When Songstress led Lin Qingyu and Xi Mengyao away, Leticia and Bai Ling, who were still playing around, immediately stopped.
They looked at each other and saw the same thought in each other's eyes.
Follow them and see what's happening.
So they quietly followed behind the three, avoided the Guild Leader who was bumbling around the house, and tailed them all the way to outside Lin Qingyu's room.
As soon as they reached the door, they heard a crisp snapping sound.
This made both frown simultaneously.
Bai Ling just pressed her forehead, feeling a tiny bit of headache, while Leticia had no reaction at all.
"Mental attack." Miss Demon King snorted coldly. This level of mental attack couldn't even give her a headache—the caster's strength could only be described as inadequate.
And currently in that room, only one person could release mental attacks—the former hero, Songstress.
Her superpower was related to the mind, while the other two girls had no special abilities whatsoever.
Who the culprit was was obvious.
"It's Songstress. Surnamed Bai, break down the door." Leticia said to Bai Ling without hesitation.
In serious matters, both Bai Ling and Leticia chose to trust each other unconditionally.
Bai Ling immediately drew her sword and slashed at the tightly closed door.
The door burst with colorful radiance, blocking Bai Ling's sword for an instant, but how could Bai Ling's sword be so easily stopped?
It only blocked for a moment before that radiance was shattered by Bai Ling's Stellar Sword, and along with it, the door.
What happened next was what had just occurred.
"Your reaction speed is somewhat surprising." Songstress immediately held Lin Qingyu hostage. "Don't come closer."
"Tch, don't go over." Leticia stopped the eager Bai Ling.
It wasn't that she doubted Bai Ling's strength—anyone in this world might doubt Bai Ling's capabilities, but she wouldn't.
After all, she had fought with Bai Ling and was the only one who had witnessed Bai Ling's full power and lived to tell about it.
Leticia had no doubt that if Bai Ling wanted, she could make Songstress's head separate from her body before she could react.
But now, they couldn't do that.
"You saw it? Right, you're a demon—you should be able to see." Songstress showed a smile. "This round, we've won after all."
"You're the black-clothed person who attacked me?" Leticia asked.
"Not at all. The one who attacked you was the Divine Envoy—I'm just a grunt." Songstress was in quite a good mood, so she was happy to answer Leticia's questions. "I told her many times not to make a move on you, but she just wouldn't listen."
"You did the right thing on that point." Leticia nudged Bai Ling with her elbow. "Go to Xi Mengyao first."
Currently, Xi Mengyao was the most defenseless person here. Songstress's finger snap had directly put her in a controlled state, but Songstress didn't have extra energy to control Xi Mengyao now.
"Mm." Bai Ling didn't question Leticia's decision. She knew that at this moment, she should completely trust Leticia's judgment.
In the field of magic, the Demon King was the expert.
"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't let you wander around the manor freely." Leticia said to Songstress. "But I still don't understand how you managed to set up this kind of formation?"
Spatial teleportation magic formation—even in the demon race, this kind of magic formation required many magicians working day and night for a week to create.
But Songstress had wandered around the manor for just a few hours with no one discovering any abnormalities.
This was truly incomprehensible.
"Miss Su should figure that out yourself." Songstress laughed heartily. "You're too late to stop me!"
"If I weren't worried about the magic turbulence caused by the formation's collapse, do you think you'd still have a chance to spout nonsense here?" Leticia couldn't understand how this person could be so confident.
Why wasn't she letting Bai Ling act?
Wasn't it because this magic formation was too fragile, so fragile it couldn't withstand any attack?
If she let Bai Ling make a move, Leticia dared guarantee that before Bai Ling killed Songstress, this teleportation formation would directly collapse.
Being caught in spatial turbulence would be dangerous.
"Also, don't get too cocky." Leticia drew her magic sword and planted it on the ground. "As long as we two are here, your teleportation absolutely cannot be precise."
This kind of area teleportation had transmission limits. Once the limit was exceeded, strange situations might occur during teleportation.
For example, changes in the teleportation destination.
Silver magic radiance lit up around Leticia as she cast magic on herself to resist spatial turbulence while adding a little something extra to the magic.
This was a good opportunity for her.
Throughout the manor, the small stones Songstress had casually dropped lit up with silver runes, drawing the attention of security personnel.
But by the time they noticed, it was too late.
The magic power stored in the stones had already erupted, flowing along predetermined paths toward that small room. An invisible magic formation framed the small room, and after several breaths, blinding silver light appeared. Everything in that room seemed to be swallowed by something and disappeared.
Guild Leader, who was training on the first floor, sensed something. She quickly removed her eye mask and looked in a certain direction.
"Xia Xia! What happened?" Lu Siyu quickly appeared beside the Guild Leader.
"Siyu, get ready—we're going on a business trip." The Guild Leader didn't explain much. "Don't worry, Little Bai is there too. Nothing will happen."
Compared to the calm Guild Leader, the Heavenly Kings crouching outside the manor weren't so composed. They saw the magic formation and wanted to stop it from activating, but were completely too late.
The magic formation appeared and disappeared in just ten seconds—not enough time for them to reach the scene.
"You two, bring people and follow me." Just as the two Heavenly Kings were anxious, Xue'er appeared before them. "Why panic? This is His Majesty's plan."
If Leticia hadn't wanted to be teleported away, she wouldn't have been. This level of teleportation magic formation couldn't forcibly take her away against her will.
She disappeared because she wanted to see who was behind all this.
And also to take this opportunity to snatch Lin Qingyu from Bai Ling's hands.
Before being teleported away, she had cast a locating spell on herself, allowing Xue'er to know where Her Majesty was the moment Leticia disappeared.
...
"Ow ow, my poor back." A fair little hand suddenly shot out from a pile of withered leaves, just like a zombie crawling out of a grave in horror movies.
Except this time, it wasn't a hideous monster emerging, but a cute little girl.
Brushing the leaves off herself, the girl looked around and found she seemed to be in a small town.
The town's architectural style could be described as eclectic—an Eastern pavilion here, a Western church there. Who knew what the builders were thinking?
Weren't they worried about style conflicts?
"Oh, an unfamiliar little girl." Leticia popping out of the leaf pile naturally attracted many pedestrians' attention. Some bolder people slowly approached, curiously examining Leticia.
"My God, she's so beautiful, I can hardly believe my eyes."
"I think I should kick your butt hard with my boot. I've told you so many times not to talk in that tone."
"Oh, my old friend... hey, don't actually kick! Just joking, just joking."
"Pft." Leticia was amused by the two men—they were too funny.
"Little sister, where did you come from?" At this time, a pretty young lady among those surrounding Leticia asked.
Her eyes were sky-blue, very beautiful. If you looked carefully at her face, you could vaguely see some Western features.
This girl was probably mixed-race?
"Central City, I'm from Central City." Leticia answered.
The people surrounding Leticia began whispering, as if this term was rarely mentioned here.
"Central City? I remember that seems to be a very big city?"
"Right, the priest said many people live there."
"But the priest also said the people there aren't happy at all."
...
This discussion puzzled Leticia. These people seemed to know of Central City's existence, but their understanding seemed limited to fragments from that priest.
So the key to the problem lay with that priest?
"Excuse me, does anyone know how to get back to Central City?" Leticia raised her hand and asked.
Her obedient appearance made the eyes of several young ladies in the crowd sparkle with hearts—such a cute little girl was truly lovable.
Unfortunately, they didn't know how to get to Central City either.
Outside the town was endless wilderness with fierce beasts roaming. Ordinary people going out would just be delivering takeout to the beasts.
Even people with special abilities had to be fully prepared before daring to leave the town's boundaries.
"The priest definitely knows!" Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted.
This caused another wave of heated discussion.
"Right, the priest knows so much, he definitely knows."
"Yes, yes."
When these people unified their opinions and were about to tell Leticia, they were shocked to find the little girl had disappeared.
Had she slipped away while they were discussing?
That's right, exactly.
These people were really too noisy. Leticia couldn't stand it and secretly slipped away while they were talking excitedly.
Moreover, she sensed something was off—these people's behavior was strange.
A strange girl suddenly appeared in this basically isolated town, yet these residents didn't have the slightest suspicion?
They didn't doubt at all whether she was lying, and even when she asked questions, they showed no other emotions.
These people seemed... too kind.
This was very strange.
Even if her cute appearance made these people think she wouldn't lie, they should at least have basic wariness, right?
If she were a bad person, couldn't she cause havoc here without any obstacles?
"Priest?" Leticia softly murmured this term. The town's residents all seemed to trust this priest, and that priest seemed to be the only connection between the outside world and this town.
Then she'd go ask him. Leticia thought.
Just as she was about to find a passerby to ask how to find the priest, a middle-aged man in black clerical robes appeared before Leticia.
"Welcome to Eden, traveler from afar." The man bowed humbly to Leticia. "I am the priest here."
Coming to find her on his own?
Leticia narrowed her eyes—this person gave her a bad feeling. "I remember Eden seems to be paradise from human mythology?"
"Correct. Don't you think this place is very much like the Garden of Eden?" The priest turned around, spreading his arms with great pride as he asked, not minding at all exposing his back to Leticia.
"I'm a demon—I don't know much about human mythology." Leticia replied. "Can you tell me how to get back to Central City?"
"If you simply wanted to return, that would naturally be possible, but you have other purposes, don't you?" The priest showed a smile. "So please stay here for a while. When the dust settles, I'll naturally let you leave."
This meant this priest planned to keep her here?
And he said he knew what she came to do. He knew, yet still wanted to stop her—so he was on Songstress's side?
"Then I'd like to see if you have the ability to keep me here." Leticia tilted her head at the priest. "I can see you're just an ordinary person, while I'm a demon."
"Ordinary or not doesn't mean much." The priest grasped the cross at his chest, and a pale white aura spread from that cross.
Leticia's pupils contracted. Almost instinctively, she called forth the parasol Flora had given her.
She had many ways to protect herself, but at this moment, she first thought of the gift from the deity.
When the aura touched the umbrella's surface, a light purple barrier protected Leticia. Simultaneously, Leticia found her mental power beginning to drain.
The priest also stared in shock, looking at the parasol in Leticia's hand in disbelief. "You're also someone recognized by a god?"
"Also?" Leticia precisely caught that word. "You're related to a god?"
"It seems those people's intelligence work still had errors, actually overlooking the most important thing." The priest sighed deeply. "But just with this, you still can't leave."
The priest's confidence made Leticia somewhat curious. She really couldn't understand why this rambling man was so confident.
He clearly didn't have much strength himself, right?
Did the god behind him give him power? But the Prophecy Books said that when gods were sealed in divine artifacts, they could only exert extremely weak influence on the outside world.
Unless this man had a way to pull Leticia into the divine artifact's space to let the god deal with her, otherwise Leticia really couldn't think of any reason she would fail.
"Since you're so confident, let me see just how capable you are." Leticia moved the umbrella to her other hand, then drew her magic sword.
Although this was a bit strange, she still quite needed the sense of security this umbrella provided.
She didn't know what effect that white light had just now, but it definitely wouldn't be anything good. And Flora's parasol could protect her from such methods—just based on this point alone, she was reluctant to put the umbrella away.
The priest also raised an eyebrow. Most of his methods involved mental attacks, but the parasol in this girl's hands made him feel incredibly troubled.
That umbrella was also a divine creation. His god and this girl's god seemed evenly matched, which meant he might not have any way to deal with this girl.
After waiting quite a while, Leticia frowned. This guy talked so tough but was now motionless like a turtle.
What was this about—wearing down her patience?
"Come on, make a move. If you don't move, I'm leaving." Leticia tentatively stepped forward, wanting to test the priest's reaction.
Her action made the priest reflexively step back.
It seemed this priest was even more panicked than her?
Leticia immediately stopped worrying. She realized this rambling guy was just a paper tiger with absolutely no threat.
So she stepped forward again.
The priest stepped back again. This time he grasped the cross pendant at his neck. "Don't come any closer. I don't want to fight."
Still making threats at this point? Did he really think she'd be scared?
Leticia felt this priest's brain had serious problems. With his current appearance—even more panicked than herself—did this threat have any credibility?
Absolutely none.
"Go ahead and fight. I'll just stand here and let you hit me." Leticia showed what appeared to the priest as a demonic smile. She raised her magic sword, pointing it at the priest's forehead. "Otherwise, I'm going to smash your head with this sword."
Is this damn thing supposed to be a sword? The priest almost couldn't suppress his urge to complain.
He had thought this thing was just a wooden stick, but now she was telling him it was a sword. This was really hard to process.
Why would there be a sword that looked so shabby?
"Hey! Did you hear me!" Seeing the priest start spacing out, Leticia wasn't polite anymore. She directly walked up to the priest with her magic sword and struck down.
This strike was just a test, so she didn't use much magic power.
No choice—magic power was a bit scarce now. Better to save what she could.
But the priest's reaction was really embarrassing. He showed no evasive movements at all, just letting Leticia's sword heavily strike his head.
Thunk—a dull sound, and the priest fell to the ground.
Leticia was dumbfounded. She had prepared for a fierce battle, but this was it? This guy was too weak, right?
Just a light tap and he was down?
"Playing dead won't work. Get up quickly, or I'll really cut you." Leticia kept poking the priest on the ground with her sword, trying to poke him back up.
But this person seemed genuinely unconscious. No matter how much Leticia poked, he showed no reaction.
Did he really have such good psychological endurance? Leticia was somewhat skeptical.
If this person had such good psychological endurance, he wouldn't have been scared into stepping back twice just now, right?
After eliminating all impossibilities, the remaining possibility, no matter how incredible, must be the truth.
"Really got one-shotted. Too weak." Leticia kicked the priest hard. She had thought this guy was so capable, but turned out to be so disappointing.
The gap between ideal and reality—why was it so large?
Using low-level earth magic to fix the priest to the wall, Leticia summoned a water ball and slapped it onto the priest's face.
The ice-cold water ball immediately awakened the priest. He shook his head vigorously and looked at Leticia standing before him with fearful eyes.
This girl was actually so terrifying, defeating him with one strike while he was fully focused. Truly horrifying.
Although his strength couldn't be called strong, it wasn't weak enough to be one-shotted by ordinary powerhouses. Yet this girl had one-shotted him—what did this mean?
This meant this girl's strength was extremely terrifying!
"You should understand your current situation, right?" Leticia placed her magic sword on the priest's shoulder, smiling as she asked. "I ask, you answer. Understand?"
"I will never betray God!"
Smack! Leticia unceremoniously struck the priest's face. "I haven't asked yet."
She hadn't even asked, so how did this person know she was going to ask about god-related matters?
With his strength that had reached the pinnacle of disappointment, Leticia really didn't believe he could have any deep connection with a god. He was probably just someone who had received a tiny bit of divine power.
"You're with that organization, right? Tell me what you're called and what your purpose is."
The priest fell into thought. It seemed... this wasn't something he couldn't answer.
After all, they shouted their identity and purpose every time they did something anyway. Telling this girl now didn't seem to be a problem.
"Our name is 'Divine Throne.' Our purpose is to use divine power to build the ideal world we envision, so we've been collecting divine artifacts from around the world and seeking qualified divine envoys." The priest began revealing what he knew. "I belong to the lowest level of divine envoys in 'Divine Throne,' possessing only fragments of divine power."
"But look, even with just this little power, I can still create Eden. Divine power is so great—why can't we utilize this power?"
"This is very dangerous." Leticia frowned at the priest. "Deities are uncontrollable powerful beings. Does your Divine Throne really know what you're doing when you want to use them?"
Probably not yet.