I looked away from the painting and came to the first floor staircase, where I finally heard voices upstairs. It wasn't just one person, but a group of people. It seemed that the guests attending the banquet were all upstairs.
Shade walked up a few steps, and looked up at the corner of the stairs. He found that there were five or six guards guarding the stairs, two of whom were even ring sorcerers.
So he took off the mask and turned it into a toy and put it in his pocket, then used the illusion of Moon Shadow to make the strange silver mist flow upward. The silver mist of the illusion was invisible before it took effect, and Shade manipulated it to form a fog wall at the entrance of the stairs. Then he stomped on the ground suddenly, making a sound, and at the moment when the guards took the initiative to pass through the fog wall, his body disappeared and appeared behind the guards.
He lowered his head, playing with his Rhodes cards, and walked towards the crowd. No one noticed Shad's arrival.
The second floor was very lively. The aroma of food mixed with the smell of perfume made people feel happy. The band in the corner was playing soft dance music, and the mermaid-shaped gas lamps on the walls made the entire banquet venue look bright.
Although people looked a little frightened, both respectable gentlemen and ladies in fashionable dresses were still able to carry out social activities normally.
Xia De straightened his clothes and entered the crowd, then he easily found out what happened here and speculated what happened in the first half of the night.
A few hours ago at around ten o'clock, Aurora Manor was attacked by armed fishmen just like Sophia Mansion. But unlike the unity inside Sophia Mansion, this banquet had already been mixed with spies from the Scarlet Esoteric Cult disguised as guests, which led to the attackers successfully breaking into the mansion and blocking the entrance and exit with relics.
Fortunately, with the resistance of the ring warlocks of the Church of Nature, the princess's guards, the guards hired by the Aurora family, and the bodyguards of a few guests, the manor side gained the upper hand after a gun battle that lasted nearly twenty minutes.
The ugly enemies who were attacking the manor occupied the basement and wine cellar, while the guests were on the second floor. After finding that no one could leave the manor, the ring magicians of the Church of Nature found the owner of the manor, and Miss Aurora announced that they had contacted the police and that it was very dangerous down there, so everyone was asked to wait on the second floor.
So the frightened people gathered together, and the ugly enemies in the basement no longer tried to come up and attack humans.
"That's why there's no one on the first floor. The bloodstains I saw were left over from the battle in the first half of the night. It seems the ritual node is in the wine cellar. When the cultists saw they couldn't win, they gave up on slaughtering the guests of the manor."
After understanding the whole story and finding out that although there were deaths, the princess was not among the dead, Xia De felt slightly relieved.
He did not see Mr. Darkness or Leicia on the second floor. Later he learned that not all guests were here, and some distinguished guests were resting on the third floor.
The stairs from the second floor to the third floor had more guards and the protection of the third floor was much stricter than that of the second floor. Moreover, as he was getting closer and closer to the Great Witch, Shade was unwilling to use his power at will. Fortunately, not long after, he saw Leicia's maid coming down from upstairs, preparing to go to the kitchen to serve hot tea to Her Royal Highness the Princess.
Xia De followed her into the corridor and when he patted the maid's shoulder, he almost scared her to scream.
"Oh, Shad!"
In the lounge on the third floor, Leisia was lying on a small sofa, covered with a blanket and resting with her eyes closed. When she heard footsteps coming in that didn't seem to be her maid, she sat up, opened her eyes and saw Shade:
"Oh God, I am not dreaming."
As she spoke, the red-haired girl didn't care that her personal maid was in the room. She walked up quickly and hugged Xia De, but immediately let go.
She didn't give Xia De a chance to speak. She looked him up and down, and then asked curiously:
"What did you do to my maid? Why is she looking at you like that?"
"Your Highness, it's nothing."
The maid whispered, and Leisia didn't care. She grabbed Shade's arm and was very happy to see him:
"Shad, why are you here? Am I really not dreaming?"
She held onto Xia De's arm and refused to let go, with an expression of surprise on her face.
"I'm a little worried about you."
As he spoke, he explained what happened in Sofia's mansion in the first half of the night and showed the corpse that he had turned into a doll. What happened in this manor was similar to what Shade heard on the second floor.
It's just that ordinary people are missing some content. The fish people originally didn't want to "coexist peacefully" with the humans upstairs. But the church's ring warlock team went downstairs again two hours ago and had a direct confrontation with the cultists. No one gained much advantage, so the current stalemate was formed.
"The sun will rise in an hour and a half, and then the red ocean will appear. The church will probably break through here at about the same time."
Xia De summarized the current situation, but he was not nervous at all. After all, he confirmed that the big witch was still in the house.
"Will you stay with me?"
Leicia asked in a low voice.
"Won't."
"Um?"
"Oh, I mean, I want to take a look down there."
Xia De pointed downstairs. Since the mansion was an important ritual node, the fishmen underground must have the ritual information. He suspected that the information about the "golden pearl" was also in the hands of the fishmen. This was of course risky, but definitely worth it. While the night was not over and Yueying's illusion could still be used, he wanted to go to the basement as much as possible to take a look.
"Don't take any chances. With that fishing line, I'll be fine."
Leicia seemed to have misunderstood what Shade meant. Shade wanted to explain, but he didn't know how to start. After confirming that the witch was here, he believed that there would be no problem with Her Royal Highness the Princess.
If she came to the banquet held by the Aurora family and something happened, the one who would have the most headache would be the great witch.
Even without the relics that could resist the curse, Xiwei Aurora would never let Leicia Cavendish die here. Even without considering the influence of the royal family, Miss Carina, who was also a member of the Witch Council, had to be considered.
"Besides the murlocs, I accidentally heard some news on my way here. There is a person who was killed by a demon... Hmm?"
Xia De was suddenly startled, then he suddenly covered his chest.
The badge quickly heated up, and the heat even caused him to feel a little pain. The Great Witch was approaching.