It could be safely said, in just three days, the three had made sure that even half a large-sized beast or magical being could no longer be found within 25 kilometers of the base. The three each threw a ball of smoke to Keoghan. After he inhaled it into his body, he waved his hand and the previously flat ground started to rise like waves.
Once all the earth Elementium in the air had gradually settled down, the geography of the base's surroundings was perfectly presented before everyone. The ridge of mountains, the cascade of rocks, the dense forests, the flowing rivers, the dark caves, the deep canyons....Without needing to step out of the base, they had a clear view and understanding of the surrounding's geography.
The first to speak was Acteon. His voice was hoarse and low and had a tinge of a bug's hissing attached to it.
“I did not discover much in the direction I went. After going past 15 kilometers of forest, there is a human settlement. I found a small human city there. There is also a small town and three to four villages nearby.
I caught several natives from a small village and interrogated their souls. This place is located in the east and is known as the Great Greenland Forest. As for the powerful beings of their plane, they had very little knowledge of them. I only managed to find out that the organisation known as the Witcher Knights are pretty powerful. There's nothing more besides these.
If we really want to understand this plane's power structure, we might have to enter the human city for a clue……"
The next to speak was Mary.
"The direction I went in should lead towards the depths of the forest. The deeper I went, the denser the trees and the more beasts and magical creatures there were. Some of them tasted pretty good! "Mary licked her red lips: "I found the rallying points of several large magical beings. There's the man-eating demon's tribe. There are two dozens adults and they are located here……There's a group of poison dragons of around a dozen located here……There's a den of gryphons with 5 adults and 3 cubs here……"
Mary lived up to her reputation as an agility-focused adept. In just three days, her investigation radius covered a range of 100 kilometers. Judging from her familiarity with the locations, she had probably personally visited each rallying point. Of course, this meant she had already had a feast of her own!
Then it was Greem's turn.
"The forest on my side is less dense. 10 kilometers of trekking brings you outside of the forest. There are 3 small human villages at the edge of the forest here.....here.....and here......One of the villages is pretty developed. I saw many mercenaries and hunters there. Their range of activity is pretty large and are very likely to wander into our base.
I caught a mercenary and from the information I got, the main fighting force of this plane is that group of witcher knights. From his depictions, it seems that a normal witcher knight is at the standard of an apprentice adept, and the so-called Spellbreaker Knights can reach the level of a First Grade Adept.
There the Spellbreaker Knights there are Radiant Knights, Dragon Knights, and Holy Knights. Unfortunately, this means that we might encounter a group of magic fighters that will hate adepts with a passion in this plane. "
The power structure of both planes was very different. It would need an actual confrontation for both parties to have a better understanding of the other's abilities and powers. But based on Greem's information, it seems that it is highly possible that a Fourth Grade opponent will appear in this plane.
For this group of First Grade Adepts, that was way too powerful!
Chapter 169
Based on the information brought back by Greem and the others, along with Keoghan's conversations with Lord Sarubo, the adepts quickly determined that this was a small-sized material plane where the highest tier of power was limited at the Fourth Grade.
Magic Elementium was lacking.
Arcanology was incomplete.
The characteristic of magic in the entire plane hindered the casting of spells. This meant that way more effort had to be put in to successfully cast spells. Even so, there was still a rather high chance of the spell failing.
The powerful Elementium manipulators and casters could not maintain their class advantage before the classes that relied mostly on physical damage due to the difficulty of casting. That was why the terrible situation of witcher knights oppressing casters happened on this plane.
How were a bunch of "barbarians" wearing heavy armor, carrying metal shields, riding horses and wielding swords fit to chase the great casters all over the world?
Even though the adepts present had no sympathy for the casters of this plane, but just thinking of their "counterparts" being hunted like wild beasts by a bunch of knights that could only brandish about their barbaric and uncivilised strength filled them with anger.
Greem couldn't help but worry once he thought of how low the plane's limit of power was. He asked Adept Keoghan: "Sir Keoghan, if this plane can only hold power up to the Fourth Grade, then Lord Sarubo....."
Greem didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present understood.
Lord Sarubo was a terrifying Sixth Grade Great Adept. With how much power he had, would he be able to squeeze into this plane?
Before Keoghan could reply, a deep but gentle voice rang in everyone's mind.
"Of course not! This plane could never accommodate all of my powers. "It sounded like that Great Adept Sarubo's voice:"I have no intention to project all my strength in. All I need is just a fraction of it. What you all need to do now is to protect this place and wait for the arrival of the reinforcing adepts.
They will build an Adept's tower here.
Once the tower is done, then I may be able to project all my strength within the radius covered by the Adept's tower. Then, if the so-called "powerful beings" of this plane dare come, I will be able to put them to eternal rest! "
Greem gritted his teeth and asked hesitatingly: "Then why didn't you let a Fourth Grade Adept break into this world first? It must be easier for him to enter this world than for you too! "
"A Fourth Grade Adept?" Hahaha……Little brat, you underestimate the plane's suppression of adepts. One one end you have to maintain the space vortex so it's not closed by space's ability to regenerate, on the other you need to suppress the flux and commotion of the space vortex such that it is not detected by the outside world, all while battling against a powerful plane consciousness. Do you think a Fourth Grade Adept is capable of this? "
Several adepts nodded their heads.
They had an in-depth and thorough experience the past few days. The various pains brought about by the plane suppression of a hostile world had almost driven them insane.
If a Fourth Grade Adept had been put in Lord Sarubo's position, would he be able to maintain his battle strength under this heavy suppression and limitation? Could a Fourth Grade Adept at his limits maintain his power advantage before the enemy if he was attacked by an individual of the same tier from this plane?
At that moment, everyone present went silent as they contemplated the meaning behind the words of the projection of the Great Adept.
If they hadn't heard wrong, this forward base is probably the safest place on this plane. At least for the adepts, this was the case!
If they met an unopposable powerful enemy outside, they could lure them here and use the power of the Great Adept's projection to vanquish the enemy. Of course, this was only possible after the Adept's tower had been built. Before the tower was constructed, the amount of power the Great Adept's projection could spare was very limited and needed to be used with great care.
Everyone wanted to ask what tier of power was the amount the Great Adept could spare currently, but this concerned classified information about this invasion. Asking such a question would only invite the doubts and suspicions of the Great Adept. Everyone decided to remain silent instead.
The Great Adept needed one month's time of buffer to bring in the second batch, having brought this first batch over. This information alone already
hinted at the amount of power he had. Thus several quick-thinking adepts had silently begun to make estimates of their own while changing the topic of conversation to questions on spells.
The following task assignment remained the same as before. The 4 clan adepts were responsible for the construction and furnishing of the base, while Greem and the others were responsible for the outer rim. But this time there were no limitations!
Adept Keoghan set out strict requests for the three before they left.
They were to lie low for the time being and not alert or draw the enemy's attention to anywhere near the base. In the meantime, the three adepts had to use all the means at their disposal to plant eyes within the ranks of the native humans, turn the forces of the enemy to their side and use them to monitor all regions near the base.
If there were small groups of enemies, the three could secretly kill them depending on the situation. If the enemy forces came in with large numbers, then they had to try to redirect them to another region. At least before any unopposable Second Grade opponents appear, the three would not get any reinforcements or assistance from the base.
The three had already expected this. There was nothing to complain about. After a quick rest at the base, they set off on their journey once more.
…………
Colca Village, a tiny village close to the Great Greenland Forest.
There were many of such simple villages within the Greenland Forest. They were the kind of extremely small villages where you would be able to see all the houses from one end of the village. The total population of the village did not even reach 60.
Due to the numerous beasts within the mountains, most of the residents were hunters. Years hunting had given them the ability to deal with beasts, as well as proficiency in bows and setting traps.
Most slept early in the mountain villages.
The sky had just gone dark, but already there were little lights to be seen within the village.
In a small wooden house by the edge of the village, seven or eight men dressed like hunters were warming themselves by a fireplace, the steam rising from the wooden cups in their hands obscuring the concern on their faces.
"We can't go on like this! It's been half a month since we saw the tracks of a large beast. I went to the beast trap on the east to see. There was absolutely no catch. "A hunter with a scar on his face started the conversation.
"Yea, it's been really weird recently, almost like all the beasts has gone into hiding.……"
"It's the same over at my side……Even 15 kilometers deep, I still can't even find wild chickens or ducks……”
"Yea……"
……
Everyone chattered and discussed, with plenty of confusion and incomprehension in their words.
"Could a scary magical being have shown up? "A smaller built hunter asked out of the blue.
All of a sudden, everyone went silent.
Nothing was scarier than running into a magical creature for these hunters making a living in the woods. Even though they were well equipped to deal with forest beasts, but they would have no chance to even escape if they met a magical creature.
"Those creatures all live deep in the mountains and have their own bases. They shouldn't come out for no reason, right? "A young hunter couldn't help but ask.
"The herd splitting off, avoiding disasters, loss in a tribe war, or the appearance of an even stronger magical creature……This could all make those scary creatures move their homes……"An experienced veteran hunter replied coldly.
Everyone fell silent again.
"How about we gather tomorrow and explore the depths of the forests? After all, we can't just let this problem be……"A hunter asked probingly.
His suggestion immediately got the agreement of everyone, and the discussion heated up.
But just as everyone was in the midst of their passionate discussion, "dududu" came the sound of the door being knocked.
Everyone was surprised.
It couldn't be someone from the village. Otherwise, they would just walk in. Who would knock the door so politely in the cold wind? But their village was on the waist of the mountain. The cliffs were steep and the roads were windy and hard to traverse. How could someone have made it here after dark?
Also, many traps had been laid around the perimeter of the village to prevent wild beasts from breaking into the village in the night.
"Who is it? "The owner of the house stood up and asked in a gruff voice.
No one replied, but the knocking on the door didn't stop.
Just as everyone felt a chill run through their hearts, a weird chittering sound came from above. With a "bata" sound, some odd things began falling from the roof onto their bodies.
"They are scorpions……"
A hunter with a sharp eye shouted in surprise and began to shake his body, trying to chase away these black scorpions he had never seen before. But following light stings all over their body, the hunters froze. A sensation of paralysis they have never felt before spread through their bodies.
The hunters that had been stung by the scorpions' tail froze on the spot, their mouth and tongue mildly shaking, their eyes reflecting an expression of fear and terror, but they had lost all ability to move.
One after another odd scorpion with bloated abdomens appeared in the house under their terrified gaze and crawled across their bodies onto their faces. Using their sharp joints to open their mouths, the odd scorpions dove inside without hesitation.
Every hunter looked in horror at their closest companion. They could very clearly see a bloated spot slowly moving down the throats of their companion. They themselves could only feel an intense pain coming from their throats as their trachea and esophagus burst from the insertion of the foreign object. The terrifying scorpion was still tunneling its way downwards!
They wanted to scream for help, but their throats had been blocked. They wanted to use their hands to dig the scorpion out of their throats, but their bodies were so paralyzed even moving their pinky was impossible.
Such a scary scene terrified all the hunters. One after another, they eyes flipped over and they fainted in pain. Only the toughest of them, Hanks managed to endure the pain and not faint.
And so, he had the luck to see the silhouette of the mastermind.
He didn't know when, but a mysterious man in a hood had walked into the house and was slowly sitting down by the fireplace.
In the dim light, Hanks could see the two ghostly green will-o-wisps of eyes and the face that was too ugly for any human eyes under the hood.
Was this a bug or a human?
Hanks consciousness sunk into the eternal darkness as he contemplated this silly question.
Chapter 170
Blue Hillock City.
Blue Hillock City was named Blue Hillock because there was a hillock 1.5 kilometers from the city. It was a hillock covered by a field of blue tulips. When the season of blooming came, the hillock was so beautiful it made people never want to leave. For that, it was well-known across the entire Continent of Witchers.
Even though it wasn't the blooming season currently, Blue Hillock City was still crowded and lively. Especially when night fell, nobles and merchants on lavish carriages that weaved through one after another entertainment establishments came in endless streams, making the city even more so lively than it was in the day.
Mary was high in the sky under the curtain of night. The bright moon shone behind her, complementing her already slim and perfect figure.
If someone in Blue Hillock city raised their head to appreciate the moon at this moment, they might have seen the silhouette of an elegant and perfect young lady. A pair of large bat wings were opened wide against the wind behind this beautiful girl, adding a touch of mystery and wickedness out of nowhere.
Even Mary wasn't sure when, but she had fallen in love with this feeling of looking down from high above the skies.
The ignorant city at her feet clamored, ignorant of the te
rrifying disaster that was about to come. An unrestrained feeling of absolute control rose in Mary as she looked down from above the night skies.
This feeling was perfect and alluring!
The raging winds high up in the sky swept the blood-red cape and made it billow along with the wind. Leather wings lightly flapping, Mary's slim body remained still, proudly standing in the skies, as if it was forged of iron.
This Blue Hillock City was initially Evil Bugs Acteon's hunting grounds, but after Mary went to him for a "heart-to-heart" talk with a huge smile on her face, Acteon requested to go to the few small mountain villages by the west of his "own initiative".
Thus Mary was in charge of this human town, Acteon was responsible for blockading the human villages to the west and Greem had to slip into the depths of the forests in the back and capture more flesh ingredients for Keoghan.
Mary wasn't the least bit worried or concerned even though she was forced to part with Greem. She might rely heavily on Greem's plan usually, but this did not mean that she was an idiot without a brain of her own.
There would never be an idiot amongst those who managed to become adepts.
Mary was already thinking of her action plan for the coming period as she rode the night winds to this small city of only 20,000 people.
Undercover operation!
If she wanted to go undercover she had to hide but just going into hiding alone won't give her information about the outside world. That's why she needed a more high-profile and more efficient means of going undercover.
Looking down from the skies, Mary quickly noted down several important locations from the outline of the buildings. The locations she noted down were all areas where the crowd was the densest and where the lights were the brightest.
Mary bit her lip and let out a shriek, then folded her wings and dove down to the city at her feet. Her entire body was like a sharp arrow shot out of a bow. When she was 30 meters away from the ground, Mary fluttered her wings and her body turned into a cluster of black shadows, merging into the boundless darkness.
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