Chapter 192: Chapter 192 People Can’t Choose Their Own Parents_1
At noon, at the abandoned village railroad crossing.
This was the most level road to the deserted mine shaft, the village built within the mountains was surrounded by rock, with most of the houses built on the hillside.
At the railroad checkpoint leading into the village, two nuns armed with shotguns stood guard.
There was nothing out of the ordinary until a strange sound came along the tracks, like someone incessantly grinding a steel saw against the rails, and the sound was not far off.
The nuns watching over the tracks exchanged glances, confirming that this was not their own illusion.
Together, they looked towards the outskirts of the village, their gaze stretching out along the rails.
Eventually, they discovered a pile of something covering the tracks about a hundred meters away, as if someone had dug up a box of dirt and buried the rails under it.
But what was eerie was that this pile of "dirt" was silver-colored, reflecting a dazzling light under the sun.
The strange sound was coming from there, and it was unknown when this thing had appeared.
Both nuns picked up their shotguns and walked towards it.
As they got about twenty meters closer, one of the nuns raised her gun and fired at that lump.
She had fired a magic-devouring bullet, which, whether against the caster themselves, magical creations, or even objects affected by spells, had a quite decent dispelling effect.
However, after being shot, the strange lump showed no reaction, the magic-devouring bullet seemingly disappeared without a trace.
The nuns became increasingly perplexed, one stood still on alert, while the other strode forward to examine the pile.
At that moment, just as the nun approached, the pile of silver suddenly "came alive", sprung up on the spot, and pounced on the nun like a wild beast.
The nun had never expected that the thing could still move after absorbing a magic-devouring bullet, her reaction was a split second slow, but even so, she still had the ability to dodge.
But just as she instinctively prepared to retreat, a thin tentacle stretched out from her shadow, coiled around her ankle, and caused her to lose her balance.
The mercury automaton directly enveloped the nun, quickly growing hardened spikes that pierced through her body.
Hidden in the shadows, Aiden silently observed the scene; this was his idea, allowing the mercury sphere to approach the gate along the railway tracks, drawing the guarding nuns into the range of their ambush.
From outside to this railroad crossing, a distance of over a hundred meters made it difficult to find cover, and charging straight ahead was too reckless regardless.
These brutal hunting techniques of the mercury automaton were not taught by Aiden but were inherent to it—these were the life instincts granted to it by Abigail’s divine words. In other words, this behavior pattern, like its own trait of being easily tamed, was written into its "program" by Abigail.
Aiden really couldn’t grasp the taste of this witch; the scene reminded him of an instrument of torture from the history of his previous world that once existed, known as the "Iron Maiden," and it was recorded that this instrument was used to execute heretics and hunt witches.
The other nun fired her gun at the mercury automaton repeatedly, uncaring that her bullets might penetrate her comrade.
Her attention was so focused on this that she completely failed to notice the shadow beneath her feet writhing violently.
"My shadow, you’re too busy, lend me a hand or two."
Accompanied by Daili’s chanting, black tentacles emerged from the nun’s shadow, entwining around her like a hunting python and rapidly tightening. The power of the shadow demon surpassed that of a real python, easily capable of breaking human bones.
But at that moment, the nun suddenly let out a roar as majestic as a lion or a tiger and tensed her entire body, struggling against the tentacles with raw strength.
Aiden noticed faint, tiger-like stripes on the nun’s face beneath her headscarf, which left him somewhat astonished.
Though not very pronounced, these were clearly characteristics of a tiger person; In his prison, there was a tiger person locked up.
Like the werewolves, the tiger people who also suffered from the beast curse were more stable in their symptoms, not losing control on nights of the full moon, but their peak strength couldn’t match that of enraged werewolves.
Aiden remembered that among the hunters employed by the Harvest Mother Cult, there was a tiger person.
He quickly realized what was happening—the Cult had fused the biological material of that tiger person with the nuns’ and concurrently utilized the powers of "Breeding" and "Evolution," endowing the progeny with these traits.
To conquer the Banquet Forest, they had been looking for ways to enhance the combat abilities of these "worker bees."
"Your spirit is immersed in the lake, drifting with the waves."
Presia emerged from her hiding place, taking advantage of the struggling nun to approach her rapidly while casting a hypnotic spell. Aggressive mental spells were difficult to take effect from too great a distance.
The nun’s gaze became empty, her consciousness stripped away for an instant, but it was that fleeting moment which allowed her body to momentarily relax. The shadow demon took the opportunity to coil around her neck and instantly twist it, ending her life.
Aiden and Veronica finally stepped out from behind the hiding rocks. Daili had already laid the nun’s body down, and the mercury amalgam golem had spit out the nun’s body, now riddled with countless holes—it actually had no interest in anything other than metal.
"These artificial humans really have no consciousness of their own," lamented Veronica as she shook her head; she had witnessed the nun shooting her comrade without a second’s hesitation, her behavior mimicking that of Vila’s creations who simply obeyed orders.
"The Harvest Mother Cult has already been designated by the Heresy Inquisition Bureau as a cult that needs to be purged," Aiden gave her a glance, "Seeing armed personnel, you can directly shoot to kill. There’s no point in advising them to surrender. They were born no different from puppets, there’s no need to feel sympathy for them."
"I know," Veronica said expressionlessly, "It just feels tragic that they’re born without any chance at all, worse off than those prisoners."
Aiden hesitated slightly upon hearing this, knowing she associated this with prisoners like Camilla Ivansa, who fell into the realm of crime because of their upbringing. With Aiden’s experience from two lifetimes, he knew there were many such prisoners.
"People can’t choose their birth or their parents, and that’s something that can’t be helped," Aiden said simply, "Let’s go."
He had already turned his thoughts to the battles ahead; the Harvest Mother Cult’s average combat power had significantly increased compared to when they were suddenly attacked by the Heresy Inquisition Bureau.
If they were to besiege Father Bales alongside the gathering of witches, they first had to take care of these dangerous "worker bees."
He hoped that Lamia, who claimed she wanted to deal with the ’fodder’ herself, could handle things smoothly... of course, it didn’t really matter if things didn’t go well, as long as she could hold the fort, that was enough.
As for the rest... he just hoped that those Great Witches wouldn’t betray him, their ally, at a critical moment.
