Chapter 2679

Xia De wasn't just considering that Galina was busy now:

"The situation here is unclear for the time being. Let Galina, Leisia, and Siris wait for news in Tobesk. This is also for safety; we can't all come here. Let's look at the current situation. If it still doesn't work, I'll go find the Guardians and Mr. Albert for help."

The small camp welcomed so many people at once. After the camp was expanded again, tents and campfires soon spread to the edge of the forest.

The four Great Witches of Space, Earth, Darkness, and Fate were present, and Miss Danist also greeted them separately.

"Long time no see, Danist. Look at you, you're really young now."

Grandma Cassandra said with a smile. She and Miss Danist were distant relatives (Chapter 1913), and in the many major events of the past year, Miss Danist had already met many members of the Witch Council, so everyone wasn't a stranger.

And if it were under other circumstances, the witches other than Grandma Cassandra would probably greet Xia De's "teacher" very reservedly, but now the situation was urgent, so they and Iluna listened to Miss Danist tell the story of today again by the campfire in the camp.

Grace and Helen cast spells with Dorothy to add spatial circulation characteristics to the camp, ensuring that without their permission, no one could leave this circulating space. The elf girl went to take care of her Chocobos, while Tifa, Matilda, and Miss Swift, the three witch apprentices, were responsible for arranging for the girls in the camp to be ready for battle.

If it weren't for the urgency of this situation, Xia De wouldn't have let Dorothy or Leisia fuse and cast spells with the Red Butterfly girls so frequently. He was worried that this would cause some adverse effects. He hadn't forgotten that the mutual fusion phenomenon between Dorothy and Leisia was only greatly delayed, not disappeared, but this time he had no choice.

As for when Xia De returned to Tobesk just now, his original intention was to ask Luvia to divine how to rescue Miss Winslet, but Luvia spent a 【Pure Light】 although she did get the rescue method, it required a large number of people:

"The information provided by the hermits is correct. The Love Lake has the greatest attraction when a man and a woman come alone, especially if the two already have good feelings for each other. This almost certainly triggers the characteristic. Conversely, the more people present by the lake, the weaker the attraction and supernatural characteristics of the Love Lake.

I don't know if there will be a battle, but at least twenty people must be present to ensure basic safety, and the ratio of men to women must be very large."

This condition was now met.

After nightfall, the temperature in the forest dropped sharply, and the woo-woo wind passed through the forest, but there were unexpectedly no clouds in the night sky. The transparent lake water reflected an increasingly strange and magnificent starry sky scene. Iluna's different-colored eyes looked at the lake water again, then withdrew her gaze and said to Xia De and Luvia:

"I thought that after I reached a high Order, there would never be anything that could directly interfere with my mind again."

"Iluna, don't underestimate this world too much."

The fortune-teller lady reminded. After the newly arrived ladies knew the general situation, she clapped her hands and walked toward the largest campfire. Xia De and Iluna followed behind her, so everyone looked at her. The purple-eyed girl didn't show any stage fright:

"The Love Lake is not a relic, but possesses its current characteristics because of the influence of some powerful existence.

This characteristic is stronger at night than during the day, but we can't wait until daytime, otherwise the probability of Flora Winslet waking up will become smaller. Start taking action now; this requires everyone's help."

"Is it to directly rescue Flora?"

The blonde countess asked. Among the witches present, she actually had the best relationship with Luvia; this was a friendship cultivated during the Moon Bay period, but Luvia shook her head:

"Bella, to rescue the people at the bottom of the lake, they must wake up voluntarily like Xia De just now. Otherwise, even if we could safely sneak into the lake like Little Mia, we definitely wouldn't be able to pull them out.

Now, we must first determine what this lake is. There is a stone tablet at the bottom of the lake, which records the secret of this lake. Witches, each choose three helpers, and then leave the camp with me.

The chosen helpers don't have to be your own followers, but they must have the power of a witch. If there are apprentices, please be sure to choose apprentices."

No one asked how she knew these things. Everyone surrounded her, watching her arrange the action by the campfire.

The purple eyes carried a serious expression. Clearly, Luvia Anate was neither the strongest girl here nor the one who had established a deep relationship with the witches present, but when she spoke by the fire at this time, and when those purple eyes were illuminated by the firelight, people still spontaneously developed awe and conviction for her.

"Perhaps in some past Sixth Era, Luvia also obtained the command of the Council through some means..."

Before choosing their respective helpers, the girls helped Xia De hold a ritual to add the power of 【Cowardice】 to the Chain of Sins. He had already collected enough materials, just hadn't performed the ritual yet.

And in the process of choosing helpers, Vanessa was the strongest among the four Great Witches present, so even though the apprentice Margaret wasn't there, she just randomly chose three high-Order girls;

Grandma Cassandra was only Tenth-Order, nominally the weakest in power, so not only did Miss Swift follow her, but Tifa also stood behind her;

The Twelfth-Order countess had her maid Matilda, so she didn't need to worry about other things;

And although the young Miss Sylvia was already Eleventh-Order, because she hadn't recruited apprentices, Miss Bell also followed her besides her followers.

The girls who weren't chosen hurriedly made a batch of torches, and then Xia De was asked to use "Moon Fire" to ignite them one by one. The three people around the four witches who went out each held a torch, and then the four groups divided into four directions—east, west, south, and north—and came to the shore of the heart-shaped Love Lake.

Under the illumination of the Moon Fire, the urge to enter the lake reflecting the magnificent galaxy weakened a lot.

Luvia then selected twenty-eight people from everyone present, including Grace, Helen, Dorothy, the Elf Miss, herself, Miss Danist, and Iluna. They were divided into seven groups, each going out in a group, and inserting the remaining torches into the soil by the shore of the lake.

The seven groups left the camp and went out for three rounds in total, and successfully outlined the outline of the Love Lake with silver firelight, so the mental pollution of the large lake immediately weakened a bit more.

Immediately after, under Luvia's instruction, the four witches by the lake took out their witch jewelry respectively.

Vanessa's gold ring (left 1), the countess's right hand bracelet, Grandma Cassandra's button, and Miss Sylvia's gold ring (left 2)—the four pieces of witch jewelry resonated with each other after being activated, adding golden brilliance to the silver firelight by the lake.

And the power of the witches seemed to particularly restrain the power of the Love Lake. The mental pollution of the star-colored lake water was weakened again, and even the starlight color in the water became dim.

"Xia De!"

Luvia reminded softly, so Xia De in the camp threw the chain with eight Sin Runes toward the lake surface. The chain successfully crossed the gap between the two torches and entered the water with a splash. Xia De subconsciously took a step forward at this time, and Iluna, holding a sword, immediately pressed his shoulder.

"The stone tablet is under the water, it shouldn't be buried very deep. Find it yourself, but be careful not to touch anyone's body."

Luvia reminded.

Although Xia De couldn't use the "Chain of Sins" as an extension of his senses, he could very clearly perceive whether the chain had touched anything. The Moon Fire and the power of the four Great Witches compressed the power of the Love Lake to the limit, and the power of sin seemed to be able to effectively filter this mental pollution.

"That end of the chain seems to have become transparent."

Dorothy said softly to Luvia. Under the moonlight, every rune on the Chain of Sins lit up with a ghostly light, but at the end of the chain illuminated by the Moon Fire, the rune chain of the chain was indeed turning transparent in the violent vibration.

"It doesn't matter for now."

Luvia, who was staring at Xia De's back, answered softly.

The calm lake surface rippled after the chain entered. Half a minute later, the water of the swaying lake was even about to splash onto the Great Witches, but fortunately, Luvia had warned about this possibility in advance, so they all avoided the lake water very carefully.

Xia De had already closed his eyes, letting his senses better perceive the situation at the bottom of the lake. Finally, when he really discovered the stone tablet half-buried in the silt and wrapped it with the chain, a loud bang broke the tranquility of the night.

Except for Xia De, who had his eyes closed, and the Chocobos huddled together, whether it was the ladies and girls in the camp or by the lake, they all saw a huge black shadow like a tail flash across the transparent lake surface reflecting the stars.

Even the ladies by the lake couldn't see the full picture of that thing, but this didn't affect the cat on Xia De's shoulder meowing~. Two-thirds of all the Moon Fire torches were extinguished, and the four Great Witches by the lake retreated one after another, but were immediately supported by their respective helpers.

"Found it!"

Xia De grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled it toward the camp. Iluna's hand also grabbed the chain. The two exerted force together, and with a muffled sound, the ancient stone tablet flew out of the water and fell into the camp.

With a boom, the bottom of the stone tablet was deeply embedded in the mud by the campfire. Xia De and Iluna breathed a sigh of relief, but Luvia didn't relax, instead directing the witches by the lake to retreat one by one, while also having the groups in the camp go out again to replace the extinguished torches.