Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint.

Chapter 182 The Saintess's Initial Role
"It bears the mark of the sea god's soul."

Ross helped Celia finish what she hadn't said.

His illusory image slowly disappeared.

Celia opened her eyes and stood up.

While Celia was unconscious, Ross took control of her body.

Ross picked up the fragment of divine power from the table, examined it carefully, and then left.

Not long after, a group of people burst into the stone house from the outside. When they saw the empty table inside, their expressions changed drastically.

"Someone has stolen the blessings of the gods! Report this to the guild master immediately!"

"That thief can't have gone far, chase after him!"

As they were talking, they prepared to leave the stone house, but the door suddenly slammed shut, locking them inside.

A single stone house was no match for a team of mages led by a fourth-tier mage.

Soon, they successfully destroyed the stone door of the stone house and came outside.

However, before they could react, the entire stronghold suddenly began to tremble.

"Oh no, the magic array has self-destructed!"

"Run!"

……

Ross, who had already left, did not look back, but quickly rode away on his flying broom.

Behind them, the peaceful hillside suddenly collapsed with a loud "boom".

"Goo!"

A bird's cry suddenly rang out, and Ross dodged to the side, avoiding the large bird's attack.

Ross glanced at the bird, which was twice the size of Celia, and suddenly released a terrifying mental pressure.

“I don’t want to eat bird meat today. If you keep chasing after me, don’t blame me for making an exception.”

After saying that, he continued flying back.

The large, fiery red bird that had attacked was forced to fall diagonally into the jungle like a kite with a broken string under Ross's mental pressure. It crashed into a tree, breaking it in half, before falling to the ground.

The large bird's eyes revealed a human-like fear, and it ran away without looking back.

After successfully leaving the Protoss Forbidden Lands, Ross found an open meadow to stop, put Celia down, summoned the puppet, and released her from control.

"That's almost it."

Ross smiled.

His plan was simple.

This fragment of divine essence was used by the sea god as bait.

However, the fact that he has given up one-tenth of his divine essence indicates that he is in a very bad situation.

And, he has no body now.

Only in the state of the soul can the divine personality be divided without causing problems.

When one has a physical body, the divine essence is integrated with the body, and it is very difficult to sever the divine essence without destroying the body.

Even if the separation is successful, it will cause irreparable damage to oneself, and one's body may become unusable.

After all, the divine status of a living god and the divine status of a dead god are not on the same level.

"If the Sea God wants to reshape his body, he must retrieve all the scattered fragments of his divine essence. He sacrificed this fragment to lure the 'person' who was tracking him. The soul imprint within the fragment will tell him that the one who obtained this fragment is not that mysterious god, but a mere second-tier mage. So, what will the Sea God do?"

The answer is already obvious.

The fact that the sea god severed his own divine status indicates that he had no physical body.

It is known that Celia is a saintess with a very high level of divine affinity.

This divine contract might be unknown even to the Holy Court, but Ross knew it.

This refers to her soul being in perfect harmony with the god, just as he controlled Celia with perfect ease. As one of the twelve Olympian gods, the sea god could naturally do the same.

This is an excellent target for possession.

Of course, it should be called divine intervention, fusion, and dedication. Dedicating oneself to the gods is a great honor.

Will the sea god come and possess Celia?

The answer is yes.

When Celia came into contact with the fragment of the Sea God's divine essence, the soul imprint on it had already fed Celia's data back to the Sea God. If he didn't give up this fragment of divine essence, he would inevitably fall for Celia. "During the Age of Calamity, all the temples were unified into the Holy Court, and a Holy Maiden was appointed, requiring the Holy Maiden to have divine contract attributes. Isn't this just using this position as a backup body?"

Ross seemed to be deep in thought.

"Perhaps some of the past saintesses were possessed by gods."

Don't tell me, it's really possible.

It's gone now, though.

Ross knew the reason too.

A deity descending upon another's body, aside from their divine soul, depends entirely on what the descended being possesses, such as their rank.

Now, for unknown reasons, the upper limit for mages is fixed at the sixth rank. There are some who can reach the seventh rank, but they are definitely very few.

After the deity descends upon the saintess's body, reaching the seventh rank should be easy, but reaching the eighth and ninth ranks is not so certain.

In other words, after the gods descend, they will become mortals to start over. If they cannot regain their divine status, they will face old age and death.

As a long-lived species, sacrificing one's lifespan for a new body is somewhat of a loss.

Unless, he has reached a dead end and has no other choice but to do so.

Or perhaps they are confident that they can become gods again.

Has Poseidon reached a dead end?

Not even close.

We need to give him another helping hand.

Ross wasn't in a hurry.

The bait has been cast; all that's left is to create a feeding area and wait for the fish to bite.

After a long while, Celia, who was in a coma, slowly woke up.

She stared blankly at the clear sky, blinked, and then suddenly sat up.

"I am..."

"You're awake?" Ross, who was controlling the puppet, looked up at her and said, "Can you feel it? This is the consequence of a high-intensity puppet heart for a sorcerer."

"Will they be unable to withstand the power inside and faint?"

"No, it's because your soul couldn't take it that you fell into a coma."

Ross chuckled and said, "If I hadn't enhanced your soul strength when the lighthouse was lost, you wouldn't be unconscious now; you'd be in a vegetative state."

Celia looked at the Puppet Heart in Ross's hand and felt that the Puppet Heart exuded a captivating mystery.

She no longer dared to touch it, or even get close to it.

The girl suggested, "Why don't we bury this puppet heart? I dare not use it, and selling it to others would only harm them. It would be better to bury it underground and set up a hiding magic circle to seal it away forever."

Ross laughed and said, "Such a good thing, you're willing to bury it?"

"Good things become bad if you can't use them."

"This Puppet Heart has too many side effects for you, you can't use it, but it's useful to me."

Ross weighed it in his hand and casually tossed it to Celia.

Celia was startled and scrambled away.

"What are you afraid of? That kind of thing only happens when you first touch the Puppet Heart. It won't happen now, so feel free to touch it," Ross said with a smile.

Celia shook her head firmly, "No!"

Ross stood up: "You have to take it whether you want it or not. Do you want to take it yourself, or do I have to control who you take it?"

"Can't I just take the puppet?" Celia asked pitifully.

"The enemy from that stronghold is coming after us. Are you still going to dawdle along?"

"what?"

Celia stood up, hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, and finally mustered up the courage to take the fragment of the Sea God's divine essence.

The moment she made contact, a mysterious force surged into her soul once more, but it was so weak that it did not cause her to faint.

Celia breathed a sigh of relief. After Ross left the puppet, she quickly retrieved it, mounted her flying broom, and sped off towards Star Ash Town.

Unbeknownst to her, Ross glanced in the direction of the Protoss Forbidden Lands before leaving, as if anticipating something.

(End of this chapter)