Chapter 624: Poisonous Mist Trail
Of course, Ujfalusi wouldn’t actually pay attention to those matters. Instead, he reported the matter of his herb purchase at Seven Leaf Grass to his master, Lin Li.
Back in Roland City, Lin Li had once requested Charles, the owner of Seven Leaf Grass, to help him search for some rare herbs from Tree of Emerald in City of Late Winter. However, back then, Charles was fretting over the possible obstacles he might face while on the way to City of Late Winter; hence, he hired some mercenaries to protect him.
However, it was said that the second largest bandit group of the Breezy Plains would be entrenched on that route too. Hence, even Sienna was troubled by this task. Lin Li wanted to use Charles’ connections in City of Late Winter to reap some benefits. Hence, he agreed to send 10 Archmages from the Tower of Dusk and Ujfalusi to escort and protect him.
At that time, Lin Li did not think that he would encounter the elves in the Haiga Mountain Range. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have wasted his efforts. Anyway, the elven elders had already promised to give him more privileges in terms of herbs.
When Lin Li left the Tower of Dusk, Seven Leaf Grass’s team had also set off at the same time. However, when Ujfalusi left, Lin Li had instructed him to meet him in the Haiga Mountain Range after arriving at the City of Late Winter. Lin Li, too, knew that he lacked some manpower, and Ujfalusi had already recovered his Legendary-realm power. It was a huge support for his quest in the Haiga Mountain Range.
After escorting the Seven Leaf Grass team to the City of Late Winter, Ujfalusi left the 10 Archmages behind to continue protecting the Seven Leaf Grass team while he entered the elven camp using the Soul Contract according to Lin Li’s previous instructions.
Although Ujfalusi was alone, Liches had their own resources. Apart from the fear he felt because of the hatching of the Elemental Wyrm, he did not encounter too many obstacles along the way.
However, although the City of Late Winter was on the edge of the Emerald Forest, it was still rather far. Hence, Ujfalusi was a few days later than the high-level elf who had returned with the Star-scarred Robe.
The elven Queldana Family, Malfa Family, Dark Blade, and Tower of Dusk sat together to discuss what their next move as a team should be. At the same time, in addition to the eighth elder Randy and a few high-level elves, there was also the breathtakingly beautiful Princess Elune present.
Actually, Lin Li was quite surprised when he first found out about the identity of Princess Elune. Princess Elune was rather significant to the elves, and as she was the only successor of the elven queen, her death would definitely cause unredeemable damage to the elves.
Although Lin Li was curious, he did not question the elven elders, because it concerned their affairs and there was nothing for him to find out.
First, Elune explained the experiences that she and her peers had, after which Elder Randy told her the clues he had found about the lost relic.
During this resting period, the human tripartite cooperation had also been studying and discussing, after which they found the likely location of the Immortal King’s treasure. After comparing it to the leads provided by Elder Randy, they found that their guesses concurred, but no one could tell the relationship between the treasure of the Immortal King and the lost relic of the elves.
However, Elder Randy made a promise to the humans on behalf of the elves, and even though their goals were overlying, the elves only wanted their own sacred relic, and wouldn’t touch the Immortal King’s treasure.
Soon, they reached a consensus and set off deeper into the Haiga Mountain Range using the route that they had mapped out.
As adventurers in this world, everyone knew that there bound to be plenty of danger and uncertainties in the Haiga Mountain Range. Hence, when they were packing up with heavy hearts, the elves and humans were all solemn and conscientious as they had no idea if they could make it out alive, but they did not have a reason to back out.
When they finally entered the deeper areas of the Haiga Mountain Range, they realized why it was known as the area where life was forbidden. They saw magnificent and powerful magical beasts which the adventurers could not identify, because they had never even seen them before. There were also level-16 and level-17 magical beasts, but were surprisingly the ones at the bottom of the food chain in the area.
Just like how a person couldn’t avoid stepping on someone else’s foot in a dense crowd, battling would be inevitable here. After leaving a magical beast’s territory, they would soon step into another group of magical beasts’ territory. There were no buffer zones in between territories at all. Hence, it was often impossible for the adventure team composed of humans and elves to find a place to set up a camp.
At this juncture, everyone could finally understand why they had had to rest for so long. Over here, resting would be considered a luxury that they could not afford. In fact, there were more magical beasts at night, all of which were extremely terrifying. There was no time for rest at all. Even though the adventurers took turns to fight, the situation was still too intense for rest.
The only exception in this team was none other than Lin Li, the President of the Tower of Dusk, and his Undead creatures. The three of them were like masters who did nothing. Throughout the past two weeks of adventure, they would put in effort as minimal as possible during all the battles that they encountered, and would never take action unless necessary. However, they definitely made plenty of gains such as highly priced magical crystals. Not to mention, they did not feel embarrassed about taking these benefits at all.
The Malfa Family and Dark Blade had long gotten used to this, but the elves got a great eye-opener. They had long heard about the shameless nature of humans from their elders, but some of them had still been doubtful. However, after witnessing this, they realized that their elders were speaking the truth.
They thought, They’re so shameless, especially that Undead creature. Not only did he rush to get the gains, he actually shapeshifted into bats to take everything away. After the bats gathered together, they quickly scooped up the magical crystals and handed them over to the shameless human mage, without feeling any guilt at all.
Actually, they weren’t there for the magical crystals, anyway. However, they found Lin Li’s and the Vampire’s behavior to be overboard. If you want the magical crystals, you can attack the magical beasts. You’re both Legendary powerhouses, is it that difficult to deal with the magical beasts?
After more than half a month, the elves felt increasingly disgusted with Lin Li. They were both intelligent races, but why was the difference so great? However, some elves dared not show their displeasure, because it was not only the instructions of their superiors, but also because they really needed Lin Li’s help.
After entering the depths of the Haiga Mountain Range, those powerful magical beasts were indeed a great threat to the adventure team. However, the genuinely lethal threat actually came from the magical beasts which seemed unassuming on the surface. In fact, their power did not allow them to be qualified as magical beasts.
Toxins and curses were some of the very tricky weapons that magical beasts were born with. In the deeper areas of the Haiga Mountain Range, where life was forbidden, the magical beasts that had survived relying on toxins and curses definitely had unimaginable power.
Low-level antidotes would be of no use here. Even the high-level potions prepared by the elves in advance didn’t have that great of an effect. At this moment, they finally realized how important the annoying human mage was.
Although Lin Li did not take initiative to attack the magical beasts, and even got Norfeller to snatch the gains, he would never hesitate to help any poisoned humans or elves. Of course, the only reason he could be so magnanimous was because the herbs were all supplied by the elves.
Under such circumstances, no one dared to say anything; no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t get poisoned, either. Everyone knew that the young mage Lin Li could turn against the elven elders for the sake of his Undead creatures. Offending him would be akin to losing their chance to live. If they were to get poisoned, the consequences would be far greater than losing just a few magical crystals.
The elves did not know much about Princess Elune and the rest getting poisoned, nor did they know what kind of a price they had paid to get Lin Li to help. However, the fact that the eighth elder had personally sought help from a human was shocking enough. In the opinion of several elves, the price of sacrificing one’s pride could not be balanced by anything else.
Finally, after more than half a month of hard exploration, the exhausted adventurer team came to a cliff, which was one of the places that the elves claimed to be a clue. It was also a landmark mentioned in the humans’ treasure map.
After clearing and driving out the surrounding magical beasts, the team began to set up tents. All of them truly needed a break at this time, be it humans or elves, though they only had very little time to rest. While setting up the tent, the main figures proceeded to look around the cliff in a bid to see what clues they could find.
In such a place, the average person would no longer be able to complete the investigation work, even if he was a Legendary powerhouse, for the outcome would be miserable, and they would end up being eaten by the beasts. Hence, if they wanted to understand the situation and find clues, it could only be done by several Legendary powerhouses.
“Master Felic, the situation seems to be unfavorable,” Cheyenne said with a frown after arriving at the cliff.
Unfavorable? It’s terrible! Lin Li was actually clearer than the rest that there was a strong Menace of the Dragon coming from the bottom of the cliff because he had a deeper experience than several other Legendary powerhouses. Not long ago in the valley, he had a battle against the projected avatar of the Elemental Wyrm. Not to mention, Xiao Hua that was living in Dream Garden in his ring needed several magical crystals a day for it to be appeased.
With a sullen expression, Borg said, “It’s the Menace of the Dragon. Is there a wyrm below this cliff?”
Lin Li shook his head, and said, “It is the Menace of the Dragon, but there’s more than just one wyrm.” He could feel how complicated and powerful the Menace of the Dragon was, thus indicating that the source of it was more than just one wyrm.
Of course, it was uncertain if that was a good thing. Whether it was a wyrm with a strong Menace of the Dragon or a few wyrms with a weaker one that were harder to deal with was a subjective issue.
However, Lin Li’s words attracted the attention of Elder Randy, who shot him a peculiar glance. After all, it was not an easy task for Legendary figures to sense the Menace of the Dragon deeply, because as long as a wyrm appeared, it would definitely be above the Legendary-realm. Hence, the Menace of the Dragon had a great impact on Legendary figures.
Several Legendary powerhouses stood silently on the cliff, calculating the possibilities in their heads. Although they had encountered many powerful magical beasts along the way, ordinary magical beasts could not compare to wyrms at all. At this point, no one was willing to back out, but they had to consider how to deal with the numerous wyrms that possibly existed below the cliff.
The bottom of the cliff was shrouded in thick mist, making it impossible for them to see anything. They could all tell from the Menace of the Dragon that the wyrm that was exuding it definitely was powerful—above the Legendary-level. It also had extremely high magic resistance, physical defense, natural talent, and Dragon language magic. Even if the mage was of the same level, he definitely wouldn’t be able to attack it, let alone kill it.
Although this adventure team was composed of the elites of all forces, and was extremely powerful, they would have to pay a painful price to obtain victory. Not to mention, they still had no idea how many wyrms there were in total. Even if they were to send out all subordinates, there might not be a desirable effect.
Feeling concerned, the crowd returned to the camp to discuss what to do next. However, they had an advantage which was also rather perplexing—there were very few magical beasts there, perhaps because of the Menace of the Dragon. Even magical beasts of the same level and strength would be affected. Not to mention, there was apparently more than one wyrm below the cliff.
Upon returning, Elder Randy first sent a few teams of elves to go out and reconnoiter around the place. The existence of the Menace of the Dragon actually made the place less dangerous than elsewhere; hence, the elves could look around safely.
Actually, the problem that they were now facing was how to get to the bottom of the cliff and how to deal with the wyrms that could possibly appear. Be it from the clues found by the elves or the ones in the humans’ treasure map, they could deduce that the Immortal King’s treasure had something to do with the bottom of the cliff.
In fact, Lin Li was much more certain than anyone else because his debris of the stars allowed him to sense that Thunderbolt was somewhere below the cliff.
However, getting to the bottom of the cliff was indeed a problem that they had to think about. Although Legendary-mages could fly, they still had no idea how tall the cliff was. Besides, they might encounter the attacks of wyrms along the way.
Due to the fact that Legendary-mages used plenty of mana, most of their battles would be conducted in the air. It could be said that fighting in the air was not difficult for them. However, the dense fog under the cliff was difficult to explore even with mental strength. If one wanted to fight in such an environment, there would at least be mental suppression handicapping them by half. If they were to encounter a wyrm at that time, they might really die.
After some discussion, they still did not find a good solution; hence, they had no choice but to wait for the reconnoiters to come back in hopes that the latter would bring some news that they could discuss and develop a few options.
The team rested for two days near the cliff. Due to the Menace of the Dragon, they were not bothered by any magical beasts in those two days. It could be said that they had a good rest. Although the Menace of the Dragon also had a certain influence on humans and elves, it only radiated naturally, and was not suppressing the humans. That was the difference between the intelligent races and magical beasts.
Finally, a team of elves returned with good news. They explored along the cliff and found a road that seemed to allow them to make a detour to the bottom of the cliff. However, the strength of the team was limited; hence, they had yet to explore the way in detail. Not only were there terrifying beasts along the way, there were also poisonous gases all around them, as well as a mysterious power that limited all the nature magic.
However, the piece of news still made them feel rather energized. Elder Randy rewarded those elves before discussing the route with the humans.
According to the news brought back by the elves, it would be basically impossible for a large team to enter. Lin Li analyzed the poisonous gas that they had collected and found that it was not feasible to formulate an antidote for it, even though it was not as difficult to deal with as viper’s poison. However, the Legendary-level poison could remain hidden in the body.