The members of the group were all very clear about Erica's strength.
Before Su Mo joined the chat group, Erica, as the only ranked powerhouse, had always been the strongest combatant. After Su Mo joined, Erica used the Master Edition mana refinement technique to further increase her strength, nearly reaching the peak of a Great Knight.
But even so, Erica had always been at Tier 1, unable to break through to Tier 2.
Except for Su Mo, who hadn't experienced it, the others, who hadn't even reached Tier 1, understood very well the difficulty of advancing tiers, and they understood even more that the higher one went, the harder it became.
Even someone as confident as Rin Tohsaka knew that she would need to spend a great deal of time just to grow to the Tier 1 level.
The more deeply the group members understood the difficulty of climbing the ladder of power, the greater the shock they felt when they saw Su Mo break Erica through to Tier 2 with a casual wave of his hand.
It was one thing for Su Mo's own strength to grow at a terrifying rate. But he could also carry others with him?
Wasn't this powerhouse's support a little too overwhelming?!
Madoka was fine; she was just purely amazed. But Rin Tohsaka and Kanae were truly starting to feel tempted.
Before, saying they wanted to be Su Mo's maid might have just been a joke. Now, it had become a path they needed to seriously consider.
Who could resist a temptation of this level?!
Never mind Tier 2; even just reaching Tier 1 would be enough for both of them to solve their problems.
If they didn't think it would be too presumptuous, they would really be asking Su Mo if he was still recruiting right now.
While the group fell silent with complicated feelings...
Erica excitedly opened her eyes, feeling the power surging within her.
"Lord Su Mo's blessing is so strong! Right now, if I were to face the Divine Beast Boar from before, I would definitely not lose! Even my uncle would be no match for me!"
If a normal blessing could only raise a Great Knight like her to the level of a regular Paladin, then Su Mo's blessing had elevated her to the level of a top-tier Paladin.
Ordinary Divine Beasts and subordinate gods would be no match for her. If she were to activate her hidden backup power source—the True Aether mode—Erica was even confident she could briefly hold her own against a Heretic God.
"It's just a small blessing of spiritual essence," Su Mo said with a faint shake of his head.
While Erica might be very satisfied with this effect, Su Mo felt it was a little insufficient.
"The upper limit of the blessing system shouldn't be just this. Once I've studied divinity more deeply, I'll see if I can directly bestow a divinity-level blessing."
"A divinity-level blessing?"
Erica couldn't believe her ears.
"According to what you said before, someone who possesses divinity, even if not a god, is at the level of a God-Slayer, right?"
That was Tier 3, nation-destroying combat power.
From what Lord Su Mo was saying, raising her to Tier 2 wasn't the limit; even Tier 3 was possible? Not even a Heretic God himself could do that, right?
Without a doubt, these were words that defied common sense, yet Su Mo's expression remained as calm as water.
"What's so strange about it? Don't the main gods or god kings in mythology do similar things?"
Even setting aside the monotheistic gods, stories of powerful deities elevating weaker beings to godhood were common in mythology.
For example, the war god Verethragna himself was a subordinate god of the sun god Mithra. This did not prevent Verethragna from being the strongest war god of Zoroastrianism, revered as the highest wielder of arms among the Zoroastrian gods.
If one delved deeper, the sun god Mithra was also a subordinate god created by Ahura Mazda, the source of good.
These myths clearly showed that as long as a god was strong enough, their subordinate gods could also possess divinity and become main-god-level existences.
Of course, this referred to the original gods in the god's domain.
The subordinate gods summoned by ordinary Heretic Gods mostly lacked divinity, and when the Heretic Gods themselves lost their divinity, they would be reduced to divine ancestors or subordinate gods on par with Divine Beasts. The distinction in rank was very clear.
Hearing Su Mo say this, Erica was slightly taken aback.
Oh, right!
Things that even gods couldn't do, Lord Su Mo might not be unable to do. And now, this was something that main gods and god kings could do. For Lord Su Mo, it really might not be difficult.
Realizing this, she lowered her head.
"You are absolutely right!"
It wasn't just her. After hearing these words, besides their initial shock, Rin and the others had no doubts about Su Mo either.
There was no helping it; when dealing with a powerhouse of this level, so-called common sense simply didn't apply.
"Then, Lord Su Mo, what shall we do next?" Erica asked, glancing at the surrounding ruins.
"The residents here have already been successfully evacuated. If you need magical materials, I have already arranged for the Copper Black Cross to prepare them. If you wish to see them, you can go directly to Rome."
Without needing to be told, she had already made all the preparations she could before successfully swearing fealty to Su Mo. In terms of qualifications as a secretary, Erica was indeed outstanding.
"The magical materials can wait." Su Mo shook his head.
The magic of the Campione! world was almost entirely based on mythological foundations. Looking at a few techniques of this kind was enough; any more would be redundant repetition.
Compared to that, he was more interested in the Authority he had just obtained. He had yet to discover the "true power" Verethragna had spoken of.
Pandora had said before that battle was the best way for a God-Slayer to integrate their power, so he should probably find a god to kill next.
Coincidentally, there was a target right at hand.
"I plan to go and deal with the remaining Heretic—"
Before he could finish the word "God," a roar like a clap of thunder suddenly erupted from the sky above, interrupting Su Mo's words.
"O Cunning Son of a Fool! As payment for stealing my opponent, come forth and die!"
"I will complete the interrupted battle and forge a glorious victory here!"
An incredibly majestic voice, accompanied by wind and thunder, swept across the entire island.
"?"
Erica looked in the direction of the voice with a puzzled expression.
More surprising than the fact that there was a second Heretic God hidden on the island was that she couldn't understand why some idiot was rushing to their death.
Is he... tired of living?