Free Web NovelChapter 316: Chapter 314: Purification Ritual
If nothing unexpected happens, the room where the Tier Four Mage started should be the core of the entire Array.
Hilia hadn’t expected that the hidden laboratory would eventually be connected to the room outside the Array’s core control chamber.
Or rather...
Was this arranged by Rose?
Hilia glanced at Rose, who still wore a rather indifferent expression.
The girl collected her thoughts and walked toward that room without hesitation.
"Well, since we’re already here, let’s go in and have a look. While we’re at it, let’s open the main gate of the base."
By now, it was already early morning. Outside, the sky was probably already bright.
But this is Subspace, and out the window it’s still night with countless stars.
The heretics were all busy searching for Hilia’s tracks, so they ended up overlooking this area, giving Hilia an opportunity.
The big door leading to the control room was tightly shut, locked by an Array and a massive lock. Hilia could feel the runes covering the door, filled with warning and alarm spells—if anyone opened the door, it would immediately notify the Tier Four Mage of what was happening here.
"Warning alarms, huh?"
Hilia looked at those familiar incantations and grinned slyly.
"What a coincidence, I just happen to be good at handling alarm wards."
With that, Hilia deftly hacked into those alarm wards and quickly cranked the threshold up to the max.
Next was the lock sealing the door shut.
It also had a warning system, but this one was integrated with the lock itself—no matter if you brute-forced it or used a key, the alarm would go off.
Hilia couldn’t figure out why these heretics went so overboard on their alarm defenses.
Even more intriguing, they didn’t even use a physical lock, but instead a Magical Lock with embedded runes and curses.
That makes things easier.
Hilia might not be able to smash open a physical lock without being noticed.
But if it’s a Magical Lock controlled by runes and incantations...
Clack!
The giant lock, which took both of Hilia’s hands to hold, fell from the door with a crisp click as it opened.
The whole time, not a single alarm was triggered. The girl had already opened the door and stepped into the control room.
Just in case someone tried to interfere, she also reinforced the Array on the door, shutting down all permissions—now, it couldn’t be opened by tweaking from the outside, only from inside the control room.
After finishing all that, Hilia patched herself into the Array to search for that Tier Four Mage’s location.
This time, though, unlike before, she sensed her target’s position by observing changes in the Array itself.
"Huh, still unlocking it?"
Hilia was surprised to see that even after she’d looped around the laboratory, the Tier Four Mage was still working on breaking the lab entrance Array.
The girl tuned in, noticing that the unlocking process was nearly complete.
Sure enough, in no time she sensed a shift in the magics over there.
Hilia switched to the Array’s surveillance mode and saw the mage step into the chaotic outer lab. The high-res surveillance feed let her clearly see the Tier Four Mage’s tense face.
The other woman was very sensitive—just as Hilia looked her way, she immediately raised her head and stared straight at the place Hilia was watching from.
Then, her voice transmitted through the Array into Hilia’s ear: "Interesting, interesting, hehehehehe..."
With that slightly deranged expression, Hilia’s mind instantly flashed back to the things she’d seen in the lab—and she felt unpleasant.
Besides Alina’s blood, in the last few labs Hilia had discovered signs of what looked like human experiments. She wasn’t completely sure, but Hilia decided to proceed as though she was.
After all, the Polar Blood Alliance was even crazier than the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association when it came to twisted ideas.
Other Sects still try to trick Believers into praying to their Gods; in this place, they’ve already started doing research.
"Let’s see if this Array has a voice function... It does?"
Hilia found she could broadcast her voice to any area under surveillance through the Array. She thought for a moment, then spoke: "Idiot, if you’re so interested, why don’t you come and get me? Bleh bleh bleh!"
"You Tier Four mages are so dumb! I’ve already strolled all over your place and you’re still giggling there. Why don’t you go check out your lab? By then, well... give... give grandpa another smile, would ya."
Her burst of words instantly changed the Tier Four Mage’s expression. She hurried toward the wall leading into the hidden potion lab and pulled out her pass badge.
Once she went in, Hilia couldn’t see her anymore.
The girl broke into a playful smile.
"Heehee, gotcha."
When Hilia left the secret lab just now, she’d done a little editing of the Array there—restored the entrance, but added a twist: if someone opened the door and went inside, after it closed, it would reinforce itself and seal up just like the main Subspace doors, locking up tight—nobody would be able to open it from inside or out.
"That Array’s gonna take at least an hour to break. An hour is more than enough time for me to do everything I need to!"
Still, Hilia kept a mental thread on the other woman, just in case.
She wasn’t really worried the mage would come out through where she came in herself—that door had been forced open by Rose, not a secret passage left by the Array.
After that, Hilia got to work, first resetting the doors to the outside world from the Array core. They were still locked, but now, anyone with Admin permissions could leave.
Next, she did a quick sweep of the place.
"So many classified files. Let’s take them all! I’ll look through them back home!"
Hilia grabbed every document she’d carefully marked and stuffed them into a backpack she’d prepared in advance—this wasn’t her first time sneaking into a base, after all. Hilia knew how to come prepared.
"And there’s one more thing—the Array core’s energy source... as I thought, a Pure Magic Crystal! Taking it!"
She looted the area, and when she’d made sure there were no hidden compartments, Hilia packed the Pure Magic Crystal and all the files into her bag, checked on the lab—still no sign of the other woman.
"Guess I’ll send you all one more huge present."
Through the surveillance, Hilia watched the heretics scurrying around. She counted them—well over a hundred, apparently all mages. She couldn’t help but exclaim, "Damn, this Sect breeds a lot of mages."
Rose said, "They just pump them full of Demonic Qi pollution. In three days they can mass-produce a batch of these garbage mages. Aside from being a bit stronger than normal people, they’re useless. That method also keeps them constantly in pain."
"Well then, let me help ease their suffering."
Hilia accessed the base-wide surveillance network, mimicked the Tier Four Mage’s voice, and broadcast across the whole base—
"The intruder has been captured! Everyone, head to the Prayer Square immediately. I want you all to witness judgment with your own eyes. Anyone who doesn’t show up will be treated as the intruder and executed on the spot!"
"The intruder..."
"..."
The message repeated three times in total. The heretics immediately changed direction, running to the spot Hilia had named.
That was the cult base’s Prayer Square—a location Hilia had handpicked as the site for her purification ritual for all the heretics.
She just couldn’t allow this many spellcasting heretics to wander the city outskirts—who knows when they might go berserk and cause a disaster?
Hilia didn’t want to kill more than necessary.
But letting them be wasn’t an option either.
Rather than leave all these unstable elements ready to blow up at any time, she’d rather...
Set up a purification ritual.
Purge them all!
