Chapter 170: Florida Man Visits Local Church to Pray, Runs into Molesters, and Guns Down 100 for the Lord. Local Priestesses Now Wants His D.
"Eh, that's kinda overkilled."
Felix hovered in mid-air, watching Diana's rampage with a deep frown. She accidentally froze the bystanders and innocent priestesses, trapping them in square ice prison cubes.
Feeling bad for the victims, Felix rushed down and projected a small flame out of his fingertip. He touched an ice cube, which sealed a priestess within.
The flame instantly thawed the ice, and a young priestess was freed. Felix caught her before she fell to the ground. He checked her pulse.
To Felix's relief, she was alive. It seemed Diana's ice spell didn't instantly kill everybody.
Felix turned to Diana and ordered her. "Diana! Don't randomly freeze a town! Release the bystanders!"
Diana looked back and shyly laughed, "Sorry! I forgot!"
Felix shook his head and rushed to another victim. Carefully, he projected a small lighter fire from his fingertip and melted ice prisons in the area.
Repenting to her deeds, Diana also undid some of her ice prison spells. Aside from men in the armor, all buildings and people inside were released. Then, she turned to Felix, interested in his new abilities.
Her husband's fire abilities seemed stronger. She observed how Felix meticulously controlled his fire mana output, trying not to burn the victims inside the ice prisons.
She was surprised. Intrigued, she asked Felix, "Darling, right now, my spells should be as strong as a human magus's. You're only a fourth-circle mage at best. How did you negate my power so easily?"
Felix shrugged without looking back, "Maybe, I'm your master and you're my familiar?"
"No. I can tell. If you were serious, you could have overpowered my ice abilities. Just how…"
Felix paused for a moment and opened his status menu, allowing Diana to see.
…
Name: Felix Ariel
Remaining Lifespan: 89,666
Bloodline: Void Phoenix
Element Affinity: Fire, Water, Metal, Poison, Light, Void
Authorized Level: Super Democracy Pass (C)
Level: 46/50
Energy: 49M / 50M
Mana: 50,000,000
Innate Talents: Flame Lungs, Fast Learner, Fire Immunity, Poison Immunity, Petrification Immunity, Ashen Resurrection
Skills: Flame Breathe (Beginner), Fireball Spitting (Beginner), Flame Mana (Beginner), Flame Aura (Beginner), Mana Manipulation (Beginner), Aura Invocation (Beginner), Essence Circulation (Beginner), Metallurgy (Entry), Illumina Ball (Entry), Water Creation (Entry), Poison Spit (Entry)
…
Diana stared at Felix's system status for the first time, wide-eyed with shock. She scanned his skill list and elemental affinities multiple times, barely believing her own eyes.
"Water and Fire Affinity?! H-How many elements can you use?" she exclaimed, astonished.
Felix rolled his eyes, nonchalantly. "Count them yourself. Isn't this a standard system status? Haven't you met others with multiple affinities before? They must be way stronger than me, right?"
Diana gave a dry laugh. She'd encountered many reincarnators and transmigrators in her time—some possessing impressive abilities, others wielding singular powers of elemental affinity. But even among the powerful, Felix's status was bizarre. Most of her past opponents specialized in just one or two areas; three, if they were lucky enough to wield a rare heavenly fate crystal. But Felix's system was far more versatile, allowing him to level up in ways that defied the usual rules.
As she considered his rapid growth and untapped potential, Diana realized that Felix could even surpass her in strength in a matter of years. Meanwhile, Felix seemed unconcerned with her reaction, focused instead on thawing out the frozen priestesses. He carefully administered healing potions and energy elixirs, reviving each one back to consciousness.
The priestesses coughed and gasped as they woke, staring up in dazed wonder at Felix, their handsome savior. But the moment their eyes landed on Diana, they recoiled in terror.
"EEEEEK!" they screamed in unison, scrambling to put distance between themselves and the lamia queen. Some tried to flee back into the cathedral, only to stumble, too frightened to move.
Diana, slightly miffed, clicked her tongue. "Hey, I may be a monster, but I just saved your lives! Show a little gratitude!" she grumbled. She gave an irritated punch to an ice cage imprisoning an aura knight, shattering it and the frozen soldier inside to shards.
The priestesses fell silent, but their wary gazes lingered on Diana. Raised within the teachings of the Eleanor Church, they had always been told that Lamias were enemies to humankind. None of this made any sense to them.
By the time Felix finished thawing out the thirtieth priestess, he exited the cathedral, sidestepping a shattered knight whose legs were missing any armor. He faced the women, his tone calm but assertive.
"Ladies, relax a moment. Diana, go and thaw the civilians you froze around the city. I'll handle things here."
Diana pouted, annoyed at being blamed for using her abilities, but slithered off toward the city as instructed. Once she was gone, Felix turned back to the priestesses, counting heads mentally and trying to gauge their numbers.
"What happened here?" he asked. "Why did the knights attack you?"
An elder priestess stepped forward, a kind but worn expression on her face. "Lord Benefactor, allow me to explain," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "During the cursed moon calamity, we—followers of the Eleanor Church—stood our ground against evil spawns, protecting this city. But the city lord, Brag Swan, abandoned us. He fled with his soldiers, leaving us to fight alone. After we finally vanquished the last monster, he returned, blamed us for the damage, and declared war on the church."
"Sounds like a typical villain move…" Felix muttered.
The elder sighed, nodding. "Yes, he is as cruel as he is selfish. But are you a crusader or a paladin from the capital?"
Felix shook his head. "No, just passing through. Saw some commotion and decided to check it out."
The elder priestess's shoulders slumped a little, disappointment in her eyes, but she forced a smile. "I see. Fate must have guided you here, nonetheless. Thank you for helping us, young man."
"Keep your gratitude for another time," Felix glanced around, changing the topic. "Where are the rest of you? Help me locate any frozen citizens. My comrade's AOE spell must have caught some of your allies."
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The priestesses, now more composed, rallied to help. They scoured the cathedral for any hidden followers, quickly locating a secret chamber under the central podium. Inside, a group of children and acolytes huddled together, breathing the chilly air but otherwise unharmed by Diana's freezing spell.
Felix followed the priestesses as they gathered their rescued members, leading them one by one out of hiding and into safety.
…
Two hours later, Felix managed to rescue five female clergies, 20 priestesses, three elders, and over 30 injured female paladins in the infirmary ward. After giving them potions, their wounds were healed, and their condition stabilized.
After everybody was accounted for, they gathered in the cathedral to regroup. The healed paladins cleared the front yard, venting their frustration by kicking and crushing every frozen aura knight.
Felix remained with them to get more information about Brag Swan. He took a break by sitting on the front bench, catching a breather.
The girls eyed him with admiration. Some innocent ones blushed, mistaking him for a prince charming in legends or fairy tales. Many whispered, gossiping about how Felix resuscitated some of the unconscious priestesses by kissing them, unaware of the CPR process.
The previous elder with whom Felix had chatted approached him and gave him a cup of boiled water. She smiled at him.
Felix received the cup and asked a more important question.
"Are these all your members? Anyone else who still needs rescuing? With a brute like Brag Swan in charge, I imagine he's taken a fair number of captives already."
The elder priestess gasped. "H-How did you know?!"
Felix rolled his eyes. "Let's just say I've read about people like him. Anyway, where is Brag Swan hiding out? I'll take care of him while I search for any other captives."
"The manor behind the cathedral, benefactor," the elder replied, pointing a trembling finger.
Felix nodded, taking in the area. "Good. Let me catch a break for a moment. When my ally returns, I'll head there with her."
Hearing that Felix was planning to raid the Swan House's manor, the resting paladins and priestesses were stunned. The elder was also shocked.
"Benefactor, Brag Swan has recently obtained some artifacts and created many deadly weapons. His personal guards and mages all have one. Please do not be reckless. Let's wait for the reinforcement from the capital's forces to arrive and rescue us."
Felix was not interested in wasting time, and he planned to strike anyway. However, hearing about deadly artifacts and weapons, he believed it wouldn't hurt to gather more information about them.
"What kind of artifact or weapon are they using? Why are you so scared of them?"
The elder sighed deeply, "I saw Brag Swan using one of the artifacts. It was a long metal tube that spat fire. Once it spat fire and let out a thunderous sound, one of our paladins died. We've already lost so many of our sisters because of those."
"…"
Felix paused to think.
Thunderous sound?
Spit fire?
Metal tube?
Wasn't that a gun? A rifle?
Felix racked his brain, recalling the past events. He tried to recall the people that he had spoken to or given them broken rifles.
He remembered giving people from Lundop House some makeshift guns that broke upon usage. He also gave Emperor Saucon some rifles.
Did those people somehow obtain the guns from them?