After the battle, the Wizard stepped forward, circling the altar on the ground several times, scrutinizing it closely. "This thing appears to be completely destroyed," he declared.
He then discovered another staircase at the far end of the basement and exclaimed, "There's another exit here!"
This exit must lead to some place outside Perseus's Mansion—perhaps a corner of the city, or even beyond its walls. Otherwise, there's no explaining where the people in the flesh cocoons in the basement came from. It's highly unlikely Perseus's wife was bringing different people home every night without getting caught long ago!
In summary, the situation now seems to be this: at some unknown point, Perseus's Wife had been corrupted and secretly serving an Evil God. She had been abducting innocent people and bringing them to this basement to be corrupted and transformed into monsters.
Then, after learning from Perseus that Artemis had been tainted and realizing their plot had been exposed, she orchestrated this final corruption ritual as a desperate gamble, attempting to corrupt as many Alliance leaders as possible.
Naturally, the other Artemis Priests responsible for setting up the ritual's Array Cores throughout the city had also been captured one by one by the Priests of Love. With Grey having destroyed the central ritual hub, Perseus's Wife's corruption plan had utterly failed.
In a way, this seemed like a stroke of good fortune. With so much evidence laid bare—from the mutated Artemis Priest Flesh Spheres in the city's corners to this very basement—any Alliance Councilor who saw it firsthand would surely believe the truth about Artemis's corruption. Unless they were fools, the proposal to purge all Artemis Believers within Alliance territory would undoubtedly pass!
However, Aglaea glanced back at the destroyed Flesh Cocoons, her mind racing. Didn't ordinary people corrupted by Artemis continue to live normally? Like those in Silver Moon City, whose appearance and personality remained unchanged under normal circumstances? Such subtle concealment—wasn't that an advantage?
But once the monsters from those flesh cocoons appeared in the city, they would be instantly exposed. Perhaps their only redeeming quality was their relatively high combat power. Although Grey had effortlessly eliminated all the enemies with a few shots in the previous battle, this was only because her weapon was ridiculously overpowered!
If these monsters were unleashed in the city, their sheer physical strength would cause unimaginable chaos!
Could it be that these flesh cocoons were actually a way to cultivate the corrupted into weapons? Perhaps Perseus's Wife hadn't been abducting people from outside at all, but rather, the corrupted had 'voluntarily' entered?
At this point, the Ranger and Wizard volunteered to stay behind and scout another exit. Perseus, the newly returned Warrior, Grey, and Aglaea, meanwhile, took the bound Perseus's Wife back the way they had come, planning to find a Priest first to assess whether her condition could still be salvaged.
Just as they emerged from the basement, Grey, who was leading the way, noticed her cat ears twitch twice. A puzzled expression immediately crossed her face. "Why... is it so quiet?"
Perseus had already sent one of his subordinates, a Gold-tier Rogue, to evacuate the mansion. With the place now empty, the silence seemed normal enough.
But Grey was a Catgirl! Her hearing was exceptionally acute. Even if the Councilors had been evacuated, they wouldn't have gone far. They'd likely be lingering nearby, puzzled and chatting about why they'd been abruptly removed. Yet Grey heard no voices at all. This was highly illogical!
The group swiftly left Perseus's bedroom and hurried to the mansion's reception hall. The massive double doors stood wide open, offering a clear view of the street outside. There, Councilors and their guards lay motionless on the ground.
They weren't dead, though. Their chests rose and fell faintly, as if they were merely asleep—or more accurately, forced into a deep slumber. Even the Gold-tier Rogue Perseus had sent lay sprawled on the ground, drool dribbling from his open mouth, snoring loudly.
Amidst the slumbering crowd, only one figure stood motionless, his hands clasped behind his back, as if awaiting something. When Aglaea and her companions appeared, his gaze shifted to Perseus, a hint of helplessness crossing his features as he said, "I never anticipated things would escalate like this. But since you've uncovered the truth, there's no turning back..."
The man was none other than Perseus's old friend, the High Elf Senior Councilor!
Even Aglaea's expression betrayed surprise. Initially, she had suspected the High Elf, solely due to the rarity of his race, but later, after learning Perseus's wife was the mastermind, she dismissed her suspicions.
Now, it seemed her initial doubts had been correct after all?
In truth, the High Elf was an Artemis Priest. He genuinely hadn't known that Artemis's corruption had been exposed. He had simply arrived as a Senior Councilor to attend a routine conference.
Upon arriving at the destination, he was stunned to sense another Artemis Priest unleashing a powerful spell within the city. After speaking with Perseus and learning that Okhema, who had emerged from nowhere, had revealed the corruption of Artemis, he was completely bewildered.
The High Elf realized that other Artemis Priests, having learned of the corruption, were making a desperate final stand, attempting to corrupt all the Senior Councilors in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, their plan seemed to have failed.
The High Elf sensed that moments ago, powerful Artemis Priest techniques had flared up in various corners of the city before quickly dissipating—clearly, they had been eliminated.
Coupled with the presence of Aglaea and her companions before him, and Perseus's Wife, bound and helpless, it was highly likely that the ritual's core had been destroyed.
By all appearances, the ritual to invoke Artemis's Blessing was doomed to fail. But... was that truly the case?
The High Elf's name was Vic Stewart. Unlike most corrupted Artemis Believers, who were driven mad and acted on instinct alone, Vic remained perfectly lucid, his rationality intact. This was because... he hadn't been corrupted by accident, but had willingly embraced the Evil God!
On the wrist of his right hand, concealed behind his back, was a blue heart-shaped pendant.
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short chap- author at a wedding rn