Chapter 570 - 568: Striking the Main Artery

"I just knew it..."

Hilia, who was searching for the other half of the Heart of the Death Element Puppet, hadn’t gone far when she sensed a problem with the node behind her.

She had left a sensor on the node, which could relay situations to her as long as the distance wasn’t too far.

Although it could only convey two bits of information: safety and danger, it still sufficed to know many things.

After carefully sensing again, Hilia pondered for a moment and sighed helplessly.

"I should have known not to chat with that Lanado, or I could have just pretended to ignore it."

As she spoke, Hilia turned around and walked back.

Rose watched her with a smile.

This is the Holy Daughter indeed.

Rose didn’t consider himself a good person, but he really liked good people.

As a prospective Holy Daughter, Hilia embodied kindness to the fullest, maintaining her nature despite being influenced by him, which was admirable.

It didn’t take long before Hilia returned to the surging tide of pollution.

She observed intently for a moment, then turned her head and asked Rose, "Lord Rose, could this be the other half of the Puppet’s Heart?"

Rose replied, "There is a certain probability."

"However, with waves like this, it would certainly alert the Elf Royal Court, so we should think of a way to hide it."

As they spoke, Hilia noticed that a node not far away was breaking apart. She thought for a moment and quietly controlled the Array, gathering all the surrounding node energy to form a protective layer on the surface.

But soon she stopped this action and frowned.

"Wait a minute, why does the magic element of these elves have such a high compatibility with the polluted life element?"

This moment of hesitation allowed the polluted tide to break through the restraint of the Array, washing over the captain and the surrounding team members, forcibly entering their bodies and merging within them.

The surging pollution did not cease upon entering the elves’ bodies, quickly flowing beyond them to scour elsewhere.

Hilia also became part of the washed-over group.

However, compared to those elves, the pollution did not invade her body.

As the life element and pollution approached her body surface, they separated, with the life element not entering her body, while the separated pollution was destroyed by Hilia as soon as it approached.

Hilia braved through the polluted wave, came before the five unconscious elves, placed her hand on the captain’s forehead, and released her Spiritual Power to slowly enter the other’s body.

It wasn’t long before she withdrew her Spiritual Power.

"Hmm, pollution and life elements have both entered the body. The life element improves her physique, but the pollution is still damaging her body, as if turning her body into a battlefield for a battle..."

Hilia clicked her tongue, seeing the pain etched on the elf squad captain’s face, shook her head.

"Although more painful than others invaded by pollution tenfold, it’s not without benefits; the life element persistently repairs the body, which can enhance physique and refine magic power to a certain extent... Of course, that’s assuming the pollution can be smoothly dispelled, or else she’d spend her life in pain."

Hilia reached out, intending to purify the separated pollution within her, but hesitated and pulled her hand back.

"It’s better not to purify yet. Ideally, the Elf Royal Family should have a way to resolve their pollution, allowing them misfortune-turned-blessing... Anyway, let’s see how things progress first."

The pollution that enters the body has a limit.

Hilia checked the other team members and confirmed that they should not be in any life-threatening situations before the Elf Race’s reinforcements arrived, then left them there and continued towards the depths of the pollution.

Earlier, due to Lana’s explanation, combined with the shallow pollution traces, Hilia thought it was just an ordinary Elf Forest pus.

But under current circumstances, I’m afraid this pus is precisely at the aorta of the Elf Forest.

Only...

"Does the Elf Forest, like the Star Spirit Tree, release pollution during growth?" Hilia curiously asked Rose.

Rose replied, "No, only the Star Spirit Tree possesses the authority to release dual energies. The Elf Forest is merely the ’Divine Artifact’ of the Elf God, far from reaching the scale of the Star Spirit Tree."

Hilia said, "So why is there so much pollution here, unstoppable? Anyone not in the know would think the veins of the Elf Forest flow with pollution."

Rose’s phantom hovered beside Hilia, gazing deep into the heart of the pollution with profound eyes: "Who knows."

As they entered the pollution, it felt like diving into water, and the sensation of waves sweeping over them gradually vanished, enveloped by dense fog around them.

At this moment, the surrounding visibility nearly disappeared, and Hilia relied solely on the Mage’s Hand-induced spiritual perception to advance.

Fortunately, the sweeping waves pointed her in the right direction, preventing disorientation within.

As she moved forward, Hilia’s brows slowly furrowed.

She discovered that the pollution immunity passive granted by Rose sometimes even lost effectiveness, allowing pollution to seep into her body.

This happened because the passive had an upper limit, and any excess beyond that could still affect her.

But thankfully, the impact was minimal.

Who knows how long she walked, Hilia sensed a change in the direction of the polluted tide ahead, no longer surging solely towards her but instead rushing in all directions.

"Looks like this is the central area."

Hilia arrived beside a middle point where the torrent surged out.

She couldn’t see what was in front of her, but within her spiritual perception, there was a bottomless pit leading downward. Her Spiritual Scan couldn’t even detect its lowest point.

"If it weren’t for the Mage’s Hand, stepping wrong here could be deadly..."

Hilia murmured.

She fell into contemplation.

"The pollution intensity here is too high, and the situation inside is unknown. Lord Rose, should I go in?"

The girl handed over the decision-making to Rose.

Rose’s phantom emerged beside her, and even veiled by dense fog, Hilia could still see him.

Rose gazed down from the height of the pit, pondered for a moment, and said, "Now is not the time to enter. Wait until the erupting pollution weakens a bit before going in, otherwise, an accident might occur."

Hilia nodded, "Okay."

She used the Mage’s Hand to scan the pit again, and upon finding nothing, she gave up further exploration and prepared to head back.

Just then, she suddenly sensed some anomaly faintly transmitted from her set Array, as if someone was destroying it.

This destruction was completely different from the damage caused by pollution impact.

Hilia felt a stirring in her heart, forming a guess.

"Perhaps Elina has brought her team here."

With this thought, Hilia instinctively moved towards the direction of the Array node.

"Although I don’t want to interact with her, secretly taking a glance shouldn’t be an issue, and I also want to know how she plans to resolve the pollution. But even though she is a tier-four, she probably can’t solve the problem here..."