How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

The frost dragon trailed a comet-like tail of rime as its enormous wings beat out surging cold. A thick layer of frost spread across the rock walls in its wake.

In midair, the two meteor-like behemoths slammed into each other. The Abyss-Dweller was so fast that the naked eye could barely track it. Its sharp black bony spike struck the frost dragon’s vital point with perfect precision, carrying the force to rip the frost dragon to pieces in a single blow.

The black bony spike pierced straight through the frost dragon’s neck with ease, then punched through its abdomen in one unstoppable thrust, dragging the frost dragon’s body along without slowing in the slightest.

And yet, just before it could be shattered apart, the frost dragon opened its jaws wide. Its icicle-like fangs bit down viciously on the weakest point at the base of the Abyss-Dweller’s wings. Frost condensed there, then instantly shattered—but only moments later, a thick cocoon of ice formed over the wing root again.

This time, the Abyss-Dweller failed to break it immediately.

That cocoon of ice at the base of its wings drastically disrupted the Abyss-Dweller’s aerial balance and even frostbit the fragile root of its wings.

Now, forget pursuing Vanessa. Though the Abyss-Dweller did crush the frost dragon, it itself turned into a huge headless fly, careening wildly through the air on a crooked, unstable flight path.

And it still was not over.

The moment the frost dragon was shattered, it exploded, forming a violent blizzard in the air. That was the true main attack of [Icefang’s Roar]. The technique released a gigantic ice-and-snow dragon forged from pure ice magic. It could bite and wound the enemy, but when struck by a sufficiently powerful attack, it could also detonate that pure, overwhelming frost mana and drag the enemy into the storm.

Its wings already frozen and unable to fly steadily, the Abyss-Dweller crashed right into the ice tempest. The ice magic battering its body did not inflict major damage, but it severely hampered its speed. The raging storm of ice and snow was like a giant hand dragging its massive body backward.

It worked.

And the effect was even better than Vanessa had expected.

She had successfully bitten down on the Abyss-Dweller.

Frostfang had saved her life again.

Vanessa took out a mana recovery potion and drank a mouthful.

Mirexia had given her this potion before enrollment. She had kept it all this time, unable to bear using it. But now, she had no choice.

After she drank it, blue light bloomed across her skin. Vanessa felt a bit of fullness return to her hollow body, and her depleted mana began gradually recovering like spring water flowing once more through a dried-up streambed.

The newly restored mana was immediately spent on healing magic.

In a life-and-death situation like this, recovering even a little was worth it. The better her condition became, even by a fraction, the better.

If only she knew advanced healing magic, then with the support of holy light, her injuries would probably have already returned to perfect condition.

Next, she took out the stamina potion Mirexia had given her and drank a mouthful. A rush of heat surged through her, seeping into her organs and spreading to every limb and bone. The sensation of total physical depletion gradually faded.

On a battlefield where life and death were decided in an instant, drinking a potion was suicidal. It left openings everywhere. The slightest intention to do so could be seen through by the enemy, much less actually getting the chance to drink it.

An enemy would never let that opportunity pass.

But thanks to Frostfang, the Abyss-Dweller had been dragged down, like a dog put on a leash.

Vanessa’s condition was terrible. Her mana was nearly gone, and her stamina had already run dry.

But the Abyss-Dweller’s condition was even worse.

Though [Icefang’s Roar] had not inflicted severe direct damage, it had greatly hindered its offensive momentum and frozen the most fragile part of its wings.

And during the time the ice storm delayed it, the holy flames on its chest, claw, and wingtip had only burned fiercer. Most of the tiny eyes on its chest had already been burned away, and the other black bony spike on its arm had been burned off.

That iridescent flame with its cherry-white outer blaze was still spreading.

It would not stop until it had swallowed the creature whole.

Worse still, after trapping it, its enemy had leisurely taken two swallows of potion to restore strength.

That infuriated the Abyss-Dweller.

In a burst of rage, it swung its one remaining bony spike and, with raw, violent force, forcibly shattered the remaining aftermath of [Icefang’s Roar].

The Abyss-Dweller let out a grotesque, savage shriek and dove straight at Vanessa.

Naturally, Vanessa had no intention of letting it get close. After using her newly restored mana to maintain holy-light healing on herself as much as possible, she beat her wings and fled like a pink meteor.

One large figure and one small one spiraled endlessly through the air.

The Abyss-Dweller was clearly much faster than Vanessa. But the frozen damage at the base of its wings had not yet recovered, greatly reducing its speed. As a result, it could only close in on Vanessa little by little, rather than fully catching her.

That was exactly what Vanessa wanted.

The facts had already proven that magic could hurt the Abyss-Dweller.

But at her current realm, actually injuring it was still far too difficult. The only thing she could rely on was [All-Gods Consecration Flame], burning it down bit by bit and dragging it to death.

Unfortunately, the space here was still too cramped. Obstacles were everywhere. Vanessa could not run very far, and before long the Abyss-Dweller cut across a shorter path and caught back up to her.

Enduring the burning in its claw, chest, and wingtip, the Abyss-Dweller slashed its bony spike at Vanessa.

And at that exact moment, the cocoon of ice frozen around the base of its wings was completely shattered.

The strike was too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Vanessa knew she could not dodge it.

Just when the Abyss-Dweller thought the attack was certain to land, the strike missed again. Its bony spike hit only a fading afterimage of light.

[Light-Shadow Flicker]

Vanessa instantly appeared behind the Abyss-Dweller.

However, all of that was captured by the eyes on the monster’s back.

Running behind it?

A foolish move.

She was only waiting to be pierced by the blessing of the Lord of Delusion.

Its many eyes made it impossible to ambush the Abyss-Dweller. The instant anyone tried, it would react immediately.

But just as it was about to whip its bony spike around and slash at Vanessa behind it, Vanessa suddenly turned around instead. Raising both hands wrapped in white three-finger gloves, she made a framing gesture toward the eyes on the monster’s back, placing them inside an imaginary picture frame.

“Click.”

Vanessa softly made the sound effect herself, as though taking a photo.

[Strong Light Art]

The [Break-Shackle]-grade light-element affinity empowered [Strong Light Art] turned the entire area as bright as day. The flash blackened the Abyss-Dweller’s rear vision and left those tiny eyes unable to see.

She had already calculated it.

If she flickered behind the Abyss-Dweller, it would definitely believe victory was in its grasp and lower its guard.

The result was exactly as she expected.

Struck by the blinding flash, the Abyss-Dweller lost sight of where its enemy was and instantly fell into disarray.

I see. So this monster from the abyss fears having its eyes blasted by strong light?

Vanessa cast [Saint King’s Baptism] at the Abyss-Dweller again. The storm of feathers bombarded its back, propelling Vanessa downward toward the ground, where she retrieved Radiant-Cross Holy Shield once more.

By the time the Abyss-Dweller began searching for Vanessa’s location again, all of the small eyes on its front side had already been burned away.

Not only that, its chest had been burned clear through.

Even the small eyes on its back had been affected.

Roaring, the Abyss-Dweller resumed its frenzied assault on Vanessa.

It only needed one second.

One second was enough for it to rush in front of Vanessa and kill this troublesome, infuriating angel.

The bony spike shot at Vanessa in a blur. Radiant-Cross Holy Shield shone once more with dazzling brilliance. Its twin wings spread out from both sides of the shield, forming a three-hundred-sixty-degree barrier with no blind spots and intercepting the Abyss-Dweller’s attack.

At that moment, [Final Mercy] had come off cooldown again.

Vanessa raised the shield and deflected the Abyss-Dweller’s attack once more.

The creature’s body shuddered again under that supreme sacred force.

At this point, the Abyss-Dweller’s chest and navel had already been burned completely through, leaving a massive hole. No internal organs could be seen inside. One of its arms was gone, and one wing was nearly burned away as well.

Even so, it still had not died.

Even so, it kept shrieking madly at Vanessa without the slightest pause, trying to tear open her body with its claw.

Using the last of her strength, Vanessa gripped the shield with both hands. The shield collided with the bony spike, and her high-heeled boots carved two dragging grooves across the ground.

The Abyss-Dweller’s ferocious power was too much for Vanessa to bear.

Seeing that, the creature raised its tail to strike Vanessa with another tail whip.

It planned to fling her up with that thick tail, then kill her with the bony spike.

The Abyss-Dweller had already seen through it.

This pink-haired woman, seemingly human, had fought it for this long, and she too had already reached her limit.

She had used all of her moves.

That earlier ice dragon had thrown away her weapon.

She could no longer bring out that terrifying flame.

All of her other magic was still cooling down.

Her mana was spent.

She was out of tricks.

As long as it knocked the shield out of her hands, she was dead.

That was what the Abyss-Dweller thought.

And in truth, its guess was completely correct.

Vanessa really had been driven into a dead end. She could only huddle behind the shield and rely on the holy shield in her hands and the last scraps of strength in her body to stall for time.

The Abyss-Dweller’s huge tail whipped at Vanessa.

Vanessa reacted, but her body would not obey. She could not move out of the way.

Remembering how the last tail sweep had sent her flying in one blow, she could only brace herself to take another one.

Vanessa raised the shield, then covered her body with her wings, trying to reduce the damage as much as possible.

And yet the expected attack never came.

Struggling, Vanessa lifted her gaze.

Of course this was not because the monster from the abyss had suddenly discovered a conscience.

It was because, at that exact hair’s-breadth moment, [All-Gods Consecration Flame] had finally spread to the Abyss-Dweller’s tail and burned it clean off.

Seeing that, the Abyss-Dweller had no choice but to continue attacking with its bony spike.

At this point, the creature’s torso had already been burned away entirely.

Only one arm, two legs, and a head remained.

The bodily structure of a Demon Pillar minion truly was bizarre.

Even reduced to this state, it could still move.

Gritting her teeth, Vanessa curled herself into a tight ball, pressed her back against the wall, and hid her entire body behind the holy shield.

She directly used an unwilling but extremely practical divine skill:

crouch down and turtle behind cover.

The Abyss-Dweller tried to pry open Vanessa’s “shell,” but both its claw and its tail had already been burned away. Only one bony spike remained, giving it no leverage at all. In the end, it could only stab frantically at Radiant-Cross Holy Shield again and again in one last bout of madness, trying to pierce through this damned, bizarre shield.

But no matter how it stabbed, the shield did not move in the slightest.

Only the girl behind it silently endured the shockwaves and the crushing pressure of the rock wall, her body becoming more and more covered in wounds.

Covered in wounds was still better than dead.

Out of options, the Abyss-Dweller could only let out a shrill explosive screech and continue trying unwillingly to stab Vanessa to death, as if the very next blow would finally break the shield’s defense.

It kept going until it could no longer raise its bony spike at all.

[All-Gods Consecration Flame] had already burned away its entire head.

Its arms and legs had almost completely burned away as well, collapsing weakly to the ground like a pile of shattered building blocks.

At last, even that dangerous bony spike was swallowed by the holy flame, eaten away little by little until nothing remained.

Even after she stopped feeling any attacks, Vanessa still did not lower the shield.

She was not certain whether that monster had truly fallen, whether it had really lost the ability to attack any further.

Only when the crackling sound of burning vanished—only when she could no longer hear it at all—did Vanessa, now utterly out of strength, collapse sideways. Her vision blackened, and the holy shield fell beside her.

She had succeeded.

By herself alone, she had killed that Demon Pillar minion that had invaded Tyrelis Continent.

Not sent it back to the Demon God Abyss.

Killed it here and now.

Lying prone on the ground, Vanessa tried to stand, only to find that all her strength was gone. Her hand braced against the floor, but the ground felt strangely soft beneath her palm.

Plop.

An emerald bead slipped from inside her clothes and rolled away.

The moment Vanessa saw that emerald bead rolling away, she instinctively reached out for it.

But in the next instant, her consciousness fell back into darkness.

She fainted.

This time, she had truly reached the limit.

If the holy flame had not spread at exactly the right moment and burned off the Abyss-Dweller’s tail, then the one who would have died was very likely Vanessa.

Just before her consciousness sank completely into the abyss, Vanessa heard a noise.

After that, she knew nothing.

In the endless darkness, Vanessa heard a girl crying.

The crying sounded familiar.

After a brief moment of blankness, she realized who it was.

She looked toward the source of the sound and saw that in that hell of fire and misery, the blonde elf girl was sitting on the ground, crying helplessly.

Milian...?

Vanessa instinctively wanted to stand and reach out toward Milian.

But she found she could not do it no matter what. Her arms and legs would not obey. It was as if someone were forcing her head down, making her watch all of this while leaving her utterly unable to do anything.

“Mm...”

When she woke again, Vanessa found that she was still inside the underground cavern. Sharp rocks were scattered all around her.

Vanessa remembered then—those should have fallen from the rock walls when this place had loosened during her battle with the Abyss-Dweller.

Fortunately, during the stretch when she had fainted and was at her most vulnerable, no rocks had fallen onto her.

Was that just now a dream? Or...??