Chapter 85: Elf Tracks

Snap—

A piece of firewood in the campfire suddenly popped, sending out a spray of sparks. Xia Duo raised his head, rubbed his stiff neck, and then rubbed his icy hands, preparing to continue studying his Spell Notes.

Just as he lowered his head, the corner of Xia Duo's eye suddenly caught a nimble figure flashing by in the distance. Xia Duo immediately became alert, lowered his voice, and shouted, "We have a situation!"

The bored Dien immediately asked, "What is it?"

Jibu also ran over, taking Xia Duo's warning very seriously, but they had already arranged for people to keep watch in the surroundings, and apart from Xia Duo, not a single person had seen that figure.

Xia Duo called for Aiwa, who also looked quite innocent. Even a High-level Rogue only had one pair of eyes and could not observe all directions at once. "Mage Xia Duo, could you have seen wrong? I didn't hear any unusual sounds just now."

"Impossible. I can still tell whether something is an illusion or not. Captain Jibu, notify everyone to be on full alert and prepare for battle."

After arranging things at the Temporary Camp, Xia Duo pointed in the direction where he had discovered the mysterious figure and said to Aiwa, "Aiwa, go over there and investigate to see if there are any strange traces."

Given Xia Duo's prestige, although the others were somewhat hesitant, they still followed his orders. While Aiwa went to investigate, Xia Duo also organized his personal belongings, especially his Hand Crossbow, Dagger, and Scroll Case.

There were ten poisoned arrows in total; five had been used in the previous battle, and now five remained, which just filled the crossbow magazine. The Dagger was also poisoned, though he estimated there wouldn't be many opportunities to use it.

As for the Magic Scrolls issued from above, only one 【Magic Weapon】 scroll remained, along with a few 【Light】 scrolls Xia Duo had made himself; the others had been used up in the previous few lopsided battles.

As for spells, Xia Duo felt that handling a battle should not be a problem.

He watched from afar as Aiwa squatted on the ground to examine something, then carefully walked a few steps in one direction and squatted down to check again.

For some reason, Xia Duo suddenly felt that things seemed to have become complicated.

Soon, Aiwa returned. Xia Duo could not tell any results from his expression. Just as he was about to ask, Aiwa looked at him with a strange gaze, "Mage Xia Duo, there are indeed some traces there."

"What kind of traces? Orcs or humans?" Xia Duo asked impatiently. He had only seen a fleeting figure from a distance just now and could not judge the race or whether it was friend or foe.

"Neither Orcs nor humans."

"Then what is it? Could it be an Elf?" Dien laughed out loud, "How could an Elf appear here!"

But hearing this, Xia Duo began to consider it seriously. He had seen an Elf with his own eyes before, and that figure just now was extremely nimble; it was not impossible for it to be an Elf.

He turned his gaze to Aiwa, signaling for him to continue.

Aiwa did not state a conclusion directly but instead described the results of his inspection—

"There are only four or five extremely shallow marks there; you can't even make out the shape of a footprint. If Mage Xia Duo hadn't been so certain about seeing a humanoid figure, I would have even thought they were marks left by branches hitting dead leaves."

"If we look at it as a humanoid, what kind of creature do you think could have caused it?" Xia Duo asked.

Aiwa hesitated for a moment before answering, "Actually, whether it is a human, an Elf, or some other race, it is possible."

"Why?"

"Because if those four or five marks were left by a creature, an ordinary person or an ordinary Elf would be unable to do it; only a professional with extremely high agility could. Moreover, there were only those four or five unusual marks at the scene, which is something those high-agility professionals cannot do. I think there must be a Magic factor involved."

Aiwa did not say anything further. Xia Duo calculated in his heart: leaving such marks required high agility, and leaving only those few marks might require Magic.

This pointed almost directly to an Elf.

Human lifespans are limited. Whether it is a Rogue or a Mage, they basically focus on their own Domain. Trying to balance both is almost impossible.

How many Mages are willing to undergo Rogue training day after day for years? With that time, it would be better to study Magic!

Would such a person with such a low probability appear in the Green Pearl Forest? Xia Duo did not quite believe it. Instead, the possibility of an Elf was greater; they have long lifespans and enough time and energy to study cross-disciplinary things.

Moreover, in the Savile Territory, and even in all of Netheril, it is not difficult to see Elves. Many Elves like to adventure and travel in the human world.

In a small place like the Savile Territory, Xia Duo had seen an Elf with his own eyes once in less than a year since he transmigrated.

Xia Duo had neither special affection nor ill will toward Elves, but he knew that Elves would not easily make things difficult for humans. If it really came to that, there would be no way to avoid it.

Xia Duo had basically concluded that the mysterious figure was an Elf. Thinking this, he prepared to have everyone stand down from alert.

Just then, Aiwa suddenly said, "Someone is coming!"

This made Xia Duo's heart tighten again, and he hurriedly asked, "In which direction?"

Aiwa pointed to the west, "In that direction, about 30 or 40 meters away."

"Are you sure it's a human?"

Xia Duo was already feeling somewhat irritable from these sudden situations, "How many people?"

"I'm sure it's a human, only one person!"

Seemingly to substantiate his judgment, Aiwa also mentioned a few detailed characteristics of the person coming, "Medium-to-short stature, slow footsteps; they should be an ordinary person who has not received training."

Although according to Aiwa's judgment the person was just an ordinary person, Xia Duo did not relax at all. In such cold weather, what would someone be doing wandering alone in the forest?

And it was in the west. The one who lured monsters to Xia Duo and his group earlier was a Mage Apprentice, alone and being hunted; clearly, his teammates had long since perished.

Under these circumstances, someone coming from the west was very suspicious.

Xia Duo stated his judgment and had the others maintain their alert, waiting quietly for the human to arrive.

……

On the other side, Mage Kenni was dragging his exhausted body and walking slowly through the forest. He had finally shaken off his pursuers, but because of over-casting, he could not enter a state of Spellcasting.

Having run wildly for half a day, even with the support of Magic, his physical strength had long reached its limit. Being unable to enter a state of Spellcasting meant that spells could not be used and his Dimensional Bag could not be opened.

And this meant that in the cold, hunger, and with his physical strength at its limit, he could not get any support. Tired, hungry, and especially cold, Mage Kenni felt he was about to die.

He now deeply regretted agreeing to Lao Neil's deal. Perhaps threatening Lao Neil directly to hand over the location of the ruins would have been the best choice.

Ironically, the only person he could look to for survival now was the very target he had originally intended to kill.