Chapter 512 - 510: Escalating Conflict

Night falls.

Outside Blazing Town.

A team of border guards is conducting a routine patrol.

Suddenly, they see a sneaky figure ahead, looking towards the border, seemingly hesitating about whether to cross or not.

The captain’s eyes light up, immediately leading the team forward with a loud shout, "What are you doing? Raise your hands now and submit to our investigation."

The figure seems startled, nervously raising hands and turning to face them.

All the guards’ eyes brighten as they notice that behind this sneaky figure is a pretty face.

She looks young, with a timid expression, very endearing.

The captain squints his eyes and immediately asks, "What are you doing here? Trying to sneak across the border under cover of darkness?"

The girl hurriedly replies, "N-no, I’m just getting some fresh air."

"Fresh air? What air at night, come over here, let me check you out."

The captain rubs his hands together, slowly approaching her.

The girl takes a step back, frowning slightly, "I’m willing to be questioned, but could you please call a female guard?"

"Hmph, in an emergency, what gender matters, are you afraid I’ll eat you?" The captain says as he quickly steps up.

The others laugh with a chuckle.

But the next moment, their laughter freezes.

The timid-looking girl suddenly takes out an ordinary magic staff and hits the captain on the head with a solid thump.

As a Tier Two Mage, the captain doesn’t make a sound.

He falls straight to the ground, unconscious.

The sudden situation changes their expressions; they immediately draw their knights’ longswords.

"How dare you attack the guards, you’re done for, let me tell you!"

"Subdue her, everyone gets a share!"

Sword Qi flies chaotically, causing quite a commotion, alarming everyone in the town.

The girl... or rather, Hilia feigns defeat, running towards the town while responding with panic.

Soon, the first batch of people sees her at the town gate, along with the guards behind her whose intentions are all too clear.

The feigned endearing expression quickly arouses the sympathy of onlookers.

They become furious.

"You’re worse than pigs and dogs!"

"Are you going to bully a girl in front of everyone?"

"How despicable, ptooey!"

"..."

The crowd’s verbal assault causes the guards to hesitate, but they soon realize these people don’t take action, just talk.

The imperial guards, after all, have an official background. These ordinary people, low-tier mages, still dare not offend them.

When the other guards see the other teams being alerted, they breathe a sigh of relief and immediately shout, "It’s this woman, she attacked our captain, don’t know if he’s dead yet, catch her!"

"Yes! She might be a spy from the Holy Court! We must thoroughly interrogate her!"

Two teams rush over, and a smile curves on Hilia’s lips.

They don’t notice, while chasing, their numbers dwindle.

Hilia then turns to run into an alley.

Avoiding a frontal clash with the other team, she redirects to the main street, drawing everyone’s attention.

Two teams chase a panic-stricken girl, especially hearing someone say she was just out for a breeze and got targeted, everyone becomes angry.

In extreme anger, they... remained angry all night.

But not everyone is a coward.

Especially those mercenaries who have suffered losses from the border guards.

They are used to fighting, though mostly PvE (referring to monster fighting and ruin exploration), they are not afraid of PvP (referring to real combat).

Finally, one mercenary deliberately blocks the guards’ pursuit route, hit by a side attack, he joins the battlefield, flipping a guard, then turns and runs.

His action is like the first domino, quickly causing a chain reaction.

Before long, many dissatisfied with the guards’ conduct, standing out, directly fighting with them.

The guards, mostly not well-trained elite troops, soon get knocked down by a large number of mercenaries.

The chaos causes some property damage, leaving the street a mess.

By the time the border patrol’s attention is drawn, they’ve all run off.

When other guards arrive, all they see are some unlucky ones who couldn’t escape, and a bunch of them sprawled on the ground.

Among them, some are mercenaries.

"This level is decent."

On a rooftop, Hilia smiles.

After sparking the battle between both sides, Hilia disengages, observing in the dark.

The powerful spiritual power brought by the Mage’s Hand allows her to notice many aspects of the melee, quietly using magic to block fierce attacks, only making people faint, not dead.

At most, there’s severe injury, requiring a senior priest’s treatment for a period, then rest for a year or two.

Though Hilia dislikes their conduct, it’s not a death sentence.

If the cause wasn’t her, perhaps Hilia would watch coldly, but as it is her doing, she can’t bear to see anyone die because of her.

The mercenaries who stood out to help, at most, only suffer minor injuries, as for some who faint upon a bit of contact, there’s nothing she can do.

With many people, it’s impossible for her to look after everything.

Hilia has goodwill towards these mercenaries who are willing to stand out. Watching them being taken away by the guards, she quietly follows.

"Next is the second phase, secretly freeing them."

Chaos should go all the way.

Hilia will only be the final straw to intensify the conflict, not intending to be the ’hero’ leading a resistance.

Therefore, she chooses to change her disguise, prepares, then quietly follows behind the escorting guards to the military camp stationed not far outside Blazing Town, observing secretly.

She perceives this camp is a small outpost, with the highest mage only being Tier Three.

But Hilia is a bit uneasy, opting to pray to Rose, "Lord Rose, is there a Tier Four or higher mage here? Please inform your most devout Hilia~!"

Rose rolls eyes nonchalantly.

Devout, my foot.

Hilia’s face is nothing but cuteness.

Is that what devotion looks like?

He flicks Hilia’s forehead, as she blinks at him.

"No."

"(๑‾ꇴ‾๑) Alrighty!"

After using the Mage’s Hand to scan for a moment, Hilia pinpoints where the troublemakers are held, sneaking into the camp.

This camp has an array in place.

But the complexity of this array is about the same as the first array in array basics, equivalent to 1+1=2 for Hilia, controlling it effortlessly.

However, it’s so simple that it serves no real function, just forming a shield a Tier Three Mage can break with ease.

The only perk is the alarm sound becomes super loud when triggered.

Hilia takes out a potion—

Essence of the Dark Dream.