I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 686: Penetrating Faith (3)

Catherine arrived in front of Galahad Fortress.

The place that should have been noisy with war was eerily quiet.

It couldn't be helped.

Those who had arrived here had all been defeated, unable to penetrate the tree standing tall in front of the fortress.

People who had been defeated were held captive by roots that penetrated the ground and rippled like heat haze.

From a distance, it looked as if people had been hanged on each root, like those who had been executed by hanging.

While it appeared to be a serious sight at first glance, surprisingly, there were no casualties.

The people caught in the roots were not dead but asleep.

Their faces, bathed in the soft light shed by the tree's leaves, looked incredibly peaceful.

The somewhat peaceful scene, out of place on a battlefield, was so jarring that it gave one goosebumps.

'That, that tree...'

Whether Rene had such thoughts or not, there was no change in the expressions of the priests, including Catherine.

No, at least Catherine did show some emotion.

What appeared on her face was interest.

"It's an enormously large tree. I knew elf druids had already intervened, but I didn't expect them to use a pseudo-World Tree."

Catherine saw through the identity of the tree at once.

Not a World Tree, but a tree comparable to one.

That giant tree was itself a living weapon.

"But it's a bit soft. Not killing people, huh."

However, from the fact that it put people to sleep without killing them, it was easy to guess the nature of the one controlling the tree.

"No, perhaps rather than killing them, rendering them immobile and keeping them as hostages is actually the right choice to buy more time?"

The tree noticed Catherine and began to emit a stronger light, recognizing the presence of an intruder.

Roots that wiggled like giant earthworms rushed toward Catherine from within the ground.

As the roots approached, the ground burst upward. It was a sight that would send chills down even the spine of a brave person.

However, Catherine remained completely composed even after seeing this sight.

Five roots that sprang from the ground wrapped around Catherine's surroundings like whips, trying to capture her.

Catherine's slender figure was instantly obscured by the appearance of the roots.

-Chwaaak!

Golden light flowed out, and the roots exploded and scattered in all directions as if torn apart.

The scattered roots were engulfed in bright yellow flames and disappeared without leaving even ashes.

Even if it didn't match the real thing, it was a tree derived from no less than the World Tree.

The fact that such a tree burned without leaving even ashes made Sedina, who was hiding far away, open her eyes wide.

'What on earth is that...?'

The saint was much stronger than she had thought.

'Is this the power of a saint?'

But she couldn't back down here.

'I absolutely cannot let her go to where my teacher is!'

Sedina resonated with the tree and then raised her power to the maximum, which she had been conserving until now.

As the light flowing from the tree intensified, pale green spears shot toward the saint through the gaps in the dense branches.

Their number was too many to count with the eyes, as if hail was pouring down.

Catherine extended her right hand forward and lightly flicked her fingers.

-Click!

With a crisp sound, an intense wave of holy power reverberated along with the sound.

-Woong.

The wave of holy power devoured the pale green spears.

The attacks that the Templar crusaders couldn't resist melted in the air like cotton candy touching water the moment they reached the wave.

That wasn't all.

The wave reached the tree as well.

Yellow flames began to spread on the sturdy brown surface.

'Impossible!'

Sedina was inwardly shocked.

The sturdy branches and trunk remained intact, but the leaves had all been oxidized and disappeared from the earlier wave.

The bare tree struggled and flailed its roots, but the roots exploded with a pung sound before they could even touch Catherine's body.

Julia was equally surprised.

The sight of magic that she thought would be invincible collapsing so feebly seemed somewhat disconnected from reality.

Especially since the opponent was just one woman.

'Does she not care what happens to the captured people?!'

It wasn't for nothing that hostages had been taken.

While there was no particular reason to kill them, more than that, it was to prevent the enemy from attacking recklessly and instill a sense of intimidation at the same time.

But Catherine seemed entirely unhindered by such concerns as she casually used holy magic.

The reason soon became clear.

Amazingly, Catherine's holy power had no effect whatsoever on the people taken hostage, and only burned the tree.

Julia bit her lip and strongly infused the tree with dream energy.

The pale green energy rising from the tree pushed back the yellow flames, but it was quite strenuous.

"Julia! Buy us some time!"

"Understood!"

Sedina seemed to have some plan, so Julia tried her best to compete with Catherine's holy power as requested.

But the yellow flames she had somehow been trying to push back began to surge more violently and devour the dream energy.

'She's too strong!'

She was being overwhelmed despite receiving support from the World Tree's power.

Beyond the compatibility of powers, it meant that the basic difference in class was enormous.

'Even for a saint, isn't this too much?!'

It was almost as if she were not human but something in human form.

But having received Sedina's request, Julia could not back down here.

She squeezed out all her remaining mana and amplified the dream energy to its maximum to confront the holy power.

After barely holding on like that for some time.

"Thanks for hanging in there."

Sedina had finally completed all preparations.

At the same time, something strange was happening at the coastline.

-Shwaaaa.

The waves that had been hitting the sandy beach gradually subsided, and then the seawater began to recede at an incredible speed.

"Uh, uhhh?"

The soldiers who had docked at the coast and were preparing to advance were perplexed by this strange phenomenon.

-Screech!

The battleships docked at the shore tilted sideways and collided or tangled with nearby ships.

The receding seawater affected the current, causing confusion among the battleships.

"What! What's happening!"

"The sea, the sea is receding backward!"

"What?! What nonsense is that!"

"Well..."

The soldier who was reporting noticed something beyond the slowly receding sea.

'What is that?'

He took out binoculars from his chest and gazed toward the lowered sea level.

Something dark was protruding there.

'Is it a reef?'

It was something that should have been submerged in the sea but revealed itself as the water level dropped, but it was different from an ordinary reef.

First of all, it was very large and long. It looked like what you might see if you greatly enlarged the roots of a tree.

"Damn, what on earth is..."

Even as the soldier was terrified, the World Tree's roots continued to absorb the surrounding seawater.

The speed and volume were so tremendous that the sea level at the shore suddenly dropped significantly.

The large amount of seawater absorbed in this way moved underground through the roots and reached the tree in front of Galahad Fortress.

Seeing the base of the tree bulging and swelling, Catherine smiled.

"Really?"

No sooner had she spoken than an enormous amount of seawater was discharged from the tree and rushed toward Catherine.

As if a dam that had held water for a long time had been destroyed, water overflowed like a tidal wave.

The seawater, mixed with the ground, became muddy water, forming a tsunami over 3 meters high.

At the same time, chaos erupted at the coastline.

As the World Tree's roots suddenly absorbed a large amount of seawater from the beach, creating a vacuum, and to fill that empty space, a large amount of seawater from the distant sea rushed back to the shore.

"E-Everyone, prepare! A tidal wave is coming!"

"Get to high ground! Hurry!"

The soldiers at the shore were confused and fled from the tidal wave rushing from the rear, and the soldiers aboard the battleships hurriedly entered the ships.

-Shwaaaa!

The makeshift tidal wave rushed in, pushing all the battleships gathered at the shore onto the island.

The battleships collided with each other, and consecutive loud noises echoed.

The tidal wave, which had completely entangled all the battleships together, swept across the sandy beach and engulfed the entire coast.

The steam golems waiting in the rear were all submerged by the tidal wave, and the same happened to the armored vehicles.

Regardless of what was happening at the shore, Sedina focused solely on Catherine.

Just as the massive, dirty tidal wave mixed with soil was about to reach Catherine.

"Well, I should get a bit serious."

Her muttered words were transmitted directly to Sedina through the World Tree.

Get serious? What does that mean? Does that mean she hasn't been serious until now?

Sedina's questions changed the moment she saw the golden light flashing through the muddy water.

Catherine raised both hands high.

A halo appeared above her head, and tremendous holy power surged up and enveloped her body.

-Kukwakwakwakwa!

The tidal wave that seemed like it would sweep everything away could not penetrate the holy power and split to the left and right.

Not stopping there, the holy power energy condensed into something small and strong, and then shot a sharply honed golden blade toward the tree that continued to discharge seawater.

The golden slash, moving along the ground like a shark's fin, surged against the seawater.

It happened so suddenly that Sedina couldn't react in time.

The slash cut the tidal wave in half and then split the tree beyond it vertically like firewood.

The massive tree wobbled and fell to both sides, and the water it had been discharging also stopped.

In the midst of the scene that had suddenly turned into a mud pit, Catherine slowly walked forward.

The moment her footsteps touched the ground, all the moisture in the muddy soil evaporated, turning it into solid earth.

Catherine slowly walked on top of it.

Sedina trembled.

'No, it's impossible. I can't stop her at all.'

The scene was so overwhelming that her throat was blocked and she couldn't say anything.

Julia was frantically shaking her shoulder and shouting something beside her, but it was muffled as if underwater, and she couldn't hear anything.

She had failed. That thought alone remained in Sedina's mind and continued to torment her.

Finally, Catherine passed through the remnants of the tree and reached the gate.

The outer gate, which should have been firmly closed, opened by itself as Catherine approached.

To a place where no one's intrusion should be allowed, the most dangerous saint had finally arrived.

"I, I must stop her."

Just as Sedina was mumbling like someone out of her mind, someone grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her hard.

Dragged away powerlessly, Sedina's consciousness returned to reality, and she could see golden spears that flew and stuck in the place where she and Julia had been hiding.

"What are you doing!"

Ambella Burke shouted from behind, grabbing Sedina and retreating.

"Wake up! Getting distracted on a battlefield! Do you really want to die! Think about your position!"

"Ma-Matriarch."

"Are you upset because you failed to guard just one entrance? Get rid of such half-hearted thoughts if you want to survive! This is normal in war! What's important is what choice you make afterward!"

Sedina's pupils shook greatly at Ambella's words.

She was right.

Only the outer fortress had been breached. They still had opportunities left.

"Watch out!"

Julia warned as she saw new spears of light flying in.

"Tsk. They're persistently trying to block us somehow."

Ambella deflected all the spears of light with her greatsword.

"Sedina! Prepare the next strategy!"

"Wh-What about you, Matriarch?"

"I'll block that here!"

That which Ambella referred to was a priest approaching, having located Sedina's position.

"B-But!"

"Let's go, Sedina. We have our job to do."

Sedina was about to say something but nodded at the sight of Julia holding her hand and speaking.

Confirming that Sedina and Julia had retreated, Ambella smirked.

"At least you've made a good friend."

She took out a mask from her waist and put it on as she watched the priest who had now come close enough to be visible to the naked eye.

It was a mask made by processing the World Tree's bark, identical to the one worn by Vierano.

It was prepared so that her identity wouldn't be revealed.

It was already a well-known fact that the Elf Kingdom had stepped in, but it was clearly different for a specific elf named Ambella Burke to be identified.

It was just like covering your eyes and saying 'you can't see me,' but in this situation, that was enough.

It was about creating a pretext to at least withdraw.

'But such a pretext is only valuable if I survive here.'

Ambella gripped her greatsword and gazed at the priest who was floating in the air, flapping golden wings.

"Seems like the little mouse got away."

The priestess realized she had lost Sedina and tried to chase after her, but Ambella wouldn't allow it.

"Sorry, but you'll have to play with me here."

"You're trying to resist meaninglessly. Unlike my other sisters, I have no mercy for heretics."

The priestess created countless spears of light around her.

Just by looking at the number, it was close to a thousand.

As Ambella was inwardly muttering, what a monstrous woman, at that moment intense light began to pour out from Galahad Fortress.

The fortress always emitted a soft light, but this level of luminance was on a different dimension from before.

The priestess was flustered by the unusual appearance of the fortress.

Seeing this, Ambella inwardly exclaimed.

'Finally, we've succeeded!'