Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint

As an ice-type magical beast, the Ice Wolf has high ice resistance, so this amount of damage is not enough to render it incapable of fighting.

and so--

"broken."

With a soft shout, the ice mist enveloping the direwolf shattered instantly.

With the massive influx of magic, the dire wolf's head didn't shatter, but it still straightened up and fell to the ground.

A blade of ice slashed across its belly, cutting a deep wound from which crimson blood flowed.

A strong smell of blood wafted out, and the hidden Tier 3 wolves nearby began to howl uneasily.

The sense of crisis has intensified.

Ignoring everything else, Celia continued walking forward after examining the direwolf's corpse.

This ice wolf wasn't actually dead; it had just fainted. After all, it was a third-tier ice-type magical beast with extremely high ice resistance.

So Celia simply bled it to stimulate the wolf pack, causing it to die from excessive blood loss while unconscious.

"Second-tier dire wolves aren't very valuable or tasty, but third-tier dire wolves have valuable bones, fur, and tails... We'll collect the corpses later."

As Celia moved forward slowly, the wolves around her changed to third-tier wolves, but they did not move. They simply followed Celia, forming an encirclement and slowly moving inward.

Until a strong sense of crisis came over me.

The Mercury retrograde was quickly dispelled, but the sense of crisis remained. The puppet hidden in the shadows raised its hand, and a metal net appeared behind Celia, blocking the source of the crisis for her.

"It's actually an ice blade."

Celia looked at the direwolf that had unleashed the ice blade and noticed that it was larger than the other direwolves, and a guess began to form in her mind.

"The Icefield Wolf King?"

Celia gave the wolf king a provocative look and beckoned to it.

"Hurry up and let's see if you wear me down or I kill you!"

The wolf king was clearly more intelligent than the other dire wolves; it recognized Celia's provocation and immediately roared in anger.

The three-tiered ice wolves that had surrounded her immediately launched an attack on Celia.

only--

"Even so, you are still following instinctive tactics and will not attack together before taking down the enemy, which makes things easier."

Facing the lunge, Celia used Water Reversal to ward off the attack.

Faced with the sneaky incoming spell, Celia chose to dodge, directing the spell to fly around and hit other dire wolves.

Before long, the direwolves stopped using magic and instead pounced, each attack becoming more ferocious than the last.

As soon as Celia turns around, one or two dire wolves will rush in from behind or to the side.

If it were any other prey, it would have been exhausted by such a siege.

Celia, on the other hand, wasn't worried at all.

With the receding of Mercury retrograde and enhanced sense of danger, things became increasingly smooth, and I gradually became more adept at handling things, moving from initial confusion to mastery.

With each use of her magic, she gradually gained more control over its application, eventually becoming more passive.

Surrounded by wolves, she strolled leisurely, slowly approaching the coldest area.

Here, she saw a huge cave.

Easily dodging the ice blades that the receding waters couldn't completely block, Celia surveyed the cave before her.

"Is this the wolf's den? Let's go in and see if there's any treasure."

With that, Celia entered the cave.

She suddenly noticed that the dire wolves had stopped attacking and were circling outside the cave instead of coming in.

At the same time, a faint, peculiar pollution entered her body.

She paused for a moment, then looked into the depths of the cave. The mage released his hand, forming threads that probed into the cave walls.

A moment later, she blinked.

"The runes of a magic circle? Is this a heretical stronghold?"

Chapter 262 Polar Blood Alliance

Celia fell silent.

"It can't be... such a coincidence, can it?"

Although that's what she said, she had actually already confirmed it.

This is a stronghold of heretics.

The strange pollution was something she had never encountered before; it was a heresy she had never seen before.

"I don't know what kind of religion it is... but I just came here to practice my spells, how did I end up in a heretical stronghold?"

Ross chuckled and said, "That just means you have a connection with heretics; you can find their lair just by wandering around."

Celia: "...Is this what you call fate?"

Why did the Southern City Temple search for so long in the Star Spirit Forbidden Land before finally finding a hideout revealed by someone, even though she was just there to learn magic?

Of course, what Celia found even more absurd was that the cave was far too obvious. Shouldn't it have been easy to find?

Ross chuckled, "Imagine if you weren't here to practice spells, but out of curiosity about the direwolves' 'den,' would you have entered this cave?"

Celia thought for a moment, "I think I will."

"If you were the city lord of Southern Border City, and knew about the direwolf and knew this was its lair, would you have come here specifically to investigate? At the same time, you also know that heretical strongholds are hidden and not in such obvious caves, just like you only thought this was a direwolf's lair and not a heretical stronghold."

Celia was silent for a moment, then shook her head: "I really didn't expect this to be a heretical stronghold. If it weren't for the Mage's Hand sensing the traces of a magic circle..."

Ross said, "Being able to sense and detect traces of magic arrays from the outside is a characteristic of a mage's hand. It is very difficult for a mage who does not know this spell to detect them unless he is a magic array master."

Celia nodded: "That's true."

"Even the unusual demonic pollution you noticed was only because of your high level of divine covenant."

"Can even a high level of divine affinity detect it?" This was knowledge that Celia was completely unaware of.

"Normally not, but the pollution is different because it carries a trace of divine power. People with a high level of divine affinity perceive it differently; in fact, they are perceiving the power of the gods."

Celia suddenly realized, "So there's a god behind this heretical stronghold, just like in Southern City before... Wait, a god?!"

She looked into the depths of the cave and immediately felt the urge to retreat.

"Don't be afraid. There are no gods here. If there are, it's just a little bit of power bestowed by the gods. The heretics in this place have combined corruption with divine power."

Celia was relieved.

Ross tempted, "Since you're already here, why not go in and take a look, and while you're at it, wipe out the stronghold? Are you really willing to go back?"

"..." Celia suspected that she had been bewitched by Ross, which led her to come here, and then 'coincidentally' discovered this seemingly undisguised and extremely bold heretical stronghold.

Ross sensed what Celia was thinking and said calmly, "Don't blame everything on me. This is just your luck."

"luck……"

Celia immediately thought of what Ross had said: once the Mercury Retrograde Dispel skill is mastered to the highest level, you can get a +1 Luck effect, and her eyes lit up.

"Don't think about it anymore. This isn't the effect of Mercury retrograde being dispelled; it's your natural luck, something you were born with."

Celia: "..."

The girl gave up on discussing this topic with Ross.

Using her mage's hand, she sensed the hidden magic array patterns within the cave walls and asked, "Lord Ross, may I hack into this magic array? I feel very uneasy entering the heretical stronghold without hacking into it."

Ross smiled slightly, "Sure, give it a try. If you have any questions, just ask me."

"it is good!"

Celia nodded.

The spiritual tendrils slowly made contact with the runes of the magic array, attempting to break it.

A moment later, Celia withdrew her hand.

"This place is too far out to connect to the core of the magic array. Let's go in and take a look."

Celia disguised herself first before walking inside.

Be vigilant with every step you take, and watch out for any signs of infidelity ahead.

A moment later, she ventured deeper into the cave and stopped in front of an unremarkable cave recess.

"There seems to be a hidden door here..."

Celia hid herself in the recess, using a disguise spell to make herself look like a stone, and began to continue the unfinished deciphering.

The cracking process went much more smoothly this time.

An hour later, the stone in front of them slowly faded and disappeared.

Celia breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed her forehead, and found that she was sweating.

"This outpost looks daring, but it's actually more secretive than the Deep Sea Aid Society's outpost. If you don't go in from here, you'll end up in the Ice Wolf's lair... But why didn't they dare to come in just now?"

Celia was somewhat puzzled.

Judging from the structure of the magic circle, if she didn't break the magic circle through this ordinary cave recess, she wouldn't be able to enter the real stronghold and continue deeper; she would only go to the deepest part of the cave.

Through the magic circle, Celia could sense that there was a grass mat there, with a lot of wolf fur on it. The wolf fur faintly emitted fluctuations of ice element, just like the fluctuations of the wolf king outside.

"No wonder no one noticed, they're really good at hiding it."

Celia recalled the records of the twelve heretics within the Holy See, and after eliminating some, she narrowed it down to one.

"Polar Blood Alliance".

Ross asked with interest, "The Polar Blood Alliance?"

Celia nodded: "The Holy Court's Compendium of Heretics says that this is a heretical sect active in the far north. They are usually very secretive, unlike the Twilight Cult or the Deep Sea Aid Society, which are very high-profile. Their strongholds are hidden very well, and in hundreds of years, they have only destroyed two or three strongholds."

"What they plot is similar to most heretics. They say that the world should be filled with iron and blood, and that coldness is the keynote of the world. Every time they appear, they can start wars in some places. I heard that they were behind the independence of the Northern Alliance, but I don't know if it's true."

"One thing is certain: whenever war breaks out, they will be active around the battlefield, and they may even be the culprits who instigate war."

As she spoke, Celia paused, as if she had thought of something, and said, "Lord Ross, do you think this Arctic Blood Alliance could be related to the 'Ashgar' that Mr. Jonathan mentioned?"

Ashgard, one of the twelve apostles that Jonathan mentioned is still alive. Before leaving, Ashgard said he would fight against the gods to the end, and Jonathan didn't know where he went.

“Ashgard…” Ross pondered for a moment and said, “It’s still unclear. Of the twelve apostles, he is the commander of the legion. He has been fighting alongside me all his life. He might go wherever there is a war, but he won’t start a pointless war.”

Celia said, "Mr. Jonathan said that Mr. Ashgard wanted to fight against the gods to the end, and the Northern Alliance's independence from the Holy Court's rule is very much in line with his goal."

Ross smiled slightly: "That's possible, but you'll know for sure once you find the core spirit artifact of the stronghold."

"Okay! I'll go right away!"

Chapter 263 This is Miss Celia's home turf!

Celia was very curious about Ross's subordinates, the Twelve Apostles.

Jonathan seems to have a good relationship with the Elf God and appears to be very upright, but he also has a strong sense of wickedness. In his castle, every floor is a trap, and it doesn't resemble a castle at all.

Furthermore, the traps are real, and people can die if they are not careful. This indifference to life is very much in line with the beliefs of believers in evil gods.

Ross said, "Jonathan is not bad. All sorcerers who have surpassed the limits of humanity will unconsciously separate themselves from ordinary people and look down on everyone who has not surpassed the limits."

"In their eyes, first and second-tier mages are no different from curly-haired baboons. If it weren't for the stronger mages and gods binding them, this group of extraordinary mages who haven't yet been bound by faith would all be walking natural disasters, acting entirely on their whims, especially the seventh and eighth-tier mages."

“Jonathan has been with me for a long time and doesn’t kill people indiscriminately, but he also has the flaws of a supernatural mage. He sees ordinary people and ordinary mages the same way he sees curly-haired baboons. He let the mercenaries enter his house and smash and loot without any problem and just dealt with them peacefully, relying entirely on low-level traps. To an ordinary mage, that’s kindness.”

Celia thought for a moment and nodded. "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't want to let others break into my house and take things."

The thought that the ancient castle ruins were actually someone else's home made Celia feel awkward about her previous strategies.

Going to someone's house to destroy their traps, vandalize and loot, and not being killed on the spot is truly a sign of great kindness; most people wouldn't do that.

"Where is Mr. Ashgard?"

"He prefers the atmosphere of the battlefield and enjoys the thrill of seeing the enemy's blood flow like a river."