Sister Yisiweila, mixed among the fervent pilgrims, looked at the familiar figure on the stage with a puzzled expression. Oh, wait, she was a pilgrim too, after all.
She just couldn’t have imagined that the saint the Church had canonized really was Astraea.
When she first heard the Church’s proclamation, Yisiweila found it a bit strange. Although the sermon wasn’t delivered in Elvish, the similarly pronounced “Astraea” still gave her a start. But the Kingdom was vast, so having a name coincidence wasn’t impossible. Besides, would the Pope have to be insane to canonize an Elf as a saint?
As it turned out, the Pope probably really was insane.
Out of curiosity and due to the necessary procedures, Yisiweila, who had no intention of breaking away from the Church system just yet, bid farewell to the village priest and embarked on her pilgrimage.
And now, realizing that this so-called Astraea really was the Elf she knew, Yisiweila’s jaw practically dropped.
Large as the Kingdom was, she refused to believe there could exist two people in the world with the same name, similar build, and remarkably similar features.
Presumably, the Pope was well aware of how shocking it would be to canonize an Elf, so he had given Astraea some disguise, which was why she looked slightly different from the little Elf in Yisiweila’s memory.
But before Yisiweila could keep gawking, the fervent pilgrims around her had already entered the stage of kneeling and prostrating themselves. To avoid standing out, Yisiweila knelt and lowered herself like any ordinary pilgrim.
As a bona fide nun, even if her ideals differed from the Church’s, she still knew the contents of the holy scripture by heart.
Just as Yisiweila was quietly waiting for the ceremony to end, an unexpected event occurred.
Thousands of fervent pilgrims had gathered in the plaza, and at first, no one noticed the commotion. But soon, the disturbance erupted. It wasn’t pilgrims fleeing in fear, but rather, upon learning that goblins had appeared, they red-eyed and rushed eagerly to destroy the All-Father’s enemies.
That’s right, the underground outpost had fallen after all. The goblins who had been chasing the scattered soldiers earlier were just a small fraction. An unprecedented green tide of goblins was now surging endlessly from beneath the earth.
This green tide consisted of numerous mutated goblins and countless ordinary ones, all characterized by black qi rising from their bodies.
Under the influence of these mutated goblins, the Kingdom Guard’s underground outposts and camps were destroyed one after another. Well-equipped, well-trained guardsmen, and even knights on rotation, were swallowed up one by one by this green tide.
Now the goblins had broken through the topmost level of the sewer, and they were emerging from every corner of the Royal Capital!
Maximus rose with a dark face and left immediately. This was the worst news he had heard.
This was his failure! He needed to organize the Royal Capital Guard’s forces at once and quell this disturbance as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Astraea, still on stage as the mascot, was exchanging wide-eyed stares with the Pope, clearly not having anticipated this turn of events.
But the Pope quickly snapped back to his senses. If they did nothing after all this, it would undoubtedly deal a massive blow to the Church’s authority.
Think about it. If monsters suddenly appeared during the Church’s Canonization Ceremony, the zealots might just curse the monsters, but what would the ordinary faithful think?
They would probably just think the Church was incompetent, then reduce their donations. And if that happened, the Church would have to intensify its efforts to plunder farmland from the Kingdom’s peasants.
But everything has two sides. Monsters appearing during the Canonization Ceremony was a blow to Church authority, but it could also be a test of the Saint’s power.
Do something—specifically, make Astraea, who had been a mere ornament, do something. For the sake of the Kingdom’s peasants having a better life, the Pope decided to speak up.
“Lady Saint, please bestow a miracle!”
Ignoring Astraea’s twitching eyelid, the Pope knelt flat on the ground, begging for a miracle like a zealot.
But Astraea had no idea how to cast Holy Light spells at all! Was she supposed to use Elven Magic in front of everyone?
No!
A flash of inspiration struck the little Elf. She actually did seem capable of bestowing miracles.
But she needed her Whistle to help, and the problem was she hadn’t brought it with her today.
Astraea had no choice but to pray to the All-Father and the Elven Goddess—any deity would do, as long as she could emit golden light right now.
The Church’s holy knights and battle priests had already begun to act, and the pilgrims themselves had some combat ability. During her not-so-devout prayer, Astraea seemed to catch a glimpse of a muscular nun flashing by.
“All you old gods up there, you were so generous with blessings before! Now that we need you, where the hell are you?!”
Astraea pressed her hands together and muttered for a long time, but there was no reaction from her body at all. The little Elf began to rage inwardly, cursing these unreliable deities.
“Watch out!”
The praying little Elf suddenly heard Luo En’s familiar voice. She instinctively opened her eyes and reached for the sword at her waist.
But her hand grabbed empty air. Only then did Astraea realize she was wearing the Saint’s robes and wasn’t carrying her longsword at all.
“Not good!”
The little Elf’s pupils contracted. She could only watch helplessly as an unidentifiable magical attack flew toward her.
Too fast! Even though Astraea was desperately trying to construct a magic circuit, by the time she finished, the spell would have already slammed into her.
Beside her, Lucius had just drawn his sword, and the Pope was hastily raising his hand to cast a Holy Light spell. But they were all too slow. This pitch-black magical attack seemed destined to strike Astraea.
Come to think of it, Elves have two hearts. She wouldn’t die from having one destroyed, right?
That thought flashed through Astraea’s mind as she closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.
Bang!
The expected pain never came. The little Elf opened her eyes in confusion, only to find her guardian knight already standing in front of her.
As a nominal holy knight, Luo En was wearing that blue-green patterned heavy armor today. Without a helmet, he held his longsword and blocked the strike aimed at Astraea.
So cool!
Looking at the awe-inspiring Luo En, the little Elf’s face was full of adoration. Having long been reduced to a lovestruck mess, Astraea cast aside questions like “Why is Luo En so fast?” and could only think about how to reward him.
The path of indulgence lay right there.
Perhaps it was because Astraea cursed too foully, or for some other reason, but the little Elf Saint had no trace of divine power on her—while Luo En was radiant with golden divine light.
The faithful in the plaza shouted “A miracle!” and then countless Holy Light spells rained down upon the goblins emerging from underground.
For a moment, they even managed to suppress the goblins’ offensive.
As for Astraea, having been attacked, she naturally couldn’t just stand there in a daze. She couldn’t rely on Luo En for everything.
Luo En scooped Astraea up with one arm, and she sat on his forearm, enveloped in golden divine light.
Now she actually looked like a Saint.
With Luo En, this big can of meat, as her personal guard, Astraea could focus on getting her revenge.
She immediately locked onto the enemy who had attacked her—an elderly goblin mage leaning on a bone staff, radiating black qi.
It felt strange to say that, because goblins almost never lived long enough to grow old. Elderly goblins simply weren’t seen in the outside world, let alone an elderly goblin who was also a mage.
Once she locked on, Astraea’s mana surged out wildly. With the amplification from Luo En’s divine light, she quickly constructed an intricate magic circuit.
As the magic circuit activated, inspiration struck Astraea, and she shouted: “Judgment!”
The little Elf’s slightly immature voice spread across the entire plaza in an instant. Almost all the faithful and priests turned to look at Astraea.
A golden beam of magical light was unleashed from Astraea’s hands, striking the elderly goblin mage in an instant.
The goblin mage didn’t even make a sound before it, along with its black qi, was burned clean away.
And that was only the beginning.
After striking the elderly goblin mage, the magical beam refracted. Several weaker beams shot from where the elderly goblin mage had stood toward the hobgoblins guarding it.
Those hobgoblins also turned to ash instantly, followed by even weaker beams…
Not until the fifth refraction did the mana in the beam finally run out. By then, a huge gap had been torn in the originally dense green tide of goblins.
Astraea stared at her own hands, stunned.
“So I’m a ‘light prism tank’?”
Stunned as she was, Astraea quickly memorized the magic circuit for that spell just now.
If it could be this powerful with just the divine light Luo En naturally radiated, surely it wouldn’t be too weak when she used it on her own?
She wouldn’t even dream of five refractions—the magnitude increased exponentially, after all. Even two or three refractions would be a win.
The plaza erupted in cheers of praise once more, and Maximus had already rushed to the front of the formation with his sword drawn.
Last time he was trapped in that Mysterious Space, he called to heaven, and heaven didn’t answer; he called to earth, and earth didn’t respond. On top of that, he had to constantly endure that mysterious being’s corruption, which was why he had failed so humiliatingly.
Now he was standing right under the All-Father’s watchful eyes. Wasn’t it time to teach these goblins what a true great knight meant?
“Guard, advance!”
At Maximus’s command, the emboldened Royal Capital Guard soldiers and knights immediately formed up with Maximus as their spearhead, with a large number of pilgrims arriving from all directions mixed in.
These pilgrims were at least nuns capable of using Holy Light spells, and a vast number of Holy Light spells were now being layered onto the Royal Capital Guard soldiers.
Just a few goblins? They’d win!