There was not much ti left for Hilia. She quickly made her choice and said, "Uncle, two Gold Coins, let’s be friends?"
The uncle didn’t speak, just looked at the Elf Maiden on the Magic Puppet’s shoulder, then turned his palm inward, holding up two fingers like he was posing.
"Deal."
Hilia gritted her teeth, took out 2 Gold Coins and tossed them over.
The uncle instantly bead with delight, "Co in, co in, have a seat."
Entering the house, Hilia saw the uncle reach down and press his hand against a stone slab on the floor. Just like that, he pried it open, revealing a hole underneath.
"Please, go ahead."
He made a welcoming gesture.
Hilia glanced at him suspiciously, then walked into the hole, with the Magic Puppet following closely behind.
Before leaving, she glanced back and snorted, saying indifferently, "Charging this much? Once I get into the city, I’ll report you to the City Lord."
"Go ahead and report." The uncle didn’t care, sealing the stone slab back down.
The tunnel wasn’t very spacious or tall, just enough for two people to walk side by side. The Magic Puppet carrying the Elf Maiden would sotis let the Elf Maiden brush against the dirt on the sides.
But at this mont, Hilia didn’t care about any of that.
Moving quickly through the tunnel, Hilia soon saw stairs appear ahead. She went up the stairs and saw a hatch in front, next to it a green button. There was a note stuck beside the green button, which read:
[← Press this]
Hilia pressed it, and the hatch slowly opened.
Coming out of the tunnel, she found herself inside an ordinary small house.
A middle-aged uncle was sitting at a table in the corner; when he saw her co out, he said, "After you open the door, leave through the backyard. Rember: keep your mouth shut. Don’t tell anyone, or no matter where you are, we’ll find you... What the hell?"
The previously indifferent uncle had wanted to intimidate this unknown illegal trespasser, but when he suddenly saw the Magic Puppet carrying the Elf Maiden behind Hilia, all indifference vanished and he nearly fell out of his chair.
"Damn it, Dark is even taking on this kind of thing?!"
Hilia glanced at him and was still unhappy about the four Gold Coins. She wasn’t in the mood to be nice. "Not your business. Pretend you didn’t see anything, or I can’t guarantee you’ll keep doing this job unhard."
The man zipped his mouth, eyeing Hilia warily.
Hilia didn’t say more and opened the door to leave.
Outside was a small yard, and this house at the back... really looked like the yard’s outhouse.
Just... a bit bigger.
After looking around, noting the house’s location and the surroundings, Hilia morized it, then left and hit the street outside.
She’d only walked a couple steps before she stopped.
"The Array in Southern Border City seems to have activated? What’s the situation?"
Rose’s image appeared and checked briefly: "There’s a flaw in this Array—it looks like each street has tight coverage, but it focuses too much on the details. All those connected details actually form fatal loopholes. No wonder people dug out six smuggling tunnels into the city."
Hilia’s heart skipped a beat: "So the Tier Four heretic chasing could be using this route to get in too..."
"You can skip the ’could.’ They definitely will, and unlike you, they won’t dawdle. So of these tunnel-digging ’rats’ have long-term ties with them, maybe even Believers themselves."
"So going back isn’t safe either..."
"It’s very safe," Rose said blandly. "You forgot your talent with Arrays?"
Hilia’s eyes gradually lit up: "You an..."
"Go to the inn first. It’s near the Divine Hall and the City Lord’s castle, the core of the Array. Watch out for the Detection Runes on the streets."
"Okay."
Hilia nodded.
She hadn’t co into contact with the giant Array guarding the city itself yet; breaking in was out of the question for now.
But just dodging the small detection details—that was easy enough.
It didn’t take long before Hilia got near the inn.
Rose said, "They’ve reached outside the city. Go to the square beside the Divine Hall and start from there."
"What? They’re outside already?" Hilia felt a surge of anxiety.
"Don’t worry. There’s enough ti. They won’t get in that easily."
Even so, Hilia still made her way to the Divine Hall’s square at top speed.
As for the Elf Maiden the Magic Puppet was carrying, the Puppet would take her to Hilia’s room first, put her on the bed, then return.
While Hilia was busy cracking and infiltrating the Array, over in the City Lord’s castle—
The bishop and City Lord had been teleported over; the bishop was clutching his wound and casting Purification Skill on himself twice in a row.
But it didn’t do much good.
For contaminated wounds, soone else needed to help cleanse the corruption first—only then could Purification Skill work on it.
He grimaced, catching his breath: "That guy was too weird. I suspect they might co back."
The City Lord slapped his desk. "It’s their turf outside, so we’re no match. If I can’t handle them inside my own city, I don’t deserve to be City Lord!"
He contacted his steward and quickly gave orders.
The castle quickly sprang into action.
A mont later he said, "It’s all arranged. Let’s see—whoever cos, I’ll kill them."
"Don’t get cocky," the bishop said. "They’re three Tier Four Mages and there’s no Tier Five sitting here. That Shadow Mage is mysterious—be careful; they might try to sneak in. Anyway, once Ms Vanessa cos to support us, everything will be fine."
"How long until she gets here?" asked the City Lord.
"Estimated arrival in 20 minutes."
"Good."
The City Lord walked outside and looked down from the castle at the entire Southern Border City.
Suddenly, he saw a flash of light on a distant street and frowned: "Soone breaking curfew?"
The bishop, clutching his wound, stood beside him and took a look, speaking gravely: "Could be an intruder slipping in."
"You stay put. I’ll check it out."
"All right, sorry for the trouble."
With the Array enhancing him, the City Lord felt full of confidence and flew directly toward the flashing light.
But the mont he got into the air, several Magic Puppets flew at him.
"So it’s you all. In my city, you still want to make trouble?"
The entire Southern Border City’s Protective Array kicked into high gear.
"I wanted to deal with you outside the walls, but you brought backup. Fine, try a taste of this Array, upgraded through generations!"
Thunder rolled in the sky above.
Quite a few night owls, not yet asleep, heard the ruckus outside and couldn’t help running out to watch.
The disturbance in the sky didn’t escape Hilia either.
And she sensed the Array activating too.
This was the main plaza—she could see everything clearly.
Hilia looked toward the distant sky.
"That’s... the City Lord? He’s fighting the intruding heretics? Then we..."
"Don’t worry, he won’t win."
Rose’s gaze grew deep, looking toward that deep blue glow boiling up in the shadows.
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