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Chapter 273: The Guardian in the Mist

I guessed right!

Ella’s heart leaped with joy as she quickly shook her hands, letting the vanishing invisible potion cover her fingertips once more, and decisively jumped down during the brief moment of opportunity.

Before her now lay an even larger space.

In the vast and empty basement, a gigantic magic array, still untainted by blood, was etched, densely covering every corner visible to her eyes. Just as Ella landed firmly, her eyes widened, and she hurriedly compared the real thing with the patterns on the blueprints in her memory.

It looks familiar! Although there were slight deviations in some details that might have been adjusted and optimized by later arrivals, the overall structure remained unchanged!

There was no mistake, this is the Blood of the Cross, an ancient miracle array designed to gather countless Power of Faith with the ultimate goal of creating a Divine Spark, seizing the essence of heaven and earth!

This is it, then—conclusive evidence!

Though she hadn’t fully understood the entire facility, particularly the functions of the strange instruments above, she sensed this was indeed what she postulated: a transfer station that transformed the essence of Void energy into material light element energy!

In other words, this was the base for maintaining the operation of faith-based magic!

No wonder Miss Xī and the others, upon inadvertently barging in and ruining the altar here, saw a temporary disruption of faith-based magic around the Holy Spirit Path. No wonder Rudolf Lambert himself came to oversee the reconstruction work here…

With this realization, and recalling the details of Rudolf’s prior interactions with the doll girl, Ella suddenly grasped many deeper concepts.

Such underground altars, in the Holy Kingdom… No, perhaps across the entire world, concealed many similar locations. They are like interconnected anchor points, forming a web that covers most of the known regions of the world!

Using the Blood of the Cross to absorb faith… converting part of it for oneself, while turning another part into pure light element energy with the aid of instruments, then feeding it back to the source of faith through certain special means, thus creating what’s referred to as faith-based magic.

This must be the truth behind the “God’s Blessing.”

Ella let out a long breath, feeling rejuvenated, almost like she could float away.

Once this research result is published, it might just shake the entire Holy Empire, no, the whole world!

However… this matter is far too significant, and Ella believed she hadn’t fully unraveled the detailed processes of energy conversion yet. She decided it would be best to tread carefully and retreat for now, waiting for Miss Xī to return to the Holy Capital to discuss things further…

“Hehe… a little mouse has snuck in, hasn’t it~”

Suddenly, a voice as ethereal as clouds, tinged with a hint of helplessness, drifted into Ella’s ears.

“What…!!”

The thrill and satisfaction in her heart immediately plummeted to the depths, like a scared cat, her fur standing on end as she instinctively turned her gaze all around!

She clearly sensed no living presence at all!

But the golden light surging from her chest was faster than her reaction, almost instantly transforming into a beam, colliding with a hand that had unknowingly reached for her neck, causing a loud bang!

The other party actually knew where she was!?

Saved by the Light Element Spirit in a moment of crisis and realizing this fact, Ella quickly retreated, not thinking twice and planning to escape the underground chamber immediately.

No matter who the assailant was, their identity and purpose aside, considering that nearly caused her to break out in a cold sweat, their strength likely far surpassed that of any scholarly lady.

Moreover, this was the stronghold of the Church of the Goddess and those unknown dolls. Regardless of whether she could fight back against this attacker, if reinforcements arrived and blocked the exit, Ella believed her chances of escape would be close to zero.

But just as she made this swift decision and intended to flee…

“The entrance… has disappeared?”

In a bewildered exclamation, the Light Tribe Girl, who had only just been partially revealed during their fierce clash, let slip.

No, that’s not right.

This was no longer the underground altar she just came from!

Ella suddenly realized this truth.

At some point—perhaps when that breezy male voice sounded, or even earlier… while she was deeply focused on comparing the etchings and contemplating various aspects of faith-based magic, the hazy mist had stealthily enveloped the entire underground space from all directions.

This must be… some kind of special barrier magic. At least now, Ella found it increasingly difficult to tell her front from her back, let alone find an exit; even with the enhancing abilities of her Light Tribe lineage, visibility was down to half a meter at most.

The thickening mist induced a sense of suffocation and fear.

Yet, Ella maintained her composure, rapidly processing and analyzing the current situation, trying to find a way to escape.

At that moment, a vague silhouette suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Hidden by the white mist, she couldn’t make out its features, but from the blurry outline, she could roughly discern that it was a figure not exceeding two meters tall, closer in shape to a humanoid male.

This must be the one who had just spoken and attacked her.

Is… this the guardian of the underground altar?

It was a rash decision… but Ella had no regrets. Danger always coexists with opportunity; if she didn’t dare take this risk, how could she uncover the secrets long buried beneath the Church of the Goddess?

Before she lifted the partition, she had already suspected that similar entities might exist below, so she specifically checked the adhesion of her invisible potion. Upon landing, she only stood still to observe and didn’t do anything unnecessary.

But the other party still detected her, no matter what means they used, this unidentified guardian was undoubtedly more fearsome than those dolls outside.

This was troublesome…

While she contemplated, a palm-sized golden orb of light floated out from the girl’s chest, gently hovering in front of Ella. The barrier that had coated her body began to dissipate as the Light Element Spirit separated from her.

In this clear exposure, there was no point in wasting energy to hide.

“Oh? An actual Light Element Spirit? It’s been ages since I’ve seen such a rare creature. Such a pure and powerful Light Element Spirit; it’s my first time meeting one. No wonder you dared to sneak into this place alone…”

From within the mist, the blurry figure spoke with a hint of melancholy.

Then, his tone revealed a touch of resignation.

“But little girl, doesn’t the being who entrusted this spirit to you remind you that there are always greater beings out there? An eighth-tier Light Element Spirit, though rare and powerful, isn’t invincible, you know…”

“…Who are you? The puppet masters behind those dolls?”

“Hehe~”

Noticing the other party’s overly confident demeanor, Ella initially intended to trick them into revealing more information. However, the one conversing with her seemed aware of her aim and offered no openings, instead giving a barely perceptible sigh, before…

A cold gleam swept through!

“!!!”

The frigid chill of death surged through the mist from all directions. Ella tried to counter it, but to her horror, found that her light sword couldn’t match even a single strike unleashed by the opponent!

The dense mist concealed the traces, and when that chilling aura approached, she had no time to react!

It was too fast! Even without the mist, the strength gap between her and the opponent was easily two tiers, or even more!

Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!!!!!

At that critical moment, the Light Element Spirit tasked with her protection erupted in golden light once more, conjuring an array of light shields Ella had never seen before, deflecting the barrage of attacks without allowing her harm.

Yet, instead of relief, Ella’s heart sank.

Every one of the opponent’s strikes could only be neutralized with the combined power of at least two light shields. With the mist containing a clear special effect, the Spirit could not defend perfectly and had to continually cast extensive shields to protect her…

This style of combat likely drained energy at a rate tenfold compared to the adversary, and it was evident that the strength of the Spirit fell short.

Without Ella, the Spirit might have been able to fight back or escape, but now, with her inability to participate in this high-level battle, she had become a deadly liability.

In the Holy Empire… could there truly be such terrifyingly strong individuals? Perhaps even that mysterious Miss Xī wouldn’t be able to easily defeat them. This was truly…

As the Light Tribe Girl wracked her brain but could find no way to break the impasse, a bitter smile crept to the corners of her mouth.

“This is a huge mess…”