Two hours ago, before the start of the competition, time went back.

The city of Milt remained as desolate and bleak as it was in the morning, reminiscent of the images of economic depression during the Chinese New Year.

Lucius stood in front of a house, his psychic tentacles quickly scanning the entire structure, with every crack in the wood grain presented in his mind. After confirming the absence of any traces of magic spells, he ended his psychic projection.

This was the last building in his assigned area, and once he had confirmed that everything was in order, he only needed to wait for updates from the others.

However, the continuous reports he received gradually tightened Lucius' mood.

Nothing found. Everything is normal.

Just like yesterday's search results, there was no sign of anything amiss. Theoretically, they had conducted a thorough search, even checking hidden places like cellars. Even if those dark Elves could play hide-and-seek with them in the city, they couldn't possibly be everywhere, right?

Lucius himself had studied magic circles. According to his own abilities, in order to create a magic circle that could cover the entire city, there would need to be at least four branches, occupying an area the size of an ordinary residential building.

Considering the magic power providers called "Yuan" who supplied the magic circles, either the spellcasters had to possess a large amount of magic gems, or they had to be skilled in finding magical nodes in the earth's veins. The tasks assigned to Lucius followed these two principles.

Could it be that holy knight was just playing around with him?

It would be better if she was. Lucius pressed his temples, thinking about whether there was anything he might have overlooked.

Starting from the dark Elves' attack at night, the subsequent Watchers' patrols in the city, the discovery of the dark Elves' hideout, the capture of Karina, and obtaining information...

Wait a minute.

The decisions made by Milt so far were to ensure safety; they used the competition to transfer the audience outside the city and then searched for the dark Elves and any potential linked magic circles within the city.

The result of not finding any magic circles made him focus on the authenticity of Karina's information, but upon careful consideration, paying too much attention to this aspect made him overlook another important matter.

The discovery of the dark Elves' hideout and the mobilization of manpower to capture them, but ultimately resulting in nothing.

This itself raised significant problems. According to subsequent investigations, there were indeed traces left in the warehouse that indicated the presence of more than twenty people. It couldn't have been intentionally done to divert attention.

However, they had all left before the Watchers' sudden attack, which indicated two things: first, they had received advance information, and second, the time they received the information couldn't have been too early, otherwise there wouldn't have been so many traces left. Therefore, they couldn't have obtained the information by cheating with something like divination spells.

Conclusion: there is a mole.

"Damn it!" Lucius fiercely punched the air.

Tiran being captured along with Karina was just an accidental event, yet he let all his attention be drawn to this accident and neglected such a serious problem. He had been derelict in his duties.

But here comes the question: now that he has reached this conclusion, solving the problem won't be easy.

Because everyone participating in the operation is trusted, all tasks are evenly distributed, and without knowing who the mole is, it's impossible to narrow down the search area.

Moreover, in terms of time, the enemy could launch an attack at any moment, and the competition outside the city is also about to end. If there really is a forbidden spell waiting to be activated when a large number of spectators return to the city, it would truly be a disaster.

"Ciella."

After much hesitation, Lucius contacted Ciella. He found it difficult to handle the situation himself, so he could only hope that Ciella could find some clues using the Eye of the World.

"I've made some progress here, but I still need you to do a detailed scan of the city using the Eye of the World. How's your body?"

"It's still the same."

Ciella hummed twice. Since her fierce battle with Musbel, her laws had been disrupted for unknown reasons. Not only were they difficult to apply, but they even had a reverse effect on Ciella herself.

The most obvious effect of the Time Law was that it forced Ciella's body to revert back to her youthful appearance, along with a decrease in the capacity of her Mental Sea. This made it impossible for Ciella to properly utilize her magitech devices.

To be honest, even with Lucius' own mental power coverage, it would be a struggle to scan the entire city. It would be even more difficult to search for spells without any magical fluctuations.

After listening to Lucius' plan, the expression of the Headmaster became conflicted. "If we forcefully scan, it can be done, but using the laws... ah, forget it. We can't worry about that now."

"Thank you. If possible, start by searching half of the city from yesterday. The enemy is more likely to have started from there."

"What thanks? If this person is the one who harmed Musbel, we will definitely not let him get away!"

While chatting with Lucius, Ciella found a spot on the rooftop of a clock tower. The crystal ball in her hand slowly rose, and her figure gradually became taller. The loosely-fitted robe she wore expanded, and her young girl figure matured.

"Mmm, it's still attractive like this."

As she gazed at her reflection in the crystal ball, Ciella's expression turned serious. Due to the disruption in her laws, she was stuck in a teenage form. Restoring her body to its peak state was the result of forcibly manipulating the Time Law.

Only in this way could she temporarily possess the immense mental power reserve required to scan the entire city.

This operation was also extremely dangerous, as it involved applying her already disrupted laws. It was like sailing in turbulent rapids, and no one knew how long she could maintain this state without encountering major problems.

Dealing with laws, something that was fundamental, even Ciella herself couldn't guarantee that she could bear the consequences.

"Let's give it a try."

Merging her consciousness with her Mental Sea and her magitech device, an invisible surge spread out in a fan shape from the clock tower. Even ordinary people who were still in the city were momentarily stunned when they felt the ripple, as if something had passed through their bodies. However, they quickly ignored it.

...

"Oh my, that was dangerous. Did Headmaster Ciella push herself a bit too much? I thought she would be more cautious with her style."

The bushes on the empty street side shook slightly, and the remaining half of the sentence in the air dissipated before the ripple of mental power detection arrived.

...

At the same time, in the underground castle of the Academy City's Heart Island, which served as the teaching venue, two Watcher guards on either side of the entrance to the Treasury, Elithio, almost simultaneously felt the astonishing surge of mental power.

"Hey, that commotion... is it the Headmaster?" The guard on the left sheathed his sword, which had been partially unsheathed due to the passing ripple.

When strength reaches a certain level, the paths of magic and martial arts also converge, such as in the exploration of the realm of the mind. The Watchers, who consider higher ranks as their baseline, are naturally quite sensitive to this.

"Probably. Relax, not many people know about this treasure trove, and the invaders' target isn't the Silver War Maiden and the Elf Princess, right?"

The Watcher on the right, who appeared to be older, leaned on his familiar long-handle battle axe and rested.

"I think it's better to stay vigilant, right, senior?" The Watcher on the left said somewhat embarrassedly. "But if we could relax a little, I actually hope to rest and watch a match outside the city."

"Yeah, speaking of which, our people from Milt made it to the finals. There should be a few willing to join the Watchers in there, right? They would be our future colleagues."

"I heard that the top two ranks in the third tier have already started taking on advanced missions." The junior Watcher recalled the two girls he had seen at the mission tower not long ago, couldn't help but sigh and say, "Exploring the Devildom passage... why is the gap between people so big..."

"Others start causing trouble in different domains before even graduating, and you're still guarding the gate. Are you jealous, hahaha!"

A certain senior had no seniority at all, it seemed to be a trait inherited by all from Milt, starting from the Academy Head Ciella, the Wind Blade Master Yasuo.

At this moment, footsteps could be heard from the front stairwell.

The two immediately stopped their idle chat and quietly tightened their grip on their weapons, until the figure of the approaching person appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Senior Bliss?"

"Yo, why are you back?"

Although they recognized Bliss, their weapons were not put away. They still pointed at the man who was walking quickly and looking anxious.

Bliss should be investigating the identity of the Black Elf in the Elf Kingdom. According to the previous report, the results should be out today. How could he return so quickly? It's not impossible for this guy in front of them to be an imposter.

"I borrowed the teleportation array of the Elf Kingdom to the nearest big city and then rode a horse back... Besides that, tell me where is Lucius? It's important news, those captured guys are Black Elves, and they may have special techniques of the Black Elves on them. If not handled properly, it could destroy the entire Island of the Heart of the Lake!"

Bliss quickly said, holding a dusty badge in his right hand, emitting a faint purple light.

The badge representing the Watcher's identity would respond when the person injected their power into it in any form.

"Really... no problem, I will contact the director... Wait, senior, your King's power... Ugh, what happened to your hand? Why is it gone?!" The young Watcher noticed that Bliss's left hand had been severed at the wrist, and the bandage wrapped around it revealed dried brown bloodstains, and Bliss's face also appeared slightly pale.

They were all familiar with Bliss's strength. As a Watcher, he was even one of the strongest few besides the Three Sages in the academy. How could someone like him lose his hand?

"That's why I said it's urgent! I was intercepted by a very powerful guy on the way back, and almost didn't escape. That guy is probably close to Holy Rank if not already there." Bliss's face darkened.

"Don't dawdle, go find someone. After notifying Lucius, don't forget to send someone to find Ciella. She seems to have never liked using communication arrays. Also, don't forget the news I brought back—disperse the Black Elves, don't let them stay together. I'll take care of things here."