20 – Revelation

Brunch was at the forefront, rammed the villagers. She circled back, dodging the arrows fired at her, then attacked them again with her sharp-fanged mouth.

"Why doesn't that wyvern just spit fire at them?" Paul asked after taking down several people at once with a swing of his sword.

"Well, that's because she can't do it." Celia ran, then thrust her spear into the back of the biggest one. That person instantly fell and became bones like the others.

They continued to push toward the edge of the village. The villagers kept coming, making them even more overwhelmed. Their stamina kept getting drained, even though their destination was still far away.

Alan checked his bag. He only had five mana potions left. Since trying to escape, he had consumed a lot of them.

In addition to extreme fatigue, he also really wanted to vomit. It was either because he saw many scattered bones, had repeatedly used his magic, or drank the potions excessively.

"F*ck it!" Alan drank his potions for the umpteenth time, then attacked again with his magic. His nausea immediately increased.

"Stop it! All of you!"

Alan turned back and found Hilda flying using wind magic, making the dust and leaves fly.

The villagers backed away to give the priestess space to land.

"What exactly are you guys doing?" Hilda asked with tears in her eyes. "We only ask for your help to look after us, nothing more. Why are you so adamant about leaving?"

"Sorry, but we feel too restrained," Alan replied. "And believe me, Lady Hilda. We don't think we can be saviors for you and the villagers."

"That's right," Celia added. "We are too clueless to do something as stated in the holy scripture."

Hilda squeezed her head with both hands. Her eyes twitched, and her lips trembled. "I will keep you guys here, even if I have to tie you up. I don't want the destruction to befall this village too…."

"That's enough, madam!" Paul shouted in frustration. "This village is already destroyed. There's no one to save!"

"What?" The priestess' eyes widened. "What do you mean? Don't you see these villagers? Do you see our buildings? How can you say that all of this has been destroyed?"

Paul advanced closer to that old woman. "I can't stand hiding this from you anymore. I thought everything would be fine if I kept my mouth shut. But no, you have become corrupt instead, madam."

"W-what are you talking about, Paul?"

"Let me refresh your memory." The scarred man rubbed his face. "You remember who was in those caskets and drank special potions to stay in the sky?"

The priestess's brow furrowed. "Me, you, and all of these villagers. Why do you ask such a thing?"

The scarred man stood just a few steps away from that old woman. "No, the only people who entered those caskets were you and me."

Alan was beginning to understand the direction of this conversation. Meanwhile, Celia started wiping away her tears with the back of her finger.

Hilda Gulped. "But these villagers…."

"The government feels it's not worth lifting this whole village to the sky. They only want you as a great magus and that wind crystal deposit." Paul interrupted. "But you rejected it. You want to stay in this village with the people, even though the end of the world is coming."

"No." The priestess shook her head and stepped back. Her tears fell one by one. "You speak nonsense, Paul."

"These villagers love you very much." The scarred man looked around the villagers, who were still smiling. "They agreed with me, a government emissary, to lie to you. We said the villagers would also be raised along with all this land. But in reality, they only want to bring the church with you and me alone."

The priestess lowered her head, speechless.

Alan approached Paul and asked, "Sorry in advance if I interfered in your chat. But why is this land here if they only intend to lift a small part of it?"

Paul took a deep breath. "Madam Hilda has an extraordinary talent for magic but chose to become a priestess instead. It is said that she can grant anything with just her imagination."

"So, Madam Hilda hopes all the people will be safe, and this land will remain intact. Then, because of that high expectation, she subconsciously activated her magic. This land is not destroyed and still lifted up." Alan made a conclusion. "But because people couldn't survive that levitation magic and the climate in the sky, they died."

"As soon as she saw the lifeless villagers, Madam Hilda was so devastated. The magic within her activates again to grant her another wish; to resurrect the villagers. But no matter how good your magic is, you can't bring the dead back to life." Paul's voice started to crack. "What happened is that the villagers became abominations instead…. I don't know… Maybe their souls are trapped…."

That may be why Hilda's speech could only affect the villagers, not Alan, Celia, and Paul. The villagers have a magical attachment to Hilda.

"So, stop all this madness, Madam Hilda." Paul rubbed his face again. "There's no point in maintaining all these lies."

"Shut up!" Hilda raised her face full of fury. A vortex of wind started to surround her body. "Everything you say is a lie, Paul. Look, they live happily here with me. I will protect them…. Oh, now I know. You guys conspired to spread those lies to destroy me, right?"

Alan's hunch since coming here was correct. Something was wrong in Hilda's mind. That terrible incident in the past really broke her.