The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess
Chapter 313 - 311: Search, Strike, Retreat
If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, Hilia would never face a Tier Four Mage.
Luckily, she already had a plan.
"First, cut off surveillance on the three corridors, so they can’t track me right away..."
Her Spiritual Power leapt forth, quickly linking to the runes monitoring the three corridor branches ahead. She paused all monitoring runes inside, freezing the images so no one could tell which path she took.
Then, she took out the Essence of the Dark Dream, casting Magic to resist dream effects while smearing some of its potion onto her hands.
The medicinal strength was evaporating fast.
Due to direct contact, even with the resistance Magic, Hilia felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her.
She forced herself awake, rushing toward the target area.
Ahead, a squad of heretics appeared. On seeing Hilia, they tried to cast Magic, but before they could, as Hilia sped closer, they opened their mouths to yawn, passed out before even yawning, collapsing onto the floor for a baby-like sleep.
Hilia ignored them. She was in a hurry to avoid the attention of that Tier Four Mage.
She encountered two more waves of heretics, and it was only thanks to the Essence of the Dark Dream in her hand that they fell asleep, letting her rush full speed towards her objective—an oddly window-like door on the side of the corridor.
The door quietly slid open as she approached. Without hesitation, she darted inside.
"This room has the highest security rating in the entire secret realm. While there’s chaos outside, the Mages inside seem completely unfazed. There must be a secret!"
With no way out for the moment, Hilia decided to go all out—luring the Tier Four Mage away while digging out every secret this stronghold had!
This was Hilia’s first stop.
Everyone else was shouting to capture the intruder, but this place was untouched.
No matter how you looked at it, there was something hidden here.
And one more thing—the Array outside only affected the surface inside, only letting you see a little bit.
That sliver allowed only a glimpse of people inside studying some unknown Magic Guide Device.
"Looks like the research lab of Polar Blood Alliance... Why is this heretic doing real work here?"
Hilia stepped inside. The people in the room glanced over, and one second later, all closed their eyes and slumped unconscious.
"They must not be researching the Essence of the Dark Dream. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have passed out."
Hilia surveyed the layout of the spacious room.
This room was perfectly square, about a hundred square meters. All around the walls and center were heaps of nameless Magic Guide Devices, plenty of Magic Crystal Staffs, various potion ingredients—everything piled up, forming a shape like the character ’hui’.
"This is just the surface. There’s a secret hidden inside for sure."
Quick on her feet, Hilia zipped around, gathering up all valuable materials and Magic Crystals.
The girl made a quick survey of the machines inside the room, recording them with her wristband.
"These can’t be moved. I’d better just destroy them."
Hilia grumbled. A flurry of ice needles appeared, piercing into all the Magic Guide Devices she couldn’t carry, targeting their most fragile, sensitive array components.
"Detonate!"
All Magic Guide Devices, whether active or not, instantly stopped working.
With that done, Hilia rushed to a pristine white wall.
Through her Array-searching senses, she sensed that this wall wasn’t linked to the stronghold’s main Array.
As she approached, the Mage’s Hand spell sense pinged—there was a super-hidden Array concealed in here.
"An Array within an Array, really knows how to hide things."
Hilia pressed her palm to the wall, tendrils of Spiritual Power seeping through, touching the Array inside.
It didn’t take long before she frowned: "This Array is insanely complex, too advanced. Impossible to crack in the short term."
If she wasn’t in danger, she’d have been patient enough to stay for hours and break it down.
But now, she didn’t have that luxury.
Though she’d used the same trick as with the Tier Four Mage at the door—isolating the room from outside—meaning even a Tier Four Mage couldn’t breach it quickly.
But if they kept blasting it for an hour, even the strongest Array would be torn apart.
Unless this Array had self-repair abilities like the Sealing Array used on Rose.
Obviously, that was impossible. Such things belonged to the Domain of Gods. No mid or low-tier Mage could have it.
If there was—that could only happen if there was an Array Master inside, frantically repairing as it was damaged.
Thinking it over, Hilia prepared to give up invading the hidden Array.
But just as she turned to leave, the wall suddenly faded, revealing a secret tunnel stretching into the unknown.
Hilia looked to Rose, her eyes sparkling.
"Oh mighty God!"
The girl shouted, receiving Rose’s shared Array infiltration route while darting into the tunnel.
Once inside, the door turned back into a wall—smooth and seamless, with no hint of a passage.
Not long after she entered, loud booms echoed from outside.
The Female Mage who’d spotted Hilia was now at the door.
She squinted at the locked door.
"A skilled Array Master like this would never be unknown."
As a Spiritual Mage, she was constantly connected to the Arrays, being the stronghold’s heart, monitoring everything.
"The report brought by Jestikaf distracted me—I didn’t realize you had arrived. But you’re bold, invading the Array and then trying to monitor me. I can’t let you leave."
She licked her lips, glanced toward Jestikaf. A projection flickered—showing Hilia just as she’d entered, before she blocked her own image.
The Female Mage asked coldly, "Can you confirm—is this the youth who was tracking you?"
Jestikaf glanced once, quickly bowing his head, cold sweat pouring. "It should be, Lady Vera."
Bang!
Jestikaf was suddenly flung backward, smashing against the corridor wall. Others looked over, seeing blood streaming from his eyes, nose, and ears.
This attack—totally unlike ordinary Magic—made all the heretics shudder with terror.
Vera said coolly, "This may not be where he’s hiding. It could be a decoy, drawing us to waste time here. Spread out, keep searching, report immediately if you find him. Don’t fight—you can’t win against him."
"Yes!"
The heretics, relieved, hurried away.
Vera turned to the window-shaped door, pressing her hand to it. The rune symbols floated to the surface, and she began manipulating the dense array of runes.
"Hang in there, dear friend. Give me some fun—don’t be as boring as the last batch of intruders."