The hunting force kept at it until the afternoon, combing through the entire Rock of Bral again and again without leaving a single corner unchecked.
Only when the soldiers were starving and visibly exhausted did they finally call it a day.
Many of Bral's residents also quietly breathed a sigh of relief. This official operation had a clearly defined target and hadn't indiscriminately dragged unrelated matters into the crackdown. Potential offenses like smuggling and brawling hadn't been pursued.
It wasn't that they were being ignored. Some things simply took priority over others. Compared to the mind flayers' infiltration scheme, those crimes weren't particularly urgent.
Anser and the others returned to the Star Palace and sat down together to tally the results.
They had killed fourteen mind flayers in total. Anser alone had taken down five, including two mind flayer arcanists.
At least eighteen mind flayers had actually been discovered, but the limited coverage of the Spatial Anchor had allowed some of them to escape.
Nearly three hundred symbionts and hosts had been captured. Two hundred had been held in the underground prison alone, almost matching the entire strength of Bral's army. The scale was staggering.
They came from a wide range of backgrounds and were concentrated mainly in Middle City: children of wealthy families or minor nobles, members of the Mages' Guild, soldiers, and a small number of Professionals.
Evan and Zahir had questioned them using Zone of Truth, and their testimonies largely matched the middle-aged wizard's account.
The mind flayers had previously operated with great caution. None of their targets had known the mind flayers' true identities before becoming symbionts.
But ever since the Second Prince had been forced to flee, their operations had suddenly accelerated. They had also become far less selective about their targets, causing their numbers to swell rapidly.
If Anser had waited even a few more days, the Rock of Bral might have faced a major crisis. Even the army and navy could potentially have been turned against the city.
Once the time was right, the mind flayers' nautiloid could have crossed the planes and arrived at any moment.
With so many local symbionts helping them, all they needed to do was take care of the royal family, and the entire Rock of Bral would immediately fall into their hands.
Everyone was secretly alarmed. Fortunately, Anser's "hatred of evil" had kept him from wasting any time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The royal family's attitude had changed even more dramatically. Whatever reluctance they had once felt about joining the Federation had vanished completely, leaving nothing but relief.
Without Anser, they simply couldn't have held the Rock of Bral.
Although the hidden threat had been uprooted, there was still a great deal of cleanup to handle.
More than a hundred members of the army and navy had died, with many more wounded. The army commander and several senior officers had also been killed.
Compensation for the dead and wounded, along with rewards and punishments, had to be handled first. After that, new officers would need to be selected.
After everything that had happened, Anser's prestige within the military had skyrocketed. Taking control of Bral's military affairs was now only the natural next step.
The families of the symbionts also needed to be thoroughly investigated. Anyone who had known beforehand would be dealt with severely. Even those who had been unaware would receive warnings and fines and be subjected to regular monitoring.
Anser assigned military matters to Froidin, while leaving the administrative work to the royal family.
Everyone else would remain at the Star Palace and the Commercial Alliance headquarters for the time being to rest and guard against the mind flayers returning.
Anser's attention was focused entirely on the symbionts. He took all of them away and had them confined together in the Black Tower's prison, leaving Sakkors to watch over and interrogate them to see whether they still had any value.
These people were either stupid or malicious. They weren't worth pitying.
If they proved completely useless, death would be their only fate.
The day's haul had been considerable. After letting Stoll know, Anser eagerly took Iris to the top floor of the Black Tower and silently brought up her Character Sheet.
Several members of the Adventuring Party had earned a substantial amount of experience from today's battle.
Iris had been part of the Adventuring Party for quite some time and frequently went hunting alone in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. This time, she had finally accumulated enough experience to level up.
If developing her innate magic hadn't consumed so much experience, she could have leveled up long ago.
Her repertoire of spells was far too limited. Leveling up would indeed allow her to learn a 9th-level spell, but without enough lower-level spells to support it, her combat effectiveness might not improve all that much.
Anser pushed her down onto the bed, his expression perfectly serious. "Do you want to—"
"Not right now." Iris rolled her eyes at him. "You think I'm not tired enough already?"
"I was asking whether you want to advance to Peak Professional or keep developing your innate magic and learn more spells." Anser grinned.
Iris seemed to realize something. She immediately perked up, all her exhaustion disappearing. "I want Delayed Blast Fireball and Fire Storm."
Those had once been among her signature spells, but casting with Magic Power was simply too difficult. Even with help from the Spirit Net, the highest-level spell she could currently cast was the 4th-level Confusion.
In battle, she mainly relied on upcasting.
"One at most." Anser estimated the amount of experience available.
"Huh?" Iris froze. After thinking for a moment, she spoke again. "Then I want to advance."
If she could only learn one high-level spell anyway, she would rather gamble on getting a 9th-level spell!
"If you could choose, which 9th-level spell would you want?" Anser asked, deliberately making it sound casual.
"Choose?" Iris stared at him in astonishment.
She reached out with both hands and cupped Anser's face, gazing at him with an unreadable look in her eyes. For a long time, she said nothing.
"Wish?" Anser couldn't make sense of the complicated emotions in her eyes or understand why she had suddenly become so sentimental.
"No. Time Stop!" Iris frowned slightly. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to resist using it to make some ridiculous wish."
Wish was the most powerful spell a mortal creature could cast, but its cost was immense and the risks were equally severe.
Without a clear head and enough self-control, it was all too easy to screw yourself over with it.
"All right. As you wish."
Anser didn't ask any further questions. He brought up her Character Sheet, selected her class, and chose to level her up.
Iris sensed the change. She closed her eyes and lay back as Magic Power surged around her, chaotic magic churning relentlessly.
A 17th-level Wild Magic Sorcerer gained no new features or Feats. The biggest improvements were access to 9th-level spells and two additional Metamagic options.
Anser stared at the level-up interface. Sure enough, a spell list appeared before him, containing every 9th-level spell available to Sorcerers.
Meteor Swarm shone slightly brighter than the others. Without the die, Iris would most likely have awakened that spell upon advancing.
'Nothing but enchantment, control, and evocation spells. That's honestly a little monotonous.'
Anser decisively chose Time Stop for her!
For Metamagic, he selected Quickened Spell and Heighten Spell. Those two were the most difficult, and Iris had never mastered them before.
After a brief lull, Magic Power came flooding in. But under the Spirit Net's restraint and control, it remained exceptionally stable and produced no particularly obvious phenomenon.
Her advancement proceeded in complete silence.
Several dozen minutes passed.
Iris's eyelids twitched, but she didn't open her eyes.
The corners of her lips curled upward. She lightly flicked a fingertip.
Time froze!
Everything around them fell into absolute stillness. The air ceased to flow, light and shadow stopped shifting, and time itself no longer passed.
Anser was like an insect sealed inside invisible amber, unable to move so much as a single strand of hair.
Had it been anyone else, even their thoughts might have stopped.
But Anser had the die, and he was also a Time Wizard. Although his brain had slowed to a crawl, his thoughts were still functioning.
He was fully aware of what had happened.
[You have been affected by Iris's Time Stop and entered a time-stopped state.]
Unlike before, there was no Saving Throw this time. The spell took effect immediately!
Time Stop wasn't unbeatable, but breaking free from it was extraordinarily difficult.
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