Chapter 89: Everyone Gets Busy

  Ethan awoke, feeling as if he were floating in water. A strange and gentle touch brushed across his body. His muscles and skin were regenerating at a speed that seemed slow but was actually incredibly fast, like mushrooms after a rain under the bright sun. This feeling, full of gentleness and vitality, finally settled on his face. Slowly, Ethan sensed light again and saw a scene full of vibrant green. The green receded, and he saw light once more, but it was no longer the kind of scorching brilliance that burned everything. The sun hung in the sky as usual, casting warm and harmless rays.

  Ethan sat up in the water and realized he was still in the Sunwell. Luya was removing the Leaves of the World Tree from his body. His entire body was enveloped in a green glow. Waves of harmonious and vibrant power surrounded him, resonating with the fluctuations of the Sunwell. The skin and muscles that should have been burned like crust and fallen off were now intact again, as if nothing had happened.

  He looked around and discovered that, just like after Vedenina had used the Dark Dragon's spell last time, the area around the Sunwell was now a barren wasteland of scorched earth, with nothing left. The difference was that last time, dense ancient trees could still be seen beyond the clearing, but this time, he could see beyond the forest in a single glance. The entire Whispering Woods had become a ragged cloth full of holes, with only some sparse remnants of the sturdiest ancient trees scattered here and there in clusters.

  "What about the other elves?" Ethan asked Luya.

  "They're dead." Luya's face and hair were covered in dust and ash, looking extremely disheveled.

  "All of them?"

  "All of them, not one left. Even their corpses were turned to ash by the aftermath of that explosion, blown away to who knows where. Whispering Woods... is no more." Luya scanned the surrounding empty wasteland, her eyes filled with hollow grief, as if she no longer had the energy to even feel sad.

  "Since things have come to this, you shouldn't be sad either." Ethan sighed. Although he personally felt those extremely foolish elves had brought it upon themselves.

  "There's nothing to be sad about. Actually, when they refused my proposal, I sensed this outcome. When faith becomes shackles, destruction is only a matter of time." Luya's eyes still held grief, but not sadness. As grief drove away other emotions, a hidden strength deep within her was revealed. She asked Ethan in a low voice, "Could you do me a favor?"

  "What?"

  "I need to take the Leaves of the World Tree to the Tulalion Forest. Before the Withered Wood Warden regenerates, I must find a place to protect it, and I also need to report what happened here to them. But I don't know the way. Last time, I used teleportation scrolls to travel back and forth. Will you take me there?"

  "Well..." Ethan hesitated for a moment. Rodhart's side was important too, but an elven woman who knew nothing of the world, carrying the Leaves of the World Tree that every Necromancer dreamed of, running around everywhere was undoubtedly even more dangerous. "Alright. Although I don't know where it is either, someone does. I'll take you to Oufu first, and let Lord Sedros take you there." If Sedros still had the Magic Academy's teleportation scrolls, then they could still make it back to the capital city in time after rushing there with all their might.

  Luya nodded, then waved at him: "You get out. I need to use the well water to water the surrounding ground, so that the trees can slowly regrow."

  As soon as Ethan stepped out of the Sunwell, he immediately discovered a very serious problem. He instinctively jumped behind the rocks by the well and crouched down. "Do you know where there are clothes and pants?"

  Luya, holding the Leaves of the World Tree to draw well water, said indifferently, "There should still be some on those corpses outside."

  In Aery City, the local official had gathered almost everyone in the city who could write to compose an article praising and mourning the Lord Imperial Envoy.

  The Lord Imperial Envoy had not returned yet. According to the accounts of the soldiers who had fled and the followers of the God of Nature, the area around the forest had become a hell where demons and monsters appeared to eat people. Then came the inexplicable celestial anomalies, the soaring fire, and finally that enormous explosion that nearly shattered all of Aery. With these apocalyptic scenes, the Lord Imperial Envoy was undoubtedly in grave danger. And as the local official, the crime of failing to provide adequate protection was inescapable. Losing his post was a minor matter; he might even be beheaded. Therefore, in the report crafted with the city's full effort, the local official had to explain as much as possible how dangerous the situation had been, how powerless ordinary people were, how calmly the Lord Imperial Envoy had commanded when facing tens of thousands of rioters, how bravely he had faced the monsters emerging from hell, and how he had single-handedly dealt with those evil creatures to protect innocent people, only to sacrifice himself heroically in a situation where no one could reverse the outcome. The effect of this report should be quite good. When it was read to the public, many people shed tears of emotion.

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  But just then, the Lord Imperial Envoy, who had been missing for a long time and should have heroically sacrificed himself, suddenly appeared, and he was disheveled and accompanied by a beautiful woman.

  The brief awkwardness was immediately washed away by joy. As long as the Lord Imperial Envoy was safe and sound, who would care what he had been doing?

  The Lord Imperial Envoy hastily explained matters concerning the aftermath, even casually throwing the command of the troops to the local official as if discarding trash. He only asked for two fast horses and some travel supplies before departing with the strange woman. As for where he was going and what he was doing, he didn't say, and he even instructed the local official not to reveal anything about him to anyone. But later, people always asked the local official about this matter. The local official, like an old friend, expressed understanding for the Lord Imperial Envoy's strange behavior: "After experiencing so many major events, of course, one needs to relax and relieve stress. And that kind of relaxation naturally doesn't want others to disturb." The listeners recalled the beauty of the strange woman, licked their lips, and nodded in agreement with deep envy.

  On the night they left, a group of people came to the Whispering Woods, which had become scorched earth. Holding torches, they spent most of the night carefully searching this wasteland that was still radiating residual heat. It wasn't until dawn that they walked out of the scorched earth.

  Outside the forest, there was still a sea of corpses and remains. These things would probably keep the local official of Aery busy for quite some time.

  This group of people appeared to be mercenaries. The recent unrest in Aery had increased the number of people in this line of work. But even they, who were accustomed to scenes of slaughter, felt their hair stand on end as they found themselves in this ocean of corpses.

  However, two figures stood quietly on the corpses. One had a slight stoop and desolation characteristic of old age, while the other was a graceful middle-aged man. He stood on a corpse that was only half intact, but his posture and demeanor were as if he were in a gathering of elegant dignitaries.

  But both men's expressions were far from relaxed, not because of the endless corpses beneath their feet, but because they were watching the group of people approaching. They had been waiting here for these searchers for a whole night.

  The group walked up to the two men. One of them, who appeared to be their leader, stepped forward holding a not-so-small package and handed it to the two men, saying, "Gentlemen, this is all the strange-looking things we found inside."

  The middle-aged man took the package and opened it. It was filled with some peculiar small items, mostly unicorn horns from various beasts. He searched through them carefully and asked, "Did you search that well in the middle?"

  The leader replied, "As you instructed, we searched it carefully. But there were no corpses inside, nothing at all."

  The middle-aged man frowned and asked again, "Did you see a green leaf?"

  "Of course not," the leader replied, cursing inwardly. In a place burned to nothing like this, let alone leaves, not even tree roots could remain.

  "Hmm?" The middle-aged man frowned, picking out something that looked like a handle from the items.

  The leader explained, "According to the magician in our team, this should be what remains of a very advanced magic scroll."

  "I know." The middle-aged man sighed. Two small skulls were carved on both ends of the object, emitting a faint fluorescence.

  The old man leaned over to take a look, revealing a cold smile and said, "This unexpected discovery confirms our theory. The evidence is conclusive. Let's go back."

  "Gentlemen, what about the other half of our payment?" the leader said coldly, his hand moving to the hilt of the sword at his waist. "And leave all the things in there behind. Out of respect for you having us come to this damned place to discover these things, I won't kill you."

  Unicorn horns were extremely rare magical items. Such a large pile could definitely be exchanged for ten times their weight in gold. What the mercenaries risked their lives for was precisely these things.

  "Indeed. Give them what they're owed." The old man said to the middle-aged man.

  The middle-aged man looked coldly at the group of big men in front of him who were already filled with killing intent, and began to mutter some words that no one could understand.

  "It's a magician, and he still wants to fight back. Kill them." The mercenary leader shouted, raising the long sword in his hand and stepping forward. All the mercenaries drew their weapons and rushed forward. At such close range, this magician dared to chant his spell unhurriedly—what a perfect opportunity.

  The old man looked at his companion with slight surprise but completely ignored the group of ferocious mercenaries in front of him. Without even looking at them, he just raised his hand and shouted.

  The mercenaries who had already reached the two men suddenly stopped. They were all stomping their legs frantically, but they couldn't move forward because they were all floating in the air. They could only wave their limbs not far from the ground, shouting as they watched the middle-aged magician complete his spell.

  With a strange sound, the dozen or so people in mid-air instantly lost the shape that humans should have. Blood, muscles, and internal organs madly gushed out from their mouths, eyes, and under their clothes and armor. In just the blink of an eye, only a dozen skeletal frames wearing clothes and covered in flesh and blood remained in mid-air.

  The gushing flesh and blood were drawn by a suction force to the front of the middle-aged man, condensing into a huge spherical mass. As it rapidly spun and shrank, it finally became a small blood-colored crystal that flew into the middle-aged man's hand.

  "Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. But being able to cast this spell at your age is quite remarkable." The old man nodded in approval, but his face still held a cold smile. "I know you're angry. But there's no need to waste it on these worthless people. You'll probably be busy enough when we get back." He sighed as if with nostalgia. "It's been a long time since we had a meeting..."

  The middle-aged man said nothing, his face cold as he took out a teleportation scroll from his robe. The old man also took one out, and after a flash of blue light, both disappeared.

  The skeletal frames in the air finally fell to the ground with a series of unpleasant clattering sounds. Then, this place once again became a dead wasteland.