The Evil God Summoned by the Saintess

A thousand meters underground.

Hilia arrived at the hidden base once again.

At this moment, the place had already been taken over by the Holy Court, mages were everywhere.

This base is relatively small overall. The largest area is the underground space used for prayer, while the other rooms are smaller, filled with various items. Some are laboratories used by the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association for research on arrays and sacrifices, and others contain high-grade materials, though it’s unclear what they’re for.

Every room has something in it, and currently, the Holy Court is sending people in to investigate.

Besides taking away everything, the base’s array is also the subject of research.

After Hilia descended, the Array Master responsible for studying the base’s array brightened up and approached immediately.

"Hilia, you’ve come at the perfect time. We are researching the base’s array, and have made some progress."

Upon hearing this, Hilia’s heart immediately felt ominous.

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

The Array Master took out a few sketches and said, "There’s a significant problem. We’ve found that the cornerstone of the array has been removed, and the advanced magic crystal now placed obviously isn’t the cornerstone of the base’s array."

"What?!"

Hilia’s voice rose by eight octaves.

If she remembered correctly, the cornerstone of the base’s array was an ultra-rare Heart of the Magic Puppet.

Now, you’re telling me the Heart of the Magic Puppet is gone?

"Was it taken by the Deep Sea Leader?"

"No, I checked with the Judgement Court, and they didn’t find anything on the leader."

Hilia frowned slightly, "Then what happened?"

The Array Master shook his head, "It’s unclear at the moment. So, we wanted to invite you to take a look, to see if you can trace any clues about the stolen cornerstone."

The ultra-rare Heart of the Magic Puppet is still very important, and Hilia remembered Rose was always collecting them.

She had one herself and was originally planning to take a break and come here to collect the base’s array component, but someone beat her to it.

Who could be so skilled as to make off with the Heart of the Magic Puppet without anyone noticing?

The Array Master said, "After we took over the array research, it was already stolen, but it wasn’t confirmed at the time; only now is it confirmed."

Hilia immediately changed her plan, "Take me to see it."

"Please follow me."

Not long after, Hilia followed the Array Master to a room, passed through an opening in the wall, arrived at an outside passage, and then down, reaching the base’s bottom.

The core of the base’s array is located underground, even outside the base.

A small space was excavated here, the top is the base’s metal flooring, while the surroundings and below are ordinary soil and stone.

At this time, several people were also using support frames to climb to the ceiling, holding various items to research the array.

When Hilia arrived, she heard them discussing.

"This base is a whole, like a fortress."

"It’s a pity to destroy the array, we need to find a way to move it to the surface."

"Unless we construct a directional teleporter underground, it can’t be moved."

"What’s unable to move, such a sturdy steel fortress, it’d be such a waste not to take it back."

"But without the cornerstone filled with massive energy, how can it be moved?"

"..."

Hilia blinked and looked at the Array Master who brought her, "So your research direction is trying to find a way to move the entire base back?"

The Array Master nodded, "Yes, we want to add a transmission array, like a directional teleporter, converting the base into a freely teleportable metal fortress, but it’s missing the cornerstone to maintain the overall magic power operations."

He regretfully shook his head, "If it hadn’t been stolen, we would already be prepared for the transformation."

Hilia gave him a thumbs up.

The concept is bold, but it’s not impossible.

Because the base is a whole, moving one part affects the others, various transmission arrays can be used to take it away.

It’s just a bit challenging, and the magic power consumption would surely be very high, to the point that even a Pure Magic Crystal can’t withstand it.

This is much bigger than transmitting tens or even hundreds of people with a directional teleporter.

"I think adding a one-time directional teleporter here is good, no need to research so many things."

Hilia casually suggested, then mounted her Flying Broom and flew to the ceiling for inspection.

The advanced magic crystal was embedded in the center of the whole array, and with the array’s absorption of the crystal’s magic power, the entire crystal never shone.

In a few days, this advanced magic crystal, capable of supplying an ordinary array for decades, would deplete completely, turning into a normal crystal stone.

This base isn’t as large as the ones outside, but since it is three-dimensional and under the Golden Apple Stone Forest’s array, its consumption is much higher than other arrays.

Feeling for a moment, Hilia couldn’t help but complain, "This thief is quite capable, even placing an advanced magic crystal, such a grand gesture."

She asked, "Can you determine when the thief stole it?"

The Array Master said, "Probably shortly after you and the Holy Master ended combat; it happened during wartime when no one noticed the array’s fluctuations."

Hilia nodded.

The other party likely planned ahead.

Staring at the array, Hilia pondered for a moment, then spoke, "I’ll give it a try, there are no monitoring nodes here, at best you can sense the magic power traces of the other party, it’s impossible to determine who they are."

"Can you track down the cornerstone stolen from the array?" the Array Master asked.

"Most likely not, and if you want to take away this base... it’s not necessary to have that item, just prepare a few Pure Magic Crystals to serve as the directional teleporter’s function."

The Array Master laughed helplessly, "I’m afraid it’s not possible, a single Pure Magic Crystal costs thousands of gold coins, 10 of them would be over ten thousand, the Holy Court would never agree."

"Research slowly, maybe you can find a way to substitute the advanced magic crystal," Hilia suggested, "For instance, using a mage instead, just find a Tier Six Mage, they could substitute a Pure Magic Crystal."

Array Master: "..."

Hilia waved her hand, "Just kidding, you don’t actually need to retrieve the cornerstone, because according to my conjecture, the array’s cornerstone might be some kind of Heart of the Magic Puppet. Using the Heart of the Magic Puppet as the array’s cornerstone is like a magic puppet, and the Heart of the Magic Puppet cannot be used as a directional teleporter’s energy source."

The Array Master said surprised, "You saw through it so quickly? As expected of the most skilled Array Master of the Holy Court."

Hilia sheepishly said, "It’s just a coincidence, the most skilled is Mr. Alvis, I’ve only studied for a few years."

The Array Master said, "Anyway, still trouble you, we need to at least determine who stole the cornerstone, whether it was a heretic or some force."

Hilia nodded, "Alright."

The Mage’s Hand was cast, transforming into thousands of threads that melded into the base’s array.

Amidst the gradual revelation of the mist, the traces of the stolen Divine Format slowly appeared before Hilia.