Chapter 2098: Woodland Hunters
[Outlander, you have touched the "Miracle."]
As the sound reminded him, Shard also clearly saw that it was a dragon scale. Judging by the color, it should be from a Golden Dragon, and an incredibly powerful one. Just one dragon scale appearing here, the influence of the Dragon Might has already surpassed the dragon nest that Shard discovered.
Of course, the impact on Shard was still minimal.
He looked up to admire the beautiful scale, then noticed Miss Belindel beside him clutching her chest.
"What’s wrong?"
He asked worriedly, the Blonde Witch shook her head:
"It’s nothing, just suddenly felt a palpitation, and it happened this afternoon too. Actually, my divination before departing told me that I would encounter danger tonight, but would also gain unexpected results because of it. No need to worry, fate hasn’t informed me of death... It’s truly a beautiful scale."
She reached out to take the scale embedded in the rock wall. The scale from a powerful Ancient Dragon hovered in her hand, glowing slightly and illuminating her face. She wanted to discuss the scale with Shard but found him looking down at the fragments of the Sealing Tablet:
"There is text on the back."
He bent down to piece together the broken tablet into six parts, and sure enough, saw the text on the back. However, this time it was not in Ancient Dragon Language Runes, but in the common language of the end of the Fifth Era. The translated meaning was roughly:
[Hatchling Dragon, Seven-Colored Dragon Scale.]
Miss Belindel’s eyes widened, and Shard spoke first:
"Fragment of Poem Chapter?"
"You know about it too?"
"I even went to Green Lake with Miss Benanis, how could I not know? But since a Fragment of Poem Chapter has appeared..."
Shard looked at the dragon scale of the Golden Dragon:
"We suspected when we encountered the Dragon Feast Cult, and now it seems true; something significant is indeed going to happen in Moon Bay City. But, how should we interpret this passage? Does it refer to the identity of The Chosen, or the contents of the Chosen One Ceremony?"
He touched the [Ring of Immortality], took a deep breath, and reversed time to restore the tablet completely, only there was no sealing power:
"Miss Belindel, this tablet was found by you and Miss Benanis together. I won’t participate in the interpretation of the Fragment of Poem Chapter, but Miss Benanis’s contribution should be counted."
"You are quite loyal."
She said deliberately, observed Shard’s expression upon receiving the tablet, and felt her tone was somewhat off. She glanced at Shard stealthily again and found he didn’t mind but carefully packed away the glove.
"By the way, can you tell me what this glove is? I didn’t feel much trace of elements."
The Witch asked again.
"Dragon Hide Gloves, made from scales, hide, hair, and some knitting materials during a Dragonborn’s metamorphosis... It’s a gift from a Dragonborn Girl, but she is not local and won’t be related to Moon Bay’s matters."
"A Dragonborn Girl, huh."
Thinking of the "Butterfly" matters, Miss Belindel wasn’t particularly surprised. She wanted to tease Shard a bit but feared revealing her thoughts:
"But, the things you’ve done, I mean with the girls... Friendly, does Vanessa and Miss Lathis know?"
"I think they know."
Miss Belindel blinked:
"Oh, it seems the Golden Dawn Opera Group is more complex than I thought."
It’s currently unclear whether the Witch Empress who left the Fragment of Poem Chapter also left the Golden Dragon Scale. But these can be studied slowly after returning; for now, they have obtained crucial items.
After a brief inspection, confirming no other discoveries, everyone returned the way they came. Meanwhile, the Witch also noticed the roots of the giant tree above the hill had already wrapped around the rock wall where the dragon scale was originally located, thus gaining influence and drawing power. And now, with the Ancient Dragon’s dragon scale being removed, although the ancient tree above the hill won’t wither, it has lost the possibility of growing taller.
The middle-aged woman left in the cave certainly couldn’t escape, so she was taken along with everyone else by the Maid of Nine Rings. Miss Belindel was very curious about where she came from, and werewolves are indeed rare these days.
Leaving the cave from the side wall of the low hill, the moonlight in the forest made Shard feel much more open in his view. The stench inside the cave vanished, and even the air became incredibly fresh. The silent forest was so quiet that when the invisible wind arrow shot from the forest, the sense of danger in his inspiration felt so abrupt.
"Ambush!"
That wind arrow was definitely no test, but an ambush that had been waiting long, aiming for a deadly strike when the people from the cave appeared.
Shard and Miss Belindel were at the front, and the Great Witch of Destiny’s extremely strong Sixth Sense, along with "her" reminder in Shard’s ear, made them almost simultaneously aware of the crisis. The witch opened her mouth to cast a spell, but Shard was even quicker, reaching for the sword hilt at his waist, and muttered in his heart:
"Heaton Seal!"
The golden streaming light dispersed into a spherical shield covering the cave entrance. At the instant the golden shield met with the wind arrow, a clank resounded, light scattering everywhere, and the explosive wind arrow with the counterattack energy of the [Heaton Seal] reversed, suddenly stirring up a gale in the dark forest.
"There are three of them."
The witch, protected by Shard, was surprised by how much that move resembled the [Heaton Seal] of the Sun Church but still remembered what she should do at that moment:
"One of Ten Rings, one of Nine Rings, one of Eight Rings."
"I’ll block one; the rest are up to you guys."
As he spoke, Shard stepped forward with his longsword, then vanished from the spot - a result of using the spellcasting materials before encountering the werewolves. Even at a distance, it was hard to determine the attacker’s level, so when using [Lagre’s Leap], he directly chose the enemy who shot the wind arrow earlier.
With limited visibility in the dense forest, the sound of the wind greatly disrupted hearing. By the time Shard pursued into the forest, the archer had vanished, but when he heard the rustle to his right, he instinctively looked right, only for an unseen wind arrow to fly at him from the left.
Away from the Great Witch of Destiny, Shard didn’t care what abilities he used. He slashed his sword to the side, creating a brilliant curved moon blade that collided with the wind arrow, generating another storm in the forest.
"At least Nine Rings."
Shard realized the level of his opponent as he continued swinging his sword amidst the trembling trees and grass that made a continuous rustling noise. His longsword clashed with unseen weapons in mid-air, generating sparks amid their metallic clinks.
The opponent, also the previous archer, had an exceptional invisibility ability. Even right before Shard, he couldn’t see a shadow.
[Slash left, sidestep right, swing sword to block, thrust forward.]
Fortunately, seeing or not didn’t matter. Shard and the soft "her" in his ears had long become instinctive collaborators, and during the battle at the Summit Sacrificial Ground, Sister Delphine had trained Shard in blindfolded swordfight techniques.
At the cave entrance behind, the witch and the maids were also engaged with the other two foes, but Shard didn’t care about that. He focused on striking at the air before him, the speed of his attacks increasing continuously, and the moonlight on the sword becoming ever brighter. Finally, when Shard yet again countered the opponent’s charged slash, seizing the moment of the opponent’s inability to retaliate, he swept his sword forward, creating a moonlight sword scar with a radius of at least 10 meters, forcing the Sorcerer of Nine Rings who wasn’t adept at cold weapon combat to once again hide among the trees.
Shard also vanished using "Lagre’s Leap" the moment his opponent disappeared. The leaves lifted by battle floated down slowly at that moment, the trees fallen from the moonlight sword scar’s sweep slowly collapsed, stirring up fallen leaves and dust in the forest. In the distance, there were sounds of other battles, yet inside the forest, all was silent, each side waiting for the other to reveal a flaw.
The silence didn’t last long. When a sudden red butterfly appeared amidst the treetops, a wind arrow almost immediately appeared, piercing the butterfly. Yet, a moment later, a moonlight arrow shot towards the direction where the wind arrow had appeared.
The silver arrow didn’t seem to hit the target because almost instantly another invisible wind arrow pierced through the night-covered treetops and was immediately met with yet another silver arrow in counter response.
No one was certain of the other’s true location, both hiding like the most seasoned hunters in the forest, waiting to deliver a deadly strike the moment the opponent showed a flaw. This nameless Sorcerer of Nine Rings wasn’t the most challenging foe Shard had met, but the adversary’s caution was praiseworthy among all his previous opponents.
The opponent seemed to have a capability to perceive the wind, easily detecting any of Shard’s slightly larger movements through the forest. Battles seemed troublesome for the witch’s group not far from the hill behind. Unwilling to delay any longer, Shard decided to take a slight risk.
When their exchange of arrows once again paused, he purposefully revealed a flaw in the forest. The wind arrow that locked onto his head almost instantly appeared "before his eyes" the next second. Such an attack would also expose the Sorcerer’s current position. However, based on the last two encounters, Shard didn’t have time to counterattack, whether he chose to defend or evade.
This time, however, was different from before:
"Adel’s Time Stasis!"
The pocket watch, tucked tightly against his body, watched the air twist before his eyes. The still wind left a blood mark across Shard’s face a moment ago, but the next, the wound wriggled and healed, with Shard standing in place, revealing the "Scar of the Moon" that the talisman barely concealed its shine on:
"Madman, are you trying to die with me?"
The Circle Sorcerer in the forest quickly jumped to escape, but unprepared for such a swift counterattack, lost half his arm as the silver light trace swept past his side and then vanished.