Lucia and Allison suddenly raised their heads. They saw streaks of light entering the airspace of the smuggling den.
It seems reinforcements from the police and military had both arrived. It had been less than a quarter of an hour since the signal flare had been used so it was actually quite fast considering the time for mobilization and the distance.
Both of them had barely rounded up five percent of the total detainees in their assigned directions.
Anyways now that there are more people coming over to help they no longer have to do physical labor. They dropped what they were doing and hurriedly rendezvoused to the center of the base.
Their eyes met the figure of a young man with hawk-like eyes who just finished escorting another batch of criminals among the pile.
"Hey! Huh? Hmm…"
Lucia suddenly paused in her words, narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized the man. She felt that there was something different about him in the short time they just parted.
Allison, however, didn't sense anything so she looked at her big sister with a puzzled gaze. Lucia shook her head after a few moments thinking her special intuition had probably mistaken again.
Whenever she found any small thing changing from her memories this intuition in the unseen would usually remind her but clearly it wasn't infallible as there were many times in the past she mistakenly identified things that had no change to it whatsoever earning unnecessary scoldings from her mentor.
Clearly tonight was another such instance so ultimately she didn't say anything.
"What? You suddenly stopped talking."
"Nothing. I was thinking about something random again. Sir Adam hasn't returned yet?"
"Yeah. He is probably still busy blocking passages."
Russell replied while calming his nervous heart. He really thought for a second that she had discovered his leap in intellect grade. But it seems that he thought too much and scared himself for no reason.
After all, it's not like she has his pair of eyes that can unravel hidden information given enough time, right?
At this moment, Jose and another man landed in front of them. Their eyes wide in shock as they fixed their gaze tightly on a certain individual among the pile. No way, his navy blue robe was too eye-catching.
"How come even the Mayor was arrested!? What happened in this place? Give us the details!"
The man beside Jose, wearing white military robe, ordered in a grave tone. His slicked-back raven hair was meticulously groomed, his face was rugged and sharp.
"This is Lieutenant Major Randy Smith. You may answer his inquiry truthfully." Jose promptly introduced lest either of the three younglings refused to give him face. This military rank rivaled the Constable rank of police department, both requiring a mage to reach the Valiant Mage realm first.
"Report! After the investigation of a dismembered body case led us to the Pegasus Wings Escort Agency, Mayor Jeremiah suddenly arrived to obstruct us! When Constable Adam righteously insisted on determining the truth it was later discovered to be a smuggling den."
"The boss of this smuggling den has been determined to be Jason Brown who's suspected to have escaped prior to our raid. This person is actually the half brother of Mayor so in response to his earlier attempt on obstructing our criminal investigation procedures possibly aiding the mastermind's escape he has been arrested on the spot to await trial for his misdeed."
Russell stepped forward to brief them of the situation after noticing the twin sisters giving him a look.
Both Randy and Jose frowned tightly as they heard his summary of the situation. Discovery of a smuggling den means that the field array has been damaged extensively to allow covert tunneling.
The situation would have already been grim enough but now the identity of the smuggling den's leader has made the situation far more serious and complicated.
It seems the entire prefecture would be alarmed soon when this news reached them!
Time passed amidst anxiety and vigilance before everything in this place had settled quietly without any additional entrance of outsiders from those deep tunnels.
Adam had returned after closing off all the passages, the detained smugglers and dark mages were sent to two different destinations after a discussion between the three Valiant Mages.
The smugglers and seized goods were handed over to the police department completely along with any later discoveries in the base while all of the dark mages were decided to be taken into the military's custody since they were the latecomers.
It seems Russell had underestimated his chances of exposure. He overheard their conversation to call in a clairvoyant of Valiant Mage realm to assist them at the very first day.
So, with trepidation he decided to try the "out of sight, out of mind" tactic regarding his ever growing concerns over the embezzlement.
Russell left at the first opportunity with two other Adept Mages. Whether he would be greeted by a room full of colleagues after waking up tomorrow truly was up to fate.
Those two police officers were naturally ordered to escort the two geniuses back to the Flowing Tide Pavilion as the subsequent handling of the case didn't require their presence.
Russell being the only Novice Mage remaining at the scene would also be of little use so his request to conclude the case and retreat with them was approved by both Jose and Adam. As for opinions of Randy? There was naturally no such thing as he didn't have authority to meddle in the police department's internal affairs.
While he was making his way back to the headquarters to write the case closure report and call it a night, Agent Adam had finally arrived at the place where Tipsy Mushroom had been consumed by him earlier.
Adam was now searching the mini-field arrays that obstructed his Heart Mirror's sweep before. Jose was also helping him share the burden by exploring other hidden spots while Randy stood alert in the air lest anymore variables come to this place.
After finding no obvious signs of a second person's tempering, his powerful Heart Mirror's telekinesis ability moved the stone hiding the lever and pulled it. Seeing a hidden space revealing itself he wasn't surprised as he could at least make out an outline from the feedback of that initial extrasensory perception.
It was still the Third Rank mini-field array which stubbornly obstructed his perception resulting in not being able to understand the inner situation of this space thus allowing a certain Patrolman to embezzle the exotic bounty which can only be encountered in Wismar but not be sought no matter how much wealth or power one possessed.
It was a matter of fate!
As he was about to cast a spell to break this pesky obstacle his face changed drastically, a sense of crisis exploded in his mind!
Adam turned into a streak of light and bolted to the entrance of the tunnel in retreat. His Heart Mirror operates at its fullest to perceive any incoming danger. He soon locked on to that hidden space again and saw purple mist spewing out.
"Goodness! A poisonous mist containing enough lethality to kill a Valiant Mage? Even with the defensive artifacts on my body it still managed to give me such a sense of crisis!"
"Wait! This is the infamous Flesh Rotting Breath of a Third Rank Basilisk! Now I really want to know, what's so precious hiding behind it to actually qualify for such a rare thing to be deployed as a trap?"
His curiosity was thoroughly peaked. But because of the unpleasant greeting his sense of vigilance was also heightened to the extreme. First, stop this mist from heading his way.
Though the breath of a Basilisk was lethal but it wasn't an actual living monster that had spewed it so the lingering effects of such a poison wouldn't last long in the area as exaggeratedly as it would in the wild. Best course of action was naturally to drive it away in a different direction or scatter it with overwhelming means.
"Light Wall!"
A solid wall of golden light constructed itself as he waved his wand and uttered the spell name. With another wave this wall completely shaped itself so it surrounded the tunnel walls on both sides perfectly, preventing any gap.
It then shot through and pushed the purple mist forcefully to the other end of the tunnel, far away from him. The entire process of reacting to the danger, retreating, identifying, responding, and finally neutralizing it was actually completed in less than three seconds.
A Valiant Mage's pace of action couldn't easily be comprehended by dullards!
Adam didn't charge towards the hidden space despite the danger having been eliminated. Who knows, maybe another lethal trap awaited him if he stood close to it?
While he was taking a cautious approach to unravel the secret hiding behind it, a distinct sound of mechanism clicking reached his ear that was about to make him utterly regret his decision.
How sharp was a genius mage's sixth sense?
In a flash of lightning, his thoughts became clear, a force in the unseen urged him to act despite the risk he might face!
A streak of light appeared in front of the hidden space. The humanoid silhouette didn't even have the time to change back to its flesh body as it plunged its luminous hand made of light inside the space to grab whatever unknown secret it was hiding.
It was crazy!
He actually felt a solid object grabbed by his hand. The damnable vision obstruction effect of that array truly left him playing guessing games. A hint of satisfaction rose in his heart. He genuinely felt that he was about to face a big loss if he hesitated for another second.
Boom!
Adam's smile on his reverted face froze. His eyes widened in shock as the grabbed item in his hand exploded on its own right before he pulled it out.
Taking out his now charred hand he didn't have the time to process the burning pain. His wide eyes were only staring at the pile of ashes in disbelief. A few moments of silence before Adam's frozen smile twisted into an ugly expression as he roared enraged,
"Who the hell set this trap!!? Ahhhh! Don't let me find you, you heinous bastard!!"
His roar naturally drew the attention of the other two Valiant Mages who inquired about his situation through the Starlight Scroll. Adam found it difficult to reply for a second.
Because telepathic communication would transmit intermittently after having to pass through obstacles using Starlight Scroll for communication was preferred by mages despite having the other party within one's Heart Mirror range. Only if they weren't blocked by obstacles could seamless telepathy be achieved.
Adam felt it would be too much of a loss of face if he openly revealed it but it was also not something to feel embarrassed of as it was purely bad luck on his part, not incompetence. Instead of having to agonize over the two he simply diverted the topic,
"[Nothing important. By the way, when people from Flowing Tide Pavilion arrive, tell them to come to this part of the tunnel I was in. It would be better if they came here to investigate first.]"
"[Since both of us are dismantling the hidden spots underground it will be up to you, Mr. Randy!]"
In their impromptu three person group made for communication during this case's period Adam's text message appeared feigning nonchalance making Jose and Randy have thoughtful expressions.
Since he didn't want to talk about it neither of them were invested enough to press him for it so they only replied in affirmative saying received thus ending the conversation.
Adam also calmed down his emotions before putting this matter on the back of his mind. He still had a lot of work to do and there was also the most important task of sending that important information to his superiors as quickly as possible.
He had too much on his plate. He casted a healing spell on his charred hand as he continued heading towards other hidden spots that were left unchecked.
That healing spell made his burned skin and flesh fall off while new cells rapidly grew and filled the vacancy, with no scars or aftereffects left from the intense burn.
Magic was indeed convenient!