Chapter 544 - Ariel Newmoon (1/2)

Chapter 544: Ariel Newmoon

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

The man was not Haromed. To complicate things even further, there was a High Elf in their midst.

The former’s presence was not too surprising. As Evelina had said before, Haromed was not the only high-level Ethereal. But the Ethereal and the High Elf before them seemed to be working together on something, and the High Elf had deliberately hidden her identity. This demanded further scrutiny.

After thinking for a while, Link mouthed noiselessly at Evelina, “Inspect them. Get ready to act.”

As Link and Evelina were the Legendary masters of their four-man squad, they acted as its vanguard. Eliard and Celine served as their backup, providing their assistance whenever they saw fit.

Their targets did not notice the four of them lying in ambush in their yard. They chatted on while walking side by side.

“Envoy, are you sure this method of yours will be more effective?” asked the Ethereal Warrior. He was holding a crystal vial. It contained a light purple fluid.

“Of course it is. There’s nothing unusual about your current conditions. It’s simply due to the incompatibility between your souls and your new host bodies. Black ant essence can help alleviate your symptoms, but this is only a temporary solution. An antidote concocted with purple lotus extract should be able to completely cure your conditions,” explained the High Elf woman. Her voice was hoarse. She sounded like a middle-aged man whose throat had suffered a terrible injury. Obviously, she, or he, was wearing a disguise.

The Ethereal Warrior still seemed unsure. He turned the vial around in his hand. After observing its contents from all possible angles for a few minutes, he finally said, “The decision isn’t really mine to make. We’d best wait for my master to return. However, I do approve of some of the demands you’ve made in exchange for your remedy.”

“I see. And when will your master return?” asked the High Elf.

“Not today, that’s for sure. The earliest he’ll be back is tomorrow afternoon. And if I’m being honest, your demands may sound a bit excessive to him. I would be more than happy to help you out a bit if it was up to me. But my master would probably not take kindly to the requests that you’ve made. He may even chase you out of here without a moment’s hesitation. If it comes to that, you’ll probably not be able to get anything from him.”

As he spoke, the Ethereal put away the purple fluid and walked to the bubbling cauldron in the middle of the yard. He knelt down to add more firewood beneath the cauldron. He then began stirring the potion inside the cauldron with a stirring rod. As he stirred, the Ethereal sprinkled in the black ant carcasses into the mixture, leaving the High Elf woman standing in a corner.

The High Elf looked on at this, deep in thought. Ten seconds later, she opened her mouth to speak. “Then how many Stabilizing Crystals will you give me?”

“Hehe.” The Ethereal chuckled. He brushed the dirt off his hands and said, “You give me the recipe for this purple lotus concoction and its preparation method, and I’ll give you 300 pieces every month. That’s around 22 pounds of Stabilizing Crystals.”

“22 pounds… That’s too little.” The High Elf was not satisfied by this offer.

The Ethereal shook his head. “This is as much as I can give you. If I give you any more than that, our affair here will be revealed, and I will of course be severely punished by my master. But my punishment would also hurt you as much, since you won’t be able to get a single piece of crystal from me then.”

The High Elf fell silent for a while. Finally, she nodded. “Alright, I’ll take it. 300 Stabilizing Crystals per month. Let’s move on to the second item in our agenda. We’ve found that you Ethereals had a run-in with Ferde a while back. Since then, the number of Legendary masters in Ferde has increased. I would like to know the reason behind this.”

As she said this, a drastic change came over the Ethereal’s face. His brows shot up in anger. Power flowed off him in waves, sending out faint ripples in the air around him.

The Ethereal’s demeanor switched instantly from the vulgar mannerisms of a haggling merchant to the ferocity of a wild beast.

He stood up and walked slowly towards the High Elf. His voice was dripping with hatred when he said, “Step away from this while you can, or else. Just wait and see. We’ll get our revenge on Ferde. We’ll raze that place to the ground, turn it into rubble!”

The High Elf woman was again silent. She seemed unmoved by the Ethereal Warrior’s threat, but she did not ask any further. A while later, she took out a magic book with a purple cover and handed it over to the Ethereal. “If you don’t wish to tell me, that’s alright. This contains detailed instructions for preparing the purple lotus potion. Take it, and remember, 22 pounds of Stabilizing Crystals per month. No less than that, or we’ll cut off our supply of purple lotuses.”

“Got it. You seem like a reasonable person,” replied the Ethereal moodily. He was still fuming.

At this point, the two of them had come to an agreement. As the High Elf turned to leave, Link, who had been hiding behind a clump of grass in the yard, shouted an order to Evelina, “Now!”

He leaped into action at the same time.

Link willed his Dragon King’s Fury sword to point at the cauldron in the yard. A white spatial ball flew out from it. It then struck the cauldron in an explosion.

It was an upgraded version of the Spatial Shackle spell: Spatial Seal.

A resonant hum sounded. A white mist spread out in all directions. In an instant, the Ethereal was enveloped in it and was turned into a spatial statue. Deprived of all movement, the Ethereal was about to fall to the ground when suddenly, something happened.

As the mist surged towards the High Elf, a dark green light radiated from her body.

The light cloaked her body in an instant, blocking off the white mist. Upon a closer look, Link realized that the barrier of light did not completely block it off, but was rather slowing down its advance.

Taking advantage of this, the High Elf’s body dissolved into mist itself. In the blink of an eye, she was able to retreat back a few feet away from the white mist. Once she was out of harm’s way, the dark green light around her dissipated immediately.

When the light faded away, dark green leaves appeared out of thin air, swirling at high speed around the High Elf like a cyclone. The leaves lashed out in all directions, hitting everything in their paths, including the frozen Ethereal.

The High Elf had whipped up a terrifying leaf cyclone.

Whoosh… The leaves slashed across the Ethereal’s body, tearing it into pieces. Nothing was safe from the High Elf woman’s fury now. Not even her deal with the Ethereal was enough to guarantee the Ethereal’s safety.