This branch of the Church of Morte wasn't a small outpost by any means.
No, if it had been some second-rate location, I never would've chosen it as a decoy mission site in the first place.
'There should've been a bishop here… and yet it was destroyed this easily?'
I knew what kind of entity a Bishop of the Church of Morte was.
Wreathed in blessings that might as well be curses, dragging along an undying body as it relentlessly advanced—a horrifying presence.
You couldn't kill it with mediocre firepower; in fact, attacking it often resulted in grotesque transformations. That's how dreadful a Bishop of the Church of Morte was.
It should've been.
'If even that kind of Bishopwas taken down, then something serious happened here.'
The most likely possibility was that it got caught up in the Wave.
That would explain a lot, because the current Church of Morte wasn't quite the same as the one I once knew.
The biggest change had to do with one of their holy relics—the Fang Totem, also known as Ankelenth's Fang.
I had previously stolen that Fang Totem through Tatiana Belov and fed it to Janus.
Thanks to that, Janus had inherited Ankelenth's power, and the totem ceased to exist in this world.
That meant the absence of the holy relic might've left this branch unprepared when the Wave hit.
'But… if that were really the case, there would've been some other kind of trace. The signs here are just… strange.'
One of the strangest things was the scattered bones.
There was no way a branch of the Church of Morte protected by a Bishop had fallen to mere Skull Hounds. Those bones had to belong to someone—or something—else.
'Skull Hounds aren't the only monsters that bone parasites create…'
If a bone parasite infects a human and the human overcomes it, they become a Skull Knight.
If the parasite devours the human from within, the result is a Skull Turncoat.
And if the parasite takes hold of a beast or monster, it reemerges as a bone creature—like a Skull Hound.
With that in mind, the bone fragments here must've been left by one of those three.
'The problem is that not many monsters other than Skull Turncoats or Skull Knights could do this kind of damage.'
The stronger a monster is, the greater its resistance to bone parasites. It's rare for a powerful monster to be infected.
Rare—but not impossible.
In fact, among the monsters known as regional rulers, there was one with that kind of background.
'The Bone Lord.'
But the traces here didn't match what the Bone Lord would leave behind.
If it had passed through, this wouldn't just be scattered bone fragments—this whole area would be scorched earth.
'Well… technically, it is scorched earth.'
An entire, formidable branch of the Church of Morte had been wiped out.
Not even corpses or remnants of its cultists remained.
If that's not "scorched earth," what is?
"Did you find anything?" Hildegard's voice called out, closer than I expected.
I shook my head.
Not because I was hiding anything, but because I genuinely had no solid leads yet.
"We should leave this place. The mission ends here."
"…Wasn't this supposed to be an important mission?"
"That's exactly why we need to hurry back. The current situation isn't good."
And I meant that.
This situation wasn't favorable for the reconnaissance team.
To begin with, this Church of Morte scouting mission was nothing more than an excuse to train them—nothing more.
'Esther, can you find anything?'
["Hmm… just a moment."]
If there's no tooth, use the gums.
When there's no concrete evidence on-site, you investigate through Ether.
["Mmmmm...."]
As Esther began to focus, the Ether in the surroundings started to tremble.
[He, re? From, here?]
[Don…'t knooow....]
[Kihih, hee… It's coming. Coming. It's coming, it's comiiiing───]
"…Tch."
Iris, standing some distance away, shuddered as she sensed the Etheric disturbance—but this wasn't the time to worry about her.
["Ugh… mmm...."]
'What's wrong?'
["Something definitely happened… but the Ether is almost torn apart. That doesn't happen easily...."]
'Torn… apart?'
That didn't make sense.
Ether is virtually immutable—resistant to any common manipulation or disturbance.
["Yeah. It's really strange. Something did happen here, I'm sure of it… but…"]
If even Esther, a first-rank named ghost-type, couldn't read it, then it was safe to say the Ether here was practically nonexistent.
'No helping it.'
As curious as I was about what happened here, I was also leading this team.
I couldn't risk the lives of future Ark candidates out of some idle curiosity.
"Everyone, gather up."
At my call, the scattered reconnaissance team members began to regroup among the ruins of the branch of the Church of Morte.
We would soon depart.
Once they had all reassembled, I took a quick headcount.
One person was missing.
"Where's Hildegard?"
The others exchanged awkward glances, then all turned in the same direction.
"She went that way, savage."
"Yes, I saw her too."
Dmitri and Klutz responded.
"That way?"
Hildegard had gone toward the bishop's quarters within the Church of Morte branch.
While I'd been lost in thought, she had apparently entered that section.
'It's basic protocol not to act alone during missions… I'll have to give her a talking-to later.'
I made my way into the ruins where Hildegard had headed.
["…Why does this place feel so eerie?"]
'It's always been like this.'
Not because it was destroyed—but because it had always been this way.
The atmosphere, heavy and grim, proved that.
Bones scattered everywhere, bizarre fragments of what must have been religious artifacts, and strange images drawn on crumbling walls.
Even if nothing had happened here, this place would still have been unsettling.
As I pressed deeper, I started spotting bones—of all shapes and sizes.
Quite literally, bones of every kind.
["What in the world is this...?"]
Even Esther was left speechless by the sight, mouth agape.
That alone said everything about the volume of bones present here.
'These aren't ceremonial tools. These bones… are new.'
Many of them pierced through pillars or jutted out from walls—evidence that they weren't originally part of the structure.
They were signs of some assault that had taken place.
So then, does that mean the destruction of the Church of Morte branch really was caused by a bone parasite-related monster?
But it still didn't fit the Bone Lord's signature.
'I don't know…'
A being capable of manipulating this many bones—without being the Bone Lord?
The answer still eluded me.
'There's no way it was a horde of bone monsters that had attacked this place.'
Aside from rare cases like the Skull Hound, bone parasite monsters typically don't operate in groups.
They differ too vastly in number to form packs, and overall, their population is extremely limited.
In other words, these traces were almost certainly left by a single, powerful entity—not a horde.
["Master! Over there."]
Esther pointed—and at the end of her gesture was none other than Hildegard, who had yet to return.
She was staring blankly at something, seemingly in the midst of using her Insight Eye.
"What do you see?"
"…Ah."
Her golden eyes, once glowing, dimmed as if she had just woken from a long dream, her voice cracked and distant.
"No, it's nothing."
"Let's go back."
"Ah… yes."
I had no idea what Hildegard had seen to make her react like that, but I didn't press the issue.
'She saw something, no doubt.'
I glanced at whatever it was she'd been staring at, but found nothing of note.
Whatever it was, only someone with an Insight Eye could perceive it.
'In any case… none of the Church of Morte's symbols remain.'
I had searched the bishop's office and other parts of the branch just in case, but found no trace of the Church's emblems or useful items.
Whatever had happened here, it seemed even the original relics had been destroyed.
'A shame, but it can't be helped.'
Even if I wanted to search further, something about the unease lingering in this place kept me wary.
Had I been alone, I might have pushed forward, but right now I was responsible for this team.
I had no intention of risking them needlessly.
Returning to the others with Hildegard, I began preparing for departure.
Most of the gear was stored in a rift space anyway, so I was the only one fully outfitted.
"You're really heading out like that?"
"Yes."
"Where does all that equipment even come from…?"
The other team members looked on with curiosity, but since they already thought I was strange, it didn't matter much.
"We'll be heading ba─"
I stopped mid-sentence.
Something felt… off.
["M-Master..."]
Esther's voice trembled.
She was afraid.
["Something's… something's coming..."]
'From where?'
["I don't know… I don't know..."]
Clunk!
The disturbance came from within the rubble—broken walls and collapsed stones.
A change subtle enough that none of the reconnaissance team noticed it.
But from the pile of debris, something began to stir.
Clunk, clunk—
Clatter, clatter.
Schlk!
A hand emerged.
Not that of a beast or monster—but a human hand.
Or at least, it looked human.
"Uh...?"
It wasn't until then that Hildegard noticed something was wrong. Her Insight Eye began to glow.
"What's wrong?"
"Th-that way..."
The hand strained to push aside the debris, clawing its way back into the world.
It was like watching a corpse rise from a grave—the team froze in place, paralyzed.
Creaaaak, creak—
Then, the arm's owner fully emerged from the rubble. Klutz muttered instinctively,
"…A person?"
And indeed, it looked almost exactly like a person.
"Stand back."
"Why? If that's a survivor, we need to extract information."
"That's no survivor."
"What do you mean by that?"
As the unknown figure pulled free from the rubble, it turned its gaze toward us.
Hildegard and Iris instinctively backed away, while Klutz and Dmitri started to approach.
"Don't go near it."
"Huh?"
"That… is not human."
It looked human—superficially.
But its true nature was nothing soft or fragile like a person.
It was far, far more sinister.
'The Immortal.'
The Immortal of the Cracked Desert.
It had appeared before us.