You think you're worthy of saving the world?

……

……

The day of the "Crimson Festival" finally arrived.

To appease the Dragon God who has guarded the island for thousands of years, the islanders gathered together.

People from various villages locked their children in their homes and escorted the "Dragon Priestess" and the sacrificial girl to the altar.

"Long live the Dragon God!" "Honor for our beautiful priestess and pure maiden!"

Shouts continued to rise from the crowd.

This was the first time Emily had ever felt such a grand and intense atmosphere, and she was extremely nervous.

Stella, holding her little hand, stood expressionlessly on the carriage adorned with flowers and fruit.

“Yuri and Chaika are my friends,” she suddenly said out of the blue.

"Brother and sister?"

The little girl tilted her head in confusion. Why would the priestess say this at a time like this?

After a long while, her little mind finally understood: "Does the priestess want me to put my mind at ease?"

Emily squinted her eyes happily.

“No,” Stella snorted.

The carriage set off from the foot of the mountain in the center of the island and, after several hours of travel, finally arrived at the altar at the northernmost part of Dragon God Island.

Next, Emily will lie on the rectangular stone coffin in the center of the altar, reminiscent of a coffin.

She would drink the secret medicine prepared for her by the maids beforehand—which was actually a sleeping pill—and then…

The "Dragon Priestess" will use a knife to cut out the girl's heart and offer it to the Dragon God.

"Miko-sama! Miko-sama!" "Our 'Dragon Miko'!"

The ceremony has reached its climax.

The scene gradually became frenzied.

Stella stared unblinkingly at the sleeping girl before her, and slowly swung the dagger in her hand—

At that moment, two figures descended from above and landed in the center of the altar.

158 The Wrath of the Gods, that is, the Will of the Stars.

Yuri and Chaika had been lying in ambush at the festival site from the very beginning, hiding their figures on top of the stone pillars with magic, waiting for an opportunity to interrupt the ceremony.

They cast wind magic on themselves, so they moved very quickly, and even the nearest maid didn't have time to react.

Chaika was on Emily's side. She leaped down and landed in front of the coffin, embracing Emily in her arms.

Yuri was in charge of Stella's side. He wrapped one arm around the waist of her shrine maiden outfit and used the other hand to control the short sword, pressing it against her fair neck.

"Miko-sama!"

A villager shouted in a frightened voice.

"No one move!"

Yuri brandished his blade and shouted at the agitated crowd. Stella, as a hostage, obediently pressed her back against him.

Do you know what you're doing?

Directly in front of the altar, the head maid of the Dragon God Temple stared coldly at Yuri and Chaika as she climbed the steps.

"I said don't move!"

Yuri shouted again and pressed the short sword in his hand against Stella's neck.

However, the maid remained unmoved.

She seemed convinced that Yuri could not possibly have killed Stella.

In fact, the head maid had already noticed something amiss.

The "Dragon Priestess" is getting too close to the boy from outside the island.

Although she could not possibly know the true relationship between Yuri and Stella, she thought of another aspect.

Euryphus was, after all, a beautiful young man, one in a million.

A sheltered and unsophisticated priestess is captivated by a handsome man from the mainland, and the two fall in love and vow to elope to the island as a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Such a scenario seems to have occurred before in the history of Dragon God Island.

Seeing that it had no deterrent effect, Yuri couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "You're really useless as a hostage, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Stella raised the corners of her mouth in dissatisfaction.

Incidentally, it was Stella who proposed the hostage operation, as she felt she had great value.

"Hey! Yuri! Why did you do something like this?!"

The one roaring from below was Emily's grandfather, the village chief.

You could tell he was very angry; the wrinkles on his face were all bunched up.

No wonder.

After all, he had sincerely treated Yuri and Chaika as honored guests, only to be "betrayed" by them at the most crucial moment.

In his view, since his granddaughter's fate as a human sacrifice was unchangeable, Emily should be given a dignified and glorious ending, but Yuri ruined it all.

"What an incomprehensible old senile fool!"

The maids who had been standing in a circle around the altar approached Yuri and Chaika.

"Capture these two thieves who disrupted the festival."

The maid with long hair gave orders.

Then, the maids rushed toward Yuri and his companions, and the villagers surged onto the altar, trying to block their escape route.

Jaika raised her snow-white arm.

Her beautiful, slender fingers gleamed in the sunlight.

In the next instant, a torrent of magic gathered above the altar.

In order not to harm the maids, she chose the wind magic with the lowest damage.

"------"

However, something unexpected happened.

The whirlwind guided by Chaika did not bind the maids after it enveloped their bodies; instead, it disintegrated.

Chaika narrowed her eyes: Just as Yuri said, these women... have magical abilities!

Where did the women on the remote islands learn magic from?

There was no time to think about such questions. Two maids pounced on her, their hands wreathed in ominous magic—a kind of deadly spell.

Chaika abandoned her last bit of innocence.

The maids' hands, which reached out to grab her, were easily flicked away by Chaika with a wave of her hand. Then, she shielded the unconscious Emily behind her and shot out purple lightning from her fingertips.

"Ugh... Ah...!"

Amid the maids' screams, flashes of lightning pierced through them without causing any physical damage.

Two maids flew off the altar and collapsed unconscious below.

Yuri and Stella watched this scene in astonishment.

So strong!

Who said this woman wasn't good at fighting?

Even though her spellcasting ability is limited to the fifth rank or below, the singularity cannot weaken her mastery of magic in her perfected state.

Despite using powerful lightning magic, he managed to stun his opponent without killing him.

Although she didn't want to admit it, even in the area where Chaicah was least skilled—magical combat—and even with her power limited to the fifth rank, Chaicah was still superior to Stella in terms of magic.

What's even more unacceptable is that this woman, despite not being a witch, possesses a magical affinity far exceeding that of witches, as if she were born into the world loved by magic...!

While Stella marvels at the genius of the human mage, Yuri begins to execute his prepared plan.

"Make your move," he whispered to someone below the altar.

Then the person—Emily's mother, Mrs. Emily—nodded in agreement.

"let's go!"

She raised her arms and shouted.

Among the large group of islanders who were originally gathered around the altar, a dozen or so people suddenly started shoving the crowd around them and pulled out weapons they had made themselves.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"We've had enough! This barbaric and backward ritual should never exist!"

"This is treason! You've even joined forces with people from outside the island... Do you want to incur the wrath of the Dragon God?!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Don't move, back up and crouch down!"

The people who rioted were residents who had lived on Dragon God Island for generations.

However, unlike other islanders who either worship or submit to the Dragon God Temple, they had long been tired of the monthly sacrificial ritual.

Many of these people had lost their children as a result of human sacrifice rituals.

Emil is often assigned by the village chief to handle conflicts in the village, so he knows very well who is dissatisfied with the "Crimson Festival".

In recent days, Emir had been secretly contacting them, agreeing to overthrow the rule of the Dragon God Temple on this day.

They disguised themselves as members of the worshippers, waiting for the order to rebel.

At that moment, they took out weapons hidden in their clothes and tried to subdue the other islanders.

The situation, which should have been one-sided, was instantly reversed.

Although the ritualistic islanders outnumbered the rest, they were overwhelmed by the sheer force of the ritual and forced to stay away from the altar.