Inside the New Centralia Cathedral, Gillespie spat out another mouthful of blood, looking as if he'd aged more than a decade.
"Bishop Gillespie, are you alright?"
Sullivan stepped forward, showing his concern.
Gillespie took a deep breath and looked at Sullivan.
"I just managed to repel the false god's messenger, using a barrier to protect the cathedral. But I'm also seriously injured now and must return to the old church in Silent Hill to recuperate. Sullivan, you're one of my most prized disciples. I'm entrusting the new church to you."
Hearing this, Sullivan was incredibly excited.
"Bishop Gillespie, please rest assured! I will defend this church with my life!"
"Then I'm counting on you, Sullivan. As long as the Red God's kingdom descends upon the world, all our wishes will come true!"
Gillespie continued to paint Sullivan a pretty picture, but he didn't notice the unusual glint in Sullivan's eyes.
After giving his instructions, Gillespie handed his scepter to Sullivan, allowing him temporary control of the cathedral.
He then returned to his office and opened the door leading to Silent Hill.
After all, the New Centralia Cathedral had only been built for twenty years. The power of faith it contained, along with the sacrifices of hundreds of fanatics, was only just enough to contend with Iris.
But the old church in Silent Hill was different. It had been built for over two centuries, and the accumulated power of faith was far beyond what the New Centralia Cathedral could ever possess.
As soon as Gillespie entered the old church, he saw an old man in a dark red robe standing in the distance, as if waiting for him.
"Dahlia Gillespie, how long has it been since we last met?"
The old man looked at Gillespie with a strange smile. Gillespie looked quite disheveled, with a serpentine dagger still lodged in her chest.
"Indeed, Leonard Wolf."
"You look pretty rough. Need a hand?"
Gillespie glanced at the old man, then with a forceful movement, pulled out the serpentine dagger. Using the immense power of faith within the church, the wound on her chest began to heal rapidly. This was thanks to her superb magical skills, not the power of the King of Greed.
"No need! You should worry about your own backside first."
Wolf's expression instantly changed. Earlier, on the island in the middle of Crystal Lake, Roy had shot him in the butt while he was trying to escape by boat.
Although the wound had healed quickly afterward and there was no visible sign of it now, it was still a huge humiliation for him.
"Gillespie! If you can't lead the Holy Church forward, you might as well hand that thing over to me!"
Gillespie looked at Wolf coldly.
"If I can't do it, who can? You?"
These mocking words made Wolf tremble with anger.
"Gillespie, are you trying to start another war?"
Hearing this, Gillespie knew that Wolf was genuinely angry. The old man had to run around all the time at his age, simply because he was unwilling to be subordinate to her.
If she provoked him further, he might actually throw his hands up and leave.
So Gillespie softened her expression slightly, no longer confronting Wolf head-on.
"Wolf, since I've already promised you that I'll hand over the Holy Church's authority to your daughter after my death, I won't go back on my word! You didn't need to come all the way here just to say hello!"
Wolf's expression eased a bit, but he was still somewhat stubborn.
"I'm just worried that you'll ruin the Holy Church's excellent situation! Look at what enemies you've brought upon us!"
"At worst, we'll just retreat to the sanctuary of Silent Hill for a while. One day, we'll still lead the kingdom of God back to the human world!"
Gillespie didn't want to waste any more time talking to Wolf. She walked directly past him towards the depths of the church. After all, although her body had been healed by magic, the mental trauma wasn't so easily recovered.
Iris's combat power was no joke. Gillespie's strength was far from reaching the level of Mammon, the King of Greed. She could only barely contend with Iris by relying on the power of faith and the sacrifices of fanatics.
Wolf naturally wouldn't agree with Gillespie's statement.
"Gillespie, things can't be calculated like that! If you fail this time, you'll directly hand over the position of Archbishop to my daughter!"
Gillespie stopped in her tracks, knowing that Wolf was raising his price on the spot.
Clearly, Wolf had already learned about the situation in New Centralia, so he wanted to take the opportunity to force Gillespie to compromise.
"Fine, but I won't fail!"
It was just an empty promise, and Gillespie gave it to Wolf without hesitation.
Wolf watched Gillespie's receding figure, his expression becoming particularly gloomy.
"He even agreed to such a condition? What exactly is that guy planning? Damn it! If I had known he would agree so quickly, I should have asked for Carrie too!"
Wolf's face was uncertain, and he couldn't make up his mind.
In terms of strength, Wolf, who couldn't draw upon the church's power of faith, was completely unable to confront Gillespie head-on. Therefore, he could only drift around the edges of the Follower's Church's power, even having to forge a new path outside.
"Humph! If it really comes down to it, I'll just directly take people to snatch Carrie away!"
Finally, Wolf made up his mind, preparing for one last gamble while Gillespie was currently preoccupied.
At this moment, the air raid siren on the roof of the old church suddenly blared, its piercing sound echoing throughout Silent Hill.
"Huh, is it that time for the Otherworld already?"
The residents who still lived in Silent Hill immediately returned to the old church for shelter upon hearing the siren.
At the same time, Madison and Maria, who were exploring Silent Hill, also heard the sound of the air raid siren. The two looked curiously in the direction of the sound.
"Where did that air raid siren come from? Could there still be people living in this world?"
After coming out of the Silent Hill subway station, Madison and Maria quickly discovered that this desolate city seemed cut off from the outside world, with only empty buildings and endless ashes.
Madison and Maria wandered around the city for a long time without finding a way out, and then they heard the extremely unsettling air raid siren.
Then, Madison noticed the sky was darkening.
"The sky seems to be getting dark? Maria, how long have we been here?"
Maria raised her wrist to look at her watch, but the hands had stopped moving.
"I don't know! But I'm sure it hasn't been 12 hours yet!"
"Damn it! Time here is completely messed up!"
Madison and Maria entered the cave around midnight. At that time, they were very surprised that the sky over Silent Hill was bright.
As a result, after a few hours, when it should have been daylight outside, it was instead starting to get dark in Silent Hill.
At this moment, Madison and Maria also discovered that as the sky gradually darkened, the surrounding environment was also undergoing tremendous changes.
The walls, the ground, and everything around them began to rapidly decay, rust, and peel off, drifting piece by piece into the sky.
The scene was so shocking that Madison and Maria were somewhat stunned.
(The world change in the movie version is really awesome. The early game graphics were too poor to compare.)
"Could this be the Otherworld that Roy mentioned?"
Maria thought of the general situation of Silent Hill that Roy had told them before, mentioning that the surface world of Silent Hill was relatively safe, while the Otherworld was very dangerous.
"Maria, let's go! Run towards the sound of the air raid siren!"
Madison immediately reacted and pulled Maria, starting to sprint towards the old church.
If the air raid siren was someone's way of warning about the world changing, then that area should also be relatively safe.
Unfortunately, the sky completely darkened before the two could run a few steps. There wasn't a single source of light around them; it was pitch black.
Humans have an instinctive fear of the dark. Madison and Zoe didn't dare to run blindly, so they had to stop.
Because they had left in a hurry, neither of them had brought a flashlight, and the brightness of mobile phones in this era was also very limited.
Fortunately, both Madison and Maria had a smoking habit, so they both carried lighters.
The appearance of two small flames dispelled the surrounding darkness, allowing Madison and Maria to temporarily see their surroundings clearly.
On the empty street, there were now many bloody, handless, twisted humanoid creatures.
(Straight-Jacket, considered one of the most classic grunts in the game, appearing in basically every installment.)
"What are these monsters?"
Madison made a disgusted expression. These monsters were just too disgusting.
Maria also frowned, and her body split into another intangible figure that looked exactly like her.
"No matter what kind of monsters they are, it seems like they're targeting us. Let's take them out first!"
"You're right!"
Madison and Maria attacked simultaneously, instantly sending the nearest few monsters flying. Telekinesis was much more effective in group battles than the Soul Doppelganger.
However, these twisted monsters had incredibly tenacious vitality. Even after Madison repeatedly grabbed them and slammed them into the ground, they could still get back up and walk towards the two of them.
On the other hand, Maria's Soul Doppelganger, Alan, could take down a monster with just a few punches. However, Alan's monster-clearing efficiency was relatively slow, mainly because it lacked the ability to move quickly, and its footsteps weren't very fast either.
So, the two little witches started to coordinate.
Madison grabbed the monsters one by one and sent them to Alan, who then executed them one by one.
The two basically stood still and cleared out all the surrounding monsters.
"Huh, it doesn't seem as dangerous as Roy said!"
Easily dealing with the monsters made Madison a bit smug. Suddenly, the dark and oppressive Otherworld of Silent Hill didn't seem so scary anymore.
This was normal. It was like playing a survival horror game and suddenly getting a Gatling gun. Naturally, you wouldn't be afraid of those lunatics chasing you anymore.
All fear comes from insufficient firepower!
"Madison, let's hurry up and leave. I hate this pitch-black environment!"
Maria didn't feel much joy. Her past life experiences made her hate this kind of environment, and she just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Alright, alright! By the way, where did the air raid siren sound come from just now?"
As soon as these words came out, Maria was also stunned. The surrounding environment had changed drastically after entering the Otherworld, and there were no suitable landmarks.
At the same time, the previous battle had changed the direction they were facing, and now neither of them knew which way was the right way to go.
While the two were hesitating, they heard a heavy tremor in the ground.
"Maria, did you hear that?"
"Of course, I heard it! I'm not deaf!"
The two looked in the direction of the tremor and saw two pillar-like objects slamming into the ground, followed by a huge humanoid creature.
It was about three meters tall, its whole body bound by black tape, and where its eyes should have been were a pair of intertwined arms.
(Siam)
Madison once again made a disgusted expression.
"Ugh! Why are all the monsters here so bizarre? Aren't there any normal ones?"
Maria shook her head.
"If they looked normal, would they still be called monsters? Stop talking nonsense and let's take it down quickly!"
"So troublesome!"
Madison raised her hand, trying to control the monster in front of her like she had controlled the Straight-Jackets earlier. However, the creature only lifted slightly off the ground before falling back down.
"How can it be so heavy?"
Madison looked at the monster in surprise. Her telekinesis could easily lift a bus. Several tons of weight were effortless for her, but she couldn't even lift the monster in front of her.
"Stop standing there like an idiot and run!"
The monster, seemingly enraged by being lifted by telekinesis, charged furiously towards the two little witches.
Without Madison's ability to control the field, even if Maria's Soul Doppelganger had strong attack power, it wouldn't be able to stop them from being turned into meat paste by the monster.
This was the weakness of the two little witches. No matter how strong their abilities were, their physical bodies remained fragile. Any sniper could easily take them out from a distance.
Otherwise, how could the White House sleep soundly at night?
Maria pulled Madison, preventing her from being flattened by the monster due to her daze, and the two began to flee for their lives.
"Damn it! This guy's skin is so thick!"
During the escape, Maria tried to have her sister attack the monster, but Alan's weakness of not being able to damage tanks was once again revealed.
Just like Roy couldn't use his Soul Doppelganger to harm Jason in Crystal Lake, Alan also couldn't budge this monster, at most only causing some superficial damage.
To explain it in game terms, the Soul Doppelganger had relatively high defense penetration, but its attack power ceiling wasn't very high. It was suitable for dealing with enemies with low health, but it was very difficult to fight against tank-like enemies.
Moreover, the Soul Doppelganger's disadvantage of not having a physical body was also evident. Alan couldn't stop the monster's footsteps at all and could only watch helplessly as the monster chased after her sister.
Fortunately, this monster wasn't too fast.
However, the two didn't dare to run too fast, because running too fast might cause their lighters to go out, and then they wouldn't be able to see anything. So, they could only be chased by the monster.
At the same time, many other different types of monsters appeared around them, and the situation seemed to be getting more and more critical.