ti, several doubts arose. We didn't know the perpetrator's motive or the connection between the victims, and notably, why the priest didn't report to the church but instead an almost maddened postman brought the information."

"Our squad had a brief eting, temporarily associating this incident with a cult ritual and proceeding gradually to investigate as taught within the Order."

"Cult ritual?" Joey evidently had not suspected this, "In a town under church rule, such existence?"

"Of course, no matter how many tis you kill these things, they can never be fully purged; historical crusades rely dealt a heavy blow... It's really strange, as if soone were supporting them,"

Lorenzo explained.

"The existence of cults isn't bizarre. To be precise, in the church's eyes, every sect other than itself is a cult."

"Rulers need faith to deceive the ignorant, so ritual is the best way to communicate with that elusive God. In the Order's records, such brutal tortures, taking specific parts, are very likely materials for so kind of ritual,"

Lorenzo changed his posture, and he glanced at everyone.

"This deduction should be sothing your Purification chanism would also have, right?"

Joey nodded to this. As a modern secret departnt, the Purification chanism does not remain as secretive as the Demon Hunting Order in many aspects.

"Now that we have a line of thought, we can act more efficiently. After all, we are demon hunters; cultists are far gentler than demons. However, at that ti, we still remained vigilant because many cults are actually connected to demons."

"Just like how soone accidentally saw a demon, got eroded, and then began to demonize. But during this phase, they still retained their rationality, treating demonization as a 'miracle' to bewitch others,"

Lorenzo recounted those textbook-like classic cases.

"Resulting in a large-scale demon outbreak, but fortunately, each ti the demon hunters eradicated them in ti."

"So, in Valley Town at that ti, it was likely that a band of cultists was hidden or even a demon was being regarded as a 'miracle.'"

"The squad returned to the church after leaving the cri scene. Before figuring these out, we first needed to know why the priests hadn't reported this."

"But as we walked down the street, sothing eerie happened."

Lorenzo's expression turned serious.

"The entire Valley Town... changed."

"The foggy sky turned completely gray, there was not a single person on the streets, nor any sound, as if the entire world only consisted of the three of us."