Chapter 19
The Church of Light had long since perfected the art of raising geniuses.
At the Standard Cleric and Senior Cleric stages, the Church took the conservative route. That was why Elise had been barred from dangerous adventures.
Now that she had advanced to Prime Cleric, the Church had begun paving her road to High Cleric. That meant finding ways for her to experience Second-tier combat.
For ordinary geniuses, this stage usually meant being shepherded by a Second-tier Awakened. The safety margin was acceptable—nothing more.
Elise was different.
She was the kind of prodigy who invited comparison to figures out of history.
Which was why Megalith's Church of Light had secretly swapped the Holy Light Ring she'd purchased for a Third-tier transcendent item.
And now Elise got to experience, firsthand, what it meant to stand toe to toe with a Prime Second-tier Awakened.
When the Third-tier [Holy Light] erupted, she felt a vast tide of light-attribute mana sweep the surrounding space like a tsunami.
Inside this environment, any other attribute could manage nothing better than First-tier spells.
In that moment, Elise understood the two lessons the Church of Light meant to teach her.
First:
The Church can protect you.
You are a genius, and the Church will bring out priceless extraordinary items to keep you alive.
Second:
The outside world is dangerous.
If the Church can produce an item like this, other organizations may hold similar things. When you train beyond our walls, be careful.
So this is how a major power raises its geniuses.
Elise's mood brightened remarkably.
Then she remembered everything she had seen since entering Ignis Town, and her eyes went ice-cold.
Sensing the killing intent in her gaze, Gullos stopped struggling.
The reason he hadn't fled or cast a spell just now—had only roared in impotent fury—was that he knew escape was impossible.
Nothing had changed.
Instead, Gullos grew calm and spread his arms wide, as if embracing something unseen.
"All things end in destruction!"
"Rat from the gutter," Elise said.
Without hesitation, she drove her mana.
An arrow of light took shape in the air, slow and deliberate.
This time, her spell received every enhancement she could stack.
Tymis's spiritual resonance.
The light-attribute mana environment forged by the Third-tier [Holy Light].
Every skill modifier she could activate, triggered at once.
All of it pushed [Holy Light Arrow] toward something closer to a holy siege bolt.
"You weak little insect! I am Gullos!"
The black veins across his face bulged as he screamed, his expression twisting savagely.
Even in death, he needed to prove he would not fall to someone weaker.
Whoosh.
The arrow of light fired.
[Holy Light Arrow skill experience +1,969.]
Crack.
Even within a casting environment dominated by Third-tier [Holy Light], Gullos managed to raise a Second-tier [Destruction Barrier].
It didn't matter. The arrow punched through the translucent, pitch-black barrier without losing a shred of momentum and pierced his chest on the spot.
"Guh..."
The spiritual energy of spellcasting Awakened was a terrifying thing.
Even after his chest was pierced and his body burst apart, Gullos's head hit the ground still capable of one final sound.
But all he could manage was a last venomous, deranged glare at Elise.
Then his life ended.
The gore turned Elise's stomach, but she let out a long breath and looked to Helena.
"Elise, you did well," Helena said gently.
Then her expression hardened.
"Leave the rest to me. Lia is your responsibility."
"Yes, Teacher."
Elise rode to Lia's side, leaned down, and offered a hand.
"Get on. We're going to the Church."
"Hmph."
Lia's hair crackled with flickers of light. She snorted, but gripped Elise's hand obediently. Only after swinging up onto the horse did she finally feel a little safer.
Clop, clop, clop.
Elise and Helena rode for the Church.
Their horses had barely taken a few steps along the paved street when Elise spotted a familiar figure rushing toward them.
"Light God above!"
It was High Cleric Hadrian.
The moment Helena's [Holy Light] had gone up, he had readied himself for battle.
And when Elise triggered the Holy Light Ring and the Third-tier [Holy Light] blazed out, Hadrian knew at once: the Church's counterattack had begun.
On his way to meet them, he had even cut down two or three cultists trying to flee.
"High Cleric Hadrian, please give the orders," Helena said.
Helena was the stronger of the two, but Hadrian commanded Ignis Town and knew its streets far better.
Letting him direct the purge was the obvious choice.
"We'll use the main road as the dividing line and sweep from the lower district upward," Hadrian said immediately. "You take the left. I'll take the right."
Ignis Town's lower district was where the commoners lived.
The upper district housed nobles, Awakened, and wealthy merchants.
Naturally, the Church of Light would save the commoners first.
As for the nobles...
There were plenty of them.
Which made things very unpleasant for Baron Ignis and the wealthy merchants.
Their wealth had made them the cultists' first targets, and when the town was attacked, their losses had been brutal.
Now that the Church had finally killed Gullos—the Prime Second-tier threat—its purge rolled from the lower district upward.
Some of the villains in the lower district promptly switched targets, hoping to plunder one last fortune before fleeing.
By the time the town's criminals had mostly been swept away, Baron Ignis's fortified manor lay in ruins, battle scars in every corner.
But the matter didn't end there.
As the noble charged with guarding Ignis Town, Baron Ignis owed an explanation for failing to detect the danger in advance.
He also owed an explanation for why his people had stood aside while the civilians of his own domain were slaughtered.
By evening, the Church of Ignis Town was crowded with nobles, organized Awakened, and clergy.
Everyone stood solemn before the statue of the Light God, their breathing hushed.
Rows of coffins stretched before the statue and the altar.
A quick count put them at more than twenty.
They held priests, nuns, knights, clerics, and devout noble believers.
Hadrian and Helena, the two High Clerics, stood at the center, grave-faced before the gathered crowd.
Elise stood beside her teacher, third in rank.
Her gaze swept the assembly, then paused briefly on one coffin.
Inside lay an old man whose features faintly echoed her own.
Baron Ignis.
The biological grandfather of this body's original owner.
Elise looked at him for only a moment before turning away.
Grandfather?
Bloodline?
When she had nearly been sold into serfdom, had anyone from House Ignis lifted a finger?
No.
The one who helped her then was Father James.
The ones who gave her education and resources afterward were the Church of Light.
As a transmigrator, Elise felt no kinship with House Ignis.
So there was no grief in her eyes.
Standing below, Kalen Ignis caught Elise's reaction. He lowered his head slightly, his heart aching.
Prime Cleric in three months.
What kind of talent was that?
She was the greatest genius since the founding of Megalith City.
And the blood of House Ignis ran in her veins.
Unfortunately, her rise had been terrifyingly fast. By the time Baron Ignis discovered her talent, he no longer had any leverage to reach her.
Now fate had come full circle.
Elise stood somewhere House Ignis could never touch.
The Church of Light had been willing to spend a triggered, single-use Third-tier extraordinary item just to guarantee her safety.
The entire Ignis family wasn't worth one of her fingers.
Kalen kept his head down.
He knew he would never forge a connection with her.
The other people of Ignis Town, however, sensed an opening.
Elise clearly didn't acknowledge her worldly bloodline, so she would keep her distance from House Ignis.
But as long as she acknowledged Ignis Town as her hometown—that was enough.
The Third-tier [Holy Light] that afternoon, and Elise's battle with Gullos—who in town hadn't asked about them?
The more they learned, the more Elise looked like a ladder reaching straight into the sky.
As her fellow townspeople, clinging to that ladder was only natural.
"Hadrian, Elise and I need to return to Megalith City," Helena said.
She had read the townspeople's thoughts at a glance, sneered inwardly, and decided to take Elise home.
"Thank you for your support," Hadrian said. "But the road back..."
He was worried for their safety.
Helena smiled faintly.
"Dean Doran and Bishop Geraint are both outside the city. No one would dare touch Elise right now."
"May the Light God watch over you," Hadrian said, bowing.
"May the Light God watch over Ignis Town," Helena replied.
"Our god is watching us," Elise said, bowing as well.
Then she and her teacher walked toward the Church doors.
As they passed through the crowd, the people parted of their own accord, opening a path. Each person bowed respectfully as the two women went by.
At the entrance, Elise mounted her horse and calmed it with a touch of light-attribute mana.
Then she rode out of town beside her teacher.
Only when they reached the open road did she turn to look back at Ignis.
A thought rose in her heart.
With the founding of new cities soon to begin, this hometown of hers in Aurelia would likely become a place of storms once more.