Chapter 551 - 549: Don’t You Know How to Play?

Boom boom boom!

The aftermath of the magic explosion caused the surrounding walls to continuously shake, with some soil and stones falling from above.

The battlefield between Hilia and the four had shifted from the doorway to the entire underground space.

Two close combat mages, accompanied by magic puppets, tried to attack her with enchanted weapons, while the ranged mages’ magic puppets attempted to prevent her magic puppet from using the Purification Skill.

Hilia commanded the magic puppet to activate the Purification Skill, evade attacks, and not retaliate.

Just two continuously weakened magic puppets couldn’t stop it from consistently releasing the Purification Skill.

And she herself was even more fearless.

Because as time passed, the offensive she faced seemed more intense, yet the intensity of the magic had significantly weakened.

Bam!

Hilia positioned the magic staff horizontally in front of her, blocking a shadow mage’s assassination, and her entire body flew backward using the momentum of the impact.

But she wasn’t panicked at all; instead, she revealed a slight smile.

"It’s about time."

A burst of cold ice attribute magic erupted from the magic staff, instantly chilling the entire underground space.

At some point, a faint mist of ice had enveloped the entire underground space.

Then, the ice mist surged wildly, transforming into enormous ice balls.

These ice balls coalesced around the four, and when they hurriedly cast Protective Skills—

"Explode!"

Hilia softly whispered, and the ice balls exploded in an instant.

Boom!

The violent aftermath of the explosion caused countless cracks in the ice shield in front of Hilia, nearly shattering it.

As the ice mist dissipated, only the figures of four collapsed individuals and dumbfounded magic puppets remained on the scene.

This spell was the youthful version of the Ice Domain, a preliminary domain form that required prior setup. Hilia added some elements to it, allowing it to quickly condense ice balls with power comparable to Ice Crystal Missiles.

If it were four Tier Four Mages at their full power, the explosion of the ice balls would merely be a hassle for them.

Hilia knew this, so after the first wave of suppression, she deliberately gave the opponents the illusion of regaining the battle rhythm, pretending to fight while retreating, quietly setting the stage, waiting for their strength to weaken to a certain extent, before killing them in one strike.

The higher the tier, the harder it is to kill.

After all, if the situation seemed dire, one could simply make a run for it, right?

"Such a tactic might not be effective against regular Tier Four Mages, but when dealing with heretics, it really never fails."

Hilia controlled the magic puppet to throw the four heretics together. After some thought, she decided not to kill them but instead bound them while purifying.

"It seems there are people from Huijin Divine Hall outside, hmm... four Tier Four Mages, not a bad bounty, especially alive."

Hilia picked up her magic staff and tapped it on one of them, quickly freezing them into an ice sculpture.

She repeated this technique, turning the others into ice sculptures as well, before finally turning her attention to the magic puppets.

Hilia approached a magic puppet, rubbed her hands, checked carefully, and shook her head.

"The shell and most materials were damaged in the explosion, not to mention the pollution, not worth much."

With a wave of her magic staff, Hilia blasted the head of the magic puppet, then removed the Heart of the Magic Puppet inside.

"Seems the Heart of the Magic Puppet is also polluted... but fortunately, not too severely. The Heart of the Natural Puppet has a self-purifying ability, so purifying it should make it sellable."

Delighted, Hilia collected three of the hearts, then looked at the Heart of the Water Magic Puppet from the close combat type with some disdain.

"The Heart of the Water Magic Puppet wasn’t polluted... hmm, still, you’re the least valuable."

After scavenging, Hilia clapped her hands, and at this moment, Rose’s voice came through.

"Alright, go fetch the death-attribute magic puppet heart, the battle outside is about finished too."

"Okay."

Hilia quickly headed to the center of the underground space.

At this time, the Divine Format fragment had almost absorbed the scattered death energy.

This place wasn’t the Golden Apple Stone Forest, the range was relatively small, and the Divine Format fragment was absorbing its own energy, making the process efficient. In less than half an hour, most of the death energy was absorbed.

The remaining was negligible.

When Hilia arrived, the Divine Format fragment, under Rose’s control, ceased absorbing the death energy and slowly descended into Hilia’s hand.

A cool sensation, different from the ice-attribute magic, wafted from her hand, causing Hilia to shiver.

"Such a cold Heart of the Magic Puppet."

"Keep it safe, the fight outside is over."

"Okay."

Hilia nodded, stopped observing, and stored the Divine Format fragment back into her ring.

Then, just as she was about to take the four ice sculptures back to the surface, she suddenly felt a tremor and magic power fluctuations originating from above.

Hilia, feeling something, shed her disguise, jumped onto a magic-guided machine, sat with hands pressed on either side of her body, swinging her lower legs back and forth, waiting for the arrivals from above.

Soon, Flora, the City Lord, and the Bishop arrived with their group.

Seeing Hilia sitting in the center of the underground space, alongside the four ice sculptures and damaged magic puppets, they momentarily paused.

Flora looked at Hilia with surprise, "Hilia?"

"Hello, Bishop Flora," Hilia greeted.

Hilia hadn’t had any particular interactions with Flora, except during the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association extermination battle, but that didn’t prevent her from greeting and feigning familiarity.

Flora curiously asked, "Why are you here? Isn’t it study time now?"

Hilia cheekily replied, "I’ve reached tier four, studying... isn’t that important anymore."

"True enough." Flora nodded, suddenly recalling something, revealing a look of realization, "So, the ruins of the base we encountered on the way, that was your doing?"

Hilia nodded, not denying it.

City Lord Bois stepped forward, "Miss Hilia’s name is renowned, seeing is believing, indeed Miss Hilia is the strongest mage of the younger generation."

The Bishop agreed, "Indeed, when I was at tier four, I couldn’t possibly defeat four opponents of the same tier. Moreover, Miss Hilia once helped Dawn Divine Hall capture a heinous High Priest."

Hilia pursed her lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

She remembered overhearing that they were connected to someone of high status in Dawn City, it was with that person’s protection that they could act so arrogantly under their nose.

Although she didn’t know if it was someone from the City Lord’s side or the Divine Hall’s side, Hilia didn’t have much goodwill toward either.

Thus, she remained a bit more courteous to the two, greeting them without further conversation.

She turned to Flora and asked, "Bishop Flora, how’s the situation above?"

Flora glanced at the Bishop and Bois, speechless, "The two tier-five heretics managed to escape, a pity."

Hilia was surprised, three against two, even with the Purification Skill to weaken the opponents, they still managed to let them escape?

Are they even trying?