Plop!
As a figure fell into the water, sending up ripples, all the ferryn on the river turned their gazes over.
Hilia looked at the purse the magic puppet had snatched before knocking down the ferryman, then looked at everyone else.
"Now, I’m the ferryman. Do you all want to cross the river?"
Watching the magic puppet hold the boat pole, even Beck, a Tier Two Mage, nodded fervently along with everyone else.
They couldn’t help glancing at the depths of the river, feeling the commotion from below, a chill running down their spines.
They often crossed the "Nether River" and knew perfectly well the horrors lurking beneath its surface.
They’d seen what happened to people who refused to pay, or suddenly changed their minds—ferryn would knock them overboard to feed the fish.
But they’d never seen a ferryman get thrown in to feed the fish.
This completely reversed scene left everyone utterly stunned.
It even sobered them up a bit.
Now, Hilia, holding the boat pole, was like a temporary god—the pole in the water on one end, pointed at them on the other—they were too scared she’d make a move to even twitch.
The other boats’ ferryn just took a glance, then kept right on with their own boats.
This made everyone present feel as if Hilia was the heretic, and they were the ones being conned.
This, of course, was the effect of Rose’s Disguise Skill.
From the other ferryn’s perspective, it was just this boat’s ferryman tossing so foolish lackey into the river for the fish.
That kind of thing happened all the ti; they didn’t even bat an eye.
After dealing with this Tier Three ferryman, Rose sent an order to the magic puppet to steer the boat, then returned to Hilia’s spiritual space, marking a spot in her field of vision.
"Head over there. I’ve spotted a Ghost Fruit."
Hilia’s eyes lit up. She imdiately had the magic puppet steer towards where Rose indicated.
But just as they turned, Beck’s face suddenly changed and he blurted, "Don’t change course! That part of the Nether River is dangerous—you’ll capsize!"
"Oh really?" Hilia looked at the river straight ahead; the surface looked perfectly calm, not even a breeze.
Rose said nothing.
But after thinking for a mont, Hilia decided it was better to get ashore first.
Going by land was always safer than by river, no matter what.
With that in mind, Hilia put them back on the original course, slowly reaching the opposite bank.
After disembarking, Hilia casually had the magic puppet toss the boat pole aside, then started off in the direction Rose had pointed out.
The corruption here grew thicker, though the aura of death had thinned a bit.
"Wait, where—where are you going?"
Only after getting off the boat did Beck relax. When he saw Hilia was leaving, he hurriedly called out.
"Captain, didn’t you say the real Twilight Tomb would be here on the far bank of the Nether River? I rember the job: find a sample from the tomb and we get 100 gold coins." Hilia turned back, looking at Beck with a half-smile.
"Uh..." Beck was speechless, starting to suspect he was hallucinating.
Why wasn’t this newbie rcenary affected by the Nether River’s mist?
Beck had never encountered this before.
In the past, when luring people in, by the ti they were about to cross, victims were usually already affected, longing for the far shore, desperate to reach the ’true Twilight Tomb.’
Crossing the river, they would be ’purified,’ until reaching the far bank and completing the ’purification’; they’d beco loyal believers of the Dusk Sect, willing to lay down their lives to see the god of death.
But this ’newbie rcenary’ seed totally unaffected.
She even tossed the ferryman overboard!
That was a Tier Three Mage!
Though they were now on land with no further concerns, Beck still wasn’t confident he could take down Hilia.
After hesitating, he tried to persuade, "You’re right, but that area is where the ghosts live. If you approach, they’ll attack. Why not stick with us? We have a safe path through."
Even now they were still playing the role of the survey party—cowed by the power of Hilia’s magic puppet.
"Fine, wait here for . I see so treasure over there; I’ll grab it first."
Hilia didn’t expose them; she simply went along with his words.
According to Rose, she wanted both the Ghost Fruit and the destruction of the heretic base!
Beck didn’t dare stop Hilia as she left the path, moving toward the ghost zone along the riverside’s red blossoms.
Only when she’d gone did Fei Qi nervously ask, "Captain, what do we do? Are we really waiting?"
Beck hesitated, then gritted his teeth. "Wait. We have nothing to lose by waiting. If we don’t, it’s all for nothing. If she cos, we hit the jackpot."
The other team mbers agreed wholeheartedly.
If they could bring a mysterious powerhouse—who looked Tier One, but casually took out a Tier Three—into the Dusk Sect, that would be a huge rit!
They wouldn’t have to drag in any more victims for at least half a year.
anwhile, Hilia didn’t care if Beck and the others would wait or run. Following Rose’s directions, she crossed the danger zone, slowly approaching where the Ghost Fruit was located.
As Beck had said, this was the ghost activity zone. Under the gray sky, Hilia saw several faint ghosts drifting through the woods.
This was beyond the riverbank now. She had already passed the ’flowers of the far shore’ and entered the true ’far shore’ depths.
The dim environnt, with overcast skies, made it incredibly gloomy. All sorts of tangled weeds and vines covered the ground, making walking difficult—good thing Hilia was floating just off the ground.
As for the magic puppet, it could just smash its way through.
"These ghosts don’t look easy to handle."
Hilia kept a wary eye on the wandering ghosts, not daring to approach.
She didn’t dare use Holy Word skills to purify them. Not only was Holy Word: Purification a Tier Two magic which would cause problems if forced, but even if she purified one, the others would instantly swarm her.
"Don’t worry about it. Just so low-level ghosts, trash even—I don’t bother with them for training. Go around, just head straight for the guardian ghost."
"Guardian ghost?"
"The ghost that guards the Ghost Fruit. Ghost Fruit is very beneficial for ghosts—helps them form a physical body. Only the strongest ghost gets the fruit."
"Let think of the guardian ghost’s features."
Rose pondered. "If I rember right, guardian ghosts are immune to all physical attacks, and have high resistance to most magic. Only fire elent and holy-type magic are super effective."
"Holy-type...I only have Holy Word: Persuasion. Can I persuade it?"
"You can try."
Hilia asked the key question: "What tier is the guardian ghost?"
"Tier Two, but at the peak of Tier Two—it’s waiting for the Ghost Fruit to ripen so it can eat it and ascend to Tier Three."
Not Tier Three yet. Good.
Hilia breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she realized—
Wait a second, I’m only Tier One...when did I start dismissing Tier Two as beneath ?
This kind of thinking was dangerous.
Hilia quickly got serious.
Soon, she spotted a small clearing in the woods. At the center stood a tree like an apple tree, bearing clusters of white, crystal-clear fruits that looked like gems.
One of the fruits was glowing faintly, signifying it was about to ripen.
Rose’s voice echoed in Hilia’s mind—
"You’ll be fighting this battle yourself. I’ll put up an air wall to keep the other ghosts from interfering."
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