Chapter 242

"Moo moo moo"

A long, hoarse sound echoed through the space ahead.

But this metallic-toned mooing reminded Li En of the underground world's gray dwarf forges, filled with smoke and the clanging of metal.

"Sulfur scent, Infernal breed. Wait a moment."

Bao Bao, with his keen sense of smell, vanished first into the shadows.

"Infernal breed" refers to inhabitants of the Lower Planes, encompassing everything from imp to demon lord—the range is vast—but this sulfur scent, as if dictated by plane laws, is their most easily detectable signature trait.

"Infernal Minotaur tribe? Minotaur Lord?"

Talia S Daer 's face darkened again as she reappeared; Li En had guessed casually.

"Neither. It's likely an individual. This is what it looks like."

This was truly bad news—lifeforms in the Lower Infernal Planes that grew too uniquely were often major troubles, and at Talia's level and experience, she knew nothing specific about it.

It was a colossal minotaur monster standing at least eighteen meters tall, its enormous size forcing it to crouch.

Its body was not mere flesh and blood, but a fusion of crimson vines, rotting oak wood, and stinking flesh—half appearing as natural wood carving, half as corrupted flesh.

It had four green eyes, all burning with the hellfire of the Lower Planes (green and foul-smelling, unmistakable); its curved black horns were riddled with cracks, and its flesh bore calloused layers of rotting bark.

"Desecrated creature. Possibly slight divinity."

"I observed its shadow—there was no shadow belonging to the Prime Plane. It likely lacks a soul as normal life possesses."

Sometimes, lacking a shadow and soul in the Prime Plane was one of the hallmarks of cross-plane elites.

"I dare not approach closely. Its alert range may be small, but my instincts tell me: getting near means death."

The information was thorough. Li En weighed it—Talia's intuition was reliable. A decision could be made.

"Return first to gather more intelligence?"

"Agreed. I can sketch it well enough. Ask the mages." As the top-tier assassin, Talia possessed not only photographic memory but also exceptional skill in portrait sketching.

Li En nodded. The path ahead was clearly troubled—they could return directly.

But intelligence arrived faster than expected. While the knight squad merely returned to Victoria's shop to rest and drink coffee, Victoria—who had grown so bored she was building a house of cards with tarot cards—casually gave the answer.

"That's not Ulda the Minotaur? Hmm, that doesn't make sense—there's no Druid tribe of Tree Wardens here."

Alchemists were never the strongest in the mage community, but their knowledge reserves were often exceptional. As a "long-lived mage," Victoria indeed knew this not-so-secret Prime Plane monster.

Ulda the Minotaur was almost certainly not a natural creation—yet it was purely a "natural creation."

The Natural faction, at least the Druids, were roughly archenemies of Infernal and undead creatures belowground; among them, the extreme faction known as Tree Wardens actively hunted Infernal and undead beings across the world.

Their power stemmed from a World Tree—a rare, immensely powerful tree species capable of uniquely supporting a world, even regarded as one of nature's symbols, possessing numerous supernatural traits.

They often roamed the world killing unnatural beings. When encountering the most troublesome Infernal invasions or undead lands, they planted a World Tree sapling—then the magical land would transform into natural land, the sapling growing into a towering giant tree, even an entire ancient forest.

Tree Wardens were not synonymous with Druids; they were a multi-racial faction devoted to nature.

Internally, Druids of various races formed the core, alongside many nature mages, nature warriors, and rangers—but their reputation was always ambiguous, precisely because some of their factions were not only extremely radical but also had the bad habit of planting trees everywhere.