Chapter 1030: Section 1031: The Ice-Bound Dragon Scales
The original underground cavern, suddenly had its cover lifted.
This caused Sanders to feel a strong unease, and he quickly entered the deep pit to investigate the area nearby.
Rhein, on the other hand, flew around Wind Whisper Valley for a while before finally landing in the deep pit.
At that time, Sanders was standing in a corner with a deeply furrowed brow.
“I circled around Wind Whisper Valley and didn’t find any humans.” Rhein said as he walked over to an extinguished fire pit in the middle of the deep pit.
He touched the ashes in the fire pit, and his fingertip shone brightly.
“The last of the embers must have gone out a day ago.” Rhein frowned, “Does that mean there were people here a day ago?”
Rhein muttered to himself for quite some time, and realizing he wasn’t getting a response from Sanders, he walked over with a puzzled look.
But he saw Sanders touching a patch of ground covered in Dust.
This area was part of the rock strata, and the ground was all rock face, but what was strange was that in a section that was originally slate-gray, there was a spread of black that was like asphalt. Upon closer smell, there was even a scent of blood emanating from it.
Rhein recognized at a glance that this was a pool of bloodstains.
Judging by the coverage of the bloodstains, the quantity that had spilled out was not small.
“Whose bloodstains?” Rhein saw Sanders’ brows tightly knit together and realized, “Angel’s?”
“Hmm.” Sanders nodded, “Something definitely happened here after I left; Angel might have encountered danger.”
“Dead?”
Sanders hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, “I don’t know. I can’t sense the location of my essence blood; it seems to have been shielded by some sort of powerful energy Domain Field. However, I can feel that my essence blood is currently intact.”
However, his essence blood being intact didn’t necessarily correlate with Angel being safe.
Moreover, the fact that the essence blood was in a powerful energy Domain Field suggested something odd.
“These bloodstains were left two days ago, but the previous fire pit went out a day ago. This means that someone was here yesterday.” Rhein’s eyes seemed to be coated with a layer of clarity as he used the Technique of Dispelling Delusion to trace back history to understand the current situation, “There are indeed traces of Angel, but they’re very faint, as if an invisible wind has blown all the remaining information away.”
This “wind” from the past in the Technique of Dispelling Delusion was definitely not normal.
It was as if a certain creature had intentionally erased its own information.
“What’s strange though, is that apart from the bloodstains, there are no other signs of destruction.” Rhein mumbled. If it wasn’t external damage, could it be that Angel’s bleeding was internal?
While Rhein was whispering to himself, Sanders found a leg bone that had been gnawed down to a bleached white.
Upon assessment, the bone came from a Magical Creature known as ‘Dow Jones Magecraft.’ It looked like a porcupine, but the spines on the back of a porcupine present no threat to Wizards. However, the spines from the back of this Dow Jones Magecraft could turn into Tibial Maggots upon impact and burrow into the flesh, causing widespread damage. Its attack power was frightening and it was considered a Wizard Level creature.
“The leg meat of the Dow Jones Magecraft is a high-end ingredient, can be turned into a delicacy.” Rhein approached, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes, “Directly roasting it to eat is a bit wasteful.”
Sanders dropped the bone, having investigated it and found that it too was enveloped in a light breeze, with all remaining traces disappearing.
However, piecing together the information now known, it could be basically asserted that not long ago, not only Angel but also another entity with the power to hunt the Dow Jones Magecraft was in this deep pit. This entity was definitely not weak.
There was no sign of Angel’s corpse here, so perhaps Angel hadn’t died. But based on the bloodstains found earlier, things didn’t seem to be going well for Angel.
Perhaps it was that entity skilled in “wind” who had taken Angel away.
They continued to search for other traces in the deep pit when suddenly, Rhein noticed a faint presence of Nightmare Illusion Breath on a certain stone wall.
“Over here, there seems to be some information left by Angel!”
When Sanders arrived, Rhein’s brow was deeply furrowed.
It was rare for Rhein to frown, which made Sanders curious. When he saw the information remaining on the stone wall, he suddenly understood.
Let’s not talk about the text that was concealed and shaped by the Nightmare Illusion Breath for now,
What was recorded below on the stone wall was how Toby became afflicted with calamity. It also warned that among the teams heading to Sky Island, Olaf of the Frostmoon Hunt’s Tentacle Crab might also likely be infected with calamity.
If this information was true, then this was no small matter.
They were all too aware that once infected by the curse of the Pilgrim of Misfortune, Sky Island could be destroyed. Even a True Knowledge Wizard couldn’t withstand the terrible calamity.
Dong La was a case in point.
Sanders looking at the information left by Angel, now finally understood why he had been feeling that something was off, and the flash of Enlightenment that had come and gone; they all pointed to one fact: The positive variables were collapsing dramatically.
Whether it was encountering a massive Demon attack or the continuous failure of opening interdimensional portals, it was all mischief caused by misfortune!
“The underground river of Shadow Cave, I never expected it actually connects to a dead and silent sea.” Sanders remarked.
“This matter is important, whether it’s true or not, it must be communicated to Sky Island at the earliest opportunity.” Rhein said.
Sanders nodded in agreement; he would naturally convey this matter to Sky Island afterward, but his primary concern at present was still Angel’s situation.
The text concealed by the Nightmare Illusion revealed its true meaning: Angel had gone to Ice Valley.
The only place in the Abyss referred to as “Ice Valley” was the notorious Unmelting Ice Valley.
Given Angel’s current condition, he absolutely couldn’t have gone to Unmelting Ice Valley of his own volition. He must have been coerced.
However, what’s more intriguing is that the entity coercing Angel allowed him to leave these clues; there is something worth pondering here.
Moreover, concerning the matter of Toby contracting the calamity, Angel definitely must have heard it from elsewhere, probably from the very being who coerced him.
Not only could that entity sense the calamity, but it also identified its source, showing that its power was tremendously strong; otherwise, it would have been affected by the calamity and made a move against Angel.
No matter what trickery lies underneath, even if the information “heading to Ice Valley” is a trap, Sanders must make a trip there.
However, before going to Ice Valley, they need to send news of the calamity to Sky Island.
…
Angel was now standing outside a mountain range.
Fafnir, having suppressed her aura, had taken human form and was leaning against the trunk of a tree, appearing to doze off. In reality, she was squinting towards the depths of the mountain range, where the outline of snowy mountains could faintly be seen.
“Lady Fafnir, it seems we’re still some distance away from the Ice Valley…” Angel hesitated for a moment before turning back and saying.
“Within a thousand miles around the Ice Valley, there will be no powerful Magical Creatures.
Although Fafnir explained this, Angel glanced at Toby, who was sleeping like a log, and realized that taking Toby—who was tainted by the calamity—into the valley would be difficult, no matter how safe it was claimed to be.
Seeing Angel still hesitant, Fafnir huffed coldly, and a tornado suddenly sprouted from beneath Angel’s feet.
With a cry of distress, Angel was swept up into the air and thrown in a parabola, landing a kilometer away.
Climbing out from a rotting pile of leaves, Angel knew he had no choice left.
He was still close to the outer edge of the mountains, and all of his movements were under Fafnir’s surveillance. If he made any sudden moves, Fafnir would likely continue to torment him.
Anyway, this was the outermost layer, and any Magical Creatures likely wouldn’t be very strong.
With that thought in mind, Angel set out alone on the road to Ice Valley.
As he delved deeper, Angel also pondered something. Fafnir could have easily flown him right to the outskirts of Ice Valley, but she hadn’t done so. Instead, she dropped him off a thousand miles away and made him go to the valley by himself. Did this mean she was afraid to face Odeclass?
But when Fafnir was leaning against the tree trunk earlier, her gaze had constantly been fixed in the direction of Ice Valley, showing complex and nostalgia-filled eyes. It was clear she also longed for Ice Valley.
Not unwilling, but afraid to go?
Was there a story behind this?
While lost in thought, Angel took out a transparent block of ice from his pocket.
The ice block was restrained by a powerful force and could almost be called a Crystal Stone, impervious to physical melting. Inside the ice block, a glowing white dragon scale was encased, its light sparkling through the angles of the ice, casting brilliant, translucent reflections.
This encased dragon scale was given to him by Fafnir.
Angel originally thought that by delivering a message for Fafnir, she would tell him what to say. However, she did not. Instead, Fafnir just left him this dragon scale with the words, “He will understand what I wish to say when he sees this scale.”
Previously, next to Fafnir, Angel hesitated to examine it. Now upon closer inspection, there was something odd about this dragon scale.
Fafnir was an Abyssal Wind Dragon, whose true scales were of a dark green hue, not this pure, white jade.
Moreover, on his way, Angel had inquired about Odeclass some information. It is said that Odeclass was an Abyssal Flame Dragon.
It was unlikely that the scale of a Flame Dragon could be so easily encased in ice.
Besides, Angel didn’t feel any trace of flame within this white scale, so the encased dragon scale couldn’t possibly belong to Odeclass.
Then whose could it be?
Just as Angel was sinking into his own thoughts, the ground suddenly caved in. Looking down, he realized that the depression was actually a gaping maw lined with sharp teeth!
Startled, Angel swiftly activated Night Flight, soaring into the air.
As Angel ascended, the giant mouth emerged from the depression.
A carnivorous plant? Angel observed. It stretched like a vine, the vast maw following spiral upward, aiming directly at him, much like Jack’s Magic Bean.
Rooted to the underbelly of the earth, the plant couldn’t possibly fly. Angel wasn’t too frightened by this. However, just as this thought emerged, a raspy roar sounded in his ears.
Turning around, he saw dark clouds swelling in the distance.
Upon closer inspection, the clouds were not truly clouds but a mass of densely packed Bone Crows…