Things about the female knight in black stockings

So Valensa only apologized in her heart to those who were accidentally injured because of her plan, and continued to fight with all her might against Bot Giese, creating an opportunity for Thousand Leaf Grass's sneak attack.

Of course, during the ensuing fight, Valensa subconsciously controlled her strength to avoid causing secondary injuries to the wounded in the ruins, and tried to move the battlefield to an open area as much as possible.

The humanoid high-ranking mist demon disguised as Bot Geese was indeed very strong, just as Thousand Leaf Grass had said. Despite being ambushed by Valensa first, it did not lose any ground in the fight.

Moreover, his fighting techniques were strange, completely different from the mainstream fighting techniques commonly used by human warriors and cultivators. He dodged nimbly, and his attacks were cunning and exquisite, even suppressing Valensa, who had gained the upper hand, at one point, and even using the Water-Splitting Spike to pry open Valensa's black hood.

But it was precisely this seemingly advantageous act of removing Valensa's black hood that led to the complete defeat of the humanoid fog demon disguised as Bot Geese.

When a person tears through an imposter's disguise, they will subconsciously glance at the other person's face, and the high-level humanoid fog demon seems to be no exception.

Thus, Bot Giss met Valensa's eyes perfectly, absorbing the full power of her eye technique.

[Evil God. Overwhelming Power]

The true nature of the Mist Demon remains a mystery, but it is clearly still on the menu of the Abyss Evil God. Valensa's pupil technique was very effective and created an excellent opportunity for Thousand Leaf Grass.

After being hit by [Evil Eye. Intimidation], Bot Giss was clearly stunned, and a more obvious bulge appeared under his skin, which was still moving back and forth.

Even his voice changed, losing all masculine characteristics, but it wasn't like a normal girl's ethereal and melodious voice either; it could only be described as rather feminine, and it felt strange.

It's a bit like a broken female AI voice, and also a bit like Valencia's past life as an ancient eunuch.

"You're not? You are...? No... how is this possible?"

They were so frightened that they were babbling incoherently and frozen in place. As a qualified ninja, Chiba Grass would not let such a good opportunity pass by. She used the Chiba family's specially made Demon-Sealing Blade to stab Bot Giss from behind.

"...The Demon-Slaying Ninjas of the Southern Islands?"

Bote Giss finally recovered from the shock of Valensa's eye technique, his face even more pale, and his once well-maintained skin even began to crack, falling off like shattered plaster.

He roared angrily and menacingly, sending the still-invisible Thousand Leaf Grass flying with one water spike, while using the other as a throwing weapon, he hurled it at several innocent passersby huddled in a corner not far away.

Valensa's face was covered by a mask, so her expression was not visible, but her dark blue eyes suddenly became even more gloomy.

After hesitating for about 0.2 seconds, Valensa ultimately could not stand by and watch an innocent bystander die tragically. She gave up continuing to pursue Bot Giese and instead stopped the water-splitting spike that was being fired at the innocent bystander.

Bote Giese took advantage of this moment to run at full speed toward the coast, his skin peeling off as he moved at high speed.

About 600 meters away from the now-ruined restaurant, Bot Gis had completely disappeared. His skin had shattered completely, and a mist demon girl about 1.4 meters tall emerged from it, covered with many silkworm-like worms.

It seemed that the flesh worms had mimicked Bot Gis's appearance, but when Thousand Leaf Grass stabbed him in the back with a specially made Demon-Sealing Blade, the mimicry effect of the flesh worms was lost, and their true form was revealed.

Moreover, the Mist Demon was clearly very wary of Chiba Grass, the Anti-Demon Ninja. After realizing that one of its attackers was an Anti-Demon Ninja, it completely lost its will to fight and kept running away.

Even though Valensa chased after the innocent bystander quickly after saving her, she couldn't catch up.

Because it seems that while the Mist Demon Girl was intimidated by the [Evil Eye. Pressure], she also figured out Valensa's true identity, realizing that Valensa was not a cultist, but rather a paladin.

So while the mist girl was running away, she kept spewing out mist from her mouth, which then transformed into a beast-like mist demon resembling a large dog, and launched indiscriminate attacks on passersby.

These giant fog demons are only as strong as a candle, but the innocent pedestrians on the road are even weaker. If no one comes to their rescue when they are attacked by the fog demons, they will surely die.

Valensa was extremely helpless and could only chase after the girl while trying to rescue her, but the Mist Demon Girl's escape speed was no slower than hers, so how could she possibly catch up?

In the end, Valensa could only watch helplessly as the Mist Demon Girl ran to the shore and jumped into the sea, creating a huge wave that crashed onto the shore about half a minute after she entered the water.

The wave was about three meters high, and a large number of beast-like fog demons were lurking in it. Once they were brought ashore by the wave, there was a high risk of casualties among the affected population.

"……grass!"

Valensa even swore, feeling a little anxious.

Although she can temporarily possess Star-level combat power by entering Evil God mode, she is not a true Radiant-level being.

Faced with this massive wave, which should be considered a powerful ultimate move, Valensa could protect herself, but she couldn't protect the ordinary people affected by the wave.

"Form ranks! Raise shields!"

At the critical moment, the paladins of the Church of the Sun in Arant finally arrived. The captain of the paladins leading the group even knew Valensa; he was the one who had gone to bail out Thousand Leaf Grass earlier.

This paladin squad has more than twenty paladins, most of whom are from the Lighthouse, with only a very few likely being newcomers or still considered gems.

Upon receiving their captain's orders, they immediately lined up along the shore, holding their square shields in front of them, infusing them with holy light, and using divine magic to form a wall of holy shields.

The Paladin Captain himself joined in, making the Holy Shield Wall higher and wider, enough to withstand the wave that had a range of over 2000 meters.

The waves were blocked, but the various beast-like fog demons hidden in the waves could easily jump over the Holy Shield Wall to launch attacks. There were even bird-like fog demons that flew over houses and dropped highly corrosive fog bombs to bombard them.

Without hesitation, Valensa immediately tore off her black robe and removed her mask, reverting to her paladin identity to join the battle and wipe out the fog demons.

Thousand Leaf Grass wasn't idle either. Throughout the entire coastal battlefield, a short blade could be seen suddenly appearing in the air from time to time, piercing through the core of a Mist Demon and killing it before disappearing again.

Even Tia, who was in charge of filming and recording evidence from afar, quickly arrived at the scene. She either used magic cards to strengthen the paladins or used spatial links to rescue the paladins who were in danger.

The Reincarnation Staff, made from the giant eyeball of a battle-hardened cave monster, also played a significant role in this battle.

With her ability to manipulate gravity, Tia successfully took on the role of grouping monsters in the team, gathering the wild beast-like mist demons that were jumping around, and even pulling down the bird-like mist demons that were flying low, making it easier for the paladins to clear them out with area-of-effect attacks.

Another ten minutes or so passed before the battle finally came to an end. All the ordinary fog demons were killed, but the fog demon girl disguised as Bot Gith escaped.

The paladins and the priests who arrived later began searching for and treating the wounded, while Valensa, along with Tia and Thousand Leaf Grass, planned to visit the offices of the Gith family and Gith Mining as soon as possible.

Since the mist girl disguised as Bot Giss was exposed suddenly, it is very likely that she still left some important clues in the places where Bot Giss worked and lived that she did not have time to clean up.

Unfortunately, Valencia, as the key figure who orchestrated this incident, will not leave so easily.

Just as she was about to leave, a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, pressing so hard that it cracked the floor beneath her boots.

"Valenza and her sister, my dear sister!"

It was the paladin captain, who kept patting Valensa on the shoulder, her expression gentle:

"Before you run away with your companions, don't you think about coming back to the cathedral with me and explaining this properly to Her Majesty the Goddess?"

"..."

Valensa gave a helpless, bitter smile, turned around, and sighed.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, sister."

Chapters 79-81: The Ins and Outs

Although the mission was to capture the high-level fog demons lurking among humans, Valensa's operation inevitably involved many innocent people, caused considerable property damage, and even nearly resulted in the submersion of nearly 2000 meters of coastline in Arant by giant waves.

Logically and emotionally, she should have explained things to the other paladins first.

So when the Paladin Captain seemed intent on taking her back for questioning, Valensa obediently didn't refuse. She simply mentioned that there might still be clues left at Bot Giss's residence and office, hoping that Chiba, the professional anti-demon ninja, could check them out.

The request was reasonable, and the paladin captain readily agreed, ordering several paladins and Thousand Leaf Grass to search Bot Giss's office and residence.

She herself dragged Valencia, who was feigning innocence, back to the Church of the Sun.

Fortunately, Tia had recorded the entire process of Bot Giss transforming from a human into a mist demon girl using the Image Magic Crystal, which served as irrefutable evidence.

After Valensa finished explaining the whole story in front of the statue of the Sun Goddess, nothing else happened. She was only lectured a few times by the captain of the paladin and another high priest from Arant.

The main point is that lecturing her was too reckless... In such a bustling area, Bot Giss wasn't planning to massacre the public, so there was absolutely no need to take action on the spot. He could have reported it first and then properly deployed his forces, which would have greatly increased the chances of capturing this fog demon.

Valensa acknowledged this, so she didn't refute a single word of the lectures, but instead pretended to be obedient and apologized.

Given that she showed remorse and had good intentions, achieved tangible results, and did not cause any irreparable damage, this matter can be considered closed.

Even the damaged buildings and the ordinary passersby who were injured will not require Valencia to pay for repairs and treatment; everything will be covered by the Church of the Sun.

With Valensa's matter resolved, the next step is naturally to investigate the Geese family.

The Geese family is a top-tier family in America, easily ranking among the top 20. The fact that a high-ranking mist demon disguised as a humanoid has emerged from its direct lineage is no small matter.

Not only were the paladins very concerned about this matter, but the Merchants' Union also attached great importance to it. They even dispatched troops immediately to cooperate with law enforcement teams in various places to temporarily control almost all of Giss's businesses, pending further investigation.

The Giss family is also very clever; they know what the bottom line is... Even the most greedy merchant wouldn't have any designs on a natural disaster like the Mist Demon, because there have been countless bloody lessons learned from it.

Therefore, the Giese family did not resist and fully cooperated with the investigation by the Church of the Sun and the Chamber of Commerce.

The head of the Gis family even took the initiative to gather his other four sons and all the family relatives together, asking Thousand Leaf Grass to identify whether any of them were actually Mist Demon in disguise.

The result was not bad; among the Geese family, only Bot Geese was a high-ranking humanoid fog demon, while the others remained human.

Chiba Grass seemed completely unsurprised by the result, and even proudly explained to everyone:

"High-level fog demons that can disguise themselves as humans almost perfectly are very rare among fog demons. Even if they wanted to replace humans on a large scale, they couldn't."

Moreover, in pursuit of efficiency, there are rarely more than two high-ranking humanoid fog demons lurking in each human group... Fog demons are a proud race, and they believe that only one high-ranking individual is needed to deal with a human group.

Therefore, the Giese family most likely doesn't have any other disguised high-level Mist Demons, but it's harder to say about other parts of Arant. I suggest we take this opportunity to conduct a thorough search.

When it comes to how to effectively deal with the Mist Demon, the Chiba family's Anti-Demon Ninjas are the absolute authorities, and Chiba Kusanagi's opinions are naturally highly valued.

Qianye Cao suddenly went from being a suspect in the Chamber of Commerce's enforcement team to a special advisor and honored guest. She began to lead the Chamber of Commerce's enforcement team to investigate all the important departments in Arant, much like computer antivirus software is scanning and killing key locations.

Valensa, Tia, and the captain of the paladin visited the head of the Geese family and Bot Geese's two older brothers to inquire about the situation further.

The mist girl, disguised as Bot Geese, escaped without leaving any clues, leaving her original conspiracy a complete mystery.

So Valensa and the others could only ask Bot Gies's family and look for clues in Bot Gies's daily life and work, at least to find out when Bot Gies was replaced.

"Mr. Giss."

Valensa was very polite to the head of the Gis family, a seemingly gentle and cooperative mine owner:

"I would like to ask, what exactly is Bote Gis's job in your family? We have already investigated beforehand. Of your other four sons, some are responsible for maintaining the family's network, some are responsible for mining, some are responsible for developing new clients, and some are responsible for the storage and transportation of ore... But we have never been able to find out what exactly is the job of your youngest son, Bote Gis. We only know that he mysteriously disappears for a few days every now and then, and then mysteriously reappears."

"This one……"

The head of the Gis family looked very hesitant, as if he really didn't want to talk.

“...I know this may very well involve your family’s trade secrets, but…”

Valensa tapped the table lightly, her expression turning serious:

"You should know very well how serious it is to be replaced and infiltrated by the Fog Demon, right? Perhaps the work that Bot Giese was in charge of used to be a cash cow for your Giese family, but now that the Fog Demon disguised as him has been exposed, do you still have the ability to protect this cash cow on your own?"

I remember that your Chamber of Commerce's laws clearly state that... the Chamber of Commerce has a responsibility to protect the property security of every legitimate taxpayer, even if the opponent is a natural disaster like the Fog Demon.

If you truly want to protect this cash cow, you should tell the truth now, otherwise you'll only regret it more later.

"……I see."

The head of the Gis family remained silent for a long while before taking a deep breath and making up his mind.

He smiled bitterly:

“Miss Paladin, you’re right. That place is indeed our family’s cash cow, but if the enemy is the Mist Demon, our family alone will definitely not be able to protect it.”

In fact, ever since you exposed the Fog Demon's true identity as Bot, that place has completely lost contact with us... I'm afraid it's in grave danger."

"Where exactly is that place?" Valensa asked hastily.

"Yes……"

The head of the Gis family smiled wryly and pointed downwards:

"seabed."

"Undersea? Has your Gis Mining already expanded to the point of mining underwater?"

Valensa raised an eyebrow.

Having visited multiple technologically advanced civilizations, she wasn't surprised by the idea of ​​underwater mining; what surprised her was that someone actually dared to mine on the seabed of Eve.

For intelligent life on land, the oceans of Eve are quite dangerous.

Even without the existence of the Mist Demon, a race whose origins and purposes are shrouded in mystery, various marine monsters can easily take people's lives.

For ordinary businessmen, shipping is already a highly risky business... so where did GIS Mining get the courage to mine on the seabed?

Seemingly noticing Valensa's confusion, before she could ask, the head of the Giss family offered the reason with a wry smile:

“We are well aware of the risks involved in seabed mining, but the profits are also high.”

The main reason is that there is a special water-attribute ore that can only be mined on the seabed. It is needed for many experiments at the Sage's Tower, and they will buy it in unlimited quantities at an irresistible price.

"We, the Giss family, are businessmen after all. As long as the profits are high enough, we're willing to try even the most dangerous projects."

"There's a steady high-priced acquisition from the Sage's Tower... No wonder."

Valensa nodded slightly, accepting the explanation, and then asked with some curiosity:

"How long has your Giss family been doing this? Before you developed the underwater project, how did the Philosopher's Tower acquire this kind of ore?"

“We only started this project four years ago. Before that, the Sage Tower mainly acquired this ore from adventurers.”

Now that he had already said it, the head of the Giss family no longer concealed it: