Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint.

Chapter 450 The Divine Fragment is Stolen
1,000 meters underground.

Celia returned to this secret hideout.

At this time, the area had been taken over by the Holy Court, and sorcerers were everywhere.

The base is not large overall. The largest room is the underground space used for prayer. The other rooms are relatively small and contain many things. Some are laboratories used by the Deep Sea Aid Society to research magic arrays and sacrifices, while others contain some high-level materials, the purpose of which is unknown.

There were things in each room, and at that moment, the Holy Court sent people in to study them.

Besides taking everything away, the magic array at the stronghold was also a subject of study.

After Celia came down, the array master in charge of studying the stronghold's magic array immediately came over.

“Celia, you’ve come at the right time. We’re studying the magic array at the base and have made some progress.”

Upon hearing this, Celia immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

The array master took out several drafts and said, "There is a big problem. We discovered that the foundation of the array has been taken away. The high-level magic crystals that are placed here are obviously not the foundation of the stronghold array."

"what?!"

Celia's voice rose an octave.

If I remember correctly, the cornerstone of the stronghold magic circle is an ultra-rare magic puppet heart.

Now you're telling me the Heart of the Puppet is gone?
"Did the Deep Sea Boss take it?"

"No, I asked the court, and they didn't find anything on the leader."

Celia frowned slightly: "Then what exactly happened?"

The array master shook his head: "It's unclear at the moment, so we would like to invite you to come and see if you can find any clues about the theft of the foundation stone."

The ultra-rare Puppet Heart is still very important; Celia remembers that Ross has been collecting them.

I had one myself, and I was planning to take a break before coming to take the one from the stronghold array, but someone beat me to it.

Who on earth is so powerful that they managed to steal the Heart of the Puppet without anyone noticing?
The array master said, "It was stolen after we took over the array research, but we weren't sure at the time. We've only just confirmed it now."

Celia immediately changed her plans, "Take me to see it."

"plz follow me."

Before long, Celia followed the array master to a room, passed through an open wall in the room, came to the underground passage outside, and continued down to the bottom of the entire stronghold.

The core of the magic array for the entire stronghold is located underground, or even outside the stronghold.

A small space has been excavated here, with the metal floor of the stronghold on top, and ordinary soil and stones around and below.

At this moment, some people were climbing up to the ceiling using scaffolding and studying the magic array with various objects.

When Celia arrived, she heard them discussing something.

"This outpost is a unified whole, like a fortress."

"It's a shame to destroy the magic array; we need to find a way to move it to the ground."

"Unless we build a directional teleportation device underground, we can't move it."

"What's there that can't be moved? Such a sturdy steel fortress, it would be such a waste not to bring it back."

"But how can we move it if we lack a foundation of immense energy?"

“…” Celia blinked and looked at the array master who brought her: “So your research direction is to find a way to move the entire base back?”

The array master nodded: "Yes, we want to add a teleportation array, like a directional teleportation device, to transform the stronghold into a metal fortress that can be freely teleported, but we lack the foundation to maintain the overall magical operation of the stronghold."

He shook his head regretfully: "If it hadn't been stolen, we would be preparing to renovate it now."

Celia gave him a thumbs up.

This idea is bold, but it's not impossible.

Because this stronghold is a whole, affecting one part affects the whole, and it can be taken away using various teleportation arrays.

It's a bit difficult, and the magic consumption will definitely be very high, to the point that even pure magic crystals can't keep up.

This is countless times larger than the dozens or hundreds of people that can be transported by a directional teleportation device.

"I think it would be good to just set up a disposable directional teleporter here, without having to research so many other things."

Celia casually mentioned it, then hopped on her flying broom and flew up to the ceiling to take a look.

The high-grade magic crystal was embedded in the center of the entire magic circle. As the magic circle absorbed the magic power of the crystal, the crystal never lit up.

In just a few days, this high-grade magic crystal, which can power a typical magic array for decades, will completely lose its magic power and become an ordinary crystal.

This stronghold is not as large as the others, but because it is three-dimensional and located under the Golden Apple Stone Forest formation, its energy consumption is much higher than other formations.

After carefully observing for a while, Celia couldn't help but complain, "This thief is quite capable, he even put in high-level magic crystals, he's very generous."

She asked, "Can you determine when the thief stole it?"

The array master said, "You must have entered shortly after you and the Holy Lord finished your battle. At that time, it was still wartime, and no one noticed the fluctuations in the array."

Celia nodded.

The other party probably planned this all along.

After staring at the magic circle for a moment, Celia received a divine message and said, "I'll give it a try. There are no monitoring nodes here. At most, I can sense the traces of the other party's magic, but I can't determine who the other party is."

"Can you trace back that foundation stone of the magic array?" the array master asked.

"It's highly unlikely. If we want to take this base with us... we don't necessarily need that thing. We can just prepare a few pure magic crystals to function as a directional teleportation device."

The array master was both amused and exasperated: "I'm afraid that won't work. A single pure magic crystal costs thousands of gold coins, and ten of them would cost tens of thousands. The Holy Court will not agree to that."

“If we keep researching, we might be able to find a way to replace the high-grade magic crystals,” Celia suggested. “Or we could use a mage instead. We could find any fifth or sixth-tier mage to replace the pure magic crystals.”

Array Master: "..."

Celia waved her hand: "Just kidding. Actually, there's no need to retrieve the foundation stone. According to my speculation, the foundation stone of the magic circle might be some kind of puppet heart. Using a puppet heart as the foundation stone of a magic circle is like using a puppet. A puppet heart cannot be used as the energy source for a directional teleportation device."

The array master exclaimed in surprise, "You figured it out so quickly? No wonder you're the Holy Court's most skilled array master."

Celia said guiltily, "It was just a coincidence. The most skilled one is Bishop Alvis. I've only been studying under him for a few years."

The array master said, "In short, we still need to trouble you. At least we need to determine who stole the foundation stone, whether they are heretics or members of a certain faction."

Celia nodded. "Okay."

The mage cast a spell, transforming the threads into countless strands that disappeared into the stronghold's magic array.

As the mist dissipated, traces of the stolen divine fragments slowly emerged before Celia.

(End of this chapter)