Above the mage!

Chapter 257 The polarity reversal
The sound in the room continued for a long time before gradually returning to silence.

For the mastermind behind everything, taking down a hunter is actually not a big problem.

The only difficulty is that the hunter is a saint, a "future star" who is highly regarded in the sect.

This meant that if something happened to her, she would not be easily fooled like Baruch, and it would attract attention.

So, this matter must be done flawlessly.

This is a bit troublesome.
But only a little.

Katherine walked down the main street in Phoenix.

The streets are bustling with people.

This is a unique scene in the North.

But she knew that this bustle was only relative to the North.

To the outside world, Phoenix is ​​actually just a very inconspicuous small city, and the so-called prosperity is just a small scene that is not worth mentioning.

It is said that in big cities outside, when festivals come, the streets will be filled with crowds of people dressed in festive costumes, parading around various floats.

The road, which is several times wider than Phoenix, will be packed with enthusiastic people.

In front of those floats there will be a percussion band and clowns with big noses and stilts.

Wherever the floats passed, ribbons flew and laughter filled the air.

On both sides of the street, there were children watching.

At that time, people on the floats would sprinkle handfuls of candy, causing the children to scramble for it.

Candy? It was such a rare thing that even she had only heard of it but had never seen it with her own eyes.

The thought of this made Catherine, who was born in the North and had never left the North, feel a little yearning.

What will it be like when it is so lively and prosperous?
However, Catherine’s yearning was not for the outside world.

What she longed for was to see such a prosperous scene in the North during her lifetime.

Although she knew very well in her heart that this was almost impossible.

In all the history of the North, Phoenix is ​​the only one.

In her extremely short life span, which was relatively short in the history of the North, it would take a miracle to see such a big change in the North...

While thinking about all these things, Catherine walked towards the place where bounty missions were issued and accepted.

After less than a week, their next bounty mission to cover up their tracks was completed.

All she has to do now is to settle the task.

But Catherine was stopped by a hurried man when she was halfway there.

She took a closer look and quickly recognized that it was the servant she had seen at Elder Grant's place a few days ago.

"What's wrong?" Catherine asked curiously.

"Elder Grant has found some useful information and asked me to notify you to rush over right now.

He seemed very anxious. I went to your residence to call you, but you were not there. I searched for you on the street for a long time, but fortunately I found you. "The servant said, panting, and seemed a little nervous.

"So." Catherine's heart moved, and her attention was attracted by the "useful information" said by the servant in front of her.

Of course, she also noticed the servant's nervousness.

But she didn't care about it, and simply regarded it as the other party's nervousness about the high-ring Ice Mage and the panic of not being able to find the person after delivering the message.

"Then I'll go over there quickly so as not to delay anything." Catherine said.

The servant heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and quickly stopped Catherine from leaving on her own, saying, "Elder Grant is waiting for you at another private residence. Please follow me and I will lead the way."

"Oh, okay, then you lead the way." Catherine didn't think much about it.

After all, Elder Grant's residence is located in the heart of Phoenix, and his entry and exit are somewhat conspicuous. It is reasonable to go to a private place to discuss matters.

Led by the servant, Catherine turned into an alley beside the main road, and then twisted her way through various buildings of different sizes.

"Elder Grant actually has a private residence in a place like this." Catherine looked at the increasingly narrow streets and alleys, a little surprised.

"A private residence must be hidden deeper." The servant paused slightly and explained carefully.

Catherine frowned slightly. For some reason, she gradually became aware of something strange.

But Phoenix is ​​just a "small town" after all, so at this time, the two had already arrived at their destination.

It was a residential building in a dark alley, built with gray stones and with doors made of animal bones and skins.

Catherine took a quick look and didn't find anything special.

"Elder Grant is waiting for you inside."

Having come this far, Catherine temporarily put aside her doubts, lifted the door curtain and walked in.

The servant did not follow in, but waited outside.

This was normal, as their subsequent conversation involved some private matters, and it was naturally not appropriate for the servants to eavesdrop.

The house was neither big nor small. After Catherine came in, she took a look around and didn't see anyone.

She frowned slightly, walked inside, lifted the animal skin curtain of the inner room, and prepared to enter the inner room.

But at the moment the animal skin curtain was lifted, Catherine's nose twitched slightly and her brows frowned in an instant.

As a hunter, she had a keen sense of smell, and at this moment, she smelled an unusual smell of blood.
Catherine's heart tightened and she reacted very quickly.

"Something's wrong!"

But just when she realized that something was wrong and was about to leave immediately, she heard messy but urgent footsteps and a loud shout from outside.

"It's here. I heard some strange noises at night, and then I smelled blood. I plucked up the courage to take a sneak peek, and I found something wrong."

The next moment, a loud explosion was heard.

A wall of this residential building, along with the main door, was blown open in an extremely brutal manner.

A group of Ice Mages wearing armor with the emblem of the True Ice Tribe rushed in from outside the collapsed wall and surrounded Catherine in an instant.

By this time, Catherine had completely lifted the animal skin curtain in the inner room and could see the scene clearly.

There were seven or eight corpses, all wearing the armor of the Zhenbing tribe, lying in the inner room.

The body is still very fresh and it looks like the person died no more than a day ago.

How could Catherine not know at this point that she had fallen into a terrible trap carefully set for her.

The servant of Elder Grant made her relax her guard, and thus she was easily tricked. With things developing to this point, Catherine would not be so stupid as to shout that she was deceived and just arrived here, and she wanted to find the servant to prove that she was innocent.

A carefully laid trap would not leave such a loophole.

The person behind the scenes has many ways to make the servant disappear, whether it is to kill him directly or to arrange an alibi in advance.

This scene has already been framed on her and she has no way to defend herself.

The question is, who did it?

Also, what to do now?
Although Catherine was furious, her mind was very calm at the moment.

To be honest, facing the Ice Mages of the Zhenbing Tribe who surrounded her, with her strength, she could kill them all in the shortest time possible, and then escape from Phoenix before the Zhenbing Tribe could react.

However, if she did this, it would no longer matter whether she killed these people or not.

As the saint who protects the snowfield, being accused of such a crime would not only affect her alone, but would also lead to conflicts and even wars between the Zhenbing tribe and the sect.

If you can't resist, at least you still have a chance to prove your innocence.

In an instant, Catherine made the wisest decision, and her heart became much colder.

She was certain that since the other party had set up such a trap, they would certainly be able to guess her reaction, and there would most likely be follow-up arrangements.

This time, it was obviously not an easy task for her to prove her innocence.

The only thing to be thankful for was that she was not with Loic.

Otherwise, if both of them were framed together, there would be no help from heaven or earth.

"Capture her and take her back!" The obvious leader among the group of Ice Mages gave the order.

Catherine bowed her head.

Now that she had made up her mind, she had no intention of changing it.

She just started thinking about another problem.

who did it?

As soon as she started thinking about this question, many clear threads emerged in her mind.

Catherine believed that she had never offended anyone. If she really had offended anyone, it was only related to what she was doing at the moment.

Therefore, it must be the mastermind who directed Baruch's affairs and practiced the forbidden necromancy.

The identity and status of the mastermind who was able to set up such a trap in Phoenix in just one week was beyond her initial expectations.

More importantly, she had clearly created the illusion of "making extra money" in Phoenix, but the other party still used this method to frame her.

Obviously, the mastermind behind this has already determined her true purpose.

How could the other party get to the essence of the matter in such a short time?

There must be clear intelligence guidance.

"The only flaw is that the branch's director reported the request for help to his superiors after Gode showed up. From this message, we know that I should be tracking Gode at this time and should not appear in Phoenix."

"With my identity, after I take on this mission, the confidentiality level of the information will be raised. There should be no more than three people in the entire sect who have the authority to know that I am in charge of this mission. So theoretically, this loophole does not exist."

"Wait." The next moment, Catherine suddenly thought of a terrible possibility.

Could it be that the mastermind behind this is among those three?
How can it be? !
As soon as this thought came to her mind, Catherine shuddered all over, then shook her head subconsciously.

Practicing forbidden necromancy is tantamount to apostasy.

And those three are the actual rulers of the sect.

In other words, would a king of a country commit treason?

While Catherine was thinking, the Ice Mages of the Zhenbing Tribe came forward and took out the handcuffs.

"I will go with you. There is no need to handcuff me," Catherine raised her head and said to the leading Ice Mage, "I am a hunter of the Snowfield Guardian. I believe there must be some misunderstanding and someone has framed me. I will find evidence to prove my innocence."

The leading Ice Mage was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and nodded to the Ice Mage under him.

The man then took the lock and locked it.

"Let's go." Catherine said to the ice mages of the Zhenbing tribe.

When Goder returned to the house where he had lived for a week, he found that Loichi, who had been away all week due to a bounty mission, was also there.

"Have you finished the mission? Where's Catherine?" he asked casually as he closed the door.

Roychi, who was usually very easy to talk to, did not respond to him today.

He turned around and saw that Loyiqi looked unusually solemn today, with some anxiety, annoyance and suppressed anger in his eyes.

Gao De was stunned for a moment, then thought of Catherine who he didn't see, and suddenly guessed something.

"Something happened to Catherine?"

This time, Roy nodded and responded in a muffled voice: "Yeah."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Gaode was surprised. Although he didn't know Catherine's exact level of wizard, he could tell that she was a tough one. How could she get into trouble so easily?
"She was framed." Now that the topic had been opened, Loychi, who was feeling depressed, simply said it all out like a complaint:
"Someone killed a group of Ice Mages from the True Ice Tribe who were escorting prey back to Phoenix, and took away the young frost giant lizards that contained a thin layer of dragon blood. They also framed Catherine for the incident, and now she has been taken back by the mages from the True Ice Tribe."

"The mastermind in the sect must have discovered that we were investigating him, so he resorted to this method to frame Catherine."

My goodness, this is a reversal of poles. Catherine, who forced him to Phoenix, now also experienced the feeling of having her freedom restricted. Gaode's heart tightened, but he did not gloat over his misfortune.

Because in this matter, he, Loitsch and Catherine were in a relationship where they would prosper together and suffer together.

He was certainly unhappy that the two men had forced him to come to Phoenix, but it was also very likely that the mastermind behind the scenes as Catherine mentioned would kill him to silence him.

This mastermind was powerful enough to trap Catherine. Wouldn't it be a piece of cake for him to kill a wizard who had just been promoted to the first level?
"Aren't you very familiar with Elder Grant? Can't you ask him for help?" Gao De asked hurriedly.

When he heard what God said, Roychi's face became even uglier. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke:

"As soon as I knew something happened to Catherine, I went to see Elder Grant."

"He refuses to help?!" Looking at Loych's expression, God knew that there would be no good outcome.

"It's not that he doesn't want to, but he can't even protect himself right now and can't take care of us." Loychi looked depressed.

"I can't protect myself. How do you say that?"

"Just two days ago, something went wrong with the Jinhui wheat seedlings in the Zhenbing tribe. They started to lose vitality and die one by one, but we couldn't find the cause of the problem."

“Grant is responsible for the cultivation of Golden Wheat in the Zhenbing Tribe, and Golden Wheat is an extremely important and valuable crop for the Zhenbing Tribe.

If Jin Huimai's problem is not solved soon, his role as an elder will be over. At this juncture, he really won't have time to worry about our affairs."

(End of this chapter)