But before Callista could even recover from the shock in her heart, another wave of magic descended.
This time, it wasn’t to support Callista, but to aid her companions.
Since the Elven Princess and the Darkspawn were both inside the city, the Church had deliberately arranged for several powerful Paladins to hide in the shadows.
So Callista wasn’t the only one ambushed—three other members of Magic of the Midnight Sun were also in danger.
Each of them was now being targeted by three to five Paladins, most of whom were at the second tier, with a few even at the third tier.
These were the troublesome types who could wield both magic and martial skills.
If earlier, due to the suddenness of the attack, Callista hadn’t been able to take in the full picture, now she was witnessing everything with perfect clarity.
Countless orange-red fireballs and blue wind blades shot in from the distance.
They seemed to have eyes, following a precise pattern of two fireballs paired with one wind blade, each set homing in on a Paladin with deadly accuracy.
From Callista’s perspective, the magic looked like massive fireworks blooming in the sky, or perhaps more like a coordinated volley from a battalion of mages—no, maybe it was more like a rain of arrows.
The firestorm mixed with wind blades poured down with a howling roar, as if it didn’t even consume mana.
Amid the panicked cries of the Paladins in pain, Callista’s companions quickly broke free from their encirclement.
Even more miraculously, despite the magic falling like a torrential downpour, not a single member of Magic of the Midnight Sun was hit.
The spells avoided them perfectly.
This wasn’t something a regular squad of mages could pull off, right? Just how many people in Aurora City were secretly opposing the Church? Callista felt a wave of uncertainty.
She couldn’t help but think that maybe her intervention had been completely unnecessary.
Maybe even without her, this group of mages could have wiped out the Church’s knights on their own.
No, she couldn’t just leave everything to others.
She was a third-tier warrior, someone Magic of the Midnight Sun had placed high hopes on.
Since she had already decided to act, there was no way she could back out now.
At the very least, under the cover of these mages, she had to get those three poor souls out of here.
She didn’t know where these mages had come from, but she had to thank them.
Silently offering her gratitude, Callista turned her gaze back to the platform.
The seasoned knight who had ambushed her was now in a sorry state.
His hair was singed, his face blotched with black and red burns, and his once-shiny silver armor was dented all over.
But even so, the Paladin hadn’t lost his fighting ability.
He must’ve taken the first few fireballs head-on and then dodged the rest.
After all, fireballs were only first-tier spells and didn’t pack much punch.
Callista couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
If those ten fireballs had struck from all directions instead of in a straight line, maybe they could’ve taken out this veteran knight in one go.
The Paladin narrowed his eyes, lowered his stance, and locked his gaze on Callista’s scythe.
“That scythe… Callista of Magic of the Midnight Sun.
Not only did you intercept our supply units on the front lines, now you’ve infiltrated the city to cause chaos.
Hiding this many mages… you’ve really gone all out, you despicable blasphemer.”
Callista just sneered at the knight’s sarcastic words.
“Maybe your faith just isn’t devout enough.
Otherwise, your beloved Goddess of Life would’ve warned you ahead of time that you were going to be ambushed today.”
“You’re asking for death!”
Callista’s words clearly hit a nerve.
The Paladin’s face twisted in rage, and he charged at her with his spear.
But Callista was ready.
Her right foot lit up with the earthy glow of earth-element magic, and she stomped hard on the stone beneath her.
In response, a massive stone spear, thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around, suddenly shot up in the Paladin’s path.
If he had been moving any faster, his legs would’ve been skewered.
But his reflexes were sharp—he jabbed his spear into the stone spear and forced himself to a stop.
Still, as a warrior of Magic of the Midnight Sun, Callista never expected a single stone spear to take down a third-tier Paladin.
As the seasoned knight halted in front of the stone spear, she used the dust it kicked up to silently circle behind him.
She raised her scythe high and swung it down hard at his back.
This should end it.
Clang!
Instead of the feeling of slicing through flesh, she felt like she’d slammed into a solid block of iron.
The violent shock nearly made her lose her grip on the scythe, her hands going numb.
Though the armor on the Paladin’s back was clearly dented, and he was smashed into the ground, the blow hadn’t done any real damage.
Are all Church Paladins made of iron?!
As she backed off to create distance, Callista cursed in her heart.
That strike should’ve at least cut into him a little, even if he were made of solid metal.
But the armor only dented.
It must’ve been infused with a ton of mithril or even orichalcum—no wonder it was so damn tough.
Thinking about it that way, the fact that those fireballs managed to dent mithril armor was seriously impressive.
If it had been her taking the hit, she might’ve been too injured to keep fighting—no, she might’ve been dead.
Callista was an offensive-type warrior.
If her stats were out of 10, her strength and speed would both be above 7, but her defense was barely a 3.
Still, even if the Paladin was armored like a tank, Callista didn’t think she’d lose.
She was a warrior from Magic of the Midnight Sun.
Compared to these locals who didn’t know how to maximize the effects of magic, her mastery of magic was on a whole different level.
She coated her scythe in pitch-black corrosive magic and charged at the Paladin again.
Time to show these Paladins that faith in the gods won’t do them any good.
