Chapter 389: This Was a Friendly Hidden Help

Chapter 389: This Was a Friendly Hidden Help

The matter in Windwhisper Valley was resolved before the third day even ended. This was something destined after the grey mist inside Windwhisper Valley dispersed. Without the mist’s influence, the Sanctuary Church could act much more freely. Freed from various restrictions, they naturally advanced at will. Additionally, with the mist gone, the sky’s storm could no longer gather the Undying Witch’s power. Even though its rate of weakening didn’t change much, the power it held deteriorated rapidly.

Inside Windwhisper Valley, the people from the Sanctuary Church were making a big show of taking action. They employed a divided approach. The main forces spread out to different locations, forming teams made up of powerful individuals. While they were the main force, their primary role wasn’t to resolve the storm, but to attract the Wind Dragonflies’ attention.

These teams of powerful individuals ensured they wouldn’t be wiped out by the Wind Dragonflies’ first wave of attacks. Their scattered distribution was to make those Wind Dragonflies attack in a dispersed manner. Also, teams gathered with strong individuals had another point—they were particularly good at attracting attention. Think about it, a group of Terminator-level muscular devils walking together. Even if they weren’t menacingly scaring people, they could make others detour around them on sight, while still choosing to watch from a distance… and worrying if these people might suddenly rush up to start a fight for no reason?

In short, by acting so spread out, those Wind Dragonflies had to split up to deal with them and couldn’t attack in a concentrated manner. All of this was to create an opportunity—a suitable chance for Saintess Deya to take action. Under the meticulously planned arrangement, the action times of those teams were extremely unified. The startled Wind Dragonflies immediately counterattacked.

Dozens of small storms appeared in various areas of Windwhisper Valley. At that very moment, the storm gathered in the sky was directly cleaved apart by a golden light blade that split the heavens. The storm scattered. The gathered power of the Undying Witch inside was mostly purified by a magic containing White Moonlight. The remaining part fell back into Windwhisper Valley.

The Undying Witch’s power was very dangerous. Everyone fighting in Windwhisper Valley carried protective items imbued with White Moonlight. After the residual power of the Undying Witch fell, those items were automatically activated, completely purifying the Undying Witch’s power in the vicinity.

“Whew~” Deya, standing in mid-air, let out a soft exhale and dismissed the Magic Arms she had summoned. As a Saintess, her aptitude was beyond doubt. So, while other Magic Weapon Summoners were all recalculating their levels due to the enhancement of Magic Arms and lingering in the lower ranks, she had already reattained the rare level of Advanced Magic Weapon User. Of course, she no longer had the comprehensive versatility of casually picking any Magic Arms like before. She reached the status of Advanced Magic Weapon User by focusing on a single path of improvement.

Most other Magic Arms were either at a baseline proficiency or at zero proficiency altogether. It wasn’t impossible to use those Magic Arms, but it would consume much more effort to grind the proficiency. It was somewhat like practicing magic, but the difference was that this ‘magic’ had to be mastered one by one. It wasn’t like magic, where one could first grasp the basics of many, then choose suitable ones for specialized learning and mastery.

For Summoned Magic Weapons, it was best to specialize in one from the very beginning. After reaching full proficiency and attaining the next level, one could then try to master other Magic Arms that weren’t mastered in the previous level. This way was more efficient.

Deya used that ‘Sword of Promised Victory’. Hmm, a very dazzling weapon. The light blade from before was the Light Tide, which she deliberately controlled and forcefully compressed from its flowing form into a nearly solid form. Forget a storm, even if a dozen aircraft carriers were placed before her, she could cut through them like tofu, finishing the job with a swing of the sword.

The reason for choosing such a weapon was purely because the magic inherent to this Magic Arms suited her power very well. She wasn’t someone proficient in large-area magic. The Saintess’s power wasn’t pure mana. Although she could use some magic, there was also much magic she couldn’t use. Whether those Light Ribbons or others, they all belonged to some secret methods of the Saintess system.

To effectively destroy the storm with one strike, relying on the magic attached to the Magic Arms plus the boost from her Saintess Power was necessary. It could extend Deya’s attack range to the limit. Without relying on the Magic Arms, she could still achieve an attack to shatter the storm, but that would be much more strenuous. Weapons… aren’t they precisely for saving more strength in battle and bringing greater lethality and convenience?

Since she had this choice, why should she reject such Magic Arms and solve the problem in a less efficient way?

The crisis of the storm’s expansion was so easily broken after some key things in Windwhisper Valley were dealt with. The crisis was no more. The Adventurers and Mercenaries gathered here breathed a sigh of relief. This was an adventure here, the kind where a slight mistake could mean death. Of course, it was a relief when the crisis was gone.

At the same time, plenty of people were awestruck. The power of that storm could completely be regarded as a Forbidden Curse-type magic. Yet, it was actually split apart by the Saintess with one sword strike!

They couldn’t see the effort Deya expended to unleash that strike, nor her ability stats, nor the Sanctuary Church’s extensive meticulous planning and preparation. What they saw was the Sanctuary Church’s Saintess seemingly solving the problem with a simple sword strike. They didn’t consider that if it could really be solved that easily, why didn’t they do it from the start instead of waiting until now.

Some were happy, some were worried. Achille, who should have been relieved, didn’t show any relaxed expression at all. His brow was tightly furrowed. It was something to be happy about that things were resolved smoothly, but after the resolution… No, right when the mist in Windwhisper Valley began to disperse, he had sensed some issues. Things were a bit too simple.

The plan was meticulous, but in the end, not much of it needed to be used. Although this was also expected—those meticulous plans were more to deal with possible unexpected events; having no unexpected events was better… However, he always felt something was off, especially after everything was completely resolved. That sense of oddness became even more obvious.

He tidied up the materials placed in his tent, briefly assigned some tasks to his assistant, then proactively led people towards the interior of Windwhisper Valley. Relying on observation alone couldn’t make him completely certain about some things. When he was leaving, some people in the The Church tried to stop him. It wasn’t with bad intentions; they were worried about his safety.

Although the storm was gone, the battle in Windwhisper Valley wasn’t over yet. Those transformed Wind Dragonflies had to be completely eliminated. With a relatively set plan, the Wind Dragonflies were now divided into over a dozen groups and were being defeated one by one. But before this, Windwhisper Valley was still very dangerous. Most areas inside were filled with rampant small storms. These storms contained intense Wind Element and were mixed with the Undying Witch’s power. Storms of the same level simply couldn’t compare to this kind of power containing intense Wind Element.

“Some things must be confirmed personally!” Even if people tried to stop him, Achille’s attitude remained firm. In the end, a team of very strong Church Knights accompanied him into Windwhisper Valley. Achille didn’t refuse this. Although he was also very strong, now wasn’t the time to show off alone. Having more people now would mean higher efficiency in the investigation.

After entering Windwhisper Valley, he didn’t go to the hollow central area first. He first went to the cave with the Magic Rune Array to investigate, checking the traces of the remaining Magic Rune Array. The Rune Patterns were broken by Oss. Even with the dismantling guide provided by the ‘Seven Luminaries Magus’, for a Warrior to dismantle a Magic Rune Array… if a Warrior could do it, then what need was there for Spellcasters?

The dismantling guide was very detailed. Researchers at the Campsite said that with this guide, they could easily dismantle this Magic Rune Array within ten minutes… Hmm, ten minutes, considering the need to analyze mana flow and grasp the timing, that was very fast.

So, how long would it take for a Warrior? Several hours? The timing didn’t match. No, if a Warrior were to do it, even with a complete dismantling guide and without sufficient Spellcasters directing on-site, the chance of success wouldn’t exceed ten percent. First, the mental pressure from directly observing the Magic Rune Array would severely interfere with their precision.

Yet, this Magic Rune Array was precisely dismantled by someone who wasn’t even a Warrior in the traditional sense. How did that person bypass the requirement of sensing mana? Upon arriving at the scene, this doubt amplified many times over, making him really want to figure it out.

Shaking his head, Achille temporarily suppressed this doubt. This wasn’t the main business. It was better to solve the primary matter first. After investigating the cave, Achille went around the hollow area. The more places he walked, the tighter his brow furrowed. It was all too normal. Previously, with the gray mist obscuring things, these normal aspects weren’t apparent, and it would lead people to think this might be the Undying Witch playing a grand game.

But now, the more he investigated, the stronger the feeling became that he had been tricked by an empty fort strategy. After continuing to search around other ‘relevant locations,’ Achille completely confirmed it. The anomaly in Windwhisper Valley was purely a decoy, a decoy specifically designed to divert the attention of the Sanctuary Church and other forces!

As for why this place was chosen instead of locations closer to people, Achille had already analyzed the reason. Those places didn’t have conditions as suitable as Windwhisper Valley’s.

If the Undying Witch personally took action, she could probably create a situation similar to, or even exceeding, Windwhisper Valley’s. However, doing that wouldn’t serve the purpose of diverting attention. What was the reason for diverting attention? Of course, it was to buy more time for the mastermind to do what they wanted. Otherwise, why engage in such thankless work? Just to make big news for no reason?

Windwhisper Valley’s inherent conditions, whether it was the Wind Dragonflies or the support from the Wind Element Vein below, could all attract enough people even without the Undying Witch’s presence. Even if the location wasn’t ideal, with the backing of the Wind Element Vein’s foundation, they could forcibly turn this place into a suitable location!

Achille’s face turned somewhat cold upon realizing he had been tricked. It wasn’t that he was discouraged, but because they had wasted too much time here! If no one had stolen that Wind Elemental Crystal, they would have remained deadlocked here for much longer. It would have taken over a month to solve the problem here.

That much time… Even though solving the disaster here wasn’t meaningless, after solving it, the Undying Witch’s side would probably have long accomplished her goal. Therefore… regardless of who stole the Element Crystal this time, even if it really was another Witch, Achille had to say it again: Well done!

In short, although they wasted a fair amount of time, resolving the Windwhisper Valley problem much earlier meant it wasn’t too late for them to take remedial actions now!

“Young people these days, still too young.” Dan Marina sat on Zheng Yichen’s massive sofa. Items sized for Zheng Yichen’s main body allowed her to roll around on it casually, or even use it as a soft, large bed to sleep on.

“You people with all your scheming, I really want to see what color your hearts are, whether they’re clean or not.” Zheng Yichen, who was having some information shared with him by Dan Marina, shook his head somewhat helplessly. Initially, he didn’t understand some things, but after Dan Marina’s detailed explanation, he immediately understood.

From the moment they began entering the hollow area, it was already part of Dan Marina’s new scheme. It wasn’t until Achille realized he had been tricked by the Undying Witch’s empty fort strategy that this part concluded. Otherwise, following the normal progress, he would have only truly realized this issue after a delay of at least three to four days.

Now, realizing it earlier meant the Sanctuary Church could take action even sooner. He had escaped the Undying Witch’s empty fort strategy trap, only to be tightly ensnared by Dan Marina, even dragging the Sanctuary Church along.

“What kind of talk is that? Can this be called scheming? This was a friendly hidden help.” Dan Marina glanced lightly at Zheng Yichen. “It’s not doing anything bad.”

“Yes, yes, yes. Helping others in secret while conveniently benefiting oneself. Well done!” Zheng Yichen didn’t contradict her this time. Scheming truly was an art. Having almost been a full-time spectator to Dan Marina’s layout this time, Zheng Yichen genuinely couldn’t find any fault to pick. It was simply like watching a grand performance.

“Well… After this, we can relax a bit and do some other things. The Sanctuary Church is quite skilled at tracking Witches. We don’t need to worry too much; just wait for the results.” Dan Marina said lazily. “Consider it the return for our secret help.”

To describe taking others’ fruits like this with such lofty words, feeling not the slightest shame but rather enjoying it… That was Dan Marina for you!

“Alright. Qin’s matter over there should also be about to have results soon.”