“Please take cover!”

  As Stella shouted those words, she cast multiple barriers around her and her allies from Heinrich’s team. [Light Barrier] was a bit of a complex spell, and since she wasn’t using a foci, she was casting it inefficiently.

  As a result, she had to focus hard on making sure that she invoked her spell instructions accurately. She didn’t use [Light Barrier] to just create one solid shield. No, that would cause her to run out of mana.

  Instead, she tracked each bolt of light coming from Salvador. Then, once he fired it off, she created weak [Light Barriers] that would only block a single bolt of light. Once Salvador’s spell exploded, her [Light Barriers] would shatter, and she would create another one to counter the next bolt of light, and so on.

  As a result, she used significantly less mana to defend herself and her comrades. Unfortunately, this method was a bit unsafe. Some of Salvador’s attacks managed to get through, and most of all, she could feel the strength and explosion of each of his light bolts slowly getting through her.

  She gritted her teeth as dozens of [Light Barriers] were shattered again and again around her. She was unable to push forward, lest she endangered herself. All she could do for now was to take the hits and focus on defense.

  Damn it.

  She frowned.

  Is he trying to use attrition against me?

  “Miss!” Heinrich shouted behind her. “You need to get out of there now! We’re now out of danger!”

  “Tsk.”

  Stella didn’t want to leave this place. She wanted to push onward. While the mental communication between Stella and Lady Siris was at the moment quite minimal, her familiar was telling her that Salvador Magath’s magic crystal was inside the church.

  She just needed to cut him down and send him to the goddess, and then she would be able to get in there and reunite with Lady Siris.

  I can’t back down. I have no excuse. As the [Saint], I should have superior mana reserves than this man.

  If it’s a magic duel that you want, then I’ll grant you one, Salvador Magath.

  Stella unsummoned her sword. Instead, her fancy staff materialized on her left hand. Then, she finally channeled her mana through it, taking care to use up the external mana around her too to power multiple spell circles she invoked in front of her.

  One was for creating [Light Barriers], another was for [Divine Strike], and another was called [Inferno Spikes]. She was using one spell for defense and two for attack. It was a lot, enough that she had to utilize all of her seven magic circles for this task.

  “So you’re finally taking me seriously, huh?” Salvador grinned as the jewels on his rings glowed brighter. “Fool, do you really think you can win against me? I have enough mana on these gems alone to cripple an entire nation!”

  The enemy cultists also joined in on the fray. They were now firing crossbow bolt after crossbow bolt at her barriers. The enemy casters also joined in, firing spell after spell straight at her.

  Beads of sweat went down her face. The sheer firepower the Death God Cult was throwing at her was so enormous, the shockwaves from it were now starting to flatten the area around them. Worst of all, it was just her holding them all alone.

  On their flanks, cultists from the other lanes and streets began attacking them. That nearly broke her concentration, as she couldn’t afford someone stabbing her in the back under these conditions.

  So she shouted.

  “Heinrich!”

  “Don’t worry!” the Sordalian officer replied as he and his men sprang into action. “We’ve got this!”

  Invigorated by her countrymen’s support, Stella redoubled her efforts on resisting Salvador’s onslaught. She also began opening fire with her spells using [Divine Strike] and [Inferno Spikes].

  [Divine Strike], as usual, sent volley after volley of light bolts at her enemies. [Inferno Spikes], on the other hand, sent long rods of flame every three seconds that would explode into brutal fires that burnt to the bone upon impact.

  Unlike Stella, Salvador Magath didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about his men. While he did try to block Stella’s [Inferno Spikes] as best as he could, and he did block some of her light bolts from [Divine Strike], many of Stella’s attacks were getting through him.

  The enemy cultists were thus forced to break ranks and scatter, as many of them fell to their deaths from Stella’s deadly accurate attacks. That managed to somewhat annoy Salvador.

  “You think you can win by attacking the weak?” Salvador scoffed. “Woman, I respect your ability in magecraft, but don’t you think you’re being stupid right now?”

  He’s so arrogant.

  Why does he look down on me like that?

  He’s not even winning!

  To Stella, only Sir Marcus had the right to sneer at his opponents like that. After all, he was someone who could practically defeat everyone. This Salvador Magath person, on the other hand, seemed like someone too drunk in his delusions.

  He was facing not just Stella, but also Marcus and the Wyvern Knight Corps. For what reason was he fighting here so hard? His lair, his secret hideout, was now found, and many of his minions had already fallen.

  Why would he sneer at Stella?

  Why didn’t he just cut his losses and flee?

  “Even if you win against me,” Stella’s voice was now strained. “You’re the foolish one, Archbishop. You’re not…untouchable.”

  “You think so?” Salvador laughed. “Touch me then! Hit me with your spells, White Watch member!”

  Stella gritted her teeth. He couldn’t be serious, could he? There was no way that those gems on his rings had enough mana reserves to destroy a country.

  No, of course it didn’t have that kind of power. That would be a ludicrous claim of grandeur.

  Regardless if his claim was accurate or not, she could feel mana exhaustion creeping up on her. Her body started to feel like it was burning. Her gates were now overwhelmed with the amount of mana she was expelling from her magic circles.

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  Even with external mana in the air, which was now being tapped dry, she was feeling the heavy pressure. She could sense that because Salvador’s attacks were now truly getting through her defenses.

  Right when one of Heinrich’s subordinates was hit by Salvador’s spells while he was hiding behind the rubble, Stella screamed.

  “All of you, retreat now!”

  Giving up on her attack, Stella used [Fly], rushing out of Salvador’s line of fire. Then, she grabbed the fallen soldier and used [Greater Heal] on him before pointing her staff in Salvador's direction while she flew in the sky.

  Heinrich and his team all began fleeing and running, but with their backs exposed, Stella couldn’t allow them to be in danger. So, she had to attack Salvador again to cover their retreat.

  When that was done, Stella flew away, but she was struck by one of Salvador’s spells, causing her to crash straight into one of the buildings in Eisenfeld.

  “I somewhat expected that you’d be here.”

  “It’s you. Hector's murderer.”

  Marcus walked through the ruined section of the city. The awful fog, mixed in with the smoke from the fires and destruction around them, limited visibility so badly that he doubted he would see the figure ahead of him without his ridiculous [Perception] stat.

  It was good that the villagers had the foresight to leave the town quickly when they saw trouble. Still though, many were caught in the crossfire, and Marcus had the misfortune to see a charred boy on the side of the street.

  He was someone that not even the [Saint] could save.

  “Tch,” Marcus looked back at Selena vi Lusbeck. “I killed you once already. I’m going to kill you again today, but I bet you’ll be back as my headache again, won’t you?”

  “You scum,” she screamed at him, her voice nearly breaking. “You’re destroying everything dear to me, all while taking away my most precious people. How will you repent for this?! How will you pay for this?! Have you no shame?!”

  She pulled out a wand and aimed it at Marcus, her cloak fluttering wildly.

  “I know I can’t kill you here,” she declared. “But I will not bend over. I fight for my lovers and for my master! I fight for the one true god!”

  It was good that Marcus sent Manfred and the rest of the wyvern knights to support Stella. He imagined that she was having difficulties right now, but…

  He trusted her. Even if she was on the back foot, so long as Marcus had Stella’s back, he knew she should be able to beat Salvador Magath and reunite with her familiar. That was why he left her to finish her personal business.

  Marcus, after all, also had his own score to settle, and that was with this woman. He knew the kind of nasty necromancy or demonic magic she was using. It was beyond heretical; it was…

  “Disgusting,” Marcus scoffed, clenching his left fist a bit. “To think that your dirty mouth can say that much bullshit, well…what do I expect from a soulless vixen?”

  She turned red.

  “Y-you! Die! Die! Die!”

  Marcus immediately activated [Blink Step] again and again as the woman went into a rampage. She was firing pink bolts of light straight at him, each of which exploded in brilliant flowery flashes that made him cough badly.

  If he was hit directly, he imagined it would barely sting. But, there was an annoying effect to it. He imagined that, should the spell fail to kill him, it would instead attempt to ‘seduce’ him, or something.

  Why? Because it was clearly some kind of aphrodisiac, most likely so he would be weakened and distracted.

  Not that it would work on him; Marcus was too much of a professional for that to happen. If someone like Stella barely affected him, a pseudo-succubus elf wasn’t going to have much of a chance.

  But why?

  Why would she do this to me?

  He tried to analyze her intentions, her strategy, whatever insane plan she had in her mind. The Archbishop of ‘Wholesome Love’ had quite the ridiculous title, which fit her insanity, but, well…

  Wholesome Love.

  That meant her style of fighting, alongside her abilities, was heavily connected to that. That was why he was trying to delay. He wanted to extract enough about this ironic woman to know her penultimate weakness.

  Unlike other foes, Selena wouldn’t be killed by pure brute force. He didn’t know how many vessels she had, nor did he know where they were. Even if he found her disgusting den and slaughtered everyone there, he doubted that she wouldn’t just crop up in another place.

  He dodged her again and again until he noticed that her minions had finally appeared. They supported her in battle, using their crossbows and staves to overwhelm him.

  Naturally, Marcus retreated back into cover, hiding behind the unfortunate houses and buildings being struck by their attacks. Then, his right hand pulled out his rapier.

  “I hate that I’m not a full-blown mage,” Marcus frowned, looking at his reflection on his rapier. “I need both information about her and expertise to eliminate her.”

  For now, the best I can do is to make her spill some beans.

  He watched as she walked toward him, her wand aimed straight in his direction, while her minions covered her flanks.

  I’ll taunt and frustrate her before I eliminate her from this place.

  Then I’ll ask Lady Siris and Stella about my findings.

  Marcus grinned.

  Yeah, that’s right. I have teammates now, and once Stella wins, I’ll have a great spirit to support us.

  I just need to lean on them, just like how it all worked out well when Stella suggested that I not kill everyone in Pinkerton.

  Marcus had always operated with nothing but brute force. He was too used to fighting in hell, where every enemy was truly just a target to be eliminated.

  But he wasn’t in hell anymore.

  This time, he needed to get creative, because his enemies were equally creative.

  Here I go.

  And so, he emerged from cover, charging straight at her with his rapier ready.

  Stella coughed a bit as she sat up after crash landing into a building. But she didn’t take long. She immediately picked up the soldier that was with her when she flew earlier.

  Using [Greater Heal], Stella poured enough mana with such intensity that his most heinous wounds healed in a matter of seconds. Then, she carried him out of the rubble.

  She spotted the wyvern knights on one of the lanes. Then, she rushed straight to them while shouting.

  “Private Max is here! He’s safe, just unconscious!”

  “Shit, I now can’t count how many times you saved our asses,” Heinrich rushed to her, taking Max off her arms, supporting him so he could stand upright. “Hey buddy, wake up! Wake up!”

  “F-fuck, I got hit.” Max’s eyes opened wide, still panicked. “Wait, I’m alive?”

  “Of course. We have a literal archmage with us. Think you can still fight, buddy?”

  “Of course I can.” Max finally stood up on his own, coughing a bit. “Sir, I need a weapon.”

  Stella, on the other hand, turned her back while the wyvern knights recomposed themselves.

  Out from the fog, Salvador emerged, a sadistic grin on his face.

  “You think that’s it, huh?” He cackled. “I apologize, but no. I don’t come out of a fight empty-handed.”

  He pointed at her.

  “You’re her, aren’t you?” Salvador smiled, as if understanding everything. “The [Saint] herself, Stella Rosette vi Sordale. Why? Are you here to retrieve your most important item?”

  Stella gritted her teeth as the eyes of the soldiers behind her widened.

  I knew it. It’s going to be my sloppiness that’ll get us caught. He recognized me because of my spells.

  I’m so sorry, Sir Marcus.

  Then, he presented to her a red, glowing gem.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s mine now. Not yours. And soon, everything else that you own will be mine. There will be no more sharing with my colleagues!”

  His sickly laughter then filled the battlefield.