Chapter 2563 The Key Clues <TOC> Chapter 2565 Little Hero
Next page password is bold portion: TrewA_9T@P1&
Translator: SumTLMan
Mia seemed convinced that the group was out for revenge on behalf of her squad, and she walked with a lofty stride that lost its fear.
Along the way, she kept rambling, describing the Hero Squad in the vilest terms.
However, despite repeatedly hearing this, Angel didn’t pick up anything substantial, just pure resentment, nothing concrete except that the opponents had come to Area Three for treasure hunting.
No one interrupted Mia; the others were too lazy to bother, and Daus seemed amused by the potential for drama, knowing that it likely wouldn’t amount to anything since they were all just ordinary people and the Black Count probably wouldn’t waste his time on such petty squabbles.
Mia walked proudly, her posture not that of someone traversing ruins but rather like a lady off to a ball.
Occasionally, people would appear, either glancing briefly before moving on or hiding and watching from the shadows. These were ordinary people with poor hiding skills, some of which even Mia noticed.
Seeing others seemed to elevate Mia’s spirits even more.
She led the way, imagining herself as the leader of the squad. If someone looked her way, she’d glare back, occasionally throwing insults. The most frequent were about “musk-ridden moles hiding in the shadows” and “worms too cowardly to come out during the day, twisted and disgusting.”
Her tone carried the arrogance of a noble lady, though it seemed more mimicked from hearing similar remarks from noblewomen rather than genuine.
Her tone and demeanor were similar, but she lacked the true aura.
None of this really mattered, nor was it what Angel was focused on. He was watching the occasional ordinary people who appeared and suddenly remembered something.
Before Angel could ask, Daus, as if reading his mind, asked Mia the question Angel had in mind.
“Mia, according to your classifications, which area is this?”
Although Mia walked at the front with her nose in the air, she turned to face Daus with a humble and polite demeanor: “Esteemed lord, this is Area Four in the lower left of the ruins.”
“And does that mean Area Three is just ahead?”
Mia shook her head: “Beyond here lies a forbidden area with bloodsucking vines and hallucinogenic mists; no adventuring group dares to enter. Area Three is accessible by bypassing the forbidden area and traveling further.”
“I see.” Daus nodded, then continued: “And who is the ruling adventure group of this Area Four? Why haven’t they stopped us?”
Daus’ casual inquiry seemed to make Mia’s expression freeze for a moment.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you know?” Daus looked over, his eyes still clear as if he truly meant no harm with his question.
Mia choked on her saliva and whispered, head bowed: “I don’t know either. It’s chaotic here, probably no governing adventure group.”
They were all transcendents, and none were blind; they all saw through Mia’s lie.
From the people they had seen before, although they were ordinary, many had robust vitality, clearly experienced fighters or knights. Moreover, the different adventure group uniforms they wore indicated that there were actually several coexisting adventure groups in Area Four.
Any random knight among them was many times stronger than Mia. They might not be as strong as the full-strength White Crocodile Adventure Group, but they certainly weren’t far behind.
Yet, there was no monopolizing behavior in Area Four, whereas the White Crocodile Adventure Group had monopolized Area Three, making the truth clear to all.
Angel thought before that monopolizing territories might be these adventure groups’ rule, but it seems not; it was purely Mia’s own group doing so.
“Is that so? I thought here was like Area Three, with a governing adventure group monopolizing it. Turns out it’s not,” Daus feigned surprise: “It seems not every area has it.”
The others rolled their eyes at his overacted performance, while Mia, unsure if Daus was being intentional or not, could only respond with an awkward smile.
“Let’s keep moving, a bit faster this time,” said Angel, not really to help Mia out, but simply because it was getting late, and he didn’t want to reach Area Three when the Hero Squad might already be asleep.
As he spoke, Angel’s lips moved subtly, commanding the hidden Speedling, who immediately bestowed a layer of wind enhancement on Mia, Kael, and Vai, the two apprentices.
Speedling’s combat power wasn’t at the wizard level, but its support ability, along with the intensity and density of the wind element within it, was comparable to a wind wizard. The wind enhancement it provided was almost like a wizard-level wind walk spell, pushing them forward so each step covered a vast area, with opposing wind at their feet to maintain balance.
This experience was exhilarating for Kael and Vai, who seldom experienced such. Mia was also astounded by this remarkable ability; had it been before, she might have shown off like a peacock spreading its feathers, displaying her uniqueness; but after Daus’ words, which seemed both performative and cautionary, Mia dared not act rashly and simply went with the wind.
“Your wind elemental companion is not bad; in terms of pure speed, it has surpassed many of its kind,” commented the Black Count, now back on Vai’s shoulder. Although still displeased with Vai, riding the ‘windmill’ saved much more energy than flying on his own.
“However, if you pursue speed alone, grasping the Sequence of Wind is unlikely. For Rhine’s sake, I’ll give you a piece of advice: in future training, you’d best abandon the pursuit of extreme speed and return to focusing on short bursts.”
Angel did not elaborate on his relationship with Speedling, but respectfully nodded: “Thank you for your guidance, my lord. Since you’ve mentioned Speedling, perhaps you could also share some insights on Dangros?”
Angel grabbed Dangros by the little finger and shook it for the Black Count to see.
Dangros, still unaware of what was happening, attempted to struggle but, realizing that it was Angel holding him, thought it was play and ceased his efforts, instead swinging more excitedly. Using his little finger as a pivot, he swung his entire body like a pendulum in Angel’s hand until the movement exceeded the limits, turning him into a spinning top in the hand.
Angel watched, speechless and somewhat embarrassed, but after all, it was his own follower, so he continued to look at the Black Count unfazed.
The Black Count initially wanted to accuse Angel of being “greedy,” but after witnessing Dangros’ miraculous antics, he fell silent for a moment.
He considered this a show put on by Dangros, the Black Count slowly began: “It is still in the sprite phase, and nurturing a sprite focuses on experiences. From the looks of it, it has undergone a fair amount of fire tempering, hasn’t it? But just fire tempering is not enough; it would be best to experience other elements too. This would not lower its development ceiling but instead raise it. The only downside is that reaching the pinnacle would take much longer.”
“Of course, if you are only using it as a tool for alchemy, then disregard my words. How you cultivate it is up to you.”
Angel pondered for a moment; the Black Count’s mention of fire tempering was likely referring to quenching fluid, which Dangros had indeed been fond of recently. To ensure its future development, it seemed necessary to prepare other elemental challenges, and such training must be continuous and intensifying.
But, would this be what Dangros wanted?
After all, Dangros was not his elemental companion, and it seemed inappropriate to subject it to such training now. Perhaps this matter should be discussed with Sage Magu in the Tidal Realm.
Thinking this, Angel bowed deeply to the Black Count, this time genuinely moved.
The Black Count, however, snorted coldly and said no more.
Silently, Angel added a new label to the Black Count in his mind——cold exterior, warm interior, before this, the Black Count’s labels included: homebody, schizophrenic, progeny supervisor…
After receiving the advice, Angel said nothing to Dangros but hung it back up on the Blood Night Sanctuary, his technique as fluent as hanging a pendant.
When Dangros climbed back onto the Blood Night Sanctuary, it showed a moment of silence; it might play, but it had heard Angel’s query and the Black Count’s words.
So, did Angel actually want it to be his elemental companion?
Training with other elements, as much as it disliked the idea, seemed worth a try?
Dangros’ thoughts aside, in the outer world, with Speedling’s assistance, Mia took less than three minutes to move from Area Four to Area Three. This time also included Mia learning to maintain balance.
This goes to show, the blessing of Speedling’s wind was terrifyingly fast.
Upon arriving at the so-called “Area Three,” they found it indistinguishable from other ruined parts of the area, with decrepit buildings, moss everywhere, and large trees amid scattered stones.
Similarly, this place is also filled with many people, all of them ordinary adventurers.
“The crowd here seems quite large…” Daus murmured, the sound echoing in Mia’s ears.
Mia quickly responded: “After the White Crocodile Adventure Group disbanded, this place became a chaotic area, just like Area Four, where various adventure teams dared to come. It’s all the fault of the Hero Squad!”
Daus gave a noncommittal “Oh,” indicating he heard, but didn’t respond accordingly. Instead, he asked: “Can you see who belongs to the Hero Squad?”
Mia surveyed the surroundings: “None of these.”
Her statement made everyone frown slightly, originally thinking that there would be few people in Area Three, and that it would be straightforward to identify members of the Hero Squad with the help of scouting puppets combined with the Wizard’s Eye, but now it seemed that wasn’t feasible.
There were too many adventurers.
“How many people are in the Hero Squad, and do they have any common robes or symbols?” Angel asked.
Mia shook her head: “There are no common symbols. They probably have more than sixteen members. Some are said to be auxiliary and never show themselves, so I don’t know the exact number, but it should not exceed twenty.”
Angel frowned: “Then it will be hard to find them.”
As Angel contemplated whether to fully unleash his mental power to simulate individuals with illusions for Mia to identify, Daus spoke up.
“No common symbols, then do they share any clothing style?”
“A common point?” Mia pondered for a moment, then shook her head again: “No.”
Just as everyone was feeling disappointed, Mia suddenly added: “Although their clothing style has no common point, there is one distinctive feature: their attire is very flamboyant, liking to dress up as heroes.”
“But our former leader once said that real heroes are unsung, their kind of dressing is just for show, like clowns parading through the streets.”
Mia took the opportunity to criticize the Hero Squad again, but the others didn’t mind, as Mia had highlighted a key point.
——The Flamboyantly Dressed Hero Squad!
Angel looked at Daus, who had asked the crucial question about clothing style, and mentally commended him again.
His timing was perfect; any later, and Angel might have resorted to using his powers.
“Since the targets are uniquely dressed, we can proceed with the original plan.” Angel looked at Daus, who nodded in understanding.
Angel released a large number of scouting puppets, and to avoid alarming anyone, he also disguised them with illusions.
Daus released a number of Wizard’s Eyes equal to the scouting puppets, similarly disguised with Angel’s illusions, and sent them flying out.
Having done all this, they found a slightly concealed half-ruined building to wait quietly.
During the wait, everyone else remained silent, all eyes on Angel and Daus.
Angel and Daus both closed their eyes, continually sensing their respective scouting puppets and Wizard’s Eye.
In contrast, Daus was sweating profusely from his forehead, as maintaining so many Wizard’s Eyes and simultaneously monitoring what they observed was both magically and mentally draining. Angel, on the other hand, had an easier task. His modified scouting puppets could be set to seek out specific targets.
Angel had set his to find living humans, so as soon as one of the scouting puppets located someone, it would feedback to him. All he needed to do was to check to see if the person was the target and then continue waiting.
Soon after, Daus and Angel opened their eyes one after the other.
Daus, panting, looked at Angel and, noticing no change in him, said with a hint of envy: “If your alchemy creations use so little energy, why bother calling me to join?”
Angel replied: “With a larger number, it’s easier to find people. Did you discover anything?”
Both had indeed spotted someone flamboyantly dressed.
Daus was about to describe the person’s appearance when Angel threw him an illusion device, allowing Daus to simply think of the person’s appearance to display it.
Quickly, Daus constructed the image of a person.
It was a woman dressed like a flamingo, wearing a fiery red feathered cape over a seductive, tight, red sequin mini dress, complete with big wavy curls and flaming red lips.
She looked more like a noblewoman dressed to compete in the splendor of a ball than an adventurer in ruins.