Chapter 76: Redemption at the Sanctuary

With only five days remaining until the Monster Hunt Exercise, Lovelenica prepared to redeem some items at the Church Sanctuary. These would be crucial for her upcoming confrontation with the Bloodkin that had attacked Lucia and her companions in the original story.

After hearing the White-robed Bishop’s investigation results two days prior, Lovelenica suddenly realized something profound. If the Fallen Nun and Rachel were incomplete Bloodkin created using her own power, might the Bloodkin from the original story also be one? Lovelenica believed this was highly probable.

Although the Bloodkin in the original story was never described as injured, nor was there any mention of her self-healing abilities or use of unique Bloodkin powers, the successive appearance of so many Bloodkin within the Arcadia Kingdom led Lovelenica to believe they must be connected.

The Fallen Nun and Rachel were not mentioned in the original story, which made the Bloodkin who attacked Lucia and her team seem particularly mysterious.

However, if the appearances of these three Bloodkin were linked, the answer became strikingly clear. This Bloodkin was, in all likelihood, also artificially created using Lovelenica’s primal power.

Given this, Lovelenica knew she not only had to fight this Bloodkin but also had to emerge victorious. Her objective wasn’t merely to protect Lucia and her friends; she needed to utterly defeat, and perhaps even absorb, the Bloodkin to uncover clues about her own primal power.

Therefore, she intended to redeem some holy artifacts from the Church Sanctuary that would ensure her victory in this battle. Lovelenica planned to purchase items not just for herself, but also for Lucia and her three-person squad.

Thus, early that morning, Lovelenica gathered Lucia and her companions at the Church Sanctuary.

“Teacher, we’re here.”

Lovelenica had been waiting for quite some time on the street outside the main entrance of the Church Sanctuary when Lucia’s voice drifted over from nearby.

Behind Lucia stood an impatient Imeline, accompanied by the expressionless Attestor.

“Hey, you woman, why did you call us all out so early in the morning? We’re not even close, so what’s the meaning of having Lucia summon us?”

As they met, Imeline indignantly stormed forward, confronting Lovelenica with an aggressive tone.

“And why do we need to redeem defensive holy artifacts? Aren’t all the monsters in the Monster Hunt Exercise just cannon fodder?”

Their squad was already set to lose two-fifths of their total score to Julie, all because of Lucia’s impulsive decision to visit Lovelenica. The Seals of Purification they could obtain would undoubtedly be few.

Now, Lovelenica intended to drag them to the Church Sanctuary to buy holy artifacts, which seemed like an utter waste.

Any Seals of Purification spent on a few random holy artifacts would likely exceed what they could earn from this entire Monster Hunt Exercise.

The Monster Hunt Exercise was held annually, primarily featuring Impure-level grunts as targets. Each monster offered a low score, and even combined, they wouldn’t amount to many Seals of Purification.

Furthermore, since the targets were merely grunts, achieving a high score depended on hunting a greater quantity. With their smaller team size, maximizing their hunt for Fantasy Creatures required focusing heavily on efficiency.

However, holy artifacts in the Church Sanctuary that amplified magic power or physical prowess were quite expensive in terms of Seals of Purification. The more affordable ones were typically defensive in nature.

During the Monster Hunt Exercise, they simply needed to hunt as many grunts as possible; defensive preparation was entirely unnecessary.

Consequently, using redeemed holy artifacts in the Monster Hunt Exercise would be a pure waste, and Imeline naturally resented this.

Attestor, meanwhile, stood silently to the side, her face devoid of any expression.

While she truly wasn’t familiar with Lovelenica, Attestor harbored a certain aversion towards her. She knew Lovelenica had always trained Lucia with extremely cruel methods.

Even though Lucia had recently mentioned that Lovelenica had changed, Attestor shared Imeline’s belief that Lovelenica’s sudden shift in temperament wasn’t a genuine change of heart, but rather a cover for some hidden scheme.

Facing Imeline’s interrogation, Lovelenica did not grow angry. Instead, she merely smiled faintly and began to explain.

“Your words are mistaken, Imeline. While those Impure-level monsters are difficult to injure you, they are not entirely incapable of doing so. Especially for a Mage like yourself, whose physical strength is weaker, wouldn’t acquiring some defensive holy artifacts as a safety net allow you to cast spells more recklessly?”

“This…”

Though Imeline maintained suspicion and vigilance towards Lovelenica, there was no fault to be found in Lovelenica’s words. Weak physical constitution was a common affliction among Mages; they could only perform at their best under the safe conditions of protection.

“…Anyway, Thor will protect us! With Thor around, how could any monster’s attack possibly reach Lucia or me!”

Despite a slight internal agreement with Lovelenica’s reasoning, Imeline remained stubborn.

Imeline was well aware of Mages’ weaknesses. However, Attestor possessed a taunt skill, allowing her to forcibly draw attacks onto herself, thus guaranteeing Imeline’s safety.

“That’s not necessarily true, Thor. May I call you that?”

“No matter.”

Attestor responded to Lovelenica’s inquiry with a simple, indifferent remark.

Allowing Lovelenica to call her Thor wasn’t an acceptance of Lovelenica. It was simply because she felt there was no other suitable way to address her, and her full name was quite a mouthful.

“Imeline, you can’t always rely on Thor to divert every single attack, can you? What if someone launches a sneak attack, or if Thor is overwhelmed by too many enemies and has no spare energy to help you?”

“Then… then…”

Hearing Lovelenica’s hypothesis, Imeline stammered, truly at a loss for how to handle such a situation.

Moreover, Lovelenica’s argument was not without basis.

In the original story, the Bloodkin had ambushed Imeline when Lucia’s squad let their guard down. The magic bullet was incredibly fast and could manipulate its trajectory to some extent.

Despite Attestor’s swift reaction, that magic bullet, empowered by a Divine Lure, still rendered Imeline unconscious with its lingering force.

If Imeline had possessed a Holy Ring capable of creating a Divine Barrier at that moment, and thus hadn’t fallen unconscious, the four of them might have been able to contend with that Bloodkin for a longer period.

However, just as Imeline fell silent, Attestor stepped forward, her brow slightly furrowed as she questioned Lovelenica.

“Miss Lovelenica, everything you’ve said is correct. In such a situation, the lack of defensive holy artifacts would indeed be very troublesome. But we are only participating in the Monster Hunt Exercise, which we attend every year. We are more than capable of handling those Impure-level monsters. Why does your tone suggest that you believe we are destined to fall into such a predicament?”