Chapter 295: The Farmer and the Electricity Thief (Part 2)
"Fa... pant... Father William, I really... can't run anymore."
Lynn rested her hands on her knees, the sweat from her forehead dripping onto the cornfield.
Seeing this, William had no choice but to stop in his tracks.
He looked back; it was very quiet all around. Aside from a few crows standing on the haystacks, there was no sign of Bubba the Butcher.
"Then we'll rest for a few minutes, and then continue moving."
Hearing this, Lynn collapsed directly onto the ground, throwing all "nun etiquette" entirely to the back of her mind.
William also observed the surrounding terrain to ensure he could choose the optimal route when running away later.
This was already their fourth time escaping from pursuit, but every time, Bubba the Butcher was able to find their general direction.
This made William very puzzled. Did this monster possess some sort of tracking ability?
So, he asked this question.
"Phew..." Lynn took a deep breath, finally recovering.
"Because... we leave tracks when we run."
William narrowed his eyes.
He immediately looked back to check. There were indeed some footprints on the ground, but this was only because the soil here was relatively soft.
They had also walked on some hard paths earlier, yet Bubba the Butcher was still able to find their trail.
"Not footprints," Lynn pointed to the ground.
"It's a trace formed by a special energy, visible only with Holy Power. These tracks will disappear after a certain period of time."
William nodded, secretly using [Divine Eye Seal] to check, and then raised an eyebrow.
In his vision, he indeed found many eye-catching marks on the ground, resembling streaks of red blood.
Needless to say, Bubba the Butcher must have found them by following these tracks.
"Is there a way to eliminate these tracks, or rather, is it possible to move without leaving them?" he spoke again.
But Lynn shook her head: "As long as you run, you will definitely leave this kind of thing, unless you walk."
Obviously, the latter method wouldn't work right now.
If the marks suddenly disappeared, the butcher monster would definitely prioritize searching the immediate vicinity, and at their walking speed, it would be difficult to escape in a short time.
William had also tried climbing trees or heading to areas like rooftops.
But whenever he tried to jump, an inexplicable force would restrict him, making it simply impossible for both feet to leave the ground at the same time.
To this, Lynn's explanation was—this was also one of the rules of the Land of the Holy War.
All humans who entered could only choose to walk or run unless they encountered specific terrain.
Of course, crawling was also an option, but someone had once tried using this method to hide from the butcher, and the latter found that person's location with pinpoint accuracy.
What happened afterward was easy to imagine.
This also forced William to abandon many ideas; otherwise, with his current physical strength, as long as he could stay in high places, he could avoid many dangers.
"By the way, how do you know that running produces tracks?" William looked at Lynn. "I thought Holy Power couldn't be used in this place."
Lynn said: "Well, actually, as long as certain conditions are met, you can temporarily restore your power."
Hearing this, William's eyes lit up, waiting for her to continue.
As long as he could get his power back, even for a very short time, he could do many things.
"Everyone trapped here, including me, is looking for lost holy relics and generators."
William was stunned.
Lost holy relics... and generators?
Neither of these two items was hard to understand, but putting them together felt somewhat jarring.
Earlier, William had also heard the two nuns mention "generators," and at the time he thought it was some kind of creature in the Land of the Holy War.
Just as Lynn was planning to continue speaking, a slow heartbeat suddenly sounded nearby.
"He's caught up." William immediately heightened his vigilance.
Lynn also hurriedly scrambled up from the ground.
Vrrrr—
A harsh chainsaw revving sound rang out in the distance.
In just a few seconds, this sound had already drawn near.
"Fa... Father William, I... I can't run anymore," Lynn's voice trembled.
William turned his head, only to see this nun's legs trembling non-stop.
Whether it was due to fear or excessive exhaustion, it was obvious she would find it hard to escape right now.
And there was also a hint of despair in Lynn's eyes.
She had already stayed in this place for a long time, and she knew very well what happened when a person became a burden.
Just as she was planning to force her legs to drag her along, she suddenly heard a sentence: "You find a place to hide first, I'll go lure it away."
"You..." Lynn widened her eyes.
Before she could ask more, William was already sprinting off in one direction.
"I still have a lot of things about the rules I haven't asked yet; I can't let her die here," he thought inwardly.
"Besides... she is also an acquaintance."
The reason William dared to do this, aside from the aforementioned reasons, was another very important point—he discovered his speed wasn't slower than that butcher.
No!
To be precise, it should be that he wasn't slower than when the other party was walking normally.
Along this journey, he had already observed clearly that Bubba the Butcher couldn't use the chainsaw continuously.
When the terrain was narrow, he would still rely on a hand axe to attack.
This way, as long as he lured the other party into an area with narrow terrain, he could stall him continuously.
While contemplating, William had already arrived at a campsite.
Here, two "L" shaped walls were spliced together, and there were windows on both sides. It perfectly matched the "good terrain" Winnie and Lynn had mentioned earlier.
The heartbeat in his ears was extremely urgent, and the sound of the chainsaw also appeared behind him.
William could even faintly glimpse a glaring red light.
He didn't hesitate; upon approaching the wall, he immediately vaulted over it.
At this moment, the reason he could get both feet off the ground was exactly because this happened to be a "specific terrain."
Besides this, dropping from a high place could also achieve this.
Back to the matter at hand.
The moment William landed, the chainsaw chain happened to saw into the window sill.
And Bubba the Butcher exhibited a noticeable pause.
"It seems this should be one of the side effects of using the chainsaw." William narrowed his eyes.
He merely glanced and immediately ran toward the outer wall opposite him.
In this kind of terrain, running in wide loops was the best way to delay time.
Thus, a chase began.
Relying on his decent movement speed, William was always able to maintain a safe distance from Bubba the Butcher.
And the other party seemed to have locked onto him, biting closely from behind the whole time.
During this period, William also tried to switch terrain and used a wooden pallet to counterattack the other party.
But this could only delay some time.
Ultimately, he still had to return here.
After all, this farm had too few obstacles. Once he entered a wide-open area, it was Bubba the Butcher's chainsaw domain.
William couldn't outrun that thing.
Two hours later.
"Hey... doesn't this guy feel tired?" A drop of sweat rolled down William's forehead.
With his current physical strength, maintaining full-speed movement for so long, he could already feel a lot of fatigue.
If this continued, once his stamina failed, this monster would catch up.
"Brother, there shouldn't be any grudge between us, right? How about we sit down, rest for a while, and clear up the misunderstandings in our hearts?" He tried to communicate with the other party.
But Bubba the Butcher gave no response.
"No consciousness... Should I try using [Divine Eye Seal] to look for the weak point of the other party's evil power?" William thought inwardly.
Now he could only try using the effect of "observing spirit particle composition" of this ability.
But this would also severely consume his stamina, which was why he had been hesitating.
However, a choice had to be made right now; otherwise, when he truly became exhausted, he wouldn't have the slightest chance to choose at all.
Thinking of this, William suddenly turned his head, and three circles of golden patterns surfaced in his eyes.
Dense spirit particle runes immediately appeared on Bubba the Butcher's body.
These runes were completely black. Aside from pitch black, there was only deeper black; there seemed to be no weak points whatsoever.
"Hey... this kind of monster is a bit unreasonable, isn't it." The corner of William's mouth twitched.
And at this time, Bubba the Butcher raised his hand axe once again; he had caught up close again.
Just as William planned to pull the distance open, the other party suddenly stopped in place.
He frowned slightly and immediately stopped as well.
Immediately after, he saw Bubba the Butcher looking in a certain direction.
Vrrrr—
He revved the chain and instantly disappeared into the cornstalks.
William didn't leave immediately, but moved to the inner wall. While recovering his stamina, he observed whether the other party had truly left.
It wasn't until half an hour later, with still no movement around, that he finally stood up quickly and left following a relatively complex route.
Under a large rock.
"Father William! You're alright, that's wonderful!" Lynn's eyes were full of joy.
William nodded: "I was relatively lucky. Before my stamina ran out, that guy hurriedly left in another direction."
"Ah... You were in a stalemate with that monster for so long?" This nun visibly widened her eyes.
"Is there something wrong? I originally planned to exhaust its stamina."
Lynn shook her head, still looking quite shocked: "Sweepers never get tired, at least none that I've heard of or seen."
"In the past, Holy Clergy Members who engaged with them, even if experienced and possessing 'Bone Manifestation,' could at most hold on for a little over twenty minutes."
She looked William up and down as she spoke.
"You are probably the one who has held on the longest among all Holy Clergy Members."
William pondered for a moment, then waved his hand: "I was only chased for about half an hour; the rest of the time was spent using the terrain to hide."
"So that's how it is." Lynn put on an 'that is understandable' expression.
"But that is still very impressive. If it were me, I'm afraid I wouldn't even last five minutes."
William changed the subject: "By the way, do you know where the Sweeper went? Will it come back?"
"Perhaps someone else tried to start a generator." Lynn revealed a thoughtful expression.
"Father William, we should head back to the campsite first; it shouldn't be far from here. I don't know much about the generators either, you can ask Bishop Austin to answer you."
William thought about it, and finally nodded.
Over ten minutes later.
A secluded corner. There was a row of walls here, and the perimeter connected to an abandoned excavator.
At this moment, more than a dozen people wearing Church standard robes were crouching here.
Before William and Lynn even got close, these people had already gone on alert.
"Who is it!"
"It's me! Lynn!"
"Lynn? Why are you only coming back now, where is Winnie? And who is this guy?"
A bare-chested man walked over and said.
"Dylan, Winnie she..." Lynn lowered her head, forcibly holding back her emotions.
"Winnie she was killed by that monster."
Dylan's steps halted, and he didn't speak.
The other few people also gathered around.
A man wearing a silver crucifix spoke: "Was it that black-robed man wearing a ghost mask again?"
Lynn shook her head: "No... Bishop Austin, it was that guy with the chainsaw."
The crowd gasped, and the bishop named Austin also widened his eyes.
"To actually encounter that guy in this place..." he sighed.
"May Winnie rest in peace. Lynn, the fact that you could come back, you've worked hard."
Lynn said: "If I hadn't met Father William here, I might have died too."
As soon as her voice fell, all the Church personnel present turned their gazes to this newcomer.
"May the Lord bless you." Austin drew a cross on his chest. "I wonder which region Your Excellency is from? Which Sweepers have you encountered?"
William raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
This sentence contained a lot of information, but on the surface, he still spoke: "I just arrived here not long ago."
Seeing the crowd somewhat puzzled, Lynn explained again: "Father William just came in from the Holy Land today."
"What? The passage opened?"
"Where is it! How far is it from here!"
Upon hearing William's origin, the crowd instantly became emotionally agitated, crowding around and inquiring anxiously.
"Everyone, this is too impolite."
It was Austin who proactively stepped forward: "This brother just escaped from the Sweeper's hands; we should at least let him sit down first..."
A moment later.
William sat on the dirt ground, surrounded by people.
"We have all been trapped here for a long time, and everyone wants to leave this place sooner," Austin said.
"Please tell us about the situation outside."
William drew a cross on his chest, and immediately told them about the Church gathering personnel and merging the Priest Order selection with the rescue operation.
But as soon as his voice fell, the people present revealed disdainful expressions.
"Hmph, I knew it. How could the Church specifically open the passage just for us."
"Priest Order selection? Heh, I see they're just tricking free labor under this pretense."
"We have to find those family members to activate the teleportation? Then what if they all die, does that mean we're going to be trapped here forever?"
Voices of intense dissatisfaction echoed in his ears.
Some even questioned William, thinking that since he wasn't here to rescue them, he had no right to stay in this safe camp.
Austin hurriedly stood up: "Everyone, no matter what, the Church did indeed open the passage again."
"And Father William also saved Lynn, otherwise we would be missing another companion."
He looked at William.
"If we can help find people, can we also leave with those family children?"
William's face was calm: "According to the intelligence I obtained, that is indeed the case. However..."
Hearing this turning point, the crowd immediately revealed unfriendly expressions.
"However, right now I know too little about this place. Even if I want to rescue people, it's very difficult to achieve." William said, looking around the crowd.
"Could everyone please tell me all the information you know, so it will be easier to act."
Austin said: "So that's how it is. This is exactly what we should do."
"With every extra companion who understands the rules, our chances of winning are slightly greater."
This Bishop picked up a few stones from the ground as he spoke.
"Our current location is only a part of the entire Land of the Holy War..."
According to Austin, this space was divided into many regions, and the terrain of each region was not identical.
For example, the swamps, the western badlands, and the farmland cornfield before them.
These regions were separated by some kind of powerful evil aura. People in one region could not directly reach another region.
Unless they passed through the escape gate of their current region.
And every region had three generators, which were connected to the power source near the gate.
"...To open the gate, you must connect the power. The only known method currently is to embed lost holy relics inside..."
William interrupted: "Won't holy artifacts lose their effectiveness in this place?"
"Holy artifacts brought from the outside indeed will," Austin said.
"But the holy relics lost here back in the day still possess a certain amount of Holy Power."
This Archbishop took out a crucifix as he spoke; its surface was old, looking like it already had a certain vintage.
"It's this thing."
William reached out and took it. He indeed felt the fluctuation of power on it.
But when he wanted to extract the Holy Power from within, he found it blocked by a mysterious force.
"These lost holy relics can only be used on the generators. As long as you embed it, it can temporarily restore the power of Holy Clergy Members nearby," Austin said.
"It's even possible to obtain a temporary special ability."
Subsequently, his tone shifted again.
"But these lost holy relics are very difficult to find, and their scattered locations are extremely random, without any markings or prominent auras."
Austin sighed.
"Often, even after spending weeks, we can only find a few pieces, and during this time we have to deal with the Sweeper's threat. It's simply a needle in a haystack..."
William's eyes flashed upon hearing this.
He looked at what was in his hand.
At this moment, from the perspective of [Divine Eye Seal], the spirit particle runes on this holy artifact were glowing faintly, looking exceptionally eye-catching.
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