"Demons are the embodiment of malice in the human heart, a delusion that does not exist in the first place. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"If malice is evil, it is a demon...... On the other hand, the collection of good intentions is the gods, right?"

"Yes, the kid has learned to draw inferences. ”

"Draw inferences? I only said one thing...... Oh, that's right! I wish I could take more things into account! I'll try! Well, demons are malicious manifestations that don't exist in the first place...... Ah, so the gods are also non-existent vain! That's the second point! Then the third point is ......."

—A conversation in a horse-drawn carriage on the way to the city of Flobunde, July 497 AH

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The existence of the gods is the guiding light that human beings have been wandering in the long river of time, like a beacon for the world. The origin of people's original belief in gods is no longer known, but one thing is certain: human belief in gods and miracles from gods go hand in hand.

In Southwell, almost without exception, all people worship the being called the "true god" as the only god. Our parents gave us life, and God gave us the faith to move forward and the infinite possibilities for development. Generally speaking, all things in heaven, earth, mountains, rivers and nature are the creations of the true God, and in short, the rich land and abundant resources on the continent are the best gifts from the true God to mankind.

In Southwell, the status of the true god is unassailable, and the "priests" are also revered by the people along with the most devout believers in the true god. As with the original sources of belief in the gods, the question of who the original priests were, and why, is also unproven. Judging from the written records that can be found in history, at least 300 years ago, the priests had already carried the two identities of "the most devout believer of the true God" and "the transmitter of the will of the true God", and influenced the process of conquest and friendship between various forces in the countries of the mainland.

Today, as a collection and synonym for the power of the priests, the term "temple" does not only refer to the place where the priests operate, but also symbolizes this powerful force that no one can ignore. The priest is the representative of the true God, and its importance to Southelse's history is self-evident, and its role is greater than most people think, even far more than mere political power or a few battles can have an impact.

"Whew......"

The Pillar of Flame, which can be called "high-level magic", completely burned down the mountain church, and Vina's breathing did not stop, but intensified. The ball of light in his hand gradually dimmed until it disappeared, and correspondingly, the terrifying power of the Pillar of Flame also diminished, and most elemental magic would not last long compared to the continuous body enhancement magic.

Sweat replaces the place of rain on the body, not to mention the consumption of mana, the consumption of physical strength is also amazing, in other words, on weekdays, Vina is afraid that she will collapse directly to the ground after releasing this level of magic.

There seems to be an increase in strength, which should be something to be happy about.

It's just that if she has to pay such a price to become stronger, Vena would rather stay weak.

"Whew, whew, hahhhhhh ”

The rapid gasping sound, and the pressure on her brain and organs from the concentrated force of mobilizing such a large amount of magical elements made her a little close to suffocation. Vena had to expend a certain amount of energy to maintain the magic shield in front of her while casting elemental magic, not to defend against the monstrous heat wave and chaotic magic turbulence that swept in, and she was still alone in her heart, and opened the protective barrier that covered far more than her own in order to prevent Lance's body from being harmed again.

Vina felt no guilt about destroying the church. As a believer in the true God, she could not understand the meaning of the existence of such a thing as a "church". While the destruction of a temple would be considered a blasphemy against the true God, the church and the temple are inherently two different concepts, and only the ignorant people of the outlying areas would confuse the two. The shrine is a place where priests who believe in the true god practice, and the church is a place built by the "order" that was once condemned as a "blasphemous organization" because of its emphasis on belief in the angels, messengers of God, who have only recently emerged, to spread their ideas.

According to what Vina has seen, countless churches have sprung up in the Republic, in the "Land of the Blue Sea" and in remote villages on the peninsula over the decades. At first, Vena could not be satisfied with these people who dared to ignore the authority of the true God and promote heresy, and were reverently called "priests" or "priests" by many peasants. Later, however, during a coordinated event led by Lance, the "kindness" that did show in those people made Vina change her mind. Unpretentious, amiable, and pragmatic! Compared to some priests who are arrogant and ignore the interests of the common people, perhaps it is true that these people are more "cute".

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the "priests" of these orders did some good things for the common people and acknowledged the oneness of the true God, perhaps they would not have been able to develop so quickly.

Vina didn't know the last point, she only knew that she had reached her limit now. Fortunately, most of the elements that make up the Pillar of Flame have returned to the elusive elemental realm of the human eye, and in a few minutes, the effects of elemental magic will be completely over, ah, just kidding, how can it end like this, apparently burning people's churches to ashes?

Ah, not ridiculous at all.

I wanted to be a little more emotional, so I tried to play the role of others in my mind and complained to myself, but it didn't help.

It's really hard to get used to relying on others and trying to pull yourself together on your own.

On another level, thinking like this also shows that I can't do it anymore, in every sense......

Being able to think with such ease seems to mean that Vina has achieved something in terms of cheering up. Time passed quietly, and the heat waves and flying air currents brought by magic were no longer enough to harm the human body. "That's great," she said, thinking like this, Vena, who was nearly exhausted in both her magical physical strength and concentration, finally stopped maintaining her defensive barrier.

Then, as a matter of course, the black in front of him almost fell. Originally, she thought that it would be easier to lie down obediently, but a firm belief made her still prop her hands on her trembling legs at a critical moment, and barely stopped the fall.

"Ha, isn't it a loss to fall here? I can't be ashamed of myself in front of the captain. ”

If there are others present who see it, they will definitely feel "this is very handsome" and admire the tenacity of a woman at the same time, of course, people's ideas will always be very different, some people think that Vina's behavior is worthy of respect, and naturally some people will think that this woman is really stupid and a little excessive.

But Vina doesn't care about these comments.

Supporting the body is more tiring than expected, but it is a relief not to have to spend energy to cast magic, the body that has been hit still hurts everywhere, and there is naturally a price to pay for being strong, of course Vena understands, but ...... It's really painful, it's painful!

Such content can only be left in the stomach and let it ferment. A tingling pain came from his feet, pulling his consciousness back from the free darkness, and he couldn't even find the strength to raise his arm and rub his eyes, so he could only let his gaze focus slowly. It took nearly a minute to make the simple gesture of "fixing her eyes", and she finally noticed that there was a rather deep wound on her calf, as if it had been cut by a sharp object.

Was it scratched by a shard of glass while jumping out of the church...... Yes, this is the retribution for destroying the church at will.

"Ahem!"

There was so much blood flowing, and the red filled the blurred vision in the blink of an eye. Thinking about stopping the bleeding quickly, if it was just to stop the bleeding, it could also be done with his own blessing magic cultivation, thinking like this, Vina, who forcibly lifted her magic power and wanted to start magic to stop the bleeding, suddenly coughed heavily.

"Is the viscera more affected than you think?...... The bleeding must be stopped first...... Otherwise, it will ......."

The pain was numb, and she could barely hold on to her sanity in the faint words of her voice, leaving only one arm to support her whole body—such an action was too difficult for her now, and she raised her other hand, stretching out only her trembling index finger, and it took ten times longer than usual, and Vena finally made the flickering light fall slowly onto her fingertips with a little magic power.

Pure white, a symbol of hope, is the color of blessing magic, and is occasionally referred to as "white magic", which is the rarest of the four magic systems, and requires a high level of talent from the caster.

"A little bit more......"

The trembling fingertips with a gentle white light slowly stretched out to the wound, and the sinking body could fall to the ground at any time, but the obsession in the heart is not extinguished, and falling to the ground means giving up and yielding, Vina doesn't know why she came to such a conclusion, but since what has been decided, she must stick to it.

She suddenly saw a "terrible" scene.

"Ahh

The sudden upward scream does not mean that the body function is back to normal, the moment the finger touches the wound, the blood that originally Gu Yin Yin kept flowing seems to be stopped in an instant, the magic is indeed magical, but there is another reason why the woman screams.

Although her vision was blurred, she saw it anyway.

Because of the combined effect of the air flow and the impact of the broken fire, as well as the protective barrier, the blood flowing out of the land that clearly demarcated the boundary line was actually moving?

She had a sense of foreboding at the familiar scene, and she did her best to keep her eyes open, and the slightly clear picture only confirmed the truth of what she had seen before.

This means......

"Just kidding. ”

Once again, the magic that had become "familiar" was another reminder of the terrible reality to which foreboding pointed.

Her voice began to tremble, and she struggled to raise her head, her prayerful gaze cast forward with the last hope, and what caught her eye was the scene that was stagnant with the word "despair".

The Great Pillar of Flame vanished, and the magical elements that had given birth to miraculous magic fell silent again, leaving only a devastated land. The church that once stood here was completely gone, not to mention the wood that served as beams, and the power of the fire magic burned even the stones that made up the walls and roof.

Such intense flames could not melt his human flesh and blood.

Alive.

How could he still be alive?

I couldn't stop screaming, and the scene in front of me meant that all of Vena's previous efforts had come to naught.

The drizzle returned, and the rain that had disappeared here for a while due to the impact of the pillar of fire fell back on the land, but not a drop fell on him. Several scarlet "tentacles" waved disorderly around him, like blood, but not like it only contained blood, and seemed to be mixed with quite a bit of magical elements, which should be the reason why the rain could not approach him.

Standing in the center of the desolate and scorched soil, Vina could only see the figure with his neck raised and looking up at the sky, but could not see his expression clearly, and she suddenly felt curious.

She wondered what a being like him would be thinking.

Closing her eyes and opening them again, Vina saw the strange circle that had formed under the man's feet. I couldn't see the pattern drawn on it clearly, only from the color, it was different from the monotony of the two red colors that represented the body enhancement magic that represented the increase in speed, and there was no brightness on the flame elemental magic circle, the light of the magic circle under the person's feet was more like a mixture of several different shades of red, compared to the stability of the rest of the magic circles that Vina had seen, this magic circle was more like the magic circle that would be produced when an apprentice who had just learned magic forcibly used the big magic was unstable, close to the phenomenon of collapse, as if it had life.

It was there that the blood was left.

Not to mention killing, burning to ashes or something, you won't even be hurt at all!

How powerful!

How arrogant!

How desperate!

As far as the eye could see, there was only sadness, not only was he not injured, not even the simple clothes on his body, which were like woodcutters, were not damaged in the slightest.

"Evil, demons!"

The strength to grit her teeth was gone, and Vina could only utter the last two words before she lost the strength to speak.

Demons, there must be shadows under the light, and under the absolute belief in the true God, there are also such legends in the land of Thorsewell, the legends of demons. Legend has it that there are such beings as "demons", they exist for the purpose of destruction, they turn their backs on the gods, they ravage people's hearts, they use flesh and blood as bait, and people's screams and fears as the sweetest food.

It's just that, unlike the true gods, no one can say that they have really seen the demonic side.

There is not even a record of demons here.

However, this only deepens people's fears.

In Southerwell, almost everyone who has lived through childhood has heard of the intimidation of adults in the name of demons, and these unfounded intimidations have become the shadow of some people's lives, and for others, these childhood nightmares-like existence have become the reason for their greater belief in light and gods.

At this moment, in Vina's heart, the man was overlapping with the figure of the "demon" in her childhood dream.

- That's the Devil!

In the gradually darkening field of vision, the man's figure suddenly moved.

- Am I going to be bait for the devil?

moved, not only moved, but disappeared, and the next moment, that plain face appeared in front of her again, a familiar scene, he was still expressionless, and she was still powerless.

- Am I going to die?

Vina was a little unwilling in her heart, but the thought of being able to see Captain Lance again after her death made her feel a burst of warmth on her body again.

- If death here is arranged by the true God.

The sky darkened by his presence, the demon's attendant obscured the heavenly light from her eyes, and the blood-congealed tentacles turned into blades that were raised high and could have killed a man if they fell gently.

Death seemed like a foregone conclusion.

......

This is not how the story ends.

"Boom. There was a dull sound in his ears, and the murder weapon that was enough to easily cut the person's body did not fall as imagined, and after some familiar sounds came, Vina, who couldn't help but show a stunned expression, saw the figure of the demon in front of him disappear. In an instant, she felt another, equally familiar magic, and she knew that it was the owner of this magic that had saved her, and as expected, the pure magic turned into a monotonous, but unpredictable attack, and before the demon could even realize it, it flew directly from a great distance.

That man's usual trick.

"It's really nosy......" There will be no anger to match the content of the words, and Vina's face is full of relief at the moment, and a little gratitude that she wants to hide.

The arrival of the "Savior" gave her a little more strength.

"I hear that!" the high, loud voice almost pierced the eardrums, and his voice was as irritating as ever, but there was nothing more intimate and reliable than this one for Vina at this moment.

"Yo, little Vina, aren't they all about to turn into rags? Just so spiritless? What about the imposing appearance just now? What's wrong? The enemy is so strong?"

"In the dog's mouth, it can't be spit out, ivory ......"

"Oh, hey, what are the little girls talking about! We are wolves! Northwest wolves! What dogs come and go! him...... Huh?"

is still a mutual ridicule and jokes, and the conversation that only makes her mood worse on weekdays makes Vina feel warm hope again at this time. Although Lance was the only person she loved most in her heart, now, she just wanted to cry out loudly:

"It's great to get to know you. ”

Hard support and forbearance, almost risking his life, the limit above the limit is finally to the end. Before she could say this, Vina, who was finally relieved by the arrival of her companion, was already black, her body could no longer support it, her legs weakened, and she fell backwards.

"Thank you. ”

She collapsed on the man's thick arm.

Seeing that the situation was not right, the "Savior" took three steps and made two steps, holding Vina before he could reach the end.

The words in the mouth, although not "ivory", are surprisingly warm.

And then.

"Hahaha! Dare to hurt our little Vena like this, I, respect you as a man! Admire, admire!" The hearty laughter dispelled the gloom that appeared here with the wave of the scarlet tentacles, the man's words were still incoherent, and the words just now were really just an illusion, "Then and so, at this critical juncture like now, it is really time for my Uncle Ralph to come out and sweep away thousands of troops!"

Strong arms, broad body, the man who can let Vina let go of her burdens with peace of mind, a trusted companion, and a strong warrior - Ralph has finally arrived.

"Roar!"

In the distance, the tall warrior was still echoed by the low roar of a beast.

The battle has just begun.

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