Chapter 127: A Cry for Help - III

"That temple is no safe haven. The villagers would never approach it under any circumstance." Callisto muttered.

"What's wrong with it?" Merlin looked at her with a confused expression. "Is it a monster's nest now?"

"Well, I guess you could say that, in a sense." She retorted, "That temple was built during a time before the wall. Back then, it used to be a collective house of worship for the western towns, filled with statues of the many gods and goddesses the surrounding settlements worshipped."

"Of course, without the wall here, one of those nearby settlements was Lycosura. Home of my father's castle and also the location of that dreaded sanctuary of the accursed cult." She continued, stretching out the word 'sanctuary' as if to insinuate it was no such thing. "The temple stands today as a reminder that not even the gods are immune to the influences of evil. So yes, I would say it is a den of monsters, but not in the traditional sense."

"Boss, we've checked everywhere. There isn't a single person anywhere in town. Godric's team aren't anywhere to be seen either, even their alcohol barrels seem untouched." A ranger reported his findings as he approached. "It's most likely another--"

"Don't say it." Callisto cut him off before he could finish. She was now seething with anger. "That damn cult."

"One of the other guys also pointed out that he saw movement in the distance near the temple." The ranger continued, "They would like to ask for permission to investigate."

"We'll investigate it as a group, order everyone to group up." She ordered, her eyes were now locked on the temple as she mumbled something else. "If it weren't made of stone, it would have likely been burned down months ago. Even at risk of upsetting the gods."

The group all formed up in an open area within the town, and once everyone was ready they set out for the temple. The group marched up the hill, most of the group began securing the perimeter and investigating the forest as Merlin, Callisto and a handful of rangers made their way inside the temple.

As Merlin entered the temple, he noticed rows of shattered statues, with only two statues remaining intact at the far side of the temple.

The group wandered further into the temple, inspecting many of the shattered statues. Merlin noticed that Callisto had stopped in front of one of the statues, and upon approaching her, he noticed that some of the stone shards on the floor seemed to have been carved out in the shape of a bow.

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"How dare they." Callisto mumbled to herself with her fists clenched. But she turned away from it when she heard one of the rangers shout.

"What's this on the statue's face? It looks like blood." One of the rangers that Merlin assumed was a new recruit shouted, causing the rest of the rangers to approach.

Merlin approached the ranger and observed the statue. It was a statue of a woman, most of her body was hidden by a large veil, but the face was clearly visible because part of the veil that was covering her face had been shattered.

The strangest thing about the statue was that there were almost black lines running from the statue's face, like tears. But as the new recruit had said, it appeared to be blood.

"That's the statue of Despoina, but who is that beside her?" Merlin asked, staring at the only other statue standing in the room.

The remaining statue was a large man that towered over the statue of Despoina. He was wearing hoplite armour, featuring a spartan-style helmet with a large plume on top. He was wielding a long spear and had a large round shield that could cover most of his torso.

"That man is the titan Anytos. Legends say that he raised and protected Despoina, and was one of the few titans not cast into the pit of Tartaros." Callisto explained, "Although perhaps Zeus is regretting his choice now."

The new recruit wandered closer to the statue to inspect what the red liquid actually was, he noticed that a puddle of the liquid had formed on the floor underneath the statue.

As the recruit bent down to inspect it, Merlin could have sworn he saw the statue of Despoina smile for a brief moment. A sickly feeling ran through his body, as he stared at the statue.

"Something's wrong..." Merlin mumbled.

The group heard a loud crash outside the temple, along with several pained screams.

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"What was that?" One of the rangers inside the building asked before running towards the temple entrance to gather information.

The moment everyone in the room turned towards the entrance, they all heard a pained scream coming from behind them.

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"What is it this ti--" One of the rangers shouted as he turned to face the new recruit, but all he saw was the statue of Anytos piercing the new recruit with his spear, and the new recruit's lifeless body dangling off of it.

"Those damn cultists, it was a trap." Callisto shouted as she quickly drew an arrow and sent one towards the statue.

Anytos blocked the arrow with his shield, before throwing the corpse dangling on the spear towards the group of rangers.

The new recruit's lifeless body rolled to Callisto's feet, and Merlin saw the woman's body shake with anger. Merlin's eyes glanced over at the statue of Despoina, who now had a disgusting grin plastered on her face.

"Split up and don't get too close to it. They're made of stone, so regular arrows wont do much." Callisto ordered, "And if you're using a short bow, find out what's going on outside and provide assistance, then come back with reinforcements if you can."

The group of rangers scattered around the temple at her command and began launching arrows towards the titan. A couple rangers made their way outside, where the sounds of loud banging could still be heard.

The titan charged towards a group of rangers, it was surprisingly fast for something made of stone, but fortunately the rangers moved out of the way in time. The statue crashed into the wall, sending debris and dust raining down on those nearby.

Merlin drew an arrow and sent it flying into the statue's back, the arrow wedged itself into the stone, but ultimately it didn't seem to have done anything besides make a few small cracks.

Merlin's eyes glanced back over to the statue of Despoina instead, who was much smaller than the titan, and he assumed that his arrow would deal more damage as it had less material to puncture.

As he drew another arrow and aimed it at the statue of Despoina, he quickly caught the glimpse of a long stone rod flying towards him. Merlin barely dodged in time as the titan's spear sunk itself deep in the temple's wall.

The titan statue began stomping towards Merlin, who still had his arrow nocked. He quickly drew the arrow back and fired it towards Despoina, but the titan lunged his shield in the way, causing his arrow to embed itself within the shield's surface, like many other arrows.

The statue ripped the spear out of the wall before turning to Merlin once more. Arrows were flying towards it, some managing to pierce the statue's stone skin, others shattering on contact, but the titan was solely focused on Merlin.

Merlin leapt out of the way as the titan tried to crush him under its foot.

"This would have been so much easier if I could use the staff." Merlin groaned as he avoided a fast sweep from the long spear. Fortunately his recent addition to his agility was helping, although the statue was still fast enough that he would be skewered if his attention wavered.

"Attack the other statue" Merlin shouted as the spear barely grazed his shoulder.

The next sweep attack had unfortunately caught Merlin's foot, causing him to be tripped up and thrown to the other side of the room. But instead of running over and finishing him off, the titan seemed to be after a new target.

Merlin struggled to stand for a moment, but he forced himself to his feet and ran back into the fight.

The titan had began charging at Callisto, who was still shooting arrows at it as it approached. Once the titan was ready to attack, she slid under the spear being thrust towards her and the statue's legs. She managed to shoot an arrow through its lower jaw as she was sliding, but once she made it to the other side, the shield arm was swung towards her, swatting her into the temple wall.

One of the other rangers nearby was about to speak up, but before he could get a word in, Callisto crawled out of the rubble she found herself in and had immediately started charging towards the statue, leaving her bow behind.

"Boss stop!" The ranger shouted as he watched the furious Callisto charge past him, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the titan's spear scraping against the stone floor.

Fortunately Callisto had dodged the spear, but before she could get close, the statue's massive shield had blocked her way once more.

Surprisingly, Merlin watched as Callisto winded her fist up and punched the shield. She bellowed with a deafening roar as her fist sunk into the stone shield, causing large cracks to form on the shield's surface.

The force of the punch had actually forced the titan to take a step back, and as it did so, large shards of the stone shield began shedding, falling to the floor as nothing but rubble.

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