Chapter 165: The Gradually Clearening Mystery

After interrogating the Frenzied Spirit captured earlier and obtaining sufficient information, Miss Vilyric decided not to waste more time with it. Although the Priestess was currently not planning to kill this strange and cunning spirit, she also could not simply let it go.

Let alone the possibility of the spirit going to inform the Summoner, this thing was currently the only being Miss Vilyric had seen up close that had connections to Sylvester Burwell and came from the Illusion Realm. For an opponent with unclear intentions, having more sources of information was naturally better.

Even though the upper realm was indeed odd, if Miss Vilyric were to stay vigilant and keep an eye on it, this level of character wouldn’t cause much of a ruckus.

Standing up, she was just about to give a brief explanation of the situation to Xiao Lan and Lulu when she suddenly looked down in surprise.

“Huh?”

Because the node guardian, named Lotus from the Spirit Butterfly Clan, who had collapsed helplessly on the ground, was gradually fading away, beginning to disappear as if becoming transparent?

Noticing the Priestess’s astonishment, Lulu, who was standing nearby, quickly explained.

“Ah, don’t worry, Miss Vilyric. This is actually a good thing! The Holy Ancestor built the magical array at Spirit Butterfly Peak not just to confuse direction.”

“We, the Spirit Butterflies, are special semi-spiritual life forms. Even if we die, we typically turn into spirits, continuing our existence in another form elsewhere, and the magical array at Spirit Butterfly Peak enhances this trait.”

“So as long as it’s not completely destroyed, even if a Spirit Butterfly dies in the mountains or suffers severe mental damage and loses consciousness, it can automatically reform in the magical array’s center. You could say as long as the array is there, the Spirit Butterfly Clan can never be defeated.”

“…There’s such a thing?”

At this, the Priestess’s expression became somewhat peculiar.

“Then, Lulu, how were you captured by those human poachers? Wouldn’t the Ghost Thieves really have the guts and capability to come to Spirit Butterfly Peak and capture a Spirit Butterfly?”

“Well, uh… ahaha…”

Seemingly a bit embarrassed, Miss Butterfly hesitated and scratched her head, finally just admitting honestly.

“Of course, I wasn’t captured at Spirit Butterfly Peak… It’s just that I heard from a sister in the clan that there’s a flower garden outside that produces particularly sweet nectar, which made the butterflies linger, so I couldn’t help but sneak out to try it. Who would have thought…”

“Pfft, I see, that really suits your style, Lulu.”

“Wow! Xiao Lan, why are you teasing me too!? This is just really bad luck!”

Watching the two girls, despite belonging to different races, happily bicker after facing adversity together, Miss Vilyric could only shake her head helplessly. She casually flicked a ray of golden light into the seemingly invisible Frenzied Spirit.

[Do you feel that? This is called a Holy Light Bomb. As soon as I think about it, it will immediately “boom” and explode. As for how powerful it is… If you’re skeptical, you can try a few small movements to see if it works.]

After conveying this thought, Miss Vilyric released her hold on the Frenzied Spirit, allowing it to regain its freedom. Knowing its nature of being afraid of death, the Priestess believed it wouldn’t dare gamble its life.

Sure enough, even when released, this creature still didn’t make any unnecessary moves or attempt to escape, merely floating around the Priestess with its significantly shrunken form, looking quite docile.

Nodding with satisfaction, Miss Vilyric took out a small jade bottle from her backpack. This was a special magical instrument she bought in the Sky City to store certain energy entities; though pricey, it had noteworthy effects.

The girl removed the bottle’s cork and shook it casually. The Frenzied Spirit immediately understood her intent and obediently dove inside.

After sealing the bottle again and confirming the spirit couldn’t escape, Miss Vilyric directly stored this item, which seemed to have been deemed as a tool, into her space backpack.

“Alright, let’s go.”

While she felt that the Summoner had likely been gone for a while and wouldn’t catch up, the fact that the magical array was still intact meant the Spirit Butterfly Clan at least hadn’t completely failed.

Perhaps because they had already left the main battlefield of the first node, the trio didn’t encounter any more magical beast corpses on the long way up. Lulu’s earlier comment also explained why they had continually been unable to find the deceased members of the Spirit Butterfly Clan.

As for the location of the second node…

To be honest, Miss Vilyric didn’t know. It seemed that no one in their group, including the invisible Frenzied Spirit, had a clear idea. But following the mountain path and the traces of battle surely wouldn’t lead them astray.

Sure enough, not long after, they discovered traces left by another battlefield. Dead magical beasts and magic generals lay everywhere. Though the fog still lingered, the large areas of fallen trees and deep craters from within the Radiant Protection evidenced the fierce battles fought here.

It was even worse than the first node defended by Lotus.

“It looks like the second node has also been breached.”

The guardian didn’t seem to be here, nor did they see any bodies from the Spirit Butterfly Clan. Were all of them forced to return to the center after being killed?

If that were true, then Sylvester was indeed using a human wave tactic, pushing forward without regard for casualties.

Given the seriousness of the situation, Miss Vilyric had considered covering the entire Spirit Butterfly Peak with SP in one go to clarify the circumstances here.

But truthfully, she had noticed upon arrival that the magical array guarding this mountain resembled the Sanctuary previously showcased by Tiyelu, with dense soul power mixed in. To do it forcibly would mean they’d first have to break through the frontlines.

Undoubtedly, this would be akin to using brute force to dismantle the entire array, an act of undermining.

So unless the protective magic array of Spirit Butterfly Peak collapsed, it would be inconvenient for her to do so. Additionally, the Priestess had some thoughts that also needed to be validated through this method.

For example…

“Miss Vilyric, since two out of the three nodes have fallen, why hasn’t the magical array been deactivated yet? Look, the dense fog outside hasn’t dissipated or weakened at all, which seems rather unreasonable.”

Having lost her position, Xiao Lan, who felt somewhat idle, stepped forward to raise her doubts. I must say, her observation was indeed sharp; she quickly noticed these subtle anomalies.

Miss Vilyric nodded and stood up from the freshly inspected magical beast corpse.

“You’re right, that indeed doesn’t seem reasonable. Therefore, aside from the possibility that they’ve been trying to attack the third node without success, I suddenly have another idea.”

“You mean… the enemy’s goal isn’t to destroy the entire magical array, but to weaken part of its power or to break through the defense to reach a certain area?”

“Oh?”

Somewhat surprised, Miss Vilyric glanced at Miss Slime and couldn’t help but show appreciation.

“Very good, Xiao Lan. You actually thought of that independently. This is better than… cough, that’s exactly right. Actually, if I wanted to, I could have reached the summit of Spirit Butterfly Peak much earlier. The reason I didn’t was to temporarily conceal my presence to avoid alarming the snake. On the other hand, I’ve always had doubts about the enemy’s true purpose.”

“Now, it seems we can almost confirm it.”

Sylvester’s rapid attack on Spirit Butterfly Peak with considerable sacrifices to crush the first two nodes—these events, according to the testimony of the Frenzied Spirit, had basically taken place more than half a day ago.

Given this, why after such a long time was the magical array still unbroken, and the fog still not dispersing?

It’s simple. His target wasn’t even Spirit Butterfly Peak and he had no intention of wrestling with the Spirit Butterfly Clan to the death. This guy was heading to— the Illusion Realm.

   

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