Chapter 60

ps: For the Three Rivers, I will be updating irregularly today. Please support, everyone!

As the wind swept through the night, it brought a putrid smell, the scent of the dead and the spirits that did not wish to be forgotten.

Tap tap~ tap tap~ tap tap~

The forest faintly echoed with the sound of hooves, growing louder as several indistinct shadows emerged from the darkness, galloping along the path. Three white horses carried their riders, whose cloaks fluttered in the moonlight like flowing silver.

The wind blew, scattering the riders' long hair, revealing their pointed ears, elegantly arched eyebrows, and slender yet graceful figures—three elves.

The lead horse carried a knight, handsome and refined. Unlike ordinary riders, he wore a sword on his left hip, a quiver full of swan-feather arrows on his right, and a powerful bow slung diagonally across his back, exuding confidence and composure. The rear horse was also ridden by a handsome, tall elf, holding a long spear and a short dagger at his waist.

On the middle horse sat a female elf. Her hair was as dark as a cloud, her eyelashes long and black, her gaze piercing. Though dressed simply, she was strikingly beautiful. Unlike her companions, she was not calm, constantly scanning her surroundings, highly sensitive to any movement. One hand rested on the saddle, where a leather pouch bulged; whenever she touched it, she felt a sense of reassurance.

"Alya, no one can catch the children of nature in the forests of Alagasia," the rear elf comforted the noble princess of the Ellesméra kingdom, for whom they had given their lives. The elves' pride meant they never had to bow to anyone, let alone flee in panic.

Alya, however, was not as optimistic as her companions. As the crown princess, her perspective was both broader and deeper. She could recognize the strengths of other races, neither underestimating any nor overestimating the elves' superiority.

"We should be more careful. The king will surely send pursuers once he realizes the dragon egg has been stolen," Alya felt that they would not be safe until the dragon egg was returned to its rightful owner.

"You're right," the sorcerer Dessa emerged from the darkness, his skin pale, hair red, eyes red, and appearance ghastly, his rotten teeth mumbling, "Light."

Red light instantly illuminated the darkness, blinding the three elves and temporarily robbing them of their sight. At that moment, two arrows shot from the dense forest, striking Alya's elven guards. One of them fell, the horse neighing and stumbling before collapsing.

The two well-trained elven guards were sacrificed without value. Alya leaped from her horse, landing lightly, and turned to look back at her guards.

"Go," the knight, still alive, clutched the bleeding wound on his chest, preventing Alya from approaching.

Alya's eyes showed a hint of reluctance, but she turned and ran into the forest, cursing the enemy. However, the elegant elf had no more vulgar words than "bastard."

Rizak, the voodoo zombies created by the sorcerer's voodoo spells, crashed through the forest, forming a crescent shape around Alya.

Alya ran while chanting in ancient Elvish, invoking the natural magic "Life Breath," which unexpectedly made her still and silent. She hid under a thick tree root, holding her breath, the lush forest's natural life protecting her, making her invisible to Rizak's sight and scent.

"A white mouse hiding among gray mice?" Dessa's voice, amplified by magic, echoed through the forest.

"You're the rat," Alya couldn't help but retort in her mind, despite her worries.

"Flame Halo," Dessa could track Alya not by relying on the weak-sighted Rizak but by the tracking spell on the dragon egg. His red eyes gazed at the area where Alya was hiding, and with a wave of his hands, the forest erupted in flames, forming a circle half a mile in diameter, with Alya's hiding spot at the center.

"Bring her to me," Dessa transformed into a mist, moving to the center of the fire circle, his magic completely negating Alya's concealment.

"Alya," Alya emerged, retreating, her right hand on the leather pouch.

"Perhaps I will let you live," Dessa tried to confuse Alya with mental magic.

"Who would believe a sorcerer's lies?" Alya, in danger, maintained her dignified and disdainful pride.

Without a word, Dessa's ring finger suddenly shot out a red beam, silently hitting Alya in the firelight.

"Despicable sorcerer," Alya's hand on the leather pouch glowed blue, and she secretly cast a spell, "Teleport." The blue light flashed, and the leather pouch deflated.

"Where did you send it?" Dessa's face began to wrinkle and crack, a sign of his enraged spirit breaking through his flesh. With a wave of his hands, free from the constraint of the dragon egg, Dessa displayed his power as the strongest sorcerer in Alagasia, knocking Alya to the ground with a single breath. He cast extremely evil spells on her, causing her to scream in pain.

"Poor Dessa, how dare you tell the king you failed?" Alya, in her suffering, showed a mocking pride, taunting the king's lackey.

Three hundred and fifty-two kilometers away, in another dense forest, Chu Ci lowered his head, stroking his chin, bored as he waited for the protection period to end.

"Zhenhong, how much longer do we have to wait?" Bored to the extreme, Chu Ci released the upgraded Zhenhong to chat with him. In this desolate wilderness, it was impossible to determine which movie world they were in, let alone find directions.

"Master, would you like Zhenhong to keep you company with some intimate activities?" Zhenhong, in this place where even ghosts wouldn't come, was clearly more timid than Chu Ci, perhaps due to her emotional side. She chattered in Chu Ci's arms.

"No, you can go down," Chu Ci, with a black line on his forehead, ignored Zhenhong's coquettishness and transformed her into a doll, storing her away. He then released the more emotionally detached Shenhong and several dozen alchemical puppets. Some were fierce, resembling gargoyles with cat heads, monkey bodies, and bat wings; others were majestic like magic eagles, with wings spanning nearly three meters; and some were agile like elves, with dragonfly-like wings carrying bodies less than ten centimeters long, fluttering in the air.

These were war constructs created by Chu Ci to supplement the shortcomings of his magical puppets, suitable for frontal combat, reconnaissance, assassination, logistics, long-range attacks, air support, naval operations, and special forces.

Learning from the previous experience, Chu Ci no longer intended to let any unknown enemies approach. His seemingly ordinary clothes were lined with reactive alchemical arrays that would activate in response to mental, physical, or energy attacks, whether harmless restrictions or malicious poison, to protect him.

A small deer hopped playfully outside the protective space, occasionally lifting its head to chew on dew-covered leaves, as if savoring a supreme delicacy.

Not far from the deer, an arrow slowly emerged from behind a tree.

ps: I recommend a book, "Fishing in the Stars, Using Myself as Bait." It's a thrilling story of an immortal man, a cannibal woman, and a hacker girl splitting the universe to its end.

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