The statue was extraordinarily lifelike. Though it might truly have been a stone statue, since it had appeared here, it was most likely a living person who had been petrified. When Shade bent down and tried to pull it up, he discovered that the back of the statue had nearly merged with the earth. Clearly, if they had not appeared now, the ground would soon have swallowed the figure entirely.
The statue was dressed like a hunter from nearby. A knife sheath could even be seen at its waist, while of the old-fashioned musket on its back, only the muzzle remained above the ground.
Unfortunately, the soul was already gone. This was permanent petrification. Restoring the statue before them into a living person would be as difficult as turning any random sculpture into a normal living human.
"He didn't die because of the petrification. He died because of this."
Miss Benanis also walked over. The experienced witch pointed to the hunter's chest, where there was an inconspicuous puncture wound. Though witches disliked getting close to men, a male statue was another matter:
"It looks like a needle-like weapon pierced straight through his heart. Look, there's no obvious flaking around the wound in the stone. That means the injury was already there before he was petrified."
"He was attacked before being petrified? Then he wasn't killed here. Someone killed him elsewhere and threw the corpse here. It seems they understood the problems with this land very well."
Shade made his judgment, but without bloodstains, he had no way to track them.
"They should be Ring Arcanists. How interesting. Who would come to such a remote place?"
Miss Benanis looked around, but because it had been snowing continuously, there were no footprints on the snow surface either.
"Wait a moment. I'll use