Chapter 668 See, Seen, Saw

Rael rubbed his ear once, twice, and thrice in order to make sure that it was clean. Once he cleared that part, he looked back to the Elder Priest, with the doubt inside his heart displayed on full blast.

"Elder Priest, when you are talking about the Divine Maiden, are you talking about that 'Divine Maiden'? T-this must be a joke, right? There's no way-"

"Rael! What I said is indeed the truth!" This esteemed guest right here is the Divine Maiden! My Eye of Wisdom has confirmed that already!" The Elder Priest did not even let the kid finish his question, as he just overrode the latter with his pa.s.sionate words. "Now, don't do anything stupid and just let me punish you!"

"Hih!!!!" At this point, even if Rael was doubting the sanity of the Elder Priest, he realized that the old man was serious on punis.h.i.+ng him. "Hey Elder Priest, can we just talk it out? I can still-"

"For the Divine Maiden, your sacrifice shall be worth it, Rael. Now come to me and let me show to her my dedication…."

"No!!!!" Seeing that there is no use convincing the Elder Priest, Rael used the remaining strength on his legs to run away from the old man. This action of course proved futile, as the Elder Priest just grabbed him with his bony left arm.

"Where are you going, kid? Stay here and toughen yourself. Your 'punishment' will only take a while, so don't worry about your well-being…"

"No!!!!"

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If this were a normal situation, then the powerful Elder Priest would most likely succeed on punis.h.i.+ng Rael, as the kid was just weaker than the former. The kid was still at the acolyte level after all, so he can't do anything against the Elder Priest.

With that strength gap in mind, the Elder Priest seemed to be prepared on unleas.h.i.+ng his 'wrath' in the best way possible.

But before he could lay his hand on the now-trembling kid, a cold voice stopped the Elder Priest.

"Oi, you called me a Divine Maiden? What is that about?" The katana-wielding woman, who displayed a large sense of wariness from her arrival, gave the Elder Priest an imploring look as she pointed her sword at him. "And why are you sure that I am one?"

"…."

Her face both had an expression of doubt and wariness on it, although her eyes could be seen s.h.i.+ning, as if she had discovered something interesting. " I can see that you are telling the truth, but I don't get why you are acting like this for me…."

Upon saying these words, the katana woman tightened her grip on the sword, with its blade unerringly pointed to the Elder Priest's face. "Say your next words properly, old man. Because if you say it wrong, you will be the one who receives a punishment…"

"…."

This killing stance, combined with her domineering aura, made it apparent that she will not hesitate to cut down the Elder Priest should he give her the wrong answer.

The two women behind this woman a.s.sumed the same attacking pose too, creating another tense situation that made the already scared Rael close to fainting.

Even the fanatic Elder Priest looked somewhat uncomfortable by this arrangement, but instead of succ.u.mbing to the katana woman's pressure, his emotions went the other way.

"Oh~ The Divine Maiden is speaking to me! She's showering me with her grace! Oh thank you Great Elwon! Today has been my luckiest day!" The Elder Priest exclaimed, with real tears now pouring out of his eyes. "Hahaha, hahaha, hahaha!"

These tears made his face look like a mess, to the point that he was looking more like a kid compared to Rael.

"Ah~ Is this the omen that will lead the Church of Wisdom to is greatest glory yet? If it is, then I shall do my best to herald it!" The Elder Priest added. His left hand then grabbed the cowering Rael, with his right hand raised as if he was about to use it to strike the kid down.

"Forgive me for my insolence earlier, Divine Maiden. Since we had been rude to you, the only way that I can appease your anger is through this kid! I hope this will make you pleased enough!"

"Elder Priest, no! Big Sister, save me!"

"@()*)# The f**k, Rael? Don't call the Divine Maiden as Big Sister! Argh!!! Now this increases your punishment!" Without waiting for Rael to continue his defense, the Elder Priest sent his right palm down to the kid's head, with all of his power contained in that body part.

Such acc.u.mulation of power made the air around the Elder Priest rowdy, creating gusts of winds that destroyed the nearby rock.

"No! Big Sister, please save me! The Elder Priest is going crazy!"

"Woos.h.!.+" With the small distance between his hand and Rael's head, the Elder Priest's attack will undoubtedly smack the kid head-on without any obstacles.

But just like what happened earlier, the katana woman interrupted them once more. This time however, her interruption was more forceful.

"Oi, oi, oi, old man. If you want to punish the kid, just do it later. For now, answer my f**king question!" The katana woman bellowed, with the raging anger in her eyes enough to stop the Elder Priest's actions. "I am so f**king hungry and angry right now, so don't do anything to worsen my mood!"

"You're hungry, Divine Maiden? I am sorry for not noticing that. If you want the best delicacies in this place, I can fetch it for yo-"

"DON'T. YOU. DARE. LEAVE. ME. HANGING. AGAIN. OLD. MAN. JUST. TELL. ME. EVERYTHING. ABOUT. YOU. AND. THIS. PLACE. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND?"

"Y-yes, Divine Maiden, I understand. But-"

"TALK."

"Ok…"

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30 MINUTES LATER.

When Alina had first arrived in this world, she had already expected things to escalate to a level that will be compet.i.tive for her and her group.

However, she was still caught off-guard with the events, to the point that she's not sure if she can even survive in the place….

But what had happened has already happened, so Alina can only accept these events and move on for her survival.

"Sigh, if it were not for Sierra's power earlier, then I wouldn't be able to escape from Alex's immense power. But even with her a.s.sistance, I still almost died…" With a large piece of meat steak on her hands, the ravenous Alina started munching on them without any hesitation as her mind recalled her encounter with Alex earlier.

She was visibly distressed by her memories, but that did not deter her from her eating motion.

"Since that place earlier was in the territory of the Abyss Temple, my Esper Power did not work that well. Fortunately for me, Sierra was inside my storage. As long as she extends and shares her soul power to me, I can boost my teleportation power to bring us out of that place. And that's what we exactly did."

"With my ability, along with Queen Mother's and Professor Frances', we tried our best to suppress Alex and prevent him from sensing Sierra's actions. We almost failed on suppressing him in the end, but luckily for us, Sierra managed to fill me up with her power before Alex's attack reached Professor Frances…"

"With the temporary boost that I obtained, I was able to teleport us away from Alex. But since the place I was in earlier messes with my Esper Power, my teleportation became random. It is because of this reason that instead of going to the sea, we arrived on this place…."

Alina seemed like she wanted to a.n.a.lyze her past encounter more, but at the mention of 'random teleportation', her face scrunched in displeasure as if she was remembering something irritating.

"Tsk."

And this displeasure just increased when Alina saw the two kneeling figures in front of her.

"Tsk, so just because I have a special set of eyes that you detected, I am your Divine Maiden already? Hmph, cut the c**p. How could it be just that easy?"

In front of Alina, the bodies of the Elder Priest and Rale could be seen, with both of them a.s.suming a kneeling position. There are no traces of anger or haughtiness on their bodies, as both of them displayed only a serene, peaceful demeanor.

At this point, their eyes were also closed and their hands were clasped in what appeared to be a placating gesture, which signified their lack of desire to fight.

Combine this appearance with their teary faces, and these two appeared to be more like devout wors.h.i.+ppers in this point, instead of two dangerous enemies.

Such appearance of these two could make someone like Asteria or the current Alex happy. Heck, even Professor Frances and Queen Mother might like what these two are doing too.

Alina however does not share the same sentiment.

"You two…. I am pleased that you gave me this much food. But do you think this will be enough to make me follow you back to your base? So what if I am your Divine Maiden? Do you really expect me to receive such responsibility?" Alina crossly said, with her face making it obvious that she's not happy with the way that the situation was going.

She even resisted the urge to praise the food as she focused her ire on the old man and the kid. "Do you really expect me, someone who is not a part of this place, to be the highest-leveled member of your church? I don't like saying this but…. This situation just reeks of traps."

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Although she could see that the old man had no intent of harming her and was instead actually ecstatic on her arrival, Alina did not feel any pleasant feelings upon seeing him.

How could Alina even be pleased with this old man, after all that he just said to her?

"So I am the new Divine Maiden of the Church of Wisdom? And the reason for that was my All-Seeing Eyes? Sigh, this is a twist that I did not expect to see…" Alina mused with a sigh. "How could I have seen that my eyes will actually be important here? Tsk, if I just knew it, then I should have avoided this place…"

Alina displayed both relief and doubt as she stated this fact, but most of her mind was full of dissatisfaction too, as if there was something about her current state that was not desirable for her.

"Being a Divine Maiden is a good news for me, since it can help out with our Main Mission. But why does it have to happen now, when Alex will surely be looking for us? Argh, this timing is the worst!!!!"

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After Alina had successfully escaped from Alex, she thought of laying low first in order to evade his search. She and her allies will continue hiding that way until they deem that it's safe to come out.

It is only when they come out that Alina will look for a religion to support, and they will also only search for a cure for Alex at that time…

This arrangement was something that both Queen Mother and Professor Frances agreed to do, as Alina was able to make them realize the benefit of this strategy.

Not only would they be able to keep themselves safe, they will also be able to keep Alex's strength to a minimum while they find a way to cure him.

It's win-win situation, and the only thing that Alina had to sacrifice was her time.

But this plan was now wrecked because of her arrival here in the Church of Wisdom!

"Argh!"

With the way that information spread in this world, Alina knew that the whole Church of Wisdom has already caught wind of her arrival and of her status as a Divine Maiden.

Because of that, Alina was sure that there is no way for her to leave now, not with the way that she appeared.

"Tsk, now that I have been discovered today, I will surely be forced to become a member of the Church of Wisdom! That is a good thing if this happened months from today. But for me to be a member right now? It will just reveal my location to Alex!"