God-Tier Awakening: The Dead Can Still Level Up

Chapter 59: Church and Revenge

As Death Eye entered the ruined corridor, his gaze immediately moved across the soldiers and contestants gathered behind the damaged defensive line.

He counted the remaining members of Squad first and then looked toward the contestants being treated by the medics, after checking the numbers again, his expression darkened.

Two soldiers and one contestant were missing.

The captain of Squad Hellhound approached and knelt before him, while the remaining soldiers straightened and saluted despite their injuries.

"I am sorry, Commander," the captain said, lowering his head. "I failed to save two of our brothers and one of the contestants under our protection."

Death Eye looked at the damaged formation, the wounded soldiers, and those who were still helping the contestants despite barely being able to stand.

His normally stern expression softened slightly. "This was not your fault, you were facing a Green Priest who had prepared to sacrifice himself, yet you still protected nearly everyone inside this building."

The captain’s expression nearly broke as he looked toward the places where the two soldiers had died, but he clenched his jaw and remained kneeling.

Death Eye placed one hand on his shoulder. "You kept the others alive until we broke through, that alone is already more than anyone could have expected."

The captain lowered his head further. "They trusted me to lead them."

"And they followed your orders until the end," Death Eye replied. "Their deaths will not be forgotten."

His gaze moved across the destroyed corridor as his voice became colder. "The Church entered my base, killed two soldiers under my command and sacrificed one of the young placed under our protection."

A trace of killing intent escaped from him, forcing several nearby contestants to stiffen. "We could not save all of them, but I will make the Church regret ever stepping into this city."

Everyone could hear the anger beneath his words. Even those who knew little about the Church understood that the matter would not end with the death of the Green Priest.

Professor Liang stepped forward and placed one hand on Death Eye’s shoulder. "That is enough, Han."

Death Eye remained silent for several seconds before withdrawing his killing intent.

Professor Liang then looked toward the soldiers and contestants. "Everyone here needs treatment. The competition is postponed until the military completes its investigation."

He turned toward the medics entering through the damaged section of the building. "Take the critically injured to the emergency medical centre first, everyone else will also undergo a complete examination."

Death Eye did not object and allowed Professor Liang to take control of the situation. Wuxia watched the exchange from beside Xingluo and narrowed his eyes slightly.

Professor Liang had addressed the commander directly, stopped his killing intent and issued orders in front of the military personnel. More importantly, Death Eye had accepted every word without questioning him.

That was not how an ordinary university professor would speak to the commander of the city’s military forces.

Even if Professor Liang had once served in the military, his former position could not have been simple.

Before Wuxia could think further, more military personnel entered and began guiding the survivors outside.

Several medical teams placed the severely wounded onto floating stretchers, while others searched the ruins for anyone who might still be trapped beneath the collapsed walls.

Xingluo followed the remaining contestants toward the temporary medical area as the soldiers stayed behind to secure the building and recover the remains of their fallen companions.

After the soldiers and contestants were taken away, Professor Liang looked toward Death Eye. "Han, you know what you said today will not be easy to accomplish."

Death Eye remained silent as Professor Liang continued.

"The entire Human Alliance knows about the Church, yet no city has ever managed to free itself from their influence completely. Their members have hidden themselves throughout human territory for years, and attempting to eliminate all of them at once could push those madmen even further."

He looked toward the ruined residential block. "The Alliance understands that a careless purge might cause more harm than good."

Death Eye clenched his fists. "Then how long are we supposed to wait?"

His voice grew heavier as he turned toward Professor Liang. "Should we wait until half of humanity has been corrupted by them? Should we wait until their influence has spread so far that the situation can no longer be controlled?"

Professor Liang sighed. "I understand your anger, but you also know the true strength and reach of the Church. You have seen more of this world than I have, and you are already stronger than this old man."

Death Eye’s clenched fists slowly relaxed and looked through the broken roof toward the sky, his expression remaining cold as silence settled between them.

Professor Liang followed Death Eye’s gaze through the broken roof as the history of humanity’s oldest enemy returned to his mind.

When the world first changed into its current game-like state, the planet expanded several times beyond its original size.

Dungeons appeared across the newly formed lands, while countless mutated beasts emerged from them and the unexplored regions beyond the remaining cities.

Humanity had been completely unprepared. Nations collapsed within months, cities disappeared beneath beast tides, and the weapons of that age could barely injure even the weakest creatures.

Humans themselves had also been far more fragile, to the point that an ordinary unawakened person living in the Human Alliance today possessed a stronger body than most people from that period.

During the first few years, humanity nearly went extinct. Most survivors hid inside ruined cities, underground shelters, and whatever defensive locations remained intact while beasts and unstable dungeons continued spreading across the world.

The situation only began to change after the Human Ancestor and the earliest generations of Awakened appeared.

They entered the dungeons, fought the beasts directly, recovered lost territory, and protected the remaining settlements while humanity slowly learned how to survive under the new rules of the world.

Countless people died during that period, but over the following years, stable cities were gradually established and the first foundations of human civilisation were rebuilt.

However, the beasts and dungeons were not the worst calamity humanity faced.

As humans grew stronger and began resisting the destruction around them, beings from outside their world started taking an interest in them. That period later became known as the Era of Gods.

The outer gods offered strength, talents, knowledge, and abilities far beyond what most Awakened could obtain on their own. In exchange, they demanded worship, obedience, and complete servitude from anyone who accepted their power.

Most humans rejected those offers, but fear and greed pushed many others to accept them. Some wanted enough strength to survive, while others desired authority, wealth, and power beyond what they could earn themselves.

Those people lowered themselves before the outer gods and allowed their influence to enter human territory.

Cults began appearing throughout the surviving settlements. At first, they remained small and secretive, but the power granted by the outer gods allowed them to spread quickly among frightened and desperate populations.

Officials, soldiers, merchants, nobles, and even powerful Awakened joined them in secret. While humanity fought the beasts and cleared the dungeons threatening its cities, the cults slowly consumed its foundations from within.

By the time their true danger was discovered, their influence had already spread through every level of society. Military operations were betrayed, settlements were sacrificed, and countless civilians were either forced or deceived into serving gods they had never chosen to worship.

For several years, everything humanity had rebuilt stood on the edge of collapse once again.

The Human Ancestor finally responded by gathering his personal force, the Wargod Hall, and launching a purge throughout human territory. Cult strongholds were destroyed, their priests were hunted, and those who had willingly surrendered themselves to the outer gods were executed.

Most cults collapsed beneath the purge, but the Church survived because its roots had already spread too deeply. Even several members of the Wargod Hall were eventually exposed as believers who had served the Church in secret for years.

Those traitors were killed, but their betrayal proved that even humanity’s most trusted organisation had not escaped the Church’s influence.

The purge that followed became one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history. Cities were destroyed, generations of powerful Awakened died, and several of humanity’s strongest forces were nearly wiped out while removing the Church from positions it had occupied for years.

In the end, the Human Ancestor and the Wargod Hall succeeded in purging the Church from the highest levels of human leadership, including the central authorities and major military commands. However, they were unable to eliminate the organisation itself.

During the final battle, the Human Ancestor fought the leader of the Church, and both suffered devastating injuries. The loss of their strongest leaders forced both sides to retreat before either could completely destroy the other.

After that conflict, the Church withdrew from humanity’s innermost circles. Its priests disappeared from the central government, the highest military positions, and the public leadership of the growing Alliance, but its influence among the wider population never truly disappeared.

Its members hid inside smaller cities, remote settlements, noble families, businesses, academies, guilds, and even local military forces. Whenever one branch was discovered and destroyed, another eventually appeared somewhere else under a different identity.

As the Human Alliance expanded and its population continued growing, eliminating the Church completely became nearly impossible.

The Alliance could investigate suspicious activity, destroy exposed branches, and protect important locations, but launching another purge across all human territory carried its own danger.

No one knew how many believers were still hidden or what those fanatics might do if they believed the Church was facing complete destruction. A careless purge could cause hidden branches to sacrifice entire cities before the Alliance even discovered where they were located.

Professor Liang lowered his gaze from the sky and looked toward the destroyed residential block.

"The Church survived the Human Ancestor and the Wargod Hall," he said. "It has spent generations hiding among the people, changing its members and methods whenever one branch is exposed. That is why the Alliance has never been able to remove it completely."

Death Eye remained silent as Professor Liang continued.

"Even so, an open attack inside a military base is extremely rare. The Church normally avoids exposing its members without a reason, especially someone who had already reached the position of Green Priest."

Death Eye’s expression hardened again. "Then this was not merely an attack."

"No," Professor Liang replied. "He entered the competition under a false identity and remained hidden until our exercise forced him to reveal himself. If that soldier had not entered his room, he might have continued pretending to be an ordinary contestant."

Professor Liang looked toward the remains of the black dome before finishing.

"We need to discover why he entered the competition and what he intended to do here before the Church sends someone to erase whatever evidence he left behind."