Chapter 187: Chapter 185: Hilia: Purely an Accident!

Hilia stared, dumbfounded, at Vanessa in the sky.

Normally, Vanessa was always the picture of true gentleness and elegance; whether it was Hilia, an Assistant Priest, believers, or sick townsfolk, she always greeted everyone with a smile.

Even when faced with rudeness, she’d try to persuade first, only resorting to force if persuasion failed—and even then, she’d still remain gentle.

But now, the rage and surging holy light on her face were fiercer than a Berserker’s fury.

It was as if she weren’t a High Priest and Priest, but a belligerent Law Enforcement Knight—the kind who gets disciplined every other day.

Still, Hilia could understand. After all, if not now, when else could you be angry about your Divine Hall being destroyed?

Vanessa paused briefly in midair, then charged toward Shark, reaching out to grab him.

They were both Tier Four, so of course Shark wouldn’t let himself be snatched that easily. He immediately used magic to respond.

However, Vanessa’s hand, shining with holy light, was like the world’s strongest material—no matter how he attacked, she didn’t budge an inch.

She grabbed Shark in one swift move and gave a cold snort.

"You want a fight? Fine by me!"

With that, Vanessa tossed Shark outside town like a shooting star, then raced after him.

The commotion quickly startled the Star Ash Town patrol, and the Lord of the town led a crowd rushing over.

Meanwhile, Hilia was comforting two Assistant Priests, having them help dig out the buried heretics.

They were lucky—not inside the Divine Hall when it was destroyed. This was when they would normally be out buying supplies.

They’d returned just in time to see the Divine Hall crumble before their eyes, the shock leaving them stunned.

After a quick rundown from Hilia, she had them help dig out the buried heretics, and fetched ropes to tie them up too.

By the time Star Ash Town’s Lord hurried over with his people, the last of the heretics had just been dug up and lined up neatly.

The Lord was dumbstruck by the ruins of the Divine Hall.

He turned to Hilia, approaching. "You’re... Miss Hilia?"

Hilia looked up, politely saying, "Hello, Lord Walter."

The two Assistant Priests bowed to Walter too.

"What happened here?" Walter stared, bewildered, at the ruins and the six people lying on the ground.

Hilia said, "These are heretics from the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association. They snuck into the Star Dust Divine Hall under the guise of seeking healing, attempting to ambush me and Mother Vanessa, but Mother Vanessa stopped them."

She glanced at the people on the ground, saying, "I dealt with all these, and Mother Vanessa is fighting a Tier Four heretic. That bastard is the one who wrecked the Divine Hall."

"Heretics..."

Walter, sensing the heretics’ Tiers, realized they were all on his level—his head immediately started to ache.

How did so many powerful heretics show up out of nowhere?

Hilia said, "These heretics are probably lurking in the Star Spirit Forbidden Land, making the Star Spirit Tree their base—that’s why there are so many High-tier Mages. Now they’ve set their sights on the Divine Hall, which is absolutely outrageous!"

Walter found this a headache. These heretics’ Tiers were too high—handling one of them, maybe, but so many of his own Tier? Forget it.

After a lot of thought, he said, "Miss Hilia, these people are too dangerous. The Star Ash Town jail can’t hold them. Why don’t you report to Southern Border City, have their Divine Hall come take them for judgment?"

"I don’t have a way to contact the Southern Border City Divine Hall."

"I do..."

"Can I contact Huijin City’s Holy Court headquarters to arrest them?"

Walter was just about to say he had the contact, but stopped when he heard Hilia, nodding, "If you can contact headquarters, even better!"

"Thank you."

Hilia quickly got in touch with Vasily.

Vasily listened to her summary, his head full of question marks.

And when he heard about the Divine Hall being destroyed, he was at a loss between laugh and cry: "This time you didn’t get the High Priest sent in—now you got the Divine Hall itself wrecked?"

"Total accident!" Hilia stressed, "I have no idea why those heretics came to the Divine Hall for treatment—then started a huge fight inside."

"I’ve got the gist. Since it wasn’t the clergy’s fault, this is out of Oath and Law Knight Order’s jurisdiction. Law Enforcement Knight Order should take over. I’ll notify Ms Meilina—the Tier Four heretic means she’ll have to go herself, but she’s busy now, so probably not until tomorrow."

"As for the reconstruction of the Divine Hall, the local High Priest needs to file a report to the Sacrificial Institute, and only with the Cardinal College’s sign-off can funds be released for rebuilding. Let the local High Priest know and have her send the damage report to the Sacrificial Institute."

"Alright."

Ending the call, Hilia said to Walter, "I’ve informed Holy Court headquarters—they said someone’s coming tomorrow to take these heretics away."

Walter replied immediately, "That’s fantastic! How about I watch these heretics for you?"

Hilia doubted whether Walter could handle these equally Tiered heretics. After some thought, she turned to Rose for advice:

"Lord Rose, should I hand these people over to the Lord for safekeeping?"

Rose chuckled, "This Lord wants a bit of credit—let him have them, it’ll be good for Vanessa as well. But this little place probably can’t keep these Tier Three heretics locked up. You’d better put some kind of mark on them, so if they run, you won’t lose track."

"A mark?"

Hilia was puzzled. "How do you mark them?"

"That’s a bit advanced for you, only covered by Tier Seven and above. I’ll handle it."

Rose’s phantom appeared by Hilia’s side. With a flick of his finger, Hilia saw six clusters of what looked like spiritual power sink into the heretics’ foreheads. A faint, nearly invisible thread now seemed to connect them to Rose.

"Done."

"Thank you, my Lord God!"

Hilia broke into a smile, pretending to finish her deliberations, then said to Walter, "Alright then, Lord Walter, since they caused problems in your territory, it’s only right for you to guard and interrogate them. Just make sure they don’t escape!"

Walter patted his chest, "Rest assured, if it’s just a day, there’s no way they’ll get away!"

Hilia looked toward the commotion in the distance, asking, "After Mother Vanessa catches that Tier Four heretic, will you take care of him too, Walter?"

Walter shook his head immediately. "No, no, it’d be best to let High Priest Vanessa handle that heretic."

He wanted to get some credit, but he knew his own limits.

A Tier Four Mage—could he, a Tier Three Lord, really watch over that?

Walter immediately ordered his men to tie up the heretics again, and then said to Hilia, "Miss Hilia, could you please heal them a bit? Don’t want them dying in the cell."

"Sure." Hilia nodded.

As she healed the heretics, the commotion outside town gradually faded, then disappeared entirely.

Vanessa returned to the Divine Hall, dragging Shark by the scruff of his neck like a dog.

Well, the Divine Hall ruins, now.