A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Did she just get confessed to? Saying things like "it tastes like strawberry juice" and "I only want to drink your juice for the rest of my life"—you'd think it was some kind of juice from a girl.

"Ahem, stop, stop, I was just joking. It's because you're always so thirsty that you can't be woken up without drinking blood, like you're drunk, so don't take my question too seriously. But you're feeling better now, so why don't we head back?"

The evil god had mentioned Philomena's current state, so Saint Karina wasn't worried.

This is just a transitional period. There will be some instability after using power for a while at the beginning. After that, Philomena's condition will stabilize, the energy that has been transferred into her body will quiet down, and it will also push her from the seventh to the eighth rank.

This process could take anywhere from a dozen hours to two weeks.

The evil god told Saint Karina that she had to rely entirely on herself.

Whenever there's a problem, just give her Saint Karina's blood.

158. Higher or lower

"But Your Holiness, do you really not need it?"

Philomena spoke with suggestive and persuasive words.

As her priestess robes were pulled down, the headlight covers also slipped down slightly, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin and the beautiful sight of her incredibly smooth, old shoulders.

If it weren't for the red mark left on her forehead from Saint Karina's flick, Saint Karina definitely wouldn't have been able to control herself.

"No need, go play by yourself."

Saint Karina's reaction was indifferent, a stark contrast to her usual bad-woman style.

If it were in the capital, Partington, St. Karina would not have rejected Philomena's advances.

"But I want it."

However, Philomena also acted out of character, her thirsty state completely different from her usual self.

She was already clinging to Santa Karina's side, and now she was rubbing against the car headlights, washing away the dust and making the headlights look brand new.

Seeing the towering peaks, Saint Karina finally couldn't hold back any longer.

She's not in her post-coital phase right now; she's a woman, after all, she could take on ten men!

"Do you really want it?"

All that stuff—teams, the spark, the path in the clouds—can wait.

Saint Karina grinned mischievously as she watched Philomena, her face flushed, remove all her armor and don the Emperor's New Clothes. Then, Saint Karina pinned Philomena against the trunk of a centuries-old tree and kissed her fiercely.

“Then let me give you what you want, Philomena.”

Saint Karina whispered in Philomena's ear, and thus began the old general's Go game of offense and defense.

First, she conjured a chessboard, with both sides holding pieces, one black and one white. Saint Karina chose the black piece representing the wicked woman, while Philomena, as the passive player, chose the white piece representing the second move.

The Go board is made of solid wood, and the Go stones are smooth and round like jade. They feel cool and slippery to the touch, and have a refreshing fragrance.

Saint Karina's chess skills were not particularly outstanding; she only had a basic understanding of two-player chess. However, she was confident that she could win and completely overwhelm Philomena.

First, her goal is to attack key pieces while refusing to let useless pieces escape. Saint Karina cuts off two groups of pieces from Philomena that are not connected to each other; pieces that strengthen her own defense or damage the opponent's defense are called key pieces.

Of course, the game can change in an instant, and a valuable piece can become useless.

Bumping into something is a common way to break through a situation.

Every attack has a first step, and in any situation, the first step can be done by touching or leaning. Touching means placing a piece next to the opponent's piece, while leaning means placing a piece next to the opponent's piece when you have your own piece.

When Saint Karina felt it was the right time, she began to try out a new tactic—pressure attacks.

Instead of directly attacking the main target, find a weak point in the opponent's pieces, place a piece there, and launch a pressing attack.

Feinting to the east while attacking in the west. In Go, both feinting to the east and attacking in the west are real and effective, equally important, and require a general balance.

When the time comes, you need to seize the opportunity and launch a entanglement attack. An entanglement attack refers to attacking the opponent's pieces by entangling them, preventing them from escaping, or controlling the rhythm and gradually eroding their strength.

"Um……"

In the final, crucial moment, Philomena let out a voice filled with resentment at the prospect of defeat.

At this point, Saint Karina needs to use the breath-tightening technique. She should try to prolong her own breath to tighten the opponent's breath.

Finally, two hours later, after playing chess for an hour and having a seafood picnic, Santa Karina hit the brakes.

"Is that alright? Don't get emotional anymore... It's dangerous to go further in."

After a fierce battle, Philomena had an epiphany while playing chess and broke through to the eighth rank.

"I'm not that thirsty... Besides, it's clearly your fault, Saintess."

Philomena wasn't stupid; she probably guessed that her loss of composure, just like before, was likely due to Saint Karina making her drink her blood.

"Really? When a woman criticizes her man, it's often because she wants more, wants to continue, wants to show more? I don't mind if it continues..."

Saint Karina gave a wicked smile, watching Philomena's flushed face as she put back on all the armor that had been peeled off, her expression suggestive.

The armor wasn't dirty; it only had a little mud and grass dust on it. Because the priest's robes had their own cleaning magic, there wasn't even a smell of sweat, only a pleasant fragrance.

Therefore, Philomena doesn't need to be put in a backpack; it's perfectly fine to wear her directly.

Cleaning magic and other everyday magic are very useful when traveling far away, such as in this situation.

"If you think that's not enough, I actually have many more Go boards that I haven't shown."

The game of Go often features the Thirty-Six Stratagems, just like the Art of War.

For example, the first strategy in the set of "Winning Strategies" is: "Crossing the Sea Under Cover of Darkness." When the initial plan is laid out, vigilance is relaxed; when the strategy is established, suspicion is dispelled. Black is within white; if it is not, it is white's opponent.

The second set of "Enemy Warfare Strategies," Strategy 07: Creating Something from Nothing. This is both white and black, but in reality, it refers to the second and third lines. It involves reducing emptiness, filling in gaps, and seeking emptiness; gaining an eye through emptiness leads to survival.

The third set of "Strategies for Offense and Warfare," Strategy 13: Stir up the grass to alert the enemy. Suspect the enemy of a trap, make a move to probe their defenses. Find the enemy's response path and exploit their weaknesses.

The fourth set of strategies, the 19th strategy, is "Drawing the Firewood from Under the Cauldron." Since plundering is ineffective, eliminating the threat is the best course of action, and this is the fundamental solution to the problem.

The fifth set of strategies, the 25th strategy, is called "Stealing the beams and replacing the pillars," which requires a corresponding decision.

The sixth set of "Strategies for Defeating the Enemy", the 31st strategy, is the "Beauty Trap", a side move for winning a game of Go.

……

Of these tactics, Saint Karina's detailed description of the key points alone made Philomena blush even more.

If there were a bathroom or a river here, she certainly wouldn't have just used a cleaning spell, nor would it have been for the sake of physical cleanliness, because a cleaning spell would have been clean enough.

However, Philomena wanted to find a water source because in the bathroom, she could put a lot of foam or flower petals in the bathtub, and the flowing river water was very deep. If she plunged her head in, she could achieve a similar effect of disappearing into the shadows, and Saint Karina would never be able to see her again.

Her mind was racing, almost exploding and short-circuiting. Just thinking about all the stupid things she had done because of her thirst for blood made her feel ridiculous.

That woman who looks exactly like her, with the same face and body, why does she act as if she's been possessed, committing so many shameless acts?

Even if there's no one around, this is still the wilderness...

Moreover, Saint Karina had righteously rejected her more than twice. It was she who shamelessly refused to back down, insisting on challenging Saint Karina to a contest of Go skills and car wash headlight techniques, determined to determine the winner.

159. Mist Beast

Looking around, the sky had changed from azure to crimson with burning clouds, but the forest was unusually quiet.

This place was already close to the smell of blood, so it's understandable that such a change would occur.

However, Santa Karina guessed that the fog might be thickening again as night fell, possibly due to the time of day.

"Let's go and meet up first..."

Just as Saint Karina was about to continue speaking, she noticed that the fog around her was getting thicker and thicker.

Moreover, in the forest, amidst the white mist, many pairs of blood-red eyes were staring intently at her.

"Woo-"

A creature that resembled a ghost or a black panther was rustling as it approached.

The red dots drew closer, using the thick fog to conceal their forms, but they couldn't hide their murderous intent.

Looking at the dense, seemingly endless crimson ocean, Saint Karina's expression turned solemn.

"Handle with care."

Both of them were formidable opponents in the vast outer forest, but even the strongest can be overwhelmed by a multitude of creatures. Surrounded by these mist beasts, Saint Karina would have to be careful unless she immediately used the Unsealing Stone to return to the tenth rank.

"Your Holiness, please be careful as well."

Philomena's expression also turned serious. Her shyness vanished, and she gripped the priest's staff tightly.

"Woo woo... Awoo awoo!"

As more and more red lights appeared, the creatures swimming in the eerie white mist included not only black panthers, but also hyenas, jackals, and, among the shadows of the trees, scavenging birds like crows and monkeys.

Although monkeys are omnivores and don't usually look scary, the fog made Santa Karina have no doubt that they were carnivores.

"Rustling."

In the dense forest, more and more sounds arose, and Saint Karina even saw the most common creatures active in human cities and fields: rats.

However, those rats weren't the size of a fist; they were like inflated balloons, each one swollen and round with sharp hairs, about the size of a basketball.

"It seems that this time, all that has come are mutated ordinary wild beasts and ordinary small animals..."

Saint Karina frowned slightly. She considered herself a beautiful girl, and no beautiful girl in the world would like something like a mouse.

However, she did not breathe a sigh of relief. The small animals could be ignored, but who knew how many wild beasts and small animals were hiding in the forest?

Looking at those carnivorous hunters with bared fangs, red streaks on their teeth, and saliva, they weren't much better than the undead awakened in the mortal world.

"Aww...aoww..."

As the predators howled, the wild beasts finally began to stir restlessly.

The converging red lights resembled a rolling red carpet or surging waves, as if controlled by some unseen force, and began to move in an organized and disciplined manner toward Saint Karina.

"Divine Word - Barrier!"

A cool female voice rang out, but it wasn't Saint Karina's voice; it was Philomena's.

Her voice was as melodious as a mountain spring, and as it flowed into Santa Karina's heart, it stirred something strange within her.

"I'm sorry, Your Holiness, it's all my fault..."

Philomena looked somewhat guilty; these animals must have been drawn by the scent of the lizardmen's blood.

In fact, anyone with a little sense wouldn't have been surrounded by ordinary forest beasts and wild animals enhanced by the eerie white mist. The two of them were only about 500 meters away from that bloody meat grinder, and after two hours of passionate fighting, they ended up in this situation.

"It's nothing, it just gives me the creeps. Your current strength is nothing to fear."

Saint Karina knew that she couldn't let her beloved toy girl take the blame alone.

In fact, if she hadn't wanted to use the evil god's deal—her saintly body and blood—as an experiment, with Philomena as the subject, she wouldn't have revealed the kind of woman who embarrassed herself, whose personality had shifted from passive to active, like a physical therapist, full of subjective initiative.

Santa Karina had no doubt that if she hadn't started in manual mode, Philomena could have easily switched to automatic mode in that state.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it can be directly controlled by AI.

“Bang bang bang bang—”

The first to rush up were the smaller animals. The rats' bodies exploded like blood bags, but they didn't penetrate the golden barrier at all. They were just like fireworks of flesh and blood exploding on the soil and grass outside the golden light.

Saint Karina and Philomena remained completely still inside the golden dome.

“Duh, quack, quack…”

The second to suffer were the crows, whose unpleasant eyes peeked out from among the branches, revealing their scavenging nature.

Similarly, the barrier has no blind spots that can only defend the front, and attacks from the sky are also neutralized.

It's fair to say that divine words are only effective against these ordinary beasts; they're hardly enough to compete with the powerful.

"Would you like me to teach you how to play chess?"

Saint Karina smiled and said to Philomena, she had no intention of making a move, she was still conserving her strength, and at the same time wanted to see if Philomena's strength after her breakthrough was genuine.

This is the power of an evil god, so of course she has to check if there are any problems inside.

Preserving physical strength and maintaining the body at its peak is to cope with unexpected situations, and it is definitely not for slacking off.

"Chess?"

Philomena certainly understood that chess was a board game, similar to Go, but bringing up chess at this point seemed a bit... inappropriate.

Thinking about the intense chess match that had just taken place, Philomena's pretty face, which had just returned to normal, turned red again.