Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

……

Elsa didn't stay in the fortress for long.

Anyway, I brought what I should bring, bought what I should buy, and met the people I should meet.

As for Luther's matter, Elsa directly asked Hannah to handle the aftermath. After all, Hannah was from the lord's mansion and seemed to be the captain of the guard. Compared with Elsa, she was obviously more experienced in handling and investigating such incidents - but even Hannah didn't know what was going on with Luther.

The fact that it stumped Hannah at least proved that this matter was unusual.

"I'm truly sorry, Lady Faris. It was our negligence that led to your friend's misfortune. We will definitely increase patrols and assign dedicated guards to Lady Trawins and Lady Livlet."

Hannah's attitude was very clear, but Elsa just shook her head.

Elsa naturally knew the personalities of Filia and Vivian. If they hadn't stopped them, would Siborn and Pittman have not provided them with guards? Impossible. It was obvious that they didn't want guards accompanying them.

Therefore, Hannah just wanted to use Elsa's mouth to give Filia and Vivian a reason that they couldn't refuse, so that they could "perform their duties" openly - after all, the role of a guard is not just to protect.

Elsa didn't express her opinion, and seeing this, Hannah didn't say much.

Sometimes talking too much will only have a counterproductive effect. As a guard who has been following Shibern for many years, Hannah knows this very well.

Soon, Hannah dispatched knights to seal off the scene, and the homeless people were properly settled down. Hannah personally asked them some details.

Elsa simply greeted Filia and Vivian. She was a little surprised that Filia and Vivian had already established a friendship, so she felt more grateful to Tricia. Elsa asked about their situation over the past few days and reminded them to pay more attention to safety when they were in the fortress.

Afterwards, Elsa left as the two of them looked at each other with hesitation - Elsa had originally only intended to say hello to them.

Before leaving, Elsa took Luther's body and the strange inverted cross pendant with her.

As for why she brought it with her, it was naturally because Hannah had no idea about it. Elsa knew that Hannah's investigation might not make any progress for a while. Since Hannah and the Knights had no clues, she might as well go and ask Tricia - what happened here was somewhat weird, and Elsa had never seen this kind of death before. She just didn't know if the knowledgeable Tricia had any opinion on this.

At the same time, in a closed stone room, an old man with a listless and haggard face slowly opened his eyes.

His cloudy eyes were like a corpse that had been dead for several days. He stared at the magic circle in front of him. If Luther were here, he would find that this magic circle was similar to the magic circle he used to refine the vitality of others and make it his own, but it was much more complicated. The magic circle was drawn with blood, but the blood did not dry up at all, and even remained bright red.

"A believer died..."

He muttered, frowning.

"I don't know who it is, but... the only one who's still out and about lately is probably Luther."

He did not feel sorry for Luther. What made him feel sorry was the life force that Luther had collected - after all, the life force was still in the pendant and had not been refined. Now that Luther was dead, the pendant might not be retrieved. Others might not know the value of it, but that thing could not be hidden from the eyes of the sage Serilda.

"I hope I can hold the sage back for a while, buying me some time. I don't know when the demons will arrive, and if this goes on, I won't be able to hide anymore."

He sighed and shook his head.

"As expected, you still have to make plans for yourself."

……

On the other side, on the plain—

Archbishop Rigatu and a group of paladins looked at Aisha carrying a corpse and found it absurd.

They were a long way from Dammas Fortress. Even by carriage, it would take a whole morning to get there. But how long had Elsa made the round trip? Not to mention, she was dragging the dragon with her.

Everyone had a strange look on their face.

They knew that Elsa was very strong, but they were still dazed when they saw Elsa doing something so unreasonable.

Inksa looked at Aisha with longing, her eyes sparkling, and it was unknown what she was thinking.

……

------------

153. What Inksha Can’t See

The sun had begun to tilt towards the west, and it was just past noon.

Following the ruts on the plain, Elsa quickly caught up with Tricia and her companions' carriage. After a brief greeting, she went straight to Tricia.

Seeing Elsa coming, the carriage slowly stopped and Tricia and others came up to greet them.

As soon as they met, Tricia's attention was attracted by the corpse in Aisha's hands. She looked at the corpse and frowned slightly.

"Elsa, who is this?"

As Tricia finished her words, Inksa's gaze shifted from looking at Aisha to Luther's body.

Looking at the corpse, Inksa swallowed nervously. It's not like Inksa hasn't seen dead people in her life, but most of them were elderly people in the village who died of illness or fishermen who froze to death due to the seasonal cold wind. At least the bodies of those people looked normal.

After awakening her Saintly talent, Inksha was immediately found by the Vatican and brought back to the Holy City with her family for baptism. Countless classes filled her daily routine. Where had she ever seen a body as rusted and grimy as Luther's, like a ship's anchor? Not to mention that Luther's body had become deformed, with disgusting barbs sprouting from his arms and back.

This is already a body structure similar to that of a demon.

Inksha was a little startled, but she tried hard to look less frightened. The others gathered around. Unlike Inksha, they had all seen many corpses, and because of this, they were more sensitive to Luther's strange death—because it was so abnormal, and it was not something they had never seen before. It was a serious topic of discussion.

The Archbishop already had the answer in his heart, but like the paladins, he chose to remain silent and turned his gaze to Elsa and Tricia, waiting for them to speak.

"An attacker—I don't know what his purpose was, but I just happened to run into him."

Elsa put down Luther's body and answered Tricia, explaining in detail what happened in the fortress.

"Also, what's interesting is that I saw him when I first came to Dammars. Perhaps he has been keeping watch the whole time. I wonder if this fortress accident is related to these people?"

Everyone was silent as they listened to Aisha's description, with a serious look in their eyes.

"Hard to say."

Tricia took a deep look at the corpse, then looked away and turned to look at Inksa.

She patted Inksha's shoulder gently.

"Are you scared?"

Inksha nodded honestly, glanced at Tricia, and then cautiously glanced at Aisha.

"I'm just a little bit scared..."

"It's okay, you'll get over it."

Tricia's tone was suggestive, but she didn't dwell on the topic too much. Instead, she asked, "Inksa, can you 'see' anything?"

What he meant by seeing was naturally not simply seeing with the eyes, but "observing" with the senses through the blessing of the holy light bestowed by the goddess. Just like Tricia could see the flow of magic power, the saint could also "see" things that ordinary people could not see - and in theory, as the saint's strength became stronger and stronger, her resonance with the goddess became stronger and stronger, and the things she could see became more and more complex.

Tricia even heard from the previous saint that she could occasionally see "fate".

At this moment, Inksa narrowed her eyes slightly and pronounced the syllables awkwardly.

Suddenly, she felt a creepy, sticky black aura coming from the corpse. That aura was not magic, nor was it holy light, but an evil aura that made Inksha naturally feel repelled. They were squeezed together in a strange posture, as if they were hiding from something.

As for what was hiding...Inksa moved her gaze and focused on the side. She saw a strange white, long and narrow object appear there, appearing there like a ghost and scaring her.

But when she looked closely, she found that it was a human figure, as if a human-shaped hole had been gouged in the canvas.

This was a new experience for Inksa - after receiving the blessing of the saint, her eyes could see many invisible things. Those things attracted countless dazzling auras. Although she could not capture and understand them with her current strength, in theory, she could see something about as long as it was an object, rather than just a white object.

She couldn't help but look a few more times, and at this moment, she suddenly felt a strong stinging sensation deep in her eye sockets.

"pain--"

Before she could react, the protected vision was instantly lifted, the strange light faded, and Inksas saw Elsa standing there, and Elsa was looking at her in confusion. Their eyes met - to Inksas eyes, Elsa seemed to be examining her.

Inksa rubbed her dry eyes guiltily and told about the dark aura she had seen.

Tricia nodded.

"That is the breath of abyssal magic."

"Abyssal magic?"

"Yes, it's a very ancient magic, very evil, which will devour the mind of anyone who uses Abyssal Magic. This magic is very dangerous and difficult to deal with."

Tricia looked at Aisha.

"Elsa, what is that pendant you mentioned?"

Aisha took out the inverted cross pendant.

"He seemed to have considered this pendant very precious. He died soon after I took it away. But unfortunately, I 'touched' it."

"It's okay, can you show it to me?"

Aisha handed the pendant directly to Tricia.

Tricia took a quick look at it. The magic power on it had been dispelled, and now the inverted cross pendant was just an ordinary small pendant - but this did not pose a problem for Tricia. The magic structure inside the pendant had been completely destroyed, and the remaining magic power had long been swept away by Elsa. However, Tricia was able to simply judge its material and the structure of the magic circle fragment through the reaction after the injection of magic power and the phenomenon of magic resonance, and thus infer its original function.

This process takes some time, and at this time Tricia can only observe it roughly and guess its origin based on the production process and the patterns on it.

"Elsa, this thing is probably a sacrificial cursed device of Abyssal Magic."

In fact, after seeing Luther's body, Tricia already had the answer in her heart, and this inverted cross only confirmed this guess again.

"—Can you let me keep this for the time being?"

"No problem at all."

Anyway, this thing is of no use in Elsa's hands, and Elsa knows nothing about it.

……

------------

154. Aisha's Recipe (3K7)

Tricia casually formed a small magic circle and wrapped the pendant in it.

"This item can't be exposed to too many people. Although its effects have faded, it has been imbued with the aura of the Abyss for a long time. If not handled properly, it could still pollute people's minds. We must even investigate the places where this person lived. If there are any similar items left, we must seal them. I will send a 'crow' from the fortress to inform Shibern of this matter, so don't worry."

As she explained, the magic circle in her hand was constructed in just a moment, with exquisite runes floating on it. Then Tricia placed it in a unique box and put it into the space equipment.

The archbishop and the knights watching the scene were all secretly amazed - Saint Inksa and Aisha naturally did not recognize the small magic circle, so they did not feel anything. But for the paladins who had dealt with the fallen who fell into the abyss, they knew very well that it was a sealing spell against the abyss magic. This kind of sealing spell was not part of the current magic system, but a "different system" that blended ancient magic and mystical magic. Magicians who could understand those runes were already elite, and there were not many in the entire empire who could cast it casually in a breath.

This sealing array was actually created by Tricia herself decades ago and has been used ever since. It has always been an important means to deal with abyss magic. Tricia's attainments in esoteric magic are unparalleled in ancient and modern times, which is why she is known as the "Sage of the Mystic Magic". If anyone thinks that Tricia's strength is only reflected in forbidden spells, they are completely wrong.

But when the Archbishop and others sighed in their hearts, Tricia's empty eyes were always fixed on Elsa.

Her magic is to isolate the breath of the abyss.

However, Elsa was born an insulator against the abyss aura. Just by standing there, she suppressed the abyss aura and made it unable to move. It must be said that this scene made Tricia very emotional and grateful.

People like Elsa are probably born without affinity with abyss magic.

"Elsa, have you spotted anyone else suspicious?"

"No more, only this one."

"Well, although I think there should be more than one - but I will send people to investigate the rest. As for this person's body..."

Tricia looked at the Archbishop and the Paladins.

"Do you need to take it back?"

“Yes, please allow us to recycle.”

"Then I'll leave it to you guys—Elsa, is that okay?"

Elsa naturally had no objection, but was a little puzzled - in fact, Elsa had only heard a little about the magic of the abyss, and this was the first time she had seen it with her own eyes.

It is said that Abyss Magic is a very evil ancient spell. Its operating principle is completely different from the current magic system. It possesses extraordinary and strange powers and can even affect the user's mind, making them go crazy without realizing it.

Thinking about it this way, Luther's behavior is indeed a bit strange.

Under Elsa's curious gaze, two paladins stepped forward to deal with Luther's body. They first used straight swords to peel off the purple-black barbs on Luther's back and arms, then took out the potion, and another person chanted an obscure spell on the side.

"Elsa, that's the consequence of dabbling in Abyssal magic—your vitality is overdrawn, your magic power surges, and your internal energy homeostasis is disrupted. As a result, you've lost your human form, and part of your body has transformed into a demon."

Tricia sighed softly and continued:

"Those barbs are crystals of magic power, the same kind as the magic core within a monster's body. The only difference is that the magic cores normally produced by higher-level monsters are very round in shape, but he couldn't control the rapidly growing power, so these things came out of his body in this way."

"So, if he keeps going like this, he'll turn into a monster?"

"Any creature has the potential to transform into a monster, Aisha. However, this rarely happens to creatures like humans and elves because our 'souls,' or rather, our 'sanity,' are still normal. Once we fall into the abyss, our 'souls' are distorted, and we become indistinguishable from monsters. There's a theory in mystical magic that the external form of a living being is determined by the form of its soul. Although I believe this statement is biased, if someone has begun to transform into a monster, then there's no doubt that their soul is corrupted. We call this kind of person 'the Fallen.'"

Elsa raised her eyebrows slightly.

The Fallen... This name coincides with the prompt on the panel.

"So the bodies also need to be recovered and quarantined?"

"It's not a big problem if you don't need to isolate it, because it has been sucked dry. The little bit of residual breath is not dangerous."