Saintess Summons Skeletons

It wasnt obvious when she was coughing blood from crashing in a shield, but Sofias protection was actually far from terrible.

Between the bone armor, [Sanctity] which at the moment reduced the damage to her body by 19.5%, and the [Saints touch] sash that Valeure had gifted her that doubled her defense against physical projectiles, the regular arrows couldnt even leave a dent in her health. The mana enhanced ones had a few different effects, probably enhanced sharpness and penetration, and one that was on fire.

Shoot!

After the arrows all impacted her, she checked her health.

Sofia’s health total dropped by six points.

Looks about right. I guess the guy giving orders has [Identify]ed me. But why would they attack like this? Does the army usually kill Saints on sight?

What now? Should I kill them all?

Doesnt feel right HmmEven if theyre like this theyre still supposedly needed to contain the monsters from Sovuln.

Shoot!

A second wave of arrows bounced off of Sofias bone armor.

Maybe I should just fly inside and search for the paladins myself if theyre not going to show up. I didnt really want to implicate the soldiers who arent with the Church if I could avoid it

Shoot!

As yet another wave of arrows bounced off her, she rolled her eyes under her helmet. How did they not realize that it wouldnt work after the first two times? Thats enough.

Sofia deployed her wings and flew up a few meters. I have the high ground now.

Drop your weapons and you will be spared, she announced coldly.

Four of the lower level soldiers instantly dropped their bows. But everyone else was aiming up at her. The complexion of the gate guard that had been giving orders until now wasnt so good anymore, but he still gave the order to shoot for the fourth time.

Sofia dove down, not a single arrow touched her, she landed exactly in front of him. Her helmet was so close to his face that he might even have been able to see her eyes through the slits.

He tried to talk again, but the words died in his throat, blocked by the mithril blade that was now lodged in there.

You have murdered [Graham - Soldier lv. 82]

Sofia pulled her blade out and stored the dead body in her ring. The shocked soldiers nearby hadnt even gotten enough time to drop their bow and draw their blade, they all silently looked at the empty spot that had previously been where their leader stood.

One of them dropped to his knees, hands up in the air, and every other soldier soon followed.

Sofia glanced at the camp, there were more soldiers now coming out of their tents to check out the commotion. She spotted two very obvious paladin armors in their ranks.

[Protector - Lv. 140]

[Protector - Lv. 144]

Thats quite the high level duo. Cant fight this without Pareth. Either I reveal him or I find a way to isolate them. Well, maybe theyre clean, but would they accept to show me anything with the commotion I made and their level? And what if they have [Identify]?

I dont see a good way to do this, lets retreat for now.

Sofia spun around to leave, deploying her wings. She heard the familiar sound of the Paladins [Slash of light] as she flew off. Both missed. She flew up, glancing down when she felt she was too high for the attacks to reach her.

The sight shocked her, not only the paladins hadn’t stopped their attacks once she left, they had also changed their target. All the guards that had surrendered on the wall had been sliced up, lying in their own, fast escaping blood.

Oh shit.

How do I deal with this?

Such a headache Both the solar spine and angel bolt are area skills, with all the innocent soldiers around Whatever, I dont care anymore, if the lich can be open about it then so can I. Go take care of them, but dont kill anyone else.

Pareth appeared mid-air before Sofia, fully geared up with his halo, armor, and two light cutlasses. He fell like a meteor. With what the Paladins had done to the other soldiers, no one was looking at Sofia anymore. It surprised all the soldiers when a huge skeletal ogre dropped out of the sky, shaking the ground as he landed.

Only the Paladins kept their composure. One erected a defensive spell quite similar to [Flying shields of light] while the other went on the offensive, coating his weapon with light. Would you look at that [Undeads bane], I feel like Im going to see this one often.

While it probably wasnt a very popular choice among paladin due to its hyper focused nature, Sofia knew that it also wasnt something to make light of. This skill had the simple effect of coating a weapon with light making it deal more damage to undead. It was one of the skills they used the most in the stories. Now that I think about it, the Church has a lot of connection with the undead

You have murdered [Josef - Paladin lv. 141]

You have murdered [Urban - Paladin lv. 144]

Sofia was too distracted by her thoughts that she forgot to look at the fight. Judging by Pareths full health and the two dead Paladins, it had gone rather well. She flew down and landed next to her Skeleton.

The two dead bodies disappeared into her storage ring under the bewildered and terrorized gaze of the soldiers wearing the kingdoms crest. Most of them were not even level 50.

The Churchs reign is over, she declared, bowing to the audience in sync with Pareth.

Then the skeleton disappeared and she flew straight up, unhindered this time.

I may as well put on a good show. Not like anyone would recognize me without the armor and the wings anyway. It would be nice if I could scare people out of being part of the church, that much less to deal with. Id be worried about attracting unwanted attention if I didnt know even the Saints on the other side of the continent already know about me Man Thats starting to be a lot of dead bodies in my ring

No matter how many times she did it, killing the paladins wasnt something she enjoyed, she just felt it had to be done. Revenge wasnt too satisfying, it would never bring the lost ones back. But this time, looking at her system notifications, she was quite happy.

You gained a level!

[New Active Skills are available!]

’Advance reward unlocked! [Orators touch] : The next skill you learn will become a special skill (does not require a slot) and will be modified and upgraded by The Orator.’

This could end up badly...

But at the same time This could be huge! Literally once in a lifetime. Who else had a skill designed by a Lord of the Deep? Cant be many. And Ill technically have two? If this ends up being in the same realm as the blessing I need to be certain about the skill I use it on. Too bad it can only be a new one. [Armor of Bones] is not leveling up beyond 100 it seems, and it needs an improvement soon or Ill have to go for regular armor instead

Also it will be a special skill like Aliths [Heir of Fire]! Thats great because theres really none of my active skills I can afford to forget right now.

Available Active Skills :

SKELETONS!

No special alteration. Hows my chance? Oh 66%, well, no big deal, the keywords this time are already incredible.

Alright so. I can see two paths from here on out Maybe I should land somewhere first. Will I endanger civilians if I rent a room at an inn? I could use a bath

Sofia flew east for a while, stopping a few kilometers away from a big city she had flown by on her way to the orphanage. The northernmost city of Skyreach, built at the base of an active volcano, Mountain Hall.

This time, considering the stunt she pulled at the border camps, she decided to start trying to separate her regular appearance from her necromancer one. She had Pareth help to cut her wings at the base with the mithril dagger. Then she stored her equipment save for the ring and the anti-teleportation bracelet. She would still stand out with her appearance and the princess set but that was much better than being associated with the paladins she killed.

She searched for a good inn, of which there were plenty. This was a city with flourishing tourism, even in war time, it was renowned for its many hot springs. Finally, soaking alone in a nice hot spring located inside a mountain flank cave, which she had paid to use for a day, she opened her skills menu again.