Because most mid-level demons are adept at hiding themselves, each city-state requires at least one mid-level priest to hold the fort and purify the demons— and now was the perfect time for High Priestess Tia to make her entrance.
Although the Goddess of Life had already completed her inspection, the procedure still had to be followed— otherwise, it wouldn’t instill fear in the demons.
Meanwhile, high above the manor in the endless sky, a massive emerald-green eye was watching everyone below. It was the Goddess of Life:
“Where the hell is that blood demon who offended me? If descending personally didn’t diminish my dignity, I’d have crushed it myself by now!”
None of the demon hunters had found anything suspicious, which irritated her greatly. Had Dakros wiped them all out? Or were these demon hunters just completely useless?
Every forbidden demon has a unique aura. The Goddess of Life clearly sensed which one had descended just now. Dakros, was it? I might as well ask you directly.
With a thought, she immediately contacted Dakros at the edge of the world:
“What exactly did you do when you descended just now?”
Dakros was stunned. A god he hadn’t spoken to in hundreds of years was suddenly reaching out over such a “trivial matter”? No wonder the other deities always said the Goddess of Life was stingy and meddlesome.
“Heh, what’s it to you, you shrew.”
Though the gods and the forbidden demons maintained some form of contact, neither side was particularly cordial.
The forbidden demons knew very well who had driven them to the edges of the world.
“Shrew?! Fine, very well! Looks like you sewer rats are living far too comfortably!”
Seeing that Dakros was completely uncooperative, the Goddess of Life was visibly annoyed and cut the connection on her own.
This slightly improved Dakros’s mood— he loved nothing more than seeing the gods frustrated by demons they couldn’t do anything about.
Even if his own offspring had been killed, that was a matter between demons.
It wasn’t the place of a god to intervene. More importantly, Dakros didn’t want to antagonize that powerful demon who had recently awakened…
At that moment, however, that powerful demon was facing a problem.
Inside the manor, Truth was clutching her chest with both hands, seriously protesting:
“Absolutely not!”
“What’s there to be shy about? Aren’t we all girls here?” High Priestess Tia, who had only recently arrived at the manor, asked in confusion.
She had come to purify the lingering demon aura and had been asked by Kavel to also check Truth and Suna for any markings.
Naturally, she decided to start with the most adorable Truth. She thought it would go smoothly— but unexpectedly, Truth was adamantly resisting…
“No means no! I won’t let anyone do it!”
When Tia had first arrived, Truth had been quite happy. But who would’ve thought her first words would be, “Let me examine your body.”
Truth still hadn’t come to terms with her current body.
Becoming a loli permanently was already humiliating enough, and now someone wanted to see her body?
“Whoa, look at how red your face is. You used to grope me all the time, so I thought little Truth was the outgoing type. Turns out you’re actually a total innocent. That’s not how you treated me back then.”
Tia was half-pushing, half-coaxing Truth toward a closed storage room in the corner.
Heh, imagining little Truth blushing and standing naked in front of her was just too cute…
Come on, let me take a look.
No! If she actually saw everything, it would definitely mess her up psychologically… She’d fall into depravity!
With a smooth turn, Truth slipped out of Tia’s clutches, startling the nearby demon hunters, who instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons.
Such resistance— could it be that the demon was hiding inside her?
The atmosphere grew tense. Truth gritted her teeth and took a fighting stance, a faint blush on her face.
She would rather expose herself as a high-ranked demon than let someone see her naked!
Up in the sky, the spying Goddess of Life also noticed Truth’s unusual behavior and had the same suspicion as the demon hunters— plus even more.
She hadn’t sensed any demonic presence from the little priestess earlier.
Could it be that the demons had developed even more advanced concealment techniques, which was why she hadn’t noticed?
Just in case, before Kavel and the others could act, the Goddess of Life unleashed a beam of emerald light imbued with divine purification power— she would inspect this personally!
The beam pierced down from the sky and enveloped Truth entirely. It wasn’t uncomfortable; in fact, the immense vitality made everyone feel refreshed. Was this… a divine miracle?
This little priestess was actually blessed by the goddess?! How did she manage that?! Everyone stared at the small figure within the beam.
When the beam faded, Truth remained where she stood, unchanged and completely untouched— meaning her body was perfectly clean, never possessed by any demon.
“So clean? Then why is this brat so against being examined? Must have some serious mental issues!” the Goddess of Life growled through gritted teeth.
To hell with it— she’d already intervened personally, might as well finish the job.
As long as it didn’t draw too much attention, it wouldn’t be embarrassing.
If word got out that she had to personally handle a mere sixth-tier demon, it’d be a real loss of face.
Another purifying beam descended from the sky, large enough to envelop the entire hall.
Everyone present was bathed in its light, but unfortunately, aside from a few faint traces of filth on those who had been in contact with the demon earlier, there was nothing else.
No further checks were needed— everyone present was clean. Even better, the beam healed all the injured on the spot!
Just a fraction of a god’s power was enough to bless a mortal for a lifetime.
“The goddess! The goddess has shown herself again! We’ve been blessed too!”
No one knew who shouted it first, but everyone began worshiping toward the sky.
Suho also fell to his knees on his newly-healed legs, though his expression was somewhat grim.
So the Goddess had been watching all along… Did that mean his daughter’s deal with the demon had already been exposed?
Paladin Kavel also knelt as he addressed Truth:
“The goddess herself purifies you—it’s the greatest of honors.”
Now that the goddess had acted directly, there was no need for them to inspect further.
Plus, the rumor about Suna making a deal with a demon had been disproven— if she had, the beam would’ve vaporized her on the spot.
Truth shot Kavel a disdainful glance before mimicking the others and worshiping the Goddess of Life.
Honor? As if. Her follower just tried to see my naked body!
Thanks to the people’s devout worship, the power of faith surged, and for the first time that night, the Goddess of Life felt a trace of genuine satisfaction.
As expected, being revered by mortals really was the best feeling!
But why were a few people producing such weak faith? She glanced down and saw it was Reige and a few other students— one of whom wasn’t even bowing. What was he playing at?
Suna was still frozen in place, her mind a chaotic mess. She hadn’t even reacted to the goddess’s appearance.
What’s going on? Had she not shown her presence in Deya City often enough, so these young people didn’t really believe in her anymore? the Goddess of Life wondered.
Well then, time to launch a long-term demon-hunting campaign to boost her visibility among the youth— and to teach those sewer rats hiding in the shadows a hard lesson.
Not just anyone can run wild on her turf!
The Goddess of Life was now mostly convinced that it had been Dakros who destroyed the blood demon.
After all, the traces left behind clearly matched its handiwork— and its offspring really was dead.
Serves you right!
The Goddess continued scanning the people in the hall.
Most of them were sincerely devout, especially the demon hunters and priests… Wait a second— why were the faith levels of these two priests so weak?
She suddenly noticed something off with her own two priests, Tia and Truth.
The former was generating only a trickle of faith power, no more than the average student, and the latter wasn’t generating any at all— in fact, there was even a hint of resentment!
What the hell was going on now?
Well, Tia had never been a devotee of the Goddess of Life to begin with.
And on top of that, the goddess had just interrupted her chance at “bonding” with Truth— so the fact that she was giving any faith at all was already a sign of restraint.
Truth, meanwhile, had her hands pressed together in an expression of piety, but her thoughts were anything but reverent:
“You bitch. First of all, thanks for stopping me from falling into depravity. Second, now that you’ve healed everyone, what the hell am I supposed to heal?!”
【Class level has been raised to Level 10】
Thankfully, the light beam had also bumped her up to level ten.
She was finally a first-rank priest and had unlocked a whole bunch of stuff.
【Name: Truth】
【Level: LV.10 (2/652)】
【Race: Human】
【Stats: Life 48, Constitution 52, Mana 99, Intelligence 72, Strength 22, Agility 31, Faith 742】
【Skills: Healing Mist (Proficiency 83%), Enhanced Perception (Proficiency 25%)】
【Talents: Fogwalker (Fusion Progress 10%), Fog Devotee LV.1】
【Faith Points: 1】
【Available Stat Points: 1】
【New Skill Unlocked: Lens Shield. Divine Domain “Mist” unlocked— must travel to the center of the mist to bind. “Healing Mist” gains new trait: Willbound】
Divine Domain? Truth’s eyes were drawn to those words.
Now that sounded intriguing. She’d have to check out just how “divine” it really was next time she was back in the Mist…
Once the goddess signaled that her work was done, Kavel finally gave the order for his subordinates to retreat.
On the way out, they conveniently pinned the death of Divine Conductor Kral onto Norton. Don’t ask why— it’s just easier that way.
After all, investigating some scumbag’s death wasn’t nearly as fun as hunting demons.
Meanwhile, the surviving guards in the manor were all promptly fired by Suho.
He’d been watching their performance during the battle and was thoroughly unimpressed.
Even Reige and Anderson— just students— had done better!
Then he hurried over to check on his precious daughter.
When he found Suna, she was kneeling on the ground, mumbling to herself:
“No way no way no way absolutely no way…”
Haha. There’s no way Truth could have a girlfriend.
She only just arrived in Deya City a few days ago. That demon hunter must’ve overheard those rumors about Truth being forcibly kissed and assumed she had a girlfriend, right?
So that means Truth’s girlfriend is actually… me— like hell!
Suddenly, Suna slammed her fists on the floor.
She realized she was starting to sound exactly like Mailun, comforting herself with delusional daydreams.
And besides, wasn’t she supposed to be worried about her father right now? Why was her mind completely filled with thoughts of Truth?
It was mostly because Suna knew her father was already safe— but Truth’s heart certainly wasn’t.
“Sweetie, are you… are you okay?” Suho was flustered by her strange behavior.
Not knowing what to do, he quickly called over High Priestess Tia, who hadn’t left yet, to take a look.
Could it be some kind of negative emotion amplification from a demon?
But after just one glance, Tia saw exactly what the problem was.
This… this was heartbreak.
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Tftc!