Chapter 966 - Tracking
“Sir Merlin, why didn’t you get rid of those guys? Did you see that smile? I’d love to tear those mouths apart, especially that Morgan. He really is too loathsome after daring to snatch our things. They are tired of living! I really want to snap their necks…”
Although the mages of the mage army didn’t say anything, Kurumu came over as a representative.
“Sir Merlin, they obviously took it away but refuse to admit it. We have to make them pay the price for snatching what belongs to us…”
Enderfa also came over, his three faces filled with rage. He was loudly yelling, “Merlin, get rid of them, they dared to steal our mana crystal! We have to take all their magic tools. These guys carry a lot of good things. I felt as many as eight True Spirit Magic Tools just waiting to be snatched…”
Lin Yun waved his hand with an indifferent expression.
“If they want to collect mana crystals, then let them gather them. That’s only a level 40 ice mana crystal, and it is the mana crystal of a fake Heaven Rank Magic Beast. It’s the most inferior kind among level 40 mana crystals. There is no need to waste more time with them.”
Although everyone was annoyed, they stopped talking about killing the members of the Henry Family.
Lin Yun had a strange smile on his face as he looked in a certain direction. A kilometer away, that Spirit Snake True Spirit Magic Tool rapidly chased after the members of the Henry Family.
The Spirit Snake couldn’t be discovered with probing spells, Detect Mana, Detect Life, Detect Elements, or Detect Undead. Those spells were ineffective against the Spirit Snake, not giving the slightest bit of feedback.
But the Spirit Snake wasn’t completely devoid of existence. It had a physical body, so a person could use their eyes to see the Spirit Snake.
Lin Yun hadn’t said anything earlier. He only used his Magic Array to analyze the surroundings and derive the location of the Spirit Snake.
With the Magic Array, he could see where the grass had been pushed down and where the air wasn’t flowing, as if there was a transparent thing moving.
Although it couldn’t directly find the Spirit Snake, the Magic Array could capture any minute point in the Spirit Snake’s surroundings.
The Henry Family’s people had left, but the Spirit Snake hadn’t. It was spying from a distance until it was sure it could depart.
In the future, Spirit Snakes would be the best investigative True Spirit Magic Tools. They would focus on the fact that they could be seen, but not felt. Two groups continuously tried to outwit each other.
One group would keep refining Spirit Snakes, while the other would keep developing ways to discover them.
The Spirit Snake before their eyes couldn’t compare with the almost imperceptible Spirit Snakes of the future, so handling it was too simple.
Lin Yun opened the Book of Death and opened the Planar Path to the Bone Plane, sending Xiuban in to grab an ordinary skeleton warrior.
A strange incantation came out of Lin Yun’s hand. That skeleton warrior’s body kept shrinking, its bones rapidly turning into nothingness.
Ultimately, it was transformed into something that seemed incorporeal, akin to a mass of thin smoke. It had no limbs, only two illusory eyes.
That was a rarely used spell. It wasn’t a spell of a particular element, and it had been developed by that group of researchers.
That thing was a Specter. By forcibly sacrificing one of the Undead, one could transform it into a Specter. It had no firepower, and it was only useful in sharing one’s field of view. Aside from Light Magic and Undead Magic, no element was effective against a Specter. Physical attacks were also ineffective.
However, the weakest Light Missile could kill the Specter, and even some illumination spells could make the Specter dissipate.
But that thing was, in fact, the bane of Spirit Snake… because based on the detection pattern of the Spirit Snake, it simply couldn’t discover the Specter. Even if the Specter was floating in front of it, the Spirit Snake wouldn’t detect it.
Since the Henry Family’s people had a Spirit Snake and they still left it here to investigate, it meant that they were very confident in its investigative abilities.
Perhaps the task of warning and investigating was all given to the Spirit Snake. If that was so, what would happen next would be interesting.
Lin Yun caught the location of the Spirit Snake and had the Specter chase after it to follow the Henry Family’s tracks.
A few minutes later, the weightless and incorporeal Specter overtook the Spirit Snake.
Through the shared field of view, Lin Yun clearly saw that silver-colored snake twist its body silently as it rapidly slithered forward. It was very fast, and as it travelled back and forth in the forest, it was crossing several dozen meters every second.
Lin Yun smiled as he tracked the Spirit Snake.
“Merlin, what are you doing? Why did you send out something so weak? Are you trying to trail the Henry Family? Just what is so different about that mana crystal?”
Enderfa’s three faces floated over. He originally thought that Lin Yun had compromised too easily, but seeing Lin Yun’s movements made him ponder.
And it wasn’t just Enderfa… Everyone was doubtful.
Lin Yun smiled and pointed at the Specter in the distance.
“That thing is a Specter. It is a fragile yet very potent thing. All physical attacks are ineffective against it, as are elemental spells. Naturally, Extraordinary Power is an exception.
“However, the weakest Light Missile, or even the most basic Light Treatment Spell, can extinguish it. A Death Impact can also scatter that Specter.
“I let that thing out to track the Henry Family’s people. To be more exact, it’s trailing a Spirit Snake.”
As Lin Yun mentioned the Spirit Snake, everyone was startled for a moment before reacting. They had actually been monitored.
“Their actions seemed quite practiced. After they appeared, they released a barrier and then used spells to kill the Frost Ape. The barrier they used stopped any probing spells. They then covered the area in dust and a chaotic swarm of spells before injuring the head of the Frost Ape, paving the way for the Spirit Snake. Just as the Frost Ape died, the Spirit Snake entered its body through the wound and took the mana crystal away.
“This shows that this isn’t the first time they’ve done that. Furthermore, after they took away the mana crystal, they immediately gave us the corpse of the Frost Ape in order to reduce our vigilance. This showed that their target was the mana crystal from the start. They didn’t need anything else.
“According to the normal procedure of gathering magic beasts’ corpses, the Frost Ape’s mana crystal should have been gathered last, and they would have already been far away by that time. We would have no evidence even if we discovered it, so we would be forced to leave it at that.
“Could we still chase them down for a mana crystal at that time? None of the forces that could enter the Raging Flame Battlefield would waste time on this.
“The Henry Family is a notoriously wealthy Family in the Odin Kingdom. It’s quite abnormal for them to spare no efforts and use this kind of method to steal a mana crystal while disdaining the corpse of the Frost Ape.
“This proves that the mana crystal is worth far more than the body of the Frost Ape. It is very important, at least to them.
“Before, I discovered that the Crimson Firefox’s mana crystal was hiding some very powerful spatial power, and unless there’s something particularly unexpected, the mana crystal of that Frost Ape should be the same.
“But that spatial power is hidden very deep inside. Even the magic beasts themselves were unable to make use of it, and it would be very difficult for us to make use of it too.
“There must be some very deep secrets hidden within, and the Henry Family’s people might understand some of them. ”
Everyone understood as Lin Yun explained.
“No wonder Sir Merlin didn’t say anything from the start. Turns out Sir Merlin knew…”
Lin Yun shook his head but didn’t explain. He had merely discovered the trick of the Henry Family.
If the Henry Family came to purchase it with the attitude of an upstart Family, Lin Yun wouldn’t have thought it was strange. But a very wealthy Family using this kind of furtive action… This was indeed very strange.
Moreover, that mana crystal was also very strange. It obviously had considerable spatial power, yet the two magic beasts he encountered weren’t able to use any spatial power.
Lin Yun was knowledgeable, but he couldn’t understand the reason behind it. For the Henry Family to do something like this, they must have known something about it.
Since this was the case, he might as well let them take it away and shadow them in order to understand those secrets.
Enderfa quietly floated over, his three faces carrying a strange smile.
One of the faces mischievously smiled as he said, “Merin, aren’t you fishing right now? In human words, you just put out a piece of bait and are waiting to catch a big fish.”
Another face immediately retorted, “No, this is raising a pig for slaughter. He first let the Henry Family spend a lot of effort in killing the Frost Ape, giving them the sweet taste of benefit, waiting for them to fatten up. In the end, he’ll get rid of them and loot their mana crystals.”
“Right, they are holding our mana crystal, but we will make them spit out ten… No, how could ten be enough? They’ll have to take out fifty!”
Lin Yun involuntarily laughed. Enderfa’s faces were rapidly quarreling with themselves, but Lin Yun couldn’t say that he really thought like that. Once the Henry Family spent a lot of effort to gather many mana crystals, they would be wiped out and everything would be taken.
The group of people kept moving forward. They didn’t meet any powerful magic beasts the next day, and while collecting valuable materials, they kept moving towards the mana crystal.
On the 3rd day, the Specter’s field of view suddenly changed.
The members of the Henry Family really had a lot of faith in the Spirit Snake. Aside from the people guarding the airship, all the investigative tasks were done by the Spirit Snake.
And this was convenient for the Specter. The Specter kept following the tracks, not noticed by the Henry Family’s people.
After two days of tracking, Lin Yun was certain that they were moving in the same direction, and they were conscientiously hunting that same kind of fake Heaven Rank Magic Beast.
They were now hunting a Storm Wolf, which was also an inferior magic beast species. The strongest Storm Wolf wouldn’t surpass Level 20.
This Storm Wolf was huge. Its limbs were over forty meters tall, and its body was over a hundred meters in length.
Although it was only a fake Heaven Rank Magic Beast, its fighting style wasn’t too different from that of an ordinary Storm Wolf. It was just that its strength was outstanding, and the Wind Blades it spouted had become destructive Energy Spheres.