We were already caught off guard by Hilia’s badge, and now hearing Winter suddenly speak, the High Priest couldn’t help but erupt in anger.

"What kind of bullshit are you spouting?"

Winter replied seriously, "Your Excellency High Priest, as a Lord, of course I have the right to ask a question. Don’t mind me. My advice: you’d better clarify things with your Holy Court Saintess first."

Winter’s sudden interjection wasn’t to help Hilia press the High Priest, but rather to distance himself and show this had nothing to do with him.

Even though he thought his guess was probably right, it was always best to prepare for both outcomes.

If he blindly supported this stranger Saintess, and she turned out to be fake, or the High Priest somehow reversed the situation, he’d end up in deep trouble.

If his guess was wrong and he supported the High Priest, or even teamed up to get rid of the Saintess, but it turned out she was real, then the consequences would be more than just changing out a High Priest.

So, the best strategy was to offend neither side, take himself out of the equation, and whoever won, he’d help them.

Granted, speaking this way was a bit like siding with the Saintess; if the High Priest won later, he’d resent him, but they’d hated each other for ages anyway, so earning a little extra dislike meant nothing.

Winter calculated perfectly, and the High Priest quickly saw through his scheme.

He took a deep breath, calming his nerves, and spoke in as even a tone as possible: "I’m not making a move against you. I just saw you crouching there for ages, so I sent a Magic Puppet to help you investigate."

"Oh, so your Magic Puppet charging over with a sword was for my benefit, huh? If you can sell that to the Judgment Priest, by all means—keep trying."

The High Priest’s expression changed yet again.

After a long silence, he finally managed to smile and said, "Miss Saintess, you’re joking, right? This plantation has absolutely nothing to do with me. I reported to you that there’s pearl rosemary cultivated here, didn’t I drop everything important and come here with you? Don’t slander me. I’ve served in Frost Town for over ten years now."

Hilia nodded repeatedly, "Mm, right, go on. I’m listening."

The High Priest fell silent.

From Hilia’s expression, he could tell she had no intention of letting him off.

His face darkened slowly.

"You say you’re the Saintess, but as far as I know, the Saintess isn’t like you. Where did you get your badge? Is it fake? Let me take a look."

"Nope." Hilia put her badge away. "Come hit me, then!"

"I think you’re just guilty as hell. You’re probably a fake Saintess. The High Priest has the authority to judge any heretic impersonating clergy! Don’t force me to act."

"If you wanna fight, just fight! Why all the damn talking?" Hilia snapped impatiently. "Let me put it straight—cultivating pearl rosemary and selling Water of Bewitching is a greater crime in the Holy Court than being a Sect leader. No point debating at this stage. Just wait for judgment."

The High Priest sneered, "Let me spell it out for you—impersonating the Holy Court Saintess is a capital offense. I’ll substitute for the God in judging your evil!"

With that, the High Priest already issued a command to his Magic Puppet.

The Magic Puppet charged over, radiating pure white light, which showed the High Priest’s Holy Word Magic was mastered to a very high level.

Still, no matter how Hilia looked at it, that holy glow was damn annoying.

"Doing crooked shit every day—did you practice Holy Word Skill on dogs?!"

Hilia, who had already prepared to summon her Magic Puppet, experienced instant summoning for the first time.

The Magic Puppet rapidly condensed, then raised a hand and formed an ice wall, blocking the incoming attack.

Hilia steadied herself, thinking about how to defeat the High Priest.

"The High Priest’s combat tactics are nothing like the Lord’s. The Lord’s weakness is being slow—fatal. But the High Priest doesn’t have that flaw."

"His Holy Word Skill is well-practiced—gives him massive Magic Immunity and boosts to holy-based attacks. Can’t go head-to-head with him."

"Crystal Arrow plus Ice Shattering Skill combo doesn’t do much against his Magic Puppet—only way is to catch him off guard."

"I can cooperate with Mage’s Hand. Test out the Magic Puppet’s Tier Two Combination Skill."

Hilia had already made up her mind.

This time, Rose didn’t offer her any guidance. Sensing what she was thinking, he nodded approvingly.

The girl finally realizes the brilliance of Mage’s Hand.

This skill, back in the day, was pretty much a player-exclusive ability, like hacking in Watchdog or Eagle Vision in Assassin’s Creed. It’s a support skill, works with any spell—totally overpowered.

Hilia learned the Crystal Arrow and Ice Shattering Skill combo herself, thanks to her own talent.

The Magic Puppet, though, used a different skill set.

Water of Stagnation, Frost Condensation, Flash Thunder Fury, Ice Shattering Skill.

Frost Condensation is a spell that rapidly freezes vapor, and can be combined with Water of Stagnation—once an enemy gets stuck in the water, it freezes them fast.

Flash Thunder Fury is a magic Hilia learned on Rose’s advice. Its power on humans is similar to Thunder Strike Skill (Tier One), but it’s specialized against metal.

It invades metal, damages it from within, and works even better on frozen targets.

The core of this combo is to use Flash Thunder Fury to invade frozen targets, break them up from inside, and finally use Ice Shattering Skill to smash them.

Most people think of freezing plus Flash Thunder Fury as a combo, but Hilia hadn’t seen Flash Thunder Fury followed up by Ice Shattering.

After searching out of curiosity, she found lots of Mages commenting that Ice Shattering Skill isn’t much use—just good for bullying newbies.

Honestly, it really is hard to actually smash someone with this skill...

"Luckily, I’ve got Mage’s Hand!"

BANG!

The High Priest’s Magic Puppet shattered the ice wall, long sword glowing with holy light, like it was judging a heretic, slashing straight down at Hilia’s Magic Puppet.

"Holy Word Skill doesn’t work on me, you know."

Hilia smiled slightly, dodging a bit, ignored the incoming Holy Word Skill blade, and triggered Water of Stagnation, enveloping the High Priest’s Magic Puppet in vapor.

"Freeze!"

As the High Priest’s Magic Puppet froze up, the blade had already reached Hilia’s Magic Puppet.

But her Magic Puppet radiated a faint white glow, barely noticeable, yet the blade melted away like it had met its nemesis.

The Saintess’s exclusive Divine Immunity—an ability only the Saintess possesses—reduces most holy-based spell power and straight-up nullifies damage from Holy Word Skill.

It’s a blessing given by the current Saintess after praying to the God, and lasts until she becomes the official Saintess.

If you lose the competition, you lose the blessing instantly.

This is the easiest way to tell if someone’s the Saintess or not.

Seeing Hilia immune to Holy Word Skill, the High Priest’s emotions went haywire.

But soon, his gaze became even more vicious.

"You pushed me to this!"

Flash Thunder Fury struck down from the sky, piercing his Magic Puppet—but the Magic Puppet was completely unharmed.

The holy aura had faded, and instead—blood-red light radiated from it.

This light instantly broke the freezing effect on the Puppet.

Hilia’s eyes went wide: "A blessing from the Evil God’s Sect?"

"That’s right, it’s the Mortal Death Blessing from Roster, Apostle of the Deep Sea. It gives me Tier Four power."

The High Priest’s pupils rapidly split, each eye dividing into six pupils—really freaky.

"At this stage, I have no choice but to kill you quickly right here."

Hilia felt her scalp tingle.

Wait, hold up—why’s he opening with the ultimate right from the get-go?

With the pressure intensifying, just as Hilia was about to turn to Rose for help, a cold snort sounded from outside.

"Hmph. A dignified High Priest from the Divine Hall, yet daring to practice Sect Magic—you’ve betrayed the God! Face Judgment!"