Chapter 2671: Escape and Lockdown

"So, Supervisor Dumu, do you have any good suggestions?"

The situation was urgent, and some investigators' tones were no longer as friendly as they had been at the start; especially with Dumu being a human, it was even harder to gain the trust of these Elves.

Moreover, just as the few were speaking, a violent tremor in the Magic Net came from the nearby Silver Spire. Seeing this, the Eaerlann Elf Envoy's expression changed drastically, and before Dumu could even open his mouth, he shouted out:

"This is bad, Palisi is isolating my Permission Level! If he succeeds, we will be completely trapped here!"

In an instant, panic appeared on the faces of many investigators; they almost simultaneously wondered if the Arrow Wind Squad had encountered this exact situation when they went missing.

But in someone else's home field, how could one resist? These investigators' primary research focus was the Scrying domain, and they had little to do with Mythallar, teleportation, and the like.

Although most high-level Mages had studied Mythallar, there was a significant difference between specializing in them and having a rough understanding.

Who could have imagined that a routine investigation mission would encounter such a situation where the entire city was hostile? At this moment, even the high-level Mages among the investigators felt a sense of dread and regretted participating in this operation.

Yet at this time, Dumu still appeared sufficiently calm. He told the group, "Whatever we decide to do, let's think while we move. Regardless, let's get away from this Silver Spire first."

When Palisi left just now, he only shouted a slogan and did not call for helpers to do anything to Xia Duo and the others. The restrictions they were currently facing were merely the prohibition of teleportation and flight inherent to the Mythallar.

Theoretically, if one's speed was fast enough, one could walk directly out of the coverage area of the Metelier Mythallar.

At this moment, hearing Dumu's words, the Elf investigators finally reacted and followed the path they had come to move quickly toward the direction of the city exit.

When fleeing for one's life like this, there was no room for formalities. The investigators each showed their own unique skills; some cast Lightness Spells and relied entirely on their long legs to run.

Others used the Sword Singer's Yaoyue technique to move quickly. The Sword Singer's Space Jump was also a Teleportation Spell, but it belonged to the ultra-short-distance teleportation category and, in most cases, was not within the restriction range of Elf cities.

Still others attempted to use Flight. The prohibition on flight did not equate to a prohibition on the Flight spell, but rather a prohibition on flying at a height of more than one foot above the ground; flying close to the ground was still possible.

As for the high-level Mages, transforming into a light-essence Elf was almost an innate Flight spell, and the speed was extremely fast. Thus, the investigation team, which had originally gathered together, gradually spread out their formation during the run.

However, Xia Duo knew that those who left first would still return, because he had not stopped his investigation of Metelier during the run, and he discovered that this city had already been locked down.

From some unknown time, wisps of shifting blue patterns had appeared in the sky above the city. At first, they were not obvious, and only those who had been paying attention to the city's state could discover such an anomaly.

But by the time Xia Duo and the others finally made contact with the Dwarf leader Oubo, who had been drinking in the city, the blue patterns in the sky had become very conspicuous.

At the same time, the high-level Mages running in front turned back just as Xia Duo had expected. One of the high-level Mages from Ilfarun told the investigators behind him with a grave expression:

"That damn City Lord has locked us inside the city. I tried to break the Jieti sealing us in, but no matter how I tried, I couldn't succeed."

"Envoy Ruien, what exactly is going on with your Eaerlann? Could it be that Crown King Helien and the High Tree Elder Council have no control over the cities below at all?"

Some investigators began to point their fingers at the only Eaerlann Elf present—or more accurately, the only Eaerlann Elf who was running away with them.

Metelier was full of Eaerlann Elves, but these citizens were completely unaware of what had just happened. Only a few Elves noticed the strange blue patterns in the sky, but they did not take them to heart.

After all, this was a major city in the south of Eaerlann; who could stir up trouble here?

However, Ruien was not that optimistic. During the run from the Silver Spire, he had already tried to contact Taiweimansa, but he could never get through.

"This is definitely a rebellion that Palisi has been planning for a long time. I cannot contact Taiweimansa now, and I don't have any close friends here in Metelier."

"So you have no ideas at all?"

"No, there is one more way, which is to initiate a conscription in the city in the name of the Crown King and the Council Envoy, to summon Spellcasters who are still loyal to Eaerlann to quell the rebellion together. At the very least, we could send you all away from here first."

Regarding Ruien's method, many investigators felt a surge of joy, but then an Elf raised an objection, "Can you guarantee that there are no accomplices of Palisi among the Spellcasters who come?"

This, of course, could not be guaranteed. Even Palisi, who was the least likely to betray, had betrayed them, let alone other Spellcasters. Although Ruien was certain that there must be Spellcasters in the city loyal to the Crown King and the Council, he dared not gamble.

"I say, everyone, besides leaving here, the most important thing now is to figure out what Palisi actually wants to do! If it's just a rebellion, it doesn't have much to do with us outsiders. We can just wait for him to finish."

The regrouped investigators, seeing no way out, finally began to discuss Palisi's purpose. At this time, most investigators still hoped that Palisi had no intention of being an enemy of the Northland Alliance.

They ignored the fact that this situation was very likely because they were about to discover evidence of Palisi being an enemy of the Alliance. Since he was going to be an enemy of the Alliance anyway, he wouldn't care about these few investigators.

And what Xia Duo knew more clearly was that the erasure of the final traces of the Arrow Wind Squad's disappearance was suspected to be related to Demon Descendants. In other words, Palisi might not be simply rebelling, but very likely colluding with Demon Descendants.

When the other party left earlier, he shouted the slogan "Witness the new world," which made it hard for Xia Duo not to associate it with the Demon Descendants' plan to subvert the Time Line.

Of course, to the other investigators who were unaware that Palisi might be colluding with Demon Descendants, that slogan might just seem like Palisi wanting to launch a rebellion within Eaerlann to create a new regime.

In a garden in the Nan Cheng Qu of Metelier.

Xia Duo and the other investigators were temporarily taking shelter here, collecting information from within the city while using Scrying and prophecy spells to investigate the blue patterns in the sky.

Just as the group was discussing, a loud noise suddenly came from the distant city area, followed by a series of Magic Net tremor ripples that were still very intense even here.

Xia Duo hurriedly cast a spell to investigate, but the Perception Field was destroyed and disintegrated the moment it was projected. The information collected in that instant told him—

Spellcasters in Metelier had organized to destroy a Node of the City Mythallar, but this did not cause any serious damage to the Mythallar itself.

It was not that the Metelier Mythallar also used a Distributed Node design, but that the Node was fake from the start. It looked like Palisi had been preparing for this day for a long time.

To think he could even replace a City Mythallar Node without anyone noticing.

It was no wonder the other party had almost ignored the Original Permission that Envoy Ruien had brought out.