Ever since devils began appearing frequently throughout the world, the Church's workload had multiplied several times over.
As mentioned before, the Church's warriors had originally enjoyed at least some time to rest, but that had now vanished entirely because of this crisis.
Many exorcists and Holy Sword wielders had completely lost their days off because of it.
They had already despised devils, and now they hated them even more.
"Damned devils!"
"It's not even Halloween yet, is it? Why are they all acting like they're drugged? What are they so excited about?"
"They've left us with no time to rest at all!"
A group of special personnel assembled by the Church gathered together and headed toward their designated destination.
They were considered special because the group contained an unusually large number of talented individuals.
Among them were a taciturn, blue-haired Holy Sword wielder, a lively and adorable girl with orange twin tails, as well as several nuns and priests...
Since the team had been hastily assembled, there were a few problems with its composition, but these would not have much impact on their combat effectiveness.
The entire team consisted of only ten people, and the only member without any direct combat ability was a blonde nun.
However, that blonde nun possessed a healing-type Sacred Gear, making her even more valuable to the team than the combatants.
Their leader was a man dressed as a priest who appeared to be in his forties. He was probably the oldest of the ten.
Overall, this was a squad whose average strength was by no means weak.
"It can't be helped. We are warriors of the Church, after all. If we don't stop the devils, then who will?"
It was perfectly normal for the team members to complain. Humans were not made of steel, and everyone needed time to rest.
However, there was one thing more important than rest!
Responsibility.
Why did they obey the Church, give up their time off, and go out to hunt devils?
Why did they endure the exhausting journey to such a distant place to perform an exorcism?
Naturally, it was to protect ordinary people from being harmed by devils!
Moreover, this sense of responsibility could not merely be spoken of. It had to be proven through their actions!
That was why they had come here.
"I understand the reasoning, but... shouldn't we still take turns resting?"
"If everyone becomes exhausted and an extremely powerful devil appears, won't we all end up dying here?"
A young girl frowned as she raised the question, feeling that their current arrangement was rather inappropriate.
A person's stamina was limited. No one could continue fighting endlessly, and their enemies would hardly wait until they were in peak condition before appearing to challenge them.
"Yes, that is indeed true."
The priest leading the team smiled and nodded, as though he had anticipated the question.
This operation was not merely an exorcism. It was also intended to train the next generation.
There were quite a few promising youngsters in this squad. With proper guidance and training, they might become pillars of the entire Church in the future.
For that reason, he had deliberately encouraged these children to think about how to solve problems during this exorcism mission.
"Then we'll split into two groups as previously discussed. The two groups will take turns resting and standing guard. If you discover anything unusual, don't rush into battle. Wait until everyone is ready before taking action."
As the team's leader, the priest was naturally an extremely experienced exorcist. Otherwise, he would never have been entrusted with the important task of nurturing the next generation.
Although his strength could not compare to the truly powerful devils, he still possessed methods of preserving his life. At the very least, he could protect these fledglings.
By evening, the ten-person squad finally arrived at their destination. However...
"Is this... really where we're supposed to rest?"
The members of the Church stood before an enormous crater, utterly dumbfounded, because there was absolutely nothing here apart from the crater itself.
This could no longer be described as sparsely populated. There was quite literally nothing here at all!
They had never imagined they would encounter such a situation while following this route.
The path ahead was completely empty. There was no village, no paved road, and no sign that any enemies had appeared. Even when they used special tools to scan the area, the result remained the same.
The place was utterly barren.
"But this is strange..." One of the team members carefully studied the map in his hands. "According to the map, an abandoned church should be here. Why is there nothing at all?"
"Could it have been demolished?"
The Church had once constructed churches throughout the world and stationed bishops in various regions.
However, after the God of the Bible departed, Heaven's influence began to shrink drastically. Churches that had already been constructed, including some overseen by bishops, were abandoned for various reasons.
In other words, the departure of the God of the Bible had taken away benefits equal to those He had once bestowed upon them.
Ultimately, the Church was merely a human organization. Its chances of competing against the numerous mythological factions were truly slim.
But even if the church had been abandoned, it could not simply have vanished without a trace, could it? No matter how one looked at it, it had been built many years ago and could even be considered a historical site in a certain sense.
Were the people around here really so careless that they would demolish it on a whim?
Or had someone taken a liking to the decorative stones and simply stolen them?
Regardless of the reason, the place where they had planned to spend the night was now completely gone.
"Then what should we do?"
"Naturally, we'll camp here!"
As one of the Church's elite warriors and a priest who had hunted countless devils, he naturally had plenty of experience in such matters.
The path of battling evil could never have been easy. In their generation, sleeping outdoors and enduring the elements had been commonplace.
They needed to help the next generation adapt as early as possible. They could not allow the experience accumulated by their predecessors to be forgotten after only a few generations.
"I'll go set up the formation first, then. I'll leave dinner to all of you."
"Understood!"
...
"Let's see. All the food should be out, and we have enough seasoning too..."
A blonde nun stood before a makeshift stove, carefully examining the ingredients in front of her.
"I have to make everyone a hearty dinner! That way, they'll have more energy tomorrow!"
The girl's name was Asia Argento, and she was the nun accompanying this team.
Although she was the weakest among them in terms of combat ability, no one looked down on her because of it. After all, she was the only person on the team who possessed healing abilities.
Her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, possessed the ability to heal wounds without discrimination. It also seemed to have some connection to the system.
In any case, anyone who had ever entered a battlefield and suffered an injury understood just how important Asia was to the team.
"O God! Please protect Your devout believers and allow every one of us to return home safely!"
However, beyond everyone's sight, an extremely unusual energy gradually emerged from Asia's body and flew toward the distant sky...