Volume 1, Chapter 55 – The Hidden Benefactor

Before Calista could process her shock, another wave of magic descended. This time, it wasn’t aimed at aiding her—but her companions.

Anticipating the presence of the elf princess and the Darkborn within the city, the Church had deliberately stationed highly skilled paladins in the shadows. As a result, Calista wasn’t the only one ambushed—her three fellow members of the Eternal Daylight mages were also caught in peril.

Each of them was now surrounded by three to five paladins, most of whom were at the Second Tier, with a few even reaching the Third—formidable opponents proficient in both magic and combat techniques.

If the earlier ambush had been too sudden for Calista to fully comprehend, she now witnessed everything with perfect clarity.

Countless orange-red fireballs and cyan wind blades shot forth from the distance, as if guided by unseen eyes. Following a precise pattern—two fireballs paired with one wind blade—they unerringly struck every paladin in sight.

From Calista’s perspective, the magic resembled a grand firework display, almost akin to a volley unleashed by an entire battalion of chanting mages—or perhaps more accurately, a synchronized archer barrage. The storm of fire and wind rained down relentlessly, as if the caster had an inexhaustible supply of mana.

Amid the pained cries of the paladins, Calista’s companions quickly broke free from their encirclement. Even more miraculously, despite the indiscriminate downpour of spells, not a single member of Eternal Daylight was harmed—the magic flawlessly avoided them.

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This was far beyond what a mere squad of spellcasters could achieve. Just how many enemies of the Church were hidden within Aurora City?

Calista wavered, struck by the thought that her intervention might have been entirely unnecessary. Perhaps even without her, these mysterious mages could have annihilated the Church’s knights on their own.

No—she couldn’t leave everything to others.

She was a Third Tier warrior, one of Eternal Daylight’s most promising elites. Having already committed to this fight, she couldn’t simply withdraw now. At the very least, under the cover of these spellcasters, she would rescue those three unfortunate souls.

Whoever you are, mysterious mages… Thank you.

Silently offering her gratitude, Calista turned her attention back to the platform.

The seasoned paladin who had ambushed her was now in a sorry state—his hair singed, his face smeared with soot and burns, and his once-gleaming silver armor dented all over. Yet despite this, he remained standing.

He must have withstood the first few fireballs before evading the rest. Fireballs were only First Tier spells, after all—their lethality was limited. Calista couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. Had those ten fireballs struck simultaneously from all directions instead of in a straight line, they might have finished off this veteran knight in one blow.

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The paladin narrowed his eyes, lowering his stance, his gaze locked onto Calista’s scythe.

“That scythe… Calista of Eternal Daylight. Not only have you been intercepting our supply lines at the front, but now you’ve infiltrated the city to wreak havoc. Hiding this many spellcasters—you heretics have gone to great lengths.”

Calista responded to his taunt with a cold smile.

“Perhaps your faith simply isn’t strong enough. Otherwise, your beloved Goddess of Life would have warned you about today’s ambush.”

“You dare—?!”

Her words struck a nerve. The paladin’s face twisted with fury as he lunged forward, his lance aimed straight at her.

But Calista was ready. Her right foot glowed with the earthy yellow light of geomancy as she stomped hard on the stone beneath her. In response, a massive stone spike—thick enough to require two people to encircle—erupted from the ground directly in the paladin’s path.

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Had he been even slightly faster, his legs would have been impaled. But his reflexes were sharp—he jammed his lance against the spike, halting his charge just in time.

Yet Calista, as a warrior of Eternal Daylight, had no intention of relying on a single spell to defeat a fellow Third Tier opponent. As dust billowed from the stone spike, she used the cover to circle behind the paladin.

Raising her scythe high, she swung it down with full force toward his exposed back.

This ends now.

CLANG!

Instead of the expected sensation of slicing through flesh, her weapon met something as unyielding as solid iron. The violent recoil nearly wrenched the scythe from her grip, her palms stinging from the impact.

Though the paladin’s armor was now deeply dented and he was sent crashing into the ground, the strike had failed to deal any real damage.

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Are all Church paladins made of metal?!

Retreating to create distance, Calista cursed inwardly. That strike should have cleaved through ordinary steel, yet the paladin’s armor had merely deformed. It must have been heavily alloyed with mithril—or even orichalcum—to withstand such force.

Come to think of it, the fact that those fireballs had managed to dent mithril armor at all was terrifying. Had she been the target, she might have been crippled—no, likely killed outright.

Calista was an offense-oriented warrior. If stats were measured on a scale of 1 to 10, her strength and speed would both be above 7, but her defense was a meager 3 at best.

Still, even if the paladin had turned himself into a walking fortress, Calista didn’t believe she would lose. She was a warrior of Eternal Daylight—unlike these backward zealots who barely understood magic, she knew how to wield it to its fullest potential.

Coating her scythe with inky-black corrosive magic, she charged once more.

Let these paladins learn firsthand that their blind faith will bring them no salvation.