Frostfall
“What…What happened? Allerie…she…” The assassin stared blankly ahead.
“What a venomous spell, is it a curse-type magic or a poison element spell?”
Rogero squatted by the pool of pus, his expression extremely solemn.
“Right after I discovered a trace, it was decisively broken? The killer behind this is extremely cunning and cold-blooded… It’d be a worthy opponent…”
“Allerie! Allerie!”
Only realising what had happened now, the members all cried out in anguish. Especially Awar, who knelt to the ground, and seemed to have suffered a mental breakdown.
Looking on, the assassin sighed. He had long since knew that Awar had feelings for Allerie, but the female wizard had only set her sights on strong people, which left Awar feeling rather dejected.
But now, the two of them will never be together.
“Is this a venomous curse-type magic by the sand tribe?” The assassin asked as he looked at the sand that left no corpse behind, a chill running through his spine.
“It’s very likely not the sand tribe, but the person that had followed you before you entered the desert!”
Rogero shook his head, and the spear in his hands whizzed in a whistling sound.
“Let’s go! We can’t waste any more time on this. The prophesied event is about to happen… We must reach Snowfall Valley before then…”
“Yes, my lord!”
The assassin and the rest did not have any objections, and very soon set off on their journey.
Only the sizzling pile of pus remained, as if reminding someone that it was once the life a high ranked class which had perished.
……
“Rogero?”
Leylin walked out from the darkness in the distance. “I’ve heard of this name before, he is a legendary that specialises in using spears. Having a high reputation amongst the western region, I never thought that he’d be here today…”
“The gathering of weeping crows and the blood moon… It’s soon approaching. I wonder how many experts who are blinded with greed will still be coming…”
Leylin raised his head and looked in the sky as he muttered, before vanishing from the spot.
At this point, he no longer needed a guide.
Because Frostfall Valley was in fact the sacred grounds of the sand tribe, which they had protected for generations.
When he appeared again, Leylin had entered the oasis. He looked around at the mess on the ground and picked a sand tribe corpse from it. Very soon his eyes had flashed with various memory fragments.
“So it’s there…”
Spells which could retrieve memories were already considered rare, but this skill to do so from a corpse would shake the world.
After getting the information he needed, Leylin formed a giant scorpion with the sand and looked towards a direction.
He then sat on it and with the point of his finger, the sand scorpion began to sprint towards the direction as if it had life within its body.
……
However, after arriving at Frostfall Valley, the ongoing scene still left Leylin somewhat flabbergasted.
Corpses! Corpses that filled the area for as far as the eye could see! Many of the sand tribe members had numerous injuries on the bodies. Their faces carried rage, and even utter fear.
It seemed like there were traces of a castle, but right now it had been destroyed by a powerful force and reduced to just a rubble.
“This doesn’t seem to be the style of Rogero and his men…”
Leylin stroked his chin, and looked at a pair of corpses that had died while fighting each other. The sand tribe warrior had a malevolent expression, as he gnawed off the throat of his opponent. The other party had plunged a dagger into the sand warrior’s skull, and his eyes were still moist, as if he had planned to sacrifice himself to kill his opponent. However, there was one thing that could not escape Leylin’s eyes.
“The aura of death… Is this a necromancy-type magic?”
Leylin reached his hand out and grabbed a black gaseous matter above the corpse.
“It seems like a necromancer came here and raised the undead to wipe the forces of the sand tribe here…”
A necromancer! It was a sub-class of wizards, who fervently delved into the research of the physical body and spirit. They dealt with corpses everyday and in the dark, they engaged in the research of souls which was a taboo. Their presence was unwanted second only to arcane wizards, but were still outcasted the same.
However, a truly strong necromancer had prowess much stronger than peers at the same level. Their summons of the undead would be enough to trample and annihilate kingdoms.
“To crush the sand tribe here with an undead army, this necromancer is very likely a Legendary too…”
Leylin inhaled a deep breath and followed the trail of destruction into the valley.
The further in he walked, the more he could see traces of a bitter battle. Occasionally, there were a piece of bone lying on the floor, seemingly from a broken undead skeleton.
After entering the middle section, Leylin saw several figures.
In the middle section of the valley was a huge field, as if the core of the sand tribe. It was now a mountain of corpses.
Several figures stood facing each other, seemingly in a confrontation.
Rogero and his men were inside. Leylin even saw that Legendary monk that he felt apprehensive about!
The monk shifted a corpse into the ditch. The corpse had a soft body and eyes clear like water. Her eyes spoke of the desire to live. It was the female desert leader from earlier, but now all signs of life was not found.
“Someone else is here!”
Leylin’s arrival roused the attention of others. They observed him with wariness in their eyes.
Naturally, Leylin did not reveal his true features, but to use the image of Kukulkan. He wore a mask and dressed in black robes. His appearance was the manifest of evil.
A faintly discernible trace of divine force surrounded the area, preventing all sorts of detections and probings.
“What an intense demonic aura!”
Rogero gripped the spear in his hands tightly, as faint sparks of lightning flashed at its tip.
As for the monk, he put down the task he was doing and looked at Leylin in a hostile manner.
“Haha… I never thought that it’d be someone from our camp!”
Although there were several groups of people standing on the field, it was distinctly divided into two sides.
The monk, Rogero, and a few paladins drew close to each other, which was evident that they had formed a camp together.
As for the other side, they were a few powerful people who were alone. Most of them chose to mask their appearance like Leylin, and exuded an aura of evil as well.
However, on the contrary of the opposing camp, the good alignment, these people did not trust each other as much and maintained their distance from one another.
The person who spoke was a purple haired woman who carried a snake headed whip with nine falls. Behind her stood several powerful people who too took up a very large headcount.
“I’m Evida, and I welcome you my friend. I wonder who you are…”
The purple haired woman’s eyes were filled with doubt. After all, the number of Legendaries were limited, and she should have recognised him. However, the vibe that Leylin gave off to her was extremely foreign, and dangerous!
This piqued the curiosity of the woman.
“If I’m able to bring this Legendary stranger to our camp, our divine god will definitely give me a handsome reward…”
As she thought of this, her eyes were only more coquettish, and even her words sounded as if they were honey-coated, intoxicating and tantalising.
However, Leylin did not bother with her at all. Instead, he chose to walk to a corner and give off an unfriendly vibe.
“Damn it, is he blind?”
Evida could only curse him, and doubted her beautiful appearance.
“Well… Now that we are opposing each other, there are simply no benefits to be gotten!”
Evida stared furiously at Leylin and stood out to speak to the good alignment camp. “That skeleton demon has already entered the deeper parts. Do we have to fight here and let it take all of the benefits?”
Evidently, the evil faction still held the upper hand with numbers despite their lack of trust in one another.
“We’re here to capture the skeleton demon Illyrio. The floating city is not our concern!”
The leader of the paladins was a middle aged man wearing shining armour. He made his declaration in a low voice.
Even paladins had to learn to compromise. If they, at this moment, begin to shout things like ‘eliminate all evil’, the only outcome would be them being grinded to a pulp by the evil alignment.
“Cough… We want a certain item from the floating city!” Rogero said.
“Very well! Although there are certain conflicts of interest, but it doesn’t mean that we cannot mediate! Why don’t we enter the floating city, and obtain the items we want to our own capabilities?”
Evida suggested.
It was apparent that none of these people here wanted to take action with the absence of a tangible benefit.
When two parties have close to equal strength, coming to an agreement was a common matter.
Even though the opposing camp had not mentioned a word, the legendary monk quietly made his way to the deeper parts of the valley after burying the corpse.
“Hng!”
Evida snorted cutely with a satisfied expression, as she brought her men deeper in. The two parties too began to make their way in.
Leylin followed casually behind the group and continued his thoughts, “Skeleton demon? Eeriole? That powerful Legendary? I never thought that he would be here too. It seems like the castle earlier which had been reduced to a rubble was his doing…”