Chapter 677: Unexpected Incident, Petrification

Early the next morning, Town Mayor Sain and Commercial Director Dailike arrived at the Tower of Time together to discuss how to manage the issue of the Elf refugees; only Niya, Xia Duo, Aiboke, and Depake from the Tower of Time participated.

During the discussion, Xia Duo suddenly received a notification sent by Laidun from the Territory via a 【Communication Scroll-Level 3 Incident】. Laidun could not convey specific information through the communication scroll; he could only convey information about the severity of an incident through different scrolls pre-set by Xia Duo.

A Level 3 incident is the minimum condition for using a communication scroll; although it is not the most urgent, it still possesses considerable importance.

At this moment, Xia Duo could no longer sit still and said to everyone, "Something has happened over at Linshui Village, I must go back for a trip."

The others naturally had no objections; since Xia Duo had said so, who would force him to stay? Niya, however, asked with concern, "What happened? Do you need us to go with you?"

"No need, I can handle it! You all continue your discussion. I suggest you can invite Auripus Silverleaf over to ask; perhaps he can offer some more suitable suggestions. After all, the ones who understand Elves best are the Elves themselves!"

Niya was lost in thought and wanted to ask more, but Xia Duo could not wait and left first.

……

Emerging from the Tower of Time is the Mythallar Ruins. Nowadays, the Magic Net environment here, after nearly a year of continuous repairs by those Arcanist "volunteers," is no longer in its initial state of riot.

Although it cannot be called peaceful, for Xia Duo, the impact is already minimal. He can easily smooth out the surrounding Magic Net fluctuations and dissipate those random spells triggered by his arrival.

Flying in the air, he glanced at the seven or eight clearly defined temporary dwellings below, silently calculating in his heart how much longer it would take for the Magic Net environment here to be completely repaired.

However, he soon set aside his thoughts, because Linshui Village had arrived—or more accurately, the Linshui Village Altar Square had arrived.

Nowadays, Daxia Territory has sufficient personnel, and the development front has long since crossed the Mythallar Ruins. In other words, the ruins are within the scope of Daxia Territory, within the scope of Linshui Village.

The Tower of Time also stands within the territory of Linshui Village.

Seemingly knowing that the Lord was about to return, Laidun stood at the Lord of Radiance Altar in the center of the Altar Square. After Xia Duo descended from the sky, Laidun immediately stepped forward to salute: "My Lord!"

"No need for formalities, tell me first what the matter is!"

Xia Duo knew that Laidun was not a person who did not know the gravity of a situation; he must have made a judgment before choosing to contact him. Therefore, as soon as he returned, Xia Duo asked about that matter, wanting to handle it as much as possible.

"My Lord, it is like this: this morning, Kelake came to report that the Development Department discovered a cave in the forest, and sounds of painful wailing were coming from inside. Because that cave is not far from the development front, I had Ximeng take his men to investigate the cause, and as a result—"

Speaking of this, Laidun revealed a complicated expression, as if he did not know how to describe it, "As a result, we found Boke there!"

"Boke?!"

Xia Duo immediately interrupted Laidun's narration. He remembered that Boke should have been exploring ruins with Jiabasi! Could the cave Laidun spoke of be the entrance to that Troll nest that might hide the ruins?

Recalling the scene he had just seen from the sky, the development front seemed to have already pushed to that point!

"Are you sure it is Boke? What happened to him?"

"My Lord, I am sure it is Boke, but his, his legs have somehow turned into stone. This made him unable to crawl out of that cave, and he has been screaming in agony; I couldn't get any answers out of him. I am worried that there might be some changes there, which is why I notified you, My Lord."

Petrification?

Xia Duo's first reaction was that the ruins really did exist. Afterward, he realized that Jiabasi, who was with Boke, was likely in trouble, so he asked again:

"Then what about Boke? Where is he now? And what about Jiabasi? Is there no news of him?"

"My Lord, Boke has been screaming and wailing, so I calmed him down and put him to sleep in the Military Camp. As for Jiabasi, Ximeng did not find him; he might still be under that cave, but because it might involve Magic, I did not let Ximeng continue the search downward."

"Let's go see Boke first!"

Saying this, Xia Duo walked toward the direction of the Military Camp, and Laidun responded and immediately followed.

……

The Linshui Village Military Camp initially only had a few simple tents, but later, as the number of people in the Territory and the number of soldiers continued to increase, some basic facilities such as long-term barracks and training grounds were built here.

However, when Xia Duo arrived this time, he discovered that another tent had been set up in a corner of the Military Camp. Laidun told him that it was temporarily built for Boke; the soldiers were somewhat resistant to letting Boke live in the barracks.

Regarding this, Xia Duo did not say much. He could understand the thoughts of these soldiers. Even though Magic is not rare in this world, for ordinary people without the ability to use Magic, it is better to avoid unknown, dangerous Magic.

Entering the tent, a scent of soothing incense permeated the air. If Xia Duo remembered correctly, this incense was something he had given to Laidun; it could soothe the spirit and was very suitable for Spellcasters to use. He did not expect Laidun to be willing to use it here.

Inside the tent, there was only a simple wooden bed—or rather, it was more of a wooden board. Boke was lying on it, sleeping quietly. However, what Laidun said earlier about him wailing in pain when he woke up was likely true as well.

Even while sleeping, Boke's face twitched from time to time, as if he were enduring some unknown pain.

And on Boke's lower body, from the roots of his thighs downward, whether it was his clothing or the skin exposed at his ankles, everything had turned into a gray, stone-like appearance.

Seeing this, Xia Duo took an Adamantine Knife from his Personal Space, squatted down, and used the back of the blade to gently tap on the parts of Boke's body suspected of being petrified.

When the knife made contact with Boke, a crisp sound was clearly produced. If it were still flesh and blood, it should not be like this. It seems it really is Petrification.

Even if it is not Petrification, it is at least hardened.

What surprised Xia Duo the most was the petrification boundary line on Boke's pants; they were clearly two different substances, yet they were still connected together. It stands to reason that the flesh and blood inside were also connected to the petrified parts in this way.

Perhaps the source of Boke's pain was this.

After pondering for a moment, Xia Duo ultimately did not attempt anything on Boke. If possible, he still hoped to save Boke as much as possible; after all, he only had two subordinates with ruin-exploration experience.

One was Boke, and the other was Jiabasi, whose life or death was currently unknown.

"Laidun, wake Boke up. I want to ask him some questions."

Xia Duo thought that since he could wail and scream, he should be able to answer questions. It was just that the pain would make Boke unable to concentrate, but with the existence of mind-affecting spells, he did not need to be very focused; as long as he could answer questions subconsciously, that would be enough.

It is not easy to soothe a pained Boke to sleep, but waking him up is very simple. Laidun just withdrew the Divine Magic effect he had originally applied to Boke, and Boke immediately woke up and let out a painful wail.

Just as Xia Duo was about to cast a spell, Boke's performance surprised him greatly, and his spellcasting motion paused.

"Lord, please—save—save my old man Jiabasi, he—he is still—in the ruins!"

Boke gritted his teeth and said almost word for word. Xia Duo even faintly saw a trace of blood in his mouth, which truly changed Xia Duo's view of Boke.