The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 55 - 53: Don’t Recklessly Raise Flags

Sea God Ethel, one of the Twelve Main Gods, wields dominion over the ocean.

If he hadn’t crossed over, this would have been Rose’s first kill among the Twelve Main Gods.

No other reason—Sea God is a support; his combat power is weak, but his support ability is strong. If you don’t get rid of him first, he’ll bring endless trouble later.

"So, this Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association—did you create it, or did you come all this way just to absorb faith?"

Rose fell into deep thought.

If it’s the former, then things get interesting.

After all, the Holy Court was an organization founded after the gods merged all their faiths. People no longer worshipped individual gods. As one of the Twelve Main Gods, the Sea God would certainly be able to absorb some of that faith.

But he didn’t bother with the pure faith of the Holy Court, instead running here to absorb faith tainted with abyssal corruption.

No idea what this guy is thinking.

"Forget it, there’s no clue for now. Let’s leave first."

Rose wasn’t in a hurry.

Now that he knew the Sea God was inside the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association, he just needed to gradually dismantle the cult to figure out exactly where he was hiding.

This was the core area of the array supporting the cave, so naturally there was a secret exit.

Rose twisted and turned through the narrow hidden passage. After a long while, he finally emerged from an inconspicuous hollow in the mountain.

There were no traces of anyone nearby—already no sign of where that heretic who sabotaged the base had gone.

Rose carefully sensed Hilia’s location. She was rather far from the magic puppet, to the point where even his connection with it was faint and flickering.

But it was fine. Once out of the cave, the puppet could connect to the Star Spirit Network.

Rose set the magic puppet with instructions to head for Deep Red Town, leaving it to travel on its own, while reserving a thread of Spiritual Power as a failsafe.

As for himself, he instantly returned to Hilia’s mindscape.

And then he understood why the connection had been so weak.

"Why are you all still in the cave?" Rose asked in surprise.

Hilia’s cheeks flushed slightly. "Ms. Alina said we could get out, but she got lost. We wandered in here for ages, and after most of the caves collapsed, we ended up stuck."

Rose scanned everyone’s faces and noticed that they all looked toward Alina.

Alina had the look of someone wanting to explain but not knowing what to say.

After a moment, a Holy Court knight stepped forward and said helplessly, "Well, there was a mishap, but don’t worry—The Archbishop is already on the way. Let’s just wait for rescue."

Alina suddenly looked up, begging, "Guys, when the principal arrives, please, please, don’t tell him I got us lost! Just say we didn’t have enough time to get out, okay?"

Everyone looked at her in silence.

Alina bit her lip. "How about this—once we’re out, I’ll give everyone a [Holy Song: Baptism] magic scroll."

Instantly, everyone beamed brightly.

"Come on, Alina, this whole mishap was just because we couldn’t find our way."

"Yeah, it’s my fault for not paying attention to the array in the cave."

"Exactly! Alina was a total victim here."

"..."

Hilia raised her hand, "Ms. Alina, do I get one too?"

Alina’s face stiffened, but soon she couldn’t hold it and conceded helplessly, "Fine, you get one too. But [Holy Song: Baptism] is a Tier Four spell. You might not be able to use it."

Someone nearby joked, "Haha, Alina, you might not know, but the magic in the hall earlier was probably Tier Four—Meteor Fire Rain."

"Right. I checked the magic fluctuations just now. I think it was, but since Miss Saintess is only Tier One, it had to be a scroll. Not only did she use it, she survived too."

Hilia was puzzled. "Magic scrolls have usage requirements? I thought you just tear them open to use them?"

"Of course not! Didn’t the scrolls teacher tell you? When you use a scroll, it draws the surrounding magic power to cast the spell. If a mage uses a scroll more than two tiers above their own, they can’t resist the draw and get completely drained of their magic power.

"After your magic power is drained, the scroll attacks indiscriminately—most likely, you’ll be the first target. That’s why you can’t use Tier Four—wait, did you really use a Tier Four scroll earlier?"

"I knew it would draw in the magic power nearby, but I really didn’t know you weren’t supposed to use scrolls more than two tiers above you." Hilia lowered her head in embarrassment. "I really did use a Tier Four scroll just now. I got it from that High Priest who was on trial."

"Seriously?" Alina was shocked. "Then... is that why you were so weak? The scroll drained your magic power?"

"Uh... yeah." Hilia nodded vaguely.

It wasn’t exactly a lie. After all, when she activated the scroll, it really was the last bit of her magic power.

Everyone was stunned, marveling at how Hilia could survive after being drained dry and releasing such a spell.

"How did you manage that?"

"I just cast ten layers of Ice Wall on myself before using the scroll." Hilia answered honestly.

Alina seemed deep in thought.

Hilia saw that she’d suddenly had an idea, her face lighting up with excitement.

She slapped Hilia on the shoulder. "That might actually work! I’ll try it next time. You’ll get a [Holy Song: Baptism], too."

"Thank you, Ms. Alina. By the way... what actually does Holy Song: Baptism do?"

Tier Four spells were way out of Hilia’s league, so she didn’t know what effects all these different magics had.

"Holy Song: Baptism has two effects. The positive one is a mass area-wide healing of injuries and the dispelling of mental debuffs. Used against enemies, it cleanses their sins, making them repent before the gods and lose the will to fight."

Alina, aware Hilia could use Tier Four scrolls cleverly, still warned her, "If you use Holy Song: Baptism before reaching Tier Three, you can’t choose which effect it has. The result is random, so you might try to control the enemy but end up healing them instead."

"That can happen?" Hilia was stunned.

Alina nodded. "So unless it’s a real emergency, don’t use it—otherwise, you might go to fight heretics, only to repent to the gods yourself instead."

"Okay! I won’t use it recklessly."

Doesn’t matter if I use it or not—it’s still a Tier Four spell scroll. You never know when it’ll come in handy.

"Lord Rose, can you control which effect comes out of a scroll?"

"Never use anything that relies on luck. No," Rose shook his head.

He wasn’t unlucky; he just despised gambling.

As a dedicated farming gamer, he’d rather play it safe for years, stacking numbers to crush everything, than roll the dice on probability.

Fighting early is just exhausting. Why not farm slowly instead?

"Your archbishop principal is here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hilia felt the entire cave start shaking violently.

Many people’s faces changed dramatically.

"No! The place is collapsing!"

"Damn heretics, they must have found our location."

"Get ready—protect yourselves during the collapse. The heretics will definitely come to check. That’s when we hit them with everything we’ve got!"

Hilia watched everyone spring into action. She opened her mouth to relay Rose’s message, but seeing how busy everyone was...

Never mind, better wait until they’re done.

After all, the cave really was going to collapse.

"Is this the principal’s doing or is it the heretics?" Hilia couldn’t help asking Rose.

"It’s your principal. He couldn’t find you, so he’s planning to flip the whole mountain. Of course, before he gets it open, you all will be buried underground."

"Huh?"

The girl was stunned.

Dear Principal, are you trying to rescue us or just bury us on the spot?