Chapter 299: It

Bigelei was truly at a loss now; she had seen Saint-Bearers before—in her previous world, the Church of Light had once sent out so-called “Heroes” officially sanctioned by the Church to hassle her, and these Heroes were often accompanied by a Saint-Bearer. Most of them were women, their combat power roughly equal to that of ordinary Divine-Embodied clergy, yet they could frequently wield rare, utterly unreasonable divine arts.

Unlike ordinary clergy, they never constantly name-dropped gods or the Church, yet the Church of Light treated them with great courtesy—even more respect than they showed the Heroes.

Back when she was still naive, every time she knocked a Hero to his knees, a Saint-Bearer would leap out, using some bizarre artifact or spell to snatch back the Hero—or even his corpse—only for the Hero to be back on his feet a few days later.

It wasn’t until later, when she learned to conceal her true strength, that she began to fight just slightly above the Hero’s level, giving the opponent the illusion that one final push could win—then, when the Hero was exhausted and the Saint-Bearer was ready to retrieve him, she unleashed her full power: obliterate the body, grind the bones to dust, all in one sweep, then follow up with a relentless assault on the Saint-Bearer. After killing seven or eight Heroes this way, the Church of Light finally fell silent, not sanctioning any new Heroes for years.

In her prime, Heroes and Saint-Bearers were nothing but roadside vermin to her—harder to kill, yes, but still swatting them away with a wave of her hand. But the problem was, she wasn’t in her prime anymore!

“Wait, this one doesn’t seem intent on charging?” Bigelei’s mind churned with anxiety, yet her sharp intellect spotted something off.

Though Saint-Bearers usually preferred to let the Hero fight while they stood back, this one was clearly different.

“Is she here to protect those two Heroes? But don’t Heroes in this world have resurrection protection? Or is there something special about that defensive barrier she used earlier?”

Bigelei rapidly analyzed the situation and quickly devised a plan. She still maintained her haughty demeanor as the Blood Queen, her bat wings fluttering gently as she hovered in the sky, looking down coldly.

“I never expected to meet a Saint-Bearer here. So this is your Hero partner? How utterly weak.”

Dailisi, whose heart was filled with “so scary,” heard Bigelei’s words and felt momentarily confused—but then remembered that in some worlds with local faiths, “Saint-Bearer” was a term for divine agents. So…

“Oh my god, this is a Demon King who’s fought Heroes before! No, no—that’s not right. Being sent to the Exile Lands means her original world is probably frozen in time, which implies there were no Heroes there… So she’s a Demon King who actually killed Heroes outright?”

Dailisi felt her legs go weak, but luckily her armor was knight’s plate—its structure alone kept her upright. Still, that didn’t solve the problem. Her inner terror reached its peak, yet as an elite graduate who’d passed the civil service exam, she summoned the same composure she’d shown facing interviewers, forcing a calm expression and speaking with false confidence:

“Heh, you planning to fight here?”

“What the hell! Why aren’t you following the script?! At this point, aren’t you supposed to send the Hero in?!” Bigelei blinked in surprise. She’d never encountered a Saint-Bearer who charged in himself—especially after she’d practically spelled it out. How could this guy be so reckless?

Dailisi was equally trapped. If the Research Maniac and Professor Wang were truly her contracted Heroes, she’d have dumped everything on them and fled immediately. But they weren’t! She knew exactly how weak Exile Lands Heroes were—even with world rules limiting them, tens or hundreds of thousands couldn’t kill a Demon King. Expecting two of them to fight a fully unleashed Demon King? Ridiculous.

“Should I… use a divine art to buy time? But the Exile Lands suppress all faith-based divine power—including divine energy. This armor can draw divine energy from the Divine Realm to cast overpowered spells, but the energy surge won’t be hidden. If I cast now, the Demon King won’t die—and I’ll be dead for sure.”

Dailisi’s heart clenched, but she still drew her knight’s sword from the ground. Above all, survival came first. Even if she exposed herself, she could always become the Saint of Balanced Accounts—sit out her sentence in prison, and maybe, just maybe, she’d earn some karmic reward.

Watching Dailisi begin to gather divine energy, Bigelei gritted her teeth and started preparing her own spell. The spell she’d intended to test on King Ghidorah was unstable—but now she had no choice.

The flow of magic twisted the sky into an eerie spectacle: the female Demon King in the heavens and the female knight below with sword drawn formed a stark contrast. But just as tension peaked, a loud, absurd noise approached from afar.

“Holy shit! New wife!”

“Fight! Fight!”

“I love watching women fight!”

“If I go help now, will I get some favor points?”

“You idiot, that’s Blood Sister! You need fifty people coordinating to beat her in a dungeon—do you really think you can take her on in the open world?”

While the Goddess and the Demon King faced off, the Research Maniac had already posted the event on the forum. If the boss had been a Demon Dragon, he might’ve hoped for some cultivation plot—but it was Blood Sister? Forget it.

Considering this NPC clearly wouldn’t let anyone leave until the plot was finished, the Research Maniac chose to sacrifice his comrade and save himself.

Yeah, those lps would definitely jump at the chance.

“Phew…” Seeing the flood of players rushing in, Bigelei exhaled in relief—but her face twisted into disdain as she swept her gaze over the crowd below, triggering a chorus of cries: “Ah, that look!” “Blood Sister stepped on me!” “She looks disgusted but…” “Genius idea! Screenshot taken—I’m having AI edit this right now!” Then she sneered:

“Heh, your Saint-Bearers have really sunk low—recruiting such trash? Fine, I’ve lost all interest.”

As she spoke, Bigelei’s body suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke, hundreds of tiny bats scattering in all directions. The sky, nearly crimson moments before, instantly cleared.

“I made it!” Dailisi choked back tears, sheathed her sword, and swiftly extinguished all divine energy fluctuations—but she clearly didn’t realize that Bigelei’s dramatic exit was, in truth, nothing more than an escape.

(End of Chapter)