Ch. 26
Chapter 26: Intruders
Dusk Forest remained as it always was.
Following the marks he had left behind earlier, Jiang Lin sensed the direction and then rushed toward the Underground Palace.
After a long while, when he saw the entrance to the Underground Palace again, he slowly let out a breath of relief and disappeared into the passage below.
At the very bottom level, that longsword was still planted in the ground.
The moment it saw Jiang Lin’s figure, the outline of a Remnant Soul spread out from the sword.
Trelis looked at him and said with a chuckle,
“You’re back.”
Jiang Lin nodded. He glanced at the Mana-Gathering Array on the ground, which had already gone dark, but did not hurry to replenish it with fresh Magic Crystals.
Instead, he turned to Trelis and asked,
“How much do you know about the Demon Race?”
“The Demon Race? Did you run into one?” Trelis was obviously stunned for a moment. Then his voice sank as he explained,
“Since the War of the Hundred Races, the Demon Race has rarely appeared on this continent again.
Even I only know about those terrifying creatures through the records in the 【High Tower】.”
“When was the War of the Hundred Races?” Jiang Lin asked with interest as he sat cross-legged on the ground.
After hesitating for a moment, Trelis looked at him and said, “Ten thousand years ago. The War of the Hundred Races was started by the Demon Race. At that time, aside from humans, beastmen, dwarves, goblins, elves, dragons, and the Demon Race, there were many other races on the Atre Continent as well.
But in that war, most of them either went extinct or hid themselves away.
The cause was simple. The Demon Race was dissatisfied with the land it inhabited, so it sought to wage war and devour our territory.
Those creatures were unimaginably cruel. They even fed on humans.
According to the records, it was only because the founder of the 【High Tower】, Great Sage Helites, led dozens of Tenth-Tier Archmages and united over a hundred races that they were barely able to kill the Demon King and seal the Demon Race within the Howling Abyss.”
As he spoke, Trelis’s expression grew grave.
“To think that the Demon Race, after remaining dormant for so long, has appeared again… Sir Jiang Lin, you must report this matter to the Tanner Royal Family, so they can inform the Central Nations and the 【High Tower】.
This is no ordinary matter. This is something of immense importance.”
“The lord of Gerson City has already sent a secret letter to the Tanner Royal Family, so you do not need to worry about that,” Jiang Lin said. Then after a moment’s thought, he asked again,
“Can the Demon Race not be killed?”
“It is not that they cannot be killed. It is that they revive. That is what makes the Demon Race so terrifying.
Even if you use Magic on the level of a Forbidden Spell against them, even if you burn them until not a speck remains,
you will still see them revived again within the Howling Abyss.
In the past, scholars conducted research on the Demon Race. They even captured one of the Demon Race’s generals. After restraining him with the Holy Radiance Shackles cast jointly by dozens of Holy Temple Knights, they disassembled that general piece by piece.
The conclusion they reached afterward was that the souls of the Demon Race do not exist in this world.
They are very likely in the Howling Abyss.”
As Trelis spoke, a trace of heaviness entered his voice, as though the very nature of the Demon Race filled him with dread.
“What kind of place is the Howling Abyss, and where is it?” Jiang Lin nodded. He himself did not feel much about it.
This kind of method was much like an External Incarnation. As long as the true body still existed, or remained hidden away, the incarnation could revive endlessly.
Such Divine Arts and Spells also existed in Zhongzhou.
Trelis saw how calm his face remained and secretly shook his head, but he still answered,
“At the farthest northern reaches of the Northern Nations. That was the battlefield of the War of the Hundred Races, and it is also the coldest place on the continent. It is a Wasteland, an extremely dangerous one. Because of that ancient war, there are likely still countless undead there even now.”
“I see.” Jiang Lin nodded. After thinking for a moment, he asked again,
“Do you know where there are Magic Crystal Mines?”
“Magic Crystal Mines…” Trelis immediately hesitated. As he pondered in silence, carefully choosing his words, he said,
“Magic Crystal Mines are products of the Goddess of Magic’s favor. Among the Central Nations, only the Lors Empire controls a large Magic Crystal Vein, but I advise you not to set your sights on it.
You may be very strong, but you are not strong enough to stand against an empire and the mages of the 【High Tower】.
Of course, that is only my advice. After all, my life and death are now in your hands.”
As Trelis spoke, he kept watching Jiang Lin’s expression.
But he saw no emotional ripple at all. It was as though this man would never produce much of a reaction to anything.
He had only ever seen this strange feeling on the faces of long-lived races such as elves.
“If I die, would that not be better for you? In your eyes, I am hardly a good man, and not even a demi-human.”
A faint smile hung on Jiang Lin’s face as he looked at him.
“If I die, you will be free.”
“Of course. I yearn for freedom beyond anything else.” Trelis chuckled and spread his hands. His face was no longer as blurry as before and had gradually begun to take on a clearer form.
“But I have discovered that this sword seems capable of nourishing my soul.
This is a sensation I have never experienced before. My body has already rotted away, and my soul is likewise shattered and incomplete. Even if I returned, I would only become something like the undead.
Rather than that, I would rather remain here.”
There was one more thing he did not say: he had developed an almost frenzied curiosity toward Jiang Lin.
He wanted to observe him, study him, and see just how far Jiang Lin would grow in the future.
That kind of attraction was no less compelling than a method of advancing to the Tenth-Tier Archmage rank.
“So then, aside from that Magic Crystal Mine in the Central Nations?” Jiang Lin continued the earlier topic and asked,
“You still have not told me where it is.”
“Ahem. The Northern Nations might suit you. They may not be as prosperous as the Central Nations, but whether it is opportunities, Magic Crystal Mines, or various other resources, they are too numerous to count. Of course, danger exists there as well.”
After giving it some thought, Trelis continued,
“In the Northern Nations, there are kingdoms of demi-humans, the Dwarven Kingdom, and the Beastman Kingdom. Compared with the beastman tribes here, the Beastman Kingdom is somewhat more orderly.
And there is also the only human kingdom there. It is a kingdom of warriors.”
“So then, where are the Magic Crystal Mines?” Jiang Lin rose to his feet and looked at him quietly.
“Well…” Feeling a chill run through him, Trelis immediately said with some embarrassment, “To be honest, I do not know that much about the Northern Nations either.
But I can guarantee that there are definitely unmined Magic Crystal Mines there! The Northern Nations have nowhere near the demand for Magic Crystals that the Central Nations do.”
“All right.” Jiang Lin nodded. Places like the Northern Nations were still a little too far away for now.
At that moment, he paused slightly, then sensed that something seemed to have intruded into the entrance of the Underground Palace.
The next instant, Jiang Lin released his Divine Sense and swept it upward through the Underground Palace.
Within the pitch-black corridor, four or five small creatures were making their way toward the Underground Palace. Their bodies were short and could even be called scrawny. Their skin was entirely green, their heads abnormally large, and they had pointed ears.
Looking at those sharp ears, Jiang Lin froze for a moment. Could these be elves?
But he immediately rejected that guess. The elves of legend had been praised to the heavens by those drunkards in the tavern. There was no way they could be such ugly creatures.
Then they had to be beastmen…
Jiang Lin pondered this as he slowly walked toward the upper level of the Underground Palace. Behind him, Trelis called out,
“What is it?”
Jiang Lin did not turn back. With a slight movement of his will, the Sword of Trelis let out a hum and flew to his side.
Trelis’s Remnant Soul inside the sword followed along as well, though at the moment he still felt somewhat dizzy.
Then he heard Jiang Lin’s voice ring out.
“I found a few creatures. Take a look and see whether they are beastmen.”
The moment his words fell, Trelis had not even had time to react before he felt himself instantly drawn back into the sword. In the next moment, his body shot uncontrollably toward the upper levels of the Underground Palace.