Chapter 504: Surprising Discovery

Rain drizzled continuously, dark clouds mottled across the sky.

Tyrrel Town.

Zuo Wen Burns rode atop Flame-Mane, his hair soaked through with rain and sweat, clinging to his face, making him look somewhat disheveled.

Yet he, usually so concerned with his appearance, paid no mind to it now.

Behind him, Wu Er arrived belatedly.

“Young Master Zuo Wen, what’s wrong?”

He wondered why Zuo Wen Burns had suddenly stopped—after all, they’d already reached town.

Zuo Wen Burns sat astride Flame-Mane, gazing toward the docks, then said, “Head to the town hall first.”

He had been considering the order of operations.

“Understood.”

The two rode swiftly along the relatively wide road, until the town hall came into view.

Zuo Wen Burns dismounted without bothering to tie the reins—Flame-Mane’s exceptional intelligence and spirit would wait patiently nearby.

He marched straight toward the town hall’s entrance.

A staff member stepped forward to question his identity, but Zuo Wen Burns merely stared straight ahead and said, “Sea Sentinel Mage here for disaster relief,” then ignored the man’s attempts to report him and walked straight inside.

Wu Er followed closely behind.

As soon as they entered, Zuo Wen Burns noticed the entire town hall in frantic motion, with many figures dressed as merchants coming and going.

Seeing this, his brow instinctively furrowed; for some reason, a sense of foreboding stirred in his chest.

Carrying this unease, Zuo Wen Burns approached the mayor’s office.

The door was not closed; the mayor was hunched over his desk, writing intently.

He walked right in.

The mayor of Tyrrel, hearing footsteps, did not look up: “I’ve told you all already—before the disaster, you must comply unconditionally with the official vessel requisition order. But if your ships are damaged during rescue operations, we will compensate you afterward.”

The mayor’s tone was clearly impatient.

Then he noticed the footsteps had suddenly halted—neither retreating nor advancing.

The mayor looked up in surprise and immediately saw Zuo Wen Burns’ Sea Sentinel Mage uniform.

His expression changed; he rose quickly: “Forgive me, I didn’t realize it was a Sea Sentinel Mage Lord visiting.”

Zuo Wen Burns waved dismissively: “Emergency situation—no need for formalities. What do you mean by ‘vessel requisition order’? Have you already requisitioned boats from merchants for rescue?”

“Yes,” the mayor nodded. “Tens of thousands of refugees from Yaxi Town upstream are stranded on high ground, lacking food and clothing—they need urgent evacuation.”

“It was your fellow Sea Sentinel Mage who first scouted this situation and specifically urged me to quickly assemble a fleet for rescue.” He added, subtly flattering.

Zuo Wen Burns raised an eyebrow—someone had beaten him to it?

How was that possible?

“Another Sea Sentinel Mage?” he pressed.

“Yes,” the mayor nodded. “Your Sea Sentinel Mages are remarkably efficient. Catfish Landing was only three days ago, yet your mage arrived here yesterday—he had two nearby residents return to inform me to assemble a fleet and stand by.”

“He himself continued upstream to survey the disaster zones, located the Yaxi refugees, dispatched personnel to our town, and led the fleet upstream to evacuate them.”

Upon hearing this, Zuo Wen Burns’ face tightened; even Wu Er behind him grew tense, cautiously glancing at Zuo Wen’s expression.

“Here is the requisition order and vessel inventory,” the mayor said, handing Zuo Wen Burns the ledger he’d just finished writing.

He took it and flipped through it rapidly.

Instantly, his heart sank.

Every available boat in town capable of transporting people had been requisitioned and sent upstream for rescue.

Who was this Sea Sentinel Mage who had gotten here so much faster?

He arrived yesterday—that’s half a day ahead of me.

Even the first wave of dispatched mages had only left an hour before me—could it be that third-ring mage?

A third-ring mage, skipping the big operation in Oakland City, taking this minor task?

“Your Sea Sentinel Mages truly are astonishingly efficient,” the mayor added, seemingly by chance—whether intentional or not—“The mage you mentioned, according to those two residents, was merely a novice.”

He sighed again: “He managed to fully assess the disaster situation in Yaxi Town in a single night.”

Zuo Wen Burns’ face remained expressionless, but inside, he was stunned.

He had departed the moment he received the order, riding Flame-Mane—how could a novice possibly be so far ahead of him?

Unless—he took the water route.

The water route was significantly shorter than the land route.

But the waterways he’d passed through were treacherous—how could a novice have traveled so fast and safely to Tyrrel Town? Was he suicidal?

And who exactly was this novice?

As his mind raced with thoughts, Zuo Wen Burns pulled out a map.

One step behind, and you fall further behind.

Missing Tyrrel Town was frustrating, but now was not the time to brood.

The golden three days.

The first three days after the cyclone made landfall were the critical window for rescue—in other words, for a Sea Sentinel Mage like him, the best chance to earn merit.

Now, he had to choose his next target and seize this final day.

Yet Zuo Wen Burns, knowing someone had beaten him by half a day, was torn.

The other’s route had been Tyrrel Town–Yaxi Town. After finishing there, would his next target overlap with mine?

After all, the small towns surrounding Tyrrel and Yaxi were few; everyone was smart—they’d all likely choose the same targets.

If I follow the usual plan, I’ll just repeat this failure—chasing behind someone else, getting nothing.

Not even a third-class merit, let alone a major one.

Zuo Wen Burns gripped the map tightly, crumpling its edges.

No, he could not harbor any Jiaoxing mentality.

If this happened again, this entire rescue mission would be a total loss.

“Disaster is urgent—I won’t stay longer,” he maintained his composure, bid farewell to the mayor, and strode out of the town hall.

Wu Er hurried after him.

Outside the town hall, Zuo Wen Burns mounted his horse.

“Young Master Zuo Wen, where to now?” Wu Er mounted as well.

“Oakland City,” Zuo Wen said.

“Huh?” Wu Er was confused—Zuo Wen Burns had just insisted that with his ability, Oakland City was only for menial tasks, and the focus should be on these small towns.

“No one knows where this extraordinary novice will go after resolving Yaxi Town. If I continue with my original plan and end up at the same destination, this whole trip will be wasted.”

“Even if I’m doing menial work in Oakland City, it’s better than returning empty-handed!” Zuo Wen Burns gritted his teeth.

Hearing this, Wu Er nodded sincerely—it made perfect sense.

“Hurry—we’ve already wasted too much time,” Zuo Wen Burns snapped, kicked his horse’s flanks, and rode off without waiting for Wu Er.

Watching Zuo Wen’s rapidly retreating figure, Wu Er clenched his teeth and chased after the spray left behind.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Salty, fierce sea winds lashed the sails, carrying rain.

The rhythmic swelling of the sails had been going on for nearly five hours.

Coarse ropes creaked against the masts; each sway of the rain-soaked hull brought groans from the deck planks.

In stark contrast to these loud noises, every ship carried an eerie silence.

The sudden muster, the terrible weather, the uncertain, perilous battle ahead, and the unfamiliar maritime battlefield had left all the mages weighed down, suffocated, with no appetite for idle chatter.

And this oppression was contagious.

The warships cut through waves, slicing the sea open, sending white spray crashing at the bow.

Before the spray could fully fall, the gales tore it into fine mist, dissolving into the endless rain.

Gao De stood on the second deck, staring ahead, scanning left and right.

One hundred and eighty kilometers.

At this speed, they should have arrived already.

But the closer they got, the stronger and more violent the wind became—blowing from the wind network toward Oakland City.

Meaning, the warships had been sailing against the wind the entire way—even with auxiliary power sources, their speed was drastically reduced.

Gao De was calculating the coming battle.

The secondary elemental plane of wind was not a material plane—it was a pure energy plane.

It contained nothing but rampant, dense wind elemental forces.

Thus, all life within it consisted of purely elemental wind beings.

The most common were Air Spirits, Wind Giants, and Shadow Stalkers.

For him, one good thing: ice-element spells were among the most effective against wind-element beings.

Gao De excelled precisely in ice-element spells—and he wielded a Supreme Ice Magic Weapon.

Perfectly suited.

At that moment, Gao De’s expression changed abruptly.

“Something’s there!” His gaze locked onto the side.

There was nothing—absolutely nothing visible.

But in Gao De’s vision, it was not so.

Beneath the Mandora Demon Eye, he clearly saw faint energy flows within the empty space.

“There may be an ambush.” Having made this discovery, Gao De immediately sought out the temporary commander of his vessel.

He was a mage with a rugged appearance; upon hearing Gao De’s report, his immediate reaction was disbelief.

How could Gao De have detected an ambush that the high-ring mage on the Thorn Crown had missed?

Even if he were a Sea Sentinel mage, it made no sense.

“They’re coming from the sides, just now approaching—that’s why the Thorn Crown didn’t notice them.” Gao De knew the other might not believe him; before the man could question him, he explained first.

To become a high-ring mage and hold such a high position, the likelihood of being a fool was extremely low.

So, though still somewhat doubtful, the commander treated it as fact.

If it were a false alarm, it would only cause trouble; but if real, and he ignored it, the cost would be great.

He understood the weight of each possibility.

“All hands on alert! Possible ambush! Cast spells at both flanks!” the commander mage ordered immediately, his voice radiating undeniable authority.

He himself, at the same moment, cast a spell toward the direction Gao De had indicated.

His index finger curled slightly, and a blue light shot forth.

Zzzzz!

The blue light became a long chain of arcs, branching into countless lightning tendrils that slammed down onto that space.

The space, clearly empty, emitted a thud the instant the lightning struck—as if hitting a solid object.

Then, a cloud of white mist suddenly appeared and exploded.

Before the mist emerged, Gao De had heard an extremely shrill screech.

“Ambush Phantom!” the commander mage reacted instantly upon seeing it.

It was a wind-elemental creature exceptionally skilled at concealment, able to merge with gas; even those of higher rank might not detect its presence.

At that moment, other mages on the ship also launched attacks at the locations Gao De had indicated.

More explosions followed.

Nearly a dozen clouds of mist burst open in midair, like a dozen fireworks blooming.

Then, those mists drifted aimlessly, thin and fine like tiny fish, the sky their ocean, spreading everywhere.

They were the primal essence of the wind-elemental creatures—the wind-elemental energy.

The number of Ambush Phantoms was small, only these dozen or so, all first-ring creatures, utterly harmless.

Yet the commander mage’s expression was grim.

The reason was simple.

These wind-elemental creatures must have come from that wind-elemental secondary realm.

Their presence here meant the Wind Network had stabilized enough to allow first-ring wind-elementals to pass through.

When the Wind Network could let through the highest-tier wind-elementals from that realm, it would be fully formed.

“So time is indeed tight,” the commander mage thought silently, then pulled out an alchemical device and swiftly reported the discovery to the high-ring mage aboard the Thorn Crown.

On the other side, Gao De’s expression was also unusual.

But he was not concerned about the appearance of the wind-elemental creatures.

Gao De’s focus was on the white mists rapidly dispersing.

They were all wind-elemental energy.

Pure wind-elemental creatures, upon death, do not leave behind corpses like earth-pulse creatures.

Wind-elemental creatures are merely aggregates of energy; earth-pulse creatures are tangible matter.

These wind-elemental energies vanish completely within moments, dissolving into the vast mage realm.

That is, this battle yields nothing but sacrifice—no loot at all.

Gao De had long been prepared for this.

Only now, watching these drifting wind-elemental energies, did he suddenly recall something—a detail he had temporarily overlooked.

(End of Chapter)