Chapter 1101 - 166: Massive Expansion and the Peerless Warrior Luther Huss (Part 4)

Chapter 1101: Chapter 166: Massive Expansion and the Peerless Warrior Luther Huss (Part 4)

Four years later, Luther Hus thrived, quickly surpassing the peers who once bullied him in stature. He constantly studied, trained, and honed himself, aspiring to become an outstanding Church Priest. Zeis didn’t want to nurture a fanatic believer and soon began teaching Hus the true meaning of faith and the uniqueness of the human spirit, finally allowing Hus to accompany him on journeys around the Divine Hall, learning in real battles how to wield the Warhammer like a true Combat Priest.

Four days later, they arrived at Hernel village, where the old priest would conduct a ceremony to bless the residents. Luther witnessed the real world for the first time in this desolate village: what happened to the promised happiness and prosperity with the Empire bathed in a warm, silky spring breeze like Redema’s hair? Instead, before him lay poverty, decadence, and cowardice; the weakness of the people he should serve, lead, and protect made him feel physically uncomfortable.

Coincidentally, a girl of merely sixteen was suffering from black fever in the village, with her days numbered. The fledgling Hus resolved to heroically rescue her. He tried to pull her back from the brink of death through his soul but at the last moment, her soul vanished into the darkness. Just entering puberty, Luther was heartbroken, lamenting he failed to save an angel and cried fiercely. The old Zeis rushed to comfort Hus, saying, "You’re neither a Mole Priest nor a healer; you’re a Combat Priest of Redema! Your duty is to give hope to the living, stand strong!" Zeis told him the world is full of both demons and angels; if Hus lives long enough, he will surely meet another angel.

As Hus grew, Zeis aged, and when he was too old to hold ceremonies, he started having Hus perform them instead. The old priest arranged one last test to establish the young man as his successor, handing Hus his armor and Warhammer, instructing him to rid Wisemund town of the Beastmen occupying Redema’s temple locally. Hus vanquished the wild creatures in the temple, but was poisoned and lost consciousness. When he finally awoke, he struggled back to his temple, having promised to return to the old priest’s side before his death. Yet upon entering, he saw the old priest kneeling in a Chaos circle, gulping rejuvenating potions.

Zeis’s mindset is easy to guess; he worked diligently and arduously for the Church all his life, only to end up alone in such a horrible, godforsaken place. His clerks—even Hus’s classmates—felt life wasn’t worth it either, and they collectively pledged to Chaos for eternal life. Hus felt they betrayed him, more importantly, they betrayed their faith. The battle turned from a skirmish into a massacre and eventually into a chase; Hus eliminated Zeis and every heretic he caught and finally burned down the temple while the other clerks fled into the forest. Before the burning temple, Luther Hus doubted his faith for the first time, with Zeis’s final words to him being: "You’ll be all alone, Luther. You can’t understand us; you know nothing of the temptations we faced. You’re a good priest, but you’ve never been a true man, never."

In the years following his departure from his hometown, Luther Hus sought out evil across the Empire, eradicating it with almost heartless determination and unwavering will. Many corrupted priests met their end at Hus’s hands, kicking them alive to death, his resolve against his colleagues was so firm that more than one diocesan bishop requested his expulsion from the Church. But Archbishop Walkma would only chuckle upon hearing these requests, for Hus was too extraordinarily pious and faultless.

However, Hus defeated so many of his colleagues every year that the Church leaders couldn’t contain the swelling public resentment and enormous pressure, mandating his dispatch to the Border Prince’s Territory. (But still retaining his status as a Church Priest, refusing to expel such a formidable priest)

Here, the lonely Combat Priest did not give up his faith, tracking zombies to a town called Helga, now reduced to ruins, where he discovered a survivor—a beautiful girl covered in bruises. This girl named Mira wished to follow Hus, but she inevitably reminded him of the young girl he failed to save in his youth. So Luther seldom showed kindness, trying to comfort her and lead her to the Eisenbach town, where they encountered the zombies face-to-face.

Hus rallied the townsfolk to defend the town, using a speech so provocative and compelling that it transformed the ordinary masses into religious fanatics brave enough to face zombies head-on. Despite the dangers of the battle, the foolish Mira remained by his side, forcing Hus to protect her safety more diligently. Soon, Hus realized that Mira brought him an unprecedented sense of hope and happiness, yet he feared her presence might lead to her untimely death, so he quietly left the town the day after the battle, considering it a form of protection for the girl.

The solitary Hus ventured deep into the Black Pine Forest, fiercely battling an entire Beastman Warband in an abandoned stone temple but ultimately succumbed to injuries from being outnumbered. Just as "The Tale of Hus" seemed about to end there, Griffin Knight Edwin suddenly appeared with a Provincial Legion.

Edwin rushed forward, dragging Hus toward the back lines, and the priest raised his head in bewilderment to see Mira among a small cavalry group, her golden hair shimmering silver under the starlight, shouting something; this time, she saved him.

As Hus displayed a fatherly, gratified smile, a group of Beastmen suddenly charged from the woods towards the cavalry squadron, with Mira raising her sword to block the Beastmen’s first strike, only to be cleaved off her saddle by a Giant Axe. Hus violently threw off Edwin’s grasp, sprinting forward, struggling to choke out Mira’s name, only to collapse on the muddy ground, tears streaming down his face. Before allies rushed up to drag him away, Hus crawled a couple of meters forward, glimpsing that blood-stained golden hair discarded in the bloody mud before losing consciousness.

After that day, Hus became depressed, refusing to communicate with anyone and falling into extreme decadence causing the priests of Hesse Territory to even suspect he was Chaos Corrupted and considering opportunities to burn him.

Yet, Hus’s combat prowess advanced rapidly; he fought so fiercely that within the Sun of Vengeance Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order, no one could withstand his rampage. Once, someone insulted his two deceased lovers, driving him mad, and not even four Half-Lion Griffin Knights could restrain him, being beaten down single-handedly, breaking three legs, four nasal bones, and losing more than twenty teeth.

This even alarmed Su Li, the case reaching Su Li’s desk regarding how to discipline him, Hilude was unsure of what to decide.

Finally, Su Li chose the same decision as Archbishop Walkma, declaring that a capable fighter is innocent. He compensated and silenced others with potions from the Vault Area, still keeping this fierce individual in the army.

Half-Lion Griffin Knight, a being capable of charging a Giant Dragon. Twelve Half-Lion Griffin Knights stand a chance to slay a Giant Dragon, yet all four joined forces and were beaten down bare-handed by a single man. How could Su Li not value such a formidable man?

According to Su Li’s knowledge, there are at least three to four similar formidable individuals within the Half-Lion Griffin Knight Order, all having the potential to reach Divine Chosen Level. Of course, having potential is one thing, whether they can break through is another matter.

After all, to become Divine Chosen, fortune often outweighs talent and probability.

And in Hesse Territory, or more precisely, Su Li, fortune is what he lacks least.