Chapter 319: The Priest

“You can try.”

The priest still wore a smile, as if gently extending an invitation.

Then a shriek of wind rose.

A figure shot in like a cannonball!

Fine—let’s try it!

Strictly speaking, even clerics who offer devotion to gods and gain divine grace usually treat that power as auxiliary. The so-called “faith-build warrior” or “faith-build mage” comes from this.

So even Liya—backed by the Church that, under the title of the Life Goddess’s deputy, gathers the faith of countless believers across the continent—still has to train diligently as a Candidate Saintess.

But this huckster of a priest in front of me doesn’t have a wisp of mana or battle-aura on him. He’s obviously just an ordinary person.

Even if divine grace is strong, you yourself are frailer than a mage, and you dare to jump up in my face and taunt me at close range—a man who’s both assassin and berserker?

Do you not know what “one-shot kill” means?

I’m not giving some magical girl time to cast her Ultimate!

Cold light flashed in Muen’s eyes. He clenched Elizabeth and hewed down, sudden and fierce!

From the first move—full power!

Thunderclap, Tenfold!

Amid a crash like falling thunder, a blinding blade-gleam cleaved down from above like a hanging Milky Way, cutting the sky.

Beneath the blade-light, the priest’s wide clerical robe snapped in the gale, making his body look all the thinner.

He was like a sapling teetering in a storm, any moment to be torn up by the roots and shredded into pitiful scraps.

But the priest’s expression did not change.

It was as if he wore a mask called “smile.” Deep in those eyes, the killing light of the blade was reflected.

With death bearing down on him, he simply raised the Holy Tome in his hands.

And turned a page.

In that instant, Muen’s pupils tightened.

Because light descended.

A shimmering radiance—sacred and pure, carrying a serenity one could drown in—yet it became the firmest barrier, casually stopping Muen’s all-out strike.

“This is...”

Muen murmured in disbelief. That holy light was painfully familiar.

Of course it was—he had been living day and night with someone who used that very same sacred light.

Isn’t this...?

“The Goddess’s... Holy Light?”

“Well? Scared?”

The priest watched Muen, and at last his expression shifted. The smiling, slightly hooked corners of his lips kept stretching, and stretching... until they became a soundless beastlike grin, brimming with delight.

Grotesque, and feral.

“That’s right—this is the most exalted Holy Light from that great Lady, the Goddess of Life!”

Holy Light fell—but this time, Muen felt no warmth. Instead it was sharp as a sword, sending a chill through him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Muen sprang back, dodging the Holy Light. He didn’t even bother counterattacking—he turned and looked at the girl by his side.

Liya was also staring blankly at the sacred radiance around the priest, her pale little face full of confusion.

But after a moment, she stiffly turned her head and gave the tiniest nod.

It was the real thing.

Muen read her meaning.

But how could that be...

Wasn’t his god... the Forest God?

“The great Forest God is indeed my exalted Lord.”

As if seeing through Muen’s doubt, the priest answered word by word with that uncanny smile:

“But I never said... the Lord I serve is only one.”

“Huh?”

Muen was stunned.

“You can do faith with two masters? Aren’t you afraid the Goddess will blast you with a thunderbolt for two-timing?”

“Two-timing? No, no, no—I am utterly focused, utterly devout.”

Cradling the Holy Tome, the priest drew in his smile and prayed softly, his manner exceedingly reverent.

“After all, if faith isn’t genuine, how could one obtain divine grace?”

“You’re saying your faith in both gods is sincere?”

Muen scoffed, even less convinced.

Between different gods’ believers, conflicts are sharper than the war over salty vs. sweet tofu pudding. Under the banner of holy war, massacring the other side’s entire families—no matter which world’s history you look at—happens again and again.

And you’re telling me you worship different gods at the same time?

Unless you’ve got two brains that don’t talk to each other—who’d buy it?

“Why not?”

The priest fixed Muen with a meaningful look.

“Tell me—once you fall for someone, does that mean you’ll never truly love another?”

“...”

Muen’s face suddenly went a bit stiff.

“That question isn’t relevant. I refuse to answer,” he said with perfect gravity.

“Ha! No need—I already know the answer!”

The priest laughed.

“Humans are creatures of broad love. Love for family, for friends, for lovers, for spouses—our feelings are myriad, and yet all of them can be real.

So it is with faith. As long as the deities themselves don’t conflict, and as long as the faith in your heart is genuine, why shouldn’t you worship several gods at once?

As for the gods... the great Lords won’t care about such trifles.”

As he spoke, his smile twisted, a rare flash of anger ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) showing:

“Sadly, the false faithful—desperate to hide their own weakness—fabricate sham doctrines to build themselves cages and deceive the world.

Ridiculous! Why would true faith ever need doctrine to bind it?

But I—

I... having revealed these truths and set foot on a broader road—those... those false faithful branded me a heretic!

Laughable. Haha—how laughable!”

“...”

Watching the priest go manic, as if tearing off a mask, Muen suddenly didn’t know how to reply.

He sounded like he had a point, but on tasting it carefully, it felt more like the ravings of a madman.

“Muen...”

Just then, Liya reached out and tugged his hem.

“I know who he is.”

“Hm?”

Muen glanced back, brows knitting.

Because at that moment Liya’s little hand on his hem—no, her whole body—was trembling ever so slightly.

She seemed terrified.

“‘The Priest,’” Liya said. “The Hundred-Believer—Father Xien. He once served at the Melance Cathedral, but for some unknown reason defected from the Church, and at the same time was declared a heretic. The... the charge was blasphemy.”

“Is he that formidable?”

“As you can see, he’s just an ordinary man with no cultivation, but... but...”

Liya paused. “His name is very high on the blacklist of the Church’s Adjudication Temple. They’ve hunted him for years, and yet he still...”

“I get it.”

An “ordinary man” hunted by the Life Church’s Adjudication Temple for years and still lively as ever—“formidable” didn’t begin to cover it.

And that title—Hundred-Believer...

Don’t tell me this guy actually worships a hundred gods.

No—no matter how top-tier a scumbag playboy is, he can’t keep that many boats afloat at once. It’s probably just an exaggerated epithet.

But the epithet alone proved how troublesome he was.

Muen sighed.

The puppeteers behind the scenes had really hired quite the monster to kill him.

“Wait, I’ve got a question—if this guy’s on the Life Church’s most-wanted list, how can he still use the Goddess’s Holy Light?” Muen asked.

“B... because...”

Liya lowered her eyes and whispered, “The Goddess is loving and impartial.”

“...That so.”

Muen looked away.

Heh. In short, just what the priest said a moment ago.

The gods don’t care.

...

“Oh?”

The priest suddenly looked at Liya. A flicker passed through those deep eyes.

“So you can identify me, and on top of that your Holy Light is so rich. This young lady’s status in the Church seems... not low.”

“...Muen.”

Liya ducked behind Muen, clutching his hem even tighter.

The fear in her heart was uncontrollable.

Not only because the enemy before them was strong—but because...

As a fellow believer of the Goddess and a former priest of the Life Church, Father Xien knew the use of Holy Light better than anyone.

Her techniques might be useless before him.

She did have moves beyond Holy Light, but... but...

Useless as she was, at a time like this...

“Liya.”

Suddenly, the hand that wouldn’t stop trembling was wrapped in warmth.

Muen’s hand clasped hers—broad and warm.

“It’s fine. Trust me—I have a way.”

“...R—really?”

Liya stared blankly at the man’s face before her. His brows and eyes were resolute; even with such a terrifying foe ahead, he showed no fear.

Right.

Muen would have a way. Yes—he was that capable. He would have a way.

In an instant, Liya felt her panicked heart grow calm, as if so long as she stayed at this man’s side, there was nothing left to fear.

“Then... what do we do next?”

“...”

Muen fell into thought. His gaze swept the priest shrouded in Holy Light before them, then he turned and glanced at those interwoven vines, twining like giant pythons.

“Looks like... we can only do this,” he murmured.

“Hm?”

“Nothing. We’re moving.”

“Moving?”

“That’s right. As planned—break out!”

Muen seized Liya’s hand and, without warning, turned on a dime and sprinted!

“Oh? I thought you’d struggle a bit beyond your means. You’re choosing to flee right away? Decisive.”

“But unfortunately, slipping my grasp isn’t so easy. Let me show you something new.”

The priest turned the Holy Tome again.

Muen’s breath hitched.

Not because he was frightened, nor because something incomprehensible had happened again.

But because... he truly couldn’t breathe.

Air began to flow.

It became wind, lifting fallen leaves.

But the leaves were instantly torn apart by the suddenly accelerating gusts. The chaotic airflow, as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, began to spin at terrifying speed.

Dust, branches, and stones were flung up in frenzy.

A storm truly descended.

But the sapling about to snap in that storm wasn’t the priest—it was Muen.

The rampaging wind, sharp as knives, sliced his skin. Under the crushing wind-pressure, his speed was useless; he was only further pressed down and ravaged.

Another new divine grace!

At the same time, huge vines spread again, forming a cage.

“Muen.”

Liya raised Sacred Shelter, fending off the gale, her face a little anxious.

“It’s fine.”

Muen drew a deep breath and let go of Liya’s hand.

“But next, you’re on your own. I can’t spare a hand.”

“I... I can do it.”

“Good. Then run—do exactly what we discussed!”

“Mm!”

Liya darted ahead. With Holy Light buffing her, her body turned feather-light.

And lately she seemed to have learned the knack of moving through this terrain; for a time, her speed wasn’t much less than when Muen was pulling her.

“Naïve.”

A sneer drifted through the sweeping gale.

Wind-pressure spiked. Liya’s face went white, and countless vines once more came down like a sky-blotting net—nowhere to flee!

“Keep running—don’t stop!”

Muen’s voice rang at her ear. Liya clenched her silver teeth and sprinted straight toward the dead end ahead.

Shaaang—

Blade-light fell!

Muen crossed both hands, gripped Elizabeth, and hacked down!

Thunderclap.

Tenfold!

Under Holy Light’s blessing, the razor edge of the blade split the storm.

But only the storm.

The chasm and cage of giant trees and vine remained.

If that’s the case...

Then cut harder!

A flash of ferocity crossed Muen’s face. Heat seared across his back. He pushed the alchemical core to its current limit again.

Time Slow—sixtyfold!

In his vision, all things became unbearably slow.

Including himself.

But in that sluggish world, Muen forced himself, defying his body’s shackles, to swing faster than everything around him—one stroke, then another.

And all those stored blades bloomed at once in a single instant!

Twentyfold!

Cleave!

Dazzling blade-light, with a power that seemed to split heaven and earth, opened Liya’s view in a burst of clarity.

The storm parted. Vines and giant trunks were churned to splinters.

Nothing in the way.

Liya stepped through, the breath of freedom and life washing over her face, and joy bloomed.

“It... it worked!”

Father Xien was only a normal human—which meant his mobility couldn’t match cultivators like them.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have first used the Forest God’s grace to block the road.

In other words, as long as they got out of the range of his divine grace...

“Muen, we did it!”

“We made it!”

“I—”

Liya turned back in delight, wanting, in the first instant of escape, to share that joy with him.

But—

Her words cut off.

Liya’s face went rigid.

“Muen?”

At that moment, he was not behind her—not within reach, not within warmth.

He was still shrouded in the storm, still among the giant vines and trunks, which were already knitting themselves back into a cage.

“Eh?”

It wasn’t we who succeeded.

It was... me?

“Go.”

Muen’s voice came low:

“Just like we said—go!”

“B... but we agreed to break out together. Why...”

“The plan changed. You go first—I’ll be right behind.”

Muen smiled.

He stood amid howling wind and twisting vines, yet that smile was as dazzling as ever—bright as the morning sun.

“Trust me. Like I trust you. Okay?”

“But...”

Liya still hesitated and looked back.

The road of escape that had blazed with light now looked so dark, so clammy—so... frightening.

Compared to that, she would rather stay by his side.

But—

“Go!”

Muen’s harsh shout exploded in her ear.

He had never spoken to her so sternly.

The storm expanded; the vines reached; peril crept closer in this fleeting moment.

And at the same time, another voice rose in her heart.

“Go...”

“Liya, go...”

“If you stay, you can’t do anything...”

“...”

“...”

It was her own voice.

“Run.”