Chapter 93: The Tangling Branches

Vilyric flew north for more than thirty kilometers before finally finding Xiao Guang, who had arrived first in a certain forest that was already part of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons.

This was also the last location where she had sensed the probing gaze, leaving its lingering aura.

The Priestess was also quite fast when it came down to the real deal; although she was delayed a bit by the explanations, she only arrived about half a minute later than the Little Dragon Daughter.

When she arrived, the Giant Dragon was standing inside a cave, clearly man-made on the side of a cliff, frowning at the pile of scattered metal debris on the ground.

“Did you catch any suspicious individuals?”

The Little Dragon Daughter turned around and shook her head.

“There are no traces of any biological activity around, Master. This stuff still has some magical energy residue. It was supposed to be a magical item or something, but it was already broken when I got here. It seems like they voluntarily cut their connection.”

“Running for survival with a broken tail, huh? Not much skill, but they run pretty fast…”

It seemed the real body of the other party was not here but was using some kind of special magical item for remote monitoring. This sort of thing wasn’t unusual, but since there were still some magical traces left, it could be worth a bit of investigation.

Vilyric crouched down and activated [Information Detection] on the mess of metal shards scattered on the ground.

Some fragmented information quickly appeared before her.

[The Void Mirror, created by Summoning Alchemist Sylvester Burwell, was damaged due to a powerful external impact and has now lost its effectiveness.]

“Well…”

Although the information was significantly less than last time, the state of such a mangled item was already pretty good for a lead, and it was sufficient to prove Vilyric’s judgment.

Sylvester… as expected, it’s this guy again. It seems he’s the one who tampered with those magical beasts, driving them into a frenzied rampage. I wonder what he and Aileen are plotting to keep stirring up relations between the United Kingdom and the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons.

“What should we do now, Master?”

After pondering for a moment, the Priestess stood up and clapped her hands.

“Forget it, there’s no need to get entangled with a few sneaky rats. We’ve already thwarted their plan; let’s head back. Mona and the others are more important.”

“Alright.”

After a quick search of the shabby cave to confirm there was nothing left behind, Vilyric and the Little Dragon Daughter spread their wings and returned to the outskirts of Clovis Town, where Leila and Renée were.

Their round trip took not much time; they mostly spent it searching the cave and checking the remnants. When they reappeared over the pile of magical beasts still bound by the Holy Light chains, the sisters were talking with several well-dressed women in black.

It seemed the Shadow People, responsible for security, had noticed something unusual and sent out a team to investigate quite promptly.

“Lady Vilyric, you’re back! Did you catch the enemy?”

As the two girls landed, tucking away their wings, Renée hurried over, while her sister Leila, who was engaged in intelligence exchange with the Shadow People, immediately sent a concerned glance despite being busy.

“Can’t say it’s resolved, but at least the other side shouldn’t dare to show themselves in the short term. We’ll talk about it later. Were they sent by Mona?”

Renée was somewhat more reserved than her sister, but she was very clever. Upon hearing Vilyric’s question, she quickly grasped her intention.

“Don’t worry, Lady Vilyric, negotiations on Princess Mona’s side haven’t been interrupted. There were some disturbances, but Princess quelled them. It’s all thanks to you for stopping the rampaging magical beasts; otherwise, it would’ve really been a mess!”

“Oh, is that so… then that’s good.”

Although Mona was young, her capabilities and charisma were quite impressive. Since the situation was stabilized, it seemed there wouldn’t be any major problems following.

As long as the situation didn’t descend into chaos, once both factions examined the state of these magical beasts and figured out where they came from, they would naturally understand what was going on.

The rest could be handled by the Humans and Magical Beasts themselves. Vilyric felt she had done all she could.

…

The core area of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons is a small zone of only a few thousand square kilometers, independent of the Moonshadow, Steel Claw, and Fiery Feather’s three major pillars.

The three major pillars each controlled tribes from different directions, surrounding this small piece of land tightly in a crescent shape, and the entire core mountains were protected by some kind of invisible barrier. Even flying birds or burrowing insects couldn’t enter, and outsiders couldn’t observe the situation inside; all they saw was a haze of colorful mist.

This is called the Holy Land.

The Holy Land is a sacred place said to be blessed by the ancient Demon God in legend, watched over by incredibly powerful overseers. Trying to force one’s way into the Holy Land is impossible and would only bring about one’s own doom. However, if one obeys the rules, it’s not entirely out of the question to pay a visit.

There are a total of four doors to the Holy Land.

They exist in the east, south, west, and north of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, each located within special mountain ranges. If one can find a door and defeat its guardian to prove their strength, they may be allowed to enter.

However, entering the door does not mean you have entered the Holy Land yet; visitors must still pass a second test given by the being known as the [Gatekeeper], which is considerably more arduous.

At this moment, deep within the Southern Peak, guarded by the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, a young man dressed in simple clothes and empty-handed stepped out confidently from a door surrounded by waves of magical energy.

The guardian of the Southern Peak, or rather… the acting guardian Barta Lingmu—a high-ranking dryad with beautiful blue-green long hair, dressed in a unique battle dress made of leaves, respectfully knelt on one knee, holding two uniquely curved blades crossed beside her.

“Disciple Barta pays respect to the Master, welcoming you down from the mountain!”

The young man glanced at her and casually nodded.

“Oh, it’s little Barta! No need for formalities. I’ve told you, I only taught you for a year by chance; I’m not really your teacher. No need to kneel and bow every time you see me.”

“No, even though it was only for a year, the profound techniques you’ve imparted have greatly benefited me, Master. If someone as unfathomable as you can’t be called my teacher, then who in this world can?”

The young man referred to as “Master” smiled without any airs, not bothering to refute. He casually brushed aside the gray bangs hanging over his forehead, looking around curiously.

“Speaking of which, the disciple guarding the south recently should be that kid Walter, right? I remember he was quite diligent and honest. How come he went out to slack off, leaving you to cover for him?”

“Huh?”

The dryad girl was momentarily taken aback, her long pointed ears twitching reflexively in surprise.

“Don’t you know that Brother Walter went with the Moonshadow Clan’s forces to the United Kingdom of Humans to participate in the rescue of the little princess? Didn’t Tiyelu inform you?”

   

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