After the Guardian Ceremony ended, Cynthia only stayed with the Elf Race for a day before leaving with the God Race. Although she wanted to spend a few more tender days with Olivia, the timing was indeed not right.

Chelsea had already taken the Morgan witches to Thacker Plain to set up the arrays, so they had to prepare to depart as well. After all, with humans in the God Race’s party, they didn’t have an advantage in speed.

However, besides that, there was actually another reason prompting Cynthia to leave so quickly: Darcy was about to return from Zakariya.

In order to bring Eunice back, Darcy had missed Cynthia and Olivia’s Guardian Ceremony. Upon her return, hearing the clan members’ discussions, she was first surprised, then felt it wasn’t unexpected. After all, she had interacted with Cynthia many times and had always seen the ambiguous relationship between her and Olivia.

But not being surprised didn’t mean she wasn’t curious. The moment Darcy returned, without even taking a sip of water, she went to find Cynthia to offer her congratulations and… to tease her.

However, Cynthia was perfectly composed in the face of Darcy’s teasing. She even proactively placed the staff Olivia had given her on the table for Darcy to admire.

“Is this the staff refined from a branch of the Goddess of the Forest?” Darcy’s intention to tease Cynthia dissipated the moment she saw the staff. Her eyes lit up, and she carefully touched it with her fingers, remarking with emotion, “As expected of something left by a god.”

But to be worthy of a branch from the Goddess of the Forest, it meant Cynthia’s Light Crystal was truly rare. Cynthia had once jokingly said that the Light Crystal was a gift from the Goddess of Light. At the time, they had only thought it was a lie Cynthia told to convince the Light Believers, but now it seemed it might not have been a lie after all.

After stroking the staff inch by inch, Darcy reluctantly pulled her hand back. Just as she was about to voice the bellyful of praise she had, she heard Cynthia suddenly say from across the table, “Cynthia Staff.”

Darcy froze for a moment, then raised her eyes slightly, asking in confusion, “What?”

Cynthia leaned back in her chair, sipping her tea leisurely. Meeting Darcy’s gaze, she curled her lips into a faint smile, her gentle voice tinged with a hint of pride. “Cynthia Staff. Queen Olivia named it.”

She had thought Cynthia took out the staff to discuss its power with her, but she hadn’t expected her to just be showing off its name.

To think that someone as composed as Cynthia could become so childish after falling in love.

Darcy swallowed the praise that was on the tip of her tongue. She glanced down at the staff again, blinked, and very graciously complimented, “A good name.”

Cynthia accepted Darcy’s praise with a smile. She reached out to touch the gem at the top of the staff and glanced out the window. Darcy had returned quite late, and they had only chatted for a bit, but the sky had already grown completely dark.

“How is Eunice?” From Camille’s memories, Eunice’s condition was not good at all. Betty had rushed over the moment she learned Eunice had been brought back. Cynthia wanted to give Betty some time to adjust, so she hadn’t gone with her.

At the mention of Eunice, the smile on Darcy’s face vanished. She raised her hand to touch Cynthia’s fingers, transmitting the entire scene of when she found Eunice in Zakariya to her, then sighed. “Camille truly wanted to refine her into a monster. A little later, and she might have succeeded.”

The cave where Eunice was hidden was filled with the corpses of monsters, all of them poisonous. They had expended a great deal of effort to rescue Eunice; after all, improper use of the Power of Light could also harm her.

“She fell into Camille’s hands because her spiritual power was depleted. It’s also because her spiritual power has lost its ability to self-heal that she shows no signs of waking up.” Cynthia’s brow furrowed slightly. “This is very similar to Chloe’s situation.”

Except, due to Camille’s deliberate actions, Eunice’s condition was even worse than Chloe’s.

Darcy nodded, her expression grave. “It’s a pity that despite all the methods we’ve tried, we still haven’t been able to awaken Chloe.”

Cynthia glanced at her and said softly, “As long as we don’t give up, we’ll find a way.”

Darcy took a deep breath, a smile returning to her face. “You’re right. As long as we can take the Temple of Light from the Vampires this time, perhaps we can find a way to awaken Chloe.”

And perhaps Eunice as well.

The matter of betraying the God Race and colluding with the Sethite wizards had been proven to have nothing to do with Eunice. Although she was a witch of the Anderson Family, the God Race was not so narrow-minded.

At Betty’s request, Eunice was placed directly in her room. After putting her on the bed, the God Race left behind a barrier of light before departing. Although Darcy’s careful examination confirmed that Eunice had not yet been refined into a monster, she still instructed the clan members escorting her to leave the barrier.

If anything unusual happened, it could also protect Betty.

After the God Race left, only Betty and Eunice remained in the room. Betty closed the door and turned to stare blankly in the direction of the bed. The person lying quietly on it looked familiar yet strange. During the time when Eunice’s whereabouts were unknown, she had thought day and night about finding her. But now that Eunice was truly before her, she suddenly became timid.

What was she afraid of? Betty raised a hand to cover her face, taking several deep breaths before she could manage to calm her trembling body.

Darcy had said Eunice was still alive, just unconscious. Betty repeated this to herself several times in her mind, then lowered her hand and slowly walked to the bedside.

When the God Race had brought Eunice back just now, she had only dared to watch from a distance. Only now could she clearly see the condition of the person lying motionless on the bed.

After rescuing Eunice, the God Race had immediately cleaned the bloodstains from her body and changed her into a clean black robe. So, the Eunice before Betty now only had a frighteningly pale face; otherwise, there were no visible external injuries.

Betty stared down at Eunice for an unknown length of time before crouching by the bed. She passed her hand through the light barrier and gently took hold of Eunice’s hand, which lay by her side, murmuring in a low voice, “I’ve finally found you, Eunice.”

Her voice was choked with sobs and her eyes were red, but her gaze upon Eunice was exceptionally earnest. “I will definitely find a way to wake you.”

Perhaps because her emotions were too intense, Betty’s mind suddenly grew hazy, and her grip on Eunice’s hand loosened slightly. But she quickly came to her senses, pressing a hand to her forehead, trying to focus her spiritual power.

A voice in the depths of her heart was constantly calling to her, trying to lead her somewhere. Betty bit her lip, fighting against it. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the bloodstain on her wrist had suddenly vanished. She froze for a moment, cold sweat beading on her forehead.

Her body… no… something was wrong with her mind.

Someone was calling her. Why were they calling her? Betty gripped Eunice’s hand tightly. No one was going to make her leave this place.

The voice calling Betty was also calling the other Garcia witches. Those with weaker wills had already heeded the voice in their hearts, dropping what they were doing to answer the summons.

The Garcia witches who were in Capri Plains studying Dark Magic took out their staves one after another, summoning skeletal mounts and heading in a certain direction. Their eyes were vacant, but their movements were no different from ordinary people.

Seeing this, the Anderson witches, who were scattered about studying Dark Magic, gathered together, looking at each other in confusion. “What’s happening?”

“What’s wrong with them?”

One witch raised her staff and chanted a spell in a low voice, sensing for a moment before frowning. “No one has intruded into our territory.”

Since no enemy had invaded their territory, why had the Garcia witches suddenly rushed out as if facing a great foe?

They exchanged glances, their hearts full of questions. They decided to summon their own skeletal mounts and follow behind the Garcia witches to see what they were up to.

Not all the witches had obeyed Kana and continued to work for the ethereal “God of Darkness.” The Garcia witches who remained in Capri Plains were such an example. But unfortunately, in the end, they still couldn’t resist the “God of Darkness’s” summons.

Shastaya. The Blood Demon floated in the air, looking down at the Garcia witches below. She was so excited that her entire form was shimmering. “I never thought the Vampires had imprisoned so many witches.”

The Sethite Grand Elder had been by the Blood Demon’s side all this time, at her beck and call. He was looking down and sizing up the witches. Hearing the Blood Demon’s words, he averted his gaze and said in a low voice, “The Lasombra clan wanted to destroy the temples. Witches contain the Power of Darkness in their bodies, and because their strength is low, they were the easiest prey to capture.”

He had led the Sethite clan in service to the Vampires for many years and knew exactly where the witches were imprisoned. So, after learning that the Blood Demon found the number of witches insufficient, he had directly sent people to release the Garcia witches who were locked up all over the Sitatul Continent.

He didn’t know what the Blood Demon wanted with so many Garcia witches, but… the Grand Elder glanced at the witches below out of the corner of his eye, his expression profound. These witches were now in a puppet-like state.

However, whether they were puppets or not had nothing to do with him. He only wanted to get what he desired.

“There are still some witches in transit; they will arrive in a few days.” The Grand Elder looked at the flickering shadow before him and tentatively asked, “Your Excellency, I have done what you asked of me. Regarding the location of the teleportation array…”

The Blood Demon was looking down, admiring her handiwork. Hearing the Grand Elder’s words, she sneered disdainfully, “Releasing a few witches from the Vampires’ dungeons, you call that a great contribution?”

From the beginning, the Grand Elder hadn’t expected the Blood Demon to readily tell him the location of the teleportation array. He fell silent for a moment, then bowed his head and replied, “If Your Excellency has any other requests, please feel free to command me.”

The Blood Demon flew down and circled the Garcia witches a few times. The Grand Elder waited quietly. After an unknown amount of time, the Blood Demon’s voice sounded in his ear. “The Vampires used the Sacrificial Array I gave them to destroy the temples, didn’t they?”

Facing the direction of the mist, the Grand Elder replied in a low voice, “Yes.”

“The Sacrificial Array. Lord Dark God’s favorite.” The Blood Demon floated back to the Grand Elder’s side. The powerful dark aura made the Grand Elder involuntarily hold his breath. “Speaking of which, I have yet to test its power.”

She and Wolf Fang were both generals, and they greatly preferred close combat. As for arrays and spells, they knew the core principles and the incantations, but they almost never used them.

But when faced with something like a seal, no matter how excellent one’s combat skills were, they were useless.

“I don’t have a physical body, so I can’t use the Sacrificial Array like Lord Dark God.” The Blood Demon thought for a moment, then turned to ask the Grand Elder, “How many people are in your Sethite clan?”

The Grand Elder’s heart skipped a beat. He answered cautiously, “Not many.” He paused after speaking, then asked tentatively, “Is Your Excellency looking for sacrifices?”

The Blood Demon grunted in affirmation.

The Grand Elder raised a hand to adjust the hood on his head and said in a deep voice, “Then I can recommend a race to Your Excellency.”

“Oh?”

“The God Race.” A smile appeared on the Grand Elder’s face, making the wrinkles on it even more pronounced. “Light is always the best sacrifice for darkness.”