Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"crow--"

Tricia called out, and the crow's black feathers fell, a black mist spread out, and the crow appeared from a ball of purple-black light. It flapped its wings, stood on Tricia's shoulder, turned its body, and looked at Elsa with its sharp beak raised.

Elsa raised the corner of her mouth at it, and it quickly fluttered and ran to Tricia's other shoulder.

"Don't make trouble."

Tricia gently stroked the crow's little head, let it jump onto her wrist, and gently pushed it forward.

"Be my eyes—go."

The crow made a cawing sound and flapped its wings to fly forward quickly.

Tricia led Elsa to the very center of the formation—the earth vein sealing formation, which stretched as far as the eye could see. At its center was a high stone platform, not a natural formation, but rather something carved. The closer they got, the more they marveled at the formation's sophistication and complexity. Near the center, the magic circle glowed brightly, a brilliant white light, reminiscent of the earth veins and white saplings Elsa had seen.

Tricia looked at the endless earth vein sealing formation in front of her, and released the light in her hand. The originally dim formation seemed to be awakened and emitted a dazzling light, but there was an extra layer of impure color in the magical light. This color was invisible to the naked eye, but it could not hide from Tricia's "eyes".

Elsa stood aside and waited. She couldn't figure out what was going on, but she could smell an unusual scent in the air - a scent that didn't belong to the earth.

After a while, Tricia frowned.

At this time, the crow also returned to Tricia's shoulder and told her everything it saw.

"There's nothing wrong with the magic circle. No one has ever been here before."

Tricia said, frowning slightly.

It seems that this is indeed not a place where everyone can come, and those sculptures are not just for decoration.

But having said that, Elsa felt there should be a "but".

"But... the leyline is acting strangely. Twelve 'glandularities' have appeared on the leyline, each pointing upwards. One of these 'glandularities' has been removed."

Tricia looked at Aisha and pointed above her head.

"I think this is why those black saplings appeared here—they couldn't attack this place directly, so they used the upper defensive formation connected to the earth vein sealing formation to use black dead branches to disrupt the balance of earth vein magic, indirectly eroding this formation."

The many defensive formations of this fortress all rely on the earth vein magic energy provided by the earth vein sealing formation, so naturally they can also affect each other through the channels between them.

Elsa nodded and pondered: "So, one of the enemy's original goals was actually to destroy the defensive formation here? Once the earth vein seal formation is broken, most of the fortress's defensive formations will be ineffective. In that case..."

"—The Demon General Tobias will march straight in, and no one can stop him."

Tricia spoke each word with emphasis.

She stared directly at Elsa.

"But before all this happened, you defeated the demon general and broke the most crucial link. This was probably the most unexpected flaw in their plan."

……

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241. Letter from Hometown (3K5)

at the same time--

Hannah's idea was correct. With so many people surviving in the Magician Corps, there must be someone who has seen where those missing people went.

Levan is one of the survivors of the attack on the Magician Corps. He was seriously injured in the magic explosion and buried by the rubble, but Elsa's Holy Light Forbidden Spell saved him. There are many people like him who were pulled back from the brink of life and death.

"My name is Levan, and I'm a member of the Sixth Patrol of the Magician Corps. Mather and I are in the same team. I want to ask... is Mather... is he really... dead?"

Levan looked at Hannah with a complicated expression, as if he was expecting something but also seemed to have given up.

Mercer was one of the puppets killed by Elsa. Although Elsa did not actually want their lives, the ice magic only suppressed their lives, just like pressing the pause button.

But the moment the ice magic was released, they detonated the magic and committed suicide - they were puppets, so it was not surprising that they did such a thing.

Hannah shook her head. "He's dead."

"That's it..."

Levan's eyes darkened, he lowered his head and sighed deeply.

Hannah looked at Levan, "I understand how you feel. I'm sorry about your friend's death, but...what do you want from me?"

A hint of determination flashed across Levan's eyes, and he raised his head.

"I want to provide information."

"intelligence?"

Hannah's eyes moved slightly and she became more alert.

Vivian and Sophia also came over. Hannah glanced at them and asked Levan, "What information? Information about Mather?"

"Yes, I hope what I am about to say will provide you with some clues to avenge him—"

As he spoke, Levan took a deep breath and his tone became heavier.

"Mather and I are from the same village. I have always considered him my brother. He has taken great care of me. Everyone in the Magician Corps can attest to this."

Hannah looked at the investigation team members beside her, and one of them nodded.

Levan continued, "But about four months ago, he suddenly seemed like a different person. He disappeared for a while and even missed routine training. I felt something was wrong at that time, so I found him and asked if something had happened at home. His elderly father was ill, so I thought... But I found out that was not the case. He and I were originally in the same task force, but he happened to be assigned to other tasks during that time."

"What mission?"

"I don't know... He didn't tell me... We didn't talk much after that, I..."

"He was acting strangely, but you didn't become suspicious?"

Levan nodded.

"But someone stopped you, didn't they? Who?"

"Ake, Ake and Mather have been very close since that incident, but he's been missing for several days now—he likes to drink. The strange thing is, I saw him going to West Street every day recently, even though he used to disdain places like West Street."

West Street, where Luther died - West Street is not a good place, many people will not go there.

Hannah had a guess in her heart.

"I'm afraid it's not just about drinking... Can you find this person?"

Levan shook his head. "But I know the tavern he went to those days."

Hannah nodded and suddenly asked, "Did your deputy leader Ryan behave abnormally during that time?"

"No... He always takes his students to study those strange things. Unless there is a mission, he rarely asks about other matters within the group..."

"Yeah, I guess so."

If there was something wrong with Ryan, the Sage should have discovered it a long time ago and would not have waited until today. Besides, Ryan is far away in Weilin Town now, and this matter has nothing to do with him.

Hannah felt that she was asking too much.

She looked behind her at Renee.

"Renee, you stay here and continue your investigation. I'll take someone to West Street."

"Yes!"

Renee went to gather the men. Hannah fastened the sword at her waist and looked at Levan: "Come with me. On the way, tell me about other things about the Magician Corps."

"As you command."

At this moment, Vivian suddenly spoke up, "The tavern on West Street... I remember there was only one tavern on West Street now, right? Is it called 'Thorne's Tavern'?"

"You know?"

Lewand was greatly surprised. He looked at Vivian and felt more and more puzzled - West Street was not a good place, why would a nun know there?

Hannah didn't find it strange. She was in charge of investigating Luther's death, and she knew Vivian and Filia had been there.

Thinking of this, Hannah suddenly thought...

What was Luther's purpose in attacking Vivian and Filia? Although there is no evidence to prove his motive, it is clear from the circumstances at the time that Luther had a reason.

And at that time, Ake was active in West Street.

Coincidence? Impossible?

So, does this mean that Luther is related to the person behind the undead puppet?

"I might have seen that 'Ake'... because I happen to be going to West Street quite often recently..."

Vivian said.

Hannah asked doubtfully, "But...if you saw him again, would you still recognize him?"

Generally speaking, people will not remember the appearance of someone they pass by. Even Hannah, who has undergone rigorous training as a guard, cannot guarantee that she can remember the appearance of a passerby from a few days ago.

And Vivian shook her head.

"I can't remember... but my friend can."

This friend naturally refers to Filia - when it comes to observation and memory of the environment, Filia is the undisputed gold medalist.

At this time, Filia was standing in front of the Adventurer's Guild counter.

In front of her, on the counter, was a letter.

Anne, the receptionist at the counter, said, "Dear Lady Livret, this is a letter for you—it was transferred from Sobel."

Sobul is a prosperous port city south of here. Filia had settled there a year ago. After receiving the letter, the guild would inquire about the adventurer's current whereabouts through the guild network and send it over. This was not surprising. The strange thing was that Filia did not think she had any friends or relatives, so this letter seemed very abrupt.

"My letter?"

"Yes."

Filia looked at the letter. The envelope was bulging and there was no guild's sealing wax. It seemed that it was not a letter sent by the guild. She picked up the letter and opened it. Several wrinkled papers shook out. Filia unfolded the paper, took a look at it, and was stunned.

The words on it were crooked and looked like they were written by a child - but Filia remembered this handwriting.

Filia opened her eyes slightly and quickly reread the letter from the beginning with a serious expression. By the end, her brows were tightly furrowed. For a moment, Filia felt a little irritated. She put the letter down and picked it up again, then put it to her nose and sniffed it.

The nostalgic smell of grass and trees made her clench her palms - this was the smell of her hometown, but with the smell of blood and fire.

Filia's eyes fluctuated. She carefully put the envelope away and asked Annie, "Is there anything else?"

Anne shook her head.

"Nothing more, just one letter."

"Thank you."

Filia thanked her solemnly, turned around and left. Anne looked at Filia's back and bowed slightly.

"Walk slowly."

As Filia left, Blanche immediately ran to Anne.

"That person just now was definitely Lady Filia Livlet, right? Definitely, right?"

Anne held her forehead helplessly.

……

Filia went straight back to her room in the monastery. When she passed by Aisha and Vivian's room, she couldn't help but stop.

Do you want to say goodbye?

For the first time, Filia felt a sense of reluctance, which even surprised herself.

At this time, a voice came from behind.

"Filia!"

Filia turned around and Vivian appeared before her.

"Vivian?" Filia was slightly surprised. She carefully collected her thoughts, glanced at Elsa's room, then walked towards Vivian. "I thought you were with Elsa—how were the results of the selection?"

"I won, thanks to Filia's constant help, and I also happened to be lucky..."

Vivian smiled sheepishly.

"By the way, Filia, can I ask you for a favor?" Vivian quickly noticed that something was wrong with Filia's expression. "Wait... Filia, what's wrong with you? You look like..."

Very unhappy? Very sad? Vivian had never seen Filia look like this before.

Filia just shook her head.

"I'm fine, tell me about your business first."

Vivian hesitated, but still told her about the investigation.