Unlike Edward who was absolutely bloody furious, Xi Wei who had been watching the show in his divine kingdom was immediately praiseful of Eleena.
“As expected of the Saintess (in-training) I chose!”
Being able to check the Players’ panels, Xi Wei naturally knew why Eleena would steal the kill.
That being said, his tentacles never paused—he was dumping the corpse of the little devils into a pile and extracting from them as usual.
Still, only a portion was turned into pure divine energy—the rest was warped divine power of death and useless scraps.
“I guess there’s really no telling who that divine power belongs to…”
Xi Wei felt a curious pain even as he stared at the deviant divine power that kept squirming like a Slime.
He did not have to worry about it corrupting his domain with the suppression in his divine kingdom, but keeping it wasn’t a good idea either.
Worse, it could not be used to create a new class for the Players or charge his divine power like a battery, much less derive a Life Skill.
And yet, that divine power was so unique that Xi Wei wouldn’t dare to eject it out int the Void, fearing that it would drift to some other plane instead of being obliviated in nothingness, sneaking in and turning it into some zombie plane.
Staring at the pile of divine power and considering it for a moment, Xi Wei took out Rotten Bone’s skull.
By sheer coincidence, the divine power inside the skull was almost used up—it was therefore a good fit to seal that pile of boogers… I mean, deviant divine power.
And when that was done, Xi Wei flung the skull like a spittoon to some corner in his divine kingdom as he considered what reward he should give the Players.
Truth be told, he was dissatisfied with their performance this time.
The devil was strong but that was only because it belonged to a supernatural race, not to mention that its ability had dropped to an unseemly level after being kept in a seal for so long.
It was basically expected of the Players to do it in, but they clearly became full of themselves after defeating the beast. Then, after they had finished Nightcry the Vengeful Dead, they became too accustomed to the creature’s moveset that they had underestimated it.
In the end, they were caught off guard and almost wiped out by the little Nightcries that exploded out. If Xi Wei didn’t poke Leah in the head while she got preoccupied with whacking those little devils and successfully cast an oracle through divine grace, the Players would really have all been killed right then in embarrassing fashion.
Be that as it may, they still hadn’t learned their lesson. Just when they were almost done wiping out the little devils, carelessness struck again and they were almost all blown up in a single stroke. Though they escaped that fate, almost all of them now had dozens of zombie blight debuffs that death was inevitable!
True, Xi Wei’s strength was enough for him to go for a deus ex machina move and remove those debuffs through divine grace, and doing that would win him a big wave of divine energy that further elevate the depth of his benevolence in his believers’ eyes.
But he gave up on that after considering carefully.
And the reason was simple: The Players wouldn’t learn their lesson if he did that, and would become even more dependent on him, their god.
It would be fine for them to be a little dependent if he was one of the invincible Seven Divine Fathers who was without peers amongst all divine kingdoms, but Xi Wei so weak a deity at the moment that he would have to give the Skull God a wide berth.
That was precisely why he would use this to remind that the Players that they must stay vigilant despite their immortal forms, and that carelessness was the cause of failure.
“Still, a lesson is a lesson—a reward must be given for monsters. Hmmm, what should I mold this time?”
***
Down in the mortal realm, the Trinia Forests.
“Eleena?”
Unlike the dejected Edward, Joe noticed that Eleena’s zombie blight debuff was gone.
‘Is that the status clearing after leveling up?’
“I leveled up.”
The girl with twin-ponytails and silver hair spoke seriously, before solemnly putting the meteor hammer (bible) that was still dripping with blood on her hip chain sash.
“Uh…” Joe wasn’t sure what to tell her.
Jessica was the one closest to Eleena, but she had remained in the elven capital of Trinia because of Sefarim instead of joining them.
Meanwhile, Eleena didn’t notice Joe’s hesitation at all. She simply took out a snack from her bag, stuff it into her mouth and chewing it extensively before swallowing.
“Ah…”
“What is it?” Joe asked, startled.
“I’m full.”
“…”
Eleena patted Joe on the shoulder even as he questioned the meaning of life, and walked up to Edward who was lying on the ground, burnt out, poking him in a tender spot on the waist.
“What is it?” Edward asked, drifting between life and death with just a fraction of HP left.
“Tell everyone to gather round.” The little one said solemnly.
Though it was a bizarre request, Edward did as she asked and had everyone still alive gather round. Eleena was a Saintess even if she was still in-training, and would outrank Edward, an ordinary believer no matter what church they might be in…
Hence, taking a deep breath, several silver halation appeared around Eleena, and she raised her tome while shouting, “Survival Tactics: Infinity!”
In the next split second, the silver halation drifted away from her body like smoke, shaping into vague silhouettes of tiny angels consisting of diamonds, all of them flying around her and tooting their trumpets.
There was no music, however, but it repeated ‘In-Fi-Ni-Ty’ like some repeater, letting loose faint shouts devoid of any aesthetic. In fact, the others wanted to complain how noisy it was.
Even so, the Players gathering around could feel that laughable skill taking effect: something sick inside their something was rapidly fading, like snow under the spring’s sun…
In fact, as the little angles continued sounding their trumpets noisily (In-Fi-Ni-Ty, In-Fi-Ni-Ty), the dozen folds of zombie blight were quickly disappearing and were eventually gone from the Players’ stat bar.
The surviving Players could not help but cheer in excitement. Heaven knows when was the last time they felt lucky for surviving.
Nearby, Edward frowned.
Not many Players were aware of Eleena’s Saintess-in-training hidden class, but she’s now exposed with what had happened today.
And with how Leah the Warrior Princess turned the tide in the battle before, the Players might strive for a hidden class from now on…
But even as the Players were patting each other on the backs, they became silent when they heard a shout.
“Healers! Are there healers here?!” Marni was carrying the unconscious elven girl Selene in his arms. “Her zombie blight hasn’t faded! She needs healing as soon as possible!”
