Chapter 348 (1/2)

Hao Ren really regretted not standing his ground when Lily came up with that sorry name for their mercenary group. Now that things had come to this, calling the group “Pink Fluffy Bunnies” would not have been as bad. The way Bishop Gelton pronounced the name of their group turned their faces ashen-grey, with the exception of the dumbass, Lily. She cheered happily and introduced herself to the bishop in her excitement. “Yep, yep. And, I’m the deputy leader of the group…”

Hao Ren henceforth decided that she was the deputy of their merry band. That said, there was no such designation in his group…

Gelton’s main queries were to find out what happened and how they came about rescuing the four ascetics. One query was to gather information and another to verify the veracity of the whole incident. That did not mean that he was planning to hide the truth. However, as the bishop of the local diocese, it would be remiss of him to not be careful. But with Hao Ren and Big Beardy having rehearsed the whole story a few times, it was watertight.

“That’s all from me for now. All of you have done well.” Gelton let out a sigh of relief as he concluded the questioning and the wrinkles on his face were much more apparent as he relaxed. He still peered at Hao Ren curiously nonetheless. “I still wonder why you didn’t come straight to Leyton, instead you went to the sacred lake. Wouldn’t it have been more troublesome to safeguard the Orb that way? I heard that you all teleported here. Did something go wrong?”

Hao Ren’s face was grim. “None other than a slip of the hand.”

Vivian nudged him on the shoulder as she interjected, “We weren’t familiar with the geography of the Blood Lake and there were many disruptive magic sources in town, so we chose an empty plain to land on. However, we never thought that rock monsters had already invaded the lake. We thought that we only had to contend with the creatures in the Grove.

Gelton bore a serious expression as he nodded. “Is that so… Well, that explains things. Thank the goddess that all of you are safe.”

Big Beardy then asked, “I know that the defences here were breached at one point, but haven’t you purified all of the monsters that got through?”

Gelton threw Hao Ren and his group a glance before contemplating the matter. It was not much of a secret to begin with and the group in front of him was directly involved in the matter, hence he was forthright with the information. “We only managed to seal the gap in Leyton, but there are other places where the monsters could have gotten around…”

After that, the old bishop explained the current situation for all of them to understand. Based on the information he gave, there was clearly more than what the captain had let on. “…It was all fine until now. Although monsters did appear from the mountains occassionally, they were few in number and their path was obvious, so it wasn’t much of a trouble to purify them. Once we laid the necessary ground work and understood the weakness of the monsters, they were simple enough to stop. Subsequently, I started studying the ancient text from the Ancient Magic Civilisation to find out why the mountain was splitting itself apart and creating such monstrosities. We had hoped to stall the monsters until we discovered a way to stop them, but progress has been very slow… Half a month ago, Dragonspine Ridge experienced another huge landslide, and not long after, the northern defensive line came under very strong assault. The local lords and garrison went forth to help before the line was attacked by a large group of monsters… This was the first time that the rock monsters showed strategic nuances. Plus, their numbers were way more than before…”

Gelton stopped for a moment before continuing, “After the Leyton defensive line was breached, the southern part of the ridge experienced another round of landslides. But this time, it was even more baffling. It was as if the whole mountain had twisted and turned during the incident, creating a whole new pathway. This pathway literally cut through the mountain range, where the defensive line was anchored all the way through to the Gnarled Grove. The monsters that have been appearing from then on all came from that accursed path. If you go to the southern area, this is very obvious. Dragonspine Ridge has a new mountain and it is right on top of our defences.

Gelton made his explanation clear and simple. It was quite obvious that he was not plotting anything. He knew that the four ascetics would be heading back to the Royal City to report the matter and take the chance to explain everything.

“There are movements and changes in the mountain, right?” Big Beardy said in a grim manner. “This does not bode well… Do you have no way to stop it?”

Gelton closed his eyes. “Our manpower is limited and our foe is nature itself. While it pains me to say so, we still do not understand the power wielded by the mage emperors of yore. The mountain path is very treacherous and the miasma is palpable. The whole mountain can even collapse on itself to prevent others from encroaching it. Losses were heavy in our first few attempts. Even the royal mages could not do anything about it. So, we are now left to cull whatever that comes out from the Grove or the mountains to maintain peace. The former is under the purview of the church knights, while the latter is handled by Marshal Ophra’s royal knights.