Chapter 1004: Shaded Dunes
This place was usually occupied by several dirt dunes. But the recent snowstorm gave them a bright white cover.
Angor knew this spot as well because he once saw it from the guard tower when he was bored. Though there was not much to look at.
He came following Bobota’s clue. According to Bobota, there was a small river stream hidden among the dunes. Since it was relatively safe from monsters because the guards in the Overwatch Base could keep an eye on here, apprentices would occasionally come and search for Silver Stripes for money.
Bobota and his friends were here yesterday afternoon when they saw Toby flying by.
“The bird tried to break the ice to fish. But it got bored and flew off,” said Bobota. “I didn’t see where it headed because, you know, it was snowing.”
Dusky also proved Bobota’s speech.
Angor found it too difficult to search for Toby’s traces because everything was covered under thick snow.
He went to the “fishing spot” mentioned by Bobota and would start from there.
The surface of the river was frozen solid right now. Telling from the abandoned baskets nearby, a lot of people would visit this place.
He managed to find where Toby pecked at the ice right under two trees that entangled each other with their messy tree vines. He then tried to pick the small hole open and reached flowing water, from where he saw a swarm of fish gathering.
While checking the ice, he saw a black object frozen within the ice, just beside the fishing hole.
He dug it out and ran a finger on it, then put the finger in his mouth.
It was salty.
“Dried fish prepared by Miss Mana...”
He used some heat to thaw the object and realized it was a gnawed fish tail. It was Toby’s snack.
At least Bobota told him the truth.
He left the river, found a high spot on top of a dune, and released a number of scout puppets into the area. If he couldn’t find Toby this way, he had to ask Sunders for help.
Swiftly, the convenient-sized puppets helped him look into corners and small caves he couldn’t access himself.
But he found nothing.
His expression turned grim when he saw the snow getting even worse. He wondered if Toby felt too comfortable in the Abyss and stumbled into dangerous zones.
When he planned to head back to the base, one of the puppets finally sent him an image that showed two figures. There were two apprentices, one man and a woman, running down from a dirt dune while shuddering in the cold. Telling from their frozen hair and blue-ish lips, they were having a pretty bad time out here.
“Weird... The union gave every apprentice a robe that keeps them from extreme temperatures, right?”
Angor looked at the image more closely and realized that the robes must be broken. They were full of bloodstains and tears, probably caused by a recent battle.
Also, the apprentices were looking back as if they were expecting something chasing them.
“Where did they come from though?”
The scout puppets had made a full scan over the area without finding anything. Then these two people popped up in the middle of the area.
“Is there a hidden passage?”
Angor activated his flying boots and immediately headed to the running apprentices.
Seeing his arrival, the male apprentice quickly moved in front of his partner warily.
Angor removed his hood. “I just came from the base. You’re in trouble, right?”
The apprentices lowered their guard upon seeing Angor’s somewhat young face.
Angor took out a red orb from his storage and showed it to the apprentices. It was a Flame Bearer Orb he collected from Cinder Rock. This thing didn’t have much use, but it was good for keeping someone’s hands warm as long as the user didn’t carelessly detonate it.
“You can have this. But I need to ask some questions first.”
The apprentices exchanged a happy look using eye contact. They were badly in need of a heat source right now after exhausting their mana. It would be so sad if they were frozen to death so close to the base instead of dying in the hands of demons.
Besides, a Flame Bearer Orb was usually worth a few dozens of magic crystals. When thinking about how they could survive and get some extra money, they agreed to Angor’s proposal without a second thought.
...
Angor gladly handed the orb over after he learned what he needed.
It was the woman who tried to take it. But she lost her balance on her way, causing the orb to fall into the man’s hand.
“Oh, careful with your footing.” The man looked at her with a worried look and held her arm. “I’ll hold onto the orb for now. You just stick close.”
The woman wanted to say something, but the man stopped her by talking to Angor first, “Much appreciated, kind sir. We’ll be heading back to the base.”
Angor saw them leaving and shook his head.
He saw the male apprentice using a trick to trip his partner, probably to take the orb and perhaps use the chance to gain some bodily advantage.
This guy even offered to sell the orb later and share the money with her 50-50. Though Angor highly doubted it, after seeing the great hunger and greed hidden in the man’s eyes.
“They seemed like close partners just a moment ago...”
Angor sighed and moved away.
He just learned a secret from the apprentices. It was nothing important, but for some reason, few people knew it.
It seemed there was a hidden entrance in the middle of a dead tree at the bottom of one of the dunes. The entrance would take him to the Shaded Cave underground.
Once in a while, people would see white shadows floating about the Shaded Dunes while crying like babies. Apprentices believed that the shadows were actually clusters of hot vapor that escaped from the underground cave, while the sound was caused by a certain fish living in the underground lakes.
Also, the underground lake was a stable source of Silver Stripe shrimps. This was likely why those who knew about the secret entrance did not usually share it with the others.
Those two apprentices from earlier also came to hunt. However, they were attacked by a swarm of flying fish that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. These monsters weren’t strong, but there were too many of them. The apprentices soon had their mana exhausted and had to retreat.
The message was not anything important at first sight, but Angor knew for a fact that this might be his chance to find Toby.
Not to mention that the woman said something about hearing a bird’s call while escaping.