Chapter 322: Surficial Tundra XI
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Grimm took a deep breath under his Mask of Truth.
‘The Thousand-eyed Carcinus will heed every order I make in this world? To take good care of my own life? To entrust me with a special mission before the end of this demon-hunting expedition?
‘This world really is extraordinary!’
The young sorcerer no longer treated Grimm as casually as before, he was slightly more respectful toward Grimm than before.
‘Who is this mysterious sorcerer wearing white spiral-patterned mask and holding a goat skull staff? He must have a powerful side that is beyond ordinary sorcerers to get this much attention from the great Black Isotta!’
The sorcerer had quickly made his own assumption about Grimm based on the information of Grimm’s mission.
A moment later, the sorcerer flicked his black fringe and said to Grimm in a deep voice, “Demon-Hunter Grimm, you have found a total of one hundred and forty-five mission targets, which means you are ranked at the eighty-ninth place among the one hundred and seventy-eight people who joined the mission. You are not eligible for the Honor Badge and will not be notified again.”
Grimm nodded in silence.
As Grimm expected, the number of mission targets he had found were only around the middle range.
As for the other sorcerers who hadn’t returned, they could have taken the further route to the World’s Edge. After all, the Void Fortress didn’t land at the center of the world.
Furthermore, by probability, the sorcerers who took the further path would have a greater chance to find more mission targets.
If that was the case, Grimm’s ranking could drop to around the lower middle range.
“Caw caw! How many of the Demon-Hunters who joined this special mission haven’t return?” Myna interrupted suddenly.
The sorcerer with the black short hair looked down to check for a moment and replied, “there are ninety-six more.”
“Alright.”
Grimm nodded, waved his arm in the air, and took five specimens from the Dimensional Gap.
An icicle that was broken into three five-meter pieces, a skeleton of a species that Grimm named as Acraepoids, an Onyx with the scent of death, a condensed gel-form soul, and lastly a flesh and soul specimen of an Ice Bat.
Under the Mask of Truth, Grimm’s gaze was getting serious.
Grimm pointed at the first three items and said, “These are the clues I found under a canyon during my mission. Maybe there is a group of humanoid intelligence hidden in this world, and they would launch massacres every few years. From the rings of blood traces on this icicle…”
Grimm gave a detailed account of his discovery in the canyon and some personal speculation.
The sorcerer with short black hair appeared to be sending Grimm’s special information to the Battle Command.
A moment later, the male sorcerer raised his head and said calmly, “the Battle Command has recorded this information and decided to reward you with two Sorcerer Essences. This kind of information is within our expectation, and it is considered a normal phenomenon of this world according to our records.”
A normal phenomenon?
Grimm took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
Grimm was certain that before the Isotta Sorcerer invaded this world, the Black Isotta must have made a thorough investigation of this world. This was not a simple Burrow World where only primitive creatures gather!
After inhaling deeply, Grimm pointed at the last two specimens he collected.
“I discovered this condensed gel-form soul within a weird dark red tree crown, which existence is extremely inconsistent with the regular rules of this world. What’s really strange is that the guardian of this weird tree—which is this kind of Ice Bat —is actually a group of soul slaves…”
In the same way, Grimmed reported the second unique location that he discovered.
The sorcerer also kept looking down while reporting this information to the Battle Command. After a while, the sorcerer suddenly took the Ice Bat away from Grimm by moving the nature force.
Buzz…
Six rays of red laser scanned the Ice Bat that was handed over by Grimm. At the same time, the crystal ball which Grimm used to collect the soul of the Ice Bat was transmitted to the Battle Command after a few waves of space.
This round, only after a full five-minute intense recording, the sorcerer raised his head and asked, “The Battle Command needs you to confirm the number of these Ice Bats.”
The number….
Grimm tried to estimate the overwhelming number of Ice Bats in his mind.
“As I was in a hurry to escape, I didn’t see the whole scale of the Ice Bat group, but there should be around two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand of them, their leaders and kings could be among them.”
However, Myna whispered to Grimm, “Young Master, I think there were at least five hundred thousand!”
Grimm shook his head and ignored Myna.
Even if Grimm’s estimation was wrong, the number of bats were four thousand at most, there couldn’t be more.
The sorcerer recorded further for a while, raised his head and handed Grimm a mission parchment scroll.
“You have three hourglasses to reach the coordinates stated on the mission scroll. The Battle Command will mobilize two voidships, an army of five thousand and seven hundred soul slaves, and an army of Bright Sorcerers with six hundred and fifty-five people. You are in charge of guiding this Demon-Hunting army to the spot where the Ice Bats were found.”
Green looked at the mission scroll, five Sorcerer Essence as reward.
Grimm nodded and kept the scroll away. “How is the progress of exploring the Burrow?” he asked.
The male sorcerer smiled and replied, “The pioneer army led by the great Black Isotta has successfully explored the most bottom core of the Burrow—the Snowthread Burrow, but there is no more update for now.”
“Caw?!”
“What?!”
Myna and Grimm were both shocked. It was only less than a year and the most mysterious core of the world has been explored?
Could it be true that the World Lord here did not organize any force to fight back at all?
The sorcerer just replied with a smile, “Now you’d better start performing the mission on the Surficial Tundra. If you can make it back on time, who knew you may have the chance to explore some branches of the Burrow and try your luck.”
The sorcerer stopped talking for a moment and continued, “Although I am not sure of the specific situation, looking at what is happening at the Battle Command, this world is certainly not as simple as it seems. As you can see, the information you collected were all within the expectation of the Battle Command, and they didn’t show any big reaction. Moreover, recently many other Demon-Hunters gave information that is similar to yours too.”
Grimm took a deep breath and nodded. No longer hesitating, Grimm turned away and left in a hurry.
Grimm walked away from the low sorcerer tower at the center of the Void Fortress and stood on the bustling fortress square. Under the strange gazes of several other Demon-Hunters, a purple key appeared in Grimm’s palm.
The reason why these Demon-Hunters were amazed was not because of the Marked Friendship Key, but the place where Grimm took out the key.
They were at a distant foreign world, and the Marked Friendship Key could only work in the Sorcerer World or its surrounding world fragments.
Grimm ignored the passing Demon-Hunters, the purple key rotated quickly in the center of his palm.
A moment after continuous calling of will, a huge shadow flew to Grimm’s direction from afar, and appeared above Grimm.
Although the huge shadow was insignificant compared to the 300-meter long voidship, but the powerful presence of this level three creature was more than real.
“Lord Grimm, as per my Master’s order, I shall obey your every will in this world!”
This huge shadow was exactly Thousand-eyed Carcinus that Grimm once summoned in Sorcerer World two hundred years ago.
It was with the help of Thousand-eyed Carcinus that Grimm was able to make the powerful Dark Demon-Hunter—Third Ghostpepper escaped without fighting.
“Alright.”
Holding the Sabbatic Goat Staf in his hand, Grimm brought Myna along and flew to the top of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus, standing steadily.
“Caw caw caw caw! Go over there!” ordered Myna while pointing to the direction where Grimm was supposed to meet with the Bright Sorcerer army.
Thousand-eyed Carcinus stayed still and ignored Myna, all of its eyeballs were just focused on Grimm.
After Grimm nodded in silence, Thousand-eyed Carcinus started to move its eight feet. Flying against the strong wind, the Carcinus traveled towards the direction that Myna pointed.
“Caw!? You stinky crab! Don’t you see the relationship between me, the mighty Lord Myna and Master Grimm? How dare you not listen to Lord Myna? Damn it! Sooner or later, you will regret it!”
Myna was very upset. It was shouting and threatening the Carcinus as they traveled.
However, Thousand-eyed Carcinus did not bother to respond at all.
In the eyes of Thousand-eyed Carcinus, a creature as tiny as Myna wasn’t even enough for it to be considered as a snack. If using human’s analogy, one would say “even more insignificant than a fly” or “exactly like a plankton”…
One hourglass later.
Thousand-eyed Carcinus had reached the meeting point stated on the mission scroll where Grimm was supposed to make contact with the Bright Demon-Hunter army.
Grimm was wearing a black sorcerer cloak with the Sabbatic Goat Staff in this hand, his golden hair blowing madly in the wind. Under the Mask of Truth, he was waiting quietly with a calm gaze.
Clack!
Under a layer of long, red fur, the Thousand-eyed Carcinus felt a slight itchiness on its shell. It snapped one of its claws and started scratching.