Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1305: Sacred Courtyard

Few knew where exactly it was despite knowing that it was located in Pelian. The Purity had some competent experts when it came to non-combat abilities. It also helped that they had vast stores of genuine Divine energy, the same which had freed Skullius from his UNCoddled curse months ago, to use for complex arrays.

The mountain ranges close to what was called the Tattered Serpent\'s Throat - a river feeding in from the sea separating Feinheath and Opungale - acted as perfect cover for the Purity\'s headquarters.

It was easy to think that the lair of the self-proclaimed emissaries of the Deities was somewhere in the mountains, and a powerful array set around these mountains exploited this. It created suggestions and clues in the mountain tops and modest slopes that led nosy seekers by the nose.

The true Purity headquarters was located at the base of the three mountains closest to the Tattered Serpent\'s Throat. Seven more arrays hid it from view, but even if they failed to deny intruders access, the enemies would only be able to reach the outer sacred courtyard of the headquarters, which was loaded with security measures of its own.

Skullius had no trouble dismantling the arrays around the Purity headquarters. Soon, the sacred courtyard came into view as he and Elita descended.

What he and Elita saw stunned them.

The sacred courtyard was a simple, yet wide yard of pale bricks, flat and even. It spotted three giant faceless marble statues at one of its ends and behind them all, what looked like a great tower with a three-pointed golden star glowing on its face could be seen.

Over the rest of the courtyard though, mounds of corpses could be seen.

All of them were adorned in the silver suits of armour of the infantry Purity Knights, but they hardly looked glorious and respectable. Blood, guts and limbs were sprayed all over the level ground, painting the pale bricks red.

As Elita and Skullius landed in the courtyard, Elita couldn\'t help but gape. She looked around in disbelief. So much carnage. What for?

She began analysing the wounds on the corpses and found that most of had been inflicted by a sword. An abundance of decapitated heads and also of bodies with multiple slashes ripping away at their torsos and limbs, told Elita that there had been more than one assailant; one preferred to end the Knights\' lives quickly and the other... hadn\'t been so kind.

"Who could have done this?" Elita murmured. Skullius heard.

"A skilled swordman and someone simply killing with a sword," he answered her.

Skullius himself was perturbed by the scene. Perhaps it didn\'t validate Elita\'s theory on what the Purity was up to, but it did spell that something was terribly wrong. Something dark was afoot in the Purity headquarters.

"Let\'s move on. We\'ve got to be quick. This doesn\'t look more than a few hours old," Elita said as she felt the blood on the ground. She then led the way towards the tower with the Purity\'s signature star.

As they approached, however, one of the faceless statues seemed to come to life. It stirred and careened. Its neck twisted unnaturally, its faceless head turning towards Skullius and Elita.

The former Paladin Champion was surprised. She had never known these statues to move. They could be used to address those in courtyard, but nothing more.

She didn\'t like the pressure wafting off the statue and this was in no small part because it was supposed to represent the Deitess Suzamete.

"Another interruption? Ohhhh!" the statue said in a crooked, cracking voice, "Paladin Champion Elita! You are alive and well! Thank Quintess, Listafelle and Suzamete! Their graces are everlasting indeed! You were thought to be lost!"

Elita scowled. She wondered who exactly was speaking through the statue.

"Yes. I\'m alive," she said. "I wish to enter the Inner Sanctum and converse with the nine."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The statue fell silent for a few moments and then it spoke.

"Ah. It would please everyone to see that you are alive and well, Paladin Champion Elita, but I\'m afraid you will have to wait in the courtyard for a while. There are sacred matters being attended to by the nine inside."

"I\'m afraid I can wait no longer. What I have to say is urgent," Elita insisted.

\'Forgive us for the inconvenience, but we must insist that you wait here," the statue said, its voice growing louder.

Elita narrowed her eyes.

"Who killed all these Purity Knights?" she asked the statue as she took Broodweiler in her hand.

"You shall be informed when you are permitted inside, Paladin Champion Elita," the statue said and it started to flex its fingers and take steps towards her. "Patience is a virtue you never managed to learn, is it?"

"What do you know of my virtues?" Elita said coldly right before the statue pounced, Suddenly, an ungodly amount of genuine Divine energy raced through it, and its slender, feminine outline abruptly turned ripped, thick muscles etched in the stone!

In the next instant, however, it was violently severed into thousands of pieces when Elita swung her blade in a net of blurs!

Her Broodweiler was very efficient at cutting down things affiliated with Divinity after all; it was a Realm rank Prime treasure with an Absolute Prime Property that allowed its fangs to reach even the Broader Existences of Divine beings!

The other statues in the courtyard also lunged at Elita.

Her body was suddenly encased in Voided Death Essence and she zoomed towards them before they finished their first stride. She obliterated one with a single punch to the chest and sent the other flying way past the Tattered Serpent\'s Throat into Emeradis!

Skullius had been watching silently behind her. Only Beyrmir hidden within him could have discerned that Skullius quite enjoyed watching her fight. There was something about her

body...

"Looks like you weren\'t wrong after all," the Hybrid Warmoth said. "Though I wonder what the nature of the threat we\'re dealing with actually is."

Elita turned to him.

"Can you sense anything happening deeper inside headquarters?" she asked him.

"I have been searching everywhere within since we got here," Skullius said and he folded a pair of his arms. "Honestly, I\'m not sure what I just sensed. There\'re several people inside. Many are dead, several are alive and one is somewhere in between.

[Author\'s Note]

It might help if you re-read the last few paragraphs of Chapter 1211, The One Left Standing (25). I\'m sure some of the details may have breezed past.