Chapter 556 - Things Were Becoming Complicated (1/2)

Chapter 556: Things Were Becoming Complicated

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

The night wind blew fiercely across the plains. There were clumps of grass as tall as a person—anyone would have a hard time finding their way through the grass.

However, Link was no ordinary person. The poisoned Beastmen who had escaped had left plenty of clues in their wake for him to follow.

From their smell, auras, footprints, to stains of the dark green blood left on the grass, Link could see it all.

Half an hour later, Link finally followed their tracks to a low-lying valley.

The valley was filled with a faint green mist. There was a tree with a thick canopy growing on the valley. Around the tree was a large plot of land, on which stood at least 30 grass huts.

The huts surrounded the tree. There was an empty space in the middle where a bonfire burned bright. However, the fire burned with a peculiar green light, painting its surroundings in an oily green hue.

Through the green light, Link could see a lot of Beastmen either standing or squatting on the empty ground. One of the Beastmen stood out to him. His huge body was covered with white stripes of fur. His eyes also twinkled like a cat’s.

The Beastmen who had escaped were now kneeling before the towering figure of this Beastman, who was holding a knobby hammer-like staff in his hand. He was waving it about as the poisoned Beastman mumbled unintelligible gibberish to him. The latter was speaking in his native tongue. His words were indistinct, and he swallowed from time and time, possibly due to the poison wreaking havoc in his body.

Hidden in a dark corner, Link listened closely to the Beastmen’s words. He was barely able to understand what they were saying.

“No, there’s no such thing as a miracle…” said the tall Beastman.

One of the poisoned Beastman began doing charades before the tall Beastman. He said firmly, “Chief, I saw it with my own eyes. There was a brilliant light in the sky. It shone on the humans, and the poison in their bodies was completely neutralized.”

“No, this must be the work of a Magician,” said the tall Beastman. Seeing that his subordinates were about to insist otherwise, he immediately dismissed them with a heavy wave of his staff. “Enough. This Magician was strong enough to dispel master’s power, very strong. I need to tell master about this.”

Ignoring his subordinates’ further attempts to convince him that what they had seen was an act of god, the tall Beastman turned away and strode towards the largest hut in the valley.

Link, who had listened to their conversation from afar, quickly cast an Invisibility spell on himself. He then noiselessly made his way through the valley.

Poisonous air permeated the valley. Though the place was basically uninhabitable to any other living being, it did not pose a problem to Link.

He stopped his breathing completely and sealed off all the pores on his body, essentially terminating all material and energy exchanges between his body and the outside world. His body was now running only on its internal energy reserves.

Link stealthily circled the valley. After walking 50 feet around the huts, he suddenly stopped. He then stooped down and carefully picked off some mud from the ground. After digging through ten inches of mud, he finally found something. It was a piece of a white rune tablet.

The tablet was big. It had a diameter of more than 20 inches, and magical runes were etched across its surface. Link squatted and took a closer look at it.

It’s a simple detection barrier, but the way these runes were etched… it must have been done by a human Magician, thought Link.

Every race had their own unique style of runecrafting. The Dark Elves’ had a more insidious aspect, the High Elves emphasized intricacy, the dragons’ runes were ancient and cavernous, and the humans preferred minimalism and practicality in their craft.

The runes on the tablet were etched out plainly. Ordinary Magicians might not be able to make out any distinguishing features, but a master like Link, who had already seen much in the realm of magic, was able to identify aspects of the runes that alluded to the race of the Magician who had crafted them.

Link was confident that the rune tablet was made via the Magician’s Hand spell.

“The mastermind behind all this is a human? No, there’s something wrong with this picture.” Link sensed that there were still certain details of this matter that contradicted with each other and that they required further deliberation.

For instance, the poisoning that had happened back then did not seem to be a human’s handiwork. Any human Magician who had wanted to carry out a villainous deed would usually do so with a curse or other form of black magic. Poisons were rarely found in a human Magician’s magical arsenal. Even if a human did resort to using poisons, he or she certainly would not use this kind of poison. This seemed like the kind of thing the High Elves would do.

Things were looking even more complicated. Link was in no hurry to come to any conclusions. He believed that the answer would reveal itself to him in time.

A detection barrier had been set up around the valley, probably as an attempt to keep ordinary Magicians out. However, to Link, the spell was child’s play. He made a slight adjustment to his invisibility spell and strolled casually through the barrier.

The detection barrier did not react to Link’s intrusion. It was as if Link did not exist at all.

Link crept noiselessly towards the biggest grass hut in the valley. Ten seconds later, he stood outside the building. There was a small window on the hut. Link walked towards the window. He then channeled Dragon Power into his ear, which amplified his hearing in an instant.

When he got close enough, Link was able to sense a magic aura coming from within the hut. It was a normal Mana aura, which was around Level-7. The aura belonged to a Level-7 human Magician. He or she was strong, but not strong enough to be able to produce such toxicity in the air. Of course, there was the possibility that the human Magician did not make the poison himself, but rather bought it from a black market. It might have been excavated from an ancient site.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Link. Is he not afraid of the poisoned air in the valley? Does he actually have an antidote for the poison?

Just then, sounds came from inside the grass hut. The tall Beastman and the Magician were now talking.

“This poison is extremely potent. Only masters of tremendous skill could hope to neutralize it, and there aren’t that many that fit that description. You said he wielded a power like moonlight? How strange.” The voice seemed to belong to an older person, but he enunciated every word clearly. He must be the human Magician.