The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

Other than Blake, Shuoen, and Melina, no one knew about Hilia purifying chaotic pollution.

The combination skill Rose mentioned could only be used to block out pollution, meaning it only worked in the Golden Apple Stone Forest, so there was nothing to hide.

However, Hilia hadn’t used it yet, and she wasn’t clear about the details—she needed to learn a weaker version of [Wind Domain] before she could try it out.

The other two magics, [Holy Dispel] she already knew well, and [Shadow Binding] she didn’t intend to learn, since it would affect her Holy Word Skill.

She planned to draw it into a scroll and achieve the same effect through Elemental Harmony—in fact, she could do it without Elemental Harmony, but the magic’s strength would drop considerably.

Apart from this, Hilia also planned to share with Blake the Purification Skill Rose taught her, specially aimed at pollution and heretics.

This kind of thing really didn’t need to be kept secret.

Heretics were like a bunch of hidden terrorists, and special Purification Skill was a gun—a gun that only hurt terrorists, so there was no reason to hide it away.

If the Holy Court, or even all mages worldwide, mastered this special Purification Skill, heretics wouldn’t be worth worrying about.

Previously, Hilia hadn’t had a good chance to teach Purification Skill, but now, with the operation against the main base of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association, maybe it was a good opportunity.

So, before she returned, Hilia told Blake and the others the key points of this Purification Skill.

The three of them were all bishops of the Holy Court, one of whom also had command over the Law Enforcement Knight Order, specializing in dealing with heretics, so this Purification Skill was like giving wings to a tiger for them.

Of course, Melina did ask Hilia how she got it.

Hilia said, "Obviously the blessing of God—I understood it after receiving divine inspiration. I don’t know if you guys can use it."

"Anyway, give it a try."

...

Back in her room, Hilia dove straight into studying Wind Domain.

With Rose’s guidance, she learned fast, but since it wasn’t Water or Ice Element, the pace was still pretty slow—she’d need at least a day to figure it out.

But to turn it into a domain, mixed with Holy Dispel and Shadow Binding to make a combination skill, that would take a bit more time.

"Just take it slow. Such a huge Golden Apple Stone Forest isn’t going to fall easily."

The camp here clearly wasn’t built recently; she just didn’t know whether the Holy Court had only started attacking the main base of the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association lately or if it had been going on for a while.

"Probably just started recently—otherwise, the Holy Court wouldn’t have let it slide this long," Hilia thought.

Even if the heretic main base was hidden in a dangerous place like the Golden Apple Stone Forest, it wouldn’t be let off.

Because this was inside Ista’s territory.

If it were outside, nothing could be done, but if it was discovered inside and still allowed to exist, that would be outrageous.

The next day.

Everyone was mobilized, and Hilia, roused by Alina’s call, got up with the others and went to the plaza outside the camp.

Alina said, "Next is task assignment. According to the strategic goal, our target is a heretic base about 30 kilometers away from camp. It’s one of many small bases defending the heretic main base, serving as an early warning system. But since our operation is so obvious, we can’t hide this from the sect, so there’s no need for stealth—just charge in and attack head-on."

"Take note of the weaker heretics, those only at Tier One. They may just be regular people who gained magic through polluted invasion. All they know is spewing pollution—they don’t have any means to attack. Their physical fitness is worse than ordinary folk, so don’t kill them. They’re still savable, and rescue work is a very important task."

"Understood!٩(’ω’)و"

And so, the many academy mages who’d never fought before headed out.

Alina led five squads—one second-year, one third-year, one fourth-year, and two fifth-year squads.

The fifth-year mages seemed much more mature than the tense second, third, and fourth years.

They snickered, and one squad captain said, "We’ll be fighting together for the next few months, so let’s introduce ourselves first. I’m Leica. Who are your captains? Come here, let’s discuss a quick tactic."

Doris of the Holy Maiden Squad stepped up and went to work out tactics with the other captains.

Hilia vaguely heard Leica’s voice from over there: "Yesterday, I consulted the Law Enforcement Knights. Except for the inner 20 kilometers radius at Golden Apple Stone Forest’s core, the outer heretic bases are all normal ones. Each is run by at most one Tier Four heretic, with no more than five Tier Three mages, the rest are small fry."

Another unfamiliar voice piped up: "The small fry can’t be ignored—they might incite ordinary people to attack us. If they charge and self-destruct, it’s a headache for us too."

"Don’t underestimate Tier Two mages either. I heard from a Law Enforcement Knight, in the Golden Apple Stone Forest they can’t unleash their full strength, so even a Tier Two heretic can tie up a Tier Three Law Enforcement Knight."

"What’s to be afraid of? We’ve got Ms. Alina with us."

Alina paused at that, turned to the speaker, and said coolly, "If you can’t handle Tier Two heretics, your grades will be an instant fail."

That person promptly shut up.

Alina said, "The power in that ruin has been investigated—one Tier Four mage, six Tier Three mages, ignore Tier Two and One. This is the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association’s main base, so it’s possible they’ve sent troops as garrison. Also, the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s environment is really weird—there’s some mysterious power we can’t explain, which seems to react with pollution and makes the heretics inside stronger than those elsewhere. Don’t underestimate them."

Leica immediately replied, "Don’t worry, Ms. Alina, we won’t underestimate them."

Alina nodded and said nothing.

This was just a small peripheral base—so long as she kept her eye on the Tier Four mage across, the rest could be left for the students to gain experience.

At that moment, Doris raised a question: "What if they get wind of us early and quietly send in a second Tier Four mage?"

Alina smiled a bit, "Impossible. The Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association’s main force is busy holding off the Law Enforcement Knight Order in the main base. We’re acting at the same time as they’re doing their operation, so they have no spare resources to protect the peripheral camps."

Leica grinned, "Ms. Alina’s right. The sect doesn’t have that many High-tier mages. If anything, the unique environment of the Golden Apple Stone Forest creates more Tier Two and Three trash mages. These Tier Two and Three heretics don’t even have the right spells. If they can cast Fireball Technique, that’s already impressive."

Everyone laughed.

As Hilia listened to their banter, she kept feeling it wasn’t so simple.

The more they talked, the more uneasy she became.