Chapter 619 - 617: The Return of Deadly Intent

Hilia had already summoned the magic puppet, letting it wait below while she flew into the sky to commence the final purification.

Below, besides the patients being purified, there were countless onlookers, nobles, and holy priests.

Most of the holy priests had become fans of Hilia, watching her purify for as long as she continued.

Some people even took out notebooks and quills, jotting down unknown notes.

The onlookers were even more frenzied. As Hilia began the purification, they erupted in excited shouts, as if their voices could drive away the pollution.

Fortunately, Hilia had prepared herself for this long ago and wasn’t startled. After blocking out her hearing, she began the final purification.

The glow of the purification skill slowly enveloped all the patients, who began to hum comfortably.

Meanwhile, Hilia’s face turned even paler, so white that the holy mages and enthusiastic fans below showed looks of concern.

Hilia had no time to attend to them, focusing diligently on the purification task.

About two hours later, the purification work was complete, and Hilia breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone burst into loud cheers and applause.

Hilia looked toward the crowd without a smile, instead gripping her magic staff, and several ice shields swiftly appeared on her body.

Bam!

A chilling light suddenly emerged from the shadows, instantly shattering all the ice shields and hitting Hilia forcefully.

Hilia only had time to shift her body, avoiding a critical hit.

The next moment, the ice shield exploded, and Hilia fell from the sky like a kite with a broken string.

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.

The applause and cheers abruptly ceased.

Mornis’s face drastically changed, a burning anger rising within him. He immediately summoned the magic puppet and charged forward.

As the City Lord of the Elf Race’s biggest city besides the Elf Royal City, Mornis naturally possessed the commensurate power, a sixth-tier strength.

"Who is there?!"

A mass of crystalline vines appeared from the void, rapidly entangling the area where the shadow mage had struck.

But the shadow mage seemed prepared, familiar with Mornis’s methods.

Before the vines could close in, he broke free and flew towards the distance, hidden in the shadows.

But at that moment, a massive ice spike suddenly appeared from afar, rushing towards his direction and exploding in front of him to his surprise.

The ice spike contained some kind of pattern he couldn’t understand, directly pulling him out of the shadows, exposing him to everyone’s gaze.

A skeletal figure with dim skin immediately caused the elves below to cry out in shock.

"Dark Elf?"

"Is it really a Dark Elf?"

"Damn Dark Elves, how dare you attempt to assassinate Hilia!"

"We absolutely can’t let him escape!"

"These damned guys want to see the Elf Race destroyed?!"

"What about Hilia? How is she?"

"..."

Chaos instantly erupted in the plaza.

Some people wanted to flee, some wanted to check on Hilia, and others wanted to take advantage of the chaos for illegal doings.

Everyone’s thoughts and actions were different, quickly transforming into a complete chaotic stampede.

But they couldn’t care less anymore.

The guards stationed around the plaza, in front of tens of thousands, resembled a lone leaf in a raging sea, unable to do much.

Fortunately, the City Lord’s steward ordered high-tier mages to encircle Hilia, and the holy priests who had been watching rushed forward, nervously watching Hilia.

At this moment, Hilia had closed her eyes, enveloped in an ice layer constructed by the ice shield skill. Everyone could only watch helplessly as Hilia was encased in ice.

They could see that Hilia’s abdomen was stained red with blood, trapped within the ice.

"Should we break the ice to release her?"

The holy priests looked at each other in confusion.

It was their first time facing such an emergency.

Many of them were experienced, having encountered numerous sudden incidents, but in those cases, the victims would either lie completely flat after being hit or still have the strength to allow for healing.

It was their first time seeing someone like Hilia, who had encased herself in ice.

Finally, the City Lord’s steward made a decision in place of the City Lord.

"Dear priest friends, let’s first carry Miss Hilia back, and wait until the City Lord captures that Dark Elf before making any decisions."

Others could only nod, quickly lifting the large block of ice and carrying it to the back.

At this moment, within Hilia’s spiritual space, her attention was entirely focused on the magic puppet.

When she was attacked, she had already made preparations.

The excessive consumption of Magic Power clearly couldn’t provide her with adequate defensive capability.

So, after narrowly fending off the first wave, she simply encased herself in ice and left the rest to Rose to handle.

After the fourth tier, a mage’s senses could attach to the magic puppet, sharing everything perceived by the puppet.

At this moment, Hilia and Rose attached their senses to the magic puppet, quietly leaving when no one was watching.

Because everyone was concerned with Hilia and the battling City Lord or the chaotic crowd, no one noticed that a magic puppet had quietly left after being released ahead of time.

"It hurts... Lord Rose, please don’t let that guy off!"

Rose controlled the magic puppet, coldly watching the shadow mage scrambling to escape under Mornis’s pursuit, and said indifferently: "If that’s all, it’s very simple. However, just killing one assassin, would you feel satisfied?"

Hilia said indignantly: "Of course, I wouldn’t be satisfied, but..."

Hilia paused, then asked nervously: "Does Lord Rose plan to storm the Elf Royal City and slaughter the entire Elf Royal Family?"

Rose chuckled softly: "Your magic puppet’s operational range isn’t that large, and besides, directly eradicating the Elf Royal Family isn’t very meaningful. It would be better to cut off the limbs of the Elf Royal Court."

Hilia blinked: "What do you mean?"

Rose replied: "Do you know what that ’Dark Elf’ in action is?"

Hilia shook her head.

"You’ll soon find out."

Rose melded into the shadows, quickly arriving at a seemingly ordinary estate somewhere in Watch City.

He directly controlled the magic puppet to enter, taking one second to seize control of the hidden array within the estate, then modified the array.

One minute later, Rose bypassed the estate’s guards, quietly entering a hidden stronghold of an unknown faction beneath the estate.

Inside, Hilia saw a withered branch symbol.

"Withered branch? It looks like the shape of the Holy Tree. Could it be the hidden underground faction of the Elf Royal Court mentioned before?"

Rose nodded.

"Yes, this faction is called Withered Wood, the withered trees, and they have strongholds in every city. Here is their base in Watch City."

Hilia’s eyes lit up.

"So the ones who attempted to assassinate me belong to this organization called Withered Wood?"

"Yes."

"I see, Lord Rose, please do not let them off! Kill... purify them all!"