They are all characters I control.

Without hesitation, the church knights broke the lock, opened the iron gate, and went inside.

“Church knights?” A child walked over and looked at the church knights in front of him.

"Yes, we've come to rescue you. Come with us, we'll take you away from here."

The church knight stepped forward and stroked the child's cheek.

At this time, the other townspeople who were also imprisoned here gradually calmed down.

"So they were church knights..."

"It's true, it seems those heretics were right, the church knights really have come."

"There's no other way, it's all for my family."

"I've finally made it! I'm going to get out of here alive, and so are my family!"

Listening to what these town residents were saying, something seemed increasingly off.

The church knights wanted to explain.

Suddenly, a man stood up, took out a dark red potion from his pocket, and put it in his mouth.

"Back off—!" Claire shouted.

But it was too late.

The man's body began to contort and swell, his skin cracking to reveal dark red muscles beneath. His eyes turned pure black, leaving only two blood-red pupils.

He lunged at the nearest knight.

"Watch out, hold the line!" Claire beheaded the man with a single sword stroke.

But more of the townspeople imprisoned here began to take out the Philosopher's Stone potion and consume it.

They moved in perfect unison, as if they had been trained.

The townspeople imprisoned here had all taken the Philosopher's Stone potion and were now fiercely charging at the church knights.

Main text

Chapter 1 Actually, I'm a Heretic Too

They came to redeem the townspeople, but instead, they have taken the heretics' potions and turned against them.

The church knights felt more bewilderment and anger than fear.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" a knight roared. "We came to save you!"

A man who was consuming the Philosopher's Stone looked up, his eyes filled with tears.

“My wife…my children…they’re all in their hands…” his voice was hoarse. “If I don’t do this…they will…”

Before he could finish speaking, his body began to swell, his arms turned into claws, and fangs grew from his mouth.

The townspeople, transformed into blasphemous heretics, attacked the church knights, who, as before, were hesitant to act against the townspeople who had held them back.

The crisis before him was battling within his mind against the principles of a knight of faith in the Goddess's Church.

Some overly ignorant or, perhaps overly kind, church knights were still trying to awaken the townspeople who had drunk the potion, but of course, all their efforts were in vain.

Claire wasn't surprised by this; she had already been morally blackmailed by the townspeople while she was out there, dragged along to be attacked by the heretics.

So it's not surprising that the heretics would use the townspeople in these mines to ambush the church knights.

To be fair, the Scarlet Witch does have some tricks up her sleeve.

As Claire watched the townspeople rush towards her, having drunk the potion, she pierced their hearts with her sword.

The man's body stiffened abruptly, then he slowly collapsed.

His eyes were still open, and tears were still flowing, but that was no longer Claire's concern.

Seeing the mess before her, Claire gave the order to the church knights: "Everyone move forward! Don't stop! I'll cover the rear!"

His roar made the church knights hesitate.

After all, leaving Eleanor alone is against the Church's creed.

At this moment, Knight Commander Will had also lost his magic and a great deal of strength due to the Scarlet Witch Dorothy's deadly poison, and he had no energy left to command the church knights.

Currently, 'Eleanor' holds the highest status.

"What? You can kill these heretics like I can?" Claire looked at the church knights around her.

"The most important thing now is to protect Commander Will; you must get him to the safest place."

"Alright, stop hesitating here."

"Here, take this guy too. Take her with you and leave."

Claire reached out and took the Mel from her back, then reached out to hand it to the church knights.

The church knights, unable to refute his words, were about to reach out and take the item when Mel suddenly cried out.

"No! Eleanor, I don't want to be with them! I want to be with you! I just want to be with you, I don't care!"

The church knights, who originally didn't want to abandon 'Eleanor', gripped their knightly swords even tighter when they saw how much Mel relied on 'Eleanor'.

However, Claire remained resolute, and with a wave of his hand, he cut down several more heretical residents who had taken the potion.

He stepped over the corpses beneath his feet and gazed impatiently at the church knights.

"Since this guy isn't coming with you, you should leave quickly and escape. Make sure you get Commander Will out of here. If he survives, we've succeeded. You'll only be a hindrance if you stay. Get out of here!"

Seeing Eleanor so fearless, the church knights bowed to him in unison.

May the goddess protect you!

It was utterly foolish to have previously suspected that this 'Eleanor' might have been brainwashed and colluded with heretics.

It seems that the upright Karl has betrayed them, and the suspected 'Eleanor' is now willing to sacrifice herself for everyone and even bear the guilt of slaughtering civilians.

Such a spirit of sacrifice earned the deep respect of the church knights.

After expressing their admiration for Eleanor, the knights carried Will and ran desperately deeper into the mine.

Watching the direction the church knights had gone, Claire frowned and looked at Mel, who was clinging to her.

"Why don't you leave? Staying here might kill you."

"Pah! You're trying to use Knight Commander Will and the church knights as bait, aren't you?" Mel stared wide-eyed with a wise expression, glaring at the cold-blooded 'Eleanor' in front of him.

"With them heading so conspicuously towards the mine exit, how could the Scarlet Witch not know where the mine exit is?"

"Since the Scarlet Witch hasn't chased after us, she's most likely already lying in ambush at the mine exit."

“Following those church knights out will only lead to a worse death. Following you, on the contrary, offers a glimmer of hope. You are going to run in the opposite direction from the church knights, towards the city gate, right!”

Mel blurted out all the conclusions in his mind in one breath, spraying them all over Claire's face.

You see, she had always suspected that this cold-hearted 'Eleanor' had some kind of plan.

Only now did she realize what this seemingly caring guy was up to!? He wasn't just ruthless to infidels and civilians, he was ruthless to his own companions too?

"You just sold out your own companion like that? What a fine church knight." Mel, who had almost been used as bait, added indignantly.

"Heh heh heh, you're really funny. Who told you I'm from the church?" Claire sneered at Mel in front of her.

My original self is still imprisoned in the church's dungeon. Although the acting saintess Isabelle is being treated fairly well, not to mention that she used to go crazy and complain to me when I was in a vegetative state without any consciousness.

However, after regaining her consciousness, Isabelle's behavior was still acceptable.

However, the archbishops were a different story. Eleanor's 'Holy Lance Knights' belonged to the archbishops' power, not the power of the Holy City and the acting saintesses.

Claire had no obligation to save the church knights. When she herself was in danger, how could she possibly take care of the lives of her enemies? It was just that Claire temporarily cooperated with the church knights when faced with the same threat.

Temporary cooperation doesn't mean they're teammates with the church knights. Regardless of what Eleanor herself thinks, Claire's priority is to save her life.

"Hmph~ You're definitely not a member of the church. If you want to talk about it, you're a member of our 'Church of Life'."

Mel thought there was some truth to it, after all, the 'Eleanor' in front of him had only awakened after drinking a potion.

That means that his Philosopher's Stone potion created the Eleanor before him.

It's not wrong to say that 'Eleanor' is one of your own.

“Hehehe, yes, yes, yes.” Claire gave Mel a meaningful look.

Mel was unaware that the Church of Life had arbitrarily worshipped and promoted him as the Son of God.

However, now is not the time for idle chatter.

By this time, the townspeople who had drunk the potion had already gathered around Claire.

Chapter 2 The Battle Begins!

Although Claire said she would cover the retreat of the church knights, she didn't actually do so.

After the church knights fled, he didn't waste his energy actually getting entangled with the townspeople who had drunk the potion.

He unleashed the [Intermediate Burst Rune - Black Smoke] at the townspeople who had gone berserk due to the potion, then turned and ran.

Whether they would catch up with the church knights was not Claire's concern.

None of the townspeople who drank the potion died, clearly because they were carefully selected by the Scarlet Witch to be able to adapt to the effects of the 'Philosopher's Stone' potion.

Conversely, the townspeople who had been taken hostage and held back the church knights during the battle were unable to absorb the potion, which is why they were separated.

At that moment, Claire was fleeing in the direction of the townspeople who had not drunk the potion.

The Scarlet Witch didn't pursue them at this point, which means she must have already sent the heretics to ambush at the mine exit. So there shouldn't be many heretics ahead of Claire in the direction she's fleeing.

This was quickly proven when Claire burst out of the mine.

When Claire emerged from the mine, the streets of the town were still in a state of chaos.

Corpses, rubble, broken arrows, and overturned barrels were scattered across the blood-stained snow. Torches were still burning, crackling and casting long, haphazard shadows.

But there weren't many people.

Compared to the bustling scene of infidels filling the streets when they evacuated, now there are only a few scattered figures on the streets, bending over and rummaging through corpses, as if cleaning up a battlefield.

Without hesitation, Claire carried Mel and ran towards the city gate.

"Hmph, looks like you're in luck. Your prediction seems to be correct." Claire didn't pay much attention to Mel's nagging.

He is now racing against time, and naturally cannot let his guard down before he can leave the town safely.

The two walked through a narrow alley, avoiding a patrol of infidels. They then climbed over a low wall and bypassed several believers who were carrying corpses.

Everything seems to be going well.

Until they turned into the main street leading to the city gate.

"Hmph! Looks like your prediction wasn't so accurate after all! Look, this guy's been lying in wait for you!" Mel looked at the woman's figure above him, a hint of schadenfreude in his eyes.

"What are you laughing at? You think I'm the only one in trouble?"

Claire wanted to throw Mel behind her like a cannonball, but she couldn't take her eyes off the woman sitting barefoot on the city wall.

Her dark red hair swayed gently in the night wind, and her bare feet trod on the cold snow, yet she seemed not to feel the cold.

She wore a tight-fitting dark red dress, and the two short knives at her waist gleamed coldly in the firelight.

Scarlet Witch, Dorothy.

Behind her stood seven or eight heretics. Not many, but each one was an elite soldier clad in leather armor and wielding fine weapons, far superior to the cannon fodder from before.

"What does it matter?" Mel waved her hand dismissively, her gaze fixed on the Scarlet Witch, her tone becoming just like that of a cunning adult.

"If we can kill the Scarlet Witch at this time, it would be a good thing."

Claire was somewhat interested in the internal strife within the Church of Life, but not much.

Right now, he just finds it troublesome.

The fact that the Scarlet Witch is here means that she knew he would launch a surprise attack and use Knight Commander Will and the church knights as bait.

The Scarlet Witch's next words proved this point.

"I knew I'd find you here." Dorothy tilted her head, a smile playing on her lips. "I knew you wouldn't head towards the mines."