Chapter 79: This Village Is Beyond Saving

The carriage from the Holy Church stopped at the end of the dirt road.

Anna was the first to jump off and surveyed the village.

There was nothing special about it; it just looked like an ordinary village.

“Put on your purification masks and stay on high alert.”

“The pollution concentration here is three grades higher than normal.”

As the Third Seat of the Inquisition, Anna had handled countless incidents of Abyssal pollution.

Normally, a polluted village would fall deathly silent, with the air thick with the stench of blood.

This one was normal.

It was precisely because it was too normal that it showed this village had a big problem.

“All hands on guard. Maintain formation.”

Anna gestured to the two knights behind her, and the three of them began to approach the village entrance.

As they drew closer, a blacksmith shop at the entrance came into view, looking like an erupting volcano crater.

“Hah! Hiyah!”

Inside the blacksmith shop, a man stripped to the waist held not an iron hammer, but a demon leg bone.

“That is?!”

Anna watched as the blacksmith grabbed an ingot that hadn’t fully softened yet, swinging the terrifying leg bone and smashing it down like a madman.

With each impact, the raging fire element contained in the demon bone exploded at the point of contact, scorching the blacksmith’s arm skin with a sizzling sound.

“Not enough! It’s still not enough!”

Uncle Barton roared, his eyes bloodshot; sweat evaporated into white mist the moment it touched his skin.

“This fire element is way too intense!

There must be a volcano erupting inside me!

The shaved ice the priestess made really hits the spot!

Give me ten more ingots!”

“Milord…”

The young knight behind her spoke with a trembling voice, “Is that a Flame Demon’s leg bone? How can a mortal directly touch something like that?”

“It must be a life sacrifice.”

Anna made her judgment.

“By severing pain perception, overdosing on adrenaline, and burning the soul in exchange for temporary physical enhancement.”

‘Such an evil spell!’

In Anna’s eyes, the life flame of the blacksmith before her was burning at a terrifying speed.

Forging at this intensity, even a high-level warrior wouldn’t last ten minutes, yet this mortal seemed to be enjoying it.

“It seems the pollution has spread throughout the entire village.

We must act quickly.”

As Anna finished speaking, a cloud of dust rose from the other end of the street.

A massive tusk boar, the size of a small hill, was charging; its eyes overflowing with terror, as if something primordial was chasing it.

“Move! Everyone move!”

A figure shot out from a nearby rooftop like a cannonball.

The hunter Ariel leaped high and landed on the boar’s back like a bird of prey.

The hunter gripped the boar’s hind legs, engaged his core, and veins bulged on his arms.

“Rise!!!”

With a furious roar, the mountain of meat weighing hundreds of pounds was actually swung into a semicircle and then slammed onto the hard dirt road.

The boar convulsed twice and went still.

“So satisfying! Is this the feeling of power?

Even bare-handed, I can kill magical beasts!

After this job, I need to ask the priestess for more shaved ice.”

But it wasn’t just these two.

In the tailor shop, the sound of scissors opening and closing formed a continuous line;

In the fields, the hoes swung so fast their afterimages were invisible.

The rest of the villagers were in a similar state of frenzy.

The entire village was like a stage pressed on fast-forward; everyone was draining their lives and souls just to complete insignificant daily chores.

‘It’s hopeless.’

Anna closed her eyes, her fingers gripping the sword hilt turning white from strain.

The souls of everyone in this village had been deeply polluted.

Someone must be pulling the strings.

We must find the source immediately and cut off the supply, or within three days, this place will become a dead city.

Anna took a deep breath, forcibly blocking out the surrounding heat, and spread her spiritual power.

Amidst a chaotic mess of Mana sources, Anna caught a special Mana fluctuation.

That Mana fluctuation was located in one place.

It emanated a chilling cold that made one’s heart race.

Like ten-thousand-year-old ice hidden in boiling water, it recklessly released the Aura of the Superior.

All the Raging Curses, all the Life Sacrifices—their energy sources all pointed there.

“Found it.”

Anna opened her eyes and pointed at a pointed building surrounded by withered trees to the east.

“The culprit behind all this is lurking in the church.

Follow me, today we slay a demon here!”

“Yes!”

“Smite the darkness!”

The three of them stormed toward the locked door.

“Holy Church business! Heretic, come out and die!”

Sword in hand, Anna charged into the hall with the two knights, her Holy Light Shield at maximum power, ready for the anticipated dark magic bombardment.

However, no attack came.

“Is there something you need?”

A soft, saccharine voice came.

Anna followed the sound and froze.

Where the statue of the deity used to stand, there now stood a three-meter-tall giant ice sculpture.

At the center of the ice, a Flame Demon was sealed.

The Flame Demon was frozen in a ferocious roar, with even a look of terror lingering in its eye sockets.

But this terrifying trophy was now like a ridiculous ornament, its mouth wide open, blowing cold air toward the center of the hall.

“Is this the Flame Demon Ragner?”

Anna recognized the demon.

Freezing a living demon and even completely reversing its fire element to ice element, just to cool the room?

What an arrogant evil!

And what terrifying power!

In the shadow beneath the ice sculpture, on a cushioned recliner, a young girl was curled up.

The girl wore a loose priestess habit and held a glass filled with a black liquid that was still bubbling.

Hearing the commotion at the door, Celia merely lifted her eyelids and used the cup to cover half her face.

“What’s with all the fuss?

Looking at your outfit, which department are you from? Don’t you know the rules?

Don’t you know to knock before entering?”

Standing beside the girl was a tall young man.

The young man carried a broadsword on his back, with a broken horn embedded in the guard.

Anna stared at the two for a moment, seeming to piece together the cause and effect.

The village’s base that toyed with demon remains, the Dark Potions that corroded minds, and the Puppet Guard controlled by a Demon Sword…

All of this was the work of this seemingly harmless witch in front of her!

Anna didn’t hesitate anymore. She raised her longsword, and holy white Judgment Flame encircled the blade.

“Witch, your evil deeds end here.”

“Immediately lift the curse on the villagers and surrender, or this will be your grave.”

“Huh? Wait, what are you talking about?”

Celia was baffled; she hadn’t done anything while lying on the chair.

“Still playing dumb? I already know everything!”

Celia looked at the aggressive trio and instructed Elent beside her to send them away.

“Yes, priestess!”

Elent swung his broad sword and blocked in front of Celia, clashing with the longsword.

Anna felt a strong recoil in her wrist, then a chill spread up her sword.

The white flame that had been burning fiercely was extinguished instantly upon contact with the cold, like a torch thrown into the deep sea without even a struggle.

The biting cold penetrated her protective Holy Light and touched her skin.

“This power…”

Anna leaped back three meters using the recoil, looking down at her longsword that had formed a thin layer of ice.

There was no stench of the Abyss.

On the broad sword embedded with a demon’s broken horn, what flowed was pure ice element to the extreme.

“Step aside, knight.”

Anna flicked her wrist to shatter the ice shards on her sword, her gaze turning even sharper.

“The sword in your hand is a Demon Weapon forged from a Flame Demon’s limb.

Your soul is being corroded by darkness.

Step down now and accept purification. This is your last chance.”

Elent looked confused.

“This is a kitchen tool the priestess gave me, not a Demon Weapon. It’s great for cutting watermelon.”

“Stubborn fool!”

Anna wasted no more words.

Since he was deeply brainwashed, she would purify the puppet along with him.

Anna held her longsword vertically in front of her chest and began chanting a high-level forbidden spell of the Holy Church.

“In the name of light, pass judgment…”

“So noisy.”

It interrupted the solemn chant.

Then Celia threw the glass in her hand.

Anna instinctively swung her sword to block.

The glass shattered under the sword aura.

The specially made Happy Water with double ice and syrup, under centrifugal force, scattered in the air.

Anna was in the middle of chanting and couldn’t react in time; she was drenched in black liquid, covering her face, and it poured into her mouth.

“Mmph!”

“This is the witch’s dark magic potion! Deadly poison that corrodes the organs!”

But the liquid flowed too fast; before Anna’s throat could reject it, the liquid had already slid down her esophagus.

The next second, Anna’s second slash froze midair.

There was no anticipated abdominal pain, no burning pain in the soul.

Instead, a wonderful feeling exploded inside her.

It was like a clear spring, extinguishing the false fire in Anna’s body ignited by the long journey and forced use of Saint Power.

Then came the dense sensation of carbonated bubbles.

Countless tiny bubbles burst on her tongue.

Each burst carried away a bit of fatigue and released a wisp of ice element mana.

Her parched throat was moistened.

Her brain, which had been drowsy from the heat, instantly cleared.

Even her Mana Source, which had been somewhat depleted from the battle, began to slowly recover under the nourishment of this liquid.

“This is…”

Anna stuck out her tongue and licked.

Sweet.

She had never felt such pure ice element; it surpassed the current theories of the Holy Church.

‘Misjudgment. Was this poison?’

‘Anna thought she was hallucinating.’

‘This was clearly a restorative holy medicine!’

‘It was even several times better than the holy medicine reserved for Cardinals within the Holy Church!’

Moreover, the source of this power…

Anna looked at the Flame Demon ice sculpture in the center of the hall.

To be able to refine a violent Flame Demon core, a deeply polluted Flame Demon core, into such pure nectar.

What terrifying purification ability would that require?

What profound mastery of Holy Light would that require?

Even if His Holiness the Pope were here in person, he probably couldn’t directly convert a living Flame Demon into Holy Water.

Then there was only one possibility.

Anna looked at the girl still lying back on the recliner.

The girl’s arrogance was the calm of a superior.

Her laziness was the fatigue left behind from battling darkness.

“Hoo…”

Anna let out a long breath, a puff of white cold air escaping her mouth.

The young inquisitor ignored the black sugary liquid dripping from her face and walked step by step toward Celia.

Then, the previously arrogant Executor of the Holy Church knelt on both knees and said to Celia, “Your subordinate failed to recognize you and offended you, my lord.”

Anna lowered her head, pressing her forehead to the cold floor.

“The purifying power contained in this cup of Holy Water is enough to prove your identity.”

“Being able to turn the violent Flame Demon’s power into such pure nectar… you must be the Saintess living in seclusion, as prophesied by His Holiness the Pope!”

Celia was stunned.

‘Wait, isn’t the plot off somewhere? She was just annoyed by her noise and wanted to drive her away. How did she become a Saintess?’