Chapter 462: Stealing, Instant Kill

Xia Duo continued to ask, "Is anyone else dead?"

"No one else."

"Then has anyone in town been acting strangely lately? Has anyone who was previously injured suddenly recovered?"

"None."

There was no lying; asking more would likely yield nothing. Xia Duo prepared to go directly to the Town Mayor's house to take a look. Regardless of whether the Town Mayor had any issues, starting the investigation there would not be wrong.

It was in Xia Duo's plan to find the Town Mayor first, so he asked again, "Where is the Town Mayor's house located?"

"Turn left out the door, the fifth house is the Town Mayor's."

"I understand. One last question: have you ever heard of the 'Creation Mother Goddess'?"

"Never heard of it."

"Alright, now go to bed and get some sleep!"

"Yes, my lord."

Watching the woman before him walk toward the bed without the slightest resistance, Xia Duo was now certain that 【Command】 was taking effect.

After all, no matter how great the Empire's majesty was, it could not make a young woman who might even know a bit of Apprentice magic act without the slightest suspicion, hesitation, or resistance.

……

Casting 【Invisibility】 again, Xia Duo followed the road in front of the woman's house to the left and counted five houses. Their appearance was not much different from the ordinary townspeople's houses, at most just a bit newer.

A grassroots Town Mayor of the Empire might have some prestige, but there was not much real profit to be gained, because there were too many people underneath wanting to step on them to climb higher. They had to be cautious at all times, and some even lived worse than ordinary townspeople.

In the hundreds of small towns within Jilan City's territory, Xia Duo had visited at least dozens over the past year. He discovered that these towns were indeed like the "collective farm dormitory areas" he knew of—no entertainment, no commercial activity (all in Jilan City), and the Town Mayors were basically all female.

Calling them towns, they were actually more like villages, even Little Goat Town, which had a population of over two thousand, was like this.

What kind of wealthy and influential families could a village have?

Upon approaching the Town Mayor's house, Xia Duo immediately turned his preliminary suspicion into certainty in his heart. He discovered traces of warning magic outside the Town Mayor's house. The style was similar to that of the Elves—tedious and ornate—but it also carried the conciseness and rigor of the Netheril Magic System.

If the demons were indeed Elves, perhaps in the war, they were also absorbing the strengths of this side.

This warning magic itself was not much; Xia Duo was confident he could bypass it, but the problem was that "Aidi" could not.

The Scrying spell from Jilan City still existed. Having personally used Scrying spells, Xia Duo naturally understood that what was being viewed from Jilan City was not just ordinary vision, but also incorporated Magic Vision.

Perhaps, the side in Jilan City had also discovered the warning magic here.

After thinking carefully, Xia Duo found that "Aidi" really had no way to bypass it or dispel it without being discovered. He waited here for a while, but saw no signs of this warning magic weakening or disappearing.

Xia Duo understood that it was time to change methods.

Perhaps he could be slightly more aggressive. Of course, the aggression Xia Duo spoke of was not charging in directly, but upgrading the persona of "Aidi."

Theoretically speaking, "Aidi" could bypass or even steal this warning magic, but reality and theory often had a gap, and now Xia Duo was going to turn theory into reality.

This was not difficult for Xia Duo.

However, the "struggle," "hesitation," and "thinking" process that should be there still had to be displayed for the people on the Scrying spell side.

Until the duration of three 【Invisibility】 spells had passed, Xia Duo finally revealed an expression of "having made up his mind" and slowly approached the edge of the warning magic.

The Magic Net here had clearly become more organized. Xia Duo carefully extracted a Magic Net String from it and linked it to himself; this was the first step in seizing Permission Level.

Any continuous spell or Guidance spell must be linked to oneself to be maintained for a relatively long time; otherwise, it would just be an instantaneous bloom, then the Magic Net would begin to automatically recover, and the spell would be gone.

If a 【Fireball】 were released, he would be unable to control it. Even if it exploded the moment it left his hand, there was no helping it. If one wanted precise, continuous control, that was another spell: 【Guided Fireball】.

But at the same time, Guidance spells were also easier to counter; it was equivalent to you casting while they were there to interrupt you.

"Aidi" had not come into contact with the theory and techniques of seizing spells before, but that did not prevent Xia Duo from letting him "comprehend and create it himself" at this moment.

And from the moment the first Magic Net String was linked, it was destined that this warning magic would be seized by Xia Duo.

Before long, Xia Duo had completely mastered this warning magic, and could even perceive through this warning magic that there were three "people" inside—let's assume they were all people.

These three people were all below ground level; they should be in a cellar.

Concealing his figure, Xia Duo circled the house once and found no other traces of spells. It seemed there was only one warning magic, and this magic had already been mastered by Xia Duo.

Although he could not cut off the other party's perception, he could mislead them.

Finding a woman near the Town Mayor's house, he used 【Command】 to have her go find the Town Mayor, saying that two pregnant women were arguing and about to fight, and she needed to go mediate.

The excuse could not withstand scrutiny, but as long as the Town Mayor did not have clear intentions of rebellion, mediating neighborhood disputes was her job.

The moment this woman stepped into the warning field, in Xia Duo's perception, one person in the cellar moved instantly, and then another person got up and came out.

If there were no accidents, it was the Town Mayor.

The two spoke a few words at the door and then left together.

After the two left, Xia Duo counted to ten silently and then stepped into the warning field, though by this time he had already changed his own physical characteristics to those of the Town Mayor.

Warning magic was not like a Scrying spell that could see images; it only had general physical characteristics, such as height, weight, or whether it was human or an animal.

Lightly arriving at the cellar location, before he could even lift the wooden board, he heard a weak voice in Elvish coming from below, "Naide, you don't need to worry about me anymore, leave this demon kingdom quickly, it is truly too dangerous here."

"No, Jiali, I must take you back, believe me! The Mother Goddess is above, and she will surely bless us to return safely!"

Hearing this, Xia Duo's heart stirred, realizing that the other party might not have a Teleportation Scroll, and one of them might be seriously injured. It looked like this mission was a freebie.

However, he still followed the plan. After lifting the wooden board, he immediately activated a 【Dimensional Anchor】 Scroll. The light below was relatively dim, but following the position perceived in the warning field, two green blocking rays accurately hit the two targets.

Then, without waiting for the other party's reaction, he successively activated 【Fireball】. The other party choosing to settle in a cellar was simply asking for death; in the narrow space, two fireballs exploded instantly.

A bright flash of fire passed, and Xia Duo saw the two Elves tightly hugging each other below, but immediately they were swallowed by the firelight. A magic aura flashed on one of the Elves; although it was difficult, it ultimately survived.

And the other turned to ash almost instantly.

Xia Duo stood at the entrance of the cellar watching this scene. The firelight stopped at the cellar entrance; after all, it was magic fire, and Xia Duo did not feel a single wave of heat coming toward him.

Although he lamented the fragility of life, the movements of his hands did not stop, though at this step, there was no need to use a Scroll anymore.

Because the one who survived was the one who was originally injured. He did not know how it was injured, but half of its body looked as if it had been burned by fire, and it was clearly in great pain.

When the magic aura on its body disappeared, Xia Duo ended its suffering with a Magic Missile.