Chapter 552 - 550: Came Up Short

Bois and the bishop both showed helpless expressions.

"That’s how the Dusk Sect is. They’re different from other cults. When they can’t win, they’ll run. They don’t fight to the death, which is very troublesome."

"Yes, otherwise we would have eliminated the Dusk Sect in Dusk Town a long time ago."

Both of them felt somewhat ashamed, as Hilia single-handedly faced four mages of the same rank and easily captured them, freezing them into ice sculptures, with only a slightly dirty hem as the cost.

Yet for them, three against two, not only did they fail to overwhelm their opponents, but they also let those two escape.

Bois and the bishop felt a bit awkward.

Fortunately, Hilia didn’t dwell on it. She pointed at the four ice sculptures nearby, "These are the four fourth-rank heretics I captured alive, Bishop Flora. Perhaps we can bring them back for interrogation. We might get intel on other strongholds."

Flora glanced at Hilia in surprise and nodded, "Agreed."

Bois looked at the underground space and the complex and eerie array, unable to help but ask, "Miss Xilia, what’s going on here? What ritual is the Dusk Sect conducting here?"

Hilia said, "Most of the death energy in Dusk Town is caused by the Dusk Sect’s activities. But there’s no need to worry now; I’ve disrupted their arrangements. However..."

Hilia looked at the array and shook her head, "The strength of this array is too high. I don’t have the capability to destroy it. See if you can destroy it; if you can’t, please guard it strictly to prevent the Dusk Sect from making a comeback."

As she spoke, Hilia mumbled to herself.

If the Dusk Sect sets up the death energy again, then Dawn City should rightfully be judged.

"Can’t it really be destroyed?" Bois examined the entire underground space carefully, thought for a moment, and sent a magic puppet to attack the array.

The ground trembled, and the array trembled along with it, but there wasn’t even a hint of collapse.

Hilia said, "No matter how many attacks you launch, you’ll only end up creating a big hole here, exposing the array, but you won’t be able to destroy it. Lord City Lord, there’s no need to try."

The city lord withdrew his magic puppet reluctantly.

He waved, instructing his subordinates to carry the four ice sculptures up, and then had others transport those two magic guide devices back.

These magic guide devices weren’t crafted by the gods, so they could be moved freely.

Hilia didn’t mind Bois’s actions. After chatting with Flora for a while, she recounted what had happened below and then returned to the surface together.

Though Hilia informed Flora and the others about the ’super rare heart of the magic puppet,’ she didn’t produce it.

After all, she could directly speak with the Holy Court’s upper echelon and had full authority over handling the spoils.

Moreover, Hilia didn’t emphasize, only mentioning they were ’offering’ the heart of the magic puppet without specifying the attributes of the heart.

The mere heart of a magic puppet wasn’t significant enough to be handed over.

After all, they didn’t know the difference between a ’super rare heart of the magic puppet’ and a regular one.

Upon returning to the surface, Flora said, "Hilia, do you want to join us in tallying the spoils? This stronghold is a significant one for the Dusk Sect, and it holds plenty of good items inside."

Hilia was a bit tempted but ultimately shook her head, "No, Bishop Flora, I have other things to attend to, so I won’t disturb you. You can handle it yourselves, as I haven’t really contributed much."

"Not at all. If it weren’t for Miss Xilia’s guidance, we wouldn’t have found this place." Bois chuckled.

"I only did a minor thing." Hilia said modestly.

After chatting with everyone for a bit, Hilia bade farewell and left the stronghold, flying toward Dawn City.

Upon reaching the ’Nether River,’ Hilia saw that the Nether River boatmen who had been ferrying people across the river were nowhere to be seen.

"I suppose they’ve all been caught."

Hilia shook her head.

"It’s a pity about my gold coin."

Originally, she planned to come back for the gold coin after finishing business.

But she was a step too late.

Though a bit regretful, a gold coin wasn’t of much consequence to her now.

She carefully oriented herself and flew toward Dusk Town.

"I haven’t delivered the ’find someone’ request yet. Better finish that first!"

After most of the death energy was absorbed into the fragments of divine format, the gloom in the Twilight Tomb had dissipated significantly, leaving only a small amount of lingering death energy and some remaining pollution, which were now thin.

From the Twilight Tomb area, one could faintly see Dusk Town even at this time of night.

After flying toward Dusk Town for a while, Hilia landed outside the town and walked in after jumping off her flying broom.

"The Dusk Sect’s stronghold was cleared out; I wonder if the prayer activities in Dusk Town have been affected."

Hilia was somewhat concerned about the villagers’ strange prayer behaviors.

"Given the current situation, there are two possibilities: the first is that they’re ’outer circle’ believers of the Dusk Sect, the second is they once received help from the Hiro Association and then unconditionally worship their deity Hiro..."

Hilia couldn’t help but glance at Rose.

Though there was no solid evidence, Hilia felt that the deity of Hiro was surely Rose.

Even if it wasn’t, they were closely tangled with Rose in various ways.

If the villagers of Dusk Town worshiped the mysterious god of the Hiro Association, then that’s fine, regardless of how they prayed or sacrificed.

It was already evening, and inside Dusk Town, only a few scattered lights were on. Hilia noticed that the blacksmith’s shop where she accepted the task during the day was one of them.

At the entrance, Hilia hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door.

Knock, knock, knock—

"Coming, who is it, so late at night?"

Creak—

The door opened, and the blacksmith from earlier poked his head out, pausing when he saw Hilia who had disguised herself again, before quickly opening the door.

"Great, it’s the mercenary lady. So did you find any clues?"

He spoke with anticipation in his eyes, looking behind Hilia.

Seeing no one behind Hilia, he appeared disappointed.

"So still nothing?"

Hilia shook her head and, after hesitating a moment, chose to speak the truth, "I regret to inform you that when I found him, he had been devoured by wild demons, leaving only bones."

"What?" The blacksmith fell to the ground, seemingly unable to accept the news.

Hilia said, "Your colleague seemed to be in a good relationship with the owner, but... I’m sorry, it’s too late to save him."

The blacksmith trembled, his lips moving for a few moments before he managed to speak.

"Because he... was my son."

Hilia: "..."

Oh, you...

No wonder.

Hilia was at a loss for words. In the end, she chose to say nothing, silently watching as the blacksmith sat on the ground, beating his chest and wailing.

Hilia felt helpless, unsure of what to do in the face of the elder’s wailing.

"...If I had known, I would’ve forgone the reward."