Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

She slept for too long, which made her gradually lose her concept of time. What happened forty years ago only seemed to have happened ten years ago to her - the other thirty years were spent in sleep. Every time she woke up, everything in the city would change dramatically.

She stood up slowly, and when she raised her hand, the black robes floated up gently and automatically fell on her body perfectly. When she walked to the door, her clothes had become decent and neat, and the door in front of her opened naturally with her steps.

Outside the door, Shibern bowed to her respectfully.

"Have all the people in the underground palace been evacuated?"

Celyhilda's face was as cold as ever, but that didn't mean she was as indifferent to worldly affairs as she seemed - in fact, she had been using her familiar, the crow, to patrol the city and the underground palace to monitor any movements.

"We've already sent people to notify them. Everyone should be able to evacuate by tonight. However... we discovered that part of the underground palace has begun to collapse, and some people have died as a result."

Shibern's tone sounded a little hesitant. After all, they had never expected that such a thing would happen in a third-level underground palace.

"The congestion in the earth veins must have gotten worse. I'll go to the underground palace and take a look myself later."

Cerihilda said expressionlessly, taking the lead and walking forward.

Seeing this, Hibern hurried to follow.

"Um... Sage," he deliberately avoided meeting the girl's gaze, lowering his gaze and weighing his words, "was the loosening of the seal this time caused by the appearance of the underground palace?"

Shibern seemed particularly concerned. In fact, the bishop and the two leaders were also very concerned about this issue.

Cerihilda glanced at Hibern.

I don’t know whether Hibbern’s concern is due to fear of responsibility or something else?

"No, there shouldn't be a necessary connection between them."

Serilda answered Shibern's question, which made Shibern slowly relax. However, Serilda's next words immediately made him alert.

"The leylines of the tombs in the Rydes Mountains have been transformed by my magic and reinforced over the years, making them exceptionally stable. Magical accumulation shouldn't be possible under these leylines, and the 'underground palace' couldn't have formed naturally. This is all man-made. I suspect someone secretly sabotaged this, and the most likely perpetrators are the remnants of the demonic forces. I don't know how they discovered the seal, but I can't imagine anyone else targeting this place. Therefore, this time, we must be fully prepared to fight the demonic remnants."

Hebern was secretly shocked when he heard this. The strength of the remnants of the Demonic Empire should not be underestimated. Even though he was in charge of the troops of a fortress, he had to be cautious. The tomb was some distance away from the fortress, and due to the limitations of the terrain, once the war broke out, the troops in his hands would inevitably be dispersed and could not be fully deployed to the battlefield. Conversely, the defensive array and numerous siege weapons on the fortress side could not support the front line.

The two men arrived downstairs, where Bishop Austin Sha Pittman and the two captains, Pollock Budd and Cus Hegelman, were already waiting. Seeing Serilda, dressed in a black dress and with a stoic expression, they all bowed respectfully and then reported on their respective progress—their troops had already been assembled.

"However... there are some things worth noting, Sage," Pittman said, stepping forward. "Most of our church's escorts to welcome the Saint Sister have been attacked by unknown forces. One team has already been killed, and most of the other teams have suffered varying degrees of losses."

It was no secret that the church was about to hold a selection for the Holy Sister. Pittman told Serilda in detail about the attack on the candidate for the Holy Sister.

"It's not surprising. The appearance of the underground palace is no coincidence. You're selecting holy nuns, so naturally, someone will take advantage of the situation to cause trouble." Cerihilda paused and asked, "Are there many casualties?"

Celyhilda cast a cold gaze at Bishop Pittman. In her lifeless eyes, the bishop's appearance was entirely revealed by magic.

Her tone was calm, and she didn't show any surprise at the scene.

"There are at least thirteen people, including a candidate for the Holy Sister."

"Who is behind this? Any clues?"

"We're investigating... but we haven't found any results yet. They're more cautious than we thought. So far, we've only apprehended one criminal named 'Aru,' and the information we've obtained from him isn't enough to support our investigation."

"The birth of the Saint Nun means a new crisis is brewing in secret. Therefore, the selection of the Saint Nun is of great significance. You must be more careful and do not give the enemy any opportunity to take advantage."

The saint is the messenger of the goddess. Her appearance is a warning from the goddess, which means that a great crisis has quietly arrived.

"Then please allocate some of your personnel to continue investigating this matter. However, be careful. The enemy this time is likely the demons or remnants of the demonic forces. Be cautious during the investigation and report any findings to me immediately."

Pittman wanted to say something, but when he saw Celyhilda's gaze, he nodded.

"Yes……"

"Speaking of anomalies..." At this time, the leader of the magician group, Kus Hegelman, said in a hoarse voice, "Sage, my people have reported that adventurers have discovered that all the monsters near the Ledes Mountains have disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown."

"Have you sent anyone to investigate?"

"We have sent people there, but we haven't received any results yet."

"Keep an eye on it; it's possible they've already been sacrificed."

"'Sacrifice'?"

"The demon generals are consuming monsters to regain their strength and attempt to break the seal. Generally speaking, it's impossible for a monster to go to a place like that with the Saint's seal there, unless someone has interfered with the seal. This is most likely the work of the demon remnants. Unfortunately, the familiars I sent out didn't find any trace of those guys; they are very good at hiding themselves."

As she spoke, Cerihilda cast a scrutinizing glance at the few people.

"We must gather our forces and quickly eliminate the monsters roaming the underground palace. Those monsters will provide the Demon General with a constant supply of magic essence, allowing him to recover his strength. We cannot sit idly by and watch."

"Sage, actually... I don't quite understand..." The Knight Commander Pollock Budd stepped forward. His voice was deep, and the vibration of his chest was very penetrating. He asked carefully, "Why don't we attack now and kill the monster before it fully awakens? Since it has been sealed for so many years, it should have weakened by now, right?"

……

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48. The best way to keep a secret is for no one to know it.

Pittman and Hibbern also looked at Celyhilda, obviously they were also confused about this.

"This is an emergency. I haven't told you many things in detail, but please remember not to act rashly and don't underestimate that evil demon. The hero, the saint, and I worked together to defeat it, but we only sealed it instead of destroying it. There's a reason why."

Selihilda glanced around and spoke slowly, "The sealed demon is named Tobias, and within the Demon King's army, it's known as the Undying Demon General. It's literally unkillable, and that's no exaggeration. While its combat power is far inferior to that of the former War Demon General, its strength lies in its unreasonably tenacious vitality and the destructive power wrought by its massive size. Back then, Tobias was as massive as a mountain, constantly absorbing magic energy and transforming it into nutrients, strengthening itself. The corpses on the battlefield, the grass and trees in the fields, and any other living creatures, as well as the magic energy lingering in the air, all became its food, its power growing day by day. While its frame isn't steel, it's simply too massive. Our soldiers attacking it will only be crushed and devoured. Even the magic we cast at it will be absorbed and transformed by its powerful assimilation force. The rich magic energy forged a nearly indestructible body."

We defeated it many, many times, but we could not kill it no matter what. It was extremely difficult to weaken it. Instead, we lost a large number of soldiers in every battle.

It feeds on magic essence, and as long as it exists, it will grow endlessly, making it almost impossible to destroy. To prevent it from becoming increasingly powerful in repeated battles, we ultimately chose to seal it away.

The Saint set up a Holy Light Sealing Array, and I borrowed the power of the Earth Mother Goddess, using the earth veins as a cage to bind its body. A total of seventeen sealing arrays completely isolated it from the magic energy of the outside world. These arrays are linked together and blocked layer by layer. Over time, its body will begin to devour itself due to "hunger", and the magic energy transformed in this process will be filtered and decomposed through the earth veins. It will not be able to obtain magic energy replenishment, and the body's autophagy will erode its vitality. It will go from huge to weak, and eventually lose its body due to the complete loss of magic energy, and then annihilate itself.

--Can you understand? Only the long time and itself can kill it.

Unfortunately, the seal set by the Saint cannot be strengthened by anyone but her, including me. The seal has now loosened, and part of the magic circle has been damaged. A reckless attack on Tobias will do nothing more than disrupt the seal. I urge you to abandon such a futile attempt. All we have to do is closely monitor and calmly wait. If it attempts to regain strength by devouring the monsters in the underground palace, we must eliminate as many monsters as possible to prevent it from regaining further strength.

After Serilda finished speaking, everyone looked solemn.

"It's Tobias... I thought it had been killed." The "death" of the Undead Demon General was no secret, but now it seems that the truth of all this is not what people know.

"Actually, it's not. It's still alive," Serilda looked at Pittman. "Not all history is properly recorded. Tobias was defeated and sealed by our coalition forces in the Battle of the Holy Temple of San Gunglior. But the Church at that time was facing the Demon King's army and was already crumbling. Placing the seal there was very dangerous, so we moved the seal to the hero's hometown, the Empire. The tomb filled with the breath of the undead can conceal its demonic aura. At the same time, to avoid being discovered by the Demon King's spies, we have blocked the news until now."

Celisilda's tone was solemn, and a murderous look appeared on the girl's face.

"You may think this is unfair to those who sacrificed their lives, but you should know that there are more than one taboo on this continent that cannot be made public. If every one of them were known to the world, what do you think they—those remnants of the Demon King's army who are ready to make a move—would do?"

Perhaps the remnants of the Demon King's army would desperately try to seize these things, and any success would bring disaster to the entire continent - the expressions of Hebern and the others turned very unhappy.

Celisilda glanced at them.

"The best way to keep a secret is to keep it secret from everyone. Unfortunately...some things should have been completely consigned to history, but it seems they still failed to do so..."

Seeing Serilda sigh calmly, Hibern and the others became a little uneasy.

"Sage, if it's so powerful... then if the seal fails, how can we stop it? Or maybe we should just withdraw our troops to the fortress and use it to stop it!"

"The fortress is indeed indestructible, but how do you know it would choose to attack it instead of fleeing? If it escapes, given enough time, it will completely recover to its former strength. Can you bear the accountability of the Church and the Empire?"

There was no expression on Celyhilda's face, but in the eyes of Hibern and others, she looked even more majestic.

"Fighting is necessary."

Celisilda said.

"But you don't have to worry. The Empire and the Church are constantly monitoring these places, and they attach great importance to them. How do you think this fortress came about? The birth of legends is never a coincidence. Compared to any other territory, the Knights and Magicians of Dammas are both incredibly powerful. Moreover, they have established the largest monastery in the entire Western Province. Even now, they still maintain such high military expenditures. Shibern, you are the lord here. Why does the Empire make such arrangements? Don't you find it strange?"

Cerihilda's words left Hibern speechless.

In Shibern's eyes, everything in the fortress and all the lands in the territory were the emblems of recognition for the Shibern family, the honors won through bloody battles, and he was proud of them.

But if we go by what the wise man said... it seems that there is a deeper, unknown history behind all this.

"We don't need to defeat it, we just need to hold it back—which isn't difficult, as it's already very weak. I've already passed the message to Her Majesty the Queen and His Holiness the Pope. It will only take one day for the Holy See and the Empire to send people through the magic circle to support us."

A large teleportation magic circle is enough to allow hundreds of people to cross the distance from one city to another in an instant. The support coming from the imperial capital and the Holy Court only needs to cross more than a dozen teleportation magic circles in succession to arrive. Including the time for preparation and assembly of manpower, as well as the time spent on teleportation and travel, it only takes about a day.

Serilihilda made a rough estimate. Based on the recovery speed of the monsters devoured by the Undead General, it would take about a day for it to break the seal. By then, they would be ready for battle, and the support from the Church and the Empire would surely have arrived.

But now is different from the past. The Demon King has been destroyed. Even though Tobias is powerful, he is now weak and is nothing compared to the behemoth of the past. Once he breaks the seal, he will face a beating from the elite of the Empire and the Holy See.

The new saint and hero have not yet grown up, but this does not mean that the empire and the holy see have no way to seal it again.

"correct."

Celisilda glanced at a few people and suddenly said.

"I'll need a large amount of mana replenishing potions during the battle. I need you to prepare 300 bottles of high-grade potions for me. However, considering that this is not a small amount, you can share the cost. Of course, I will also give you some compensation."

After saying that, Cerihilda turned around and said, "We'll set off once we're ready."

……

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49. Elsa Has Me in Her Heart [Part 3]

The moonlight gilded the misty waves with silver, quietly covering the distant mountains.

Along the way, Elsa tried to chat with other nuns and got to know them briefly. The first impression they gave Elsa was friendliness, which was in line with Elsa's imagination of holy nuns.

It was already late at night when Elsa and the nuns arrived at the underground palace. The Knights and Magicians had already assembled. Both were elite combat units, with relatively few ordinary soldiers. They were mostly responsible for logistics and security, and would not participate in the fighting within the underground palace. They were not equipped to handle that kind of battle, and even if they were sent in, they would only die.

Elsa also saw some adventurers stationed next to the Knights' camp.

"Those are adventurers of Silver Medal rank or higher, recruited from the guild as support," explained Mary, the nuns' leader. "As adventurers, their individual strengths are relatively outstanding. While they may not act at the same pace as us, they undoubtedly deal with the most monsters and can provide assistance in the underground palace. If you encounter them in the underground palace, don't mistake them; they're on our side."

Mary said this to make the nuns familiar with the adventurer. If they met him and mistook him for a suspicious person, it would cause a big mess.

Elsa saw a familiar figure among the adventurers—the gold medal adventurer Filia. She was still standing alone, wearing a white hooded robe. When Elsa looked over, she seemed to notice something, and their eyes met.

Elsa smiled as a greeting. Filia showed a hint of confusion in her eyes, but she nodded in response and turned her head away from Elsa.

Vivian withdrew her gaze from Filia and turned to Elsa and asked softly, "Elsa, that adventurer just now... who is she?"

"I met an adventurer today. Her name is Filia." Aisha smiled and introduced, "She looks a little mysterious, but she is a genuine gold medal adventurer."

"Eh? I-Is that so... It's a gold medal or something..."

During the brief exchange, Aisha didn't notice the uneasiness in Vivian's eyes.

"Is she a friend too?"

"Not really. Although adventurers often get to know each other, there are probably very few who can be called friends."

Simply put, it is a kind of business courtesy. After all, you never know when you will cooperate with each other.

"That's it..."

Vivian breathed a sigh of relief.

"Vivian, are you scared?"

"A little... But I'm not scared anymore because Elsa is here."

Vivian mustered up the courage to look at Elsa seriously, but Elsa didn't look at her.

Elsa shook her head and smiled.

"If you encounter danger, just hide behind me. Don't worry, I will protect you."

Elsa had no idea about the Demon General, nor did she feel any fear - this feeling was very strange. On the one hand, it came from the experiences of two lives, and on the other hand, it came from the confidence that she had never encountered an opponent. Besides, Elsa thought she was already one of the most advanced people present, so there was really no reason to be afraid. The only thing that worried her was people like Vivian and Sister Mary. Elsa could see Vivian's strength clearly, as well as the strength of those knights and mages. If they were targeted by the Demon General or besieged by a large number of monsters in battle, they would undoubtedly be in danger of death.

After a brief wait at the base, a priest arrived and cast a "wake-up call" blessing on each of them, helping them to recover from their fatigue. Elsa didn't feel tired, but she didn't refuse the priest's kindness. They each received a space ring.

Elsa opened it and took a look, and found that the ring contained several bottles of life-restoring potions and magic-replenishing potions, as well as items such as kerosene, detoxifiers, dry food and water. Some of them were relatively high-end goods. In comparison, other people in the church did not get a space ring, but each of them got four bottles of potions of different colors.

I have to say that as a candidate for the Holy Nun, the treatment is quite good.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Bishop Pittman and the leaders of the Magicians and Knights arrived at the base. According to their orders, the troops led by the Knights began to head towards the underground palace. At the same time, a part of the people were left behind at the ground base to patrol and guard against abnormal situations near the mountains.

Soon, people from the Knights and Magicians entered the underground palace one after another, and people from the Church followed closely behind.

Elsa and Vivian stood together. The feeling of returning to the underground palace was completely different from the last time. This time, it was a military operation of considerable scale. Many traces of human activity were left on the ground. Every path the Knights had traversed was marked, and expensive magical lighting equipment had been installed, making the once dark underground palace brightly lit.

The stench in the air was stronger than yesterday, and there was also a disgusting burnt smell. Along the way, Elsa could see the corpses of monsters that had turned into black charcoal on the ground and in the corners. Obviously, they were left behind by the Knights when they were clearing the road.

Following the team, Elsa soon arrived at the tomb hall on the first floor - the central tomb.

A temporary camp has been built in the middle of the tomb. The knights and magicians are busy, seemingly setting up some magical mechanisms. The luminous magic devices set up around the tomb illuminate the entire tomb. The majestic and holy goddess statue is still watching everyone who comes here.

Sister Mary came to Aisha and the others and began to group the nuns into groups of three or four.

"I want to be in a group with Vivian."

Elsa took the initiative to say that Vivian's personality might make it difficult for her to quickly establish cooperation with others. Elsa was worried about her, so she suggested that she be in the same group with Vivian. That way, if there was any danger, Elsa could take care of Vivian.

But when Vivian heard these words, their meaning immediately changed.