Miss Witch’s Devotion Has Gone… Twisted

[Level up successful. Current level: 44. Gained 4 attribute points.]

”Finally killed it…”

Only after seeing the level-up notification did Loren finally relax. It had taken them so much effort just to deal with a crippled Angel. Fortunately, the result was good; they had successfully killed the Angel of Confusion and prevented it from taking information back.

”Are you two alright?”

Before Loren could even sheathe Requiem, he embraced Anna and Luna, both of whom had been injured in the battle.

”I’m fine…”

”Don’t talk yet…”

Just as Anna was about to say something, Loren stuffed a healing potion into her mouth. Luna, beside her, received the same treatment.

After drinking the potion, the wound on Anna’s wrist began to heal. Within seconds, not even a scar remained.

Luna didn’t even have a chance to speak before being silenced by the healing potion. Loren only felt at ease after forcing several potions down their throats.”Pity it wasn’t a real Evil God.”

After tending to them, Loren went to examine the corpse of the Angel of Confusion, which had already turned to ashes.

Evil Gods were essentially the same as Evil Dragons; they loved hoarding valuable things. If he could find an Evil God’s lair, all that treasure would belong to Loren.

But Angels were different. Everything they obtained was given directly to their god. People’s faith was also transferred to their god through them.

However, Loren wasn’t leaving empty-handed. At the very least, he had learned a weakness of an Angel, and this might even be a weakness shared by all Orthodox Gods’ followers.

Just by uttering the name of The Perpetual Observer, they would immediately receive punishment from the Orthodox Gods. Loren just wasn’t entirely sure if the trigger required actually speaking the name or merely knowing it. Moreover, it was extremely inconvenient for Loren to experiment with this; it was a highly sensitive matter.

The Orthodox Gods’ attitude towards The Perpetual Observer was even harsher than their attitude towards Witches; they had completely erased Their existence. Loren had a good guess about the specific reason.

Previously, he only knew the Orthodox Gods’ authority was stolen. Now, Loren could finally confirm where the Orthodox Gods’ authority came from.

”Let’s go home. Where’s our carriage?”

”It was crushed during the earlier terrain shift.”

Movila answered; her crow had observed everything from above.

”Alright, let’s walk back. Consider it a stroll.”

Everyone’s physical constitution was strong; walking back was nothing to them. Only Scarlett showed an expression of pain.

”You’re the one who needs exercise the most.”

Loren rapped Scarlett on the head. She and Mirrorheart were the only ones who hadn’t contributed in the recent fight.

However, Loren didn’t really mind. Scarlett’s combat power was less than that of a Goose. In a battle of this level, even if she did participate, she would only hold them back.

Besides, Scarlett hadn’t done nothing. She had been hiding nearby the whole time, ready to strike from the shadows at any moment. If she had actually used her Life Thief ability for a sneak attack, even an Angel would have suffered.

It’s just that the backlash would have been severe. Loren was actually somewhat glad Scarlett hadn’t made a move; otherwise, helping her recover afterwards would have been truly difficult for Loren.

The opponent was an Angel of Confusion. The backlash could have directly turned Scarlett into an idiot. Although she isn’t much different now, she’s still slightly better than an idiot.

Even though she sometimes gets hair in her mouth while eating, at least she knows how to use utensils.

”Let’s go home.”

Loren tidied Scarlett’s hair, pulled up the hood of his black robe again, and started walking in the direction of home.

Such a major event happening here definitely couldn’t be kept secret. The various Orthodox Gods’ Churches would surely discover it, but Loren wasn’t afraid of them finding out.

Even if they knew an Angel who intended to target Loren had died here, they wouldn’t find it particularly strange. Although Loren had always presented himself as having no combat power, the Church’s higher-ups wouldn’t take that at face value.

To know all is to be capable of all. Loren knew so much; there must be methods among that knowledge to make himself stronger. If Loren were truly weak, that would be the real oddity.

Even now, Loren remained an enigma in the eyes of the Church, and they were even quite wary of him. But Loren’s deeds were there for all to see; even an Angel had no right to move against him.

Within the Church, only the Orthodox Gods themselves could pass judgment on Loren.

”Movila, search the surrounding area to see if there are any signs of people. Preferably a village where we can borrow a few carriages.”

With the power of money at his disposal, Loren didn’t think anyone would refuse him. Even if they didn’t recognize Loren, they should recognize gold.

”I knew you wouldn’t make me walk so far… Waaah…”

Scarlett clung to Loren’s arm, sniffling and crying. Loren promptly pushed her away before she could get snot on him.

”That’s enough, really…”

Actually, Loren’s thinking was simple: there was no need to suffer unnecessarily. Walking these extra steps wouldn’t make them significantly stronger and had nothing to do with training willpower.

The Witches had already proven their willpower to Loren. Even facing an Angel directly, they hadn’t flinched. Such resilient willpower wouldn’t vanish just because they took a carriage ride.

Blood-red moonlight shone on their backs, stretching their shadows long.

…

The night was ultimately not very safe. After walking a certain distance, everyone decided to rest on the spot. With Movila’s crow standing guard, it was very secure.

Each soul fragment had independent consciousness but shared information, so it didn’t affect Movila’s rest.

Early the next morning, Loren received information from Movila:

”Master Mentor, there’s a village not far away, but something has happened there…”

”Why does trouble follow me wherever I go…”

Loren felt a headache coming on and rubbed his temples. If this was like the incident in the Royal Capital, something he himself caused, then fine. But most of the time, it wasn’t.

He passes by a village, the village gets targeted by an Evil God. He goes to deal with an Evil God, turns out the Evil God is an Angel of the Orthodox Gods in disguise.

Now he wants to go home, thinks about borrowing a carriage, and the village has trouble again:

”What happened this time?”

”The village has been invaded by demons.”

”Great, now demons are showing up…”

Demons were also a race. Although this world was a bit crazy, it had everything a normal Western Fantasy World would have: demons, elves, the Bloodline… just fewer of them.

Many demons attached themselves to the God of Pain, managing to eke out an existence in this world. But elves didn’t attach themselves to any Orthodox God and now received the same treatment as the Merfolk, staying far away from human settlements.

”Are there any survivors left in the village?”

The demons here were the most traditional kind: cruel, inhuman. Whenever they appeared, nothing good came of it. Even other followers of the God of Pain didn’t welcome them.

”There are still some living people. They seem to have arrived not long ago. Their massacre has paused for now; they’ve corralled the others, keeping them as livestock, a food reserve…”

”Let’s make a detour there.”

Loren glanced at his experience bar. It was about half full to the next level. Demons gave a lot of experience. Killing this bunch of demons should just about do it.