Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 517: Chapter 103: Miserable World, the Mad Priest, and the Prelude to the Star Empire’s Descent (Part 2)

He looked at the group of bewildered teenagers staring at him, utterly lost.

His thoughts turned to the many younger children still inside the Monastery.

Finally, the Elder Priest turned back to the children and reassured them,

"Don’t worry."

"We don’t have to go anywhere. I’ll take care of this."

"Alright, off you go, lads. Get busy, or else your brothers and sisters will go hungry today."

Hearing the Elder Priest suddenly speak with a smile, the children felt as if they had found their pillar of support, and their fear immediately subsided.

Eventually, as the children gradually dispersed, only one remained before the Elder Priest.

The boy was fifteen years old.

He was one of the oldest in the entire Monastery.

He was different from the other children.

At least, in terms of his personality and how he handled things.

"Saar, sir, can you tell me how you really intend to handle this?"

A deep scar ran across Ed’s face. He watched the Elder Priest with a grave expression, clearly not one to be easily fooled.

Looking at Ed,

Saar’s expression was a mixture of resignation and sorrow.

He reached out to touch the boy’s head—a boy now nearly as tall as him—and the young man didn’t flinch.

Then, Saar finally spoke.

"I knew it. In the end, it still has to be done this way."

"Ed, my child, you’re the cleverest of them all. I knew I couldn’t hide this from you, but I don’t want to hide it from any of you, either."

"So be it."

As he spoke, he saw Ed’s eyes slowly brighten. The Elder Priest continued,

"Go, Ed, my child. Go and gather the boys you know from the Hyena Gang."

"After tonight, I expect the Canglang Gang will be gone from here."

The Elder Priest didn’t state it plainly.

But Ed knew.

The Elder Priest was finally going to break his vows.

Though the Elder Priest was old—over seventy—and appeared completely harmless,

Ed knew he wasn’t what everyone believed him to be: just an Ascetic from the Church.

So-called Ascetics...

...were people from before the world’s collapse who believed in the Deities and became Priests, despite having no Extraordinary Talent.

The only reason they could become Priests was their piety.

The splendors of the mortal world were of no importance to them.

All that mattered was diligently spreading their Deity’s faith and upholding Their doctrines.

By doing so, upon dying a natural death, they could enter their Deity’s Divine Kingdom and become one of the legendary Prayerers.

Was the Elder Priest an Ascetic?

Perhaps.

At least, before the world collapsed and even after the Deities had fallen, he had never once displayed any Extraordinary Power.

But in truth, he wasn’t. Or at least, he wasn’t an Ascetic in the traditional sense.

Because Ed had once secretly witnessed the Elder Priest healing a sick child from the Monastery in the privacy of his own bedroom.

The official explanation for the child’s recovery was herbal medicine or some similar remedy.

But the reality?

It was Extraordinary Power.

The Elder Priest possessed Extraordinary Power as well.

"I understand, Saar, sir!"

"I’ll go at once!"

Ed, a boy of few words, said nothing more. With a solemn nod, he strode purposefully toward the street outside the Monastery.

The so-called Hyena Gang...

...was merely the West City District gang that the Canglang Gang had previously annihilated.

And Ed?

He had secretly joined the Hyena Gang, though only as a peripheral member.

But it was because of this connection that the Elder Priest’s Monastery had managed to survive its most difficult times.

All his life, the Elder Priest had upheld his Deity’s doctrines.

He did not engage in conflict, he did not kill, and he urged others toward kindness.

But in the end...

The Deities were dead, yet he still clung to their doctrines.

That he had managed to uphold these doctrines through three years of utter chaos was a testament to the convictions that had sustained him his entire life.

But now...

...the Canglang Gang had pushed the Elder Priest to the brink.

Faced with the choice between saving the helpless orphans and taking a life—or continuing to practice his doctrines and faith in isolation...

...his choice was different from the one he’d made three years prior.

This time, the Elder Priest truly intended to break his vows!

’Saar, sir, your devotion is meaningless now!’

’The Deities are long dead! They’re dead! Just like any mortal!’

Even now, recalling Ed’s hysterical shouts from half a year ago, Saar felt as if it were all happening right before his eyes.

’If I hadn’t chosen to hold fast back then...’

’...perhaps things would be different now?’

’Would Ed’s two close friends still be alive?’

One could say...

...that in Ed’s eyes at the time, the Elder Priest had been cold and heartless.

For the sake of his faith, his Deity.

He would abandon everything in the mortal world, even stand by and watch the Monastery’s children die?

But only Saar himself knew the truth.

Back then, even if he had acted, it would have changed nothing.

After all, Saar was only a Tier Three Priest.

He was already among the most powerful Transcendents in the world,

but in the early days of the world’s chaos, such Transcendents were not uncommon.

Unfortunately, many of those Tier Three Transcendents ultimately fell.

This included the Low Tier Priests who had abandoned their faith at the very beginning.

They had all died long ago in endless gang conflicts.

A Tier Three Transcendent who had yet to break into the Middle Tier was certainly not weak,

but in reality, they still couldn’t completely ignore the threat of being swarmed and killed by mortals.

Furthermore, Low Tier Transcendents in this world far outnumbered their Middle- and High Tier counterparts.

It wasn’t difficult for a sufficient number of Tier One and Tier Two Transcendents to gather and overwhelm a Tier Three Transcendent.

When one Tier Three fell, another would naturally rise to take their place.

Although advancement had become more difficult in the current era due to the Titan Divine Race, and the Path to the Extraordinary now demanded even greater personal talent than before,

it was impossible for Middle Tier Professionals to emerge, but the Path to the Extraordinary was not completely sealed.

So, putting all else aside, Tier Three Transcendents were still not in short supply.

Take the Canglang Gang, which had annihilated the Hyena Gang—they openly had three Tier Three Transcendents.

Three Tier Threes?

That was indeed a formidable force.

However, compared to a veteran Tier Three like the Elder Priest, they were nothing special.

But what good would killing them do?

Would that stop the world’s descent into chaos?

Impossible.

The Elder Priest had never fought for power or territory, nor had he ever imagined himself the leader of any faction.

So killing these people would be pointless; it would only invite more trouble.

Unless the Elder Priest himself joined the game of currying favor with the Titan Divine Race.

Otherwise...

If the Elder Priest had a choice, he would rather die than join this game of pleasing the ’Evil God’.

But reality had long since left him no choice.

"My Lord, forgive me!"

The Elder Priest gazed at the sky, his eyes filled with a deep, world-weary sorrow.

As he turned away, he slowly unfastened his Priest Robe.

He had finally abandoned his principles!

But what was the price for the collapse of his faith and his convictions?

——————

「That night.」

Shouts of shock and fury erupted from the Canglang Gang’s headquarters in the West City District.

By the time Ed arrived with the remnants of the Hyena Gang, they were all struck speechless by the scene.

Because right before their very eyes...

...the Elder Priest stood smiling, his expression as gentle as Ed had always known it to be.

But behind him, the entire plaza was littered with the corpses of the Canglang Gang!

The three Tier Three leaders of the Canglang Gang were all dead.

Along with them were over a hundred Tier One and Tier Two Transcendent members.

The remaining ordinary members of the Canglang Gang, terrified, had already dropped their weapons and were kneeling on the ground all across the plaza.

They trembled uncontrollably, not daring to even breathe too loudly.

"This...!"

It wasn’t just Ed who was stunned.

The thirty-odd remnants of the Hyena Gang who had followed him were frozen in terror.

"May my Lord be merciful."

"Ah, Ed, my child. The souls of these Heretics have already gone to repent before my Lord!"

"From now on, everything here is yours to manage."

"If you run into any trouble, just tell me. My Lord will protect you."

"..."

The Elder Priest said to Ed, still smiling.

But Ed knew that the Elder Priest he had known was dead!

And from that moment on, come daybreak,

everyone in the West City District would learn a shocking truth.

The Canglang Gang was no more. In its place stood a new power: the Savior Gang.

Its leader was a previously unknown boy named Ed, rumored to possess the strength of a Tier Three Peak.

Meanwhile, the Elder Priest was back in his Monastery, meticulously caring for the helpless children.

He smiled as he watched the children play in the backyard, and everything seemed so very peaceful.