The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

Chapter 346: Chapter 344: Major Pest Cleanup Operation

"The Northern Alliance is so dangerous. Maybe we should just go home."

Hilia said seriously.

Benovia laughed, "That doesn’t sound like something Hilia would say. Whether we go home or not depends on what the mentors decide. You struggled so much to get your match qualification back—if you left without competing, would you really be okay with that?"

"I was just speaking off the cuff."

She really had saved the world to restore her competition eligibility.

Hilia picked up the newspaper Benovia brought and started reading carefully.

But the paper didn’t mention Gerald City. All it had was news about the Abyss Gate being dealt with.

"How could Gerald City be breached and lose contact so easily? Didn’t any news come out before it happened?"

"No idea, but Mr. Gerald already rushed back. We’ll probably know the outcome tomorrow."

Doris frowned, "How can a little tournament run into so many problems? Can this competition really continue?"

Benovia said, "The school hasn’t told us to go home yet, so I guess the Northern Alliance intends to find a way to restart the League. If the Mage League goes ahead despite the heretic invasion, it will give their people some confidence to resist the Sect."

Encore said, "Unless the heretics are wiped out, and we figure out how they did all this, nothing really matters."

"The results will be out tomorrow, let’s just wait and see."

...

The next day, news from all directions made Hilia understand what had happened in Gerald City.

"So it was frozen."

Gerald City isn’t the huge city where Mr. Gerald sits, but the town Gerald was born in. After Gerald became a Tier Six Mage, it was renamed on the spot, and started to grow using Gerald’s name.

Of course, the town is also within Gerald’s territory and is rapidly developing.

That rapid growth led to the mage force in Gerald City lagging behind. Like most small towns, it only had Low-tier Mages. There were Tier Four or above mages, but very few.

With just them, the heretic joint invasion couldn’t be stopped.

The status of the lost contact in Gerald City also became clear as the investigation unfolded.

While demons were being wiped out and the Abyss Gate purified in Kost City, Gerald City was hit by a torrential rainstorm.

At first, no one paid attention.

Until ice crystals suddenly appeared on the ground—within seconds, the whole town was frozen solid.

The coincidence was, when the freezing began, all the Tier Four Mages in town weren’t inside. Some had been called to main cities by Gerald. Some left for other reasons.

So, this sudden freezing instantly cut off Gerald City from the outside world.

By the time others arrived, only Tier Three Mages and a handful of lucky Tier Two Mages survived. The rest...

Their fate is unknown.

There’s no official count yet, but—if a town’s people are frozen for over an hour, how many will live?

"Damn these heretics!"

Hilia tossed the newspaper aside, her emotions surging wildly.

She looked at Rose, "Lord Rose, are there any heretic bases nearby? I want to..."

Rose gave her several locations.

"Go ahead, but there are Tier Five Mages in these bases—take your school’s mentors and principal with you."

"Okay!"

Rose said, "Tell the Northern Alliance about one of the bases and see if they still let information leak."

"Got it!"

So, to calm the anger in her heart, Hilia secretly sought out Mr. Nikodemos and Mr. Blake, telling them about the heretic bases she had found and passing on Rose’s message.

Blake didn’t hesitate. He immediately contacted the Northern Alliance and sent over the coordinates.

While the Northern Alliance prepared, they secretly took people and followed Hilia to the other bases.

Outside one heretic base, seeing a subspace corridor on the interior wall, Blake couldn’t help sighing, "Of course the slum areas are fertile ground for sects—these bases are right out in the open, in the city, and the Northern Alliance hadn’t noticed at all."

Mr. Nikodemos wiped his Magic Staff. "I’ve been seething these days, itching to start killing!"

"Let’s go. Once we’re inside, you have my permission to execute heretics on the spot—no need for captives. Oh, and if there are precious materials inside, don’t burn them—they’re worth more than the heretics."

"Roger!"

And so began a one-sided annihilation operation.

With Tier Six combat mage Blake leading, there was no resistance in the base.

Except for a few heretics kept for interrogation, the rest...

No mercy!

After clearing one base, the group left with loads of supplies, moving on to the second base...

They continued until all the bases Rose had marked, except the one left for the Northern Alliance, were wiped out.

Despite taking a lot of rare materials from the bases, Blake showed no sign of joy, because—

Ashburn sent a message: "When we got there, everyone had already evacuated that base. We found nothing."

Blake’s face was a sight: "Seriously? That base isn’t far from the central area—you could fly there in two minutes! How did they manage to slip away?"

Ashburn sighed. "I’m not the commanding officer for this. All major actions are reported to the Monarch, and the Monarch sends people out. This time was quick—only two hours from reporting to arrival—but we still missed them."

Blake fell silent, then after a moment gave Ashburn a thumbs up, "Impressive."

Ashburn said, "I think I get what the Monarch wants now. The bases aren’t the point—the real goal is... to find the mole."

"Oh?" Blake’s curiosity was piqued.

Ashburn’s expression was complicated: "This operation... Actually, never mind. If I keep talking, it’ll become classified. Even as old friends, I can’t share more."

Blake laughed, "You don’t have to—soon enough I’ll know anyway."

Ashburn didn’t argue, because he knew that’s just how the Northern Alliance works.

If sects can infiltrate at will, so can other empires.

Before leaving, Ashburn chuckled, "You guys found so many bases in such a short time, know more about Kost than us."

Blake grinned, "When it comes to dealing with sects, we’re pros. If you need help, just ask."

Ashburn didn’t comment. He said, "By the way, tell your contestants to be ready—the Mage League should restart the day after tomorrow."

"With all that’s happened, the tournament is still on?"

"Of course it is. The bigger the crisis, the less we can give up. This time, the Monarch gave strict orders—the rest of the tournament must run smoothly. Sathipheni and I will co-host, and if you notice anything unusual, you don’t need to request permission—deal with it directly."

He paused, then added, "By the way, your school’s Miss Xilia seems very sensitive to the sect. I need her help. Can you ask if she’s willing to assist?"