Chapter 257 (2): Teeth Gritted, It’s Not Impossible

The vengeful spirits returned. With Senna controlling their senses, the four killers couldn’t do anything, no matter how hard they tried. Due to their distorted senses, they fell into trap after trap.

The suppression was overwhelming. Apart from passively taking hits, there was nothing they could do.

All four Gold-ranked mages were veterans. Even Flora, who had the least experience, had access to advanced faith magic due to being the former Holy Maiden. Even though they were being beaten up one-sidedly, the vengeful spirits still couldn’t finish them off.

A game of cat and mouse began in the four corners of the forest. With Senna’s help, the four displayed their health bars and faced what could only be described as a battle of torment.

Wayne paid attention to no one but Flora.

To his surprise, Ottilia had no interest in taking revenge on Flora; Regina was the only one furiously attacking while Ottilia provided support.

Since it was a battle between a Silver-ranked mage and a Gold-ranked mage, it would take quite a while for Regina to deplete Flora’s health bar even with the

Book of Greed

’s enhancement.

“What’s wrong? Can’t bring yourself to do it?” Wayne stood beside Ottilia. Sensing her complicated emotions, he patted her shoulder. “If you don’t want to do it, just let Regina handle everything.”

“Can you spare her, Wayne?” Ottilia said with her head lowered after agonizing for a moment. “At the end of the day, she’s raised me. I’ll consider my death as payment for the debt I owed her. I no longer have anything to do with her now.”

Wayne fell silent. The bookish girl was too kind. She could even let go of her hatred for her killer... Perhaps it was because of her complicated feelings for Flora, or perhaps she had let go of her hatred when she almost faded away from fulfillment during the contracting process.

On one hand, it was a good thing. On the other hand, Flora didn’t deserve Ottilia’s kindness.

“Say something, Wayne!”

“I’m sorry. I can’t agree to that.” Wayne shook his head. “Flora isn’t just your killer, but also Regina’s...”

“What if I convince Regina?”

He shook his head again. “The answer is still no. I have a personal grudge against Flora. She once plotted against my master and nearly succeeded.”

Ottilia pursed her lips and mumbled, “If you hate her so much, death would be too easy for her, wouldn’t it? You should let her live. Humiliate her to trample her dignity and break her pride. Make her...”

She looked around before tugging at his collar and whispering in his ear, “As a former Holy Maiden, she values purity more than anything. Just do this and that and that and this. Believe me, it would be worse than death for her.”

Holy shit, what questionable books have you been reading? Where’s the bookstore?

Wayne’s eyes lit up like torches. He had to admit that he was tempted, especially by that one suggestion to train Flora until she was covered in mathematical formulas and all tied up for public humiliation, letting her former admirers see how depraved she was deep down.

“What do you think, Wayne?”

“I think you may have been corrupted,” Wayne said with a snort. “She’s the previous Holy Maiden. She can die, but she must die quietly. Her status means that she cannot be humiliated by a man, or the church’s reputation will suffer, and I’ll be in trouble.”

“Then just don’t let her appear in public. Lock her up in a basement. Since there’s bad blood between her and your master, you can take your master to admire your masterpiece.” Ottilia made another suggestion. She racked her brain for something that would save her master, and she hit Wayne where he was weakest.

Having the former Holy Maiden fall from the most supreme purity to the worst depravity—how could a pervert like him not be interested in it at all?

Wayne eyed Ottilia strangely. Blushing, she stomped and said, “Is it a yes or a no? Just tell me.”

“No.”

“Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She’s an ugly soul wearing beautiful skin, far inferior to you.”

Ottilia opened her mouth as she watched her killer fighting thin air and getting beaten one-sidedly, conflicted. She resented Flora, but still held gratitude for her master. She wanted Flora to live.

At the same time, though, she didn’t want to let Flora go unpunished. She wanted justice for her death, if only to give herself closure.

Complicated emotions tangled together. Ottilia wanted Wayne to spare Flora, leaving her alive to struggle in pain and regret. Destroy her spirit but not her life.

At this moment, Flora was drenched in cold sweat, realizing that she was being controlled by a legendary mage. All resistance was futile. Her hatred for the church deepened further.

She was a former Holy Maiden who had once held an extraordinary position for relaying the goddess’s oracles. She shouldn’t be casually discarded and shouldn’t suffer such a fate.

Ten minutes later, Regina retreated to Wayne’s side. She looked displeased to have only depleted one tenth of Flora’s health bar.

“Why, are you done?”

“I’m not her match right now. Continuing this is pointless. Besides, she’s only a tool and not my real enemy.” Regina proudly declared her disdain, glaring at Ottilia.

Ottilia responded with a grateful look.

Sister, I’ll do whatever you say from now on.

After they exchanged glances, Ottilia once again pitched the basement plan and praised Flora for her appearance and figure. She had been the Holy Maiden, a pure maiden!

Wayne picked at his ear. “Since you’ve finished your revenge, it’s my turn now. She’s been getting on my nerves for more than a few days.”

“I’ll hold her hands down for you,” Regina offered readily.

They all fell silent.

Speechless, Wayne looked at Regina with such a righteous gaze that she lowered her head in shame. She hadn’t wanted to do this; she only agreed to help because Ottilia had begged her for a long time.

“What about you, Ottilia? Are you going to help, too?”

“Um, I’ll cover Regina’s eyes.”

Once again, they fell silent.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough hands to hold her down without your help.”

Wayne huffed. Ottilia had seriously misunderstood him. The fact that he had multiple girlfriends didn’t mean that he was a pervert. He just had a lot of love to give and had trouble saying no. That was it.

The dense fog parted to give way to him. He walked up to Flora.

She stared at him with clenched teeth like he was her mortal enemy, her face pale. With her perception falling apart completely, she couldn’t tell if he was real. She only knew from Ludwig’s conversation with Senna that Wayne had passed the trial and would become the next Nature Knight.

What a terrible judgment from the goddess!

“Priestess Flora, we meet again.”

“I want to live!” Flora got right to the point. “I know many of the Pope’s secrets. I’ll pledge loyalty to you, so just give me a chance. I had no other choice back then.”

“I see. You want to be a good person now, don’t you?” Wayne chuckled mockingly, raising an eyebrow. “You’ll lose freedom and purity by pledging loyalty to me. Are you sure you want that?”

Flora’s expression contorted. “I’m a former Holy Maiden. If you defile my purity, the goddess won’t—”

She couldn’t continue. The goddess’s Holy Maiden changed every twenty years, while the goddess’s knight rarely changed. In all the church’s records, Moula had been the only knight. With Wayne being Her second knight, he would be far more precious than a Holy Maiden.

After her expression shifted several times, Flora dispersed the faith magic she had readied. “Kill me. I won’t submit to you.”

As Ottilia had said, Flora valued her purity over anything else. She had guarded it for decades without fail, and her persistence had become an obsession. Losing her purity was more terrifying than death itself.

Being locked up in a basement would be a fate worse than death.

“As you wish!” Wayne nodded. Looking at Flora as she waited for death with her eyes closed, he didn’t mock her purity further. Instead, he said, “I’ll let you learn the truth before your death. This is for my master, Silvia. If you hadn’t attempted to murder her, I might have listened to Ottilia’s suggestion and given you a chance to live.”

“Silvia...”

Flora opened her eyes, confused. She had wanted to kill Silvia to replace her, but where did Wayne get the information?

“Kekekeke—”

Wayne drew Shadow Nightmare and transformed into the Death Knight, advancing toward her with his sword. “You’ve mimicked Master’s thoughts so remarkably that I almost fell for it.”

Flora’s pupils contracted, and her voice rose in terror. “Impossible! You’re the chosen Nature Knight. You passed the trial. How could you be the Death Knight?”

This had to be an illusion. With Senna controlling her perception, she was seeing a lie. She would not be fooled.

Hiss!

Wayne gripped her shoulder and thrust his sword through her chest, the pure white blade unstained by blood.

Flora’s breath hitched. Death’s tendrils eroded her thoughts, and a chill spread through her entire body, telling her that everything was real. Wayne wasn’t only the Nature Knight, but also the Death Knight.

She grasped his sword and looked at the skeleton from a short distance, her gaze growing confused. She said with self-mockery, “No wonder the Death Knight hasn’t antagonized the Church of Nature after arriving in Londan. Silvia had long betrayed the church and brought the Death Knight into the fold, even recommending you for the Holy Maiden selection and helping you gain the Goddess of Nature’s favor...”

She made it sound like Silvia was the mastermind behind everything!

Silvia was more or less in charge of the Lando family, though; the Death Knight respected her, and the Darkness Knight let her beat him up without fighting back.

“Master doesn’t know what I am. Her thinking has always been simple, nowhere near as despicable as you imagine.”

“Is that so? Then how lucky she is...” Flora’s hands grew cold as she murmured, “She picked up the Death Knight without doing anything. Although she was a loser and had a failed marriage...”

“Let me tell you something else.” Wayne lowered his head. “That night, the Darkness Knight was present, too. He was worried that the Death Knight would kill his wife, so he escorted her all the way until he discovered that the owner of those thoughts was you rather than Master.”

Flora shuddered.

“Master’s marriage isn’t a failure. She’s fallen for a man worthy of her devotion.”

Wayne thrust his longsword forward violently, piercing through Flora’s chest.

Eyes unfocused, Flora saw the world turn black. In her final moment, she shrieked in despair, “Why? Why does she have everything? She lost to me!”

“Who knows? Maybe heaven favors the stubborn fools,” Wayne murmured. Once her body turned cold, he withdrew Shadow Nightmare and let her corpse fall.

The

Book of Greed

pinged him: there was a new wraith he could form a contract with. It was close—right at his feet, even.

“???”

What could she possibly be vengeful about? Shouldn’t a villain accept defeat?