Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

People stared at the unfamiliar scene before them, watching as the light radiating from the angel completely dissipated, its body rotting entirely before plummeting from the sky.

The festering corpse was covered in twisted, maddening runes, and just looking at them caused their heads to feel like they were splitting apart from the pain.

What was happening now had already exceeded their comprehension. They had just welcomed the triumphant angel back, only for it to die such a miserable death in the next second.

In their eyes, the angel was a symbol of invincibility, and the moment it died, their faith crumbled along with it.

More crucially, they had absolutely no idea what was going on. Even if they wanted to fight desperately, they didn't know who to fight.

Instinctively, fear rose within their hearts.

The oldest human emotion is fear, and the most extreme fear is the fear of the unknown.

Loren had already inscribed a long-range ritual pointing to the God of Fear above it, and the moment the corpse hit the ground, he activated the ritual.

The angel began to melt, transforming into a mass of black, unidentified matter—like a pool of blood, but more like a patch of pure darkness. It was darkness existing within the territory of the God of Light and Fire.

In short, it was the most extreme manifestation of the God of Fear's power.

The moment he sensed something was wrong, the Sun-Chaser rushed over. Although he didn't know what had happened, he saw the pool of darkness on the ground—clearly something that shouldn't exist in the God of Light and Fire's territory.

The Nameless Darkness squirmed, eventually forming an indescribable face.

It was the kind of face you see in your peripheral vision when you're dazed, your eyes mistaking some random object for a ghostly visage.

The Sun-Chaser gathered magic, and a beam of holy light instantly enveloped the Nameless Darkness. When the holy light dissipated, the Nameless Darkness had vanished without a trace.

"Alright, it's safe now. The Church will investigate this thoroughly. It's most likely just an illusion meant to deceive us."

The Sun-Chaser turned around, but the face from the Nameless Darkness had already transferred onto his own.

He also noticed the strange looks people were giving him, so he glanced at his own reflection in the glass.

Then, as if he had gone mad, he began stabbing his own head with the longsword in his hand. The blade pierced through the eyeball in his skull over and over until he collapsed into a pool of blood.

The flames on his body did nothing. He died just like that, like an ordinary person. The contents of his eye socket spilled out and began spreading across the ground.

The Nameless Darkness returned to its original spot, still lying there quietly, as if nothing had happened at all.

"Ah!"

Someone in the crowd screamed, and chaos erupted instantly. Even the Church personnel trying to maintain order were useless—they were shoved aside by the crowd. Killing a few people on the spot to intimidate the rest did nothing either.

If you died at the hands of the Church, at least you'd know how you died, and you'd be released from fear. But if the Nameless Darkness got you, that was another story entirely.

...

"Don't go out for a while. The Nameless Darkness is extremely dangerous. It can appear anywhere, ignoring all rules.

"Also, it's nearly impossible to destroy unless there's absolutely no fear around. Only then will it disappear on its own."

Loren explained what had happened outside to everyone. That thing really was dangerous.

"Will it appear here?"

Paqina asked with some worry.

"Unlikely. It only appears where fear exists. Not many people here are afraid of it, right, Scarlett?"

"Ah!"

Suddenly called by Loren, Scarlett, who was already nervous, got so startled she jumped and clung to Loren's body.

"Well, that's the situation. You all rest here for a while. I'm going to sneak into the Church and steal some magic books. The magic from the Light and Fire sequence really is convenient.

"Besides, with the Nameless Darkness having just appeared, the Church's defenses are at their weakest right now."

As he spoke, Loren had already walked to the window and opened it:

"I'll bring back some local specialties for you all when I return."

With that, Loren flew off directly. Only after he left did Anna speak:

"Ever since he learned the Divine War was approaching, Master Mentor has been in a rush..."

Having been raised by Loren, Anna knew him best. Sometimes even lies that could fool a lie detector couldn't fool Anna.

"He's doing all this for us..."

Just as Naclis was expressing her admiration, Anna interrupted her:

"Enough, let's not talk about that. What we need to do now is follow Master Mentor's orders. He'll come up with the optimal solution."

From a young age, Naclis had always held this belief—that she was a burden to Loren. Even though Loren had corrected her several times, she never changed that mindset.

In fact, the better Loren treated her, the more indebted she felt.

Love is always feeling like you owe something.

"He's been laying the groundwork to deal with the Orthodox Gods for a long time now. Even if the Divine War begins, it won't be able to do anything to him."

Anna tried to reassure her, though deep down she had no confidence either. Still, she didn't show a single hint of it.

"That's right. Anna's right. Instead of worrying, we should focus on training our Arcane Abilities. Loren said that Arcane Abilities have a restraining effect on the Orthodox Gods..."

Laila stepped forward. Her self-positioning was that of the lady of this household, yet when it came down to it, Anna was the one who stepped up.

...

"Here we are."

Loren found the Church easily. It was the most prominent building around, not only incredibly tall but also topped with blazing, eye-piercing flames.

Even in broad daylight, these flames remained blinding, like sunlight concentrated through a magnifying glass. Even ships out at sea could see the glow from here.

If you looked closely, you could see an eyeball hidden within the flames. This was also a massive surveillance device. This eyeball was connected to the God of Light and Fire's vision, and He used it to monitor this place.

Loren passed through the wall and entered the Church, making his way to the warehouse. Most of the Church's possessions were stored here.

The Church of Light and Fire operated under a strict merit system. Completing missions earned you merit, and you could exchange merit for anything.

The easiest way to earn merit was to go to the battlefield—every head you took represented merit.

The next easiest was to execute heretics. Anyone who believed in a god other than the Orthodox Gods was a heretic, including common civilians.

The warehouse's defenses were extremely tight. If anything went missing, it would be discovered immediately. That was why Loren hadn't brought Scarlett along.

Loren skillfully navigated to the area where magic books were stored and found a complete collection of the latest magic books. These recorded most of the Light and Fire sequence spells.

The moment Loren picked up the magic book, alarms blared all around him, and blinding light flooded the entire warehouse.

"The enemy is here!"

Someone shouted. Loren knew he had been discovered. The Hermit's invisibility effect wasn't absolute.

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