Chapter 222: Chapter 220: It’s All the Holy Court’s Fault!

Behind the grand avenue formed by countless roads, Hilia and Elina looked silently at the three-way junction that appeared.

They had already returned from the two forked paths, holding a magic crystal and a bowl in their hands.

The bowl had "12" written on it.

The final bowl.

The sense of crisis lingering in their minds ended as the pure magic crystal was placed into the bowl.

Elina, still shaken, said: "If we had only brought eleven bowls, who knows what trap we might have set off."

Hilia said, "No matter what trap, we would certainly be seriously injured."

Who would have known that after gathering eleven bowls, there would still be a final one on the road they had come through?

If it weren’t for Hilia really caring about the number "12", they might have already gone through.

Having obtained the final item, the two did not linger and continued along the grand avenue.

Soon, a massive door appeared in front of them.

It seemed like a gigantic castle, looming in and out of view in the void.

Rose, hovering above the entire ruin, looked pensively at the castle before him.

"This ruin feels too much like a puzzle dungeon in a game, and designed as if by someone who doesn’t know how to set up levels. Apart from that final item having some design flair, the rest is a boring design, wasting time, very amateurish."

This tactic of using advanced items as bait, which are actually just quest items with no other use, along with clumsy level designs, made Rose curious about who designed this.

He wanted to correct the designer’s mundane approach to level design.

With such design, players would leave bad reviews.

"But this is just the beginning, the owner of the relic might not be so simple, feels like there will be some interesting level designs."

Rose descended and followed Hilia and Elina to the end of the avenue, in front of the castle door.

On both sides of the door stood two massive stone statues.

The statues each held a sword and a shield, facing the direction of the avenue, a faint murderous aura emanating from them.

Hilia looked up at the two statues and laughed, "I think if we hadn’t found the final bowl and magic crystal, these two would come alive to attack us."

Elina nodded, "I feel the same way."

Under the statues, there were some plates, six under the left statue and only five on the right.

When the two placed the bowls under the statues, seeing the missing plate made their hearts skip a beat.

"No way? Is there another trick here?!"

When the eleventh bowl was placed, the two statues started to move.

They slowly lowered their heads, looked at them, red lights emerging from their eyes.

The two felt a terrifying magic power gathering in the statue’s eyes.

Just as they were about to cast magic, Rose suddenly said, "Don’t move, don’t defend, let them gather."

Hilia was stunned and quickly pulled Elina, "Don’t move, don’t resist."

Elina was puzzled, "Why?"

"Trust me," Hilia said seriously.

Elina looked at her, hesitated for a long time, then nodded, "Okay."

At this moment, the magic gathered by the statues was completed, and two red beams shot out from their eyes.

Hilia and Elina felt their hair stand on end.

The mage’s innate sense of danger made them almost automatically defend themselves.

But Hilia held Elina down, telling her not to move.

Because the passive danger sense hadn’t issued a warning.

Sure enough, the beams seemed to be aimed at them, but actually coalesced into a final plate in the empty space next to the plates.

If they had blocked it, the plate wouldn’t have formed.

Then, they might have had to fight these two statues.

When the final bowl was placed, the whole ground began to shake.

The castle gate, taller than the stone doors outside, slowly opened.

Next, from the statue with the last plate, two faint light spheres appeared, slowly descending in front of them.

When the light spheres dissipated, two tablets, as if carved from magic crystal, appeared, and a cold voice entered their minds, "Congratulations, you have completed the initial trial, and are qualified to enter the castle. These are your tokens. With them, next time you will directly appear inside the castle."

Although they didn’t know if this voice was telling the truth, seeing the door open, they couldn’t help but smile.

"So we’ve just been wandering outside the ruins, we haven’t even entered yet," Hilia sighed.

"This ruin is somewhat different from the ones I’ve encountered before," Elina said, running her fingers through her hair. "I’ve never seen a ruin so malicious."

"Weren’t the puzzle ruins you encountered before malicious?"

"They were, but other ruins’ malice is obvious. The traps are right there in front of you. Step on them, and they trigger. Notice them, and they don’t. Unlike this one, where the trap is designed to spring just when you’re about to succeed, and in places you wouldn’t notice."

Elina looked up at the statues, "Just now, who would have thought that wasn’t an attack but actually giving us the last door-opening item? Without your reminder, I would have already blocked them."

Hilia sneaked a glance at Rose and said with a smile, "I was guided by a God."

"I also wish to get guidance from our God, but she’s already gone."

Elina clearly took Hilia’s honest words as just an expression of emotion, not paying much attention, only a little envious.

"You say that, but humans’ Gods have also disappeared."

Except for the Evil God, the girl added in her heart.

"It’s different," Elina shook her head, "Humans’ Gods still have traces, whereas the Elf God disappeared before the Era of Calamity. If not for... never mind, there’s no use in talking about it."

"If not for what?" Hilia pressed.

She hated when people left sentences unfinished.

"Just some disputes between Elves and humans. It’s got nothing to do with our generation; it was hundreds of years ago."

"Hundreds of years ago... you mean when the Era of Calamity had just ended, the time the Holy Court built the Divine Hall in Elf territory?"

Elina nodded.

"Really?"

Hilia was a little skeptical.

Elina pouted, and said, "I was just a kid then, didn’t really understand those things. Only found out later that the Holy Court’s building of the Divine Hall in Elf territory destabilized the foundation for the Elf God’s resurrection, causing the Elf Race now to be limited to a small territory, shrinking year by year."

"Since you insist, I’ll tell you, the Elven territory now is only half of what it was before the Era of Calamity, and the Elf God’s resurrection ritual is still incomplete, all because of the Holy Court building the Divine Hall.

"Anyway, I really don’t like the Holy Court... of course, that doesn’t mean I dislike Hilia, considering she came from a remote Divine Hall, far from the Divine Hall of Huijin City. Most of them have been assimilated by the Holy Court and are much like us."

"Ah? Uh, yes indeed."

So you don’t know I am a candidate for the Holy Daughter of the Holy Court...