Chapter 3002: Desire to Grow

"Meow~"

Xia De gently stroked Little Mia's head, then turned his gaze slightly toward the little elf sleeping peacefully in the firelight. Little Lianna was currently lying by the bedside keeping her company, not even having taken off that suit of golden armor.

"Don't worry about that; consider it after the Chosen ceremony."

Xia De sighed, then turned back to say to Luvia and Bella:

"Let's focus on what's right in front of us. Now that the third wave of the insect swarm has arrived, you mustn't relax your search for the 'Clockmaker'. Amelia has already unleashed a sublimation of language, a labyrinth, and drawn the Sword of Light tonight. What I'm most worried about now is how she'll handle the 'Clockmaker' later... have Miss Olanode prepare.

Since the War of Time is a fair one-on-one duel, let Miss Olanode use her strongest miracle from the very start."

Luvia nodded gently:

"Although news keeps coming from Karina's side, they haven't found the treasure yet. You probably wouldn't guess it, but she and the female mages from the 'Missing Moon Secret Society' have discovered the entrance to a massive underground palace."

"... An underground palace?"

Bella said with some regret:

"Yes, you could also think of it as a massive underground city. Judging by the decorative style near the entrance and the defensive measures inside, it was indeed left behind by a powerful witch of the Fifth Era. Furthermore, they discovered a stone tablet at the entrance which said: 'My treasure lies at the end of the underground palace.' Karina has already led her people inside, but judging by the situation, they won't be coming out for another hour or two."

"It doesn't matter. The more it's like this, the more it proves that place has value. What about Flora? Has she returned?"

"Just received word. Flora and the Academy's team have successfully completed the rescue, and the civilians in the Hermit Group have been safely settled in the forest. However, while covering the retreat, Flora and the rescue team composed of Academy professors encountered the derivative of the Sage-level relic 【Skin-Object Hall】—a 【Skin-Object】. So now, everyone is undergoing an examination to confirm that each of them is still themselves."

"Skin-Object? What is that?"

Xia De raised an eyebrow; he had truly never heard of such a relic. Thus, the countess with the beautiful birthmark on her forehead looked somewhat uneasy, hugging her arms to her chest, and explained with a touch of disgust:

"【Skin-Object Hall】, along with 【House of Falsehoods】 and 【Mansion of Personalities】, are known as the three most notorious Sage-level relics. For certain reasons, information on these three relics has been completely hidden; you won't find anything unless you actively apply for it.

Simply put, you can think of these so-called 'Skin-Objects' as a race with special abilities. They can turn a humanoid creature into a skin, then wear that skin themselves, thereby possessing all the memories and abilities of the target."

"This thing is extremely, extremely disgusting, and to this day, no one knows what their true form is. However, records indicate that this thing originated in the dark and chaotic Fourth Era, born from the... special pastimes of certain high-ranking nobles at the time."

The countess with the beautiful birthmark on her forehead seemed to feel that the words she was speaking were dirty in themselves, so she simply gave a brief introduction and stopped. Luvia reassured Xia De:

"It seems 【Skin-Object Hall】 hasn't truly descended upon this area. This kind of relic has nothing to do with time; this time, it was likely just a derivative that appeared in the forest for some unknown reason. The thing inside the Skin-Object has already been eliminated, and that skin has been successfully recovered. The Academy is just being cautious, which is why they're checking everyone. After all, this kind of thing is truly disgusting. Flora and the others will be back soon."

"Oh?"

Seeing Xia De perk up, Luvia added:

"Don't even think about it; only Flora can use it herself. It was only after the hermits saw Flora's exquisite transformation magic that they thought to give it to her as a gift. It's not a relic, and it can't even be considered a divine item—it's a Corrupted Sacred Acorn."

"'Sacred Acorn' is said to be the fruit borne by the body of the God of Luck. Unfortunately, by the modern era, only a few remain. Although this one given to Flora is already rotten, the hermits said that she also has a deep background in necromancy, so it won't have any side effects on her."

"After she consumes the acorn and uses transformation magic, she can restore her power to that of an eleventh-rank Great Witch while in her transformed state. It's just a pity that it only works if she transforms into a non-human form, so you won't be seeing an eleventh-rank witch or an eleventh-rank owl, but I think you'll soon see an eleventh-rank unicorn join the battlefield."

The number of casualties so far tonight was definitely not as high as in Bay City during the summer, but none of the casualties tonight could be resurrected by Xia De's labyrinth.

On the day of the Bay City Divine War in the summer, because the light attempted to absorb all souls to give birth to 'Light Supplicants'—a type of evil entity—the souls of the deceased did not head toward their final destination but remained trapped in the fog, which is why they could be 'resurrected'."

But tonight, no one intervened to intercept those spirits, so death was destined to be true death. Although it sounds cruel, the Outlander felt that a war without resurrection was the correct one... After all, even without considering the balance of life and death, in a situation where death can be toyed with at will, life would appear worthless.

The second wave of the insect swarm slowed down, and combined with the elite forces that had just returned from the battle against the 'Guardian', the defensive lines above and around the city stabilized once more. Xia De ended his conversation with the fortune-tellers not long after, and Hylie Aurora led people to welcome her aunt. When Hylie saw Xia De, she breathed a sigh of relief:

"Although Vanessa said you were all fine, I only felt at ease when I saw you... Is Amelia asleep again? Oh, the poor girl. She's the one who worked the hardest tonight."

To avoid disturbing Amelia, Xia De took the cat and Hylie out into the hallway to talk. He hugged Hylie gently, and the witch clung to him, unwilling to let go. As for the girls passing through the hallway, naturally, no one dared to voice any objections.

"How is the situation outside?"

"It's okay. We were almost overrun just a moment ago. The ground support troops arranged by the Church even had to fire at the sky from the rooftops of buildings. Fortunately, you arrived in time to help us solve that big trouble... Why don't you look very happy?"

She asked hesitantly, moving her chin from Xia De's shoulder to look directly at him. Xia De voiced his doubts:

"I feel it's very strange. The 'Guardian', which has wings and can fly at high speeds, and can even traverse time, actually fixed itself on a hill. Was it afraid that if it flew too fast, we wouldn't be able to catch up? Because we found a way to counter its immortality ahead of time, in reality, before tonight, what I worried about most regarding the battle with the 'Guardian' wasn't that we couldn't beat it, but that we wouldn't be able to catch it."

"This... anyway, we won."

Her thinking was quite simple:

"Perhaps you think this is some other conspiracy, like with Bennett. But regardless, this fits our plan. Even if this is part of someone else's plan, what can we do about it?"

She pecked him gently on the corner of his lips:

"Besides, I believe that no matter what situation you face later, you'll be able to handle it. Oh, by the way, Luvia told us to keep an eye on you; you mustn't wander off before the third wave of the insect swarm."

"Actually, I wanted to ask since we returned the first time: what is Luvia worried about? My state is excellent."

The witch with long, brown, wavy hair said, half-angry and half-amused:

"Of course she's worried that the situation of the Bay City War will happen again. Do you really think you can come back from the dead every time? Everyone doesn't want to be heartbroken again. I wasn't on the ground at the time, but it's said that when Luvia saw your corpse, she became terrifying."

"In short, we don't need you right now, so just get some rest and accompany our elf lady. Of course, since I've just returned from the battlefield, please accompany me too."

"Okay... do you need me to feed you a midnight snack?"

Xia De, preoccupied with his thoughts, asked her. A cute blush appeared on Hylie's face at a speed visible to the naked eye:

"What are you saying... let's go over there."

Amelia's sweet sleep was interrupted by the sound of her own stomach growling.

She had originally been worried that Xia De, who was accompanying her, would hear it, but when she opened her eyes, she found that Xia De was not there. Seeing that she was awake, Hylie Aurora brought over the midnight snack that had long been prepared on the table.

Little Lianna, still wearing the golden armor, was resting her front hooves on the windowsill, looking outside with the cat. Outside, the heavy snow was still falling. Although most of the sounds and light were blocked by the city's protective shield, when Amelia looked out, she could still vaguely see the dense swarms of insects in the white fog under the night sky.

"Yeah, it's not over yet... thank you, I'll do it myself... have the Dragon Maids left?"

Amelia asked in a low voice as she took the tray. The young Miss Aurora smiled:

"I heard it when Mr. Hamilton was talking to my aunt; those witches from the Fifth Era left after your labyrinth disappeared. You're truly amazing, Miss Sienod. You were really amazing tonight."

Amelia felt a bit embarrassed, so the young witch-in-training asked curiously:

"You've met many powerful witches in the Fifth Era, right? You must have a good relationship with them to be able to invite them to help, right?"

Amelia, with the tray on her lap, nodded:

"Yes, the relationship is quite good. But that's not because of me; it's because those beautiful ladies know Xia De, so they like to chat with me, and they've been very kind to me. Because Headmistress Feilianna and Miss Olanode cared for me, the other witches in the Academy also took good care of me. And once, I met a visiting witch who wasn't very tall, but was extremely, extremely beautiful with silver hair..."