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

Chapter 743 The Unknown Enemy (6k)

Most ruins have a set of common rules, such as level restrictions and restrictions on the number of people entering the same mirror world.

Even now, researchers still don't understand how the rules governing ancient ruins came about and how they became so consistent.

Ultimately, it can only be concluded that this is a self-protection logic formed by the ruins over a long period of evolution. Only in this way can we prevent tens of thousands of people from entering the ruins at the same time and passing through in no time.

There are also remnants of reverse rules, but we won't discuss them for now.

Shortly after Celia entered the ruins, Ross played a video in her mind of Emilia's party entering the ruins.

Like Celia, Emilia and her party also encountered a monster attack upon entering, but they were unaware of the magical street lamp that could remove debuffs.

Celia saw the team leader say to Emilia, "Miss Emilia, this is your first time visiting this ruin, so you may not know its condition. The mirror scene we encountered has a special feature: killing monsters will accumulate a certain kind of decaying power. Once this decaying power devours the entire ruin, unpredictable consequences will occur."

Emilia nodded and worked with her teammates to attack the monster.

Celia could tell at a glance that Emilia had only recently broken through to the fourth tier, and her strength was far inferior to that of her teammates, making their teamwork quite unfamiliar.

"Given Emilia's strength, if these mages don't know her identity, what if they encounter danger?... Could they possibly repeat their old tricks?"

Celia thought that was quite likely.

She had a pretty good impression of Emilia, but Emilia was a princess of the royal family...

Ok……

Forget it, let's just wait and see. If those sorcerers are really that powerful, constantly sacrificing their teammates, then they'll be guaranteed a stable job.

Prison jobs with room and board included are indeed considered secure.

Celia turned her attention to herself.

After they came in, the first thing they did was go to the streetlight to look for Aimo.

Unfortunately, they didn't find Aymo there.

There was nothing inside except for a huge crystal light bulb.

"Sure enough, although it's the same place every time I enter, I'm assigned to different mirror ruins, so I don't always run into Aimo..."

"I don't know when I'll see her again. I hope she can persevere."

Phil sighed sadly.

Benovia laughed and said, "Actually, there's another possibility. Amo might still be here, but she's gone out to explore."

Phil's eyes lit up: "Yes, that's possible. I'll leave something here so she'll know we were here when she comes back."

With that, Phil walked into the streetlight, placed some emergency supplies inside, and then left.

Doris said at the right moment, "Yesterday we learned about the general area of ​​this ruin. Today, let's explore one area as planned."

A new round of exploration has begun.

Time passed quietly.

Two hours later, the Saintess Squad returned to the 'refresh point' on time, rested inside, and waited for the anomaly outside to disappear.

The anomaly they encountered today wasn't blood, but slowly spreading vines, with the same effect as blood—it was essentially just a different 'texture'.

During the break, Celia also checked on Emilia's team and found that they were also nearing the critical point.

The 'texture' over there is a fog creeping across the ground, somewhat like pollution, and this fog is slowly engulfing the city.

Once the captain felt it was about time, he told his teammates to use their teleportation badges to leave.

As an expedition team directly hired by the royal family, teleportation badges were not a luxury for them; they could use as many as they wanted.

"Let's summarize and see what we've discovered."

Doris's voice rang in her ears, and Celia's attention returned.

"The difficulty of this ruin lies in the incessant harassment of monsters and the pollution that is devouring the city. While killing the monsters, I recorded the spreading pollution. Here is some information I recorded. Take a look."

When it comes to ruins, Doris becomes a completely different person, paying attention to every little detail.

However, after glancing at Doris's scribbles, Celia gave them to Benovia.

"What nonsense is this? I can't understand it."

Doris said unhappily, "I drew it so simply and easily, how could you not understand it? Are you an idiot?"

As she spoke, she got up and went to Benovia's side.

"Benovia, you can understand it, right?"

"Uh……"

Benovia hesitated for a moment, then gave an awkward but polite smile.

"I'm sorry, Doris, I'm completely unfamiliar with the terminology used in ruin exploration and cannot understand your notes. I apologize."

Doris gave a slight snort and looked at Celia, as if to say, "See, Celia? This is the correct way to speak."

"It's normal not to understand. Let me tell you the details I discovered."

Doris began to proudly flaunt her expertise.

Although Celia looked down on her appearance, Doris did do better than others in some details.

She discovered that the flow of this spreading special pollution could be controlled; by killing a certain type of monster, the pollution could be allowed to first erode certain areas.

The varying shades of the spreading vines also seem to represent different meanings.

Doris took out something that looked like a small mechanical ball, with patterns on it that resembled circuits, or rather, runes.

"Do you remember this? This is the only trophy I brought back after observing the areas with the darkest pollution."

Everyone nodded.

The ball is about the size of a marble, and its internal structure is unknown. Only a faint magical fluctuation can be sensed inside.

When she first obtained it, Celia tried to penetrate it with her mage's hand, but found that the mechanical ball was very fragile and the magic inside was not enough to support her penetration. She would destroy it if she was not careful, so she had to give up.

"Although we don't know what this thing does, it's definitely related to activating the ruins. Such a large city, and such a small thing, it's very unusual no matter how you look at it."

Thinking of the 'final boss' they encountered in the first phase, Celia pondered, "Is it possible that this is a deliberate smokescreen for us? The key to clearing the city of giants is a small item that's easy for us to use, which doesn't make sense."

Benovia said, "That's also possible. Perhaps what drives those three horses is a giant key that's bigger than all of us, and this little ball was deliberately left for us to mislead us."

Doris said, "But it's also possible that the ruins knew we might think that way, so they deliberately arranged it this way to make us think that the key to the strategy is the items used by the giants, when in fact it's these easily overlooked 'little toys'?"

"Alright, stop with the nesting dolls. Take a break, and we'll continue searching later. Whether it's a scam or real, we'll find them all first!" Celia said.

Everyone nodded.

Suddenly, Celia noticed Phil wasn't there and was taken aback. "Where's Phil?"

Looking up, I saw Phil pacing back and forth within the 'safe zone' of the streetlight, seemingly looking for something.

"Phil, what are you doing?"

“I put some emergency supplies in here before, but they’re gone now. I’m looking for them,” Phil said.

"This place is so open, how could we not see such a large amount of supplies? Stop looking, Aimo probably took those supplies."

“Maybe.” Phil walked back, but still had some doubts: “It’s strange, Amo took the supplies, why didn’t he wait for us here?”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s discovered something crucial,” Doris said.

She didn't pay much attention to Aimo's situation. After all, Aimo was a fourth-tier mage, not a helpless commoner. Killing a fourth-tier mage wasn't so easy unless the other party was courting death.

"really?"

Phil always felt it wasn't that simple.

But in this ruin, no one except Aimo would know that they had agreed to meet under the streetlights.

It couldn't possibly be that intelligent monster from the first stage, could it?
Philliu only had food to eat, nothing else. The monsters in the ruins didn't need to eat anything they brought from outside.

Celia said, "Phil, we can leave a note later, stick it on with something, and put it somewhere not too conspicuous but where people can see it immediately when they get close. Tell Amo on the note that she should get back to us. That way, even if we're in a hurry to explore the ruins, we won't be without time to write a message."

Phil nodded. "Okay, I'll leave her a note."

She took out a quill and asked Anke for some ink (which Anke made on the spot). She quickly wrote something down, thought for a moment, left the quill and ink next to the note, and then took out the puppet parts from her spatial ring, which were covered by the replaced parts.

After doing all that, she came over to discuss the strategy for the ruins with the others.

Once the vines outside had subsided, the Saintess Squad set off again.

Celia looked at Phil, who was the last to come out. She checked the note one last time before coming out herself.

Looking at the note and the puppet parts, Celia felt like she had forgotten something.

“We know this reset point and can explore it all in one go. If it were another expedition team, wouldn’t they have to go out every two hours?”

Upon hearing Duo's voice, Celia suddenly had a flash of inspiration, looked up sharply at Benovia, and asked, "Benovia, do you remember what Aimo said?"

"In what way?" Benovia looked over.

"She said that she had been exploring the ruins during the days she was trapped there, right?"

Benovia nodded.

Did she mention whether her killing of the monster triggered a contamination attack?

Benovia pondered for a moment and said, "She mentioned it. She said that only by returning here will the stench of decay dissipate, just as we see the blood recede..."

Benovia also realized what was happening.

"Celia, do you mean that Amor isn't in this mirror world?"

Celia nodded: "Yes, unless she can explore without killing monsters, these vines outside won't disappear even if we go back inside the streetlamp. Or rather, when we came here, Aimo was exploring outside, and the vines should have already spread."

"so……"

“Aimor isn’t here,” Celia concluded.

Everyone looked at each other.

Phil said, "If Amo isn't here, then who took the supplies I left behind?"

Excluding other impossible expeditions, there is only one possibility—

The girls' expressions turned serious.

“Alright, let’s go explore first,” Doris said, then added in a low voice, “We’ll talk about it outside.”

Phil glanced back at what she had left behind, then looked at the others, hesitant to speak. Even Doris understood what she meant.

I just wanted to stake out the place and see if there was anything I could take.

However, judging from the situation in the first phase where the 'final boss' repeatedly tormented them until they were exhausted and their magic was depleted, their ambush will likely be in vain.

Besides, it's impossible to lie in wait quietly, because monsters will keep popping out from all sorts of nooks and crannies.

The noise of that fight was so loud that trying to go unnoticed was like trying to dance in the street with a subwoofer and expect passersby not to notice.

“Let’s go, exploration is the priority. Don’t worry about Aimo. We bring food and supplies every time we come, we’ll run into her eventually,” Celia said.

Phil nodded.

A new round of exploration begins.

This time, because of the discussion inside the streetlight, the Saintess Squad began to notice the color changes of the vines.

They began consciously moving towards areas within the exploration zone where the vines were darker in color. Crossing the sprawling vines, under Doris's command, they attacked specific neutral monsters, ensuring the vines didn't hinder their movements.

Another two hours passed.

The group returned to the streetlight.

Doris now has a small ball in her hand.

"The second one."

As she entered the streetlights, Doris beamed with a smile.

Phil looked toward where she had placed the paper and pens.

Empty.

"What exactly is it?" Phil frowned slightly.

Celia noticed it too, and she looked at Benovia, "Can you tell anything?"

Benovia shook her head. "I can't tell."

Doris's smile faded, and she frowned, saying, "How about we explore this area for the next two hours, leave some supplies here, and keep an eye out for any developments?"

"I'll do whatever the captain says," Benovia said seriously.

“I have no objection,” Celia said indifferently.

No one else had any objections.

So for the third exploration, the plan was changed. They chose to explore the area around the streetlights and left some random things in the streetlights before leaving.

Another two hours passed.

The Saintess Squad returned to the streetlamp and saw that the things they had specially placed inside were still in the same spot.

“It seems this approach won’t work,” Celia shook her head.

Doris toyed with the third metal ball she had obtained. "It might be the same kind of monster as the one in the first stage, or it might be this one. Whatever, three explorations plus rest time, we've been fighting in the ruins for a long time. It's time to go back."

The wait for the vines to recede is quite long. Two hours of fighting, one hour of rest, three times in total, that's more than nine hours, and it's almost evening.

Phil thought for a moment, then put back the things he had just casually placed there and put down the food she had specially brought in—but he had put most of it in the first time, leaving only a little bit.

"Since we've already brought them, let's leave them here. We don't know what took those things... but what if Aimo can get some?"

"Let's go, Phil."

"coming."

The white light of the teleportation badge enveloped the girls, and a few seconds later, they all disappeared and left.

The ruins, where time seemed to stand still, had no day or night. After an unknown amount of time, a person burst in from outside—it was none other than Aimo.

She casually tossed the weapon aside, panting, and was suddenly taken aback when she saw the food Phil had left behind.

Soon, she thought of something and smiled.

"It must have been left by Celia and the others. I just don't know when they came or when they left. I deliberately lured the monsters into the sky and fought there to attract their attention. They came without even telling me... Sigh, they're obviously not ordinary people. Maybe they just didn't want to have much contact with me. I'm already very grateful that they brought me food."

Aimo took out a flatbread, munching on it while looking outside.

Outside the streetlights, the blood, which had almost reached its limit, was slowly receding.

Aimo had already tested the effects of the pollution and knew when the tipping point was. She wanted to tell Celia and the others, but unfortunately, she missed the opportunity.

……

at the same time.

Emilia's squad also engaged in a round of fierce exploration.

They arrived at the seaside viewing platform and looked at the three horses that were faintly visible in the distance. The three horses stood firmly on the ground like sculptures, unmoved by the waves.

From the observation deck, the view wasn't very clear. Emilia thought for a moment and said to her teammates, "I want to record the entire view of the three horses. Can we fight them from the sky?"

The captain thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, it's the last wave anyway, let's find a place to leave after we finish."

The group flew into the sky, and Emilia used a specially made camera to record everything that happened on the sea.

After thinking for a moment, she turned to look at the city.

At this point, they were still not high enough to reach above the entire city's buildings.

Emilia felt that before ending the day's exploration, she should record an aerial view of the entire ruins.

Although someone had already documented the entire ruins, no one else had as good equipment as hers. What she was holding was a high-definition camera specially customized by the Ishtar royal family for taking pictures of the ruins.

Just as she was about to ask the captain for his opinion, she suddenly noticed something, let out a soft exclamation, and looked at a street lamp near the house not far away.

The inside of the streetlights was grayish-white, just like all the streetlights, but when Emilia glanced at them out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed a small black dot inside one of the streetlights.

The fourth-tier mage had excellent eyesight. Upon closer inspection, she noticed something inside the streetlight and exclaimed to her teammates, who were focused on fighting the monster, "Look, there's something inside that streetlight!"

"what?"

Everyone was taken aback, and following Emilia's finger, they saw the black dot inside the streetlight.

"Let's go take a look! Maybe it's the key to clearing the level hidden in the details."

They quickly arrived at the streetlight.

Upon getting closer, they discovered what was inside.

A small basket containing... food?
One of the teammates was stunned: "Bread? Ham? And... raw beef? Is this some kind of supply the ruins are giving to the expedition team?"

The captain said, "Be careful, it might be a trap."

After thinking for a moment, she said to Emilia, "Emilia, find a way to go in and bring the food out. We'll help you hold off the monsters."

Emilia pretended not to know her captain's intentions and nodded, saying, "Okay."

Emilia slowly approached the lampshade, wondering if she could just use brute force to smash the glass with her puppet, only to find that the puppet she was controlling could pass right through it.

Soon, the basket was brought out by the puppet.

The crowd gathered around to examine it closely, exchanging glances and bewildering looks.

"Captain, these things... they just look like ordinary food?"

"It looks like it was just prepared today, it's still very fresh."

"The frozen beef packaging also has a small ice spell on it. I'm familiar with this spell; it's commonly used in exploration and can prevent food from spoiling."

"Could it be that this was placed there by another expedition team?"

"Impossible, how could other expeditions be in the same mirror world as us?"

"Although it's impossible to be in the same mirror world at the same time, if other expeditions leave, those who come in later may still enter the original world."

"It's a bit strange. Anyway, take it with you. Once we get out, we can find some professional researchers to find out whether it came from the ruins or was brought in by another team."

"..."

As they approached the streetlights, the teammates chattered amongst themselves, but Emilia didn't join in. She simply watched from the sidelines, while also fending off the attacking monsters, until the captain gave the order for everyone to prepare to leave the ruins.

Then, they used defensive spells to envelop everyone, and the light of the teleportation badge appeared, taking them out of the ruins.

……

The Holy Court Camp area, within the Holy Magic Academy camp.

The entire Saintess Squad returned, and Doris immediately checked the small metal ball she had placed in her spatial ring.

But the next moment, her expression changed.

"Where are my balls? All three balls are gone."

Her words drew the attention of others, and Celia asked, "What's wrong?"

"The three metal spheres we painstakingly investigated are all gone," Doris said in frustration. "We can't take anything out of this ruin."

Benovia said, "How could that be? Logically speaking, the things in the ruins are also real. If there are things that we can't take out, it would prevent us from using the teleportation badge."

Doris said, "Generally speaking, that's how it is. Some things in the ruins can prevent the teleportation badge from working, but if you force the teleportation, you can still get out. However, those things will be destroyed during the teleportation process..."

"However, if the old teleportation badges are used, those items can prevent people from getting out, just like Miss Aimo did."

"But I didn't feel the ball being destroyed at all, and there was no obstruction during the teleportation process. It just disappeared like that."

Celia said, "There's only one possibility for this."

Everyone, look this way.

"Those little balls are not real objects, but... products of a dream, they are fake, so they cannot be brought out."

"You mean our entire day's exploration was a waste of time?"

Celia said, "I don't know, but it's easy to find out. Just go in again and go directly to where the ball is, and you'll know."

"Let's not delay, let's go in one more time!" Doris was a little restless.

"...What's the rush? It's already late. Aren't you hungry?"

Celia rolled her eyes.

Doris must really love adventure.

(End of this chapter)