The Necromancer and the Priestess (7)

Rosella was panting, smeared with mud as she hid in a ditch, tucking herself in a shadowy place behind the roots of a tree. She clutched a bag to her chest, making herself as still as possible. She covered her mouth with her hand, stopping her breathing as she closed her eyes. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest.

There was a rustling in the dark and gloomy blue-black leaves of the forest, as something seemed to stop, sniffing loudly.

Rosella was just reaching her limits when the thing finally moved away. She released her hand, letting out a sharp gasp as she drunk in the damp and heavy air.

Why was she here in this situation again? Rosella tried to recall, but thinking about it, her body started to shiver and her face turned pale.

That's right. The squad had been completely wiped out by something. She didn't know what it was, but it had killed everyone. No, perhaps not everyone, but Rosella had been too concentrated on surviving herself that she didn't know if anyone other than her was still alive.

That bloody image still made her feel nauseous.

And now she was alone in this forest, with no idea how to get out, or even survive.

Each moment was a battle - she constantly had to run and hide from the monsters. And she still didn't know if that something that had taken out the squad was still there. Although the forest was dangerous, the squad should have been experienced. Something that powerful shouldn't have appeared. What in the world was happening?

She closed her eyes, getting sleepy.

No, she couldn't fall unconscious here. She had to find a safer place...

Back in the capital, Yin Mei had on a dark expression as she looked at the system's surveillance screen. She had been checking in on Rosella daily, but she had just looked away once, and something major like this had happened?

She rewound the video, watching what had actually happened from start to finish. What in the world was that? If she recalled, there hadn't been anything like that in the information.

It was a dark, shadowy thing that appeared like some sort of beast with glowing red eyes.

The closest thing that she could reference it too from Celestina's memories was... an evil creature, perhaps? But...

Yin Mei glanced away, in deep thought.

An evil creature was a being of pure concentrated miasma. It didn't have a corporeal body, and could only be defeated through strong holy magic. The problem was that an evil creature shouldn't have appeared. Or rather, one hadn't appeared since the early years after the demon bridge had disappeared. This was because the church consistently went on expeditions in order to purify the miasma! In doing so, there was no way it could reach a concentration high enough to give birth to such a thing. Especially considering that the time in between this expedition and the last one was even less than usual!

So why is it that it had appeared anyways?

Could it be the prelude to the opening of the demon bridge? No, that shouldn't be the case. The demon bridge had never opened during the time period covered by the information. Unless her appearance had resulted in a strong butterfly effect??

No, she would first need to quickly report this to the Bishop. Rosella still hadn't gotten the black flower for her, so how could she let her just die off like this right now?

That day, the church when into a frenzy as the high priestess sensed the birth of an evil creature in Gloom Forest. Actually, Celestina didn't have this sort of ability, but there was no way that anyone knew this, as it had been far too long since the last appearance of an evil creature. Because of Celestina's personality and ability though, there wasn't anyone who doubted her. The Bishop immediately gathered up a squad of highly skilled and experienced priests and knights, and was even considering to personally go himself when thinking of the dangers that an evil creature would pose.

But upon further thought, he couldn't leave the church with all the work that he had to deal with.

In the end, Yin Mei and the Bishop had a serious conversation for the first time in order to choose a person with the suitable ability to go. They didn't know how much holy power was needed in order to defeat an evil creature, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The problem was that aside from Yin Mei and the Bishop, all the other members of the church simply didn't meet the cut for them. There was just too large of a difference in affinity.

Yin Mei already knew that it had taken out almost the entire squad that they had sent on this expedition, and that squad already contained some fairly experienced and talented members of the church. To be killed off despite this, Yin Mei knew that it would be difficult to find someone who would be able to take care of this among the church members.

The only person she could think of off the top of her head would be Kai - she thought that with his protagonist aura, even if he wasn't fully equipped to kill off the evil creature now, he should probably still be able to do survive and then power up and do so later?

But her experience with male lead's made her confidence waver. She thought that there was a very delicate balance with what a protagonist could handle - although it was implied that they could overcome any obstacle, her experience made it clear that there were in fact obstacles too powerful for them to overcome sometimes. The obstacle had to be at just the right strength for them at that moment to be able to survive and then power up.

She blinked. Perhaps this was the perfect chance to try out her summoning project? They were almost done, and Yin Mei had predicted they would only need a few more meetings and some small experiments to work out the minor details - it would be possible to push things up a bit if they needed to.

But this would still take some time. Would Rosella be able to hang on until then? Oh! She could always send her little familiar to aid her.

Thinking of things this way, Yin Mei made her decision.

"Are you sure about doing this?" Leon said with an anxious decision, as he tried to keep up with the quick paced Yin Mei.

"Of course I am. There's no one else who can do it. I can't leave the church, and even if the Bishop could, we can't afford to lose him." Yin Mei said. Saying it like this was pretty cruel. Leon blinked, feeling shocked at what she was implying. In other words, because they couldn't risk losing the Bishop... they would summon someone who was more disposable?

He paused. No, she probably didn't realize the implications of her words. After all, Celestina was not that type of person. He was just thinking too deeply into things.

He saw that Yin Mei had gotten even further ahead of him and so quickly jogged to catch up.

The two of them entered a room in the inner sanctum that they had cleared out to use for their summoning project. On the ground was a complete summoning circle drawn in white chalk.

"We still have only done some minor experiments. Even if it's you, the mana consumption rate-"

Yin Mei interrupted him. "It won't kill me." She had calculated it herself. The mana consumption would exponentially increase based on the mass of the person summoned, but it was still within manageable parameters. At least in theory.

They had already put in the target restrictions - limited attachment to the earth, high holy affinity, and an acceptable personality. How the magic would judge this, Yin Mei guessed it had to do something with the goddess.

Leon sighed, but knew he couldn't change her mind. He instead went to go grab a few priestesses to be on standby, in case something happened. Yin Mei couldn't die at this moment in time. If she did, then forget about the evil creature, they would have a bigger problem on hand. He was shocked that the Bishop would actually agree to such a risky plan.

The reason the Bishop had agreed was because of Celestina's confidence. Above all, Celestina's magic skill was undeniable. Because of this, he didn't think it would be a problem.

Yin Mei knelt down before the circle before the worried faces of the priestesses and Leon.

Ah, perhaps she should've said something to El before this. But it was too late now. And anyways, why was she thinking like this would be the last time she would see him?

"Goddess be by my side, in this time of need." She muttered. She wasn't a religious person, but the goddess was a real entity. And she could sure use her right now.

The people present blinked, feeling shocked as they seemed to see the hazy image of a smiling woman appear behind Yin Mei for a moment. That image, was just like that of the paintings and statues of the goddess that were in the church!

Yin Mei began chanting, power flowing through her veins and the circle light up with a warm golden light.

There was a flash of light, and power quickly drained out of it.

By the time the priestesses and Leon regained their sight, a young girl in a school uniform was sitting with a shocked expression in the middle of the summoning circle, while Yin Mei had collapsed, unconscious.

The priestesses immediately rushed to her side, pouring their magic into her to make up for what she had lost. But their magic was only a drop in the ocean for Celestina, and they knew it would probably require days of effort from them before she could awaken - the good thing was that she was still alive, and still maintaining the seal.

The young girl, a high school student from Earth by the name of Yu Na, blinked in confusion at this sight before her. She had been walking home from school when a flash of light had appeared before her feet, and before she knew it, she was now in this stone room. On the ground was some sort of circle written in strange runes, while a beautiful lady was collapsed before her, other pretty women fussing around the girl.

"How are you?" Asked a deep voice, drawing Yu Na's attention to a beautiful man dressed in a purple tasseled robe. He had a gentle expression, but his eyes kept on darting toward the fallen girl. It was clear that he was worried about her, but he still prioritized talking to Yu Na. He could tell from the reaction of the priestesses that Celestina was not in any danger, so he decided to confirm the results of the experiment first.

"I-I-" Yu Na felt slightly panicked. Where in the world was this? It couldn't be that this was the rumored summoned to another world trope commonly used in light novels right? She felt shocked, but quickly regained her bearings. For these youths that were constantly fed this sort of story, they immediately knew to analyze their surroundings and confirm the reality of the situation. She pinched herself, feeling the pain. It wasn't a dream. She really was summoned to another world!

She felt a mixture of worry and shock, but more importantly was excitement.

After all, this was another world they were talking about here! She could see the glowing light from the palms of the hands of the women surrounding the collapsed blond haired girl, and could confirm... it was a world of magic!

"Where is this?" She asked, her voice growing slightly more confident as she succeeded in calming herself down.

"This is the Empire of Erindal. I'm sure you're confused, but we'll explain everything." Leon said, reaching out his hand.

Yu Na blushed a little - after all, this person was really way too handsome. She took his hand, and he helped her up.

Leon told the priestesses to take Yin Mei to her room, and had them also call the Bishop just in case. Although Yin Mei was not in any danger, it was better safe than sorry. The Bishop had the mana needed to heal her faster anyways. He had someone take the girl they had summoned to an empty room, and only after arranging everything did he go to see her again.

He calmly explained the situation, and Yu Na's eyes began to sparkle more and more as she understood it.

It seems that the church that she had been summoned by was currently in a predicament. An extremely powerful thing known as an evil creature had appeared and had already killed off a squad of some of their most skilled and experienced knights and priests. The beautiful girl who had summoned her was their high priestess, who, though she had a very high holy affinity and was unrivaled in power, was unable to leave the church. Because of this, they could only rely on summoning another person to help them dispel the evil creature, that could only be killed by people with high holy affinity.

"We'll test your holy affinity later, but it shouldn't be low, since we specifically summoned someone with a high affinity. For now, you should get some rest." Leon said. He bid farewell, shutting the door behind him. His expression was slightly indifferent, as he stood for a moment with his back to the door. He didn't mention to her, that if her affinity was high enough, then not just the matter of the evil creature - it may even be possible to use her as Celestina's successor.

He wondered, did Celestina think about this when creating the summoning circle...? No. He still felt the same when he thought of what she had said earlier. Celestina was ignorant - he didn't think she had the capabilities of thinking that far into things. The reason why she had started summoning was merely due to her free time and interest in magic in the first place. What she did was to aid the people.

And anyways, the matter of finding a disposable pawn and finding someone to replace her as the seal's intermediary were slightly contradictory as well.

He sighed. It would be good if she woke up soon.