Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 517 - 473 Blood Revelation

The night was like a cage, trapping all living things within the narrow chapel of Degonris. Ralph and Verlet squeezed into the middle of the crowd, with Silvette not far to his right, offering an apologetic smile.

It was too cramped here, like a tin crammed with pickled sardines—and Ralph could swear the townspeople smelled far worse than any salted fish. The only thing that might be considered comfort... although it hardly could be, was Verlet using the crowding as an excuse to press half her body against Ralph, and that fragrance she carried from Naranya’s morning light, thick enough to suffocate him.

"Verlet..."

"No!" Almost embedding Ralph’s head into her chest, Verlet cut him off, "We can’t trouble Silvette, can’t take up too much space. Tonight, we can only rest like this. I can lend you my shoulder. My dear big bad wolf~"

"Is this a shoulder..."

Around them as if breaths had halted, the hollow gazes focused on the two.

Calm was shattered by a faint sound, that sort of minor noise akin to the mumbling of a disheartened soul or the silent erosion of the world by somber creatures of the dark. The sound of flapping wings stirring up the wind, droplets impacting the slanted roof above—it was amidst these annoying noises that something quietly took over everything.

Outside, it was as if a violent storm had brewed, with a pair of massive wings beating amidst the wind and rain.

Silvette looked somber, her exhaled breath stirring the flickering candles. She looked at them, biting a few words out from those vibrant lips.

"The angel has come."

In the shadows outside the chapel, a winged humanoid shape whirled through the sky, flinging a liquid onto the chapel’s slanted roof, generating a downpour.

Screams emanated from the walls’ edge, those of the townspeople on the perimeter who appeared to have seen something horrifying and screamed.

But inside the chapel, the vision was actually dim; the few burning candles radiating light only twisted the crowded congregation into chaotic, distorted reflections against the walls. For the outermost townsfolk, this unknown that spurred panic further catalyzed the fear in everyone’s hearts, their rationality hanging by a thread ready to snap at any moment.

A gasp.

A sharp inhalation from Ralph drew the centralized crowd’s attention. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Ralph and Verlet embraced and locked eyes, like the pose at the end of a waltz. This grace became a different sort of beauty amidst the atmosphere of panic. Ralph’s tense arms indicated that he was wrestling with Verlet, finally managing to push away the lioness and keep his head a half meter away from her chest.

"It’s blood, a strong smell of blood."

Outside the door, the winged creature, whose appearance was still unclear, showered the liquid upon the roof, which flowed to the ground and seeped through the crevices at the base of the walls, permeating among the crowd. It was blood. The peripheral townspeople screamed having felt the fluid beneath their feet and seen the dark red hue.

A blood rain fell outside the chapel, the blood seeping into the chapel and flowing beneath their feet.

Such abnormalities should have triggered a wave of horror among the crowd.

But this wave was forcibly suppressed by someone.

Ralph bluntly clarified the reason for the outer ring’s panic, then swept a hollow, thought-free gaze across the onlookers as if mocking those terrified by the blood, silencing the screams in their throats.

The blood had completely infiltrated the chapel, and at the center, Ralph, Verlet, and Silvette finally stood in a pool of blood.

And then, there was no aftermath.

A layer of blood less than a centimeter thick formed on the ground, just over the heels of Ralph’s shoes.

Nothing else happened—if one did not look at the ground, the night was no different from any other.

Silvette spoke a few words to soothe the townspeople’s emotions. After confirming that the blood had no issues and began to be absorbed by the land, becoming dry, everything returned to tranquility.

"Nothing will happen, we are in the chapel, this is a safe place,"

Silvette emphasized this sentence next to the two of them, knelt beside the surrounding townspeople, and began to close her eyes and rest.

Standing while sleeping had become a necessary skill for the people of Degonris to master.

The crowd standing began to loosen up. They let down their guard and rested at ease with Silvette’s assurance.

Ralph embraced the closed-eyed Verlet, whose eyes were hidden behind her burgundy hair, watching everything.

One hour, two hours...

Opening his coat, Ralph wrapped the completely sleeping Verlet within it; her faint breaths brushed against Ralph’s neck. Ralph’s cerulean eyes turned golden yellow, the pupils shrinking into vertical slits. His hands, veins bulging, held the woman tight in his embrace, feeling the scant heartbeats around him.

"One, two, three, four..."

The faint voice chewed over these numbers inside Ralph’s mouth, as if he were engaging in a sleep-inducing counting of sheep or something else.

A new day arrived as promised.

The heavy iron gate opened slowly with the push from the crowd, and the townspeople of Degonris rushed into the vacant rooms around them. They would eat a small amount of food in the hidden cellars and continue to work for another day’s survival.

Ralph, who hadn’t slept all night, was in fact the most alert one in the entire chapel; certainly, a part of the credit went to his long-standing habit of night vigils. Verlet’s feigned sleep was interrupted, and she was now clenching her teeth and moving her body angrily.

"How did I give myself away? I was certain that I didn’t make a sound!" As she woke up, the first thing she saw was Ralph’s profile—a considerable challenge for the female sheriff.

"Heartbeats, your heartbeat quickened a lot after you woke up."

"Damn it, can’t the fat on my chest block any sound at all?"

Ralph raised an eyebrow, "Unless you have that thing growing on your back." He shifted his gaze to another girl.

Silvette, just like the large female sheriff, the small female mayor was also pretending to sleep. But the trembling lashes at the edge of her eyelids clearly showed that she was undergoing a stimulation entirely different from Verlet’s.

"Silly girl, foolish girl, idiot..." Ralph’s palm gently patted the girl’s face, his cold voice penetrating deep into her nightmares.

Silvette opened her eyes, she sat up, hugged her arms, as if she were cold.

Her dilated pupils took several minutes to find focus again. Her eyes started working, projecting Ralph’s image into her mind.

"I’ve received a revelation, a blood revelation, in my dream."

Clearly, that was not good news, Ralph evaluated in his mind.

Silvette’s face was expressionless, the confusion and helplessness in her eyes made her look like a child who had just lost everything.

Yes, just like when Ralph first saw his nephew Lyle at a funeral.