Chapter 226 (1/2)

Chapter 226: A Truly Extraordinary Man

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It was late in the afternoon, about four o’clock, and the sky had begun to turn dark. Because of the dense foliage, the Black Forest was now already as dark as the middle of the night. The bushes on the ground rustled, and four pairs of eyes that glowed dimly in red appeared on a clearing in the forest. On the ground, there was a pile of ashes, and among the ashes were four corpses burnt toa crisp.

The biting, cold wind whistled through the trees.

“These were our soldiers,” said one of them.

“The damned MI3 wouldn’t have this kind of strength,” said the other. “Who killed them.”

“They made no attempts to hide their trails at all,” said another one. “Look, here’s their footprints. We should catch up to them and find out who they are. Sino, Finville, both of you come with me. We’ll hunt them down. Alan, go back to the Skeletal Fort and report this to the great leader!”

“Yes, sir!”

The figures split into two directions. One of them rushed into the depths of the Black Forest, while the other followed the visible trails into another direction. About three minutes later, when the dark shadowy figures completely disappeared, a voice emerged in the darkness.

“They really fell for it, Lord Mirose!” said the voice in a hushed tone, suppressing obvious joy.

Soon afterwards, several figures emerged from behind a bush. It was Link and the rest of the search party. They didn’t hurry to leave the spot after killing off the first group of ghouls. The waited nearby instead to ambush the second group of ghouls.

As for the footprints that the ghouls found, it was actually Link who’d left them there and wanted the ghouls to find them. This was a similar technique the Dark Elf Magician Lawndale Markins had used on him previously. Link and the scouts had circled a large area of the Black Forest and then came back to the original spot. That meant that the ghouls who had gone following their trails would eventually come back to this spot.

As for the ghoul who went back to Skeletal Fort, he would lead the way for Link and the scouts back to the Dark Elf’s main lair.

Link looked in the direction of the lone ghoul and smiled.

“Well,” he said, “now we’ve found ourselves a reliable guide.”

His plan was a huge gamble which depended heavily on luck. If the ghouls hadn’t decided to take these actions, then it would all go to waste. But fortunately, these ghouls weren’t that smart, so everything went just as Link had planned.

As he spoke, Link cast the spell Cheetah’s Agility on everyone.

“Let’s go!” he said. “I hope our luck is good enough that we’ll encounter the prisoner’s cart that carries the Dawn Swordsman on our way.”

And so, a group of people began to move as quickly as the wind in the forest. Soon, seven people disappeared into the depths of the Black Forest.

…

When Link and the others in the search party were following the ghoul into the dark bowels of the Black Forest, some of the scouts had been ordered by Link to bring back the captured ghouls to Icy Peak Fortress.

“Open the gates!” the scout yelled outside the fortress wall. “We’ve brought back captured ghouls!”

Ghouls? And captured too?

The guards on the walls were naturally frightened. The news they’d received so far about the ghouls were of how scary and invincible they were. What they’d seen were the Warriors and scouts getting pursued and killed by the ghouls and never the other way around. How was it possible for anyone to ever beat such fearsome creatures? And they’d managed to capture one alive as well?

This couldn’t be…a trap, could it?

The captain of the guards stood at the arrowslit and craned his neck to peer down and look out at the people outside the gates. He saw about a dozen scouts whose attire convinced him that they were indeed members of MI3. There were even one or two faces among them that he found familiar, whom he’d seen only hours earlier as they left the fortress with the search party for the Dawn Swordsman.

They couldn’t be spies working for the Dark Elves.

“Where are the ghouls?” he asked. “Let me take a closer look!” There was still a possibility that these scouts were under the ghouls’ control.

The scouts then raised up the ghouls who’d been tied up like slaves so the captain could see them more clearly.

The captain of the guards leaned over and looked down. Some soldiers were curious too, so they leaned down and tried to catch a glimpse as well.

In truth, a ghoul didn’t look much different from an ordinary Dark Elf, anyway. The only obvious distinguishing feature of a ghoul was the hands. An ordinary Dark Elf’s hands looked similar to that of a normal human being’s, but a ghoul’s hands were full of claws instead of nails.

The captain still looked doubtful, so the scouts raised the ghoul’s hands to make it easier for him to discern them.

After several hours of recovery, these ghouls had regained some vigor and were now struggling to free themselves and were even growling in their deep voices.

“Do you see it now?” asked a scout. “This one had his heart ripped out and completely defeated by the Magician, but these bastards still live on and just refuse to die.”

The guards’ captain had seen everything plainly with his own eyes now, and while he gasped in astonishment, all the doubts in his mind vanished. He ordered the suspension bridge to be laid down.

“Report this to the generals at once,” he whispered to one of the soldiers around him. “Tell them the scouts have captured some ghouls.”

No matter what had been going on lately, this was still great news for the Norton Kingdom’s army.

When the suspension bridge was laid down, and the scouts brought in the three ghouls into the fortress, a large crowd of soldiers began to flock to them. They’d heard news of the ghouls all day every day, but only a few of them had ever seen what a real one looked like. Now that there was a chance, they must find a way to catch a glimpse of them.

Even the captain of the guards came to them. He didn’t care much for the ghouls now. They looked just like normal Dark Elves except with claws on their hands anyway. Instead, there was something more important that he must find out from the scouts.

“Didn’t you go out to search for the Dawn Swordsman?” he asked one of the scouts that he pulled aside. “Why are you here, then? Where’s the princess? Why isn’t she here?”

In these circumstances, it seemed that the likeliest scenario was that the search party encountered the ghouls on their way and managed to defeat them. But at the same time, there must’ve been some fallen scouts who were killed in the process. The fact that the princess wasn’t here could only mean that she died in battle!

The princess was the Iron Duke’s only daughter. If she died in battle, then that would surely create a huge problem.

The scout shook his head.

“The princess is fine,” he said. “She’s gone to save Lord Karnose with Lord Mirose.”

“Lord Mirose?” asked a soldier there. “Who’s that?”

“A Magician!” answered another scout who’d overheard the question. His tone was full of awe and respect. “He’s an extremely powerful Magician!”

“Make way!” shouted a soldier. “Make way for the Grand Duke!”