The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

The Mages who ran up from below all stared wide-eyed in shock, wondering if they were seeing things.

What did they just see?

A Tier Three Mage, defeating a... Tier Four Mage?

Among the Mages who responded to the lighthouse alarm to deal with the Deep Sea Demons, there weren’t only Tier One, Two, and Three Mages; since the guard squad didn’t know whether there might be Demons above Tier Four, a Tier Four Mage had come along as commander.

The sudden explosion that blew the lighthouse’s top clean off had naturally alarmed them as well.

Such an intense Magic Power fluctuation—there was no way a Tier Three could reach it, only a Tier Four could.

The Tier Three Mages who had flown up were thinking the same thing.

But when they sensed the Tier Three fluctuations coming from the girl sitting on the ground, they all froze.

The Tier Four Mage who was acting as commander was even more dumbfounded.

The Tier Three Mages might not know what tier the dead Mage—who looked suspiciously like a heretic—had been, but they could feel it clearly.

That had been a genuine Tier Four Mage.

Not some pseudo Tier Four temporarily boosted inside the neighboring Golden Apple Stone Forest.

The Tier Four Mages looked at each other, completely baffled.

After exchanging a glance, they all descended together onto the top of the lighthouse.

The other Mages watched from a distance, not daring to get too close, afraid they might get caught in the crossfire by accident.

There were three Mages who landed on the lighthouse. As they came closer, one of them recognized Hilia and, eyes full of surprise and doubt, asked, "You’re... Miss Phil’s friend?"

Hilia lifted her head to look at him.

He seemed to be one of those older nobles from the previous banquet; since he hadn’t been clustered around Phil and instead had a crowd of nobles around him, Hilia had some impression of him.

But he actually remembered her?

Hilia was a little surprised.

But this wasn’t the time to be surprised. She waved the three over and said, "Don’t just stand there in a daze, get over here and help. See if this heretic is really dead."

The three exchanged a look. Once they confirmed Hilia was on their side, they relaxed, quickly walked over, and frowned as they watched the pollution slowly disperse from Camilla’s corpse.

"It really is a heretic."

"Why would a heretic be fighting Miss Xilia inside the lighthouse?"

"And a Tier Four heretic at that..."

Hilia pointed toward the Tower Guard corpses blown into a corner by the explosion: "This heretic slipped into the lighthouse and killed all the Tower Guards. I don’t know what she was plotting. Anyway, I just killed her first and figured we’d talk later."

The Tier Four Mage who knew Hilia wore a grave expression. "Deep Sea Demons are attacking, and now there’s a Tier Four heretic lurking inside the lighthouse. There has to be a connection. We must report this to Mr. Pharos."

The others nodded, and another immediately took out his wristband to contact Mr. Pharos.

Just then, a glowing figure flew in from outside and landed on the lighthouse top. He froze when he saw Hilia and exclaimed in surprise, "Hilia? Why are you here?"

Hilia looked up and saw that it was Bishop Helder from the Divine Hall; it seemed he’d come specifically to support them after hearing the explosion.

Hilia let out a tired sigh and repeated everything she had discovered.

Helder was likewise stunned on the spot. "You... killed a Tier Four heretic all by yourself?!"

Hilia waved it off modestly. "Just a casual thing."

Everyone: "..."

That "casual" was a little too casual.

Noticing that Hilia seemed in bad shape, Helder said, "I’ll send you back to the Divine Hall to rest."

Hilia shook her head. "I just ran out of Magic Power, I’m not hurt. It’s not a big deal, I’ll be fine after a bit of rest."

The noble Tier Four Mage was startled. "What? You killed a Tier Four heretic and you’re uninjured?"

Cross-tier without a scratch?

That was absurd!

Hilia glanced over at the disassembled Magic Puppet and said nothing.

The others followed her gaze and suddenly understood.

So that was it—the Magic Puppet had taken the hits for her.

Good, good.

If both the Magic Puppet and she had come out without a scratch, they’d really have to start questioning reality.

No, wait!

Even with the Magic Puppet in pieces, they should still be questioning reality!

Because they were Tier Four Mages!

The Tier Three Mages gathered below could hear the conversation above. Compared to the Tier Four Mages who were on the verge of doubting life, they were all fired up, putting themselves in Hilia’s shoes and fantasizing about having the strength to challenge across tiers. They all felt their bladders tighten from excitement.

Hilia said, "Seems like some Deep Sea Demons have shown up. You all go down and support them, don’t worry about me."

Helder glanced at the disassembled puppet and asked, "Need me to call someone to help you collect the Magic Puppet?"

Hilia thought for a moment, then agreed. "I’ll trouble you then, Bishop Helder."

"Haha, no trouble at all. Being able to serve M... Miss Xilia is my honor."

Helder’s attitude was extremely respectful. Hilia defeating a Tier Four with Tier Three strength alone was worthy of respect in itself. On top of that, given her identity, Helder felt that even if she didn’t become the Holy Daughter in the future, she would still be a weighty figure within the Holy Court. Now was the time to build a connection.

However, he didn’t grovel too hard; he only did some trivial little favors and didn’t force the relationship.

If Hilia accepted, all the better; if not, it would just be a minor regret.

The other three weren’t nobles of Huijin City and didn’t know who Hilia was. Seeing a fellow Tier Four like Helder being so respectful, they couldn’t help getting curious about Hilia’s identity.

Once they all flew down together, that noble Mage asked, "Helder, which Legendary Mage’s child is this Miss Xilia?"

Helder shook his head and smiled. "She’s not. She’s from a remote Divine Hall and is currently studying Magic at the Divine Magic Academy."

The others felt it clearly wasn’t that simple, but since Helder wouldn’t say more, they couldn’t press him. They could only speculate in their hearts and plan to look into it properly once they got back—at the very least, they wanted to get acquainted with this powerful Mage.

They also planned to both egg on and warn the youngsters in their families: egg them on to pursue Hilia, and at the same time warn them to have some sense and not provoke her.

Rumble!

The sea roared in waves; up in the sky, heavy clouds blotted out the stars, lightning flashing now and then as wind and rain loomed.

Atop the lighthouse, Hilia could also feel the storm coming in from the sea.

She exhaled, glanced at the few Knights from the Holy Court who were packing up her Magic Puppet, then walked to the badly damaged window and looked out toward the distant, thunder-split ocean.

"The momentum looks huge, but the Demons showing up right now seem to only be Tier One and Two?"

Hilia stood there for a moment, then took out her Flying Broom, turned, and reminded the Knights, "Just send it to the Divine Hall for me."

"As you command!"

Hilia nodded, sat on the Flying Broom, and left.

...

Meanwhile, in central Letes City, about three kilometers from the City Lord’s Castle.

Phil walked slowly through a narrow alley, carefully sensing the elements around her.

She could vaguely hear the alarm coming from the lighthouse, but that wasn’t something she could handle.

"According to Hilia’s directions, it should be around here... huh?"

She suddenly noticed something unusual in one of the houses.

"This fluctuation doesn’t feel like the pollution fragments Hilia mentioned. It feels more like those strongholds... a Soul Altar?"

Phil summoned a Magic Puppet and, without hesitation, smashed open the house’s door. She rushed inside, headed straight to the polluted area she sensed, moved aside the concealing fireplace, and saw a cellar entrance revealed beneath it.

"There’s actually a Soul Altar inside the city?"

Phil jumped down without the slightest hesitation.