Gawain was woken up by the commotion outside while he was in a daze.
The running and shouting of the soldiers woke him up from his sleep. There were shouts like "the stone ball is alive" and a few footsteps running towards his tent. Gwen, who was not a deep sleeper, immediately woke up. He grabbed his clothes and put them on. He shouted, "What's going on?"
Knight Philip's voice came from outside the tent. "My lord, there's something wrong with the stone ball you brought back!"
What did he mean by "something wrong"?
The young Knight, who was always smart and capable, used such a vague way of describing the situation. Gwen immediately realised that the situation might be quite complicated. He quickly tidied up his clothes and took the Pioneer's Sword that was always by his side. He then opened the tent door and walked out.
It was still two hours before dawn. There was no sign of light on the horizon, but the burning braziers and torches kept the camp from being completely shrouded in darkness. Gwen had just walked out of the tent when he felt a shadow suddenly twisting at his feet. Amber then emerged from the shadow. The half-elf lady had not had time to change into her usual leather armour. She was wearing a light casual dress. She yelled as she got out of the shadow. "What's going on? I was sleeping. How could I... Hey, I'm stuck. Help me..."
Gwen was sweating profusely. He grabbed Amber by the back of her neck and pulled her out of the shadow. She was as light as a cat. "How could a master of shadow like you get stuck in your own Shadowstep?"
"I was in a bit of a hurry. I'm not fully awake yet." Amber was a little embarrassed. She quickly changed the topic. "What's wrong?"
"The stone ball I brought back seems to be in trouble," Gwen said casually. He motioned Knight Philip to lead the way while he led Amber behind the Knight and the soldiers. "Let's go and see what's going on."
When Amber heard that, she yawned. "Ah, I'm going back to sleep …"
Before she could finish her sentence, she was carried away by Gwen under his arm.
The independent tents in the south of the camp had been surrounded by soldiers and militia. A circle of people formed a line of defense about ten meters away from the tents. The burning torches lit up the area as bright as day. The civilians in the south of the camp had been awakened by the commotion, but almost no one dared to come out of their tents to check the situation. Most of them just hid in their tents in fear. It was already good enough for them to poke their heads out to take a look.
Because Amber struggled fiercely, when Gwen arrived with the half-elf, Heti was already there. She drew magic runes in the air and set up a weak protective enchantment around the tent. When she saw Gwen, she couldn't help but be a little surprised. "Ancestor, you …"
Gwen put Amber down and said, "This guy is more sensitive than us at night, but she doesn't want to come."
Amber jumped up in protest. "You can't do this! You almost strangled me! "
But no one listened to her protest.
"What's the situation inside?" Gwen looked in the direction of the tents and noticed that there was no one between the tents and the line of defense. It was as if there was a great danger if one got close to the stone ball. "Are there any casualties?"
"No casualties, but two militiamen and a soldier are trapped inside." Heti's face looked strange. "They are … sucked in."
"Sucked in?" Gwen was stunned. "Like a magnet attracting metal?"
"Similar, but very strange." Heti explained the current situation. "At first, the militiamen on night duty found that their magic equipment suddenly lost their magic power, and then their weapons and armor were attracted to the stone ball. But not all metals are attracted to it. The stone ball seems to be selective. Some fully armed people were not affected when they walked near the stone ball. Because I'm not sure what other changes there are, I don't want anyone to go near it for the time being. Only the Druil called Pitman is in the tent checking on the three trapped people."
Selective attraction? And affected the magic power? This is not like a magnet at all.
Gwen pondered for a moment. He took off his Sword of the Pathfinder and handed it to Knight Philip. He patted Amber on the shoulder and said, "Let's go in and have a look. You leave all your metal equipment behind."
"Why … why do I have to go?" Amber suddenly looked scared. "Shouldn't a Knight like you go first in such a dangerous situation?"
"Yeah, so I'll go in front and you follow." Gwen nodded. "Unless you don't want this month's salary."
Hu Po clenched his teeth, and with an expression of going all out, he threw the metal objects he carried with him on the ground — two small daggers, two amulets, a small pendant, and the pocket watch of Viscount Andrew's housekeeper from Tanzania Town next door …
Speaking of which, she hadn't returned this thing to him yet!
Gwen's eyes swept across the pocket watch and finally stared straight at Amber. His stare made the latter's hair stand on end. "Where's the money bag?"
Amber suddenly clutched her waist in horror. "Absolutely not!"
Gwen continued to stare at her.
After a few seconds, Amber finally reluctantly took out her money bag. She held it and counted it over and over again. Finally, she handed it to Knight Philip. "I'm telling you, I've counted it clearly! If there's one less when I come back … "
"I swear in the name of Knight! I'll protect the property handed over to me! " The young Knight immediately said loudly with his chest puffed out. Amber was startled. "Hey, you don't have to shout so loudly. There's not much money in there …"
"Ancestor, I'll go with you …" Heti took half a step forward but was stopped by Gwen. He looked into Heti's eyes and said, "You and Philip stay here. That ball may affect the flow of magic. You won't be able to do anything if you get close."
Heidi nodded, bowed, and retreated. "Then you should be more careful."
Gwen sighed in his heart. What a good wife … How about I ask her when she's going to get married?
Gawain brought Hu Po, who looked as if he was about to face a great enemy, to the tent as Gawain walked toward it.
In front of the tent, Gwen used his Danger Perception to confirm the situation inside. After roughly determining that there was no factor that was enough to threaten him, Gwen carefully opened the tent curtain.
The first thing he saw was a big ball placed in the middle of the tent. The ball didn't look like it had changed at all. It still looked like an ordinary stone. However, there were three fully armed men around the stone ball in a comical manner.
One was a militia, one was a militia captain, and one was an official soldier.
He also saw the figure of the little old man. Pitman was indeed taking care of the trapped soldiers as Heti had said. When Gwen opened the tent curtain, the little old man was squatting in front of the militia captain and speaking amiably. "… So you're clearly suffering from bad luck. Are you sure you don't want to try our Druil Cult's luck enhancement ritual?"
"What kind of luck enhancement ritual does the Druil Cult have? Don't try to fool my soldiers." Gwen took large strides into the tent and looked down at the three soldiers. "Who was the first to be trapped?"
The three soldiers who had been sucked into the stone ball were already in a very depressed and nervous state. After that, there was a nagging little old man promoting the luck enhancement ritual to them. They were basically on the verge of a mental breakdown, but Gwen's sudden appearance immediately eased everything. Regardless, the Legendary-level Pioneer Knight had given them a huge boost in morale (although only the Legendary-level Pioneer knew how much of an exaggeration he was). The three immediately heaved a sigh of relief as though they had been saved. Following that, the militia captain with a beard tried his best to tilt his neck to the side. "Sir, Locke was the first to be trapped. Back then, I was standing beside him in armor, but I wasn't sucked in. I was very curious, but just as I was curious, I was sucked in as well …"
As for the third soldier, he sighed dejectedly. "Sir, I was sucked in when I came to check on the situation."
Gwen looked down at the soldiers' situation and realized that it was indeed the stone ball that had sucked in their armor. There was also a longsword that was stuck at the top of the stone ball, but strangely, there was a metal ring that had fallen off from the armor on the ground beside the stone ball. The metal ring did not show any signs of being attracted.
Gwen picked up the metal ring and rubbed it against the stone ball, but he did not feel any magnetic force.
At this moment, Druil and Pitman said, "I just checked. It's not just a simple magnetic force. Furthermore, their armor seems to have been 'solidified.' It's in a completely immobile state, so they can't take it off."
From the looks of it, this fellow who was promoting the luck enhancement ritual wasn't completely incompetent.
"It sounds like some kind of magical effect …" Gwen muttered, then turned to look at Amber. "Try from the Shadow Layer and see if you can remove this effect."
The Shadow Layer existed in the real world, but it was on a different plane. Therefore, the power of the Shadow Layer was very suitable for interfering with the operation of the magic power in the real world. It could even cause extra-dimensional destruction. This was why the Lurker profession had the most skills to remove magic traps and seals. And as the darling of the Shadow Layer, Amber was a master in this aspect.
He brought her here to deal with such situations.
At this moment, Amber did not cause any more trouble. Instead, she nodded and seriously mobilized her talent power.
Her body instantly became hazy and illusory, and she entered a state that was between the real world and the Shadow Layer. Some blurry shadows extended from her feet and gradually merged with the shadows around the stone ball.
While Amber began to crack the spell, Gwen tried to push the stone ball, but found that it did not move at all.
"Wasn't this thing originally very light …" He frowned and looked puzzled. "Even with the weight of three people, it's impossible that I can't even push it."
"This is also something that's not right." Pitman nodded. "I heard about the scene when you brought this stone ball back. A person could easily move it with one hand, but now … I estimate that it's at least as heavy as a black gold rock of the same volume. The abnormally light weight may have been a kind of magical effect, and this is its true weight. "
Just as Pitman finished speaking, Amber suddenly "jumped" out of the Shadow Layer and sat on the ground. "Aiya —"
Gwen quickly reached out and pulled her up. "What happened?"
Amber looked confused. "I don't know … There seems to be a strange energy field around this stone ball. When I extended my mind over it, it bounced off …"
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