The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

Seeing that acquaintances had arrived, Hilia stopped pretending to be the "Evil God", jumped down from the high platform, and called out to everyone:

"You finally made it, I almost died in the hands of those heretics!"

You? Died in the hands of heretics?

Holy Master Connor and the other two looked at Hilia, then looked at the ground covered with heretic corpses.

Is this the correct combination of words?

The Holy Master’s figure flickered; he quickly appeared beside Hilia, sacred radiance blooming.

A moment later, the light faded and the Holy Master’s expression relaxed.

"No injuries, good, as long as you’re not hurt."

He looked at the corpses littering the ground, then at the Deep Sea Leader who’d been smashed into a pit, Magic Power exhausted, already gravely injured.

If he remembered correctly, this leader was a Tier Six Mage.

And the corpses on the ground were all at least Tier Four, with several Tier Five Mages among them.

Melina checked them over and said, "All these dead heretics are the ones who fought the Law Enforcement Knight Order earlier, but when they couldn’t win, each used their own tricks to escape. We couldn’t catch them, and who’d have thought they’d end up killed here."

She couldn’t help looking at the Deep Sea Leader’s demon, and the Longsword in its hand, fresh blood slowly dripping down.

It looked like... some kind of internal struggle among the heretics?

It wasn’t just them who were confused; the Deep Sea Leader, who’d been smashed into the floor, was also stunned.

He stared blankly at Hilia, then at the three who had suddenly appeared.

"You... you’re not... no, you must be, I understand now, no no, it shouldn’t be like this, you are..."

Blake pointed at the Deep Sea Leader who was babbling nonsense and asked in puzzlement: "What’s he saying?"

Hilia blinked: "Who knows what he’s mumbling about. Just execute him."

As she spoke, the Magic Puppet controlled by Rose lifted its Longsword.

"No, you can’t, I can’t end here, Lord Gods, I’m your loyal Believer, your Sea Successor, you can’t do this."

The Deep Sea Leader’s eyes slowly turned red.

Smack!

The Magic Puppet punched him in the forehead, directly knocking the weakened man out.

"You..."

The three from the Holy Court looked at Hilia hesitantly, their gazes strange.

Hilia said innocently, "Has nothing to do with me, okay? His Magic Puppet got addicted to my charm and submitted."

The three: "..."

Hilia’s expression didn’t change, but in her mind she was kneading her mental body.

Because, right after she said that, Rose smacked her.

Hilia said, "I don’t know what happened either. Before this, I discovered a secret base they’d hidden deep underground..."

Hilia described how she had found the underground base, altered the badge’s teleport coordinates, and then ran into the Deep Sea Leader, omitting Rose’s part—instead turning it into "the Gods’ guidance."

After she finished, Hilia said, "Although I don’t know what exactly happened, maybe their Gods saw that I’m so pretty and couldn’t bear to occupy my body, and even let me control the Magic Puppets of their Believers."

The three: "..."

Even the well-informed Holy Master fell silent at this point.

It was absurd, but aside from Hilia being favored by some unknown God’s grace, they really couldn’t think of any other explanation for the current situation.

Considering that "favored by an Evil God" and the like would be a bit of a shock to these three high-ranking members of the Holy Court, under Rose’s instruction, Hilia said, "Based on what I’ve found, the so‑called ’Roster’ worshiped by the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association is not an Evil God, but one who usurped an Evil God’s name. In reality, it’s one of the Sea God’s Favored Sea Successors that was corrupted by calamity—a mutated Sea God’s Favored."

"The Sea God’s Favored?" The Holy Master froze, looking thoughtful.

Hilia’s face didn’t redden, her heart didn’t race, as she continued, "So I suspect that this Sea God’s Favored usurped the Evil God’s name, and after being discovered by the Evil God—no, by the Sea God, its authority was taken back, and the true Gods saw my situation and descended blessings upon me."

Since this cover story was made up on the fly, Hilia couldn’t make it fully self-consistent; she could only improvise as she went along.

Whether the three believed it or not, the facts were there for them to see, leaving them no choice but to accept.

Blake stared at the Magic Puppet that somewhat resembled the giant magic puppet and asked, "Hilia, can you really control this Magic Puppet?"

Hilia hedged, "Can’t really call it ’control’... it’s more like asking it to help out..."

Before she finished, Hilia changed her wording: "Actually, I can control it to a certain degree, but it’s only temporary; after a while, I won’t be able to anymore."

The change in wording was something Rose told her to do.

Hilia didn’t understand, but whatever Rose told her to do, she did.

Melina said, "Then let us see to what extent you can make it obey."

"All right."

Hilia looked at Rose expectantly.

Rose smiled faintly and controlled the Magic Puppet...

To start dancing.

The Magic Puppet raised its hand, released the Longsword, clenched its fists, and swung both hands up and down in front of itself, turning its body to a certain angle.

A classic dance move from a certain grassland tribe.

Rose even went out of her way to tweak it, making the puppet twist its hips as it waved its hands.

Utterly lewd.

The three from the Holy Court: "..."

Hilia: "..."

Melina’s expression was odd; her eyes seemed to say, "I didn’t expect you to be this sultry, Hilia."

A blush slowly gathered on Hilia’s cheeks, and she immediately understood why Rose had told her to change her wording just now.

This had obviously been premeditated.

Luckily, the Magic Puppet soon stopped.

Rose laughed and said, "Alright, go take out the Heart of the Magic Puppet. This Magic Puppet isn’t made from real materials; it’s formed from the power condensed by the Heart of the Magic Puppet. Maintaining the puppet’s form for long greatly drains the Heart of the Magic Puppet’s energy."

"Got it."

Hilia puffed out her cheeks and walked over to the Magic Puppet.

The Magic Puppet’s chest cavity opened; she reached in and pulled out the Heart of the Magic Puppet.

As the Heart of the Magic Puppet disconnected, the entire Magic Puppet slowly dissolved into particles and disappeared.

Looking at that deep-blue Heart of the Magic Puppet, which radiated rich water-attributed Magic Power, the Holy Master mused, "Maybe Hilia is right; the ’Roster’ the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association believes in is the Sea God’s Favored."

He shook his head, then looked at the corpses around them and said to Blake, "Go tie up the Deep Sea Leader. Make sure he doesn’t commit suicide; if he wakes up, knock him out again and take him straight to the Huijin Divine Hall, put him in the highest Judgement Court, and you’ll guard him personally."

"Got it."

Blake immediately moved, using Magic Power to construct ropes and truss the Deep Sea Leader up like a zongzi.

"As for here... let others come clean it up. There might be all kinds of Deep Sea secrets hidden here."

After a moment’s thought, the Holy Master beckoned to Hilia.

"Hilia, let’s go. We’ll head back first."

Hilia shook her head. "There’s one last thing I haven’t done."

She returned to the high platform and placed the Divine Format fragment back onto the pedestal in the middle, letting it float above.

After that, the entire platform began to emit a faint blue glow.

Before long, a strange cluster of light descended from above.

The girl let out a breath of relief. "This is the Golden Apple Stone Forest Array’s authority key. Good thing it wasn’t destroyed."