The story of the black silk female knight

I have a feeling that... whether it's ambushing Himika and the sages at sea, or the Mist Demon attack and internal sabotage on Jade Island, it doesn't seem to be the most important objective of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet.

What is their biggest conspiracy tonight?

Chapter 12 Emergency Rescue of the Sage's Tower

Now, the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire, which had been lurking in the Four Islands Alliance, has been reduced to fireworks by the Great Sage's final magic, and the traitor on Jade Island has been captured and imprisoned.

Once Himiko and the Seventh Sage wake up tomorrow morning, things will seem to be over, and the summit can proceed smoothly.

The death of the Great Sage will definitely make people realize the threat posed by the Central Continent Empire... Even those high-level cultivators who don't usually like to concern themselves with worldly affairs will feel the pain of losing their loved ones.

After all, the Great Sage was the pinnacle of cultivators on the Frenoia continent. Even he died in an ambush and conspiracy by the Central Continent Empire. No one dared to say that the Empire's invasion had nothing to do with him.

But... is that really the case?

The purpose of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet should be to disrupt the summit, preventing the various forces on the Frenoia continent from truly uniting, and preparing for the Central Continent Empire's main force invasion a few years later.

Therefore, they shouldn't have forcibly killed the Great Sage and his group... The influence of that Tsuchimikado Avenger alone was absolutely insufficient to change the decision of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet.

Therefore, the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire must have a grand scheme behind this action... Considering their cooperation with the Ninth Sage, this matter is very likely related to the Sage Tower.

The Great Sage was one of the biggest obstacles to this plan, which is why they were willing to expose themselves and kill the Great Sage while he was attending the summit.

Even if the rest of the continent of Frenoia were to unite in hatred as a result, the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire would still do it... They believed that even so, it would not be a loss!

So... what exactly happened?

Valensa racked her brains, but she was missing that crucial clue and that spark of inspiration; she couldn't come up with anything no matter how hard she tried.

She could only discuss the next steps on Jade Island with Chiba Rui... It was roughly that the Phantom Thief would continue to impersonate Himika and host the banquet until the real Himika returned the next morning.

After discussing various contingency plans and explanations for any unforeseen circumstances, and giving Chiba Rui a magic scroll that would allow her to communicate remotely with Tia, Valensa decided to take a break... The back-and-forth travel and the great battle had left her a bit tired.

No sooner had she lain down on the bed than a little doll anxiously pushed open the door and jumped onto Valensa, bouncing her soft belly like it was jumping off the bed.

"Get up, get up! This isn't over yet! Have you forgotten? The Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet split into two groups for this operation. This deployment is only one part; their other plot has already succeeded by more than half!"

"...Then why didn't you say so sooner?"

Valensa sat up angrily and grabbed the doll girl's foot, pinching it.

"We can't say it sooner! Saying it sooner would affect the overall situation!"

Yi Qiuya, however, was very serious, even speaking in a stern voice:

"You really don't have time to cause trouble... You must rush to the Sage's Tower to provide support immediately, otherwise your future allied forces will lack a main force of spellcasters!"

"...So something really happened at the Sage's Tower?"

Valensa frowned, but it wasn't too unexpected.

While lamenting her own life of toil, she quickly got dressed:

"Understood... I'll go back to Fran to find Tia right away. Tia should be able to get me to the Sage's Tower in the fastest way possible."

"No! You can't go to Tia, and you can't go with anyone... You must go to the Sage's Tower alone to rescue her, and you absolutely cannot use the teleportation that goes directly there!"

Yi Qiuyue said even more seriously and loudly:

"Unless you want to lose the person who went with you forever, or be trapped in a chaotic alternate dimension for several years!"

"...Is it another case where I can't give a detailed reason right now?"

Valensa sighed helplessly.

"Hmm, I can't say."

Yi Qiuya shrugged:

"Because to tell you the details, I must first observe those details... But the future of the details that are observed cannot be changed, and if you go astray, it will all be over."

"I understand... The Sage's Tower, right? Then I'll go there."

Valensa, already fully armed, picked up her sword and muttered to herself as she walked towards the door:

"I never imagined my first visit to the Sage's Tower would be for this reason. I originally thought I was going there to send out wedding invitations when Tia and I were getting married..."

. . . . .

The Sage's Tower is located on a protruding piece in the northeastern part of the Frenoia continent. It is surrounded by the sea on three sides and is not very large, less than one-third the size of the Witch's Forest.

The terrain here is somewhat like America, with many mountains that are not high, and the tall tower that stands among the mountains and pierces the sky is the Sage's Tower.

Because Yi Qiuya specifically instructed that she could not arrive directly by teleportation, Valensa first went to the cathedral in Chuyun City, took the sacred path to the city on the eastern border of America, and then controlled Nana to carry her in a princess carry as they flew over the Misty Mountains to get here.

The entire Sage's Tower has an external diameter of about 45 meters, more than 300 floors, and a height of over 1,000 meters.

However, upon closer inspection, it's not hard to see that the Sage's Tower is very similar to an article composed of multiple copies and pastes of a passage—its structure has many similarities, as if someone first built a relatively low mage tower, and then kept copying and stacking this mage tower upwards until now.

The historical truth is actually like this... Valensa heard Tia say that when the Sage's Tower was first built, it only had 22 floors. Every time it was expanded, all 22 floors were copied and stacked on top of each other, and this has been the case up to the current 300+ floors.

Yi Qiuya has clearly stated that something is wrong with the Sage's Tower now, and that the Ninth Sage is a traitor, which is enough to prove that the current situation of the Sage's Tower is definitely not optimistic and may be very dangerous.

So Valensa didn't rush into the tower. Instead, she had Nana hold her and suspend her in the air while she observed the Sage's Tower first.

Nothing was observed.

The Sage's Tower stood there quietly, showing no signs of anything unusual or unusual from the outside, and no one entered or left... but that was the biggest anomaly.

Although Valensa had never been here before, she had heard Tia talk about it quite a bit... As the largest spellcaster organization on the Frenoia continent, the Sage's Tower was always bustling with people, even late at night.

Apprentices seeking knowledge, suppliers delivering materials, business owners discussing cooperation, wealthy individuals and nobles seeking magical support... not a single one was seen.

Furthermore, the construct combat golems and arcane turrets guarding the Sage's Tower in front of the gate had been dismantled and were clearly in the process of fighting.

Valensa circled the tower twice more, and after confirming that she couldn't see anything from the outside, she had no choice but to go inside.

She moved slowly, maintaining maximum vigilance. The surging chaotic divine power churned beneath her fair skin, ready to transform the radiant female knight into another form at any moment.

It wasn't that Valensa didn't want to enter the tower in her strongest form, but this was the Sage's Tower, and there were quite a few sages inside who could recognize the power of the evil god at a glance... Valensa didn't want to fully expose her bloodline yet.

Just as Valensa stepped one foot into the Sage's Tower, she immediately sensed something was amiss.

A strange surge of power instantly swept over her entire body, making her feel as if she were walking in the ocean but encountered waves and undercurrents. The strange force was trying to take her to some strange place.

Valensa's expression changed drastically... This feeling was not unfamiliar to her.

The Absolute Science Realm encountered during dungeon raids and the time stop activated by the Sin Angel after condensing its divine essence are very similar to this feeling.

That is the power of rules... Mortals are bound by rules, and only those who possess the same source of power or the bloodline of gods can defy them.

Without hesitation, Valensa immediately replaced the holy light around her with the power of chaos, transforming herself from a small boat that was constantly drifting in the waves into a lighthouse, her feet firmly planted on the ground and motionless.

Almost 30 seconds passed before the force seemed to realize it couldn't do anything to Valensa and gradually subsided.

When Valensa turned around to look at Nana, she was surprised to find that even Nana's figure had become blurred under that power, as if she might disappear from this world at any moment.

Fortunately, Nana was a Noble Phantasm that was completely connected to Valensa in spirit. Valensa quickly shared some of her Chaos God Power with Nana, pulling her back from the brink of disappearing.

She then quickly checked herself... Fortunately, all her powers were intact and had not been suppressed by the strange power of the tower's rules.

After confirming that she had enough combat power to deal with any situation, Valensa surveyed her surroundings again.

This is the first floor of the Sage's Tower. The overall layout is similar to the lobby of a luxury hotel, with a service desk for handling various services, a rest area for people to rest and talk, and an internal teleportation array that functions as an elevator.

But now there's not a single living person here, only more than 20 corpses... Most of them are wearing the uniforms of Sage Tower members, some in apprentice attire and some in formal sage attire, and a few are wearing the clothes of soldiers from the Central Continent Empire.

A quick inspection reveals that a battle once took place here... Someone within the Sage's Tower colluded with the Central Empire to launch a civil war.

The Sage's Tower... Could it have already fallen?

Valensa immediately considered the worst-case scenario and shook her head slightly.

probably not.

First of all, the Sage Tower is quite reliable... All the official sages and their teammates combined number in the hundreds of Radiant-rank powerhouses, which is definitely not something the Central Continent Empire could defeat with just its vanguard fleet.

In fact, most of the corpses on the first floor of the Sage's Tower were killed by the same spell, including those soldiers from the Central Continent Empire.

Most of the dead members of the Sage's Tower were likely traitors. They were killed by the powerful figures inside the tower after the collaborators led the soldiers of the Central Continent Empire into it.

As for traitors... their numbers shouldn't be too many.

It's not that most of the members of the Sage's Tower are particularly good, but rather that they are actually quite simple, pure researchers obsessed with exploring the mysteries of magic.

Give them a research topic and a laboratory, and they can stay there for decades without ever stepping out. It's hard to imagine that such people would have the idea of ​​becoming traitors.

Moreover, although the Tower of Sages has produced scoundrels like Vincent, it has also produced many truly noble people, such as the Great Sage and the Seventh Sage.

Moreover, Yi Qiuya had previously stated that if Valensa did not come to support them, the Frenoa Continental Alliance would lose a main force of spellcasters in the future.

This main force of spellcasters must be referring to the Sage Tower... which means that most of the people in the Sage Tower are not in immediate danger; they are just temporarily trapped, but they must be rescued immediately, otherwise their chances of survival are slim.

Having figured this out, Valensa rallied her spirits and prepared for the rescue... although she still wasn't quite sure what among the many powerful figures in the Sage's Tower required her to rescue alone.

Let's start by gradually searching for more clues at higher levels.

Valensa first tried the teleportation array inside the tower, which functioned similarly to an elevator, and found that the teleportation array was indeed locked and could not be activated at all.

She could only walk to the corridor behind the service desk and climb the stairs to the top of the tower.

The second floor was unremarkable, similar to the first floor, except for a few corpses, likely remnants of the Sage's Tower civil war.

The third level, no abnormalities...

The fourth floor, still no abnormalities...

It wasn't until she reached the 17th floor that Valensa felt that strange, rule-based force again as she stepped out of the stairwell.

But this force wasn't directed at her; it just sat there quietly, giving her the illusion of being in an aquarium—she was on land, yet surrounded by seawater and marine life, completely enveloped by unfamiliar beings.

Although the 17th floor wasn't a real aquarium, it was vastly different from the previous floors. It no longer resembled the interior of a building at all, but rather a dense jungle... Valensa, who had been an adventurer for three years, didn't recognize most of the plants there. The few she could vaguely identify were all misrepresentations, not the plants she actually knew.

Could this place be... some other world?

Valensa understood something and became more vigilant once again. She and Nana entered the jungle one after the other to begin their exploration.

She hadn't gone far when she encountered the first living creature she'd encountered since entering the Sage's Tower... It was a creature that looked a lot like a gorilla, covered in red hair like steel needles, and had sharp horns on its head.

...Monster?

Valensa eyed the creature before her warily, a hint of doubt in her eyes.

This creature looks a lot like a monster, but it doesn't have any magic power inside it... at least not the magic power of the Frenoia continent, but another kind of very violent and powerful force.

It's highly likely to be a Moon-class.

Faced with this unexpected encounter, Valensa was prepared for a tough battle.

Unexpectedly, after the creature staggered towards Valensa, it staggered away as if it hadn't seen Valensa at all.

Valensa went to great lengths to resist the urge to strike first and test the waters... If the creature, which was originally hostile, were turned into an enemy by this strike, it would be a huge loss.

She could only wait for the powerful creature to go far away before continuing her exploration.

This exploration finally encountered humans.

There were two young sage apprentices and a seriously wounded sage, along with a squad of heavily armored soldiers from the Central Continent Empire.

The two sides were clearly hostile, with two young sage apprentices fighting against the soldiers of the Middle Kingdom to protect their severely wounded sage.

In terms of magical power, the two sage apprentices should be stronger, both being at the Beacon level, while the Central Continent Empire soldiers only had one Beacon, and most of the rest hadn't even reached the Pearl level.

However, these two sage apprentices clearly belonged to the academic school—they lacked combat experience, were clearly stronger but were at a great disadvantage, and had even lost their composure, so it was only a matter of time before they lost.

"Don't panic, I'm here."

This time, there was no time to hesitate. Valensa drew her sword and charged forward, intending to kill all the soldiers of the Middle Kingdom, rescue the sage apprentice and the seriously wounded sage, and find out what had happened here.

Unexpectedly, both sides ignored her, and her sword failed to kill the enemy. Instead, it passed through the body of the Zhongzhou Empire soldier as if passing through a phantom, without causing any damage.

The two young sage apprentices fought more and more chaotically, and finally their weakness was exploited, and they were killed one after another by the soldiers of the Central Continent Empire... The seriously injured old sage did not escape either.

Valensa watched helplessly the whole time, unable to do anything about it.

what is happening?

The surging power of the evil god erupted with Valensa's unwilling rage, instantly dispelling the strange power of the rules around her like a strong wind blowing away the fog.

The jungle vanished... The 17 levels returned to their original state, and the corpses of the young sage apprentice and the old sage also disappeared.

...This won't do, we have to request backup.

Yi Qiuya only said that she couldn't bring Tia, but she didn't say that she couldn't ask Tia remotely, right?

Valensa had originally thought that Tia should be resting and asleep by now and she didn't want to disturb her, but unfortunately, she really couldn't do anything about things involving magical mysteries without Tia's help... No matter how strong the sword is, it's useless if it can't hit the enemy.

While controlling Nana and the Six Flower Floating Cannons to keep watch, Valensa herself calmed her mind, entered the depths of her soul, and contacted Tia.