139. Discovered!

Under the pressure of survival, people could always unleash astonishing abilities. Flora had done just that, carrying Teresa as she sped wildly onward, covering nearly a hundred kilometers before finally collapsing from exhaustion. She landed and lay sprawled on the ground, panting for breath, yet still remembered to question Teresa.

“Teresa, what exactly did you do just now? How were you able to stop so many magical beasts?”

Teresa sat cross-legged on the ground, perfectly composed. Lost in thought, she answered with a hint of absentmindedness.

“It was simply fire generating earth. I never expected it to actually be possible to make the five elements generate one another... I just wonder which expert brought this system into existence...”

“Fire generating earth? What does that mean?” Flora asked, utterly bewildered.

“It’s elemental generation. Fire gives rise to earth, and fire assists earth. The fire element here is so abundant that, with proper guidance, it can be made to develop properties resembling those of the earth element...”

On and on she went. The success of the experiment had left Teresa extraordinarily excited, and once she began speaking, she could not seem to stop. Her words poured forth in an endless stream, accompanied by all manner of hypotheses and deductions. Flora and Habata listened with miserable expressions, their heads filled with confusion.

At long last, after Teresa had organized her thoughts about the experiment by talking to herself, she realized how carried away she had become. She stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, then summarized the matter in words an outsider could understand.

“In short, I built a ‘wall’ that stopped the magical beasts. Then I left behind a ‘pit’ to block their path.”

That explanation, which was practically meaningless, allowed Flora and Habata to fully understand one thing: what Teresa had done today was simply beyond the comprehension of outsiders.

Setting aside those purely technical matters, Flora excitedly seized both their hands and urged them on.

“Quick, count them! How many magic cores from the Blue Mountain Flame Demons did we get?”

Teresa and Habata poured out the magic cores they had collected and announced their totals. When the two amounts were added together, they were still short by four or five.

Flora stared at the total of ninety-six, her spirits sinking. After a long while, she raised her head and cautiously asked the other two, “What if we buy four of them on the black market?”

Teresa blinked, mildly astonished.

“Are we actually allowed to do that? What would be the point of the examination, then?”

“Heehee, Teresa, you don’t understand,” Flora said smugly. “People do this sort of thing all the time. You just have to make sure no one finds out. As for the meaning of the examination... well, that depends on how you look at it. The academy doesn’t issue certificates or anything like that. How much a person learns after entering is their own wealth. So, what do you say? Buy them or not?”

Teresa tilted her head and thought for a moment. In the end, she puffed out her cheeks slightly.

“I still want to go back and see what happened to those magical beasts. Why don’t we return and take a look? We can kill a few flame demons while we’re there and make up the difference.”

The instant Teresa made the suggestion, Flora and Habata’s gazes changed dramatically. The intensity of the change startled even Teresa.

“What is it? Do you think it’s a bad idea? Then forget it...”

“Yes! It’s an absolutely wonderful idea!” Flora sprang up before Teresa could finish, practically bouncing with excitement. “Teresa, I never knew you were so brave! Come on, come on! Since we’ve encountered something like this, how could we possibly flee in the face of danger?”

As they spoke, the three of them and the two foxes cautiously made their way back along the path they had taken before.

***

In the sparsely wooded mountains of northern Xigong District, a pack of red-eyed magical beasts pursued a group of wolf knights. Their blood-red eyes were filled with murderous bloodlust. The wolf knights rode at an unhurried pace, slowing down from time to time to provoke the magical beasts into frenzied pursuit. Just as the creatures were about to catch them, the knights would suddenly accelerate, causing every attack to fall short.

Over the short stretch of road descending the mountain, they had already repeated this pattern of slowing down and accelerating three or four times. Clearly, the knights were enjoying themselves with ease.

As the slope gradually leveled out, a flat, sparsely wooded grassland appeared before them. The leading knight’s spirits lifted. He flicked his long whip, whose specially made body produced an extraordinarily distinctive crack. At once, the other knights understood the order and exerted themselves.

The wolf knights’ speed abruptly doubled, even tripling from what it had been at the beginning.

In an instant, they opened up a distance of more than two hundred meters between themselves and the pursuing magical beasts. Those two hundred meters alone were enough to determine the outcome.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless traps of various sizes suddenly erupted across the space between the knights and the beasts. Following directly behind the knights, the magical beasts fell into them without the slightest preparation. One after another, they tumbled down. The force of their momentum sent them crashing into one another, causing entire patches of them to collapse and pile up. The impacts transmitted into the earth, producing a succession of thunderous booms.

While the irrational beasts were still dazed and disoriented, two groups of soldiers suddenly charged out from opposite ends of the plain. Like a pair of sharp blades, they cut straight into the mass of magical beasts.

The soldiers advanced in groups of three or five, dividing the beasts with deliberate precision. Dozens of small teams, working together with perfect coordination, acted like one sharp little knife after another. With astonishing efficiency, they split the beast horde into smaller sections and then slowly, rhythmically devoured them.

When the last magical beast fell, the soldiers did not cheer or celebrate. They behaved as though they had merely completed the simplest of tasks and began methodically clearing the battlefield. Before long, seven or eight corpses, each noticeably smaller than the others, were brought before Tatu.

Tatu swung his short blade and split open the head of one beast. With a flick of the tip, he precisely extracted a tiny silver-white shard.

“As I suspected...” Tatu murmured.

He made seven or eight consecutive cuts, dissecting the heads of the remaining beasts. Sure enough, each contained an identical shard. Only then did he gather them up, straighten, sheath his blade, mount his horse, and loudly issue the order:

“Return to the city!”

Only then did thunderous cheers erupt.

...

Xigong Town was the largest administrative district in Xigong District and the only city in the region built with proper fortifications. The other village-level administrative units possessed little more than crude wooden palisades and had no true city walls.

Before the magical beast uprising, it had been the busiest and most prosperous place in Xigong District. After the uprising, it remained the liveliest place of all, as everyone throughout the district desperately crowded into it in hopes of obtaining the protection of the last surviving fortified city.

When Pedia led soldiers of the Northwestern Legion into Xigong Town, the entire town erupted in jubilation. Their arrival gave the disaster-stricken people a sense of hope and security.

Because of these expectations, the military garrison that had been temporarily requisitioned as the army’s command center became the focus of the entire town’s attention. How many soldiers and horses left each day, how many returned, whether those who went in and out wore expressions of sorrow or joy—such details became the center of endless discussion.

That day, when a group of dusty and weary soldiers swept into town and rushed straight toward the garrison, all kinds of speculation and countless rumors began to spread throughout the streets.

Tatu stormed into Pedia’s office and flung onto his desk the object he had been clutching against his chest, its warmth nearly burning through the cloth. In a hoarse voice, he said, “We found them!”

Pedia waved away the guards who had followed Tatu inside, then picked up the cloth bundle from the desk. With a gentle shake, more than a dozen silver-white shards of various sizes scattered across the tabletop.

He casually picked up one of them and held it up to the sunlight, examining it repeatedly. After staring at it for a long while without discovering anything meaningful, he tossed it back onto the pile, wrapped them all up again, and said, “Very good. You’ve done well. You may rest for now.”

“For now?” Tatu raised an eyebrow, his tone subtly pointed.

Pedia smiled. “For now.”

Tatu stared at his smile for a long moment. Then, without saying a word, he silently turned and left.

After Tatu was gone, Pedia lightly tapped the tabletop. A section of what appeared to be an ordinary wall swung open, and one of his personal guards stepped out through the concealed door. The guard respectfully accepted the cloth bundle from Pedia’s hands and listened to his instructions.

“Deliver it to the commander at the fastest possible speed.”

The guard bowed and took two steps backward before stopping. After a brief hesitation, he said, “My lord, the Lone Wolf just sent back word that someone seems to have their eyes on Mr. Jones.”

Pedia immediately looked up from the documents before him. His face was expressionless.

“What kind of people?”

“The intelligence is still being verified, but the Northwestern side has already been ruled out.”

Pedia remained silent for a while before giving his order.

“Investigate Tatu’s movements before this. And remind the Lone Wolf to keep an eye on the imperial capital.”

The guard instantly became alert. He acknowledged the order solemnly and withdrew at a brisk pace.

Only after the room was left with Pedia alone did he slowly rise and walk to the window. He gazed at the heavily guarded scene outside, his expression grave and solemn.

***

When Teresa and the others returned to the little ridge, they found blood and magical beast corpses scattered everywhere. Most were low-level beasts, and judging by their appearances, the majority had been trampled to death. The power of Teresa’s final trap had clearly been extraordinary.

The Blue Mountain Flame Demon was an extremely common low-level magical beast and had naturally been among the dead. Flora happily searched out more than ten magic cores, making up the missing amount and completing the three of their examination task.

With nothing left to worry about, the three of them slowly climbed the ridge and cautiously peered downward. They immediately discovered a scene filled with murderous energy. Magical beasts of the fire element had gathered in dense clusters below. Even beasts that did not originally belong to the same species had somehow joined together without attacking one another, surging back and forth as though conducting patrols.

Their powerful presence stirred the fiery aura of the region, making it grow increasingly intense. The heat in the air was slowly rising.

“Something’s wrong. Something is definitely wrong...” Flora whispered. “It looks as though some highly intelligent magical beast is directing them.”

“How many intelligent magical beasts would it take to command so many others? That doesn’t seem very realistic,” Teresa whispered back.

Flora knew perfectly well that her own suggestion was not particularly reliable, so she clicked her tongue and continued without concern.

“We can’t figure out what’s going on from here. Should we find a way to get inside?”

Teresa was still hesitating when Habata said in a muffled voice, “When something abnormal happens, there is bound to be a reason. Safety comes first.”

Flora, who had been eager to try, lowered her long ears at Habata’s words and instantly became obedient.

Teresa could not help silently marveling at the sight.

The three humans had become cautious, but the two little fox spirits were not at all inclined to behave. They excitedly circled Teresa again and again, making their intense desire to advance perfectly clear.

Eventually, Teresa grew irritated by their constant circling. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, she finally let them go, treating it as a way to scout ahead.

She never imagined that their scouting expedition would stir up such a tremendous disturbance... (To be continued)