Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

Filia said, still without any slack in the arrows in her hand.

Hannah didn't take it seriously. "But he's also an accomplice. Arrest him. My people will take good care of him. There's no time to lose. We need to act quickly."

McKinney was shocked when he heard the conversation between Hannah and Filia.

"You want to arrest me? No, no way... How could you do this! I clearly have nothing..."

McKinney wanted to say something, but at the same time, an arrow buzzed in his cheek, scratched his ear, and left a bloody mark on his cheek.

The blood felt warm, just like it did between McKinney's legs right now.

"Keep going, my aim hasn't been very good lately."

Filia said.

McKinney was horrified.

……

------------

279. Citywide Action (3K)

McKinney was among those named on a list provided by the Moulton Fournia Chamber of Commerce.

On West Street, he runs a black drugstore business, buying medicines at low prices from smugglers from other places and selling them here, or purchasing cheap medicines from "unlicensed pharmacists" who do not comply with regulations and do not obtain licenses from the Pharmacists' Union, and reselling them. For the people on West Street, although these medicines are ineffective, they are at least cheap, so there is still some business.

That's just on the surface.

In fact, his real marketing channel was to cooperate with several specific slave traders through drug stores and conduct slave trading business on West Street. If the black drug stores were just a gray area, then human trafficking was a clear violation of imperial law - this underground business would not be leaked to anyone else except those who really had the connections. In other words, once the information between them was leaked, any link in the transaction could be a breakthrough point, and whether it was facts or suspicions, it would become a sharp weapon to break through them.

Hannah interrogated McKinney. Hannah, who came from the Knights and had served in the Inquisition, was very good at this. No matter how hard the bones were, they were not worth mentioning in front of her. She easily forced the tortured and mentally depressed McKinney to confess the information about other participants. The information was exactly the same as the list brought by Reed, but it was more detailed.

Everything will come to light.

"Go quickly and come back quickly. If they don't cooperate, you will act accordingly. If you find any undead puppets, execute them on the spot."

Hannah gave her orders in a firm and serious tone. The teams composed of members of the investigation team and knights transferred from the lord's mansion immediately rushed to different directions of West Street, and the search and pursuit work was quickly carried out.

For a time, the entire West Street was blocked off, and a sense of unease was rising among the pedestrians - no one knew what had happened, and why so many knights and soldiers suddenly poured into the West Street, which was usually a lawless place.

At this time, Filia and Vivian brought the mouse to Hannah's temporary interrogation room - actually McKinney's pharmacy, where there are many "props" that facilitate Hannah's interrogation. It must be said that although they are all cheap drugs from illegal sources, some of them are still quite effective.

Especially some poisons.

"Ms. Trawins, and Miss Livret," Hannah stepped forward upon seeing Vivian and Filia, "Thank you very much for your help this time."

Hannah said, expressing her gratitude sincerely.

To be honest, Hannah originally thought that being able to find the root of the trouble within ten days was already a great feat. The enemy had been lurking in the fortress for so long, and they must have been fully prepared in all aspects. This would undoubtedly be a tough battle.

But in the end, today was only the second day, and they had already achieved remarkable results - this was definitely a great achievement, and these achievements were inseparable from the help of Vivian and Filia, and of course, Elsa, otherwise she would not have received assistance from the Chamber of Commerce.

In the end, as the head of the investigation team, she became the one who just had to eat and do nothing useful.

"Don't worry about it. Rather, I want to thank you for sending these slave traders to prison."

Filia said, leaving Hannah a little confused, but the topic was not continued. Filia continued, "The mouse has new information, but he said he must tell you in person."

Hannah looked at the mouse.

"Go ahead."

"If you're looking for someone, I know some unfamiliar faces came here yesterday. I wonder if you might be looking for them."

Hannah narrowed her eyes slightly, and the fleeting danger made the mouse subconsciously tighten its leg muscles.

Hannah stared at the mouse: "You, why are you saying this now?"

Facing Hannah's scrutiny, Lao Shu seemed a little nervous. He quickly explained, "There are new faces coming to West Street every day, especially recently. You know, this is the place that specifically welcomes those people. It's just that those people yesterday were dressed more respectably, which made them look suspicious..."

Hannah just stared at the mouse calmly: "Just like that? You know I'm very pressed for time right now, so I don't want to hear any nonsense."

The mouse showed some panic.

He gritted his teeth and revealed his true intentions: "I need to confirm whether you will keep your promise to me, so..."

Rat Head said, but before he finished his words, Hannah's sword was already against his neck, which scared Rat Head and he hurriedly wanted to retreat, but Filia moved sideways to block his way and knocked him down with an elbow.

bang——

The wall of the drugstore made a muffled sound, dust fell, and the rats howled in pain.

Hannah's sword was against his throat again, drawing blood.

"So that's your answer?" Hannah said coldly. "Well, the promise is now void—it's time for questioning."

Filia stood aside expressionlessly, looking down at the mouse whose face was distorted with pain.

"I thought you were a smart guy."

Filia's elbow hit the nerves in the mouse's shoulder and neck. Now the mouse felt that its whole body was paralyzed and it could not exert any strength at all. It had been deprived of all ability to resist by this one blow.

This also made the mouse extremely shocked.

"No, you can't do this... Honestly, I was just trying to protect myself..."

The mouse quickly defended himself, his voice panicking.

Hannah shook her head. "Do you know how many criminals like you I interrogated every day at the Tribunal? Everyone said the same thing."

The mouse panicked: "If I really intended to hide it, why would I come and tell you now... I really didn't intend to lie to you, please believe me..."

"Really? Isn't it because you discovered that our actions were faster than you expected, and instead of being exposed later, you'd rather surrender yourself? - Or do you want to blackmail us in return?"

Hannah didn't believe the mouse's words at all. The sword blade had pierced the dark skin of the mouse's neck. The mouse felt the coldness of the sword and its face turned pale immediately.

"I, I'll tell you everything... I'll tell you everything! Please, please don't kill me!"

……

At this time, the Dammas Fortress fell into full alert in a very short time - the knights and soldiers mobilized by Hannah from the lord's mansion were quickly dispersed to various streets and squares throughout the city, and strict control was implemented.

The monks of the church also set out from the monastery. Compared with the inhumane army, the monks of the church could calm the uneasy emotions of the people better.

In addition, the people from the Morton Fornia Chamber of Commerce also began to cooperate with the work under Reed's arrangement. Their methods were more cautious, but also faster. The Chamber of Commerce did not have many people, but each of them was an expert in lurking and tracking. It could be seen that this was the power cultivated by the Chamber of Commerce itself. At this time, they were mobilized in full force. They targeted the people on the list, and after the soldiers began to act, they took the initiative to report the hiding places of those people to the soldiers.

For a time, battles broke out in many places. Elite knights dispatched from the lord's mansion were divided into groups to capture and hunt down the people on the list, including Ak, the merchants who had contact with him, and the adventurers who provided the poison arrow.

Some of the merchants and adventurers were innocent, they were only linked together because of commissions and transactions. These people were temporarily detained for investigation, and they would not be harmed if they did not resist.

But there were more people who were unwilling to undergo the soul crystal test - most of these were latent puppets, and they launched a desperate counterattack.

But it's no use.

If it was just a sneak attack, it would be fine, but facing the elite knight squad that came prepared, these battles were basically one-sided, and the puppets were killed one after another - puppets have no intelligence value.

The same scene happened in the Thorne Tavern. When the soldiers blocked the block, some of the diners in the tavern complained, while others watched the excitement with interest. Only one person's face turned ugly. He fell into a brief thought, then walked to the counter, paid, and prepared to leave the tavern.

But as soon as he stepped out of the door, he bumped into Thorne's broad chest.

"Hey, man, it's not safe out there right now. You can stay here for a while. I won't chase you away."

Thorne smiled, showing his clean teeth, and looked very friendly.

The man was a little impatient.

"Get out of my way!"

He wanted to walk to the side, but Ruth happened to appear in front of him and stared at him without saying a word.

He felt something was wrong and tried to go to the other side, but Caesar blocked his way.

"Don't be nervous, I'm from the Knights," Caesar said expressionlessly, "I will keep you safe."

As a result, the man's face changed immediately when he heard the word "Knights Order". In an instant, he took out a dagger and turned around to stab Ruth, who looked the weakest among the three. But Ruth drew out a straight sword with a clang and stabbed it into his shoulder with a "swish". His dagger could not reach Ruth at all.

Before he could cry out in pain, he saw Thorne's huge fist coming towards him.

Bang.

He flew backwards into the tavern, and before he could stand up, an arrow pierced his hand and nailed him to the ground.

"what--"

He screamed in pain, and the tavern suddenly became lively.

"Look, someone is being ungrateful again."

"He probably doesn't know that Thorne used to be a silver medalist, right?"

"Ha ha……"

Thorne snorted coldly and walked forward. "Hmph, you dare to be so arrogant in my tavern? I know everyone here."

The man saw that the situation was not good, and when he looked around, he saw Winnie sticking her head out from behind the counter.

He didn't care about the injury in his hand, and pulled out the arrow directly and jumped towards Winnie. As a result, Winnie took out the staff. The man was stunned for a moment, and the next moment he was pushed out by a force and fell on the wine table. Just as he stood up, he was hit on the head with a bottle by a drinker next to him.

"Not only do you dare to cause trouble to our benefactor, but you also want to touch Miss Winnie. I think you are tired of living!"

The drunkard said this angrily, and then several people came up and kicked him.

By the time the soldiers arrived, the man was already bruised and dying.

……

------------

280: Underground Cooperation

While battles broke out across the fortress, a crisis was brewing underground.

An abnormal magical fluctuation came from somewhere underground. With the help of the surge of earth vein energy, it quickly spread to the underground magic circle including the castle in the central city and the two major regiment bases. Except for the magic circle of the magician group base that had been destroyed, the engraved abyss runes were awakened one after another.

This change was secretive and obscure. This strange fluctuation urged the heterogeneous abyssal energy to pump towards various earth vein nodes - most of the nodes had been repaired by Tricia the day before. These energies that did not belong to the earth veins themselves could not affect the stable magic circle, and the gathered abyssal energy could not break through the constraints of the earth veins and was quickly swallowed and assimilated by the earth veins.

But there are still many nodes where black branches are growing vigorously. Abnormal energy is gathering towards them and being absorbed by them. The branches and leaves begin to sprout black leaves, and the roots are deeply rooted in the earth veins, forming malignant tumors.

Sophia discovered the ripples in the earth earlier than anyone else—

At this moment, in front of Sophia, a circle of gray-black abyss runes slowly floated. The notes and books beside her had piled up into a small mountain. Sophia used magic to sense the draft in her hand, on which the final conclusion was written - she understood these runes with the abyss knowledge she had studied as a witch in the Witch Society.

"It seems that the function of these runes is not to trigger, but to block. The explosion itself does not necessarily need to be triggered to occur, and the blocking is the same. The recovery point is when the node is awakened, that is, when the magic circle is triggered..."

Sophia frowned slightly, she realized the danger these runes would bring.

At this moment, an abnormal energy wave surged out from the ground, and the runes in front of her were activated one by one. Sophia raised her head with a sense of something, and the perception of magic made her stunned - these runes were the rune silhouettes of the underground magic circle. The activation of these runes meant that the runes underground must have been activated as well.

"Is there someone underground? No...it should be remote control - Miss Renee!"

Sophia stood up immediately, the pile of books were pushed over, and Sophia ran out quickly. Renee also heard the call and came over - she saw Sophia's serious expression and realized something.

"Is there any unusual movement in the underground magic circle?"

"Well, it seems the person you're looking for has finally made a move," Sophia explained quickly. "Someone is manipulating those runes. That person possesses advanced magical skills. He activated the runes in a way I can't fathom. I suspect it's the ley lines and those black branches. I've never seen anything like this before."

Not only Sophia had never seen it before, but the magicians in the Magician Corps had also never seen it before. Perhaps this kind of thing could only be answered by finding a wise man who was proficient in esoteric magic and knew a lot about the earth veins.

Sophia continued:

"Those runes don't possess enough destructive power themselves, but they will hinder the flow of magic within the magic circle. If Aisha's description is correct, because of those strange black branches, these abyssal runes will directly draw magic from the earth's veins. If the upper magic circle isn't triggered, there's no danger. However, once it's triggered, it will trigger a violent explosion of magic."

This is exactly what happened in the Magicians' Corps yesterday.

"So I suggest getting them away from the magic circle as soon as possible. At least it's not safe there right now."

Sophia's words made Renee frown tightly, "Is there any solution?"

"Have."

"what?"

"Send me down. I know how to rewrite these Abyssal Runes, or at least render them ineffective."

"But," Renee paused and looked at Sofia, "this is dangerous."

The magic circle was constantly running and could be easily triggered - moreover, battles were now breaking out in many places in the fortress, and no one could be sure that something beyond their control would not happen.

"I know." Sophia said firmly.

No one here understands Abyss Magic better than Sophia, and only Sophia knows how those runes work. She can rewrite the runes, and only she can rewrite them - but it is not an easy task to destroy all the Abyss Runes that the other party has spent who knows how long to set up in a short period of time.

Renee knew that there was no room for any more nice words at this time, so she nodded and asked.