As the goddess who governs evil and chaos, Lilith’s power could bypass all conditions and directly drive others insane, making them go berserk and lose their minds.
It seemed like a form of mental domination, but it was actually a soul-penetrating ability, completely different from ordinary mental control.
In other words, Lilith’s evil aura didn’t interfere with the mind or influence one’s thoughts, but directly infiltrated the soul, injecting it with the “poison” of evil and chaos.
Once infected by this “poison,” even the Goddess of Life might not be able to save them. That was why the Divine Race and Demon Race in ancient times were helpless against it. In the end, the Divine Race could only seal Lilith and the beings she had driven mad, restoring peace to the world.
Under such circumstances, Maeve didn’t expect to be cured by Shien.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Seeing Maeve’s surprised look, Shien curled his lip.
“I can save you only because you haven’t been completely corrupted. As for those ancient beings here, I can’t save a single one.”
This was the truth.
Although [Celestial Breathe] was very powerful and known as an almost omnipotent legendary healing magic, using it against the power of the strongest evil god was a bit too much.
People like Maeve, who hadn’t been completely corrupted, or those who had only been corrupted recently, could still be saved. But for those who had been in a state of madness for too long, whose self-awareness had already been erased, Shien was completely helpless.
Otherwise, Shien wouldn’t have directly granted those ancient beings peace earlier.
“…Thank you.”
Maeve was silent for a moment, then thanked Shien.
“Thank you?” Shien raised an eyebrow and said with a smirk, “I kidnapped your saintess, and this situation definitely has something to do with me. You’re actually thanking me?”
Indeed.
Lilith’s seal had weakened because of Shien, causing the evil aura to leak out and the ancient beings to break free from the seal and come to the outside world.
Judging from Maeve’s current state, the beastmen priests guarding the temple had probably been driven mad by the evil aura.
Moreover, Shien had also kidnapped Elise. These beastmen priests should hate him to the core, right?
Therefore, although Shien had saved Maeve, he was prepared to be held accountable.
Who would have thought…
“…This evil aura and these evil beings didn’t escape because the seal weakened.”
Maeve was silent for a while, then gritted her teeth and said these words resentfully.
“They didn’t escape because the seal weakened?” Shien was taken aback, then frowned and looked at Maeve. “What do you mean?”
The meaning was actually simple.
“The evil aura and the evil beings escaped because of the Old Demon Faction.” Maeve took a deep breath and said, “It was the Old Demon Faction who interfered with the seal, causing the evil aura to leak out and the evil beings to be released before Lilith herself broke free.” RἈ₦ՕꞖÈŠ
Maeve then explained the whole story to Shien.
It turned out that after Shien kidnapped Elise, while the beastmen priests were panicking, the Old Demon Faction, who had attacked here before, reappeared.
This time, they didn’t launch a large-scale invasion. Instead, they took advantage of the beastmen priests’ panic over Elise and collectively infiltrated the dark temple, reaching Lilith’s seal.
“Their goal should be to free Lilith, but they seem unable to break the seal directly like you, so they could only interfere with it, slowly trying to break it.”
Maeve looked at Shien and said.
“Therefore, in order to occupy the dark temple and slowly break the seal, the Old Demon Faction released the evil aura and the evil beings within the seal.”
“They wanted to use the power of the evil aura and the evil beings to eliminate anyone who tried to approach or stay near the temple.”
“We discovered this, but it was too late. We couldn’t attack the temple in time and reclaim it. We were also attacked by the evil beings and separated.”
Speaking of this, Maeve couldn’t help but reveal a worried expression.
She was worried about her companions, not knowing how they were doing now that they were separated.
Shien could guess that those beastmen priests had either been driven mad by the evil aura, like Maeve earlier, or attacked by the corrupted beings, and their chances of survival were slim.
“What about the Saintess?”
Maeve suppressed her worry and looked at Shien intently.
“Please return Saintess Elise to us.”
When she said these words, Maeve’s tone was pleading.
At this point, she could only hope that Shien would show mercy and return the saintess, who was their reason for existence, to them.
Shien sighed and shrugged.
“Unfortunately, Elise isn’t with me right now.” Shien told Maeve truthfully. “After discovering the evil aura, the Saintess rushed out like she was crazy. I followed her here.”
“What?” Maeve’s eyes widened. She asked anxiously, “So, Saintess Elise, she…!?”
“That’s right.” Shien nodded. “She might have already run in here, or even entered the temple and encountered the Old Demon Faction.”
Hearing this, Maeve abruptly turned around and rushed towards the temple at full speed.
However, she had only run a short distance when a hand pulled her back.
“Let me go!”
Maeve struggled and glared at Shien.