Julian and Aliyah walked hand in hand, the blood of the evil spirit seeping into their skin while also dripping onto the floor.
Being so close, one would mistake them for some sort of homunculi evil spirit, and so, when they mixed with the other evil spirits, they were left unbothered.
There were a few evil spirits roaming the church, but none were approaching the staircase downward, almost avoiding it like the plague.
The two bided their time, waiting for the awakened evil spirits to turn their gazes away so they could enter.
And after nearly half an hour, they found that exact chance.
Julian and Aliyah sped up, pushing past the evil spirits and entering the line that was heading for the church. They skipped past most of the line, and as for the evil spirits who opposed them, Julian used telekinesis to knock them over.
Just like that, they managed to slip into the ruined church. The evil spirits were munching on the corpses of humans, while some focused on cleaning the debris.
And yet none paid attention to Julian or Aliyah. It was honestly way too good to be true.
Those thoughts hung in his mind, and as they arrived before the staircase, Julian noticed something.
Through the gap in the church's walls, he saw a crimson gaze belonging to one of the awakened evil spirits. It looked directly at Julian, but it didn't act, turning its gaze away.
A shiver ran down his spine as he realized that all of this was just bait to get them to come here. There was a really high chance that these evil spirits knew where they were the moment the Night of Harvest began.
"Careful," Julian said. "The moment we enter the staircase is when everything will really begin."
Aliyah nodded with an exhausted sigh.
"So you noticed it too. Yeah, I thought as much."
They stopped right before the staircase and then found the pedestal. Together, they moved the pedestal over the staircase, leaving behind only a small gap.
Aliyah was the first to enter, and right after, it was Julian's turn. Once again, they pushed the pedestal, just this time from the bottom, making sure to completely close the opening.
Whether that would do anything or not, it was too early to tell.
"Yuck." Aliyah tossed the werewolf's arms off her and then rubbed the blood off her face. "This is such a shitty day."
Julian took the werewolf head off as well and nodded.
"Yep. I should've just stayed in the forest and hunted some weak evil spirits like I've been doing."
"Was it curiosity that led you here?" Aliyah asked, pointing at the staircase. "To this place, I mean."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Just a hunch. I noticed no other churches had pedestals, so I thought it was for a reason."
"Mmm... makes sense," Aliyah replied with a hum. "I came here to gather some feathers for a new pillow. I didn't expect to run into you when I did. But I guess it was a fateful encounter, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, and now both of us are probably going to die." Julian patted her shoulder. "Let's head down. We shouldn't be this close to the other evil spirits."
She rolled her eyes and agreed. With that, the two made their way down the staircase. The miasma was much stronger than before, and he could hear rough breathing at the very bottom of the staircase.
"At least one of them is there."
"Nice observation. Got any idea how we can fight that thing?" Aliyah replied. "I'm not much of a close-range fighter, so the most I'd be able to do is provide support."
She glanced at his crossbows, her eyes beginning to shake.
However, he had plenty of time to think about the plan while walking here. There were too many things that didn't line up with his origins, and the fact that he could harness miasma, an energy humans were repulsed by, made him all the more a mystery.
But since he thrived off miasma just as much as the evil spirits, surely... his plan might just work.
So while they still had a long way down, Julian decided to give Aliyah a rundown of his reckless plan.
With one final step, Julian reached the bottom of the staircase and gazed inside the room.
Opposite him, at the very end, was a humanoid mix of werewolf and tiger, an awakened evil spirit, and a chimera.
It stared at him menacingly, prepared to kill him at any given moment.
But before it could do that, a ray of frost shone from a bit further up the staircase. It zipped through the air at a remarkable speed and then tore straight through Julian's chest, missing his heart by mere inches.
Even though it hurt like hell and he felt like collapsing at any moment, Julian didn't take his eyes off the awakened evil spirit.
Miasma funneled toward him, mending the hole in his chest. Noticing that, Julian took one step forward, then another, and another.
By the time he was only a few meters away from the evil spirit, the hole in his chest had completely mended itself, almost as if it were never there in the first place.
The chimera just stared at him, its crimson eyes showing mild surprise.
It raised its giant hand and then brought it down directly at Julian's shoulder, lopping his arm clean off.
He didn't even so much as wince at the unbearable pain, as within just a few seconds, his arm had regrown and become slightly more toned.
The chimera's face contorted into a smile that reached both its ears, and its eyes narrowed in an unnatural fashion, clearly finding Julian to be an interesting specimen.
But this show of acceptance was nothing more than the start of Julian's plan.
After all, to defeat a powerful enemy, he must first make them let their guard down.