The wizard starts by trimming the donkey's hooves

Chapter 442 Employment
The man in black robe is named Samuel, a high-ranking priest of the Mother Tree Sect, responsible for the defense of this area. He had just been promoted to a third-level sorcerer during a prayer ceremony, and was feeling very proud of himself.

If everything goes well for the sect this time, he estimates that his strength will be able to increase further, and he may even be able to become the head of a province.

At first, when Samuel saw someone rushing quickly into the sorcery formation, he didn't take it seriously.

It was not until several waves of flesh and blood creatures failed to stop the opponent that he realized that the opponent seemed to be very strong. However, Samuel had just been promoted, so he naturally would not retreat without a fight.

But until now, when he stood in front of the other person, he found that he seemed to have underestimated how difficult the young man in front of him was!
Just when he was about to ask "Who are you?", he suddenly saw a high-speed rotating silver metal ring in front of the young man opposite.

The silver metal ring is more than two meters in diameter and is making a buzzing sound while rotating at high speed!

At the same time, strong metal particle energy fluctuations spread. Obviously, this was an advanced and rare metal-based witchcraft, but the problem was that Samuel didn't hear the other party's chanting at all.

The next second, the silver metal ring suddenly disappeared, and the warning in Samuel's heart rang like a loud bell.

"Made!"

Samuel knew very well that he had run into a tough guy!

He cursed in his heart and rolled sideways in an extremely embarrassed manner to avoid it.

Then, Samuel, whose hair stood on end, saw a blurry silver halo brushing against the hem of his robe, which was still in place, and cut through it with a "whoosh".

Suddenly, the piece of cloth fell off, and soon after, the two people behind him who were hugging the tree together also made a "chi" sound!
Even without looking back, Samuel knew that the big tree behind him must have been split open by the sound.

Samuel, who was still in shock, reacted quickly and immediately released his innate witchcraft and some kind of evil prayer magic.

Suddenly, a layer of blood-colored light film appeared on the surface of his body, and then it was immediately covered with a thick layer of defense like dead tree bark.

"Crash! Crackle!"

At this moment, the sounds of big trees falling and numerous branches breaking were heard behind Samuel!
"Luckily I dodged it, I almost got hit! Damn!"

Just when Samuel felt a little relieved, he was extremely angry about Ryan's unannounced attack.

Samuel, who had just straightened up and was about to launch a counterattack, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his lower body. Then, he glanced down and saw a silver halo that seemed to burst out from under him and returned to the front of the young man.

"Huh? It jumped out from under me? Can this thing return?"

"But don't I have the protection of 'Bark Defense' and 'Light of Flesh and Blood'? Why don't they work?"

"how can that be"

Samuel looked incredulous as he took a closer look and saw that the black robe was cut off at the thigh and fell to the ground, with a streak of blood oozing out of the exposed thigh.

"what!!!"

Samuel immediately understood what had happened and screamed!

His legs were cut off by the serrated ring, but he could still keep steady if he didn't move. However, he panicked and his upper body fell heavily to the ground with a thump, followed by his two upright thighs that also fell down.

"what!!!"

Samuel lay on the ground, howling heart-wrenchingly!

Not far away, Ryan had a calm expression. He just waved his hand, released the newly mastered third-level metal magic "Serrated Ring", and walked over slowly.

A few minutes later.

Ryan got first-hand information from the Mother Tree Sect priest named Samuel.

Ryan frowned slightly and crossed his arms in thought.

"So, the incident that happened in Ferdinand Forest was really a feast. Not only did most of the evil cults come to share a piece of the pie, but there were also several human slave-hunting teams participating."

"Under the coordination of the Mother Tree Cult, the various cults basically made a preliminary division of the area except for Ferdinand City, and the one that was assigned to the elf town of Bashalan was the Secret Snake Cult."

"Take a long-lived and powerful pure-blooded elf as a sacrifice to obtain the special gift of the gods?"

"No wonder it attracts so many evil cults. This speed of strength improvement is even more buggy than the system."

Ryan couldn't help but shook his head slightly and sighed.

Now that he knew the information, Ryan naturally would not keep the other party.

"Pfft!"

The hardened gold in his hand instantly transformed into a sharp sword and pierced directly into the opponent's head, and then quickly returned to its original shape.

Although Ryan knew that the core base of the Mother Tree Cult, which maintained the huge evil magic array under his feet, was about thirty kilometers away from here, he did not choose to destroy it. Instead, he took Cookie and quickly moved towards the small town of Basaran!
Because from what Samuel said, the members of the Snake Cult who were assigned to the town of Basaran had already left a day and a half earlier.

Although Ryan was very confident in Lambert's strength, that was at the legendary level. Now, an epic-level strongman appeared among the enemies, and the situation was hard to say.

If you look down from Blood Feather's perspective in mid-air, you can see that Ryan's way of moving forward is quite unique.

His overall movement path was in a zigzag shape, bypassing all the giant trees in front of him. This way of movement seemed to bypass, but in fact, it did not hit any trees. Instead, his movement speed was faster than rushing straight ahead.

If you adjust the perspective to the greyhound war dog behind Ryan, you can see that Ryan's figure does not seem to be fast, but in fact, the multiple figures left behind in an instant are actually phantoms.

The real body had already bypassed the obstacles of various trees and vines and moved forward dozens of meters away.

So, the Blood Feather in the sky was fine, but Cookie, who was following Ryan on the ground, was really tired!

Soon, Cookie was running with his tongue out and panting, and white hot air was emanating from the surface of his fur. It was obvious that he was trying his best.

But even so, Cookie helplessly discovered that four legs could not outrun two legs, and it was getting farther and farther away from the figure of its owner.

Fortunately, whenever Ryan encountered the remnants of a campfire or traces of camping, he would stop and observe for a moment, which gave Cookie time to catch up again.

At this moment, there was a trace of a camp in front of Ryan.

There were traces of seven or eight campfires on the ground, which were obviously different from the concealed traces of camps seen on the road before.

There was no attempt to cover up the traces of the camp, and around the campfire that had long been extinguished, there were a lot of food scraps and various wine bottles scattered around.

Obviously, this place was most likely left by a slave-hunting team.

The relatively lax discipline and rich food combination indicate that the other side has a lot of logistical personnel.

It is easy to identify that there are obvious differences in mentality and preparation between the slave-hunting team and the cult team that has just arrived in Ferdinand Forest to carry out a mission.

Ryan followed the traces left by the other party and looked deep into the dense forest. He saw that the other party's route was not towards Basaran, but towards the northwest of Ferdinand Forest.

"In this direction, it should be another elf town, Bellames." Ryan compared the other party's direction of movement with the map in his mind and quickly came to a conclusion.

"Sure enough, just as that guy said, the slave-hunting team and the cult have reached a certain degree of cooperation, or formed a strange balance, with each of them taking a piece of the land."

At this moment, the thin film in Ryan's arms vibrated again.

Ryan immediately took out the slice and injected a trace of mental power into it.

"Captain Ryan, please reply if you hear me!" Claire's slightly anxious voice came from the film.

"I'm Ryan, please go ahead Claire."

"Captain, that's great! I finally got in touch with you again!" Claire felt relieved immediately!

"It's like this. You have to be extra careful with the Secret Snake Cult. Their deputy pope Quileute is an epic-level powerhouse. As for the specific information about other cults, we are still collecting it." Claire seemed to be worried that the communication would be interrupted again, and spoke quickly.

"I see. By the way, Claire, I have two situations here. Please ask Olena to report them to the headquarters."

Ryan summarized the information obtained from the interrogation and said.

"Lord Ryan, I'm right next to Claire. The situation you mentioned is very important. I will report it to the headquarters immediately." At this time, the voice of the capable young woman Olena came from the thin film.

"Well, let's do this first."

"Okay, Lord Ryan, you must be careful!"

Just as Ryan hung up the flakes, the greyhound war dog Cookie finally poked his head out of the dense forest with a wheezing sound and caught up with his master.

But the next second, it was dumbfounded again!

Because Cookie saw his master, Ryan, and seemed to have finished his inspection and hurried forward, leaving several afterimages in the original place again.

This immediately made Cookie bark quickly, and then ran away quickly.

However, such rapid advancement is not without benefits.

What normally takes one or two days was compressed into less than two hours by Ryan.

At this moment, Ryan and his dog have arrived at the outskirts of the elf town of Basaran, but the huge dog following behind him looks like it has been fished out of the water, with its hair all wet and sweaty.

One can imagine how fast Ryan was traveling, as he could make a ferocious creature known for its speed become so tired.

In fact, Ryan did not advance with all his strength, and he paused several times to observe the enemy's tracks.

The Bashalan that Ryan saw in front of him was completely different from the peaceful and beautiful elf town he had imagined. At this moment, it seemed as if it had been hit by a war. Most of the houses showed signs of damage, and many exquisite spires had collapsed.

At the end of the main road, the statue standing in the fountain in the square was also severely damaged, and the ground was full of potholes. It was obvious that the town had experienced fierce fighting.

This made Ryan feel depressed!
Suddenly, Ryan looked up at the street.

He saw four men in black robes walking towards him. There were marks of different snakes on their robes. Obviously, they were followers of the Secret Snake Cult, and they stayed here for some reason.

"Huh? I thought it was an elf who slipped through the net, but it turned out to be a member of the slave-catching team."

They belonged to a small team responsible for catching the fish that slipped through the net in the town of Bashalan. "Boy, this is not the place for you to come." Two members of the Secret Snake Cult raised their hands casually and drove them away.

And Ryan only needed to raise his eyes to clearly sense the strength of these people. They were level two and level one peak sorcerers. Obviously, from the information he had learned, they were at the minion level.

This kind of thing is not even worth interrogating.

There was no need to ask about the whereabouts of the enemy's large force, Ryan could track it down.

Then, Ryan just raised his hand, and four silver upright metal rings suddenly appeared, and disappeared into the air with a "whoosh".

"Chi! Chi!"

The sounds of flesh being cut rang out one after another!

Several people suddenly felt something was wrong, but before they could even shout, four high-speed rotating silver rings passed through them vertically like a whirlwind!
Each person is given a sawtooth ring.

"Puff! Puff!"

And when Ryan and Cookie passed by a few people without looking back, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground was heard one after another!

I saw that these four people were split into two neat halves from head to toe, and then their bodies fell to one side like two slices of bread in a sandwich.

As for any innate witchcraft, it will be broken instantly under the attack of the "Sawtooth Ring"!

However, when Ryan was about to leave, he suddenly stopped!
Because he just felt a vague sense of being watched.

The feeling was not like the gaze of a threatening enemy, but more like the gaze of a harmless, weak little animal, like a deer spying on him in some hidden corner.

This made Ryan feel even more strange.

Could it be that there is something else in this deserted elf town?

Ryan concentrated and sensed it carefully, then he smiled and walked towards an exquisitely carved wooden house on the street. The arched spire of the house was broken, but the overall structure was intact.

Ryan quickly came to a room on the second floor and slowly walked to the wardrobe next to the window facing the street. Just now, he sensed the vague prying eyes, which seemed to be falling on him from this window.

The wardrobe in front of me was about two meters high, with intricate carvings, all soft curves and groups of plants and animals, full of elven style. The door was half-open, and one could see everything clearly from the outside looking in, but there was nothing inside.

But Ryan was very sure that the faint gaze on him came from here.

"If it's not visible to the naked eye, it must be because of some kind of cover here!"

Ryan stretched out his hand and opened the cabinet door with a creaky sound, and it seemed that this action immediately alarmed a hidden weak life.

With Ryan's strength, he could naturally detect the movement in the empty space in front of him.

He just waved his hand and immediately broke the concealing witchcraft covering the wardrobe. At this time, a little elf girl about six or seven years old appeared in the wardrobe, looking at Ryan with a pair of frightened big eyes.

It seemed that she had never expected that Ryan could actually find her.

"Hello." Ryan did not move closer, but took a step back and smiled.

But the other person still had a frightened expression on his face, and he shrank back with the hula doll in his arms, but at the same time, a hint of confusion appeared in his big eyes.

Ryan immediately realized that this little elf girl probably couldn't understand his common language yet. Children of this age probably only learned their own language.

"(Elf) Hello, I'm not an enemy, I'm here to find my friend, my name is Anna, a half-elf!" Ryan said in the not very fluent Elvish.

He learned some of the Elvish language from Anna. Although he was not very fluent, he spoke it with correct pronunciation.

Ryan's words obviously startled the little elf girl for a moment, but then she hugged the slender body of the hula doll tightly and relaxed a little, only to hear the other party reply in the same elven language:
"Hello, are you really here to see Sister Anna?"

"Yes." Ryan smiled and nodded.

"I believe you." The little elf girl looked at Ryan, then looked at the cookie beside Ryan, and nodded.

Cookie approached with curiosity and sniffed the little girl. He felt that she was very friendly. The little girl smiled and stretched out her white and slender hand to touch Cookie.

Cookie immediately showed an extremely comfortable expression.

"Do you know where Anna went? Was she captured by those bad guys?" Ryan asked when he saw that the little girl had calmed down a little.

"No, a human with a big sword came and rescued Sister Anna, and then took her in that direction." The little elf girl shook her head and pointed to the northwest.

Carrying a big sword?

Ryan looked happy!

Obviously, the other party should be Lambert.

At the same time, he looked in the direction of the little girl's finger.

But this is the direction to the center of Ferdinand Forest.

This made Ryan a little confused. After all, Lambert should have protected Anna and left Ferdinand Forest. Why did he head to the center of the forest where the situation was more complicated?

Ryan was a little confused.

But now is not the time to think about this, he just needs to catch up with the two of them.

The greyhound war dog Cookie naturally remembered Anna's smell, so Ryan immediately asked Cookie to use his extremely sensitive nose to find Anna's trace.

Soon, Cookie, who had been walking around the area twice, barked twice, indicating that he had found Anna.

Ryan looked at the little elf girl in front of him and hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should take her with him.

The other party should have some kind of treasure on him that can cast concealing witchcraft, but it is not safe for him to stay here. First, after the energy of the treasure is exhausted, he naturally cannot cast this kind of witchcraft. Second, if the newcomer is strong enough, he can still find the little girl.

After thinking about it, Ryan felt that he couldn't let such an elf girl stay here alone.

The other person's eyes are very similar to his sister Mint, equally innocent.

"Let's go find Anna together, okay?" Ryan said, smiling and extending his hand to the little girl.

"Yeah." The little girl blinked her big eyes, looked at Ryan for a while, and then nodded heavily.

"Come, I'll hold you!" Ryan picked up the almost weightless little girl with one hand, and then he leisurely followed the spirit war dog 'Cookie'.

The man and the dog quickly moved through the forest again.

Only this time, the dog was in front and the man was behind.

The dog wasn't even panting with fatigue.

"Big brother, you are so awesome!" The little elf girl lying on Ryan's shoulder said while feeling the lightning speed.

"Thank you!"

"Brother, I heard that you humans have mercenaries, people who can help complete tasks for a fee, right?" the other party suddenly asked.

"Yes, why do you suddenly ask this?" Ryan couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"Big brother, can I hire you?" the little elf girl continued.

"Hire me?" Ryan was a little surprised.

"Can I give you this pendant as a reward? Mom said it's a magical device that can cast a shielding magic array. It should be worth a lot of money. Can you help me kill those bad guys?"

"Those people killed my brother Damon, who was very kind to me, my uncle Sevren, my sister Elinde, and my father, and also took them away."

As she narrated, the little girl became a little depressed and her eyes became red.

"They are just like the four people you just killed, big brother. Their black robes have various snake patterns on them."

"May I?"

For a moment, Ryan didn't know what to say.

Apparently, the little elf girl in front of him saw through the window how he used the new sorcery 'Sawtooth Ring' to kill four people instantly.

However, Ryan lowered his head slightly, looked carefully at the little girl's red and hopeful eyes, and nodded immediately, saying, "Okay, I promise you."

"However, this pendant was given to you by your mother. You must keep it well."

"Can I give you something in return?" Ryan said gently.

The little girl was a little restrained. She didn't know what this powerful human brother saw in her.

Ryan gently touched the little girl's hair and took out a wooden hairpin. He said, "Use this as a reward, okay?"

"But this is not valuable." The little elf girl was a little confused.

"enough."

"You don't understand. Hiring actually involves a principle of equal exchange. Because the people you mentioned are worthless, so killing them and using this hairpin as compensation is enough."

"Oh, thank you, brother." The little girl looked a little confused.

She had grown up a little, and although she didn't know how to refute Ryan's words, she could feel the kindness in the words of this human brother.

"Big brother, my name is Aixia, what's yours?" The little elf girl took the initiative to tell Ryan her name, even though her mother had told her not to talk to strangers, let alone tell them her name.

"My name is Ryan."

(End of this chapter)