The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess-Chapter 52 - 50: Learned the Hard Way

The ritual hall.

This place is spacious, like a cathedral, able to hold hundreds praying at the same time.

Hilia followed Eric here, seeing countless people kneeling on the ground, facing forward, mumbling. Each person’s chant was different, as if improvising.

Although everyone spoke softly, together their voices became a buzzing, dizzying hum.

"Just pick any spot and pray. It has to be at least four hours. Prayer only requires offering everything to the God—think about whatever you want."

Finishing his speech, Eric ignored Hilia, found a spot, knelt, and began to pray.

Hilia glanced around, estimating about forty people here; each had a fluctuation of magic power, though most were faint and carried a heavy pollution.

Prayer was certainly not something Hilia would do.

She memorized everyone’s positions and the surroundings carefully.

Then she looked toward the front, where all were praying.

There was a high platform, and apparently something was placed upon it.

Around the platform, several heretics stood at a rank higher than the average cultists—in the hierarchy, they should be the ’Sardines’.

They weren’t praying, but facing the believers, their eyes sweeping back and forth.

"There must be something good up there. Probably some important artifact for the summoning ceremony," Hilia thought.

With people watching, obviously standing around isn’t an option—they’d notice her soon.

"Should I make a move first?" the girl mused.

She wanted to attack directly, but without a magic puppet, she doubted she could beat those ’Sardines’.

After all, each Sardine had their own magic puppet standing nearby.

And even though the believers were weak, they were still Tier One Mages. That’s so many—if they spit, they could drown her...

"Trying to bail out already?"

A voice echoed in her mind. Hilia relaxed.

Rose had arrived.

She looked up and saw the magic puppet controlled by Rose silently appear inside the ritual hall. The Sardines near the platform hadn’t noticed at all.

"I’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Rose."

Rose chuckled, "I’ll draw these guys away—go grab whatever’s on the platform. If I’m not mistaken, that’s a Sea Siren’s Eye. Once you’ve got it, we can leave."

"Aren’t we going to wipe out the whole cult base?" Hilia asked, tense but excited.

"If you’re capable of it, I won’t object."

"I definitely can’t! Can you, though?"

"Do you want someone controlling your body for everything—training, moving, eating, living for you?"

Hilia shivered, "No, I don’t. Umm, I’m ready, Mr. Rose. Let’s begin!"

"Alright."

An ethereal, icy-blue wall appeared before the magic puppet. An invisible Mage’s Hand seized it and smashed it hard toward the Sardines ahead.

Hilia, poised for action, stared in shock.

You can use ice wall like that?

But what shocked her even more was still to come.

The ice wall materialized suddenly, catching the Sardines off guard. They frantically had their puppets move to block.

As the wall collided with the puppets, it shattered with a thunderous crash, splintering into countless fragments.

Then, those shards transformed into ice blades, shooting in every direction!

This is—

Ice Blade Impact!

The highest damage group ice spell at Tier One.

The drawback: it’s only cast close-range, not very wide, so mostly used for defensive counterattacks.

But now, Rose shattered conventional wisdom.

Rose cast Ice Blade Impact onto the ice wall, treating the wall as a shield. When the wall broke, it triggered Ice Blade Impact, sending blades flying outward.

This bizarre combo, the Sardines had clearly never seen—no way to defend. Their puppets could only rely on autonomous defenses.

One round and every puppet was left battered.

The worst hit were the believers in the front row—they never expected anyone would attack in the ritual hall, weren’t prepared at all. When the wall broke and they looked up, they took the full impact...

"See? This is one of the strengths of Mage’s Hand. It lets you blend one spell into another, forming combos stronger than ordinary combination skills. Using it just to lock down enemies is a waste."

Hilia nodded, taking notes.

Then she sprinted for the platform.

The sudden attack and screams of the wounded brought chaos.

Most people, like frightened rabbits, bolted for the exit—not caring who they trampled.

The Sardines had no time for them now—they all saw Rose’s glowing magic puppet slowly advancing toward them.

The glow was meant to draw their attention, giving Hilia a chance to nab the Sea Siren’s Eye—though even if she didn’t steal it, once the Sardines were dealt with, Rose could easily take it.

But at least give the girl some sense of participation, right?

Like in games, when a player gets help from a pro, the devs still make the player do something that looks important—like the pro distracting the enemy boss while the player fetches items, even if the player’s contribution is negligible.

From start to finish, Rose never used spells Hilia hadn’t learned—just those basic combos. But even so, facing the Sardines’ onslaught, he still completely overwhelmed them.

So much so, Hilia—charging for the platform amid the chaos—kept glancing back, awestruck by Rose’s spell combos.

"Stop gawking—do your job," came Rose’s voice. "You can digest it after we’re back."

"Got it!"

Hilia shot to the stage in a gust of wind.

Just like how a mini-boss always shows up as the player’s about to grab the loot, as Hilia reached the platform, a Sardine intercepted her.

He saw Hilia rushing up, sneered, "I knew it—the owner of that puppet wouldn’t hide in the shadows, definitely up to something."

Thunk!

A magic puppet jumped out from the side, planting itself before him.

"Ridiculous. Trying to steal a gift from God? You’ll have to get through me!"

Hilia didn’t stop, continuing her charge for the platform where the Sea Siren’s Eye sat.

The details of Rose’s fighting flashed through her mind.

Her confidence soared.

I can’t match gods.

But imitate? Definitely!

Hilia closed in on the magic puppet.

Seeing this, the enemy smirked, "You dare get close to a magic puppet? Then taste its fist. You’ll see the human body can’t compare!"

The puppet raised its fist. Hilia whipped out her magic staff and started casting quickly.

"Water of Stagnation!"

"Ice Wall!"

These spells were stored in the puppet—Hilia hadn’t learned them, but a mage can still activate puppet spells, just at much reduced power.

For Hilia, it was enough.

The puppet’s fist slowed, and an ice wall appeared in front of Hilia.

An invisible Mage’s Hand crushed the ice wall, turning it into a spray of ice crystals, which, under the Mage’s Hand’s control, were hurled at the puppet.

Under the effect of Water of Stagnation, the ice crystals didn’t fall immediately, but wrapped around the puppet.

Hilia cast again.

"Ice Blade Impact!"

All those crystals transformed into ice blades, detonating against the puppet’s body!