The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 54 - 52: The Sect Was Actually Founded by a God?
"Oh, oops, your loot is gone."
Rose, having finished the rune engraving, poked his head out to glance at the devastation in the ritual hall, then chuckled.
"What a shame—the Meteor Fire Rain was too strong, only charcoal left. No way to loot the corpses."
Hilia’s body trembled.
"Wh-what? Loot corpses?!"
What terrifying words—is this what an Evil God is?
The destructive impact brought by the Meteor Fire Rain was intense, but in exchange, the dead were either burning or reduced to charcoal—no bloody violence at all. Hilia, never having killed anyone, only felt a complicated mood, but didn’t have that gut-churning, blood-splattered disgust.
Rose picked up the Sea Siren’s Eye and hid it in the storage module of his magic puppet.
He glanced up at the domed ceiling of the ritual hall and said, "Alright, stop gawking. The ceiling might be sturdy, but who knows if it’ll suddenly come crashing down. Let’s go... Oh, wait, no need to go."
Just about to leave, Hilia froze for a second, turned back to Rose, and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Your mentors have arrived. Same as last time—they show up after we’ve finished the fight."
Rose jerked his chin toward the large doors.
The ritual hall’s doors had long since been destroyed; no need for breaking in. Alina and a crowd of school mentors and Holy Court knights surged in.
All the mentors and knights were stunned by the carnage they saw in the ritual hall.
Then they looked at the only survivor in the hall—Hilia.
Alina swept up the platform like a gust of wind and steadied Hilia, channeling a wave of Holy Magic Power from her hand into Hilia’s body for examination.
After a cycle of Holy Magic Power, Alina found Hilia was simply exhausted, not injured, and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"What happened this time? How did you end up here, and even wipe out the heretic stronghold we’ve been searching for?!"
Hilia running off to the heretic base was wild enough—but the fact she wiped it out was even more absurd!
The entire living force of the base became part of the sea of fire.
This base wasn’t like the ones from previous exams—those little nests the Holy Court already knew about but left for the rookies to practice in.
This was an actual large heretic stronghold, led by a Tier Four Mage.
If Hilia had just infiltrated, Alina would let it go, but to make such a huge commotion inside...
She was practically courting death!
"Luckily, the Lord of the stronghold was being tracked by us and couldn’t return, otherwise with all this ruckus you’d already be dead. What were you thinking?!"
Alina was getting angrier by the second.
Hilia didn’t argue—just lowered her head, counting ants on the floor.
One ant, two ants... huh? Wait, these aren’t ants?
The girl suddenly raised her head and stared at the hall’s dome.
"Cave—is it collapsing?!"
"Hmm?"
Alina also looked up, her face suddenly changing: "Someone’s destroying the array—evacuate immediately!"
Without another word, she hauled Hilia up, slung her onto her back, and dashed toward the doors.
The others noticed the array supporting the base was being destroyed, dropped their inspection work, and followed Alina in a rush to escape.
"We’re too deep down here, we might not make it out!" shouted one knight.
"Just run as far as you can—at least get to somewhere that won’t collapse. Then we figure it out," said another knight.
Though escaping, these people were much more competent than the previous believers—not only did they not block the way, they moved fast as hell.
Hilia, carried by Alina, didn’t have to worry about running herself.
She looked over her shoulder, somewhat anxious.
She sensed her magic puppet hadn’t come out with them.
Rose hadn’t returned either. Who knows what he was up to?
Sigh, wait—why am I worrying?
I should worry about myself instead,
Listening to the others, Hilia’s concern shifted toward herself and Alina and the rest.
"Ms. Ailina, can we make it?" she murmured to Alina.
"We can. Trust me," Alina replied without hesitation.
Hilia’s heart eased a bit.
Hopefully we get out. It doesn’t feel that simple, though...
...
Elsewhere, Rose waited for everyone to leave, then slowly sauntered around, ending his search with regret.
Truly, there was nothing left.
He shook his head, looking up at the ceiling as more dirt began to fall.
"Interesting, the destruction of the array has exposed the prayer array."
At this moment, he was still on the platform—not heading toward the door, but rather turning, moving to the wall behind the platform.
He came to the wall, where peculiar rune patterns appeared, saturated with intense corruption.
Rose placed his hand against the wall, tapping several points on the runes in quick succession.
Rumble—!
A gap opened in the wall.
Rose stepped inside.
"I want to see whose hands the power of faith, gathered by the believers’ prayers, ends up in."
From the moment he’d entered the ritual hall, Rose had cared about one thing.
The praying heretics, through their ritual, generated the Power of Faith needed by the Gods.
This is the source of the Gods’ strength—without faith, their power dwindles. That’s why, in the game, Rose spread atheism.
Here, atheism just means no longer worshipping the Gods—not denying their existence.
"Faith can form in two ways—the target is a God, or a Holy-tier Mage who is forming a Divine Format."
Rose considered the latter impossible.
So it had to be the former.
A certain God was using a faith artifact to absorb the heretics’ faith.
That artifact wasn’t the Sea Siren’s Eye—it was a prayer array hidden in the base’s fixed chamber.
If Rose found the array core, he’d know which God it was—unless there was a new God.
"If the core is a Spiritual Object, then I might be able to backtrack, see where the God is."
With that thought, Rose hurried through the secret passage.
Soon after, he reached the end—a cramped stone chamber.
All its stones were covered in arrays and runes; in the center stood a stone table, with a disc on top.
But the disc was empty.
"Too bad, the Spiritual Object was already taken."
Rose regretted it deeply.
Spiritual Objects were advanced magic items—useful for many things, even with basic consciousness. Priceless. When the array was destroyed, naturally no one would leave the Spiritual Object behind.
"Although I can’t track without the Spiritual Object, the array core rune remains—so I can still tell which God it is."
Rose moved in front of the stone table and placed his hand on the disc.
After a long while, he withdrew his hand.
"So it was you—I knew it. As one of the Twelve Main Gods, you wouldn’t die so easily."
"But really, skipping the Holy Court to absorb faith in a heretic base? What are you thinking, my friend..."
"Sea God, Ethel."
