Volume 1, Chapter 68 – Encounter

Damn it.

The moment the azure glow lit up, Fia knew things had gone wrong. She immediately cut off her magical output. Yet despite this, the azure light didn’t vanish instantly—it dimmed gradually, taking about ten seconds to completely fade.

The temple corridor walls were lined with large amounts of glass. The paladins outside should have seen the glow of the Beginner Water Healing Spell.

Holding her breath, Fia listened for any movement outside. But after several seconds, nothing happened.

Could it be that the magic array at the entrance doesn’t just block sound but also sight?

At any rate, not being discovered was a good thing. It saved her the trouble of having to deal with them.

“Mmm…”

A woman’s groan reached Fia’s ears.

The young nun who had been treated with Beginner Water Healing Spell slowly opened her eyes, her dark pupils filled first with confusion, then sudden realization as she looked down at her hands.

“My wounds… they’re healed… That blue light just now—was it the Goddess’s blessing?!”

As she spoke, the nun seemed to recall something terrifying. She scrambled to her feet, her limbs unsteady.

“D-Darkborn! Darkborn have broken in! Sir Paladins! Sir Paladins!!”

Since Beginner Water Healing Spell only healed injuries and didn’t restore lost stamina, the young nun collapsed again after just a few steps, left with no choice but to desperately call for the paladins’ help.

“Quiet,” Fia warned in a low voice.

“Eek?!”

The nun immediately turned toward Fia’s direction, but her gaze quickly shifted away as if she saw nothing there. Panicked, she frantically scanned her surroundings for Fia.

Ah… I forgot to cancel the disguise effect.

In the young nun’s eyes, the spot where Fia stood was empty—she had already blended seamlessly into the environment.

Suppressing a sigh, Fia maintained her “invisible” state and repeated firmly, “Calm down. I was the one who healed you. Right now, the entire temple is sealed by a barrier—the paladins can’t hear you. Tell me, what happened in this temple?”

“Who… who are you?”

Though Fia understood the nun’s reaction was reasonable, she still found it irritating. Before she could explain herself, however, the nun’s gaze drifted toward the corridor behind Fia—where the other nuns and priests Fia had rescued along the way.

At the sight, fanaticism slowly filled the nun’s eyes. She scrambled to her knees, no longer trying to flee, and assumed a prayer-like posture facing Fia’s direction.

“You must be an emissary sent by the Goddess of Life, right?! Before the Darkborn invaded, we… We prayed to the Goddess to save us. The Goddess hasn’t abandoned her believers after all!”

No. She actually did abandon you.

This nun’s mental state was clearly unstable.

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But not refuting her words could save a lot of trouble. Fia didn’t correct the nun, simply repeating her earlier question.

Eager to please, the young nun spilled everything she knew, terrified that leaving out even a single detail might displease Fia.

First, the things binding the nuns and priests to the walls were called Chaos—the same entities that had driven both gods and Darkborn out to the World Tree Continent. Second, the ones who attacked the temple were Darkborn, and the Chaos had been unleashed by them. Why the Darkborn could control Chaos, however, remained unknown. Finally, the Darkborn had headed straight for the underground prison where the temple’s important prisoners were held—again, for unknown reasons.

“One last question. Is the Third Princess of the Elf Kingdom, Liti Alexia Yushir, imprisoned here?”

If the Third Princess wasn’t here, Fia could simply turn around and leave. A war between Darkborn and the Church was none of her concern as an elf.

“Yes!” the nun answered with absolute certainty. “My duty was to deliver meals to Princess Liti.”

“Tch.”

Fia frowned. The nun paled in fear.

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

“What’s her condition? Tell me how to get to her.”

“Princess Liti is physically healthy, though she’s lost her appetite. The High Priest said she’s a crucial bargaining chip for negotiations with the Elf Kingdom, so she must be treated well. The path… just keep left after entering this door. The innermost room is her cell.”

At least rescuing this nun hadn’t been a waste.

After a final glance to confirm the nun would recover with some rest, Fia said nothing more, ignoring her calls as she headed straight for the half-open bronze door.

Darkness and damp cold instantly enveloped her. The underground prison’s poor ventilation left a faint stench of sweat lingering in the air, making Fia wrinkle her nose.

“[—Light].”

A glow akin to a white lamp kindled in Fia’s right hand, instantly dispelling the darkness within five meters of her. Hypercomputation then logged the Light spell’s data into her mind.

The passage downward was wide, its walls a dull gray. Since the Light spell’s illumination was limited, the distant darkness remained impenetrable. Fia could only rely on her keen elf hearing to detect the wet squelching of Chaos from the end of the corridor—meaning it wasn’t far.

Probably lying in ambush.

In that case—

Fia maxed out the Light spell’s output.

In the span of a breath, the corridor was flooded with blinding white light—bright enough to turn a moonless night into day across a 1.5-kilometer radius if unobstructed.

Skitter-skitter.

Like rats fleeing illumination, the Chaos lurking on the ceiling—waiting to pounce as Fia passed—immediately retreated like a receding tide.

Sentient slimes are a pain no matter which world you’re in.

Suppressing a grimace, Fia pressed onward under the Light spell’s brilliance.

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According to the young nun, only two Darkborn—a man and a woman—had invaded the temple. The man was tall with inhuman features, while the woman was petite, resembling a human girl of thirteen or fourteen. They seemed to be searching for something and had even tortured priests for information, though none had broken under interrogation.

Fia didn’t know their goal, but if they harmed the younger sister she’d never met, she wouldn’t hesitate to make them regret it.

With that thought, she quickened her pace. The rhythmic tap-tap of her footsteps echoed through the silent corridor until she reached the first fork.

The nun’s instructions flashed through her mind.

Left.

Instinctively, she stepped left—

And immediately froze.

Her right foot hadn’t met solid ground but something soft and swamp-like.

The next instant—

Hiss—

Ambushing Chaos lunged at her from both the floor and ceiling, while another strand slithered behind to cut off her retreat.

The stench of hydrochloric acid and rotting flesh assaulted her nostrils.

But the Chaos’ speed, though swift, was nothing to Fia.

“You’ve got a death wish.”

“[Fairy Fire]”

Flames erupted in a one-meter radius around her. To avoid being showered in ash, Fia layered Wind Blades behind the fire—interwoven cyan streaks humming like a spider’s web, encasing her in a protective net.

In the blink of an eye, fire and Chaos collided.

Contrary to Fia’s expectations, the Chaos didn’t instantly incinerate. It held out for half a second before whitening, crumbling, and finally being shredded to dust by the Wind Blades.

Moreover, since Fia hadn’t expanded the flames outward, she heard a pained howl from beyond the inferno.

“Hm?”

Alert, Fia conjured two cross-shaped Wind Blades and hurled them toward the sound.

Thud. Splat.

First came the wet crunch of blades slicing flesh, then the heavy thump of meat hitting the ground.

As the ash settled, several mutilated corpses—charred and slashed—came into view.

“Demon wolves?”

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Wolf-like but with thick, scaly limbs and pitch-black hides. Fia recognized these Demon wolves from The Secret History of Witches. For ordinary humans in the wild, encountering one meant certain death—even trained soldiers struggled to defeat them one-on-one.

Given that the two-horned bull tribe had infiltrated the city using magical tools, these hounds were likely brought in by the two Darkborn. They must have planned to ambush Fia while the Chaos obscured her vision.

Too weak.

Stepping over the corpses, Fia continued forward.

After that near-miss, she began pausing at every fork to scan ahead with Wind of Exploration. Thanks to this, the Darkborn’ traps only delayed her slightly without posing real trouble. The only notable change was the Chaos’ growing resilience—from being instantly vaporized by flames to enduring them for one or two seconds.

“No wonder even the gods struggled with them.”

After torching another Chaos ambush on the ceiling, Fia clicked her tongue in annoyance. She’d lost count of how many she’d incinerated, yet their numbers showed no sign of thinning. An ordinary mage would’ve exhausted their mana long before reaching this point—along the way, she’d passed countless paladins consumed by Chaos, their faces frozen in terror and despair, their bodies twisted beyond human limits. Some were reduced to half-corpses.

Not a pleasant sight.

It also deepened Fia’s unease. The Third Princess, being young, lacked the First Princess’s formidable strength—her power was only on par with a second-tier mage. If Liti had encountered Chaos of this level…

She could only hope the princess’s cell was as heavily warded as the nun claimed—durable enough to withstand a direct hit from fourth-tier magic.

Otherwise, Fia would make both the Darkborn and the Church burn in regret.

◇

“Awooo!”

A volley of ten fireballs sent three demon wolves flying. After a few feeble twitches, they fell still, the stench of charred fur filling the air.

“Thirty-five.”

Keeping tally under her breath, Fia stepped over the corpses and pressed on.

The number of demon wolves and Chaos had dwindled significantly, allowing her to move faster. But the absence of living souls and the increasing gruesomeness of the paladins’ corpses—along with the thickening stench of blood—left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“This one…”

A female corpse in prisoner’s garb caught Fia’s eye, making her pause with a frown.

Neither a paladin nor a nun, the woman wore shackles and had the pointed ears of an elf. Scanning further ahead, Fia spotted more bodies in prisoner uniforms.

“Tried to escape but got intercepted by Chaos and demon wolves, huh?”

Holding her breath, Fia picked up a paladin’s straight sword and began inspecting each elf corpse.

They were either male or visibly older—none matched Liti’s petite stature.

Good. She’s not here.

“Regroup! Don’t give up! Reinforcements will come!”

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“But we’re out of mana!”

“Dammit, since when did Chaos side with Darkborn?!”

“Standing our ground is our only option! Breaking formation will just let them pick us off one by one—we need to rescue the High Priest! His faith magic can get us out!”

Voices echoed from ahead—clearly in dire straits.

“Elf over there! Set aside your grudges! Our enemy is the Darkborn and Chaos! Work with us to break through!”

“We won’t retreat until we see Princess Liti.”

That mature voice—Anastasia?

Dropping her disguise, Fia amplified Fairy Fire to the brink of collapsing the tunnel, incinerating all demon wolves and Chaos in her path as she charged through the ash toward the voices.

A training hall for paladins came into view, lined with weapon racks.

The survivors were split into two groups: paladins clustered near the far end, and Anastasia’s team—just two elves, including herself, disguised as paladins—about twenty meters from Fia.

Their foes included Chaos and demon wolves, but the real threats were four hovering, jellyfish-like entities with human faces—ghostly apparitions three or four stories tall.

Fia’s Light spell instantly drew all eyes to her. Anastasia’s blue eyes widened in recognition at the sight of Fia’s signature black twin-tails.

“Your Highness!”

“Anastasia, behind you!”

A jellyfish-monster seized the moment Anastasia turned to Fia, lunging at her with shocking speed despite its size.

Rather than a projectile, Fia detonated Fairy Fire directly around the creature. Having restrained the spell’s power in narrow tunnels, she now unleashed it fully in the open hall.

BOOM!

A crimson lotus of fire erupted around the jellyfish. The blast’s shockwave rattled Anastasia, and the deafening roar made the entire underground tremble.

Yet to Fia’s surprise, the translucent monster wasn’t obliterated—just staggered before wobbling back up, its human-face glare burning with hatred.

An energy entity?

A Wind of Exploration scan confirmed it—

Fourth-tier.

Ah.

Anastasia, as a quasi-fifth-tier combatant, wouldn’t struggle with fourth-tier monsters normally. But lacking magic, she couldn’t effectively fight energy-based foes.

Time to regroup.