"I have sinned, Father..."
Norton, in his half-charred state, gradually regained clarity in his eyes.
"I've become a vampire?"
Looking at his right hand transitioning from withered to restored, recalling his memories before death, and remembering the church books he'd read these past two days, Norton found it utterly miraculous!
Rebirth brought Norton some joy, but more than that, it brought astonishment.
Although he had basically confirmed from books that vampires truly existed, actually becoming one himself felt completely different.
It rather felt like watching supernatural movies suddenly become reality.
"This... truly heaven never seals off all exits, Father!"
Norton watched his recovering hands, sensing something unusual about his body.
But now wasn't the time for contemplation.He needed to escape this place quickly, at least before the Church Knights within the church arrived.
Having studied the church for so many years, they certainly had methods to deal with vampires. Although he didn't know how the Church Knight before him had died, he dared guarantee that if two of these heavily armored knights came, he'd be completely outmatched.
So the priority was to flee immediately.
Norton stripped the armor from the Church Knight's corpse on the ground and put it on himself. Though it fit loosely, it at least concealed his still partially withered body and provided some additional defense.
"Father, I will return!"
Norton's turbid eyes shot a venomous glance toward the city direction before he turned and walked into the dense forest behind the mass burial ground without looking back.
He, Norton, held grudges fiercely!
Father Mia, damn you to hell!
---
"Whoosh~~"
The northern wind whistled mournfully, causing the wooden window of the small livestock shed to swing back and forth.
The wind-corroded wooden joints emitted faint creaking sounds.
Darkness enveloped the entire livestock shed. Within the dark shed, a cow cried out pitifully, as if something was gnawing at its body.
"Sir, sir, this is the last ox in our household! You cannot take it away!"
A somewhat aged male voice sounded outside the livestock shed, but the response he received was a brutal kick from a heavily armored Church Knight.
"Get lost!"
The Church Knights never showed any mercy toward the poor below them.
This kick even made the old white man vomit blood, provoking a girl's crying.
Seeing this classic werewolf appearance, what this thing was needed no explanation.
Werewolf!
Werewolves, one of the classic Central European monsters. These creatures, along with vampires, are the founding figures of Central European fantasy.
The last monster magazine Norton read had descriptions about such creatures.
This thing was also a product of God's hybridization, but unlike vampires who transform from the dead, werewolves are born from mother wolves.
When mother wolves give birth, there's a small chance they'll produce werewolves. Why such things are conceived remains without research results, only leaning toward theological explanations.
Werewolves are born as variants combining wolf and human physiques, raised by mother wolves, hence lacking humanity with extremely intense wild instincts.
Like wolves, werewolves can be tamed by humans. But they cannot transform into humans or wolves, more like genetically mutated wolves, yet still possessing some special abilities, such as super recovery and powerful strength.
Describing them as beasts is the best approach.
However, these things are living creatures, completely different from vampires. Vampires are more like undead beings existing between life and death, while other monsters, including werewolves, are merely living creatures.
As torches were thrown into the livestock shed, the werewolf startled by the flames let out a piercing howl.
"Awooo..."
Then its entire body crouched low, legs tensed, and it leaped toward the opening used for feeding livestock in the shed.
"It's trying to escape! Block it!"
The Church Knight standing at the doorway stepped into the livestock shed with great sword in hand, shouting loudly.
The werewolf's movements resembled those of a wildly instinctual animal, yet its body was anything but small—measuring a full 1.7 meters excluding the tail, with explosively muscular build.
With its movement, the werewolf's entire body shot toward the window opening like an arrow.
However, just as its body reached the window, a great sword came slashing down fiercely toward the opening.
"Awo!"
The werewolf's body couldn't maneuver mid-air, only attempting evasive action, but still got brutally slashed on the leg by the great sword.
These Church Knights, whatever training they underwent, possessed monstrous strength. This single strike brutally severed the werewolf's thigh bone, causing it to emit piercing howls of agony, its entire left leg hanging by mere shreds of flesh and skin.
But it managed to escape the livestock shed.
"Awooo!!!"
The werewolf crashed outside the livestock shed due to its broken leg, forcing it to crouch on its front claws and right hind leg, baring teeth and howling at the Church Knight who severed its left leg at the window.
Unfortunately, the combat proficiency of these Church Knights, almost like genetic soldiers, was truly astonishing.
Without any hesitation, the three Church Knights standing outside immediately closed in, charging toward the werewolf.
The strong wind made it hard to keep eyes open, suggesting heavy rain might soon pour down on this area.
The werewolf's broken leg seemed to be healing, but the regeneration was slow. While this proved it could regenerate severed limbs, clearly the Church Knights wouldn't give it this recovery opportunity.
"Awo!!!"
Seeing the three charging Church Knights, the werewolf opened its blood-filled maw wide, emitting a piercing howl, then turned attempting to flee toward the dense forest behind it.
However, the Church Knight emerging from the livestock shed took a crossbow-like weapon from his waist and fired at the turned werewolf.
"Thud!"
The crossbow didn't shoot bolts, but rather a grappling hook with barbed claws.
The claw pierced through the flesh of the werewolf's chest, the reverse barbs hooking into its flesh and underlying rib cage.
"Awo!!!"
Piercing wolf howls erupted. The agony from the claw hook gripping its bones drove the werewolf into complete savage fury, realizing retreat was no longer possible.
It turned around again and pounced toward the approaching Church Knights, directly tackling the nearest knight to the ground.
The werewolf's gaping maw, filled with saliva and foul odor, desperately tore at the Church Knight's slit-visored steel helmet. Foul drool and blood from the wolf's mouth even dripped through the helmet's gaps inside, flowing onto the Church Knight's face.
Whether due to underdeveloped iron smelting technology with too many impurities in this world, or the werewolf's excessive strength, this werewolf that tackled the Church Knight actually managed to bite through the facial steel armor, its teeth penetrating the knight's face.
"Crunch... crunch..."
The werewolf's bite force was truly terrifying—its wide-open jaws pressed down relentlessly, actually deforming the steel helmet on the Church Knight's face!
Trickles of blood seeped from the Church Knight's helmet beneath the werewolf, but the werewolf's own chest was also impaled through by the Church Knight's great sword.
Excruciating pain made the werewolf continuously howl in agony, but the barbed hook on its body pulled harshly at its rib cage, dragging it backward. The two other Church Knights closing in from behind brutally brought down their great swords!