We were already caught off guard by Hilia’s badge, and now hearing Winter suddenly speak, the High Priest couldn’t help but erupt in anger.
"What kind of bullshit are you spouting?"
Winter replied seriously, "Your Excellency High Priest, as a Lord, of course I have the right to ask a question. Don’t mind . My advice: you’d better clarify things with your Holy Court Saintess first."
Winter’s sudden interjection wasn’t to help Hilia press the High Priest, but rather to distance himself and show this had nothing to do with him.
Even though he thought his guess was probably right, it was always best to prepare for both outcos.
If he blindly supported this stranger Saintess, and she turned out to be fake, or the High Priest sohow reversed the situation, he’d end up in deep trouble.
If his guess was wrong and he supported the High Priest, or even tead up to get rid of the Saintess, but it turned out she was real, then the consequences would be more than just changing out a High Priest.
So, the best strategy was to offend neither side, take himself out of the equation, and whoever won, he’d help them.
Granted, speaking this way was a bit like siding with the Saintess; if the High Priest won later, he’d resent him, but they’d hated each other for ages anyway, so earning a little extra dislike ant nothing.
Winter calculated perfectly, and the High Priest quickly saw through his sche.
He took a deep breath, calming his nerves, and spoke in as even a tone as possible: "I’m not making a move against you. I just saw you crouching there for ages, so I sent a Magic Puppet to help you investigate."
"Oh, so your Magic Puppet charging over with a sword was for my benefit, huh? If you can sell that to the Judgnt Priest, by all ans—keep trying."
The High Priest’s expression changed yet again.
After a long silence, he finally managed to smile and said, "Miss Saintess, you’re joking, right? This plantation has absolutely nothing to do with . I reported to you that there’s pearl rosemary cultivated here, didn’t I drop everything important and co here with you? Don’t slander . I’ve served in Frost Town for over ten years now."
Hilia nodded repeatedly, "Mm, right, go on. I’m listening."
The High Priest fell silent.
From Hilia’s expression, he could tell she had no intention of letting him off.
His face darkened slowly.
"You say you’re the Saintess, but as far as I know, the Saintess isn’t like you. Where did you get your badge? Is it fake? Let take a look."
"Nope." Hilia put her badge away. "Co hit , then!"
"I think you’re just guilty as hell. You’re probably a fake Saintess. The High Priest has the authority to judge any heretic impersonating clergy! Don’t force to act."
"If you wanna fight, just fight! Why all the damn talking?" Hilia snapped impatiently. "Let put it straight—cultivating pearl rosemary and selling Water of Bewitching is a greater cri in the Holy Court than being a Sect leader. No point debating at this stage. Just wait for judgnt."
The High Priest sneered, "Let spell it out for you—impersonating the Holy Court Saintess is a capital offense. I’ll substitute for the God in judging your evil!"
With that, the High Priest already issued a command to his Magic Puppet.
The Magic Puppet charged over, radiating pure white light, which showed the High Priest’s Holy Word Magic was mastered to a very high level.
Still, no matter how Hilia looked at it, that holy glow was damn annoying.
"Doing crooked shit every day—did you practice Holy Word Skill on dogs?!"
Hilia, who had already prepared to summon her Magic Puppet, experienced instant summoning for the first ti.
The Magic Puppet rapidly condensed, then raised a hand and ford an ice wall, blocking the incoming attack.
Hilia steadied herself, thinking about how to defeat the High Priest.
"The High Priest’s combat tactics are nothing like the Lord’s. The Lord’s weakness is being slow—fatal. But the High Priest doesn’t have that flaw."
"His Holy Word Skill is well-practiced—gives him massive Magic Immunity and boosts to holy-based attacks. Can’t go head-to-head with him."
"Crystal Arrow plus Ice Shattering Skill combo doesn’t do much against his Magic Puppet—only way is to catch him off guard."
"I can cooperate with Mage’s Hand. Test out the Magic Puppet’s Tier Two Combination Skill."
Hilia had already made up her mind.
This ti, Rose didn’t offer her any guidance. Sensing what she was thinking, he nodded approvingly.
The girl finally realizes the brilliance of Mage’s Hand.
This skill, back in the day, was pretty much a player-exclusive ability, like hacking in Watchdog or Eagle Vision in Assassin’s Creed. It’s a support skill, works with any spell—totally overpowered.
Hilia learned the Crystal Arrow and Ice Shattering Skill combo herself, thanks to her own talent.
The Magic Puppet, though, used a different skill set.
Water of Stagnation, Frost Condensation, Flash Thunder Fury, Ice Shattering Skill.
Frost Condensation is a spell that rapidly freezes vapor, and can be combined with Water of Stagnation—once an enemy gets stuck in the water, it freezes them fast.
Flash Thunder Fury is a magic Hilia learned on Rose’s advice. Its power on humans is similar to Thunder Strike Skill (Tier One), but it’s specialized against tal.
It invades tal, damages it from within, and works even better on frozen targets.
The core of this combo is to use Flash Thunder Fury to invade frozen targets, break them up from inside, and finally use Ice Shattering Skill to smash them.
Most people think of freezing plus Flash Thunder Fury as a combo, but Hilia hadn’t seen Flash Thunder Fury followed up by Ice Shattering.
After searching out of curiosity, she found lots of Mages comnting that Ice Shattering Skill isn’t much use—just good for bullying newbies.
Honestly, it really is hard to actually smash soone with this skill...
"Luckily, I’ve got Mage’s Hand!"
BANG!
The High Priest’s Magic Puppet shattered the ice wall, long sword glowing with holy light, like it was judging a heretic, slashing straight down at Hilia’s Magic Puppet.
"Holy Word Skill doesn’t work on , you know."
Hilia smiled slightly, dodging a bit, ignored the incoming Holy Word Skill blade, and triggered Water of Stagnation, enveloping the High Priest’s Magic Puppet in vapor.
"Freeze!"
As the High Priest’s Magic Puppet froze up, the blade had already reached Hilia’s Magic Puppet.
But her Magic Puppet radiated a faint white glow, barely noticeable, yet the blade lted away like it had t its nesis.
The Saintess’s exclusive Divine Immunity—an ability only the Saintess possesses—reduces most holy-based spell power and straight-up nullifies damage from Holy Word Skill.
It’s a blessing given by the current Saintess after praying to the God, and lasts until she becos the official Saintess.
If you lose the competition, you lose the blessing instantly.
This is the easiest way to tell if soone’s the Saintess or not.
Seeing Hilia immune to Holy Word Skill, the High Priest’s emotions went haywire.
But soon, his gaze beca even more vicious.
"You pushed to this!"
Flash Thunder Fury struck down from the sky, piercing his Magic Puppet—but the Magic Puppet was completely unhard.
The holy aura had faded, and instead—blood-red light radiated from it.
This light instantly broke the freezing effect on the Puppet.
Hilia’s eyes went wide: "A blessing from the Evil God’s Sect?"
"That’s right, it’s the Mortal Death Blessing from Roster, Apostle of the Deep Sea. It gives Tier Four power."
The High Priest’s pupils rapidly split, each eye dividing into six pupils—really freaky.
"At this stage, I have no choice but to kill you quickly right here."
Hilia felt her scalp tingle.
Wait, hold up—why’s he opening with the ultimate right from the get-go?
With the pressure intensifying, just as Hilia was about to turn to Rose for help, a cold snort sounded from outside.
"Hmph. A dignified High Priest from the Divine Hall, yet daring to practice Sect Magic—you’ve betrayed the God! Face Judgnt!"
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