Chapter 416
‘Is she bringing out the White Dragon Ran now?’
Seeing the sparkle in Simon’s eyes, Lete gave a small laugh, as if she already knew what he was thinking.
“If I let Ran out here, the whole city’ll go up in flames.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Just watch closely.”
Lete pulled out two divine beasts from her holy subspace.
One was a turtle, and the other had the appearance of a mountain bird. As divine beasts, their entire bodies were white, and holiness shimmered in their eyes.
“Please, Mimi, Lala.”
Lete closed her eyes and placed her hand on the turtle’s shell.
The divine beast absorbed her holiness like a sponge soaking up water, then was soon enveloped in a blinding light.
‘Wait, that can’t be!’
Simon’s eyes widened.
It looked similar to when Whitey and Blackie had been infused with holiness. Of course, the kitten pair reverted back midway through.
Fwaaaaaash!
This divine turtle completed its transformation all the way.
As the creature repeated division and recombination within the light, Simon recalled what Farahan, the professor of Defense Against Holiness, once said.
—Have you heard of ‘Akan’, said to be the strongest archpaladin on the continent? He transformed his Drake into an airship and flew it around.
Among the rarest of divine beasts, only a select few could achieve the fabled transformation into an object—Objectification.
Before they knew it, the turtle divine beast had dug into the ground and transformed into what looked like a makeshift underground bunker.
“You seemed interested in Divine Beastology, so pay close attention.”
Lete said with a sly smile.
“Lala, prepare.”
—Kkiruk!
The bird-shaped divine beast soared into the sky. Meanwhile, Lete layered multiple Amplification Magic Circles over the now-bunkerized turtle.
“Mimi.”
The ceiling—no, the shell—of the bunker opened with a heavy metallic sound, and from within, countless flashes of light shot up into the air.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
The light blasts passed through several layers of amplification circles and surged into the sky.
Simon shouted in surprise.
“Wait, Lete! What are you doing! If you keep this up……!”
Lete quietly placed a finger to her lips and activated the white magic etched onto her body.
<Sensory Vision>
With her eyes closed, she viewed the entire battlefield through the eyes of the bird divine beast floating in the sky.
<Remote Control>
She then adjusted the angle of the flying flares. The hundreds of light projectiles that had been shooting straight up instantly changed direction.
For a moment, the city was lit up as bright as daytime.
<Precision Fire>
Then, pillars of light began to rain down.
Thwack!
One pierced the back of a goblin about to finish off a wounded vigilante.
Thwack! Whack!
Others slashed the necks of goblins climbing walls or distracted by corpses.
Thudududududud!
Even the goblins that had entered buildings were slaughtered.
They precisely identified the locations of more than 100 invading goblins and struck them down in the same breath.
Thud! Thud!
In what could only be described as seconds, over a hundred goblins were wiped out.
The citizens of the city, and even Simon standing beside her, let out gasps of awe.
‘Of course!’
She was the first pick of Efnelle, and a current Saint. Her performance spoke for itself.
Of course, this Divine Beastology technique wasn’t some divine authority granted by her sainthood. It was purely the result of Lete’s own hard work and training at Efnelle.
“Haa.”
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she opened her eyes, shaking her white hair.
“Good work, Mimi, Lala.”
—Kkiruruk!
The bird that had been flying overhead returned and landed on her shoulder, and the turtle, which had become a bunker, reverted to its original form amidst a shimmer of light.
“That was amazing! That was divine beast objectification, right?”
“Yes, sir. And just to add, I only use divine beasts that have chosen me. That goes for Ran, too.”
Lete replied casually as she sent the two divine beasts back to her holy subspace.
Then, she summoned one more divine beast.
Thud!
It was quite large, looking almost like a walking tree.
Lete placed her palm on it, infused it with holiness, and said,
“Come out, everyone.”
From among the leaves burst out hundreds of fireflies, radiating holiness.
“Hurry and begin treating the wounded.”
The fireflies scattered in all directions.
They flew toward the city and the fences, settling gently onto the wounds of the injured. Then, using the holiness Lete had imbued in them, they began healing the injuries with radiant light.
‘She wiped out a hundred enemies at once, and now she’s healing a hundred people simultaneously!’
Noticing Simon’s gaze, Lete gave a proud smirk.
“Now do you get it? The power of divine beasts is on a whole different level from necromancers’ undead!”
Simon gave a bitter smile. She really had to turn it into a Priest vs. Necromancer debate again.
“Too bad I can’t show you my lich right now.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, it’s just… something that’d knock you out cold if you saw it… Wait, hold on a sec!”
Simon suddenly spotted someone and rushed over.
A vigilante had collapsed against a tree, with a large slash wound across his abdomen.
“Excuse me.”
Lete brought her hand to the wounded area.
<Great Heal>
Fwoooooosh!
The wound began closing rapidly. The man’s pale face started regaining color.
“Are you conscious?”
“Ugh! The, the Lord! The Lord is……!”
“Do you know where the lord is?”
Lete asked calmly.
“I saw a boss-level monster leading the goblins… the lord went to fight it with his soldiers……”
The vigilante weakly raised his arm to point.
Simon shouted,
“Akallion!”
The two mounted Akallion and dashed off in the direction indicated.
“So it wasn’t just white goblins attacking.”
Lete, holding onto Simon’s waist, looked around as she spoke. The forest was filled with corpses of monsters.
“No, these are monsters from a previous wave.”
“And how would you know that?”
“From the state of the bodies. I can roughly tell when and how they died.”
Lete muttered, “Typical necromancer”, with a small grumble.
"Anyway, judging by the corpses of those monsters, it looks like this city has been under attack for nearly a week straight. And tonight’s battle seems to have been the fiercest yet."
"With no food and monster attacks, the lord of this city must be burdened with many worries."
The deeper they went, the more monster corpses littered the area. In particular, freshly slain White Goblins, cut down by a blade, were strewn everywhere.
But the lord seemed incredibly powerful as well. Wherever his sword had struck, trees and monsters lay in chaotic heaps. All the wounds came from a single individual.
"Found him!"
Following Lete’s pointing finger, Simon spotted a mustached man fighting a large monster covered in white fur. A large wound on his chest bled heavily.
—Kikikikikik!
Surrounding White Goblins quickly moved to block Simon’s group. Akallion let out a thunderous roar, but the monsters didn’t back down.
"Move!"
Simon raised both arms and activated the white magic he had prepared.
Holy ribbons fluttered around a holy spear floating in the air, then twisted into the shape of a drill.
<Lete Original – La Escrime>
With a thunderous roar, the beam of light shot forward, blasting away all the monsters in its path.
It then pierced straight into the chest of the boss monster battling the middle-aged man.
BANG!!
The holy spear dragged the boss monster dozens of meters back and slammed it into a boulder. The boulder cracked apart, and the monster coughed up blood.
"Wh-who…!"
Gripping his chest wound, the man tried to speak but could no longer endure, and dropped to one knee.
Simon dismounted Akallion and swung his greatsword to drive off the goblins.
"Lete! Please heal him."
But Lete stood frozen, looking stunned. No, on closer inspection, her cheeks were burning bright red.
"How, how…"
Her hand was trembling.
"How are you using that technique!!"
* * *
After the battle ended, dawn broke.
The two of them were finally welcomed into the lord’s castle reception room.
"Laus! I sincerely apologize for the discourtesy to you two priests."
The lord, his upper body wrapped in thick bandages, bowed his head. The two returned the courtesy and accepted the greeting.
"I truly thought tonight would be our last, but thanks to you two, casualties were greatly reduced. Thank you."
"As long as you understand."
Lete crossed her legs and acted smugly.
"Make sure to pray for the mercy of the gracious Goddess."
"O-of course. I feel as though the Goddess has not yet abandoned us!"
After a few exchanges of the usual Holy Federation pleasantries, Simon gently moved to the main topic.
"How bad is the current state of your fief?"
At that, the lord’s face hardened.
"Truthfully, by tomorrow, all the food in the territory will be gone."
"Tomorrow?"
"……Yes. The sea still hasn’t thawed. The severe cold continues, and it’s impossible for the citizens to cross the monster-filled mountain range."
His fists trembled.
"It’s all because of that damned village."
Simon leaned in intently.
"When you say village……?"
"There’s a village called Escaille in the northern mountains."
Of course.
It was the destination they had been hearing about all along, and the place where the two of them would soon infiltrate as teachers.
"In Escaille, there are mages who control snow and ice, and command ‘Snow Maidens’."
"Snow Maidens……?"
"A being from legend. No, forget the tales—this is all part of Escaille’s scheme to drive Coola into ruin!"
The root cause of this entire crisis was the severe cold.
With the climate shift, the city of Kula had lost its value as both a resort and a holy leaf cultivation site.
The sea froze over, cutting off the only trade and escape route, and monsters driven down from the snowy mountains began attacking the city, unable to withstand the cold.
Simon suspected this harsh winter was connected to the “evil” Israfil had mentioned—something sensed in the northern lands.
"Their wrongdoings are far from few!"
The lord began unleashing a torrent of frustration and hatred toward Escaille, like a burst dam.
Coola had been drawing pristine mountain water to cultivate holy leaves, but Escaille residents once dumped a vile poison into the water, killing hundreds of tons of crops overnight.
Also, new monsters never seen on the continent suddenly started appearing in the mountains. All were hostile to Coola and attacked the city without end.
There were even frequent disappearances of young people in Coola.
According to witnesses, people in white fur coats—traditional attire of Escaille—were seen nearby.
‘Well, it’s not like we can judge with just one side of the story.’
But hearing all this, they really did seem like villains.
"We won’t just sit here and wait for death, either."
The lord’s burning gaze turned toward the snow-covered mountains.
* * *
Simon and Lete left the lord’s castle and walked.
"Let’s prepare as soon as we get to the inn."
Lete suddenly said.
"Prepare for what?"
"I was thinking we’d take our time gathering intel for three days, just like Lady Israfil suggested, but this won’t do. Things are worse than I expected."
She raised her head and looked Simon straight in the eyes.
"Today, no—right now, we’re going to Escaille."
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