Chapter 944: Master Departs, Wisdom Regained

Maihete Lake had vanished, and a massive crater had appeared in its place; the Murlocs that had likely been gathered there by the lake-full had naturally been reduced to dust and ashes.

Xia Duo searched for quite a while but found no trace of any Murlocs in the crater. Of course, in the southern waterway, which was already cut off from this massive crater, a large number of Murlocs still existed, and there was not the slightest sign of them decreasing.

Just based on the current numbers, even if they were dispersed throughout the entire Netheril waters, their density would still be quite considerable.

Seeing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but ask, "Master, although the Mythallar has been destroyed, what should be done about the Murlocs that flowed out earlier?"

North of Maihete Lake, not to mention the areas Xia Duo hadn't investigated yet, just to the south, there were winding waterways spanning nearly a hundred kilometers in a straight line, all teeming with Murlocs.

Roughly estimated, the number of Murlocs was at least several million. If the soldiers of Savile Territory were to clear them out, even without eating or drinking, it might take several months to finish the job.

In reality, the area available for deploying battle formations at the location where Savile Town was intercepting the Murlocs was not large, so the actual efficiency was even lower.

Plus, it was necessary to have Advanced Rank Spellcasters help block the Murlocs from continuing south; otherwise, relying solely on ordinary soldiers would not stop the Murlocs at all, which made it even more troublesome.

This kind of matter could not be borne by Savile Territory alone; it had to be resolved by the Seven Cities Council. Although Xia Duo believed the Seven Cities Council, or rather the Seven Towers, would not ignore it, he still couldn't help but offer a reminder.

Regarding this, Master Bailun's reply was very direct—

"The Seven Cities Council is already aware of the situation here, and someone will be sent to handle it shortly; I believe it will be resolved soon.

"Additionally, as for Savile Town, there is no need to block the Murlocs. Just have the residents along the Wolfburg River temporarily relocate to avoid them; as long as they do not appear within the Murlocs' field of vision, it will suffice. Your current method of interception is likely near-zero in actual effectiveness!"

Xia Duo knew Master Bailun was referring to the situation where the corpses of dead Murlocs were linked by water weeds to form special Composite Corpse monsters, but blocking them was still necessary.

Not to mention that relocating residents took time, Xia Duo also did not want the Murlocs to spread wantonly. It was said that Murlocs only attacked when they saw humans, but in reality, Murlocs would go ashore even if they didn't see humans; it was just a very small percentage.

But compared to the massive number of Murlocs, even the smallest percentage was a very considerable number.

Furthermore, although Netheril did not have a clear concept of being attached to one's native land, relocating residents, even temporarily, would involve much reluctance and inconvenience.

As long as the residents were not made to see the Murloc Tide with their own eyes and convinced that the Murlocs would come ashore to attack them, there would always be people who would harbor wishful thinking.

In their consistent past impression, the number of Murlocs was extremely small, and they were all dull and foolish; even an ordinary fisherman could catch one at will.

Who knows, if they notified them of the Murloc Tide and told the residents to temporarily relocate, more people might hear the news and head to the riverbank to watch the Murlocs instead!

After all, in the past, Murlocs were indeed very rare, and they could be sold for money!

Therefore, blocking them was still necessary. Perhaps Saier Town Mayor's initial decision to block the Murlocs from moving south also took this into account; he had to block them for fear that the Murlocs would ravage the territory.

If a large loss of residents were to actually occur, that would be too tragic. For Xia Duo, the population was extremely important; even those residents who played little tricks or feigned compliance were the foundation for a larger population in the future.

Even abandoning one would make him feel heartache.

However, Xia Duo already had a countermeasure. This was something he had thought of while inside the Mythallar; in fact, he should have thought of it much earlier.

But perhaps the situation was urgent, or perhaps a blind spot had formed in his thinking, or perhaps he had subconsciously avoided thinking of this method.

This method was not suitable for use in front of others, especially in front of a Great Arcanist who might feel curious and have the ability to satisfy that curiosity.

When one was alone and quiet, that was the best time.

Of course, there was no need to tell Master Bailun about this.

……

Next, Xia Duo invited Master Bailun to visit Savile Town, but the Master refused. Not only did he refuse, but even President Zhenna refused, and she even said:

"I have already notified Consultant Saide to return to Seventon immediately. Lord Xia Duo should return to Savile Town as soon as possible to organize the residents to take temporary shelter!"

Xia Duo was silent, knowing that Master Bailun and President Zhenna had made up their minds to leave, and also knowing that the plan to have Master Bailun act as a "tiger skin" when the Council sent people to Nan Jing would not work.

Fortunately, this did not have much impact. Niya herself was a student of the Princess; presumably, whoever came would have to give her that face.

……

Watching with his own eyes as Master Bailun and President Zhenna opened a Portal and left just as they had arrived, Xia Duo then returned to Savile Town.

Saide had indeed left, just as President Zhenna had said, and upon seeing Xia Duo return, Aiboke told him another piece of bad news—

"The Murloc Tide might not be stoppable anymore!"

"Not stoppable? How is that possible?!"

Although the effect of using ice fences to block them was not very good and required frequent replenishment by Advanced Rank Spellcasters, it shouldn't be to the point where they couldn't be stopped now. Xia Duo knew that a new situation might have emerged.

Could it be related to the destruction of the Mythallar?

Almost instantly, he made this guess, so he and Aiboke learned about the latest situation while heading toward the river.

By the time he reached the river, he had roughly understood what had happened. It turned out that just a moment ago, the rhythm of these Murlocs "throwing their lives away" had suddenly slowed down, and for the first time, there were cases of them retreating before they were killed.

What this meant was almost self-evident.

Xia Duo stood behind the defensive line, his gaze passing through the gaps between the soldiers to land on the Murlocs still constantly charging the line. Just looking at the speed of them throwing their lives away, he really couldn't see anything, but—

Soon, his gaze sharpened, and he focused his sight on a Murloc that was struggling to push its own kind in an effort to retreat. Although it was eventually swept along to charge the defensive line and then killed, this kind of sign was very unsettling.

It wasn't that the Murlocs could be all that powerful, but that these Murlocs had developed self-awareness, knew fear, and knew how to advance and retreat—that was the trouble!

……

Murlocs, without a doubt, should be considered a sentient species, but the Murlocs that the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce had initially raised in Maihete Lake had been specially treated and possessed no wisdom whatsoever.

And half a year ago, when Xia Duo passed by Maihete Lake, the Murlocs went out of control, but only a very small number of Murlocs had developed wisdom; some had even attacked the fleet transporting residents to Daxia Territory before that.

As for now, before the Mythallar was destroyed, these Murlocs were almost without exception single-minded, knowing only how to keep throwing their lives away, without any fear at all.

Even those Murlocs that had come ashore before reaching Savile Territory were just wandering on the shore, aimless, not looking like they had any wisdom at all.

But after the Mythallar was destroyed, Xia Duo had seen with his own eyes the Murlocs retreating, which indicated that the Murlocs might have gone out of control again, only this time they had lost the control of the Elves and had awakened self-awareness.

Even if the proportion of Murlocs that awakened self-awareness was extremely low, considering the massive number of Murlocs, it was still a problem that could not be ignored.

Even the judgment that the "proportion is extremely low" was only a rough judgment Xia Duo had made based on the scene he was seeing now.

Whether more Murlocs would awaken self-awareness more frequently in the future, that was really hard to say!