Chapter 189 (2/2)

The carriage was fast approaching the city gates by now. Link suddenly overheard some townsfolk talking about the Wind Tiger near his carriage.

“Did you hear that?” said one of them. “That must be the sound of some powerful master capturing the magic tiger!”

“Did the city mayor hire someone to do that?” replied the other. “No, it can’t be. I haven’t heard of any such rumors.”

“Who cares? As long as that beast remains in the forest, we won’t be at peace anyway. It’s good news that someone finally tried to chase it away or capture. Better yet, I hope someone would kill the beast.”

As they spoke, there was another roar coming from the forest. This time, it sounded even more in pain.

Link was genuinely unnerved now. Someone who could hurt the Level-6 Wind Tiger so much that it would cry out in pain and be unable to flee from must at least be at Level-7!

Even Link knew he wouldn’t be able to achieve such a feat himself. If push came to shove and he must defeat the Wind Tiger, then he would have to rely on the Prophetic White Stone’s power. Even then, he wouldn’t be able to stop the tiger from fleeing!

But are Level-7 Magicians so widespread in Firuman that they can be found anywhere now? Link brooded. He found the matter utterly curious until finally, a possible explanation popped up in his mind.

It can’t be one of the escaped prisoners of Azura Tower, can it?

He clearly remembered that on that day, among the escaped prisoners were a big group of Level-6 Master Magicians. Their number was in total no less than twenty. Apart from them, there were five Level-7 Master Magicians; then, there was one who was able to cast a Level-8 deflective spell. Once Vance was excluded from this total count, there would be four Level-7 Magicians left who were currently at large.

Magical beasts had notoriously hardy physical strength. Their flesh and blood, their bones and their fur were all precious magic materials. It would be no wonder that this Wind Tiger would be targeted since he made no attempt to conceal his presence; he emitted such ear-splitting roars announcing its whereabouts to the world.

Once he thought of it this way, Link thought he must get to the bottom of the matter himself now. Those escaped prisoners were mostly shady characters who’d committed serious crimes against the living. They were also exiled individuals who wouldn’t find a place where they were accepted in mainstream society. These types of people would eventually fall in with the dark forces, which would one day be enemies that Link would have to eliminate.

Even if he couldn’t defeat the opponents now, it’s best that Link investigate the matter and gather as much information as he can now.

“Lev, stop the carriage,” Link ordered. “I’ve reached my destination.” He then opened the front window of the carriage and threw five gold coins to Lev before the coachman could make any reply.

Lev was naturally stunned once he’d seen the gold coins. He stopped the carriage immediately, where Link then hopped out the carriage and walked away. He didn’t enter the city gates, though, but headed instead towards the forest.

Roaaaarrrrr!!!

It was another beastly cry from the forest, although this time it sounded less like a roar and more like a whimper.

Link cast the spell, Cheetah’s Agility on himself to increase his speed and energy. He then concealed his presence with a high-level invisibility spell which masked the sounds of his footsteps, his scent, his Mana as well as rendering his body invisible. Once completed, Link then rushed straight towards the direction where the roars had originated from.

Roaaaarr!!!

Link could sense that the beast was getting weaker now. It sounded as if it was not too far away from him now. Link estimated that the Wind Tiger was probably only a mile away.

Link ran for another three minutes. Then finally, he reached the battle site.

He was at the banks of a small creek in the forest. Trees around him had been uprooted and fell flat to the ground. He could sense that the energy of wind elements and dark elements had recently clashed violently here. There, on the rocky banks of the creek, lay a bloodied tiger, breathing laboriously and struggling to keep itself alive.

Not far away from him stood three people. Two of them were Warriors, each wielding a shield. The remaining one was a Magician shrouded in a thick black fog of dark energy, himself clad in a black cloak that covered his whole body.

The Magician stood right beside the Warriors’ shield, as a rope-like stream of black mist poured forth from his wand and entered into the wounds on the Wind Tiger’s body. The mist corrupted its flesh and blood with its dark, demonic aura.

The tiger was too weak to do anything but groan in pain. It was obviously suffering excruciating pain at the moment, yet it did not struggle or attempt to move at all. It must’ve been completely drained of its energy.

After a while, Link could accurately estimate the levels and strengths of the three men there.

Two of them are Level-6 Warriors utilizing dark Battle Aura, thought Link. That’s something I’ve never encountered before. That Level-7 Necromancer, on the other hand, is definitely a Lich. He’s definitely from Azura Tower, and he’s using a Level-7 Occult transformation spell!

A notification popped up on the interface. Link took a glance and saw that it was a new mission.

Mission: Stop the Occult Transformation

Mission Details: 1. Kill the occult opponents and save the Wind Tiger. 2. Investigate the identities of the three occult opponents.

Reward 1: 100 Omni Points.

Reward 2: Soul Stamp (to be used on Battle Animal)

Well then, thought Link. Having seen the contents of the notification, he then accepted the mission without hesitation.