Chapter 289 - The Great Massacre
When he escaped from the Demon Fall Valley, Ronald was already covered in dirt and wounds as his hair stuck up in all directions. The eye patch over his blind eye had been ripped off, leaving a hollow exposed to the air, sending a chill down the back of anyone who saw it…
Luckily, he did manage to escape…
Ronald wiped the sweat on his forehead as he felt slightly relieved to hear the sound of water flowing come from the distance. As long as he crossed the Black River, he would enter the Forest of Whispers, which had a difficult terrain and dense vegetation—a perfect spot for an ambush. The Shadow’s Nest had been operating for decades, and the mages of the Emerald Tower would not dare barge into this place even if they had an advantage in numbers. As long as he was patient and waited a few years for his strength to recover, he might still have a chance to take back the Demon Fall Valley.
The only unfortunate thing was that he had paid an unbelievably high price in this battle.
The expensive traps they’d laid down did not even come into use, as the land was burned right from the start of the battle. Over a hundred core members of the Shadow’s Nest had died today too, and Ronald felt his heart clench at the very thought of it. He had spent a decade painstakingly building up these relationships, only to lose so many of them today…
Of course, what truly pained Ronald was Old Merlin’s death.
He was a true Archmage, much stronger than a level-15 warrior like him in terms of combat, and a powerful figure he would never have been able to recruit if not for the sudden fall of the Merlin Family. The truth was that Old Merlin’s strength in magic was of utter importance to the Shadow’s Nest as many fights that were too difficult for them previously suddenly became way too simple with his help. Especially so during the attack on Emerald Tower—with Old Merlin helping them secretly, they were able to take down the tower which had remained unbeatable for centuries, and did so without shedding a drop of blood…
Strings of praise came tumbling forth in a second as Lin Li smiled, not paying heed to any of it. After placating them with a few casual phrases, he found an excuse to leave before finding Gerian in a quiet corner.
“Damn it you’re a monster… a thousand people, alive and kicking, yet you killed all of them just like that. Hell, how could you not have called me along for something so exciting!” Gerian scolded him, excitement written all over his face.
“… ”
“Quick, quick, tell this old man, how did you do it?” Gerian’s eyes glittered as he looked at the sculptures on the banks of Black River before he pressed excitedly, “Was it the Thousand Miles of Ice?”
Lin Li did not hide it from him. “Yeah.”
“Damn it, it’s really the Thousand Miles of Ice?” Gerian froze suddenly as he looked at Lin Li like he was a dragon spewing flames. “Damn it, are you human?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose…” Lin Li pursed his lips indignantly as he thought, You think I wanted to do it? Damn it, I still don’t know what Immortal King is, or what saying he would wield skeletons as his staff and be crowned king once again means. You think I got to level-16 easily? Damn it, I still don’t know when I’ll get into more trouble…
“Hey, wait… ” After mumbling away for some time, a trace of suspicion appeared on Gerian’s fat face again. “I’ve seen people use the Thousand Miles of Ice in Alanna too, but why wasn’t it as powerful as yours? Tsk, tsk, are you fooling me about freezing over a thousand people using the Thousand Miles of Ice?”
“Well, you know I have a bit of knowledge in the field of pharmaceuticals… ”
“Goddamm…”
Of course Gerian understood what he was getting at—this rascal must have taken some powerful potion before using the Thousand Miles of Ice, which caused his magic to become much stronger and result in the horrific scene before them. Damn it, he could kill over a thousand people in a second with just one bottle of this potion? How could a monster like this exist?
“Have you got more of such potions? Give me some…”
“Stop dreaming, you really think anyone can use such potions?” Lin Li rolled his eyes as he looked almost weary. “I’ll be honest with you, this potion is powerful, but so are its side effects. I may look fine, but my mental strength has been drained… ”
“What a pity…”
Lin Li smiled tiredly as he did not continue with the topic. To be honest, if not because he was going to leave Jarrosus in a week, he would not have been willing to use the Soul Burning Potion. The side effects were unbelievably powerful even to someone like him, and depleted all his mental strength at once, although he had an almost unlimited source of it.
However, it could not be helped.
He was due to leave Jarrosus in a week to head to Breezy Plains, and might not be able to return to this place he had already thought of as home for a couple of years. What would happen to the Emerald Tower and Gerian after he was gone? What if some force that didn’t know better decided to attack the Emerald Tower? What was he going to do?
So, he could only leave a warning before he left—if someone was eyeing the Emerald Tower, they had better think twice whether they could afford to pay the price of failure…
“Alright, go get someone to set up a Warlock’s Eyes, I need to find a place to rest.”
“Ok, go ahead.”
Gerian knew what it was like to have one’s mental strength depleted, and did not dare disturb Lin Li any further, only calling on two young apprentices to escort Lin Li to a tent that had just been set up.
Gerian felt his eyes water as he looked at the figure walking away while stumbling occasionally. He still remembered asking this young man if he was willing to succeed him as the leader of the Emerald Tower before the auction, but this young man had replied saying he did not want to be tied down. However, when he thought back on what had happened, he realized that everything this young man did had been for the sake of the Emerald Tower—he had always been secretly helping the Emerald Tower even though he was not always willing.
“It has been hard on you, Felic…”
Gerian was right, it had been hard on Lin Li indeed.
Lin Li slept until the morning of the fourth day as he woke up groggily. The side effects of the Soul Burning Potion were much too powerful, and even for someone with Lin Li’s mental strength, it had taken him four days to deal with most of it. As he walked out of the tent, he still did not feel completely comfortable as his once incredibly sensitive mental strength was now somewhat blunt and slow. He tried releasing two Wind Blades, only to realize that the flow of his mental strength was not as smooth as it used to be, just as though something was interrupting its flow.
“Seems like four days aren’t quite enough…” Lin Li shook his head. Well, it was not like he was in a hurry; besides, mental strength could only recover in about 10-15 days anyway. This was a methodical and gradual process that couldn’t be rushed; he would naturally recover to the peak of his strength when the time was right.
After setting aside his worries, Lin Li realized that the Demon Fall Valley had taken on a new look after he woke up. The debris outside the mithril cave had been cleaned up, and a group of mages were directing the slaves they had taken over from the Shadow’s Nest to dig outside the cave. The place had once been charred by magic, but now, tents were set up everywhere as the hundreds of mages brought by the 16 forces did not leave after the fight; they all remained at the Demon Fall Valley instead.
This stay had lasted four days.
Lin Li scratched his head, feeling perplexed. All of those people were notable figures in Jarrosus, and while they might not have thousands of matters to see to every day, they were definitely nothing short of busy, and had business to tend to. How would they have time for vacation in the Demon Fall Valley?
“Felic, you’re awake?” Lin Li had just walked out of the tent when he heard Gerian’s voice.
“I just woke up.” Lin Li nodded before asking curiously, “Right, why didn’t Ysera and others go back?”
“I have some trivial matters I’ll need their help for.”
“You need their help to raise money?” Lin Li pursed his lips. What else could Gerian ask for if he needed somebody’s help…?
“Damn it, am I such a person?” Gerian replied indignantly, looking as though he had been wronged, only to burst into laughter after nagging away. “Hehe, that’s actually a really great idea, I’ll discuss this with Ysera later. Damn it, their mages have bombarded this whole place, and ruined all the plants in the Demon Fall Valley. It’s only right that they pay for it…”
“You should start doing some good…”
“Can’t you see that I’m helping Ysera lighten his burden? Think about it, you rascal, you’ve scared so many people out of their wits with your Thousand Miles of Ice. The leaders of the 16 forces are now trembling in their tents, afraid that you’ll use it on them one day when you lose your temper. I’m showing them that they are not worthless and won’t be wiped out by you by asking them for money. Why don’t you ask them, then, see if they are willing to fork out money to help rebuild the Demon Fall Valley.”
“Whatever, you can keep talking, I’ll go look for some food…” Lin Li shook his head, defeated. He was no match at all for Gerian when it came to spouting nonsense, and saw no point in continuing. He was starving after sleeping for four days straight; it made more sense to satisfy his hunger first…
“What are you, a pig? Looking for food as soon as you’re up… I’ll talk to you about that later, but first, I have some important matters to discuss with you…”
“What important matters?” Lin Li looked at Gerian suspiciously.
“Do you know why the Marathon Family supported the Shadow’s Nest?”
Lin Li scratched his head, uncertain, and asked, “I think you’ve mentioned a treasure map a few days ago?”
“That’s right, I’m surprised you remember that…”
“What about it? I thought you said that the treasure map was a hoax?”
“Oh, no, no, no…” Gerian looked around before leaning closer to Lin Li discreetly. “Let me tell you this, I found out a big secret a few days ago…”
“What big secret?”
“Well, it was a coincidence…” Gerian pointed into the distance. “You see that mineshaft there? When we were attacking a few days ago, we collapsed the cave, didn’t we? After you went to sleep, I had a group of people shovel away the debris from the entrance of the cave, only to find out that it was hollow about 50 meters into the cave…”
“Hollow?” Lin Li frowned when he heard this. If it was hollow, doesn’t that mean that something else is hidden in the cave? Could that be where the treasure Gerian was talking about is hidden?
“That’s right, hollow!” Gerian nodded firmly. “I studied the treasure map thoroughly these last couple of days, and I realized yesterday morning that my previous understanding of it was wrong. The place indicated on the map was not the Forest of Whispers, it’s here…”