’Is she finally summoning the white dragon, Ran?’
Seeing the sparkle in Simon’s eyes, Lethe smirked as if reading his mind.
“If I brought Ran out here, I’d burn the entire city to a crisp.”
“Then what’s the plan?”
“Just watch.”
Lethe summoned two divine beasts from her subspace. One resembled a turtle, the other a bird of prey. As expected, their bodies were pure white, and their eyes shimred with divine power.
“I’m counting on you, Mimi, Lala.”
Closing her eyes, Lethe placed a hand on the turtle’s shell. The creature absorbed her divinity like a sponge and was soon engulfed in a blinding radiance.
’Wait, is that what I think it is?!’
Simon’s eyes widened. The phenonon was strikingly similar to when he had infused Whitey and Blackie with divinity—though the kittens had reverted to normal midway through.
This turtle, however, completed its transformation. As he watched it separate and recombine within the light, Simon recalled a lecture from Parahan, the Professor of Defense Against Divinity.
’—Have you heard of ‘Akan,’ the continent’s strongest Arc-Paladin? He transforms his drake into the form of an airship and pilots it.’
It was the rarest of abilities, one only a handful of divine beasts possessed: ‘Objectification’.
Before his eyes, the turtle divine beast burrowed into the ground, reshaping itself into a makeshift underground bunker.
“You seed interested in Divine Beastology, so watch carefully,” Lethe said with a sly smile. “Lala, get ready.”
’Kee-rook!’
The bird-like beast soared into the sky. anwhile, Lethe laid several overlapping ‘Amplification Magic Circles’ on top of the bunker.
“Mimi.”
The bunker’s ceiling—or rather, its shell—opened with a heavy, tallic groan, unleashing a torrent of light beams into the air.
The beams shot upward, passing through the layers of amplification circles.
“Wait, Lethe! What are you doing? At this rate—!” Simon cried out in alarm.
She simply placed a finger to her lips and activated the white magic inscribed on her own body.
’Sensory Link.’
Closing her eyes, she saw the entire battlefield through the eyes of the bird circling high above.
’Remote Control.’
With a re thought, she adjusted the trajectory of the light beams. The hundreds of projectiles that had been soaring skyward instantly changed course. For a breathtaking mont, the city was illuminated as if by daylight.
’Precision Fire.’
Then, the pillars of light rained down like a storm.
’Thwack!’
One pierced the back of a goblin’s head just as it was about to finish off a wounded militiaman.
’Thwack! Thwump!’
Others struck goblins scaling walls and those distracted by corpses.
’Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!’
The barrage even annihilated goblins that had breached buildings. She had precisely targeted and eliminated over a hundred invaders simultaneously.
’Thud! Thud!’
In a matter of seconds, more than a hundred monsters were wiped from existence. The city’s residents, and even Simon at her side, gasped in awe.
’As expected!’
This was the power of Efnel’s top admission, the current Saintess. This technique wasn’t a holy power granted by her title; it was a skill she had personally studied and honed at Efnel.
“Hah.”
Beads of sweat dotted her forehead as she opened her eyes, shaking her white hair.
“Good work, Mimi, Lala.”
The bird descended from the sky to land on her shoulder, and the turtle that had beco an armored bunker returned to its original form in a shower of light.
“That was incredible! Was that the Objectification of a divine beast?”
“It was. And for the record, I only use divine beasts that have chosen . Ran is no exception,” Lethe replied nonchalantly, returning the two beasts to her subspace. She then summoned another.
’Thud!’
This one was quite large, resembling a walking tree. Lethe placed her palm against it, infused it with divinity, and commanded, “Everyone, co out.”
From within its leaves, hundreds of fireflies erged, glowing with divine power.
“Start by treating the wounded.”
The fireflies scattered in all directions, flying toward the fences and into the city to land on the injuries of the fallen. They began to glow, using the divinity Lethe had provided to heal the wounds.
’She took out a hundred at once, and now she’s healing a hundred at once!’
Sensing Simon’s stare, Lethe let out a smug little laugh.
“Do you understand now? The power of a divine beast is on a completely different level from a necromancer’s undead!”
Simon gave a wry smile. She just had to turn it into a necromancer versus priest competition.
“It’s a sha I can’t show you my Lich.”
“What’s that?”
“An undead that would make you faint on the spot... Ah, wait a second!”
Simon spotted soone and rushed over. A militiaman was slumped against a tree, a massive sword wound gaping in his abdon.
“Excuse .” Lethe knelt and placed her hand over the injury.
’Great Heal.’
’Hwaaaaaak!’
A brilliant light enveloped the wound, which began to close at a rapid pace. The groaning man’s pale complexion slowly returned to normal.
“Are you with us?”
“Kugh! The... the lord! The lord is...!”
“Do you know where he is?” Lethe asked calmly.
“He saw the boss monster... leading the goblins. He took his soldiers to fight it...” The militiaman weakly raised an arm and pointed.
“Akallion!” Simon shouted.
The two imdiately mounted the divine beast and galloped in the direction the man had indicated.
“It seems it wasn’t just White Goblins that attacked,” Lethe said, holding onto Simon’s waist as she scanned their surroundings.
The forest was littered with the corpses of monsters.
“No, these are from a different ti.”
“How would you know that?”
“From the state of the bodies, I can estimate when and how they died.”
Lethe muttered, “Necromancers, I swear.”
“In any case, judging by these corpses, the city has been under siege for nearly a week. Today’s battle was just more intense.”
“No food, and now monster attacks... The lord of this city must have his hands full.”
The further they rode, the more monster corpses they saw. The ground was particularly thick with freshly slain White Goblins, all bearing sword wounds.
The lord, it seed, was incredibly powerful. Trees and monsters lay tangled together where his blade had passed, all clearly felled by a single person.
“Found them!”
Lethe pointed. In the distance, a man with a mustache was fighting a large, white-furred monster. A deep gash bled freely from his chest.
’Kikikikik!’
The surrounding White Goblins imdiately moved to block their path. Akallion let out a deafening roar, but the monsters held their ground.
“Out of my way!”
Simon thrust his arms forward, unleashing the white magic he had been preparing. A divine spear materialized in the air, and a fluttering ribbon of holy energy wrapped around it, twisting it into the shape of a drill.
’Lethe Original – La Escrim.’
With a sound like a cannon blast, a single beam of light shot forward, obliterating the monsters in its path. It continued on, slamming into the chest of the boss monster fighting the lord.
’BOOM!!’
The divine spear carried the monster several dozen ters before pinning it to a massive rock. The rock cracked under the impact, and the monster coughed up blood.
“Wh-Who...!” the man gasped, clutching his chest before collapsing to one knee.
Simon leaped off Akallion, his greatsword flashing as he drove back the remaining goblins.
“Lethe! Heal him!”
But Lethe was staring, completely dumbfounded, her cheeks bright red.
“H-How...” Her hand trembled. “How in the world are you using my technique?!”
---
By the ti the battle was over, day had broken. The two were finally escorted to the guest room of the lord’s castle.
“Laus! My deepest apologies for the great discourtesy, esteed priests.” The lord, his torso wrapped in heavy bandages, bowed deeply. They returned the gesture. “I truly thought tonight would be our last. Thanks to you both, our casualties were greatly reduced. You have my eternal gratitude.”
“Good, as long as you understand,” Lethe said, crossing her legs with a smug air. “Offer your prayers to the grace of the rciful Goddess.”
“O-Of course! I felt as though the Goddess had not yet forsaken us!”
After a few more pleasantries typical of the Holy Federation, Simon gently guided the conversation to the matter at hand.
“How dire is the situation in your domain?”
At his question, the lord’s face hardened.
“Truthfully, by tomorrow, our food supplies will be gone.”
“Tomorrow?”
“...Yes. The sea remains frozen. The bitter cold persists, and it is impossible for my people to cross the monster-infested mountain range.” His fists clenched. “This is all because of that damned village.”
Simon leaned forward.
“By village, you an...”
“There is a village called Eskyl in the northern mountains.”
He knew it well. It was the destination of their mission, the place they were to infiltrate as teachers.
“In Eskyl, there are mages who control ‘Snow Won’ and manipulate the ice and snow.”
“Snow Won...?”
“Beings of legend. But forget legends—this is all a vicious sche by the people of Eskyl to bring ruin upon Kula!”
The root of the problem was the ‘severe cold’. The changing climate had ruined Kula as both a resort and a cultivation site for holy water leaves. The frozen sea had cut off their only supply and escape route, and monsters driven down from the mountains by the cold had begun their relentless attacks.
Simon suspected this unnatural cold was connected to the ‘evil’ Israphel had sensed in the north.
“Their evil deeds are countless!” the lord spat, his grievances pouring out like a broken dam.
Kula had been cultivating holy water leaves using clean water from the mountain valleys, but the people of Eskyl had poisoned the water, killing hundreds of tons of the precious crop in an instant.
Furthermore, new, aggressive monsters never before seen on the continent had begun appearing in the mountains, all of them hostile to Kula.
To top it all off, young people had been disappearing from the city. Witnesses reported seeing figures in the white fur clothing traditional to Eskyl near the sites of the abductions.
’Well, I can’t judge based on just one side of the story.’
Still, it certainly painted a grim picture.
“We will not simply wait here to die,” the lord declared. His gaze, blazing with fury, turned toward the snow-swept mountains.
---
Simon and Lethe walked out of the lord’s castle.
“We’ll prepare as soon as we get back to the inn,” Lethe said suddenly.
“Prepare for what?”
“I had planned to follow Sir Israphel’s advice and spend a few days gathering information, but that’s no longer an option. This situation is far more serious than I imagined.” She lifted her head, her gaze eting Simon’s. “Today. No. We’re going to Eskyl right now.”
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