“Ah? So not only did the Goddess of Life give up on you, she even tried to silence you? Then how did you survive an attack from a God?”
In Hell, Suna was full of disbelief and curiosity at the story Mary was telling her.
“That’s thanks to these Demons and their remarkable escape skills. Not only did they get away from a God’s attack unscathed, they even managed to bring me along.”
“So you got brought here, and then gradually became good friends with the Demons?”
“Do you think this is some kind of fairy tale?” Mary shot Suna a glare, then raised her hand to point ahead:
“At first, they tried to brainwash me, but they soon realized there was no need. The moment the Goddess of Life tried to kill me, my faith shattered.”
Following Mary’s finger, Suna finally noticed they were standing atop a cliff that was broken in half.
Below the cliff, countless small Demons of all shapes and sizes were fervently constructing some sort of building.
They were bustling around a massive, strange, trapezoidal structure.
The edges of the building emitted a sinister red glow, covered with evil runes, while lava flowed through its cracks, radiating powerful waves of energy.
“What is this…” Suna had never seen so many Demons in her entire life.
“This is a unique structure of Hell—the ‘Gate of Hell.’ It’s said this gate can open in any corner of the world. I’m trying to have the Demons repair it, and the other restoration work in Hell is also progressing steadily under my command.”
“You really are the Lord of Hell?!”
“Heh, as long as I can take revenge on the Goddess of Life, never mind cooperating with Demons—even if I have to become a Demon myself, I’m willing!”
Back then, the Demons had tried to brainwash Mary, wanting her to use her status as Saintess to twist the followers’ faith in the Goddess of Life.
But Mary displayed such pure hatred for the Goddess of Life that there was simply no need to brainwash her…
She actually dared call me cheap! As the perfect daughter of the Meyek Family, no one has ever called me that!
And if she didn’t want to save me, fine, but she even tried to kill me face-to-face! Very well, in that case, let’s see what you’re really made of, you so-called God!
Just like how Truth became Saintess for the sake of faith, back then Mary only believed in the Goddess of Life to complete her studies.
As a Priest, she had to worship the Goddess of Life to raise her grades to full marks.
And very few people knew the real character of the “perfect daughter” Mary was actually quite irritable and held grudges. She just hid it all these years for the sake of her perfect image.
But now, she didn’t have to pretend anymore.
“Through long exploration, I found out that Hell actually has the potential to fight against the Gods. So, based on ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ I decided to first help the Demons restore this Hell the Gods smashed to pieces!”
Mary bluntly revealed her current plan, leaving Suna at a complete loss for how to respond.
The Demons were also delighted—how could they let such talent go to waste? If she could revive a city in just two years, then revitalizing Hell shouldn’t be much harder, right?
Besides, everyone had pretty much the same goal, so the Demons threw themselves wholeheartedly into helping Mary fulfill her grand wish of defeating the Goddess of Life.
So in the end, she was actually talking to Hell’s boss all this time… Suna began to break out in a cold sweat.
“So, the real reason you’re so eager to meet Truth is to get all kinds of secrets about the Gods from her?”
“That’s one of the reasons!” Mary held up two fingers.
“And the other important reason is to help the Ninth Saintess break free from the Goddess of Life’s control, so she doesn’t get treated as a disposable tool or turned into a puppet later.”
“Puppet?”
“Some say they’ll be turned into specimens, but one thing is certain—once a Saintess loses her value, she definitely won’t go to the Paradise of Eternal Life as the Church claims. She’ll be reclaimed by the Goddess of Life herself. To put it bluntly, it’s euthanasia.”
“Euthanasia?!” At these words, Suna suddenly panicked. Wouldn’t that mean Truth is in danger?
“Th…then what should we do?”
“It’s simple. The moment I show myself, the Church’s Assassins will try to kill me, so you need to convince her to come find me in secret, hiding it from the Goddess of Life. When she comes, I’ll tell her some secrets. If she really has the knowledge from five hundred years ago, she’ll definitely believe me!”
After Mary finished speaking, Suna fell silent for a long time.
She had no way of knowing if Mary was telling the truth. But if she was… then wasn’t Truth being roasted over the fire from both sides right now?!
On one side was the Seeker Demon, who toyed with her, and on the other was the Goddess of Life, who saw her as disposable. No matter which side she chose, there was no future!
Then Suna glanced at Mary again. Should she try trusting her? But wouldn’t that just mean handing Truth from one Demon to a whole group of Demons?
Even though Mary was the Eighth Saintess, now she was with the Demon Faction—she couldn’t really be trusted. So maybe only she herself could save Truth…
Then, a bold idea began to form in Suna’s mind.
First, the Seeker Demon was probably at the ninth, maybe tenth rank—she could beat that in her lifetime.
But the Goddess of Life was out of reach. However, Mary seemed to have some way to go against the Goddess of Life…
So it seemed like she could reach a higher or even king-tier, gather allies of similar strength, and then launch a crusade against the Seeker Demon to rescue Truth.
Then, she could let Truth meet with Mary and try to break away from the Goddess of Life.
Finally, before Truth got caught in the love-hate web between Mary and the Goddess of Life, Suna herself would elope with Truth and leave the Sylvia Kingdom together, rescuing her from the war between Demons and Gods.
And by then, with her high-level strength, wouldn’t the little Priest Truth be hers to… hehe…
“Ahem, so… fine! I’ll try to persuade her to come see you, but before that, you have to prove to me that what you’re saying is true!”
Suna said to Mary. Step one of elopement: first verify if Mary’s words were real!
“That’s simple. Go straight to Snowveil City in the North Empire. Since that’s not within the Five Human Gods’ domain, several complete Ancient Battlefield Ruins have been preserved there. Go explore them yourself, and you’ll see what kind of beings these Gods truly are.”
To cover up their dark history, most Gods destroy all the ancient ruins in their domains.
But the Beast God of the Beastmen is an exception—He especially likes to protect all kinds of ancient ruins.
Now Snowveil City is ruled by the Beast God of the Beastkin, so those complete ruins are the closest ones for Suna. But there was a problem:
“Ancient Battlefield Ruins? Uh… don’t you have to be at least sixth rank to even enter those? I’m only second rank right now… Wait, Snowveil City?!”
“Then just reach sixth rank there. I’ll have someone help you level up when the time comes. Consider it a welcome gift. But don’t slack off—you must give it your all. Who knows when the Goddess of Life might act against your little Priest, so……
Black-faced Monster, see the guest out!”
Suddenly, a twisted black shadow emerged from Suna’s own shadow again, wrapping around her whole body, but this time, it didn’t cover her mouth.
“Eh?”
Under the force of gravity, Suna plunged into her shadow once more.
But this time, she didn’t faint—she watched herself clearly as she kept falling downward, as if she was about to crash through the world itself.
“Uwah!”
The intense sense of weightlessness made Suna cry out, and she felt the air around her grow colder and colder.
Soon, she started breathing out visible puffs of warm air.
“Thunk!”
A couple dozen breaths later, Suna landed heavily on something soft and icy cold, but she wasn’t really hurt.
She staggered to her feet and shook her head, then saw a world of white snow.
She had been thrown by the Shadow Demon into a land of ice and snow.
Apart from the whiteness, the only thing visible through the swirling snow was a stretch of ancient gray city walls up ahead, and nothing else. Suna sneezed:
“Achoo!”…
“Who goes there?”
At that moment, a woman’s voice came from behind Suna, a voice she felt she’d heard somewhere before—very cold and aloof.
Amid the howling snow, the sound of horses dragging wheels grew closer and closer. It was noisy—probably a caravan.
Soon, a very luxurious carriage stopped near the shivering Suna.
A tall woman, wearing a hood and carrying a weapon, jumped down from the carriage with a look of puzzlement.
“Raise your head and let me see your face!”
As a local, the hooded woman had never seen anyone dressed so lightly in this weather—let alone a young girl walking the road alone.
This was highly suspicious, so she had to be cautious!
Suna hugged herself and shivered as she slowly lifted her head, then froze in shock.
Because the hooded woman in front of her was none other than Senior Gardelia of the fifth-rank Airwing!
“Suna?!”
Gardelia was startled as well.
“Didn’t you say you’d be coming to Snowveil City later? How did you end up ahead of us?!”