Chapter 426

426 The Vine Key

Selma Payne’s POV:

Everything was calm, at least on the surface.

The elves were still in a fragile state of peace, and there was no progress in the search for the cultists. I wasn’t surprised by this at all. When everyone had invested their strength into the seemingly endless power vortex, even a rat with a broken leg could easily empty a house’s warehouse, let alone a group of evil cultists who would use every means possible.

The Council of Elders didn’t contact us. Looking at the decreasing number of soldiers belonging to the interim government on the streets and the increasing number of the Crown Prince’s private army and supporters, I knew that the current situation of the Council of Elders wouldn’t be much better than ours.

“How boring...”

I pulled down the heavy curtains and ruffled my hair in frustration, trying to suppress the anxiety in my heart.

Actually, it was very easy for me to leave. I’d choose a dark, windy night and use New Flow as a cover. I could easily fly away from this place of trouble with my wings. However, I could do it, but the others couldn’t. I couldn’t leave them here alone to face the unknown.

Moreover, those missing cultists also made it difficult for me to sleep. The fact that this pieced-together evil cult could be so ruthless as to sacrifice the big and save the small was a clear indication of the problem. Being in such a hurry to leave the Elf Forest, it was likely to mean that they had collected enough sacrifices and did not need more!

Besides, Locke was a fanatic believer in Leviathan. He had worked so hard and even sacrificed himself. Was it to create a body for someone else’s master?

One Azazel was enough for the world to suffer, and now there was Leviathan. I really had to pray for the goddess to come!

However, my worries were of no use at the moment. The elves didn’t care about where the cultists went. Perhaps they did care, but this kind of care was nothing in the face of power at their fingertips.

There was no news from the Spring Rain Pack or the elves. It was as if the cultists had disappeared from this world and hidden in another dimension. However, the space spells they had used before had strict restrictions, and even Kafka couldn’t break this rule. Could it be that they had hidden in hell?

It was another quiet night.

On the day the embassy was sealed off, I ordered the lights to be turned off at a fixed time every night, not to save the elves’ electricity bill but to reduce the attention of others.

The sudden knocking on the door was obviously slightly creepy in the darkness.

Who would come to find us in the middle of the night? If it were the force that currently controlled the Elven Capital City, their usual method would be to kick the door open. If it were the Council of Elders or Dorothy’s father, they would not have chosen such a conspicuous door. They would have used a more secure and secretive method.

After having the civilian staff hide in the house and the combat personnel taking their positions in every corner of the Embassy, I opened the door a crack.

Surprisingly, there was no one outside the door. Even the soldiers patrolling back and forth with searchlights had temporarily disappeared. There was a vine-woven key on the ground, and a swallow stood on a wire not far away, looking at me quietly. It then tilted its head and began to comb its feathers.

I picked up the key and closed the door.

Dorothy and the rest immediately approached me and asked me what had happened.

“Nothing happened except for this key.” I showed the vine key to everyone. “Has anyone seen something similar? Someone left this key in front of the embassy.”

Everyone was confused. This key made of branches and leaves was like a toy for elven children, full of distrust.

No one could give me a reason, so I had to ask everyone to go back to their rooms to rest and put more people into the frontline team to strengthen the embassy’s security.

Back in my room, I sat on the carpet and carefully observed the key in my hand. This couldn’t be a child’s joke, but it had appeared without any hint or warning, so it was very confusing.

Dorothy walked over with a lamppost and picked up the key to examine it carefully. Suddenly, she said, “I think I know what this is.”

Eve and I immediately looked at her. Master Hayley also came to our side.

“Due to the opposition of various forces, the Great Elder had no choice but to put a stop to his synesthesia vision plan on the surface and secretly take us to see the Elven King. He awakened the guardian spirit in the palace and opened a gate made of intertwining vines.”

Under the table lamp’s illumination, the key’s details became even clearer. This allowed us to see that there were no protrusions or grooves on the key, and the end of the key looked like it was half-woven and had a few thin vines supporting it pitifully.

“If a door made of vines could lead to anywhere in the palace, could a key made of vines turn any door into a door made of vines?”