The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

The northeast side is close to the edge of the forest and has forest trails left by adventurers, making it easy to leave the forest.

Although the straight-line distance from the forest to Star Tear Waterfall is shorter, a treacherous mountain range lies in between, and the side closer to Star Tear Waterfall is a steep cliff, almost impossible to cross directly.

When the slave-catching party captured the elf, their first thought was indeed to escape out of the forest. If she hadn't used her Origin Tracing spell to see this scene, she wouldn't have imagined that they would run towards Startear Falls.

Moreover, the other party was very familiar with the elves' methods and had prepared corresponding magic scrolls to conceal their whereabouts.

Moran slowly withdrew her finger and stood up. She needed to tell Evandar and the others the news in a reasonable way, but she couldn't expose herself.

After a moment's thought, she made up her mind.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the natural energy around her began to flow slowly and resonate with her in a unique and harmonious rhythm.

At this point, there was no "natural resonance" that all the elves of the tribe knew about, but which only she could frequently enter, that could be used as an excuse.

A few breaths later, she exited the "Natural Resonance" state, opened her eyes, and said to the other elves:

“Something’s not right. I just tried to resonate with the nature around me, and the information I’m getting is very confusing.”

She first pointed northeast, "The traces in this direction... are too 'deliberate'."

Then, she turned southeast to the area where the vegetation appeared intact and almost undetectable. "And over here... the plants are growing abnormally. They must have been trampled violently not long ago, but now they have an unnatural, forced, and vibrant freshness. The remaining traces of energy are also messed up and almost imperceptible."

I suspect that some of the enemy may be skilled in nature magic or possess related magical items. They deliberately left obvious misleading traces in the northeast, while their true destination is deep within Startear Falls!

Upon hearing this, Lila and Kelly immediately re-examined the two directions. Looking closely, the trace in the northeast, after Moran pointed it out, did indeed have a stiff, "performative" quality.

The overly "perfect" woodland in the southeast, in the eyes of a seasoned druid, did indeed reveal subtle signs of an uneven rate of vegetation recovery; however, their attention had been drawn to the more prominent traces in the northeast.

Evandal was cautious; he circled halfway through the air, his sharp gaze sweeping back and forth between the northeast and southeast directions.

"Human cunning far exceeds our imagination. The concealed traces we have now discovered in the southeast, as well as the obvious traces deliberately left in the northeast, may themselves be misleading."

They assumed that we, as elves, were skilled at tracking and relied on natural senses. They deliberately left obvious traces to the northeast as the first layer of bait, then 'accidentally' let us discover the 'real' traces hidden to the southeast, luring us there.

In reality, they might have taken a third route, or perhaps both routes were used by different groups: the main force led Polly and Celine, while another group deliberately took a different route to obstruct their view!

This possibility sent a chill down Lila's and Kelly's spines.

“Evandal is right,” Lila said thoughtfully. “We can’t let the clues in front of us lead us by the nose.”

“So what do we do next?” Kelly asked Evandale. Evandale said, “I’m fast. I’ll go northeast alone to explore a bit further and confirm whether those traces have completely disappeared at the border, or if they turned around midway, or if there are any signs of other rendezvous points. The three of you will explore southeast towards Startear Falls. If you find the target, don’t expose yourselves. Wait for Ryandor and the others to arrive before taking action!”

Moran: "..."

If it weren't for the memories the trees had shared, Evandale's analysis would have been quite reasonable; he even guessed correctly that people had indeed traveled in both directions.

As a nature spirit who deals with plants and animals all day long, it is indeed rare to have such strategic thinking. No wonder Mathil sent him to investigate the situation first, and Lendor also let him lead the team!
She couldn't say at that moment that she saw the main force heading southeast, and that Polly and Celine were also in that direction.

They could only accept Evandale's decision.

The group left marks nearby that only elves could understand, indicating their recent discovery and their next destination, making it easier for Ryandor and his group to track them down when they arrived later. Then they split up and went about their business.

Evandar transformed into a swift falcon and headed northeast in pursuit.

The traces in this direction were gradually obscured, but the methods of concealment were not sophisticated enough to fool his sharp eyes. With his aerial advantage and rich experience, Evandale quickly spotted two people traveling near the edge of the forest. Polly and Celine were not with them, and the number of people did not match the scale of the traces left at the beginning. Only then did he realize that this was the misleading direction.

These two were two ranks below him, and Evandal quickly seized them and questioned them about Polly and Celine's whereabouts.

But they wouldn't say anything no matter what, so Evandar had no choice but to restrain them and use druidic magic to summon two forest deer to carry them southeast.

Meanwhile, Lila, Kelly, and Moran, who were tracking the depths of Startear Falls to the southeast, faced a completely different situation.

Tracking in this direction is extremely difficult; the other side has clearly invested more resources and effort in concealing their movements.

It's not just about simply sweeping away footprints, stimulating plants to repair trampled vegetation, and destroying the spirituality of surrounding plants. They also use special powders to confuse the scents, leave many traps to slow down their pace, and occasionally create new misleading directions.

Each step required the three of them to carefully discern the details, and progress was extremely slow.

Many times, they had to stop and repeatedly check whether a path that appeared almost perfectly normal had actually been traversed.

Whenever this happens, Moran uses the Tracing Technique to look at the memories of nearby plants, then enters a brief state of natural resonance at the right time, and then points out a certain direction "based on this".

Her guidance repeatedly pulled the nearly stalled tracking back onto the right track.

“Thanks to Moran’s natural resonance, otherwise we would have been left behind by these endless cover-up methods long ago.” Kelly stopped on a branch and looked down at another faint trace that Moran pointed out, which was almost indistinguishable to the naked eye, and said to Lila with emotion.

Lila landed not far away, her eyes grave: "They went to tremendous lengths on this path. The sheer costly use of magic scrolls, potions, and possibly one-time-use magical items to cover their tracks… it's not just a clever deception; this direction must be where they actually escaped!" (End of Chapter)