Chapter 711: Chapter 438: Council of Gods
Colin learned of the cave news the next day.
In the early morning, Lillian came to his study.
"You’re saying that quite a few cave creatures have appeared near Intuo City?"
Colin’s expression immediately turned grave.
The divine contamination of the past had a direct connection to the cave creatures. Moreover, if one looked back several hundred years, there had even been a cave monster tide on the Tilaimei Plain.
Hence, hearing about the activity of cave creatures made his heart sink.
"There hasn’t been any significant damage."
But to his surprise, Lillian shook her head and said, "Quite a few cave creatures did emerge, but not too many, and they were rather weak. By the time the stationed wizards arrived in response to the distress signal, the wizard apprentices of Intuo City had already mostly dealt with them."
Colin felt a slight relief in his heart; it was good that no major incident had occurred.
He thought if there had been a serious problem, he wouldn’t have only found out about it this morning upon leaving the Silver Chamber.
Still, after some thought, Colin said, "The divine contamination just ended recently, it’s better to go and have a look on-site."
"Mm, I think so too." Lillian nodded, paused, and then added, "Make it a quick trip."
"Why?"
"Jennifer has invited me to her birthday party this afternoon."
Colin was taken aback for a moment, "Jennifer invited you?"
"Mm." Lillian nodded and glanced subtly at Colin, running her hand through her hair as she said, "She invited Shelley too, and of course, the mentor."
"Mm, then we’ll make it quick." Colin said calmly.
Lillian didn’t say more, leading the way out.
...
The brilliant autumn sun shone down, and the wild grass and trees by the roadside were showing signs of withering yellow.
But within the farms, everything was lush and green, filled with life.
"Tell me what exactly happened last night?"
Standing on the ridges of the farm, Colin asked the wizard apprentices from Intuo City before him.
"Yes, great Lord of Tilaimei." The latter, suppressing their excitement, nodded and began to recount:
"Last night, around two o’clock, Knight Jimmy and Rotte were patrolling through this very farm. Then, near the ridges up ahead, they discovered a spider-like cave monster and sent out a distress signal."
"I was in the duty hut at the edge of the farm when I heard the call for help. Without any hesitation, I rushed over immediately. On the way, illuminated by the torchlight of Jimmy and his companion, I saw the cave monster and then... a fireball was cast straight at it!"
Wizard Apprentice Buck described the events with vivid language, full of emotion, and with numerous hand gestures to boot,
"With a boom, the monster fell at the sound, and the exploding fire illuminated the surroundings—we realized it wasn’t just one cave creature; there were at least twenty! At that moment..."
"Get to the point," Lillian couldn’t help but remind him.
After inspecting here, they had to return for Jennifer’s birthday party.
"...Yes." Buck was startled and quickly nodded. After a pause, he continued:
"When I saw more than twenty creatures, I immediately called for help from Golden Barley, but unexpectedly, those monsters were no match and were all taken care of by me before the wizard arrived."
"Besides these monsters, did you see anything else unusual?"
Colin surveyed the battle scars across the farmland and inquired.
"Unusual... I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, except that these cave creatures were too weak and looked strange. Each one was different, not quite like the common cave creatures we have seen before."
"Take us to see the bodies of those cave creatures," Colin said after some thought.
"Yes."
Buck nodded respectfully.
As they walked back through the farm, they soon came upon the pile of monster corpses next to the farm’s duty hut.
As Buck had said, the cave creatures looked odd—the first spider-like cave creature that Jimmy and Rotte encountered wasn’t much like a spider at all upon closer examination.
After all... no spider would have just four legs, nor a slender body coupled with a massive mouthpart.
However, creatures from the cave were naturally bizarre; during his months-long hunt in the cave, Colin had encountered different creatures almost every day.
So he wasn’t particularly concerned with the strange appearance of these cave creatures, only glancing over them before he turned to Buck and continued to inquire:
"You mentioned they’re somewhat different from usual cave creatures... in what way?"
Looking at the corpses now, these cave monsters, other than being weak, did not appear to have any other striking features.
"Hmm..." Buck furrowed his brow in thought, his forehead starting to glisten with sweat, "I can’t quite articulate where they’re different."
"Mm, no matter." Colin said calmly, "If you think of it later, report it immediately."
Anything related to the cave should not be taken lightly.
Perhaps it was just Buck’s imagination, but it could be more... regardless, extra caution was always wise.
Swish—Bang!
Just then, a distress flare shot up into the sky in the distance.
"More cave creatures?" Buck murmured. By the time he snapped back to reality, Colin and company were already out of sight.
"Run fast!"
The patrolling knight shouted to the serfs in the fields, before him was a black cave creature, shaped like an enlarged dust mite.