Chapter 652 - 650: Melina’s Anomaly

Hilia and Elina were unaware of the findings of the investigation team.

The two parted ways safely after leaving.

The huge demon underground in the Elf Forest is likely beyond the Elf Race’s ability to handle.

To prevent accidents, Hilia needs to return to Ista to find the Law Enforcement Knight Order and inform Melina of this matter.

Coincidentally, the Law Enforcement Knight Order is currently on the Ista border, acting independently to deal with pollution and heresy; the leader can handle such matters.

Even if they cannot enter the Elf Race territory, they can at least be informed in advance and conduct in-depth research using the data provided by Hilia, attempting to decipher the abilities of these demons and develop corresponding countermeasures.

Therefore, Hilia needs to send back the data she has acquired.

Especially the various image data.

Unfortunately, capturing the demons alive for now is not possible, and even if they were captured, it would be hard to take them out.

However, Hilia left a lot of demon remains, which were nearly sufficient.

Elina naturally would not go with Hilia to Ista, or rather, she wouldn’t leave now.

As an elf who obtained a Divine Relic and blessing, she has unknowingly begun to think on behalf of the entire Elf Race.

Even now, though she is alone and can do nothing, she still wants to try.

She chose to stay near the source of the pollution, preparing to explore underground in other directions to see what lies there and if there is any representative item of the Enlightenment given by the Elf God.

Thus, the two parted ways.

After leaving, Hilia rode swiftly, soon crossing the Elf Race border quietly, returning to the Ista Empire and finding the Law Enforcement Knight Order engaged in purification tasks.

After reporting, she found Melina, along with Vanessa, Benovia, and others.

After speaking with Vanessa for a while, Hilia was called by Melina to accompany Benovia to a secret meeting room.

"By the way," Hilia suddenly remembered something, "where’s Phil? I thought she was here?"

Benovia had mentioned Phil to Hilia, and since Phil’s disguise wasn’t as intentional as Hilia’s, she often inadvertently exposed herself, so knowing that Phil used to go by Luo Feier wasn’t a big secret.

The entire Law Enforcement Knight Order knew about it.

"She hasn’t returned; she said she sensed an anomaly in the flow of pollution and is looking for the source. I couldn’t stop her, so I let her go," Benovia said.

"Oh, I see."

Hilia didn’t think much of it.

She remembered that Rose was quite attentive to Phil, and although she didn’t know if Phil could hear divine revelations, with Rose’s protection, there were likely to be no problems.

Upon entering the meeting room, Hilia presented the situation she had investigated beneath the source of pollution.

Melina watched the projection of seemingly endless demons, her expression turning serious.

After watching, she looked at Hilia and asked, "Are these demons all formed from the same mineral?"

Hilia shook her head: "No, in addition to Lancelot Stone, we found many mineral-constructed demons. Their common characteristic is hardness, with each demon possessing a body tough for an average mage to handle,"

Melina nodded: "It seems the Elf Race is in trouble."

"Ms. Melina, please send these materials to the Holy Court for research. Even though these demons should not breach the Elf Race’s territory, we should be prepared just in case."

"That’s not necessarily true. The Elf Race has studied these demons for a long time and must know some of their habits. Perhaps..." Melina smirked, "when they find that resisting will result in heavy losses, they might guide the demons to the border and send them our way."

"Huh? That’s not possible, right?" Hilia blinked; she hadn’t considered this possibility.

She was just pessimistic about whether the Elf Race could handle the demons.

"I was just speculating." Melina collected the data, "I’ll copy these and send them to the Holy Court, keeping a set here for our research. If the Elf Race can resolve this, that’s ideal. If not, we will have to step in."

Hilia said, "Maybe we could reinforce with some troops. The number of people in the Law Enforcement Knight Order seems insufficient."

Upon reaching the camp where the Law Enforcement Knight Order was stationed, Hilia noticed that even dispersed to deal with the spreading pollution, there were only a few thousand members.

High-tier Mages might be rare, but there are many Tier Three Mages and below in any empire, with tens of thousands graduating from various Magic Schools each year. Over the years, even a portion joining the Knight Order should amount to many.

After all, the Divine Magic Academy alone produces hundreds of talented mages annually who enter the Holy Court.

"It’s enough; we don’t need more people." Melina waved dismissively. "The quantity of low-tier mages doesn’t matter; what decides the battle is the number of high-tier mages."

"While that’s true, I must remind you that the demons there will evolve. If too many are killed, high-tier demons could emerge..."

"Then low-tier mages will be even less useful."

Hilia: "..."

Well, that’s true.

"Ahem, I didn’t mean low-tier mages are useless. They’re the main force in daily tasks, and logistics in war must rely on them to transport supplies." Melina further explained.

Even though there were only a few high-tier leaders from the Law Enforcement Knight Order, along with pre-Holy Daughters Hilia and Benovia, Melina still elaborated.

"You’re not wrong, but..."

"Alright, Hilia, I’ll have professionals examine your data thoroughly. Leave the rest to us. Do what you want in the meantime, and when there are research updates, we’ll inform you immediately."

Melina interrupted Hilia.

As Hilia was momentarily stunned, Melina added, "By the way, there’s something in the first house in area 3 of the camp that you need to get. You can go with Benovia; I have some matters to attend to, so I won’t see you there."

"Huh?"

Hilia watched as Melina quickly left with the data and the rest, feeling a bit puzzled.

She turned to Benovia and asked, "Benovia, what’s up with Ms. Melina?"

Benovia, who had been reading, looked up after hearing that, closed her book, and glanced around, "Oh? Is it over?"

"You didn’t listen at all?"

"I finished the data; the rest doesn’t concern me, so why listen?" Benovia innocently replied.

Hilia: "..."

Somehow, Benovia seemed to have changed.

Growing more inscrutable.