……

Sacred Light Kingdom, Maze Forest

Adept Hands, despite complaining strongly earlier, was doing the task entrusted to her by Shin.?She was constantly sweeping her eyes in the surroundings, sharply glaring at the elders and other elves surrounding the altar.

She specifically paid close attention to the elder kneeling the furthest in front of everyone. This elder was the elven seer who was responsible for the purification ceremony. He was kneeling in front of the altar and constantly chanting a series of prayers through elven language.

Glowing runes seemed to come out from his mouth before floating around him while forming an incomprehensible text in the air.

These runes then flew toward the branch and a glass bottle in the hands of the elder, seemingly blessing it.

Rune after rune poured out from the mouth of the elven seer and entered the branch and the water in the glass water. This lasted for an hour until the two sacred items finally showed some signs of reaction.

The branch trembled while the water in the glass bottle turned gold.

Seeing that, the elven seer slowly stood up before climbing the altar and placing the two sacred items on a stone table filled with engravings of elven language.

When the two sacred items were placed on it, those engravings glowed in golden light that illuminated the whole place.

Seeing that, the elven seer took out the next relic, the Crown of the Ruler. He then put on the head of the statue of the first elven king standing behind the stone table.

Swoosh!

Right after the elder did that, the eyes of the statue suddenly released a blinding light that spread in every direction.

Seeing this scene, the elves surrounding the altar started lowering their heads and bowed as they kneeled. Their foreheads were already touching the ground, yet they continued to chant the elven prayers.

With their palms resting on the ground, they channeled their mana into it as their voices grew louder with every passing second.

In the meantime, the elven seer, who was leading the ceremony, took out the next relic. The Moonlight Chalice of Purity was placed at the center of the stone table, which quickly released an intense wave of mana.

It then started sucking all the mana in the surrounding, creating a violent vortex that pulled everything into it.

In this scene, the chants and prayers of the surrounding elves grew louder, almost making their united voices resemble a strong explosion.

Samael, Huahua, and the other people from the Hand of Midas who were left to guard the place were forced to retreat and distance themselves away from the altar as they were afraid that they would be pulled by suction force and got swallowed by the chalice.

Adept Hands, on the other hand, continued to stay in her position while crossing her hands in front of her bosom. She was attentively watching what was happening while also keeping a close eye on every elf.

From what Shin had said, the traitor was most likely among these elves, so they had to put their guard up until the purification ceremony was over.

The success of the ceremony and her presence could give the traitor a lot of pressure on their tasks. As long as she did not move and waited patiently, Adept Hands knew the time would come.

On top of the altar, the elven seer took the branch of the World Tree and put it on the Moonlight Chalice before pouring the water of the Spring of Life from the glass bottle.

The moment when the water was released from the glass bottle, dense mana of great holiness and sacred purity filled the surroundings. But it only lasted for a moment before it was sucked by the Moonlight Chalice of Purity.

Along with the dense mana, the water filled the entire chalice. But the water from the glass bottle seemed to be endless as it continued to pour out from it. The water from the chalice also started spilling as it could not contain it.

The water continued to spill and spread on the stone table before falling onto the floor of the altar.

It then spread in every direction before covering the entire floor but strangely unable to get out of the altar. This scene continued for a few moments before the elven seer took out a box from the chest pocket of his robe.

He slowly opened the box, revealing a glowing seed inside. The moment that it was revealed, the already dense mana spilling into the air became even denser.

The elves raised their voices while the players felt suffocating due to this immense amount of mana, which was also much purer than what it was supposed to be. The players felt like they were suddenly submerged in the deep sea made of liquified mana.

Even Adept Hands started to feel uncomfortable due to this. Fortunately, it did not last long as the mana filling the air was suddenly sucked by the chalice when the seed was dropped at it.

That was when the players saw an amazing sight.

The seed that was just dropped absorbed all the mana that was within the chalice and started to grow rapidly. In just a few seconds, it spouted into a small plant before gradually becoming a sturdy tree.

It greedily absorbed the mana, seemingly not wanting to leave even a single drop of it. But the water from the spring of life seemed to be endless as it was still spilling out of the chalice.

When the seed was slowly becoming the three, the water on the floor of the altar started overflowing. It poured out of the altar and fell into the ground, purifying it while assisting the growth of the Tree of Life.

When the tree grew dozens of meters high and spread its branches wide, everyone within the scene saw the golden lights that it was releasing.

It spread in every direction, forming a gust of wind that resembled a giant tidal wave. It first filled the Maze Forest before spreading in every direction.

The players and NPCs fighting outside the forest immediately noticed the strange phenomenon, making them pause their actions and making the chaotic battlefield a calmer one.

Swoosh! 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮

Then everyone saw the wave after wave of purified mana coming out of the Maze Forest and swept over them.

The wilting plants and trees beyond the Maze Forest were immediately purified when the wave of golden mana swept through them. The slowly dying leaves and drying branches turned into dust while new ones started to sprout.

The forest started to regain its vitality as the life energy that was within the golden mana poured into them.

The players and NPCs sensed a sudden increase in their power while the corrupted monsters, demonic creatures, and players belonging to the evil faction all became weak due to the exposure of such a sacred mana.

The leaders of each group defending the Maze Forest quickly regained their composure and immediately reacted. They started issuing commands and ordered everyone to launch an attack.

They knew that this was their chance to turn the tides around. It was now their turn to push the opposing side back and strike them when the initial wave of the purified mana swept through the battlefield.

“This is our chance! All units charge forward!”

“Give your all and dispose of these ugly and cursed beings!”

“Boys, on me! We are going to send these disgusting creatures back to their maker!” .𝒎

Seeing that everything was in their favor, Ithilien and Owen could finally heave a sigh of relief. They were getting a lot of pressure earlier since Shin had left them with such an important role. They were afraid to make mistakes that would lead to their failure. Fortunately, Shin still supported them while they were overseeing the battlefield.

The leaders of the Titan Guild and the HeadHunter Guild also started to relax when they saw what was happening. But they still did not let their guard down since they knew that this was still far from over.

Lorraine, who was leading her team, could also relax a little after seeing the change on the battlefield. She and her group were the busiest among everyone, so it was natural for her to be too exhausted.

Fortunately, she was already used to these kinds of situations, which was why she was able to hold her ground up until now.

In the meantime, at the back of the Maze Forest, Legolas and Aragorn instantly noticed the change. They had already heard it from Leonard earlier, so they were somewhat expecting this to happen. But they were still a little surprised when they saw how powerful the wave of purified mana that swept through the entire forest.

Then they started charging forward and led their group to continue their assault. It was time to wrap up this task.

Tinker, who was overseeing their battle and providing a timely assist every time, felt that the group would be able to handle themselves. He could now go back to the main base and join with Adept Hands and help her guard the altar.

Even though the purification process was already ongoing, it would still take quite a lot of time before the whole Sacred Light Kingdom regained its former vitality.

This had to continue for at least a couple of days (In-game Time) before everything went back to its original state, so they could not leave the elven seer unprotected.

With that in mind, Tinker left a few people from the Hand of Midas to assist Legolas and Aragorn before heading back to regroup with Adept Hands.

When he returned, he quickly met with the chief alchemist of the trading firm. He saw her attentively watching over the entire ceremony without moving an inch from her position.

Her eyes were sharply watching everyone, not willing to leave any kind of opening.

“You should relax a little. You will only exhaust yourself if you continue to be in this state for a couple of days,” commented Tinker as he stood beside her.

“What can I do? This is the most crucial time of the purification ceremony, which also happens to be the perfect opportunity to strike. When that happens, everything will crumble,” refuted Adept Hands without turning her head.

“Moreover-…” she trailed her words before pointing her chin head. “…-look at those guys.”

When he cast his gaze toward the direction that she was pointing at, Tinker saw a few elves that were acting somewhat strangely.

“They can no longer wait, huh?” commented Tinker when he noticed that those elves seemed to be getting agitated and anxious despite them continuing to pray and chant.

“Those are just a distraction if you ask me,” said Adept Hands before casting her in another direction.

When Tinker followed the direction of her gaze, he saw the four elders kneeling at the forefront of everyone, which was right below the altar.

Not finding any fault or strange actions from those elders, Tinker could not help but raise his brows a little. “What’s wrong with those old elves.”

“If you looked at them like any other else, then you will not notice it. But if you use these, you will understand what I mean,” she said as she passed an elixir to the chief engineer.

Tinker raised his brows before taking it. He looked at its details for a moment before turning back to Adept Hands. “What’s this?”

“Drink it and you will know what I mean. It is one of the ongoing projects that I am working on because of the recent activities of the Demonic Churches, especially because of the recent incident in the Saint Heaven Kingdom,” said Adept Hands before adding. “But I don’t expect that it will come in handy in this situation.”

Tinker had a slight doubt before dirking the elixir. When he did, he felt the mana within his body suddenly surge before gathering in his eyes.

He then turned toward the elven elders at the forefront of the rest and saw something completely different compared to earlier.

He now saw an overwhelming difference from before. “Eh! What is that smoke coming from them? And-…” he paused for a moment as he followed the flow of dark smoke toward the sky. That was when he saw something that sent shivers down his spine. “…-why the heck is there a huge demonic face forming in the sky-… yet no one notices it?”

……

𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮