Chapter 186: Salamander
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“So exciting?” Lin Li got a fright. From the beginning, he’d known that the mission of the six mercenary corps would be extremely dangerous, but he’d never thought it would be this dangerous. What was the concept of legendary magical beasts? They could be said to be at the top of the magical beast food chain. Each had lived for at least hundreds of thousands of years, and their IQ was even higher than that of the vast majority of humans. Their naturally strong body, coupled with the wisdom brought by the passage of time, was an incomparably perfect combination.
Despite also being at the same legendary realm, the probability for a legendary human powerhouse to win against a legendary magical beast would never exceed 30 percent.
No wonder…
Lin Li understood at once. No wonder the tyrannical Sword Sage of the Storm had to hire the six mercenary corps.
However, as this question was resolved, more questions emerged one after another.
What Lin Li did not understand most was that the strength of the six major mercenary corps was as good as cannon fodder’s in front of the legendary magical beast. Even if the Sword Sage had gathered them, how much of a role could they play? Was he really going to use them as cannon fodder?
This was impossible…
The Sword Sage was also the president of the Adventurers Guild. He’d be a toothless tiger after losing the six major mercenary corps. Not to mention other things, the Alanna Guild of Magic alone could keep the Adventurers Guild from lifting its head. The bet that was due six months later would also become a piece of waste paper at once.
Credibility—that was what a powerhouse had.
But what could they do if they were not cannon fodder? Confront the legendary magical beast face to face? It seemed a little too fake…
In addition, Lin Li was most curious about the identity of the legendary magical beast. What kind of legendary magical beast was it to attract such a figure like Sword Sage to take it down at all costs?
At that moment, Lin Li suddenly heard a rush of trumpets.
He had stayed with the Silver Hand, and knew that this was the order for the mercenary corps to assemble. And then, he saw the long row of tents in the distance beginning to fold up one by one. From afar, they looked like a paddy field that had been blown by the wind. In the rush of trumpets, Lin Li seemed to hear countless footsteps sounding in the distant places, and a large group of adventurers were coming out of their tents, sprinting to the place where the horn sounded.
This unprecedented task was about to begin…
“Brother Felic, I have to go. Take my advice and stay here until the mission is over. Then you can return to the Silver Hand,” Andre explained hastily, and planned to drive the carriage out of this place.
To be honest, Andre’s words touched Lin Li. This was another person who cared about him besides Andoine and Gerian, albeit the way he showed his concern was a little eccentric. He had lured Lin Li out of the camp with a lie without even asking for his opinion. Nevertheless, Lin Li could sense his good intentions.
“Wait…” However, it was one thing to feel touched. If he did not ask about some things clearly, Lin Li feared he would not be able to sleep at night. “Brother Andre, what on earth is this legendary magical beast you are talking about? I’ve never seen one before. Why don’t you bring me along so that I could see it for myself? Anyway, you’re strong; I won’t be in any danger if I follow you.”
“You want to follow?” Andre’s eyes were wide open. “No, no, no. How could you come along? Do you know, it’s the Salamander!”
“Salamander?” Lin Li’s heart tightened, but his face was still. “What’s a Salamander?”
“The Salamander is… It is… You won’t understand even if I explained it. Anyhow, it’s a very, very powerful magical beast. Brother Felic, listen to me. That’s not the place where you join in the fun, and you don’t have any special equipment to resist the heat emitted by the Salamander. Maybe you’d burned to ashes by the heat before you even got to see it!”
So formidable? Lin Li muttered secretly in his heart. Salamander… To think that there is really such a legendary-level fire spirit in the Fire Plume Ridge…
In a moment, innumerable ideas turned around in Lin Li’s mind.
He was thinking not only of the Salamander, but also of the Fire Salamandrid under the shelter of the Salamander, and the cave in Sean’s memory…
According to Sean’s recollection, it was a hot cave with a temperature high enough to bake a living person, and it was so empty—completely different from the complicated, cobweb-like cave that they went to the day before. In the deepest part of the cave, magma slowly flowed through.
And those black lotuses grew right next to this magma…
Lin Li now understood why several black lotuses could grow in a cave at the same time—it was all because of the legendary fire spirit, the Salamander.
The Salamander was no stranger to Lin Li.
He had encountered one back in the Endless World. But, at that time, he was a Super Hunter with a mythical weapon. Where the arrows of the Stars of Fury pointed, even the most powerful monsters would be turned to ashes.
But even a Super Hunter with the Stars of Fury had experienced a bitter battle when encountering the Salamander. When Lin Li had finally succeeded in defeating the magical beast, he was too worn out to even walk. After that, he was reluctant to go deep into places like volcanoes for a long time—that was the shadow that the battle had left on him.
However…
While the battle had cast a shadow on him, it also left him two precious treasures. The first one was a pair of gloves, which directly raised Lin Li’s combat effectiveness to a higher level; the second one did not come into play until today—that was the fatal weakness of the Salamander…
This weakness was too deadly; if used well, it was not impossible to create miracles even with Lin Li’s current strength.
But if he wanted to make a miracle, he’d have to go through Andre first. From Andre’s firm expression, it looked like he wasn’t going to let Lin Li come along today.
Lin Li smiled. If Andre refused to let him come along, he’d just follow behind quietly later…
He quit mentioning about joining in, and nodded his head obediently. “Alright, Brother Andre. Go and do what you need to do, we’ll hide here and wait for the event to finish before returning to the Silver Hand.”
How could Andre know what the fellow was plotting in his mind.
As a matter of fact, not to mention Andre, perhaps no one could guess what Lin Li had in his thoughts.
Who could imagine a barely level-five warrior rushing excitedly in front of a legendary magical beast? There was a full 15 levels difference between them. It was even inadequate to use “heaven and hell” as comparison to describe such a difference in level. This could not be called seeking death; this was a complete and thorough madness!
Even when Lin Li said he wanted to come along earlier on, Andre had only treated it as a joke. Everyone only had one life; without any benefit, who would foolishly give it away?
How would Andre know that not only was this fellow not joking, he was more serious than anyone else…?
“Brother Felic, you can rest here. As for other things, I’ll talk to Serena.”
“Then, thank you, Brother Andre.”
“It’s no big deal. Don’t stand on ceremony with me. Ha!” Andre got on to the carriage. He waved the whip in the air, and a crisp “pa” sound followed. The two horses neighed, pulling the carriage with Andre and sped away…
“Sean, get ready. We should set off too.” Lin Li studied the map again before leaving.
“Mr Felic, are we going too?”
“Of course!”
“But, Mr Andre seemed to have mentioned some Salamander…” Sean was somewhat worried; he wasn’t worried about his own safety, but about Mr Felic—the one that changed his life.
“Rest assured, the Salamander is nothing…” Lin Li said brazenly. He slowly rolled up the map in his hand, and stuffed it into his backpack. Then, he took Sean across the flat wilderness, along the once-traveled mountain road, and quietly proceeded to the Fire Plume Ridge…
With the six mercenary corps leading the way in front, the road was much calmer this time. Not to mention magical beasts, they did not even spot a mouse as they walked along the way. It was a smooth journey all the way up to the mountainside. If it weren’t for the rugged mountain road, it would really make it a sightseeing tour.
“Wait…” It was that withered forest before them again, but Lin Li stopped short outside it, for he discovered a pool of blood.
The blood stretched out from the woods. It was warm and sticky to the touch—which meant it should be human blood…
This puzzled Lin Li. He had just been to the woods yesterday, and he knew nothing better than what was in it. Apart from that Abyss Fiendish Iron mineral vein, there were only trees that lingered on with their last breath of life; where was the blood from? Surely there wasn’t another magical beast that had appeared out of the blue?
“Sean, be careful not to make a noise.” Lin Li unleashed two Hastening Spells—one for himself and one for Sean. In the meantime, he released a Life Detection Spell, which nicely covered most of the woods.
Under the coverage of the Life Detection Spell, Lin Li tried his best to lighten his footsteps, and slowly went deep into the forest.
There were no powerful magical beasts on the way, but the bodies of some adventurers and traces of fierce fighting were found by them. From the emblems on the bodies, it seemed that they were people from all the six major mercenary corps, including two members of the Silver Hand…
The surroundings were in disorder. There were traces left behind by swords, as well as of bombardment by spells. A large area of trees was burned; even the bodies on the ground were mostly incomplete. From the wounds on them, some were led to their deaths after being torn by some ferocious magical beast, while others were obviously burned to death by fire. They looked like blocks of black coal from a distance.
“Firewolves, it’s definitely the Firewolves!” This was probably the most dangerous thing in the Fire Plume Ridge besides the Salamander. Lin Li vividly remembered reading about it from an Archmage’s adventure diary back in the Omniscient Tower. Firewolf—a level-10 magical beast—had sharp claws and the speed of wind. They traveled around in packs, forming a pool of brilliant red as if of sunrise. In the Archmage’s adventure diary, this creature once killed nearly half of his companions in an instant…