Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

A team of adventurers and a team of mercenaries confronted and argued with each other. This kind of scene was very common, and Elsa just sighed.

She wasn't going to pay attention to these things.

Vivian seemed a little curious. She took a few more glances and found that the two teams were fighting for a cluster of magic ore about the thickness and length of an arm, crystal clear, and sparkling with a blue light.

"They are just fighting over the ownership of the magic ore. Don't worry about them. Let's go this way."

"Oh……"

Vivian didn't look at him any further. She looked away and trotted like a little squirrel to catch up.

Elsa closed her eyes and slightly sensed the scent of the magic essence, then took the lead and Vivian quickly followed.

"Let's go to the area with the most concentrated magical energy. That should be the entrance to the second floor."

Aisha said.

Ahead was a very narrow road extending from a steep rock wall, so narrow that it was only wide enough for one person to stand with their feet together. Outside was a deep ravine, and even with the lighting of a torch, one could not see the bottom.

This was naturally nothing for Elsa, but it was a little challenging for Vivian. She took careful steps, not looking at the deep ravine, and followed Elsa unsteadily.

"Hold me tight, be careful not to fall."

Aisha said, turning around and holding Vivian's hand.

"Well……"

Vivian swallowed and moved a little closer to Aisha.

The fifth time—Vivian thought in her heart.

……

At the same time, in the central area of ​​Dammas City, the Lord's Mansion.

Lord Okai Seaborn was a middle-aged man with a dignified face, a strong and powerful build, and clean and neat gray hair that was combed back meticulously.

Unlike other nobles in the empire, the heads of the Shibern family have always been powerful warriors with martial arts skills. Okai Shibern's father was a famous general during the Demon King War, and Okai Shibern was also considered to be a strong man who was as powerful and strategic as his father.

Beside Okai Seaborn sat Austin Sha Pittman, Bishop of the Cardinal Church of Damers.

The two of them sat at the center of the round table.

On their sides were the tall knight in silver armor, Pollock Budd, the leader of the Knights, and the thin old man in a black wizard robe with gold threads, Kus Hegelman, the leader of the Magicians.

The four of them represent the absolute center of the city.

But at this moment, the four of them were sitting upright with serious expressions, waiting for someone to arrive.

Bang.

The door was suddenly slammed open, and a young girl walked in with a cold face and without saying a word. The girl had a slender figure, black hair and green eyes, and a gentle face, but the long dress as black as crow feathers made her temperament suddenly become sharp.

Because of her appearance, the atmosphere in the entire reception hall became extremely depressing, and the temperature seemed to have dropped a lot.

"Why didn't anyone inform me of the appearance of the underground palace?"

The girl spoke in a cold voice, full of questions and criticisms. Her sharp eyes swept across the faces of several people one by one. Those who were stared at unconsciously tensed their bodies and stood up quickly one after another. Even the elderly Kus Hegelman stretched his body straight.

No one dared to neglect this young girl, for she was the most powerful person in Dammas City and also a legend throughout the entire history of this fortress: the arcane sage—Patriculosia en Serilihilda.

"Why don't you answer my question?"

The girl spoke again, this time narrowing her eyes slightly as she stared at Okai Seaborn.

Shibern's former aura was gone. Facing the girl who had lived for who knows how many years, his decades of life seemed to be compressed into the level of a child. As long as he could remember, this wise man had always looked like this. However, he had grown from a teenager to middle-aged, and now his face was covered with wrinkles, but the girl in front of him remained the same.

She was so high and mighty, so out of reach.

……

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36. Secret Records of the Past

"Any unusual movement within the underground palace tomb must be reported to me immediately. I remember this was an order I personally issued."

Serilildas questioned with sharp eyes. Compared to her, even the sixty-year-old leader of the magician group, Kus Hegelman, looked childish—even though this sage had the appearance of a young girl.

In fact, it was true that she was actually older than the three of them combined.

"I'm very sorry, this is our fault..."

Including Sibern, the few people who usually stood at the top didn't dare to speak up when faced with Patriculosia's scrutiny. But now that she took the initiative to ask, Sibern sighed and tried to explain: "Respected Sage, we have sent people from the magic group to determine the level of the underground palace. It is the lowest level of 'Level 3'. This kind of trivial matter is not worth disturbing your 'sleep', so we didn't send anyone to inform you of this matter..."

Serilda's lifeless eyes were unfocused and did not move. She just slowly turned sideways and faced the direction of Shibern. Shibern swallowed his throat. He felt an unseen scrutiny coming down on him. He looked into Serilda's eyes nervously, but could not see any emotion deep in those eyes.

"Do you not want to disturb my 'sleep', or do you not want me to 'wake up'?"

It seemed like a simple question, but it struck a nerve, and they all subconsciously averted their gazes. Hibern, Hegelman, and Pittman—the highest-ranking officials in the city—couldn't hold their heads high in front of Serilhilda. Serilhilda, the mystic sage, was a legend, a myth. She was the absolute center of the city. As long as she was there, titles like lord, captain, bishop—those were nothing to her.

Having stood at the top, how could I be willing to be inferior to others?

So they would rather Celyhilda remain "asleep" and leave the city to them to manage.

Celisilda looked at them indifferently, until her deep yet empty gaze almost penetrated their souls, and then she spoke again.

"It's already happened. There's no point in saying more. I'll bother you about this later." She paused and posed a question, "I woke up today not just because of the underground palace—do you know why I suddenly 'woke up'?"

"Is it because of the unusual movement of the earth veins..." Kus Hegelman asked tentatively in a hoarse voice.

Seeing that the girl didn't say anything, he knew that he had guessed wrong.

"The seal has been triggered."

"Seal?" Several people had puzzled expressions on their faces.

"A seal, an extremely dangerous seal. That's why I said you knew nothing about this city. Why do you think this fortress was built to avoid that tomb? Why do you think I never leave the castle?"

Serilda raised her eyes and looked at the faces of several people one by one with an expressionless face. None of them dared to look at her.

"That seal..." Serilildah's gaze drifted away, as if she were reminiscing about the distant past. Her tone became erratic, and after a pause, she continued, "It has existed for no less than your age. In other words, it's its existence that gave birth to this fortress. Unfortunately, the seal has begun to weaken—those adventurers you sent in were truly active. Did you know that beneath the tomb lies a chamber even larger than the entire cemetery? I'm sure you wouldn't want to see what's inside appear before you."

Shibern and the others looked at each other. This was a secret that even Shibern, the lord of a city, didn't know. The three of them looked bewildered.

At this time, a pitch-black crow flew in from the window. It flapped its wings and landed steadily on Celihilda's shoulder. It stretched its neck towards Celihilda and made a hoarse and unpleasant cry. Hibern recognized that it was the Sage's familiar.

Cerilihilda's eyes paused slightly, she turned her head and listened. After a moment's silence, she turned around and faced Hibern and the others again.

"It seems things haven't reached their worst point yet." She raised her hand and gently stroked the crow's feathers, continuing, "This should have been a secret, a secret kept by me—sealed beneath that tomb is a terrifying demon, a demon general from fifty years ago. Its body is as massive as a hill, its flesh body indestructible, and its power surpasses even that of the war demon generals of that time. The previous generation of heroes, the Saint, and I joined forces to defeat it, but were unable to kill it. In the end, it was only with the Saint's full strength that the Holy Light Seal was finally suppressed."

"Demon General!?" Shiburn's eyes widened, while Pittman and Hegelman were also stunned in surprise.

Decades have passed since the Demon War, and people have long lost most of their hatred and fear of the demons. However, Cerlhilda and Hegelman are both people who remain from that era. As for Hebern, although he was born after the war, the scars left by the war have deeply affected him. His castle was built during the war, his family was inherited from the war, and his father died in the assassination of the demon remnants. His life and education since childhood have made him spare no effort to find and eliminate the remnants of the demons in the territory since he took the throne of lord.

Shibern's father was a meritorious official of the empire, and Shibern's family was the master of the fortress. Anyone in the family was undoubtedly an enemy of the Demon King's army for generations.

"Under the tomb...is the demon general sealed?"

"This is a story older than this city," Serilda glanced at Hibern. "Originally, it should have disappeared in silence, just like the past few decades. But now the underground palace has suddenly appeared in the tomb. The seal is being impacted by the chaotic and sticky magic in the underground palace, and the tomb is also filled with those reckless adventurers. I just sent a familiar to investigate, and the seal is indeed loose.

Things haven't reached their most serious stage yet, but we must not let our guard down. I summoned you here to inform you: from tomorrow on, this place will be under my control. What you must do is to quickly recall all personnel who have entered the underground palace. Starting tomorrow, the underground palace area will be sealed off, and no one will be allowed to enter or approach. At the same time, gather elite soldiers and wait for orders. In addition—"

Cerihilda looked at Bishop Pittman.

"Are you the bishop of this term?"

"Yes... I'm Austin Sha Pittman." Pittman said respectfully. He had complicated feelings towards this legendary sage.

"You go gather the church's most powerful holy magicians and paladins."

"I'll do it right away."

"Hurry! I'll explain this to the church, so please follow my instructions. To be on the safe side, we need to gather more forces to deal with this crisis. The sealed monster is very dangerous, so please treat it with caution."

……

Patriculosia en Serilihilda returned to her living room. It was an empty and monotonous room without any decoration or furnishings, not even windows, candlesticks or magic lamps. Only the faint light emitted by the magic stone flickered slightly. The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were all covered with complicated and obscure inscriptions and magic circles.

The crow on his shoulder flapped its wings and vanished into a ball of magic with a puff.

Celyhilda lifted her smooth bare feet and slowly walked into the magic circle. The inscriptions slowly lit up with her footsteps. Celyhilda stood in the center of the magic circle. She took off her black dress, revealing her skin.

But her skin was not as tender and smooth as that of a young girl. Instead, it was covered with dense black lines. Upon closer inspection, those were actually a complex and sophisticated magic circle carved based on her body. Each inscription seemed to be deeply embedded in her skin, from her shoulders, neck, collarbone, back, to the roots of her legs, and even her fingertips and soles of her feet. The fine black lines looked so terrifying, slowly flashing an ominous purple light with her breathing.

The black long skirt almost covers her entire body, which is to hide the magic lines all over her body. For a girl, those lines are not beautiful.

Her stern expression slowly relaxed, replaced by a deep sense of fatigue.

"I hope... it won't fail."

she whispered.

- Patriculosia en Serilihilda, the "Mystic Sage" who achieved great success fifty years ago, her appearance seems to have never changed. No one knows how long she has lived. Some say fifty years, some say a hundred years, some say she can live a thousand years like an elf, and some say she has understood the essence of life magic and broken through the boundaries of life.

But in fact, only she herself knows that her life is much more fragile than most people imagine.

The Demon King was defeated, and those poems always praised the brave men, saints and sages, praising their achievements in defeating the Demon King. But Serilihilda knew better than anyone that the Demon King was a terrifying existence that could not be defeated so easily. Even though forty years had passed since the Demon King War, Serilihilda still recalled the scene when she faced the Demon King head-on.

Yes, it has been forty years.

From the beginning of the Demon King War fifty years ago, to its end ten years later, and then on—the deaths of brave warriors and saints—Serihilda watched helplessly as her former comrades perished one after another, and her own injuries remained unrecovered to this day. Serihilda knew it was a curse left by the Demon King—a curse woven into his magic, rendering those injured forever incapable of healing.

If the saint did not possess the goddess' miracle, they would not be able to resist the power of the demon king. But even if the goddess bestowed her protection, the miracle's divine power repaired their skin and flesh with powerful vitality, allowing them to hold on and defeat the demon king, but the scars left in their bodies were constantly eroding their bodies.

If only the World Tree still existed, Serilildah would have tried, perhaps finding a way to save their lives and redeem their souls—but she didn't even have the chance to try. The World Tree was long gone, and the hero and the saint didn't have the same powerful magic as hers to fight the curse. They passed away one after another within a few years after the war ended.

The power of the Demon King was so unreasonable. Her injuries wouldn't heal, her life force rapidly weakened. She could feel her magic draining away uncontrollably, the pain of the "curse" eating away at her internal organs bit by bit. The pain was unimaginable. Simply walking, talking, even breathing would cause her to feel piercing pain. So she used magic to block her senses. As a result, she also lost all her senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Using magic to replace her eyes and ears, she had become almost a puppet.

More than thirty years ago, Celyhilda began to "sleep" for a long time in order to resist the erosion of the "curse". The so-called "sleep" is actually to stop all life activities with powerful magic, so that her body can remain in a nearly dead state and delay the spread of the "curse" as much as possible. To this end, she carved magic circles and inscriptions on her body inch by inch, becoming the ugly and miserable appearance she is today.

In fact, she should have died with the brave man and the saint long ago, Serilda thought more than once, but there was still one thing she had not completed.

The catacombs.

The tragic battlefield of that year is still fresh in her memory. Serilihilda still remembers the faces of those warriors, but to this day, the undead filthy demon has not completely died. Serilihilda falls asleep and wakes up again and again. She keeps her promise and checks the seal under the tomb every once in a while. She can feel that the demon has become weaker and weaker, even faster than her.

If nothing unexpected happens, the evil demon will die before her - the seal set by the saint will last until the evil demon is completely strangled.

And she needed to see with her own eyes when that day would come.

However, the appearance of the underground palace broke the balance of the earth veins. The huge magic power impacted and washed away the magic circle. The expanding underground palace squeezed the stability of the forbidden sealed place. More and more adventurers and mercenaries poured into the depths of the tomb where no one usually entered. More and more disordered magic power appeared in the underground palace, and the sealed "vitality" was cut off.

The seal began to crumble, and she was "awakened" because of this.

……

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37. Vivian's Strength [Part 3]

Elsa naturally remembered the purpose of her and Vivian's coming to the underground palace - to familiarize themselves with it and train there. This was especially true for Vivian, who had never fought against undead monsters or been to the underground palace before.

As for Elsa herself, she doesn't need to undergo combat training in this third-level underground palace. These monsters are not strong and will shatter at the slightest touch. But even so, Elsa needs to get familiar with the feeling of being in the underground palace. After all, the underground palace is full of monsters and is also a huge and complex maze. It takes a lot of skill to reach the deepest level without destroying the underground palace.

As for the case where damage is not considered...

It would be bad if the earth veins were broken.

After walking along a narrow steep wall, Vivian saw another cave entrance in front of her. It was a narrow passage extending downward with no end in sight. It looked like no one had ever been there. Perhaps this cave was also supported by the expansion of the earth's magic element.

"There's nothing to see on the first floor. It's all occupied by adventurers. Let's go deeper."

Aisha explained, holding the torch and pulling Vivian forward.

Soon, Vivian followed Elsa to a square space, which seemed to be an independent tomb. As soon as she entered, Vivian let out a soft cry - because the walls and the ground here were covered with shiny magic ores, ranging from the size of a palm to the thickness of a thigh. The azure light curtain refracted and reflected the light of the torches, illuminating the entire tomb.

Compared to the ores that adventurers were fighting for, the ores here were dense and pure, and obviously of very good quality.

"Tsk, looks like I've taken the wrong path—this path doesn't lead to the second floor."

Elsa sighed.

"However, there's quite a lot of magic ore here. Now that we see it, let's dig it all up. It's just... a little strange. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be so much rich stone ore in a third-level underground palace..."

Even Elsa had rarely seen such a large amount of dense magic ore.

"Wait a mininute."

Elsa paused, Vivian following behind her. Suddenly, a dark shadow swiftly emerged from behind the sarcophagus and attacked. Elsa, without even a glance, sent it flying with a single kick. Bang—flesh and bone exploded against the stone wall like a ripe watermelon, shaking the entire tomb.

Vivian's eyelids twitched in shock.

She swallowed, looked at Elsa, and then looked at the monster that was broken into pieces.