eurekapd Chapter 559: Pinch the Feather
Chapter 559: Pinch the Feather
The Griffin Camp in the Elf Forest suddenly became noisy because of the returning travelers.
"Bah!"
As soon as the tall and mighty griffins took off their saddles, they couldn't wait to flutter their wings, and the platform where they landed fell under a rain of golden feathers. Children were used to trying to please these proud flying beasts, picking out their beautiful feathers while pinching their quills. The griffins would then squint their eyes comfortably and their calls would become more delicate.
Some griffins were very happy to be served by the children but were still not satisfied. They nudged the elves' lower backs with their huge heads and even chased after Seran and his group who were about to leave to ask for delicious food.
"Lord Seran, you also came from the west, right?" The young elves followed chattering all the way, chasing the adults just like the griffins.
"You naughty kids, don't think I don't know what you're thinking."
Behind Seran, a good-tempered priest, caught between the griffin and the children, was at a loss for words. He reached out to pinch one of the children's nose, but the child, with a giggle, ducked his head and nimbly slipped into the crowd.
Riding on a griffin meant that the elves had just crossed the snow-capped mountains of the Western Highlands. Behind the snow-capped mountains was the Witches' Coven and the even more vast human empire.
In recent years, through the traveling merchants from the dwarves, the Elf Forest has seen more novel things from the human world. The children are obviously more enthusiastic about these things, so whenever they see the griffins returning, they run to watch the fun.
Looking at the innocent little faces, Seran, despite being burdened with worries, could not help but relax a little. But she still frowned and said loudly:
"Go play downstairs. It's too high here. Falling down is no joke. Have you finished your homework?" She opened her arms and drove away these children who were always unaware of the danger like sheep.
"We are not here to play, we are here to listen to Larry's speech." One of the children could not help but argue as he walked downstairs.
"...What?" Seran blinked, unable to keep up with the children's lively conversation. "Lairel's speech?"
"He has been captured by Lady Aphra now, but!"
Another kid cleared his throat solemnly: "We must spread the spirit of Lariel! Our slogan is -"
"All races should unite and destroy the Void Beast!" The little kids immediately puffed out their chests and shouted in unison.
Seran and his group were shocked: ...
The winter in the Elf Forest has long ended. The birds slid down from the sky and disappeared in the dense woods. Even the best hunters found it difficult to find them. This forest is the best natural shelter.
Deep in the chirping woods, a bachelor's tower stood quietly, its brick walls covered with green ivy, almost blending in with the surrounding grass.
When Seran pushed the door open, he found that almost all his colleagues were there, chatting in groups of three or four around the central platform.
Aphra and several other scholars hurriedly moved about, busy as always. To her surprise, there were other guests. The dwarf king, Mordo, was the first to notice her and immediately greeted her warmly in his trademark booming voice.
"Oh Seran, my old friend, they said you were not here. I thought I would not see you until the Harvest Festival." The current dwarf king Mordo said in a loud and deep voice, warmly greeting one of the elf leaders who was late.
"I won't miss the opportunity to drink with an old friend, as long as you stop complaining that our fruit wine is too sweet." Seran greeted him with a smile.
"Hey, that won't happen. I brought enough strength myself—"
Before he could finish his words, the minister accompanying him poked him hard in the back. Modo choked and quickly swallowed the rest of his words, stroking his beard awkwardly.
Seran's mind wasn't on this, and she had no intention of teasing their little secret. She walked straight to Mistto, who was leaning on the chair, and asked in a low voice, "Is Lord Zephirion back?"
The handsome royal elf was fiddling with his silver hair out of boredom. Upon hearing this, he raised his beautiful eyebrows and said with admiration: "I'm not surprised if you lose something outside, but my dear Seran, tell me how you lost a dragon? Such a big one--"
As he spoke, he gestured with his hands.
Seran's eyebrows twitched, and he immediately stood up expressionlessly - he shouldn't have asked this sarcastic guy!
"Why are you all gathered here?" Seran had just returned from outside and knew nothing about what happened in the Elf Forest, but he was hurriedly called here.
"Afra and the others came back earlier than you. She was the one who called everyone here." Mistto yawned and didn't care about Zephirion's disappearance. A giant dragon flying in the sky couldn't be killed by anyone, so he could go wherever he wanted.
"What about Modo?" Seran sat in the chair next to Mistto and asked the Dwarf King again.
"He——"
"Oh!"
There was a loud thud of a huge object falling to the ground. Seran looked up and saw a huge black and purple object thrown onto the platform where the elves were sitting.
"Oh! Mother Goddess bless you!" Mistto pinched his nose and sighed in a muffled voice to the other heroic female elf in the middle, "Are we going to use this to entertain our dwarf friends who have come from afar tonight?"
The ranger leader, Aphra, glanced coldly at Mistto, obviously not interested in continuing his conversation, and just patted the big guy that was already a little rotten.
"Has this Maester's Tower been closed for so long that you can't even recognize it?" As she spoke, she grabbed the icicles nailed to it with her bare hands and helped the black and purple beast turn over, revealing its hideous head.
"This is..." Seran stood up, and the dwarves who were sitting behind her could only shout "Eh eh?"
"Void Beasts." Aphra didn't like to keep things in suspense. She looked at Seran, who had returned the latest. "That's right, Seran. Those witches didn't lie. They really appeared."
Seran nodded, but after experiencing that night in Tanding County, she felt that no matter how bizarre the things that happened, it would not be surprising.
"Look, you didn't even scare her, what a pity." Mistto smacked his lips. It had been a while since Aphra came back, so he naturally knew the news, but he just announced it to more people now.
not to mention--
"It has no wings and no layers of scales. It looks like the low-level void beast recorded in the classics, which is the most numerous but relatively weak individual." Seran walked forward to identify it.
Back then, the will of the void tore open the world's rifts, attempting to drain the world's essence. Those various void beasts were minions created by the will of the void, devouring all living things for it.
Aphra nodded. "We've searched several locations and haven't found any other Void Beasts besides these. The human outposts don't have any air defenses, so for now, we can assume they're the only ones."
"If it's just a low-level void beast like this," Mia, another elf leader, said, sizing up the corpse in the middle. "Do we really need to get involved? They reproduce quickly, but are humans slower? I heard many humans give birth to two children in three years..."
Mother Goddess, how can those who don’t care about the damage that childbirth brings to the mother’s body be called intelligent creatures?
"You can't compare them like that. These guys can easily slit a child's throat after a few full meals, but it takes at least a dozen years for a human to grow into a warrior. This is all recorded in the Maester Tower." Someone disagreed with Mia.
"Stop arguing." Aphra waved her hand, drawing everyone's attention back to herself. "Forget humans, even orcs probably can't keep up with the reproduction rate of these void beasts."
"How is this possible?!" someone exclaimed. This was different from what they learned from books.
“They’re not the same as they were a thousand years ago.”
Aphra recalled the team's several encounters with the Void Beasts in Ozler. Although no one here had truly experienced the Holy War thousands of years ago, based on the vast records of the Void Beasts in the Maester Tower and the feelings of the expedition team, the conclusion was clear:
"Faster, stronger, more resilient, and not afraid of water. They seem to be... evolving."
Aphra stepped back, and the scholars and priests who had been waiting nearby immediately stepped forward. Only then did everyone clearly see the complex rune array already drawn on the ground. A low chanting echoed within the tower, and the runes on the ground gradually illuminated, their light completely enveloping the Void Beast's corpse.
"We've been studying them these days. Yesterday, Russell had a sudden idea to try refining their bodies to see what we could get. So we refined and purified them over and over again, repeating this process... and finally we got this."
As she spoke, the huge corpse in the light disappeared bit by bit like a burning paper. Magic tempering takes a long time, but everyone in the tower is obviously very patient.
Finally, the light gradually converged, leaving only a tiny glimmer of light quietly floating in the center of the platform... It was a fluid crystal only the size of a fingernail.
"Mother Goddess..." A druid sighed softly, obviously having sensed what it was.
"——We have actually refined the purest source of life force."
Aphra reached out, held it in her palm and showed it to everyone. Everyone saw the timeless, calm, and pure blue light flowing out from the tiny crystal.
Like a deep ocean.