Legend of the Pinnacle of Online Games

Chapter 123 Goodbye Maurice (11K)

The sewer entrance in the West Third District is not far from the weapons factory; it's only a five-minute walk away.

However, even before we arrived, we could faintly smell a pungent, fishy stench.

"This doesn't smell like sewage!"

Cao Renjie, who was walking at the front, sniffed and said, "It smells more like the stench of a rotting corpse."

"Don't say it looks like one, it is!" Long Xiaochen pointed ahead, next to the sewer entrance, where there was a blurry corpse with a group of rats crawling on it. "Look at that!"

"Really!" Cao Renjie wasn't scared at all. He even went up to take a look and then turned to Long Xiaochen and shouted, "It's a man!"

The arrival of online games is too realistic.

Everything was presented to the players' senses in the most realistic way. Everyone present had seen all sorts of storms in the first server.

They had seen not just a single corpse, but also scenes of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

But the stars did not.

Lin Hanchuan immediately pulled her into his arms and covered her eyes, but Xingchen forcefully pried his hands off. She even craned her neck to examine the corpse, her face pale and her eyes filled with fear as she stared at it.

Lin Hanchuan reached out to cover it.

But Long Xiaoyue stopped her, "Captain, no need. Xingchen is overcoming her fear. She knows very well what she is doing. When she goes out with us in the future, she will see many more terrifying scenes than this. It will be good for her to see more now."

"Sigh!" Lin Hanchuan looked at Xingchen, who was pretending to be strong, and sighed, but did not reach out to stop her from looking again.

Although Long Xiaoyue's words were cruel.

But that's what it is.

In the arrival of the new world, not only the outside world but even the world within the city is filled with the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak.

Walk past the corpse.

Accompanied by a faint, lingering stench, Lin Hanchuan and his group entered the sewer.

The sewers are very spacious, about five meters wide and eight meters high, and are interconnected in all directions, forming an underground network for Wangyue City.

All the sewers in the city in the game are like this, and some underground organizations formed by players will put their "headquarters" in the sewers.

Perhaps there are too few NPCs in Wangyue City.

Perhaps it's because the climate in Wangyue City is too dry.

Lin Hanchuan walked through the sewers, where there wasn't a single drop of water under his feet, and there were hardly any weeds. The "tap tap tap" of his footsteps echoed in the empty sewers.

Cao Renjie walked very carefully ahead.

Long Xiaochen also summoned a jungle cat, which nimbly scouted ahead.

"Doesn't it feel strange?"

After going in for over a hundred meters, Cao Renjie suddenly turned to look at Long Xiaochen and said, "Isn't this sewer a little too clean? There's clearly a corpse outside that no one has dealt with."

Long Xiaochen, who was sharing vision with the jungle cat, nodded and said, "Not to mention here, even fifty meters inwards, it is exceptionally clean. There are no bones, not even a fingernail."

"That's strange. Didn't the city guards' investigation say there were a lot of bones in the sewers?" Lin Hanchuan frowned. The current situation didn't match the information he had received before.

Lin Hanchuan even suspected that the city guards might have cleaned the sewers before leaving.

Keep going.

We walked another hundred meters or so.

The light from outside gradually began to penetrate the interior, and the inside of the sewer slowly began to darken.

Cao Renjie took a fluorescent stone from somewhere and held it in his hand as a light source for exploring. Lin Hanchuan would also occasionally cast a light spell to illuminate some suspicious corners.

Long Xiaochen's jungle cat is unnecessary.

In such dim light, it is the perfect environment for these feline creatures to move around. The scene that Long Xiaochen sees through visual sharing is also what the jungle cat sees.

In the dimly lit sewer, a jungle cat, about thirty centimeters long, stared with its bright green eyes, scanning its surroundings rapidly like radar.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual around them, they immediately leaped forward a few meters with their light bodies and then continued to observe.

Sudden! !
"I see light!" In the shared vision, Long Xiaochen saw a faint, dim yellow light flickering in the distance.

"Go straight ahead!"

"At most three hundred meters!"

Lin Hanchuan and his group immediately quickened their pace.

When they arrived at the spot where the jungle cat had been, they did indeed see a faint light directly in front of the passage.

"Be careful!" Lin Hanchuan reminded him, then said to Xingchen, "Give me a soul perception!"

Xingchen immediately clasped her hands together in prayer.

next moment.

Lin Hanchuan gained the [Soul Perception] from the stars.

After reaching level 10, the range of Star's soul perception also increases to 30 meters!
Even in complete darkness, Lin Hanchuan can now sense the presence of beings with souls.

At the same time, as they got closer to the dim yellow light, the overall speed of the Heavenly Dao Squad decreased significantly.

However, as he got closer, Lin Hanchuan discovered that there wasn't just one yellow light in the distance, but rather several clusters arranged in an extremely neat manner on the right side of the sewer channel, so that from a distance, only one could be seen.

Long Xiaochen's jungle cat has also ventured deep inside, but so far it hasn't discovered anything. This hasn't made Lin Hanchuan and the others relax; on the contrary, it has made them even more vigilant.

When the firelight was within Lin Hanchuan's 30-meter perception range, he suddenly widened his eyes and stared directly at the dim yellow firelight not far away.

"Captain, what's wrong?" Long Xiaoyue, who had been following Lin Hanchuan, noticed the abnormality and quickly asked.

"This is troublesome!" Lin Hanchuan said in a low voice, "That's not fire, that's a burning soul!"

Take two steps forward.

You can see that they are torches stuck in the walls of the sewer.

Hiss hiss hiss!!

Soft, chilling cries emanated from the fireball, like the painful groans of its soul's master.

"There's something wrong with the torch!" Cao Renjie, who was at the front, saw a grayish-white bone in the dim light. "The torch is a bone, a thigh bone!"

Lin Hanchuan approached, glanced at it, and then looked up ahead. Dense clusters of dim yellow light stretched all the way to the corner at the end.

Each ball of light represents the life of a human NPC.

They are not dead.

Their souls still retained consciousness and could sense Lin Hanchuan's presence, so they immediately let out a series of shouts.

Hiss hiss hiss!!

The sound pierced the eardrums and penetrated the soul.

They weren't attacking Lin Hanchuan, nor were they asking him to avenge them; they were pleading with him to put out the fire.

What burns is the soul, what nourishes is the marrow.

Every second of burning brought them excruciating pain, as if someone were holding a knife, slowly grinding it into their thigh bones, pulling out bone marrow and inserting their souls.

"It's the Bone Demon!"

Before Lin Hanchuan could speak, Long Xiaoyue whispered, "Among demons, only they truly enjoy extracting the souls of other creatures from their bodies, then taking a thigh bone to make a torch!"

"Moreover, someone who can achieve this level is most likely a Bone Demon of level 100 or higher, at least a King level!"

"I didn't expect that this kind of guy would come to Wangyue City!"

“The Bone Demon shouldn’t be here. Let’s help them break free first.” Cao Renjie took a hammer and smashed the torches one by one, then hammered them one after another, freeing the souls trapped in the flames.

Long Xiaochen then stopped the jungle cat in front of him and turned to Lin Hanchuan, asking, "Captain, shall we continue?"

"Continue!" Lin Hanchuan responded, then said seriously to Xingchen, "If anything unusual happens later, you must escape immediately using your teleportation ability, do you hear me!"

Xingchen nodded and said, "I heard you, Brother Huang!"

clap clap clap! !

As Cao Renjie continued forward, he used his hammer to smash one torch after another until he reached a corner and saw the scene further inside.

There are two small hills in front.

The corpses were piled up on the left side.

Skeletons were piled up on the right side.

In the middle was a large stone table, covered with various tools; clearly, this was the Bone Demon's workbench.

Those torches were made here, because you can clearly see that each of the piled-up skeletons is missing a thigh bone from its right leg.

"Where is the Bone Demon?"

Cao Renjie looked around but found no trace of the Bone Demon.

"They must have gone out, or they were scared away by the city guards!" Long Xiaochen replied. The city guards of Wangyue City are very strong. With the various buffs from the territory, a city guard can handle a Bone Demon.

Because the city lord was in charge of the city's guards, the demons did not act rashly to try to kill the city lord directly and let other demons take his place.

It's not that it's impossible, but the risks are too great.

It's not worth it at all.

Instead, we should lure the city lord into joining our camp with incentives.

The city guards probably don't know about this yet, otherwise the entire Wangyue City would be in chaos, and it would be impossible to maintain the current superficial peace and harmony.

After confirming that the Bone Demon was not there, Long Xiaochen looked through the pile of corpses and quickly found a male corpse. The system notification sounded in his mind.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully completed a Rank D mission..."

Cao Renjie wasn't idle either. After smashing all the torches on the surrounding walls with a hammer, he took the fluorescent stone and walked around the area.

His task was to explore the area.

I quickly received a notification that the task was completed.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully completed a Class C mission..."

Lin Hanchuan wasn't idle either. He asked Cao Renjie for a fluorescent stone and carefully searched through the pile of corpses for those with seven fingers.

To get a better look at the details, he would occasionally throw an Illumination spell.

Unfortunately, after searching twice, Lin Hanchuan could not find a corpse with seven fingers on its hand.

On the way here, Lin Hanchuan kept an eye out, occasionally casting a light spell to check the surroundings.

Unfortunately, apart from the torches, the ground was spotless, as if a dog had licked it clean. There wasn't a single corpse, not even a finger joint.

"Boss, I've finished my mission. How about yours?" Long Xiaochen pulled a skeleton out of the pile of bones and threw it into his backpack. For missions that require bringing items back, the mission is only considered complete when the items are handed over to the NPC who issued the mission.

"Still no movement!" Lin Hanchuan shook his head, then looked around at other places, throwing out one illumination spell after another. The moment the darkness was dispelled, every corner around him was clearly presented in Lin Hanchuan's eyes.

There was nothing there, absolutely nothing!

"That's strange. Could it be that Roger's brother's body is really not here?" Lin Hanchuan frowned and muttered to himself.

An A-level mission means that he may encounter danger during this mission.

But until now, everything has been perfectly safe. Lin Hanchuan hasn't encountered a bone demon, or even a weaker demon.

boom! !

Just then, a hard object suddenly fell from above and hit Cao Renjie on the head.

"Fuck!"

"How could something fall from the sewer!"

Cao Renjie immediately dodged, looking up with a puzzled expression. Unfortunately, even with the light from the fluorescent stone, he couldn't see clearly what was on the ceiling above him.

Lin Hanchuan immediately threw a light spell upwards.

Wow! !

A bright white light suddenly exploded on the ceiling, illuminating Lin Hanchuan's face as well as the ceiling itself.

On the ceiling of the sewer.

A formation pattern suddenly appeared.

Energy stones, embedded in grooves, provide the energy for the formation to operate. The one that just hit Cao Renjie on the head was an energy stone.

The array was directly facing the Bone Demon's workbench.

"What kind of formation is that, Xiaoyue?" Long Xiaochen asked.

Of the group, only Long Xiaoyue had some knowledge of formations. Back in the first district, she was a grandmaster-level formation master. When the Immortal Dynasty was chasing her, she was able to escape time and time again, and her formations played a crucial role in that.

“That should be a sacrificial formation!” Long Xiaoyue looked at the patterns and structure inside the formation and said slowly, “I remember that the Bone Demon would sacrifice the flesh and internal organs collected from corpses to the demon god he worshipped through a sacrificial formation.”

At this moment, Cao Renjie's voice suddenly rang out, pointing to a formation that was only half a meter square at his feet.

"Then what is this formation?"

A dark red array.

Cao Renjie had just looked down when he inadvertently saw it, thanks to the light from the fluorescent stone.

Everyone looked over at the same time.

To make it clearer for everyone, Cao Renjie crouched down, hovering the fluorescent stone in his hand above the formation, illuminating the entire formation.

“That’s a teleportation array, a one-way teleportation array for one person.” Long Xiaoyue answered after only one glance. “Array masters only inscribe this kind of small teleportation array in very urgent situations.”

“It must have been carved by the Bone Demon himself!” Lin Hanchuan said in a low voice. “Among the many demons, the Bone Demon is considered to be someone with a very strong talent in formations.”

Cao Renjie said, "But the key question is, where did he teleport to? Why was he in such a hurry to leave? Could it really be because the city guards discovered this place, so he had to leave urgently to avoid danger?"

“It’s not because of emergency evacuation!” Lin Hanchuan denied Cao Renjie’s guess, squatted down, and reached out to wipe the edge of the array on the ground. There was still some dark red liquid on it that had not yet dried.

"This formation was inscribed with blood, and it's still wet. It's obvious that it was just created not long ago. The city guards came to investigate yesterday, and the inscription of the formation and this event happened at completely different times."

"But Bone Demon must have something very important to do to leave so suddenly. Otherwise, given his obsessive-compulsive nature, he would never allow even a single drop of blood to remain in his workplace."

Lin Hanchuan's analysis was very logical and reasonable.

But the key question is.

Where did the Bone Demon go?!

Just as everyone was looking at each other in disbelief, another energy stone fell from the ceiling.

Snapped! !

It landed right in the one-way teleportation array.

Energy was injected, and the formation was activated instantly.

A milky-white teleportation beam instantly enveloped Lin Hanchuan.

"Fuck! Boss!"

Cao Renjie exclaimed in surprise.

The incident happened suddenly, and Xingchen immediately reached out to grab it, but grasped at empty air.

When the white light faded, Lin Hanchuan had disappeared from the spot. Long Xiaoyue quickly opened her personal panel and pulled up her friend list. Lin Hanchuan was still online, which meant that nothing had happened.

Long Xiaoyue immediately sent a message to Lin Hanchuan.

"Captain, where have you been teleported to?"

……

……

"Where is this?"

Lin Hanchuan looked around blankly.

Towering trees stretched overhead, their dense foliage blocking out the sunlight and making the surrounding environment quite dark.

Open the panel.

I checked the location next time.

"The Dark Forest!?"

"Isn't this a map of the very edge of Wangyue City?"

Lin Hanchuan was a little confused. "Why would the Bone Demon draw a one-way teleportation array and come here?"

Ding!
At this moment, Long Xiaoyue's information popped up on the panel.

Long Xiaoyue – “Captain, where were you teleported to?”

"Gray Forest!"—After replying with a location name, Lin Hanchuan casually sent his current coordinates.

Long Xiaoyue – “Wait a minute, let’s go too!”

When Lin Hanchuan saw Long Xiaoyue's message, he also saw a corpse lying on the ground not far away.

It was the corpse of a young human!

"No need to come over, you guys wait for me at the weapons factory. I have a return scroll here, it'll be fine!" — Lin Hanchuan
The message has been sent.

Lin Hanchuan immediately stepped forward and, with just one glance, noticed that the corpse had seven fingers on its right hand. However, the corpse was incomplete, missing many parts.

After Lin Hanchuan managed to piece together some parts from the surrounding area, a system message notification suddenly sounded.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have successfully completed the A-level mission—[Retrieve Roger's Brother's Body]"

"Friendly reminder: Deliver this corpse to Roger, and you will receive a corresponding reward!"

The system's confirmation tone surprised Lin Hanchuan. "It really is Roger's brother's corpse. How did he end up here? Could it be that the Bone Demon used him as the energy source for the teleportation array during the teleportation?"

The operation of an array does not necessarily require energy stones.

Logically speaking, anything within the body that possesses energy can be used to operate the array.

Lin Hanchuan quickly put the corpse back into his spatial ring and then began to warily observe his surroundings.

The Gray Forest, as one of the maps furthest from Moongazing City, is also an extremely high-level area map, with monsters generally at level 70 or 80 or higher.

Monsters above level 100 are easy to encounter, and if you run into one, it's beyond Lin Hanchuan's current ability to handle.

Where there is danger, there is also opportunity.

Lin Hanchuan had only taken a few steps when he saw a plant emitting a blue light. The star patterns on its leaves seemed to be blinking incessantly under the shimmering blue light.

"Blue Star Grass!"

Lin Hanchuan immediately stepped forward.

Blue Star Grass

Quality: One-Star Rare

A plant that lives in environments rich in magical elements. It can be eaten raw and can directly increase the user's maximum mana by 200. It can also be used as a raw material for magical potions.

Note: Can only be eaten once.

The information flashed by in Lin Hanchuan's eyes.

Medicinal plants are also graded – common, rare, precious, sacred, and divine.

These medicinal plants typically appear in higher-level map areas and are inaccessible to players at the current level.

Carefully crouching down, he took out a knife from his backpack and gently dug around the blue star grass.

But just as they were about to dig the second round.

"What am I doing?" Lin Hanchuan suddenly realized the problem. "Even if I transplant it back, there's nowhere to plant it! This kind of rare medicinal plant must be planted in a spirit field if it is to be cultivated in large quantities!"

Lingtian is a very special type of farmland, generally used to grow rare medicinal plants.

There are no spirit fields in the 5,000 mu of farmland in the southern sixth district of Wangyue City, so it can only be used to grow general medicinal plants in the future.

However, spirit fields can also be transplanted. If a spirit field is found in the wild, it can be transplanted to one's own farmland.

Spirit fields can also be cultivated.

The fastest way to cultivate is to irrigate ordinary farmland with the Spring of Life every day, but Lin Hanchuan has not yet seen any force that is so extravagant.

Every drop of the fountain of life is precious, let alone when it's in a bucket.

"Instead of digging it up and taking it back, I might as well eat it now." Having figured it out, Lin Hanchuan used a knife to cut off the Blue Star Grass and stuffed it all into his mouth.

The blue star grass was very juicy, and it tasted crisp and sweet. As he swallowed it, a system notification sounded in Lin Hanchuan's mind.

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Blue Star Grass. Your maximum mana has been permanently increased by 200!"

What's troubling Lin Hanchuan now isn't the speed of mana recovery, but the maximum mana limit.

Increasing the maximum mana by 200 at once is already terrifying.

"Let's look again!" Having already gained a benefit, Lin Hanchuan naturally wouldn't let go of this virgin territory that no player had entered before. He looked around, finally chose a direction, and walked straight there.

I only walked thirty or forty meters!

Under a large tree, Lin Hanchuan saw a small black tree less than a meter tall, with two shiny black fruits growing on it.

It's only the size of a baby's fist.

But it smells exceptionally pleasant.

"Black Luo Fruit!"

Lin Hanchuan's eyes narrowed into slits with a smile. "This gloomy forest is truly a place of excellent feng shui!"

Keeping his footsteps low, Lin Hanchuan cautiously approached.

Black Luo Guo (a type of fruit)

Quality: Two-star rare item

The fruit of a plant that lives in an environment rich in magical elements can be eaten raw and permanently increases the user's soul defense by 10 points. It can also be used as a raw material for soul-related potions.

Note: Only 10 pieces can be consumed.

Players have many ways to acquire additional attributes.

But the simplest and most direct way is to just open your mouth and eat.

Rare and rare medicinal plants can often provide players with additional attribute increases when consumed raw.

This time, Lin Hanchuan didn't think about digging it up again. After marking the black jujube tree on the panel, he picked two fruits and stuffed them into his mouth.

Crunchy and delicious, it tastes like chicken!
"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Black Luo Fruit. Your Soul Defense has been permanently increased by 10!"

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Black Luo Fruit. Your Soul Defense has been permanently increased by 10!"

If we're talking about the most troublesome attack methods for players, soul-based attacks would undoubtedly be in the top three, because many players currently lack the ability to defend against soul attacks.

Lin Hanchuan didn't have it either.

However, these two Black Luo Fruits added a Soul Defense item to his panel that he hadn't had before.

[Soul Defense]: 20
With a soul defense value of 20, Lin Hanchuan now has a certain defensive capability even when facing some soul master players with skills that have no cooldown.

Keep going!
Lin Hanchuan was exploring the gray forest.

In the dark forest, far away from him.

More than a dozen demonic figures gathered together.

Leading the group was the saintess, who had not yet removed her disguise. She looked at her demon companions and coldly rebuked them, "Maurice is already seriously injured, and you still haven't managed to kill him!"

"If he escapes from the Dark Forest, leaves the territory of Moon Gazing City, and spreads the news of our invasion of Moon Gazing City, then not only me, but every one of you, as well as our people, will have to bear the wrath of the Demon God Temple."

"If things get serious, your race may be wiped out of the Abyss!"

The saint's voice was unusually stern.

These demons, who were used to being arrogant in the abyss, all lowered their heads and listened attentively, not daring to utter the slightest rebuttal.

It wasn't just because the Saintess was too powerful; more importantly, she was right. The Demon God Temple had already issued a death order for this siege of Maurice.

If they fail, they will be subject to very severe punishment.

“My lord, rest assured!” one of the large, skeletal demons, whose entire body was skin and bones, said, “I have left soul imprints all over this forest. Once Morris touches them, I can pinpoint his location immediately.”

The saintess, with her eyebrows arched, said, "Bone Demon, don't talk to me about this now. What you did in the Western Third District was really too much. You killed so many humans. How are you going to fill the population gap now?"

"What we need is a city with humans as our starting point on the Apocalypse Continent, not empty cities where not a single human exists!"

"I understand!" the Bone Demon said respectfully, bowing his head.

"It's not enough for you to just say you know. If you continue to do those kinds of things in Wangyue City, then even without the Demon God Temple punishing you, I can personally kill you in Wangyue City and ensure you can never return to the Abyss," the Saintess said seriously. This time, many demons came in from the Abyss. At first, everyone behaved very well, suppressing their true nature and obediently playing the role of humans.

However, over time, many problems arose, and some demons began to lose patience and attack humans.

He was a demon walker before.

Now it's the Bone Demon.

It really gave her, one of the people in charge, a real headache.

Humanity is dead.

If the devil has no slaves, who will work for him?

The Bone Demon held his breath and only dared to whisper, "My lord, I will make amends."

"Alright! We'll see how you perform then!" The saintess breathed a sigh of relief.

“Maurice is already seriously injured and cannot escape the Dark Forest.” A bone demon spoke up, and the other demons breathed a sigh of relief, especially one demon with a pair of dragon horns, who pressed his advantage.

"In the future, all we need to do is lay a tight net in this dark forest, and with a little time, we will be able to find that damned mage."

Looking at these dozen or so demons, both trembling and brimming with confidence.

Thinking of the severely injured Maurice, the saintess breathed a sigh of relief and ordered, "Search carefully!"

"No corner of this forest can be missed. If any movement is discovered, you must inform me immediately."

"Split up!"

"Yes!!" As soon as the dozen or so demons finished speaking, their figures vanished from the spot.

The saintess sighed and shook her head. She really had no confidence at all that she would be able to kill Maurice completely this time.

After all, Morris was simply too powerful, having dodged countless fatal crises before.

Even this seemingly certain outcome was thwarted by Maurice's sheer ferocity; he fought his way through the darkness, disappearing into the gloomy forest with his nearly broken body and soul.

But no matter what, we must do our best.

As a dozen powerful demons searched for Maurice's whereabouts throughout the dark forest, a pair of eyes suddenly opened inside a tree hollow.

His eyes were golden, gazing in one direction, his voice tinged with doubt.

"The aura of the Berserker Archmage?"

"Could it be that, besides me, another Berserker Archmage has intruded into this forest?"

The voice suddenly stopped.

This was followed by gasps of surprise.

"No! This aura... it's Arakawa Hakuyo!"

"It really is him! But why did he suddenly come to the Gray Forest? Isn't he in Moongazing City right now?"

Morris, who was originally hidden, suddenly flew out of the tree hole and flew straight towards the direction from which the aura was emanating, at a speed far exceeding the speed of sound.

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Crimson Flame Fruit. Your fire spell damage has been permanently increased by 20!"

……

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Nightingale Flower. Your stamina has increased by 1!"

"Ding! Congratulations! You have successfully consumed a Nightingale Flower. Your stamina has increased by 1!"

When Maurice was still over a hundred meters away from Lin Hanchuan, he suddenly stopped and looked up at the front.

Although the branches in front were so dense that it was impossible to see anything with the naked eye, Lin Hanchuan, who was picking larkspur flowers, was clearly reflected in the pupils of Morris's eyes, and he could even clearly hear Lin Hanchuan's soft mutterings.

"Holy crap, so many nightingales! We've hit the jackpot!"

"It's a pity the shelf life is too short. Once I get it back, I have to sell it as soon as possible and turn it into cash."

"This dark forest is truly my blessed land!"

"Holy crap! There's another amethyst dragon rock ore down there!"

"A 3-star rare item! An ore that can be used to forge epic weapons. This is a huge profit!"

In Maurice's eyes.

Lin Hanchuan was like a money-grubber at this moment. No matter what strange or unusual things he found, he would be startled and jump around as if he had never seen the world before.

This made Maurice, his master, slap his forehead. To think that his apprentice was so poor that he had to risk his life to find medicinal plants in the Dark Forest to make money, he, as a master, had really disgraced himself.

I have failed my ancestors!
After a sigh, Maurice revealed himself.

He slowly walked towards Lin Hanchuan.

"Arakawa White Owl, what are you doing here!"

Before his figure even appeared beside Lin Hanchuan, his voice had already reached Lin Hanchuan's ears.

"This is the Dark Forest, not a place where you can stay with your current strength. Go back immediately!"

Lin Hanchuan looked around and, seeing no one, began to doubt himself, "Huh?! I heard Professor Morris's voice, it's exactly the same!"

"Could there be a voice-imitating fruit nearby? When the fruit bursts open after ripening, it does make a sound similar to a human's. To a normal person, it sounds like a close friend or family member."

"The sound-imitating fruit is a rare treasure!"

"I need to find it quickly; taking this might increase my resilience!"

We acted immediately.

Lin Hanchuan immediately followed the general direction from which the sound had come, but his expression froze the moment he parted the tall weeds.

Directly in front of him, an elderly man was slowly walking towards him, his eyes filled with self-reproach.

"Professor Morris, what are you doing here?" Lin Hanchuan asked in surprise. "I thought it was the sound made by the ripening of the Sound-imitating Fruit."

“That’s what I should be asking you!” Morris said sternly. “What are you doing running off to such a dangerous place as the Gray Forest all by yourself? Don’t you know that any random monster that comes out of here could easily kill you?”

Morris was both anxious and angry.

He is currently being hunted by demons. If Arakawa Shiro is targeted by demons because of him, then the profession of Berserker Archmage will come to an end.

"Get out of here right now!" As he spoke, Morris handed the last teleportation token to Lin Hanchuan. "Go as far away as you can. This is not a place for you."

"I accidentally triggered the teleportation array and I'll be leaving in a bit," Lin Hanchuan explained, then immediately reminded him, "Professor Morris, I came here with a bone demon, and your whereabouts have likely been exposed."

“I know that. I’ve already fought them once,” Morris said nonchalantly, then handed the teleportation token to Lin Hanchuan and said seriously, “But you, right now, get out of here immediately!”

"The demons are searching for me everywhere. Once they lock onto me, you will be implicated as well."

"I don't need it, I have a return scroll!" Lin Hanchuan still didn't accept the teleportation token that Morris handed him. Morris needed it more than he did right now, and this teleportation token might be his life-saving item.

Morris's life is worth more than his.

He died, but he can be resurrected.

Maurice died, and that was it.

After a long separation, Lin Hanchuan said to Morris with concern, "Eat these fruits to quench your thirst!"

As they spoke, Lin Hanchuan took out the fruits, flowers, and wild grasses he had specially picked earlier from his backpack and handed them to Morris one by one.

In Lin Hanchuan's eyes, Morris looked extremely disheveled at the moment, with a large patch of hair missing and his clothes almost falling into shreds.

His eyes revealed endless exhaustion.

Morris felt a warmth in his heart when he saw what Lin Hanchuan took out, but he immediately shook his head and said, "Good child, these things are no longer of any use to me now. You can keep them for yourself."

While talking.

Morris took off an earring from his waist and handed it to Lin Hanchuan.

"Here you go! Take this!"

"This is an earring with storage space inside. There's a spirit field I just dug up in the Gray Forest. It should be useful to you!"

"Teacher, this..." Lin Hanchuan was stunned, not expecting Morris to give him the spirit field directly.

"Take it if I tell you to!" Morris shoved the earring into Lin Hanchuan's hand. "It's already a great blessing that we can meet again at this time. This spiritual field is of no use to an old man like me who is about to die. I might as well give it to you."

Speaking of it.

Morris sighed.

He knew very well that facing an encirclement by more than a dozen powerful demons, his chances of survival were slim.

There's a high probability that he'll die here.

The opponent is coming on strong, and we're almost out of cards!
Without a miracle, death is inevitable.

He was already content to see his successor one last time before he died.

After forcibly shoving the earring into Lin Hanchuan's hands, Morris seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up at the sky to his right.

Before any commotion could be made, Morris immediately waved his staff, creating a protective barrier that enveloped him and Lin Hanchuan.

The moment the barrier appeared, the sky above suddenly went black. Lin Hanchuan looked up and saw a huge black shadow sweep over his head and fly away into the distance.

"Let's go quickly!"

Morris whispered to Lin Hanchuan.

Lin Hanchuan was about to reply.

boom! !

The enormous black shadow that had just left suddenly returned, followed by a terrifying pressure descending from the sky.

The other party had obviously discovered them.

Instead of striking first or running away, Morris immediately took out a mask from his spatial ring and put it on Lin Hanchuan's face.

"We've been discovered."

"This mask is called the Mask of the Imposter. Put it on!"

"Don't let them know you, or you'll find it impossible to move an inch in Wangyue City!"

The moment the mask was put on.

A gigantic head, crushing the lush canopy, peered in from above, its two lantern-sized eyes fixed on Maurice, and it roared with laughter.

"Haha, Maurice, so you've been here all along!"

"I found you!"

The owner of this head was none other than the Corrupting Demon Dragon that had previously besieged Morris in Moongazing City.

As he spoke, the spittle he exhaled was highly corrosive, rapidly corroding the surrounding trees. What were once lush, towering trees were transformed in an instant into withered trees riddled with holes.

Abundant sunlight streamed down from the sky along the massive body of the corrosive dragon.

It landed on Maurice.

It landed on Lin Hanchuan's mask.

"Huh, there's another little guy!" The Corrosive Dragon finally noticed Lin Hanchuan's presence. "This really is a buy-one-get-one-free deal!"

"Noisy!!"

Morris snorted coldly.

With a wave of his staff, a massive black cloud instantly condensed above the head of the Corrupting Dragon.
The next moment, a huge bolt of lightning descended from the dark clouds and struck the Corrosive Dragon directly.

what! !

The painful, corrosive dragon roared to the sky.

"Let's go!!" Morris said immediately.

Lin Hanchuan immediately took out a return scroll. After using it, a ball of milky white teleportation light instantly enveloped his body.

But after the light faded, Lin Hanchuan was still in the same spot.

"Ding! Please note that the space around you has been sealed off. The return scroll has failed to be used."

"The space has been sealed off!" Upon hearing the system notification, Lin Hanchuan immediately turned to tell Morris.

Morris's expression also changed drastically.

And this moment.

Boom boom boom! !

The towering trees around them seemed to be ravaged by some enormous force, falling one after another with a crash.

In just a few seconds, the once dim, twilight-like environment was now as bright as day.

Following closely behind, a series of figures walked over from a distance.

Lin Hanchuan looked around.

Bone demons, ogres, giant demons...

They're all demons!

There was also a demon who wore a white robe and, like him, a mask.

"Maurice, let's see where you can run now!" The most excited one was the Bone Demon. He had just made a pledge to the Saintess that as long as he performed well in the battle and killed Maurice, his previous sins would be wiped clean.

"Don't be careless! He's the strongest mage in Moongazing City! If we corner him, I'm afraid he might take two of us down with him!" The Corrosive Dragon in the sky, who had fought Morris the most, immediately warned the excited Bone Demon.

"We'll wear him down slowly!"

"Anyway, the one thing we have plenty of right now is time!"

The other demons nodded in agreement.

They had witnessed Morris's power.

It cannot be deduced using common sense.

Even in seemingly hopeless situations, they have the ability to turn the tide in an instant.

For now, keep your distance, cooperate with each other, and slowly kill Maurice.

That is indeed the best method.

Reliable and efficient!
The saintess stared at Lin Hanchuan standing beside Maurice, but the mask's shielding ability was too strong, making it impossible to see through him and figure out who he really was.

"My lord, the mask that person is wearing has a shielding effect, I can't see through it, do you know who he is?" At this moment, a demon asked softly.

The saintess shook her head. "I can't see through the mask's shield either!"

(End of this chapter)