Chapter 103: The Fruit of Dagmar (1/2)

Chapter 103: The Fruit of Dagmar

“Hello friend, are you adventuring alone in the Dark Forest?” The swordsman called out softly when he was quite a distance away from Han Shuo.

Han Shuo had long since discovered these six and had desummoned the little skeleton again since he didn’t want to reveal his status as a necromancer. He lifted his head when he heard the other’s voice and nodded at the swordsman. “That’s right.”

The cross legged harpy whooshed past overhead, but didn’t dare to continue testing Han Shuo’s patience when she saw the six adventurers meet up with him. She flew to a higher vantage point to observe the happenings from the sky.

The six adventurers were a team of three warriors, two mages, and one archer. The archer was a female elf, and the three male warriors consisted of one senior swordswoman and two journeyman swordsmen. In addition to them, there was one male journeyman mage and one female adept mage.

After Han Shuo had participated in the test given by the Academy, he now knew of some of the level differentiations and symbols used by the Magic Association and the Knight Association.

Mages would have an exquisite, small magic staff embroidered on the shoulder of their mage robes according to strength. Novice mages would possess the image of a magic staff, and each successive level would add another magic staff. Swordsmen and Knights had similar ways of differentiation, with swordsmen using swords as their emblems and knights using battlesteeds.

The robes of the mages and swordsmen looked like they’d been verified by the Magic Association and the Knight Association, and thus emblems representing their strengths were attached to the clothes they were wearing. Han Shuo could easily determine their strength with just a glance.

The six of them weren’t weak, but a bit too weak if they were to venture into the depths of the Dark Forest. This was why the harpy dared to follow them when she discovered these six. If any of them were an archmage that could fly, then the harpy would’ve run as far as possible and wouldn’t dare to look for chances to attack them.

“I’m called Odysseus. These are my companions. I think you’ve noticed the harpy’s disturbance earlier. I’m very sorry to say that the harpy has been targeting us and shifted her attentions to you when she discovered that you were walking alone.”

“As a level three magical creature, it was truly difficult to fight a harpy since she can fly in the air. If you don’t mind, you can walk with us. The harpy shouldn’t dare come down and cause trouble if the seven of us are together.” The senior swordsman, Odysseus, spoke sincerely to Han Shuo.

Shaking his head, Han Shuo declined with a smile, “That’s alright. I think you want to head further into the Dark Forest, but I’d like to go back to the outskirts. We’re not taking the same path, so I won’t trouble you.”

“How can this be? If you continue to walk alone, the harpy will never give up on you. I think you should stay with us, or you’ll be in greater trouble or even die!” One of the female adept mages Aphrodite said softly.

The others also protested when they heard Aphrodite’s words, but Han Shuo didn’t agree to leave with them. Although the six weren’t that weak, only the archer’s arrows had any ability to cause trouble for the harpy. Once the flight capable harpy dashed up in the air, the swordsmen would pose no threat to her whatsoever and magic may not be effective because of the distance.

However, Han Shuo was armed with the Demonslayer Edge and the crossbow, add to that the fact that the little skeleton could also fly up into the air using his bone spurs, if the harpy was so oblivious as to dare attack him, then painful wallops from Han Shuo and the little skeleton would be awaiting her. Therefore, Han Shuo wasn’t that afraid of the harpy. This was why he’d turned down the invitation from the six adventurers and chosen to set off alone.

“Heh heh, thank you for your concern, but I don’t think it’d be that easy for the harpy to catch me.” Han Shuo responded with a smile and grabbed his two baked fish. He didn’t respond to the six young adventurers again and walked back in the direction they’d come from alone.

The six young adventurers were startled when they saw Han Shuo leave leisurely. The senior swordsman Odysseus opened his mouth to say, “Let’s observe in the distance. If he truly has a method to deal with the harpy, then we’ll decide to leave. Otherwise we’ll help him, to prevent him from being eaten.”

“Captain, that person’s already turned us down, do we have to do this?” Journeyman swordsman Gordon was rather unwilling as he spoke sullenly.

“The harpy’s original target was us and only troubled others because we started heading in this direction. I think we should own up to this responsibility.” Odysseus lectured Gordon and directed the others to follow him, trailing far behind Han Shuo.

After walking roughly five minutes, the harpy circling over Han Shuo finally made another move. She dived down from high up in the sky and once again soared back up into the clouds with a screeching whistle when she’d almost landed on his head, baiting Han Shuo with extreme patience.

However, Han Shuo was even more patient than her. Although his two hands looked empty, the Demonslayer Edge was ready to erupt into the air at any time, and his crossbow was already prepared to fire within his space ring. As soon as the harpy dared enter within range, Han Shuo wouldn’t mind killing this level three magical creature with one shot.

As for the six adventurers following at a distance, Han Shuo could see everything clearly. He didn’t pay much attention to their kindheartedness and continued walking towards the cemetery of death at a leisurely pace.

The harpy finally couldn’t contain herself after repeatedly testing him and once again swooped in directly towards Han Shuo with her sharp claws curved, quickly approaching Han Shuo’s skullcap.

A disgusting stench assaulted his nostrils and immediately wafted around Han Shuo’s being. Most people would be temporarily dizzy and disoriented after catching a whiff of this stench, but Han Shuo’s body had been trained to an unknown level of indomitability and wasn’t affected by this at all. He still fakely swayed in accordance with the harpy’s intentions, as if he would crash to the ground at any given moment.

“Oh no! He’s been disoriented by the stench of the harpy’s body, he’s in danger! We should go save him!” The adept mage Aphrodite suddenly called out as the six adventurers no longer concerned themselves with concealment and walked out from the shrubbery behind him. The archer frantically shot arrows towards the harpy.