Amidst the rubble and ruins overgrown with moss and vines, broken stone bricks and wood bearing clear scorch marks lay piled in a chaotic mess.
The damp air was still faintly filled with the acrid stench of gunpowder and charred flesh.
This place had once been an underground city-state built by the drow, but now it was reduced to this dilapidated state.
“Whew... Whew...”
Inside one of the few relatively intact stone houses in this ruin, rapid, heavy panting echoed out, shattering the quiet of the area.
“Saint— Your Highness, are you alright?” asked a woman in a black robe with concern. Her exposed skin was deathly pale, and her pupils were dilated and unfocused, making her look like she was no longer among the living.
In front of her, a blonde girl also dressed in a black robe—though she looked infinitely more disheveled in comparison—sat on a stone bed stained with dried, black blood. One of her hands clutched her flank, which bore obvious signs of corrosion, while her other hand rested on the bed as she gasped heavily for air.
This was none other than Vina Alice, the former Saintess who had abandoned her faith and willingly fallen into the embrace of the Abyss.
“I'm fine... pant. Quick, Laya, go outside and check if that damn bitch has caught up to us,” Vina urged, gasping for breath.
“But you...” Laya furrowed her brows in worry.
“Don't worry about me!” Vina's voice turned harsh and shrill. She raised a hand and shoved her loyal guard hard. “Go! ...I won't die anytime soon! As long as I can carry out that plan, as long as I can have my revenge... what does it matter even if I lose my life?”
Shoved back a couple of steps, Laya stared at the person she had sworn her loyalty to. Looking at her frenzied state and her bloodshot, yellowish-brown eyes, Laya ultimately said nothing more.
The guard, who had long since been turned into a lich, turned around and strode outside. As she walked out of the stone house, she cast one last look back inside.
What she saw made her long-dead heart shudder. Vina Alice had pulled out a small knife she carried, enchanted it with a layer of flame using magic, and was carefully slicing away the horribly corroded flesh on her abdomen.
Unable to bear the sight, Laya gritted her teeth but said nothing. She knew very well that in the past, as the Church's Saintess, Vina Alice could have easily healed such an injury using healing divine magic.
But now, her young Saintess had abandoned her faith... and naturally, she could no longer cast divine spells.
“Sigh...”
With a sigh, Laya braced herself and vigilantly scanned their surroundings, on guard in case the green-haired woman who had attacked them pursued them here.
...
“Whew... Whew...”
After a grueling ordeal, cold sweat drenched the former Saintess's forehead. On the bed board beside her, in addition to the old, dried black bloodstains that were there before they arrived, there was now a fresh puddle of dark, foul-smelling blood.
The blood was mixed with a considerable amount of skin and flesh that had been forcibly sliced off, showing clear signs of corrosion.
After silently cursing eighteen generations of the ancestors of the green-haired woman who had attacked them without rhyme or reason the moment they met, Vina gritted her teeth and pulled a glass bottle containing a red potion from her storage ring.
Biting off the cork, she poured the potion directly onto the raw, freshly carved wound.
“Hiss—”
The excruciating pain nearly made Vina's vision go black and pass out, but fueled by the hatred in her heart—the hatred of being abandoned by the god she once worshipped—she managed to pull through.
After hastily treating the wound, she took out some spare clothes, tore them into strips, and wrapped the injury. Once she changed into a clean, tidy set of clothes, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Supporting herself against the wall, she stood up. At this moment, she suddenly recalled the luxurious, comfortable life she once had in the Church, and a bitter, self-deprecating smile appeared on her deathly pale face.
“For revenge, to take revenge on the false god who abandoned his believers, it's all worth it. It's all worth it!” she muttered to herself, as if trying to comfort her own soul.
The next moment, Vina's ears twitched. She heard a series of hurried footsteps approaching from the distance.
Although she knew it was most likely her companion returning from scouting, just to be safe, Vina still gripped the small knife she had used to slice her flesh. She crept to the side of the stone house's doorway, raising the knife high as she waited in tense vigilance.
“Your Highness!”
Laya, dressed in her black robe, called out in a hushed voice. The moment she rushed into the room, a small knife stained with dark, foul-smelling blood was pressed against her neck.
Even though she was undead and no longer possessed the mortal vulnerabilities of a human, she was still startled. She halted her steps abruptly, narrowly avoiding a disastrous friendly-fire incident.
Once she confirmed the identity of the newcomer, Vina pulled the knife away from Laya's neck. Her nearly bloodless lips parted as she asked:
“How's the situation outside? ...Has that damn bitch caught up to us?”
“No, no, Your Highness,” Laya replied quickly. “We fled so far, she shouldn't be able to catch up anytime soon. However, I discovered something else.”
“What is it?”
Vina was wiping the blood off her knife with the sleeve of her robe. Hearing this, she grew vigilant once more.
As she spoke, she noticed Laya's expression was somewhat strange. After a brief silence, she spoke again:
“Forget it, just take me to see it for myself.”
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