The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 196

Chapter 196: The Female Marshal of the Kingdom

 

The attitude of the old man in front of him was kind. He did not have too much grandeur as a man of such a high-order position. While he spoke, the woman clad in armour turned and looked at them curiously. Hao Ren found that she was a much younger woman than he had expected. She looked around 25 years old, had fair skin, and looked very beautiful. However, there was a suttle heroic spirit in her face, which hinted that she was experienced on the battlefield, not just a beautiful woman with no actual strength.

Becky was a little nervous when she saw the bishop. She hurriedly folded her hands in front of her chest as a special gesture and then, took a deep bow. She said with a stiff tone, “Your Excellency, I am Becky, I am a second-class mercenary from Lamberg Town, the— Yes, we have important intelligence!”

“Don’t be nervous, I’ve heard it.” The bishop waved his hand to signal that Becky did not have to be overly courteous. He looked curiously at the people behind Becky. He found that these people neither saluted him nor expressed any tension. There was however, a subtle sense of alienation. He could not help but look at them again, but he said nothing about it. He just turned to Becky and went straight to the point, “All of you have just descended from the mountains? And, you know something about the rock monsters?”

Becky nodded hurriedly and replied, “Yes… We do. We saw them split from a peak on the southern side of the mountain trail!”

“Split from the peak?” The old man’s eyebrows fluttered, a surprised glow flashed through his muddy eyes. “How? Please tell me the details.”

Alhough Becky was usually careless and fearless, she was a civilian after all, who had a deep-rooted fear of the Disciples of Glory. For the first time in her life she met the bishop, such a big shot. She hurriedly told him everything they saw in the mountain, and also mentioned the battle in the east of the mountains.

“The three of you settled the rock monsters? You seem to have actual strength.” The old man looked at Hao Ren and the people beside him, who did not even have weapons or armour with surprise. He did not feel much of a warrior’s vigor from them, which surprised him and he asked, “Are you also a mercenary group?”

Lily jumped up on the spot and said, “Dogs Have Gotten All the Good Names…”

Hao Ren tried to stop the girl immediately, but he did not make it. Lily acted too quickly.

The old bishop heaved a long sigh and said, “The mercenaries now…are getting more and more outrageous. When I was young, there were names like Silver Hand, Silver Fist, and Silver Eye. Now, the names are getting weird. Young people these days really don’t take the names seriously.”

Hao Ren muttered, “All the good names are taken. Why don’t you tell us that the last mercenary group in the silver series is called Silver Knee?”

“We saw the situation outside the town earlier.” Vivian did not want to dwell on the topic and took the initiative to divert attention. “Has there been an attack here? What’s the status?”

“Two attacks, the Knights had some casualties, but after finding the giants’ weakness, they defeated them.” The old man did not conceal the situation and roughly explained what had happened that afternoon. Hao Ren then knew that after the rock monsters split from the cliff, they immediately attacked the small town at the foot of the hill. Two consecutive attacks.

The first attack took place three hours ago, about an hour or so after the loud bang came from the mountain. More than 10 rock monsters rushed out of the mountain path. Most of the casualties among the Knights occurred during the first attack. The powerful combat ability of those monsters was still not the toughest part. The toughest part was that they could regenerate whenever they touched the ground. No one knew this at first, and there was no one as powerful as Y’zaks who could take time to figure out the weaknesses of the opponent while fighting. So, the Knights went through a tough fight, but eventually, they fought off the rock monsters after a certain amount of casualties.

The second attack took place one hour ago, just before Hao Ren and the rest of them arrived in the town. Again, more than 10 rock monsters rushed out of the mountain path, but they were prepared, the attack was easily disrupted.

“It was very sudden. Those monsters almost rushed into the town,” said the bishop in a low tone. “Fortunately, this is the last stop before the Holy Land. There are many Knights stationed all year round so, nothing serious happened.”

“Based on the time, after the rock monsters split from the cliff, they should be heading straight for the town.” The young woman, who spoke to the bishop just now had remained silent for quite some time. At that moment, she spoke. Her voice was steady and magnetic. “Your Excellency, what do you think of this matter?”

The bishop bowed his head, pondered for a moment, and began to speak slowly, “Dragonspine Ridge is a sacrilege built by the arrogant ancient mage-emperors. Every stone in that mountain is a challenge to the authority of the goddes. All the unusual phenomena that has occurred should be attributed to evil motive, and the rock monsters that split from the mountains are undoubtedly full of evil. I think their goal should not be this checkpoint, but… Beinz, the Holy Lake.”

“I think so,” The woman nodded. “The disappearance of the Orb of the Holy Synod, the unusual changes in the Holy Lake, and the emergence of monsters in Dragonspine Ridge. These monsters are now trying to attack the Holy Lake. This series of events is an obvious and planned provocation.”

The bishop was silent. He did not like “attack” and “provocation”, two words of obvious directivity, but the facts in front of him made it difficult to make a strong retort. Finally, he could only nod and say, “Perhaps, those evil souls in the ancient times have not yet given up. They are preparing some—”

The armoured woman slowly said, “Eloken has declared war on the goddess, Your Excellency.”

“It’s too early to think it’s a holy war,” the bishop insisted. “The goddess’s authority is not so easily provoked.”

“But, the ancient mage-emperors did succeed once—we have to respond to it before they provoke us the second time. Otherwise, we can’t be sure if the goddess will not be angry for a second time.”

This time, the bishop was silent for a longer time. Alas, he could only wave his hand and say, “…Your Excellency, please keep in mind that certain things are taboo and not to be mentioned frequently near the Holy Lake. Even if there is no Orb of the Holy Synod, the goddess will also know what is happening in this world. Well, I’ll consider opening the Holy Sepulcher, but at least not until another three months. I hope I can explain this to His Majesty.”

“A wise move,” the woman said and nodded, and then suddenly, she remembered that there were others in the room. She smiled at them apologetically and said, “Sorry, we’re busy debating and ignoring you.”

Hao Ren was still in a daze. Becky was surprised and suddenly jumped up, “Wait—Wait a minute! Your Excellency, Ophra?! You, you—you…”

With her hands on her chest, Ophra seemed to find Becky’s response interesting and said, “I’m Ophra, the Kingdom Marshal. What’s wrong?”

Becky thought for a moment, then slapped herself and fainted.

Nangong Wuyue was nearest to Becky. She quickly supported the mercenary with her hands. Becky slowly opened her eyes and saw the heroic, legendary heroine still standing in front of her, so she was going to faint again. Luckily, this time before she fainted, Nangong Wuyue smashed a ball of water and ice into her face.

“Is it that surprising? I’ve seen a lot of interesting guys, but this is my first time seeing such an intense reaction,” she spoke and smiled cheerfully.

“I am—I adore you!” Becky jumped up and wanted to pounce on her. However, she stopped halfway and then, stood to attention in a weird posture. After that, she began to bow and salute. “Lord Marshal—Uh, no, sir—Uh, no, Your Excellency.”

“Come on, I’m not royalty, and I’m not a duchess.” Ophra smiled. She waved her hand and stood aside. It seemed that the way Becky addressed her made her feel awkward. “I heard your name, Becky, right? You have made a great contribution this time, you are a good mercenary.”

At this time, Hao Ren really could not help asking. He came to Becky and whispered behind her, “Who is this?”

“How can you not even know her?” Becky stared at Hao Ren like he was a monster, and then remembered that he was a “wizard from the Northern Empire”, but she still found it a bit inconceivable. “People from the Empire of Hognar should also know Ophra, the Grand Marshal. She is one of the three heads of the kingdom, the famous heroine in the whole continent! You are too ignorant.”

“It’s not that dramatic.” She smiled, and now looked approachable. The aggressive look of arguing with the bishop was totally gone. “I just happened to have experienced a lot of things.”

Then, she turned to the bishop and said, “Your Excellency, I’ll go first. I’ll let my knights take charge of the night defense, and tomorrow, we’ll discuss in detail what to do with the monsters that are coming out of the mountains. If the information from these mercenaries is accurate, we have to face more than 20 rock monsters.”

Chapter 197: The Marshal’s Retarded Fan

 

After saying goodbye to the bishop, Ophra left the room. She was very graceful. Hao Ren searched his mind, and he finally remembered who this Marshal Ophra was.

Aside from the Church, which was influential but non-interfering, there were the three most powerful persons in the Kingdom of Holletta: the first was Mhoren, the incumbent king; the other two were his right hand men—Prince Hoffman, the chief public officer; and Marshal Ophra, also known as the Iron General, the best fighter in the kingdom.

That’s right. The young lady who just left, she was the best fighter in the kingdom, theoretically.

Hao Ren had intel about the ruling class of the kingdom through various channels. He also knew about Marshal Ophra. But, he never thought that the powerful figure was a woman, and two years his junior. When he heard “the best fighter in the Kingdom”, he was expecting to see a herculean, eight-feet villain—just like Y’zaks, better yet, with octopus tattoos on his arms.

He was a little stunned. Half a day had flown by before he came to his senses and accepted the fact that the one who had just left the room was one of the most powerful people in the Kingdom. The general of all the knights in the kingdom, and at the same time, not just young, but also a beautiful lady. Apart from her military-style demeanour, there was no way people could tell she was the best fighter.

“Behave… She’s a VIP.” Lily stuck her tongue out in astonishment. She glanced at Becky, then said, “Looks like you admire her quite a lot.”

Becky nodded her head like she was on vibration mode. Even Hao Ren, who was standing nearby could feel her pride.

Hao Ren wanted to know more about Marshal Ophra. But, it looked like it was not the right time. Bishop Gelton was being left in the cold. He looked at the thin and feeble old man who could return to his creator anytime. “That’s all we wanted to brief you about…”

The old man slowly nodded. His voice was weaker than before. “Thank you. The intel was timely and critical. Tomorrow, I’ll send an ascetic to check out the landslide you mentioned in the mountains. Meanwhile, you might want to spend the night in town. I guess you guys are tired.”

Hao Ren nodded. However, he had something else to say. “What about the rock monsters? Will they come into the town? We saw some monsters in the east of the trail. It seemed like they were going to the steppe. You may want to look out for them.”

“The knights of the church and kingdom will handle that.” The bishop waved. He did not find the need to share the information with them. After all, these mercenaries had just arrived, and Hao Ren knew that as well. So,he kept all his questions to himself. Meanwhile, something crossed Vivian’s mind. “We’re going to The Beinz Blood Lake. We may need to get a pass from you.”

“The Holy Lake?” The bishop looked up at them, his face was full of wrinkles. “Ahh, you’re mercenaries looking for the Orb of the Holy Synod. Are you sure you’re still going?”

Hao Ren suddenly tensed up. “Is there anything wrong? Is it locked down?”

“No. Not yet.” The bishop shook his head. “But, the situation near the Holy Lake isn’t stable. Many mercenaries have returned. After the incident this afternoon, nobody knows what will happen there. It’s not a good idea to go there now.”

Something the bishop did not say and found inconvenient to mention: the missing of the Orb occurred two months prior. A lot happened within those two months. The situation near the Beinz Blood Lake had worsened, various unusual phenomena, which arose had overwhelmed the knights from the church as well as the kingdom. The Orb was now just one of the many problems. Searching for the Orb was…simply not their priority.

As a pious believer, he could not say it out with his own mouth.

Nangong Wuyue stepped forward. “We know it’s risky. But, we’ve got to go there anyhow—we’re searching for someone.”

“Someone?” The bishop looked up.

“Let me explain…” Since it had come to this, Hao Ren thought he may as well tell the bishop about the mysterious woman. “…that she is. She may have been here about two days ago.”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about but, I can give you the pass.” The bishop pulled out a form from a stack of documents on the table. He put down two official stamps on the pre-filled form and said, “May the goddess bless you and be with you.”

They took the pass and left the bishop’s room. The serious man,who led them there earlier was still standing outside, seemingly waiting for them. “I’ll bring you lot to the knights’ station. You can rest there.”

For the past two months, mercenaries from all over the Kingdom had flocked to the town. All hotels and homestays had been fully booked, and many mercenaries had to stay at the two knights station.

Lily was always in her insanely happy-go-lucky mode. She had been wiggling around Hao Ren since they came out from the church. “The old man seems to be a nice guy. I thought the bishop would be an old-fashioned kind of person.”

“Ahem…” Hao Ren coughed. But, it seemed like the black-robed monk did not respond. “It appears that the woman hasn’t come to Leyton at all.”

“How could she go to the Blood Lake without passing through Leyton?” Vivian looked at Becky.

“It’s possible.” Becky could not understand why they were so interested in the mysterious traveller, which they had not even met. Nonetheless, she still replied in all seriousness. “There’s a route from the danger zone directly going through the twisted woodlands. It’s safer to enter the Blood Lake region through the official route and the church watchhouse just outside the town. Most people take this route, which has regular patrol and clean-up, plus are tons of alarms on both sides of the road. Other routes through the twisted woodlands aren’t safe—you could be attacked by beasts.

“Let’s hope for the best.” Hao Ren sincerely said a prayer for the otherworldly visitor, but he was not sure if he should have prayed in the name of Raven 12345. It was the biggest irony as a genuine “saint” himself: ordinary believers could pray with faith and be in peace irrespective of whether God listened or not. At least, they could do it without fear; but, Hao Ren himself who always had conversations with a god, did not really enjoy being honest. He was nervous with the sheer mention of the goddess’ name because the goddess was no more normal than the husky…

Y’zaks stayed silent during the whole time in the church. Perhaps, he was not comfortable with the atmosphere inside. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally got out. “Tell me…why would the marshal of a kingdom come to this place?”

The beautiful picture of Marshal Ophra kept appearing in Hao Ren’s mind. Attractive women always had the ability to impart lasting impressions in a person’s mind, especially a woman like her who possessed so many incredible qualities. But, Hao Ren was already a man of experience. He did not have any wishful thinking towards Marshal Ophra. All he thought about was how the positions and titles behind this woman looked at odds with her. “Perhaps, she’s investigating the missing Orb incident… It’s been a fuss. Anyway, I did not expect the marshal of this kingdom to be a woman.”

“I knew you were discriminatory against women!” The admiration Becky had for Marshal Ophra was out of this world. She jumped to her feet. “What’s wrong with young women? Are you having problems with age or gender? Let me tell ya, women fighters are just as awesome. I’m a fine example of that. And who the hell told you Marshal Ophra’s young? She’s at least a few hundred years old…”

“A few hundred years old?!” Hao Ren was stunned. “She’s not human?”

“Marshal Ophra’s a descendent of the ancient seed.” Becky stared at Hao Ren. “The Northern Empire must be damn ignorant to have such a weirdo like you.”

“Ancient seed! Whoa…ancient seed.” Hao Ren laughed slyly. “It’s fine, it’s fine. You’re her admirer!”

“Of course I am.” Becky’s eyes were almost gleaming with a green glow. “There are no female mercenaries who don’t admire her. She’s a legendary female fighter. It’s said that she was the hero who successfully suppressed a few revolts at the border a few hundred years ago. Since she came into being, she has been the sword instructor of the Holletta Royalty. How awesome is that, right?”

Hao Ren did not know a thing. He was just shrewly laughing.

It was impossible to communicate with Becky under such circumstances.

Chapter 198: The Secrets of the Kingdom

 

Becky was foaming at her mouth, telling stories about the female marshal. Hao Ren however was not that interested; for one, she was not related to their mission, and also, he did not think that he was going to have anything to do with this otherworldly hero.

Anyhow, he had heard enough of this legendary Marshal Ophra.

When speaking about the marshal, it was necessary to look into something they called, “the Ancients”. It was a new term Hao Ren had encountered. He was lacking an excuse to openly ask about it. Becky’s narrative was the only source by which he could find out about the race. The Ancients were an almost human-like, unique race. Most of the time, they mingled with humans. Their population was small, scattered all over the world, without their own cultural identity. They totally assimilated and co-existed with humans. The Ancients were different from humans in that they lived much longer and were far more stronger. They were better in every single aspect from their physical to mental states. Many of the Ancients were remembered as heroes in history. Ophra was one of them. She had been the most renowned for the last several hundred years.

Other than that, Hao Ren was totally clueless regarding the origins of the term “Ancients”, and as to how they acquired such extraordinary qualities.

Marshal Ophra had been the most active descendent of the Ancients for the last several hundred years. Back then, King Geddon III, the Iron Fist helmed the throne of the Kingdom of Holletta. At the time of Geddon III’s coronation, the Kingdom of Holletta was experiencing severe changes and turmoil. This oldest kingdom on the continent had seen the rise of the art of alchemy and new academics. Emerging civilian R&D alchemy factories and production models challenged the old Royal Academy of Magic. More and more advanced technologies were being invented by the civilians instead of being under the control of the Royal Academy of Magic. This caused a rift between the elites and the civilian class; at the same time, a faction within the elites opposed the conservatives—an inevitable fate as a result of the feudal dynasty becoming too old and bloated, and also from the massive achievement of social progress. At that time, newly emerging countries around the Kingdom of Holletta were adopting new technologies and social ideologies with tremendous pace. Within a short period of time, these kingdoms had left the arrogant and old kingdom in the dust—at least, in terms of technology.

The Kingdom of Holletta back then was not as moderate as it was in the present—there were no more radicals now on the outside. They were a superpower and, had a dominant spirit, so they found themselves quite a lot of enemies as a result. Because of that, during the reign of Geddon III, the Kingdom faced a multitude of crisis: factionalism of the ruling class, royalty losing grip on social order, and old-fashioned royal advisers struggling to handle new social problems. At the same time, there were at least dozens of newly emerging, technologically-advanced, smaller countries, planning to invade his kingdom.

That was when Ophra came into being.

There were many versions to the legend about how the new king and the Ancient met, and how they had become comrades in arms. The stories became much talked about topics among historians and playwrights alike. As a retarded fan of Marshal Ophra, and a typical gossiper, Becky was a proponent of the dramatist’s narrative: the young Geddon III was touring the Kingdom in search of solutions to the problems in his kingdom. When he arrived in the east of the Kingdom, he was ambushed by his enemies.

At that critical juncture, Marshal Ophra, who was then an adventurer—there was no differentiation between an adventurer and a mercenary back then—came to his rescue. They fought their way out, and the fate of the Kingdom as well as their own were sealed from that moment.

The ambitious young king and the skilful knight began their fateful relationship. Together, they suppressed the revolts within the Kingdom. Subsequently, Geddon III, against all dissenting views from the old elites, declared the knight a new elite, and placed the Kingdom’s military in the hands of his confidante. The talented, bold, young king and the battle savvy, female fighter put an end to all the internal rebellions, and rebuilt a new ruling order. Not only that, they suppressed external enemies.

From that day onwards, the famous Iron General became the protector of the Kingdom of Holletta for the next 435 years.

Any qualified dramatist would have noticed something else: Geddon III and Ophra were trying to work out their relationship since the very first chapter but still nothing had come to fruition after 40 over chapters. At the end of the day, Geddon III lay on his deathbed, holding Ophra’s hand and saying his last wishes, “My reign will soon end in two days. You must make sure my son succeeds my throne…”

Becky’s eyes lit up when she told the story. But, Hao Ren felt that the ending of the story was probably a sham made up by some motherf*cker, then widely circulated among mercenaries, who were spinsters. If you dared to discuss this in the Royal Court, they would have killed you first and asked questions later.

Much was learned about the glorious past of Marshal Ophra. Hao Ren now knew she was the most legendary figure in the Kingdom. Ophra, a descendent of the Ancients, had been the Kingdom’s marshal for over 400 years, witnessing dozens of royal successions. And, she remained the top fighter and sword instructor for all the kings of Holletta. It was incredible, Hao Ren thought. He had a hard time imagining why someone as powerful as her was willing to serve a dynasty and remained loyal for four centuries. In addition, the Holletta Royalty still trusted Ophra despite going through dozens of royal successions. Perhaps, something really did happen between the hero and King Geddon III, the Iron Fist.

They had witnessed an argument between the marshal and bishop that day. It seemed, the two had differing views on matters regarding the Orb incident, and religious interpretations. Unfortunately, Hao Ren had no idea where to begin investigations on the reasons behind the argument.

The group spent the night in Leyton before they set off on the road to Beinz Blood Lake the next morning.

The lockdown was still enforced in the town. The stored energy beneath the church and its stationed mage regiment seemed enough to sustain the shield above the town. However, there was no telling how long the lockdown would last. What bothered Hao Ren the most was the tough rock monsters. He was not sure if the local knights were able to handle them, but the bishop appeared to be pretty confident. Perhaps, the bishop had already informed his superior about the situation and soon, a massive mobilisation of the Kingdom’s machinery and the Church’s power would begin. He chose to believe that these VIPs had what it took to handle the situation.

They left the rented horses behind in the town as horses could easily be affected by the magic near Beinz Blood Lake and become frightened as well as agitated. There was a handover point specially for mercenaries in the town, the horses would be in good hands. They left the town on foot through the western exit onto the highway. It was not a long journey.

“That’s the Gnarled Grove.” Leading the group, Becky pointed to a vast area of fuchsia far ahead. “Keep your eyes open. Once we’re in there, don’t use magic. If there’s an encounter, end it quickly. Most of the monsters inside are very sensitive, they can smell magic and come in groups.”

“Copy that,” Hao Ren acknowledged. Lily and Vivian had transformed since they left town. The danger zone not far ahead was infested with monsters, so they could never be too cautious. Vivian sent her squad of bats flying a hundred metres in the air, monitoring the road ahead. Meanwhile, Lily sniffed around for any suspicious smells. Nangong Wuye looked at Becky, who was still leading in the front, recalling what she had seen on the way out of town. Two groups of mercenaries were returning from the grove, injured and bloody. “Actually, you don’t need to do this. Your job ended when you brought us to Leyton.”

“Are you trying to say that going forward’s too dangerous?” Becky could read Nangong Wuyue’s mind as she too had seen the returning mercenaries. “From what I was told, they were beaten by some average monsters. The situation around Beinz Blood Lake isn’t as bad as what the bishop tried to paint. I’ll keep my word and bring you lot right to the edge of the lake. Furthermore, I’d like to try my luck and see if I can find some treasure.”

Hao Ren smiled. He decided to bring a tablet for this frank maiden the next time he returned. After all, it was at the expense of Raven 12345.

Once they entered the Gnarled Grove, Hao Ren instantly felt that the atmosphere was totally unlike the outside.

Chapter 199: The Gnarled Grove

 

The Gnarled Grove was a mysterious place.

Ecologically very distinct from the outside world, the grove gave people the illusion that they had entered an alien forest. There was no green whatsoever. All the vegetation glowed with a metallic lustre of fuchsia, which looked a bit flirtatious at first glance, but mysterious after subsequent looks. Most of the plants were tall and gnarled. Also, there was a kind of bush as tall as a human, growing like a flame in a spiral. Under the thick bushes, on the compost, strange fungi grew across the terrain. They looked a bit like a combination of mushrooms and moss: a large coat of lavender-coloured fungi covered the rocks and the surface of other plants with umbrella-like structures growing abruptly above them. These fungi grew strong and bright in dark corners. But, it is not certain whether the rule of thumb applied here: the better it looks, the more poisonous it is. The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves and other dead plants. All the plants grew naturally and wantonly, indicating the lack of disturbance from humans.

In addition to the shorter, secondary vegetation, there was only one kind of tree in the Gnarled Grove: the tall, gnarled and broad-leafed tree. Its bark was iron gray. The lower trunk had no branches and grew straight up in a helical shape but at the upper trunk, branches burst out explosively. The crown of the tree was full of broad, oval-shaped, fuschia leaves. These trees were abundant in the forest and looked the same—theie gnarls, twigs and branches were all carbon copies of one another, except that their sizes may have been different. Hao Ren had spotted these unusual characteristics from the beginning. He studied the crown of two different trees and they were exactly the same.

The group moved on via the “official route” in the Gnarled Grove. The Church had spent enormous manpower and resources to build this road several hundred years ago. Generations of people had contributed their efforts in maintaining this narrow road. Since several hundred years had past, the ferocious monsters in the Gnarled Grove had gotten used to the existence of the road and they would stay away from the watchhouses along the road: the road had become part of the ecological system, even the forest gave way to it.

This had provided a buffer zone to travellers who traversed through the grove. As long as they did not stray away from the magic formations lined along the road, they would be safe.

“These trees have no scientific name, they’re just a part of the huge Gnarled Grove, like fur on a beast. Anyway, mercenaries and adventurers call them ‘spiral trees’. They look like that, don’t they?” Becky had noticed Hao Ren staring at the strange-shaped trees, so she took the initiative to explain. “All these trees are connected as one. Their roots are entangled and grow together while the exposed parts receive sunlight. A group of elf scholars studied the Gnarled Grove back in the day. It’s said that before the world was destroyed, the Gnarled Grove was the goddess’ backyard. Back then, Lorrisa, the elf mage-emperor, stole the life gene from the Gnarled Grove and used a root from the tree to clone the tree of life. However, the tree of life was destroyed by fire due to the end of the world. Only its charred remains were left. It’s hard to tell how similar they looked like now.”

“You say that the entire forest’s a plant..,” said Nangong Wuyue. She snuffed. The high humidity in the grove made the siren feel more comfortable. “…but, it’s a huge forest. I wonder how much of it’s hidden underground?”

“No idea. But, it’s said that the roots of the Gnarled Grove extend all the way to the centre of Beinz Blood Lake in the west, and the bottom of Dragonspine Ridge in the east. This whole area was built upon the roots of the Gnarled Grove. There’s a legend that some 100 years ago, some dwarf miners tried to mine chrysotile in Dragonspine Ridge; they were digging a tunnel and while they were digging, they stumbled upon a huge black root near the Blood Lake. Half of them went mad. The Church came up with the explanation that residues of wrath from the goddess, who ended the world were trapped underneath. It would take a few thousand years before the residues could be cleaned up by the forest. Since then, mining hasn’t been allowed in the west of the mountain range. You need permission from the Church even if you want to extract well water there.

Hao Ren was amazed by these giant trees. It was hard to imagine that there was a massive life form hibernating underground just by looking at the surface. All he could see were some exposed roots, functioning as its breathing organ. But one thing was sure, and Becky was right, there was no credible explanation to the amazingly identical trees, except that they were not of natural occurrence but organs of a large living body.

“Please excuse me for a minute.” Something suddenly came to Hao Ren’s mind. He took his pot and walked off the road. Becky asked, “Where’re you going? It’s dangerous!”

Hao Ren waved and said, “I won’t be long. And, I won’t go far.”

Becky was not convinced. Lily then tried to explain. “He’s just taking a leak. He’s got a kidney problem…”

Vivian was pretty shocked. “How do you know that?”

“Doesn’t he have DI, diabetes insipidus since we visited the village of the mountain people a few days ago?

Everyone was speechless.

Maybe the maiden’s mind had a little short circuit and she was still stuck in that particular moment.

Meanwhile, Hao Ren had detoured from the official route, out of Becky’s sight. However, he did not dare go too far off; although there were magic lamps made from divine crystals on both sides of the official route, the area outside the energy range of the magic lamps was still a world of monsters. He went to the back of a shrub. As he unlid the pot, Lil Pea poked her head out, splashing water as if she was greeting him.

Hao Ren used his finger to pet the little mermaid’s tiny head as sign of affection. He then spoke to the MDT, “Get out of there. I need you to scan the surroundings in high power mode.”

“Now you sound like you mean business,” the MDT whined as it got out of the pot. Lil Pea looked on. It rose in the air and glowed with a blue light.

The high powered radar scanned the ground and analysed the underground structure.

“A massive root system can be detected, just like the maiden said—the forest is a single living organism.” The MDT started showing a hologram of the entire Gnarled Grove. The stunning images shocked him: the ground was filled with a web of roots, which radiated outwards for many kilometres. The roots were entangled together and formed a giant, compressed, gully-filled, oval-shaped ball. It was a little like a deformed walnut.

And, it was disgusting.

The MDT explained, “If the roots disappear, a large hole as big as a hundred kilometres across will be left behind and everything above it will be swallowed. Now you know how massive this thing is. But that’s not all, the maiden is right about one more thing too: the root system hasn’t just extended under the Blood Lake, but past it. It has almost reached the plain and mountain range in the far west. But strangely, half of the roots have died, probably because of soil problems in the crystal plain.”

“It’s kind of hard to imagine that what’s underground is so much more massive than what’s above ground.” Hao Ren was totally overwhelmed by a feeling of awe. He was not awed by the ancient miracle but, by nature itself—just like the nature of Raven 12345.

“There’s another thing that may be worthy of investigation,” said the MDT all of a sudden. “The entire forest…no, it fact, it’s the entire Beinz Blood Lake region; the ecosystem is incompatible with the outside world.”

Hao Ren was at a loss. “Incompatible?”

“This is the topography of the region.” The MDT spun the hologram around so that they could have a bird’s eye view. “You can see the entire region of the Beinz Blood Lake is a closed system. Dragonspine Ridge in the east, the sacred mountain of the mountain people in the west, the grand canyon in the north, and the ocean in the south; all these places are natural dividers to the ecosystem. That’s how Beinz Blood Lake became an ecosystem on its own. The plants in this area—of what I’ve detected so far—will not grow outside of the region. They have a unique way of using nutrients, which can only be done in the environment provided by the Beinz Blood Lake.”

“Totally unadaptable to the outside world? They wouldn’t survive at all?”

The MDT affirmed categorically, “Not at all.”

Hao Ren was becoming more curious about the Beinz Blood Lake.

The lake was sustaining an ancient ecosystem. But, what was inside the lake?

Chapter 200: First the Rock Monsters, Now a Tree Giant?

 

It seemed there was more than meets the eyes to the Beinz Blood Lake than Hao Ren had thought.

The closed ecosystem, the massive life form beneath the Gnarled Grove, and the mysterious power hidden in the blood-red lake; all the legends had authentic origins, Hao Ren thought. It was mysterious as well as captivating.

“In your opinion what kind of species is the Gnarled Grove? Is it a plant?” Hao Ren browsed through the holograms before he stopped and stared at the picture of the Gnarled Grove. A chill ran down his spine as he looked at the huge root system. It shocked him to think that he was standing on an ancient and mysterious living thing. He was just like a speck of dust on this massive being.

“It’s a confirmed plant.” The MDT dialled up its scanning resolution and the image quality was enhanced. “Although it’s rare to have life evolve into such scale, it did have a precedent. The universe is a big place, anything can happen. For tree spirits, the roots of the mother tree can grow and cover the entire planet. What you see now is just a form of cytomegalic plant. What’s puzzling is, no one knows why it exists here. I’ve run a simulation of the evolution process of this planet; such a giant plant could not have adapted to the environment even tens of thousand years ago. It shouldn’t exist on this planet. It doesn’t match the pattern of evolution.”

Biology was like Chinese arithmetic to Hao Ren, so he did not give it much thought. He just stared at one of the giant trees, lamenting. He touched the bark, which was coarse and dark in colour as he imagined himself interacting with a miraculous life form, thousands of years old. It was 100 kilometres across. Regrettably, it was just a bunch of roots; how good it would have been if it could talk. Hao Ren wanted to know what actually happened when the world was destroyed 10,000 years ago.

As Hao Ren was in deep thought, something suddenly unnerved him.

He got to his feet and cautiously looked around. He had a feeling that something was watching him, and that it was not a pair of normal eyes. He felt like he was being scanned from head to toe. The MDT immediately rose to the air when it noticed Hao Ren’s abnormal reaction. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Probably just my imagination.” Hao Ren shook his head as he was confused. “I felt like someone was looking at us.”

“No one is nearby. If there is, I’ll alert you.” The MDT hovered back into its port. “Let’s rejoin the group. I’m afraid the mercenary maiden actually thinks that you have DI.”

Hao Ren was confused.

As he rejoined the group, Hao Ren was met with a worried-looking Becky. Before he could say anything to her, Becky started to yell. “Why were you gone so long? Don’t you realise it’s dangerous?”

Never did Hao Ren expect the mercenary to be so worried about him. He awkwardly explained, “I was just taking a leak. I didn’t see any monster though.”

“I was wondering about that too. It seems so much calmer than the last time.” Becky frowned in bewilderment. “When I was here a few months back, I didn’t bump into any monsters but, I could hear them. But today, it’s just quiet…unlike what the bishop said.”

“God knows what happened. But I’d rather not bump into one.” Nangong Wuyue took a deep breath of the moisture-filled air before she hurried everyone to keep going. “Let’s go, let’s go. We should just keep going and maybe we’ll be able to see the Blood Lake before sunset.”

The group continued on their journey. Vivian quietly came up to Hao Ren. “What did you find?”

“You’ll see when we get back,” Hao Ren pointed at the pot (the MDT) secretly. “The underground scenery is spectacular.”

Everyone did not say a word as they hustled through the forest. There were no monsters. There were no legendary carnivores or plant-beast hybrids. The supposedly evil Gnarled Grove was just like any other forest—harmless. Pretty much most of their journey, the biggest carnivore Hao Ren had seen was the hyperactive husky…

But a sense of uneasiness made Becky nervous. The atmosphere should not have been so quiet. She knew the forest should not have been so calm. She would have felt more at ease if monsters of flesh and blood came out in the open and fought with her. The unusually quiet situation only meant one thing: something was brewing in the forest.

“Halt.” Vivian suddenly stopped the group. “Something’s ahead!”

Becky was relieved: the long-awaited little monster finally showed up.

Everyone instantly switched into battle mode—Becky drew out her enchanted sword, Vivian spread her wings and was in the air, Lily grinded her fire and ice claws, making steam while Nangong Wuyue squatted down on the ground, covering her head with her hands. Everyone had their own style.

As everyone held their breath, a series of heavy footsteps was suddenly heard, coming from the south of the road.

The footsteps were also accompanied by something much smaller, running alongside it.

Hao Ren moved to the front of the group with his shield activated. Soon, a large group of shadows appeared from the forest.

Just as Becky had described, these were some strangely gnarled creatures. They were black, two-metre-tall mutated beasts. It was hard to tell what species they were. They looked like elongated meatballs. About six pairs of what looked like bound feet, could be seen, and not only that, the creatures resembled deformed squids living on the land. These black and strange creatures had no facial organs or heads. A pair of tentacles, full of sharp teeth hung from each of their upper bodies, and the tentacles swung violently as they ran. These things had such a distorted and disgusting appearance that it would have made people’s stomach turn. There were now 20 or so such beasts, coming towards Hao Ren like they were in a shopping rush!

Despite his prior mental preparations, Hao Ren shivered involuntarily upon seeing these ugly and strange creatures. Meanwhile, Lily’s tail had puffed up. “What are these things?”

“These are flesh beasts. They’ll eat anything!” Becky’s sword was burning with flame. “Just don’t get bitten, their teeth—”

Before Becky could finish her sentence, another bigger creature appeared from afar and stunned her.

As a matter of fact…it was a tree, it was a tree-like giant.

The giant, which was almost 10 metres tall, looked like an old, towering tree with four limbs. The forked roots and two branches were its legs and arms respectively. Its full bark looked like a face. It was the one that produced the heavy and earth-shattering footsteps as it ran behind the flesh beasts.

The flesh beasts were just being chased by the giant, and they were moving towards Hao Ren’s direction.

Everyone knew going against these things head-to-head was a bad idea. However, as they were about to run, they discovered something worse: it was unclear whether the flesh beasts were being purposely cornered or they were also hungry, looking for dinner. They were in their direction!

Hao Ren was stunned. “Have we offended the Night Elves? First the rock monsters, now tree giants?”

To further power up her combat strength, Becky cast a few more magic spells on herself. She then wielded the flaming, enchanted sword and charged towards the flesh beasts. “Let’s fight and talk later!”

Gnashing his teeth, Hao Ren powered-on his full-body shield and went against the nearest flesh beast. “Bastards!”

Even though his act of ridicule did not any effects , he would still insist on shouting it every time he charged at his enemy—it boosted his sense of protection.

Meanwhile, Y’zaks lunged forward and dealt with the formidable “guardian tree” head-on.