Malin led his team back to the Church of the Goddess of Harvest, and as he expected, the followers of the Mimicking Bird and Nagoth had already turned the entire street into a battlefield.
In the past, to confront the Church of the Rightful Gods, the followers from both sides wouldn’t mind cooperating with each other for mutual benefit. But this time, from the outset, the followers were at each other’s throats. So when they faced defeat together, there was no longer any chance of collaboration or a joint victory.
Resentment, loathing, and the followers of Chaos blamed each other for their failures, eager to kill something to please the Evil God. They unanimously set their sights on the Church of the Goddess of Harvest as a target—the Church of Justice and the Church of the War God were foes beyond them, and other churches were too close for comfort. Only the Church of the Goddess of Harvest was a suitable target.
It stood some distance away from the Church district and neither sounded nor seemed like an institution adept in warfare.
So the two sides converged at the gates of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest, fueled by new grudges and old. Compounded by the firmly closed doors of the Church, showing no willingness to join the life-and-death struggle, both sides eventually bled out in front of their shared target’s doorway, leaving a few wretched survivors to be target practice for the Apprentices.
"I told the commander of the Guard to leave the clean-up to us," said Lila of the Xeling family, making another appearance. This time she wasn’t provocative—in fact, upon Malin’s arrival, it might be because the Blood Roar he carried had an effect; the fact was, even the high-ranking officials of the Guard were surprised by the giant axe on Malin’s shoulder, and the more knowledgeable priests even named the weapon.
Therefore, Malin instantly became the boss of the bear-man twin Apprentices in Pamir City.
Malin also handed the axe over to them to carry—when not in use, Malin switched the Blood Roar back to its bloodwood handle.
The Blood Roar, although somewhat unhappy, acquiesced—given that today it had already indulged in the fresh blood of Chaos, it accepted Malin as its new master, beyond reproach.
Besides, Malin told it, during the fight, he would equip it with tender branches from the World Tree.
Malin saw Jessica; the wolf-girl was wandering around the battlefield with a few kids, as if hunting arthropod Spirits in Carterburg—older students leading the younger ones as usual.
"Malin, you’re back!" Jessica waved excitedly at her lover upon seeing Malin, "Your return, does it mean we’ve won?"
"Yes, we’ve won," Malin replied with a smile.
Jessica turned around excitedly, "See, we’ve won!"
The kids jumped for joy, and the older ones patted each other on the shoulders.
"Hey, Malin," someone called out to him. As he turned, he caught a glimpse of someone crawling out of a pile of corpses.
The closest to him was Jessica!
Malin drew his Revolver with lightning speed, but saw Jessica pull out the pickaxe Malin had given her, and drive it into the skull of the Chaos follower.
After pushing the body aside and flinging the blood off the pickaxe’s head, Jessica looked at Malin with a smile under the admiring gaze of the little ones, "I didn’t hold you back, did I?"
Malin was silent for a moment, finally turning his head to glance at Logan, who gave an awkward smile.
So, Malin approached Jessica, reaching out to wipe the blood from her face, "You’re their hero now, too."
Hearing these words, Jessica turned to look at the children, and indeed, they watched her with eyes full of admiration and aspiration, just as Malin had said.
She wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say, and Malin, understandingly, took her hand, "At times , all you need to do is smile."
Jessica looked at Malin and finally smiled.
"You’re most beautiful ," Malin said with a smile.
Watching Malin and the wolf-girl on the street, Faye leaned against the left cover, smiling.
Faye didn’t hold much hope for Jessica, the oldest among the sisters who always seemed to keep to herself, but today, she seemed... closer.
"You don’t mind?" Lillim asked, perching on the barricade.
"I can’t confront a teamed-up opponent alone; you are not my adversaries, but my teammates."
"I see, you’re in charge, right?" the little lamb asked.
Faye nodded calmly, "Of course, do you have a problem with that?"
"No, I acknowledge your authority." Lillim reached out to Faye, "You taking charge is the best choice among us."
Faye smiled and shook hands with Lillim: "Pleasure working with you, Lillim."
"Pleasure working with you, madam Faye."
"Am I not included?" Clovis came over at this moment, her face full of anticipation.
Faye opened her arms and hugged her: "Welcome to the family, my sister."
When the Mage Tower shut down the Shield, the news that Pamir City had once again triumphed in the battle against Chaos spread like wildfire, reaching throughout the surrounding regions.
Thousands of Chaos, a Chaos Prince, and two Chaos Cults were all vanquished.
These were just the most superficial pieces of intelligence; aside from those directly involved, few knew that some had given their lives to save the city.
Casaman received rewards after his identity was confirmed, but in the end, he gave up the chance to become a special agent and, as a Deep Diver, escaped from prison with the help of the Church and a few small fries.
Malin didn’t know why he did that, but this was a warrior’s choice.
The two women who were found later, named Ham and Susan, were reassigned elsewhere by their respective departments after their identities had been confirmed, and Malin didn’t know where they had gone.
Although the City Prefect had been beaten up by Malin, he benefited from the disaster and didn’t have to bear too much responsibility for the entire incident.
The girls were all safe. This made Malin very happy, and Lady Manli was very grateful for Malin’s help. She even got a Frost Giant’s weapon prepared as a gift for Malin, but after seeing his Blood Roar, she awkwardly decided to choose another gift.
Malin was very thankful and said he didn’t need a gift. But he couldn’t resist the lady’s deep affection and generosity, and their relationship improved somewhat.
More friends, more paths.
Besides, Logan’s girl successfully concocted her potion. This gave a result to Malin’s work.
At least when receiving Logan’s bounty, there was no need to worry about the money burning a hole in his pocket.
Before leaving Pamir, Malin said his farewells to Constance. The old man greatly admired the strength Malin had shown.
It would have been better if he had had no intention of introducing his granddaughter.
Anyway, when Malin sat in the carriage, leaving Pamir, it was already four days later.
The entire city looked in need of revitalization. But at least every survivor had kept their head.
"Will we come back?" Jessica asked.
"We will," Malin replied: "As tourists."
"That would be perfect," the little lamb Lillim said happily.