Emendas' jaw almost dropped to the ground when he saw Lin Li return to the campsite unscathed.
Emendas was no stranger to the Blackstone Mountains. In fact, he had just completed a mission in the Blackstone Mountains two months ago, and the location was the forest he had sent Lin Li to scout. No one knew better than Emendas how dangerous the forest was. Although there were not many magical beasts there, there were often high-level magical beasts above level-18. When they appeared, even a level-17 Archmage like him had to avoid them …
Emendas thought about it for a long time, but he still couldn't figure out how Felic managed to survive. Could it be that his luck was really so good that he hadn't even encountered a single high-level magical beast after wandering around the forest for an entire night?
Could it be that this fella was hiding his abilities?
Emendas could not help but laugh when this thought popped up in his head. Emendas knew better than anyone else how strong his mental strength was. Only a mage above the Legendary-realm could hide his abilities from him. This Felic was only in his twenties, and Emendas would be the first to not believe that he was a Legendary-mage.
Moreover, if he was really a Legendary-mage, why would he need to hide his abilities? Just a word from him would be enough to make the entire Malfa Family kneel before him. Why would he need to pretend to be an Adventurer and suffer in the Blackstone Mountains?
In the end, Emendas only nodded without saying anything else. Instead, it was Hahn who had been following him all this while who suddenly pulled a long face and asked sarcastically, "You finished scouting so quickly?
"You finished scouting so quickly? Do you really think you can fly?" Hahn had his hands behind his back, and his voice was sharper than usual when he spoke. "Don't think that I don't know what you're up to. You found a place to hide for two hours, and then ran back to say that there was no danger in the forest. You're lying. Let me tell you, this mission concerns the safety of the entire team. If you're smart, you'd admit it yourself. Don't force me to report this to Young Master Hutton. I'm afraid that you'll regret it when the time comes!"
"I say, Mr. Hahn, there's really nothing in the forest. If you don't believe me, you can go take a look yourself. I'm just a mage, not a magician. I can't possibly conjure up a bunch of magical beasts out of thin air, can I?" Lin Li glanced at Hahn, and did not even bother to lift his eyelids. To be honest, Lin Li did not think much of this short and snobbish butler of the Malfa Family ever since he first saw him. It was fine if he was a little snobbish and mean, but could he not be so blatant? Even Johnathan, a distant relative, scolded him whenever he wanted without giving him any face. Did he really think that he could do whatever he wanted just because he had connections with the Malfa Family?
Lin Li had never been interested in such people. After replying indifferently, he did not intend to continue paying attention to him.
Unexpectedly, this sentence seemed to have stepped on Hahn's tail. Immediately, this short and skinny butler jumped up. "Who are you? How dare you speak to me like this? Let me tell you, don't think that I'll give you face just because you know that country bumpkin Johnathan. Do you really think that he's my distant cousin? Pfft, my ancestors have been the butler of the Malfa Family for three generations. Johnathan is just a country bumpkin. What right does he have to be my distant cousin? "
Hahn was hopping mad, but Lin Li did not even bother to look at him. The best way to deal with such a retard was to not speak to him at all. Otherwise, he would drag you down to the same level as him, and then use his rich experience to defeat you …
In comparison, Emendas was much stronger.
Although Emendas did not have any good intentions, he had at least put on a good front. He was so good at using someone else to do his dirty work, and Lin Li could not reject his request.
"Alright, Mr Hahn, please be quiet." Just as Hahn was in a mess, Emendas finally spoke. He first calmed the furious Hahn down before turning back to Lin Li with a calm tone. "Alright, Mage Felic, I would like to confirm one last time. Is there really nothing in that forest?"
Lin Li nodded with certainty. "That's right."
"Alright, Mage Felic, you can go back and rest." Emendas waved his hand to indicate that Lin Li could leave. However, just as Lin Li stepped out of the tent, Emendas spoke again. "Oh, yes, Mage Felic, I have to remind you that your reconnaissance tonight concerns the safety of the entire team. If I find out that your intel is not accurate, I think you might be in big trouble …"
"Haha, the truth will prove everything." Lin Li turned back to smile at Emendas before turning to leave the tent.
Lin Li was not worried at all about what Emendas had said. He had seen the gloomy forest with his own eyes, and apart from a wild boar that had already entered Tutankhamun's stomach, there was not a single strand of hair to be found. Lin Li did not believe that Emendas' eyes would be sharper than his Life Detection Skill, which could detect life within 200 meters.
Moreover …
Even if there really were any magical beasts in the forest, they would have all escaped by now. When Tutankhamun appeared last night, that kind of pressure was even more terrifying than that of a Legendary magical beast. Even if it was him, he had to push his mental strength to the limit in order to barely stay awake under that kind of pressure.
"That's right …" Lin Li suddenly remembered that the forest was so strange that there was not even a mosquito. Could it really be because Tutankhamun had come? The more Lin Li thought about it on the way back to the tent, the more he felt that it was the case. Otherwise, why would there not be a single magical beast in the forest on the mountainside of the Blackstone Mountains? It was only a legend that one could survive unsullied by the mud; it was only natural that one would be tainted by one's company.
It seemed that this middle-aged man who claimed to be from the prehistoric times was more powerful than he had imagined …
Emendas set off with his men the next day when the sky had just lit up.
The forest not far ahead was the only way up the mountain. Before the group entered the forest, Emendas had sent a few level-15 Bandits to scout. After all, this concerned the safety of more than 100 people. No matter how much he wanted to get someone else to do his dirty work, he would not let Lin Li enter at this time.
The level-15 Bandits were indeed powerful. In less than an hour, they came out of the forest one after another. However, what they brought back shocked Emendas.
There was really nothing in the forest …
"How could this be …" Emendas was stunned for a full minute before he waved his hand and gave the order to continue moving forward.
Without the harassment of magical beasts, their progress was naturally much faster. In less than two hours, the group had passed through the forest, and the road was even smoother. It was so smooth that Emendas did not dare to imagine it. They did not encounter a single magical beast from morning to evening, and Emendas could not help but wonder if he had gone the wrong way. Was such a peaceful and quiet place really the Blackstone Mountains where magical beasts roamed?
In the evening, the adventurers once again used tents and stones to build a camp on the mountainside.
"Mage Emendas, Second Young Master has sent someone to ask when you can deal with that fella using magic." Emendas' tent was very spacious, and there was a thick woolen carpet on the ground. There was a folding coffee table in the middle of the tent, and there were four people sitting around it. Other than Emendas and Hahn, there was also Granger and the Archmage.
There was a map made of parchment paper on the coffee table. If one looked closely, it would not be difficult to see that the map depicted the terrain of the Blackstone Mountains. Emendas had been studying the map, and only slowly raised his head after Hahn had finished speaking.
"Mr Hahn, please tell Second Young Master that he can rest assured that we have plenty of opportunities. After we enter the Scar of Death tomorrow, I will definitely give him a satisfactory result."
"After we enter the Scar of Death?" Hahn's face was unusually gloomy. "Mage Emendas, aren't you being a little too cautious? With your abilities, it is not a problem to deal with a level-10 Magic Shooter. Why do you have to spend so much effort on him? Are you worried that he has some kind of backer? Don't worry, I've already asked Johnathan. They're all from Doland, and they signed up for this mission for the reward of 10,000 gold coins. Think about it, Adventurers that can be bribed with 10,000 gold coins can't possibly have any decent backing. "
"Hehe …" Emendas looked at him. To be honest, he really hated this short and skinny fella. He was stupid and snobbish, and never used his brain when he spoke. If not for the fact that he represented the second young master of the Malfa Family, he would have smashed his face with a Pyroblast long ago.
'Why didn't that idiot think about it? How could an ordinary 10th Rank High Mage be linked to those strange things over and over again?' Take the night when he first arrived at Blackstone Town for example. Five level-14 adventurers tried to ambush him, but somehow they ended up sleeping in the camp for the whole night. If it weren't for him, they would probably still be in a deep sleep.
Furthermore, it was even stranger to ask him to scout the forest last night.
There were clearly all kinds of magical beasts running amok in that forest, but with this guy's group, those magical beasts all disappeared without a trace. There were no traces of magical beasts for the rest of the journey.
It might be a coincidence if it happened once, but it could not be helped if it happened twice or thrice. Although he could not tell how powerful Felic was, Emendas believed that he was definitely not as simple as a level-10 Magic Shooter as he claimed …
Of course, he could not tell this to the idiot Hahn, because Emendas knew very well that even if he told him, the idiot would not believe him. He might even mock him for being a coward, and he had no interest in explaining such things to a fool.
"Mage Emendas, what's going on? If you continue like this, Young Master Harvey might be very unhappy … "Hahn's face was unusually gloomy. Until now, he was still brooding over the conversation from last night. That fellow called Felic was simply too arrogant. What was a mere level-10 Magic Shooter? How dare he flaunt his prowess in front of Sir Hahn!
In the beginning, Hahn was just following Young Master Harvey's orders loyally, but now, he couldn't wait to see Felic get rid of.
As the butler of the Malfa Family, Hahn was used to doing whatever he wanted in Aminya City. Not to mention a mere level-10 Magic Shooter, even Emendas, who was known as the strongest Adventurer in Aminya, would have to show some respect to him on account of the Malfa Family. Yet, he did not expect to be put in such a difficult position by a low-level Adventurer in the Blackstone Mountains.
How do you expect Hahn to endure this?
"Mr Hahn, I have my own way of doing things. I don't think I need you to teach me, do you?" Emendas couldn't help but frown when he heard Lin Li's threatening words, and he wasn't as polite as before.
"…" Hahn suddenly remembered that Emendas was the most powerful Adventurer in Aminya, and that even the patriarch and the two young masters had to treat him with respect. He had accidentally threatened Emendas, and it would not be easy for him to clean up the mess if Emendas was angered.
However, the words had already been spoken. Even if Hahn wanted to take them back, he couldn't bring himself to do so. Hence, after a slight hesitation, he stood up with a cold expression and left the tent with Granger.
"Sigh, this Hahn is really …" Emendas shook his head helplessly.
"Forget it, Emendas. We're going to enter the Scar of Death tomorrow. It's better to avoid trouble. You know that this Hahn is very trusted by the second young master. If we have a conflict with him now, the second young master might really be displeased."
"I know …" Emendas rubbed his forehead painfully. "The Malfa Family places great importance on this mission. If anything goes wrong, that Young Master Hutton will really turn against us …"
After Hahn brought Granger out, he suddenly stopped in his tracks at a secluded corner.
"Granger, you should be very close to Reggie and the rest, right?"
"Yes, Mr Hahn." Granger nodded. The Reggie that Hahn was talking about was one of the Bandits that Emendas had sent out to scout this morning. Back in Aminya, he had indeed been on good terms with these people.
Hahn clenched his teeth. "Then help me find them. I'll do what Emendas does not dare to do."
This time, Granger was a little hesitant. "Mr Hahn, should we inform Mage Emendas about this?"
"Should I tell him about it? Forget it, Emendas is so timid that he's even afraid of a level-10 Magic Shooter. It's useless even if we inform him. Don't worry, as long as Reggie and the rest do their job cleanly, nothing will happen. "
"Alright."
…
At this time, Lin Li was dumbfounded.
Through the evil spirit in Granger's body, everything in the tent could not be hidden from Lin Li's eyes and ears. However, Lin Li did not expect Hahn to be so vengeful. He had only talked back to him a little, but Hahn actually disobeyed Emendas' words, and had to find a few Bandits to kill him.
"Ujfalusi, are you done drawing the map? We don't have much time left. There are a few guests coming to visit later …"
"It'll be done soon, Master." In the corner of the tent, Ujfalusi was rapidly sketching on a piece of parchment with a quill. If Emendas were here, he would have been able to tell at a glance that Ujfalusi was sketching the terrain of the Blackstone Mountains. To be precise, he was copying the map on the coffee table.
This was the biggest reward of the night. The evil spirit lurking in Granger's body had not only overheard an assassination attempt on Lin Li, but had also seen the map of the Blackstone Mountains with his own eyes. The moment Lin Li saw the map, he knew that it was not one of those cheap goods that were circulated around in the Adventurers Guild. The map was too detailed, and almost every place was annotated with words, especially the place called the Scar of Death …
According to the annotations on the map, the Scar of Death was the dividing line of the entire Blackstone Mountains. After passing through the Scar of Death, one would enter the most dangerous region of the Blackstone Mountains, where countless powerful magical beasts lived. In that region, level-15 magical beasts were only at the bottom of the food chain. The ones who truly ruled were those who were above level-20. They were known as Legendary magical beasts, and it was said that some Legendary magical beasts had even gained sentience, and could transform into human form in a short period of time!
However, it wasn't easy to pass through the Scar of Death. According to the description of the map, it seemed to be a canyon that was ten thousand meters long. It seemed to traverse the entire Blackstone Mountain Range. If one looked down from the sky, it would look like a scar on the Blackstone Mountain Range, which was why it was called the Scar of Death. Countless magical beasts lived in the Scar of Death. They were fierce and cruel, without any sense of reason to speak of. Any creature that stepped into the Scar of Death would be treated as an invader. They would not hesitate to use their sharp claws and fangs to tear these invaders to pieces.
According to the annotations, the magical beasts in the Scar of Death seemed to be controlled by a crazy force. They were not afraid of death, and would never retreat. Even if a Legendary magical beast stepped into the Scar of Death, they would not hesitate to attack.
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