Chapter 56: Cooperation Resumed

“Having you help us is simply wonderful, but about discussing conditions…”

Aiste looked distressed as she glanced at the other two legendary demon generals busy with their own tasks. After hesitating for a moment, she pulled out a unique silver gem shaped like butterfly wings from her bosom and handed it to Miss Vilyric.

“Lord Tiyelu can’t easily manifest in this world, but with this special magic tool from the Spirit Butterfly Clan, we can communicate without entering the holy land. You can directly discuss conditions with Lord Tiyelu. As long as she agrees, we have no objections.”

“Oh? There’s such a thing?”

What state exactly is that little butterfly in? From what she mentioned, it seems capable of observing the reality around it; otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to pull people into the holy land at the right moment. But how can it appear outside?

Is it just a projection? Or could it be…

After fiddling and assessing the butterfly-wing-shaped gem in her hand, Vilyric quickly grasped how it worked.

Essentially, it works similarly to Xi Fu Lin’s sealing methods, except the former’s consciousness resides in a physical statue while Tiyelu likely exists in a different special spatial plane, possibly that illusory realm she mentioned, or something else entirely.

In other words, Tiyelu has split countless special spiritual lines, with each end connected to this specially crafted gem. Each line can directly link to the other party’s consciousness, but in reality, the lines themselves have no other function beyond the exchange of thoughts.

This is quite a sophisticated application of spiritual power.

Under normal circumstances, Tiyelu would have to initiate contact. At the very least, she must agree before those in the outside world could use this gem to connect with the butterfly lady. However, after fiddling for a long while, Vilyric didn’t receive any response, growing impatient, she decided to employ a little trick.

It wasn’t anything drastic, just injecting a dose of chaotic spiritual points into the butterfly-wing gem. Holding the analogy, it was like bombarding the other party with a series of wobbly windows on a communication app.

In the next moment, a familiar and crisp cry echoed in Vilyric’s mind.

[Ahhh! Who is it, who?! Do you want to deafen Lord Tiyelu!?]

Oh wow, that was quite effective.

[Hey, hey, it’s me! Can you hear me?]

Communicating through mental channels was something Vilyric had mastered back when it was Xi Fu Lin’s turn, and she easily grasped the response method.

[Vilyric? You again! How annoying! Are you a robber or something? Can’t you knock properly!? Wait, I told Xiao Nan not to… Ah! I get it, it must be that idiot Aiste, right? Aahh, a blunder!]

[What’s with you acting cute… I didn’t knock properly? We’ve been fiddling with this thing for ages and you had no response, and now you’re blaming others? First strike, huh? Also, I remember a certain butterfly saying she would keep an eye on the battlefield, right? Is your watching just goofing off?]

[Cough! Who’s goofing off! It’s just that there’s a bit of a problem in the illusory realm that needs urgent handling! Besides, with you unreasonable folks out there, what could go wrong…!]

[Another issue in the illusory realm? So what exactly is that?]

[The illusory realm is… Ugh, it’s too complicated to explain. We’ll talk about it later. So why are you in such a hurry to find me?]

Now and then, Tiyelu’s voice was mingled with booming explosions and various strange sounds, indicating things were indeed lively on her side and she wasn’t really goofing off.

Even though Vilyric didn’t quite grasp why mental communication would pick up outside noise, since Miss Butterfly was busy, she didn’t want to waste time dilly-dallying. After a moment of thought, she recounted the conversation with Aiste and directly presented their request for assistance in finding someone along with the previously undisclosed conditions.

[Oh, this? Pfft… What’s the big deal? You guys aren’t human, fine, fine, I agree to everything! As long as you can help find the Source of Magic, everything will go according to your conditions!]

[Is there anything else? If not, I’m hanging up! I’m busy!]

[Uh, no… ]

Before Priestess Miss could say anything more, the mental communication abruptly cut off.

Vilyric put down the butterfly-wing gem with a strange expression and returned it to Aiste, murmuring in a voice only she could hear, “Did she just say she’s hanging up…?”

…

Afterwards, things were quite simple.

Since the conditions had already been discussed, Vilyric decided to team up with Aiste and the others. As for the unfortunate remnants of Demon Town who somehow got entangled with the Ghost Thieves, the Priestess Miss had no plans to wipe them out entirely out of respect for Liliya.

In fact, aside from those demon hunters who made Vilyric a bit uncomfortable with their sneaky tricks like using poisoned darts and cheap shot tactics—essentially thugs led by poachers who she dealt with—she mostly refrained from harming the other regular soldiers, at least not taking their lives.

Of course, if someone happened to do a flip in the air and crash their head into a rock, resulting in an immediate death, she couldn’t be held responsible since those humans didn’t seem likely to hold back either.

Though that commander of the humans, whose name was said to be Ahybern, the one who had been locked in a stalemate with Nan Dao for ages and was now desperate to keep them, Vilyric didn’t have the time to play around with him.

As he stubbornly pursued them alone and even seemed to be planning some self-harming forbidden technique, one particularly relentless Giant Dragon lady simply slapped him, sending both him and his sword straight into the floor.

Taking advantage of the petrified soldiers’ terrified faces, who were scrambling to dig Ahybern out, Vilyric quickly led the bewildered magical beings away.

The mountains were not far from Demon Town and the kingdom’s borders, within the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, a straight distance of only a few dozen kilometers. With a simple scan, the Priestess Miss easily found their direction.

After some hurried discussions, Walter dispatched four demons, led by the legendary demon general Iwen, to escort Lulu and the other non-combatants back to the mountains. Nan Dao, Aiste, and a few other demons, along with the two girls Vilyric and the transformed Little Dragon Daughter, headed back toward Demon Town.

The holy light Slime, Xiao Lan, was also returning with Iwen and the others for now, per Vilyric’s suggestion. It was quite inconvenient for Xiao Lan to move around in Demon Town, especially as she needed to head to the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons sooner or later. It was better for Xiao Lan to prepare things early.

When Aiste proposed a three-year contract with Xiao Lan, she had already contemplated this matter.

The news of Ahybern and the others’ defeat would likely reach certain ears in Demon Town soon, and Vilyric’s meddlesome appearance would probably change quite a bit of their plans, but she was already prepared.

You see, during that time in the underground black market, the Priestess Miss and the Little Dragon Daughter had been wearing the “Cognitive Obstruction Mask” the whole time, only removing it when they were worried about misunderstandings upon meeting Tiyelu. During Xiao Lan’s time of reshaping her appearance, Vilyric also wrapped herself in a cloak and avoided close encounters with human armies as much as possible.

After all, Vilyric had done quite a bit in the Western Beastman battlefield and the City of Courage and had frequently appeared next to Liliya for a long time. It would be easy for her to be viewed as having a close relationship with the young queen.

Killing a few soldiers and causing minor disturbances might not cause much of a stir, and it wouldn’t draw the attention of people who might recognize Vilyric, but collaborating with demons and blowing up the royal elite army would be a whole different matter.

If possible, Vilyric still wanted to avoid giving Liliya any trouble, lest she face too much work pressure and end up losing hair from staying late.

So, whether it was meeting Aileen, visiting the underground black market, or unleashing a beating on the royal army, those would neatly fall to the White Robed Priestess or Miss Slime. What does it have to do with her, Vilyric?

   

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