Chapter 132: 128. Lake Monster

What followed was the rescuers coming to help those who needed assistance. The Medics rushed to them and began patching them up over the administered first aids. Healing Spells appeared one after the other, filling the entire battlefield with a calming light.

No more lives were lost thanks to the Medics' abundance in mana.

Due to Lilith's efforts of healing the soldiers and minimizing the Rescuers' and Medics' jobs since earlier, everything went smoothly.

'Oh yeah… that… is a little taxing… why do I feel drunk? I haven't drunk anything in the last 12 hours… or did I?'

[You overused your mana. From almost 3 million to nothing, also, you can officially say "I told you so" now; keeping appearances is always much pricier than saving a life.]

'Yeah, most of the taxes are put to use just for that. A life lesson from blackmailing others is that I should use other people's money rather than my own… yeah, I can't do that with this current life—unless….'

[Hey, hypocrite, you said we shouldn't barter. You can't be saying that we should blackmail the other Seraphs—wait, can we?] Alpha wasn't that against the idea.

'Well… I know I just said we shouldn't barter, but… maybe some blackmails are acceptable?'

Ding!

[Note from the Goddess: Please don't… also, Lilith, good work on getting me followers sensing the prayers of humans felt a little different from your people! It's working… oh yeah, how do you like the Hidden Mission Rewards?]

'The obvious joke of the blackmail aside, the rewards were quite frankly, a little useless, don't you think?'

Ding!

[Note from the Goddess: Yeah, thought so, Gariel is slow in picking the rewards, so—excuse me, from this point onwards, it would be I, the High-Seraph Gariel, writing this letter. The Goddess has been made to work in containing Darkness and Chaos, and in the Goddess' stead, I apologize profoundly, dear Apostle, that the Gifts we provided are subpar as the Goddess added it in haste. Consequently, this is the last time we can talk, at least until you use the… 'Conversation with a High Seraph' ticket the Goddess gave you, until then — Gariel.

PS. Alpha, keep up the excellent work. We are watching your growth.]

'Gariel… from what it said, she might be a High-Seraph. Also, the Goddess sounds a little abused from time to time, don't you think so? So much for being the Absolute Power, am I right? This Gariel fellow seems to be a little rough to her, don't you think so? Hmm? Alpha?'

[HIHIHIHIHI, I was praised! By High-Seraph Gariel! Oh, my, Goddess, this is amazing! High-Seraph Gariel knew of my work! She said she was watching me, Lilith! Holy Waste! Surveillance, wait, are we under surveillance by her grace? Can she hear me right now? Ahem—Lilith, keep your excitement in check…]

'—bitch you're making less sense than normal. How can you be this excited over this one interaction more than when you received a compliment from the Goddess?'

[Of course! For a young Seraph like myself, I only heard stories, but according to the others, High-Seraph Gariel is the most respected of our Race, low or high otherwise, because she's the only one who can approach the Goddess with impunity. It had been said that High-Seraph Gariel is capable of touching the Goddess and even tossing her around if needed without breaking down in tears and apologizing profusely—it's not entirely a piece of secure information (gossips), but I heard some of my Seniors in the Recording Department saw High-Seraph Gariel spanking the Goddess once.]

'Wait, really? Damn, I want to clap those cheeks too... wait, that sounds wrong.... bah, who cares. More importantly, I thought the Goddess didn't have anyone who could approach her? That's why she was lonely?'

[I don't really get the entire thing. It might have something to do with how the Goddess sees time. But, yeah, everything changed, um, a few millennia ago, I think, when one of the High-Seraphs died from a—rock…]

'A High-Seraph died from a ro—akiya!!'

The tiny march to the Western Gate led by the little girl tripped on a rock. Quickly, Lilith tried to recover herself; she got up and immediately fixed her dress.

"Apostle, are you okay?" Lucia helped Lilith up, "Do you need me to pick you up? You have been overtaxing yourself since the beginning."

Lucia may have been afraid of Lilith at first, but now, seeing the little daemon fall from absolutely nothing, she began fostering a motherly love despite her age. As for the other who had followed and watched the little daemon, they too were incapable of holding back their anxiety seeing her fall.

It was like seeing a puppy tumble down the stairs amplified by several times, adorable but worrying.

The little daemon nodded her head, determined to continue, 'Just a little more, and I'll reach the others. If… I can lead them to look at the injured others, then I can finally rest for the day!'

"Ah!" Lilith yelped when dust got into her eyes… her eyes instantly reddened from rubbing her eyes, bits of tears as a natural reaction, and all-around Lilith, she saw the "awwwww" faces the humans now

'Goddammit! And this ain't even something you can heal with a ski—'

"PRIESTESS!?"

'God.fucking.dammit.'

The way it was said, the word used, the tone, all of it caused Lilith to instantaneously react negatively. Without even needing to search for who it was that spoke,

The cameras were raised, and Lilith's heart sunk from depression. From atop the carcass came a yelp seeing the tiny Priestess they oh so adore on the ground, tears forming on the corner of her eyes… it was too much for them.

"PRIESTESS!? What is wrong?!" Clad in lightning and caked in blood, a man with purple skin and muscular build hurried down the carcass despite his injuries. Covering the distance in a split second, the Lightning Gladiator fell to his knees, "THE PRIESTESS IS CRYING!"

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One look at the tears sent him to a mad scramble, and one roar to inform the others summoned the rest. An Ogre clad in flames and a Persian drenched in blood surrounded Lilith, lifting her from the ground.

Carefully, they rubbed her eyes, "Priestess, does it still hurt? You can tell us if it does."

"I—I am fine, Scar, do not worry, it is just a bit of dust."

"Priestess, do not underestimate such a thing. An Elder of ours once lost an eye because of a speck of dust!"

"It's gone, so you ca—ack, another one got in my eyes!"

"Oh no, don't rub it off, Priestess!"

From the corner of Lilith's eyes, she saw people clamoring at the actions of the daemons. Babying the little one in their midst, making "aww" sounds as they adored the sight of the burly daemons, they fear to cuddle the little one as they would to their own.

However, Lilith was not thrilled because her well-crafted image was being destroyed in mere seconds, 'Dammit, I'm losing leverage!'

She said, not knowing, she was also gaining the more she lost.

***

North of Stronghold 7, there is a floating River called the Blue Plate.

Its size was three kilometers in diameter. Its water flows out of its edges and into surrounding rivers that touch every corner of the Stronghold.

Standing in the middle of the lake was a woman wearing a dark blue robe. She held a paper umbrella with her left hand and a WNP with her right. She was smiling, watching news station after news station broadcast the same story.

‘A daemon has made contact with us? Maybe it is the time to weed out the black sheep of humanity.’ The woman said with a slight laugh, and then, her eyes shifted to the right, “What is it?”

She asked.

Another woman touched the surface of the water, sending out ripples.

Shrouded in white, the newly arrived lady was on her knees with her head lowered respectfully, “I have a report to make, Master.”

“This better be good, 003. You risked awakening the Guardian Serpent for this.” The woman with the umbrella said with a laugh as a giant silhouette began to move right below them.

The one referred to as 003 noted her words but didn’t have any noticeable change in emotion, “We detected unmanned contract initiation on Stronghold Three.”

“Then, send the Sweepers. It must be one of the last escapees. I thought I told you to just deploy them before the Black Spirits fully manifest into the World? Quickly now, none of the Council Members can make any more detours.”

“But that is just it, Master, we cannot deploy the Sweeper because there is nothing to clean up; the escapees managed a successful Contract.”

“…” another set of ripples reached the corners of the River, the source now the woman with the umbrella, “Is it a Partial Contract?”

“One Partial to Ifrit. One Complete Synchronicity to the Spirit Wechuge. The Wechuge managed to leave its Containment Facility.” 003 explained.

More and more ripples appeared from below the woman with the umbrella, “Then, send out Squad One to Three. Hunter them down and bring them to us, Dead or Alive.”

“We would but, I fear the situation is not that simple because the lost 006’s signature has been picked up again. The Blood Spirit is still trapped in her vessel. She is still alive, Master.”

From the middle of the River, the sleeping Serpent awakened. It moved and writhed, but it didn’t surface. Instead, it closed its eyes and chose to sleep while trembling.

It did not dare risk its life on the Monster standing on top of its cage.

The woman with the umbrella’s expression finally changed, and her eyes now squinted.

Her smile disappeared, “003, retrieve her for me. Dead or alive, just make sure to take it back.”

“I follow the Benevolent Heaven’s Will.” 003 disappeared the next second.

Heaven stood in the middle of the River, her smile gradually coming back. She laughed as she looked up to the bright blue skies, “So you were alive, my dear Kristina.”