Discovery

"They actually dared to collude with the enemy military?" Kaisalin still found it hard to believe.

Katerina pouted. "For that position, what wouldn't they dare to do?" As she spoke, she glanced meaningfully at Argyle Capet.

Argyle rubbed his forehead helplessly and gave a wry smile. "Those kinds of nobles are just a tiny minority; most are decent. Look, Kaisalin is also a noble."

"What's our next move?" Shadow, who had been silent until now, reached out and took Qiuqiu, a small squirrel that had jumped down from a nearby branch, gently stroking its soft fur.

Argyle said, "The military's intention is for us to resolve this matter without causing too much of a stir. If possible, we shouldn't let those people from the Aus Empire get away either!" As he spoke, his Light Battle Qi subtly radiated outwards, his killing intent sharp.

"I just found something interesting, follow me..." Katerina said, her figure flashing as she darted into the dense woods nearby. The others quickly followed.

They ran for about fifteen minutes following Katerina, arriving at a mountain hollow. Jialan, being slower, was the last to enter. The moment he stepped into the hollow, he felt something was wrong.

It was too quiet. No birds or beasts could be heard in the forest. Among the snow-covered branches, there wasn't even a trace of life. A chill ran down the back of his neck, not from the wind and snow, but a bone-deep cold.

Jialan closed his eyes and sensed for a while. "There's an abnormal amount of Dark Element in the air. That Necromancer must have stayed here for quite some time."

"Up ahead." Katerina's voice came from the shadows. She was always so elusive. "There's something."

Jialan followed her gaze. A section of pale bone was exposed in the snow. It was a squirrel's corpse, but its fur had rotted away, revealing the white bones. Even more terrifying was that the corpse was trembling slightly.

"Fall back!" Argyle raised his shield, Holy Light flowing across its surface. But it was too late. The snow suddenly exploded, and dozens of animal corpses crawled out from the snow, their eye sockets glowing with eerie green flames.

Ice crystals formed on the tip of Jialan's staff, but before he could finish his incantation, an arrow shot through the air. Shadow's arrow precisely pierced the head of a corrupted squirrel, and the creature twitched and fell. However, more corpses were closing in.

"Divine Protection!" Argyle's shield erupted with dazzling light, and the undead creatures let out piercing shrieks in the Holy Light.

Kaisalin's Greatsword slashed in an arc, cutting a charging corrupted wolf in half. Katerina's figure appeared behind the animal corpses like a phantom, her Dagger flashing with cold light, each strike fatal. The eerie green flames in the eye sockets of the animal corpses extinguished one by one, and they fell to the ground.

Jialan hadn't cast a single spell from start to finish, and the battle was already over.

"A trap?" Kaisalin asked.

"It doesn't look like it. It's more like the abundance of Dark Element caused the animal corpses here to spontaneously become undead. If it were a Necromancer's trap, it wouldn't be this pathetic," Argyle, as a high-level Light Knight, was quite sensitive to Dark Element, otherwise the military wouldn't have sent him to handle this matter. After speaking, he looked at Jialan, seeking his opinion.

Jialan pondered for a moment. "With such dense Dark Element, that Necromancer must be at least an Intermediate Spellcaster."

"Intermediate Peak!" Katerina stated confidently. Facing Jialan's questioning gaze, Katerina said irritably, "If it weren't for him last time, we would have been severely weakened. How could those fake mercenaries from the Aus Empire have pushed us so hard? But he didn't fare well either. He's probably hiding somewhere healing right now!"

She was referring to the scene when Jialan and Argyle had first met. Jialan suddenly understood; they had fought a major battle before. That made sense.

Argyle said, "Your Healing Spell helped us a lot. Our recovery will definitely be faster than his. We must find him quickly, otherwise, by the time he recovers and prepares, dealing with him will likely be even more troublesome than last time."

"We've been searching for him during this time, but he's hidden extremely well. For so long, apart from finding a few places like this, we haven't found any trace of him. We had no choice but to seek your help. We heard that Spellcasters have a vast range of perception... We don't want to involve you, but if this drags on too long, things might develop in ways we can't predict," Kaisalin's beautiful face showed an apologetic expression.

Jialan hesitated. "I'm only a beginner Spellcaster. My mental perception range won't exceed about 300 meters around me. If he intentionally constricts his mental power, I might not even sense him within 30 meters." For a Spellcaster, this was a dangerous distance, as most beginner spells had a casting range of only about 20 meters.

Argyle thought for a moment. "He's been hiding for so long, he must know we're looking for him. But he definitely wouldn't guess that we'd have an additional Spellcaster in our team. In future battles, try not to cast spells, to avoid him detecting you. We'll give him a surprise attack."

"Your mission is to find him with all your might; leave the fighting to us," Katerina said, lightly tossing the Dagger in her hand before catching it with ease.

Another five or six days passed with no progress. They did encounter a few waves of fake mercenaries, whom they easily dealt with.

More and more fake mercenaries from the Aus Empire military were infiltrating. Had they really discovered something? Had the Empire's secret in the Misty Forest been exposed? If so, why was the Holy See making no move? The group was filled with worry.

"Stop." Jialan, in the middle of the group, suddenly raised his hand. His voice was soft, but it caused the entire squad to freeze instantly.

Jialan closed his eyes, his mental power spreading outwards like a spiderweb. He could feel the tremor of every leaf, the fall of every speck of dust.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold spread along his mental power. It was a pure darkness, as if it intended to devour his consciousness.

"About seventy to eighty meters ahead, there are signs of a fight," Jialan opened his eyes, a faint blue light flashing in his pupils. "It wasn't an ordinary fight; there's residual Dark Magic."