Chapter 340: The Border of the White Bone Forest

The group left the Northwestern city gate of Silverport when the morning fog on the stone-paved road had not completely dissipated.

To shorten travel time, Sea King Godfrey had selected from the private beast stable of the Council of Twelve Merchant Bosses twenty of the best Green Wind Steeds along with a large carriage pulled by four high-level Earth-Walking Dragons. These were all types of magic beasts specialized in traversing rugged mountainous terrain, with double the endurance of ordinary warhorses, able to cover more than two hundred miles in a day and a night.

Inside the spacious carriage lined with soft sheepskin rugs, Kaelen sat leaning his back against the carriage wall, one hand lightly lifting the window curtain looking at the scenery flashing by outside. Finnick lay curled up on his lap, eyes half-closed to calm his mind and consolidate the origin Divine Energy portion having just unsealed last night. Following every breath of his, the golden ancient leaf-shaped mark between his forehead lightly flashed a soft light ray, absorbing every fragile herbal spiritual energy thread in the air.

Sitting in the opposite seats were Grand Elder Sylphie and the secretary girl Ivy. Since being healed of her blind eyes by Finnick using divine dew on Auction Island, along the way the old woman Sylphie kept looking endlessly at Ivy, her warm wrinkled hand holding tightly onto the girl’s hand.

"Two Supremes, my Lord." The old woman Sylphie said emotionally, her voice still choking: "When on the ship leaving Silverport, I carefully checked the bloodline mark behind little Ivy’s ear. This child is not a common branch clan member, but exactly the youngest daughter of the royal general who once led the vanguard army protecting Madam Cynthia fleeing to the South ten years ago! Unexpectedly after her parents sacrificed themselves in that fire, she luckily was rescued and raised up by the Nature Deity like this."

Ivy hearing the old woman recount about her biological parents then her eye rims reddened, but very quickly regained her usual resilient appearance, looking up at Kaelen:

"My life was rescued by Father from the ashes, my literacy and rules were also taught by Father. Later even if I find the Elf tribe back, I am still the private secretary of the Lyra City Hall and of Father!"

Kaelen smiled, reaching out stroking lightly the girl’s soft hair:

"Of course. If Lyra City Hall loses secretary Ivy then Mayor Elric’s dispatch ledgers will mess up into a tangled mess immediately. Waiting to finish resolving the matter in the White Bone Forest, you can completely open a trade route connecting straight from the new residence of the Elf clan back to Lyra city, wanting to return visiting the tribe anytime is also fine."

Sane sat beside Kaelen, one hand resting lightly on the window frame, his deep purple eyes suddenly narrowing when looking out at the land ahead:

"Baby, look at the land outside. We have only traveled more than five hundred miles away from Silverport yet the ground has already begun dying gradually there."

Kaelen and Grand Elder Sylphie simultaneously looked out the window. Indeed, if on the first two days when newly leaving the coastal region of Silverport, both sides of the road still had lush green wheat fields and dense broadleaf forests, then arriving at the afternoon of this third day, the ground color had visibly changed.

The fertile dark brown loam had completely disappeared, replaced by a dry, cracked grayish-white sandy soil layer like snake scales. The trees growing along the road were all stunted, trunks twisted into bizarre shapes, sparse leaves carrying a sickly sickly yellow color. Even the small stream flowing along the hill foot was muddy with a grayish color, radiating a pungent smell of dead fish and rotting wood.

On Kaelen’s lap, Finnick opened his dark green eyes wide, his small nose lightly taking a breath then speaking in a deep voice:

"It is not a natural drought. Under the ground of this area down about thirty meters there are countless grayish-black fleshy root threads as thin as spider webs currently crawling spreading out in all directions. It is exactly the auxiliary roots of the Decay Mother Worm in the center of the White Bone Forest! It is currently sucking dry the underground water veins and sap of this plain to concentrate back nourishing the Void Heart."

"Its spreading speed is much faster than before!" Grand Elder Sylphie turned pale: "One month ago when I was besieged and captured by the hunting team of Silverport at the forest edge, this gray land had only spread out about three miles away from the forest edge. Yet only past one month, it has eaten spreading out to over thirty miles already!"

"That is because the full moon day is getting closer and closer." Sane coldly commented: "The clone of the God of Decay wanting to borrow the World Tree’s corpse to descend then needs a massive energy amount acting as a stepping stone. These final nine days are exactly the time it frantically squeezes dry all the life force within a hundred-mile radius around the White Bone Forest."

Kaelen looked at the withered tree stumps along the road, his fingers placed on Finnick’s back tapping lightly:

"It seems we cannot stop resting for the night along the way as initially calculated. We must increase speed to be in time."

He just finished his words when ahead of the convoy, an Elf warrior riding a Green Wind Steed scouting ahead had reined turning the horse running back, stopping right by the window reporting:

"Reporting to the Supremes, reporting to the Grand Elder! Two miles ahead is Blackrock town, the final gathering point of humans located close to the border of the White Bone Forest. The single road leading into the Eastern forest gate mandatorily must pass through this town!"

Hearing the name Blackrock town mentioned, all thirty escorting Elf warriors around the carriage simultaneously tightened the wooden bows in their hands, their eyes showing deep indignation and hatred.

Kaelen noticed their unusual attitude so turned to ask the old woman Sylphie:

"That Blackrock town has what problem?"

Grand Elder Sylphie gritted her teeth, her voice trembling because of resentment:

"Lord Nature Deity, Blackrock town is originally not an ordinary residential town, but the headquarters of over twenty mercenary and bounty hunter groups specializing in making a living by the profession of hunting our Elf clan throughout the past hundred years!

The Council of Twelve Merchant Bosses set exactly a fixed blood and hostage purchasing station right in the middle of the town. Any of our clan members venturing stepping out of the White Bone Forest seeking food or herbs are all besieged and captured by the hunter crowd here using magic beast hounds and poison-laced nets bringing back selling to Silverport!"

"Then it is even more convenient." Sane smirked sneering coldly: "The main den in Silverport was already turned upside down by us, conveniently stepping crushing completely this pocket money purchasing station to clean it up."

Ten minutes later, Kaelen’s convoy advanced through the dingy gray stone gate of Blackrock town. Because Silverport was located over five hundred miles of treacherous mountain roads away from this place, and last night Auction Island was tightly blockaded of all news by Kaelen and Godfrey, the mercenary crowd in this border town was still completely in the dark, not knowing at all that their big bosses in Silverport had turned into a crippled old men bunch lying inside iron cages!

Along the muddy main street, both sides of the road were entirely shabby taverns, weapon forging shops reeking of rusty iron smell, and shops selling animal traps, explosives, human-hunting nets. Right on the large stone wall before the central tavern were still pasted full of goatskin papers drawing the pointy ears of the Elf clan accompanied by glaring red bounty prices:

[One living adult Elf: One hundred gold coins.]

[One Elf child under ten years old: Two hundred gold coins.]

[One Elf carrying silver-haired or golden-blonde royal bloodline: One thousand gold coins!]

Right when the carriage of Kaelen and the thirty Elf warriors currently wearing gray cloth cloaks just arrived at the head of the central square, a loud whistling and cheering bout suddenly rang out from the North gate — the direction going out from the White Bone Forest.

"Ha ha ha! Quickly come out and see look! The Red Wolf Hunting Group of big brother Brody just returned from hunting at the edge of the White Bone Forest!"

"Wow, this time they captured alive up to five big fish huh?! Looking at that attire it seems they are all the young escorts in the final hiding den of the pointy-ear bunch look!"

The mercenary crowd currently sitting drinking wine on both road sides simultaneously swarmed out to the street watching the story. From the North gate, a squad of about fifty mercenaries wearing wolf leather armor full of dry blood stains rode horses entering, leading the head was a scarred-face big guy carrying a huge war hammer on his shoulder.

Behind his horse was an iron cage cart currently being dragged on the stone street surface. Inside the cramped cage were locked five Elf youths around sixteen, seventeen years old. All five were severely injured, their calves clamped by iron traps bleeding profusely, on their necks wearing magic-sealing iron rings, but the silver-haired youth leading the head still tried using his body to shield the four younger teammates behind!

Inside the carriage, Grand Elder Sylphie just seeing the blood-soaked face of the silver-haired youth through the window crack was strongly shocked, her two hands gripping tightly the door frame:

"Kaelor! It is the Kaelor kid, my biological grandson! Why did he and the patrol team leave Moon Lake to be caught by this beast bunch like that?!"

The girl Ivy looking at five same-race people around her age being locked in an iron cage dragged like animals then her eyes also turned glaringly red.

Out in the square, the scarred-face group leader Brody was smugly patting his chest laughing loudly "ha ha ha" before his colleagues’ faces:

"Today the luck of the Red Wolf brothers is extremely good! These five pointy-ear kids groped out all the way to the Eastern ravine digging blood-stopping grass, got cleanly caught the whole den by our magic traps! Especially that silver-haired kid, is exactly the royal lineage worth one thousand gold coins you know! Waiting until tomorrow escorting them down to Silverport submitting to Lord Marcos, our brothers can freely exchange for gold and Immortality Potions!"

Brody was bragging enthusiastically when his gaze accidentally swept across the strange carriage convoy having just stopped at the other end of the square. Right at that moment, a strong mountain wind blew past, tossing flipping the hoods of the two Elf warriors riding Green Wind Steeds in the front row, exposing pale yellow long hair along with the characteristic pointy ears!

The whole currently noisy square suddenly fell dead silent for three seconds. Brody’s beady eyes widened perfectly round, staring intently at the two Elf people riding good horses whose necks completely did not have slave chain rings, then again looked over at the twenty-eight people wearing gray cloaks behind and the luxurious carriage in the middle!

"Motherfucker... Did this master see mistakenly or what?!" Brody rubbed his eyes, after that burst out laughing crazily, swinging his war hammer pointing straight at Kaelen’s convoy: "It is an Elf flock automatically delivering fat right to the cat’s mouth! Even having up to thirty healthy intact goods walking swaggeringly without anyone chaining their necks! Brothers listen clearly here, today the God of Wealth knocked on the door of Blackrock town already! Everyone charge up tightly surrounding them for me, kill clean those human drivers, as for the pointy-ear crowd however many captured alive then divide the bounty money evenly that much!"