Chapter 108: Chapter 25: Druid (1) [Part 1]
The strong dragon cannot overpower the local serpent.
Upon learning of the vampires’ presence at night, even Lady Inid’s expression turned slightly grave.
She didn’t share this news with others, merely arranging for the group to set off the next day to leave the area. If one wants to survive on the Northern Continent, dealing with vampires is inevitable; reportedly, there are thousands of vampires living there, scattered into different force families and factions, vying for control of the land.
"Someone over there has been watching us," Nicole whispered softly, standing next to Su Ziyu.
Lady Inid prepared some carriages, and the group disguised themselves as merchants heading to the City of Freedom. The goods had been prepared in advance; Su Ziyu saw several disguised elves yesterday.
"Hmm?" Su Ziyu looked up and quickly spotted a bearded man.
The man was quite tall.
He wore a tattered gray robe, making it hard to see his face as his beard was unruly, reminiscent of tree roots. Noticing Su Ziyu’s gaze, he quickly turned and walked into the alley.
"Ignore him," Su Ziyu signaled for Nicole, the female warlock, to get on the carriage, saying, "As long as he doesn’t cause trouble."
The women around here seemed quite aged, exposed to the elements compared to the female warlocks who were much more attractive. Su Ziyu had already noticed many sinister glances.
Melissa rode at the front of the group.
Having passed the Demon Hunter’s magic potion trial, the young girl appeared relaxed, in a good mood over the past two days.
The group left at noon, slowly advancing along the desolate road.
The Northern Continent is much more barren than the Southern Continent. Originally, no humans lived here; only some primitive indigenous people called the Wakaru were known by that name, though Su Ziyu found the pronunciation somewhat hard to remember as he hadn’t heard it clearly.
These indigenous people were only 1.2 meters tall, resembling gorillas, with dark skin, short limbs, and a violent and brutal nature, possessing cannibalistic traditions.
They moved swiftly but weren’t very strong, using blow darts and being adept at concocting poisons.
The Wakaru people sacrificed living humans to their Divine Spirits, a hard-to-describe serpent-like monster, but most of them were slaughtered hundreds of years ago. The first colonizers and exiled outliers joined forces to wipe out these primitive and brutal indigenous people, even overturning their altars.
Now they can only be seen in desolate and remote areas.
Thud, thud, thud.
The sound of hooves approached, and Melissa came running over with a peculiar expression, whispering, "There’s a strange man ahead who wants to see you."
Su Ziyu was taken aback by this.
Soon.
The entire group stopped, Lady Inid stepped out, and the other female warlocks poked their heads out, curiously watching Su Ziyu.
A man in a shabby gray robe appeared at the front of the group.
His physique was tall, and his beard was scraggly; it was the same person Nicole had mentioned. He had somehow gone around the front of the group.
Su Ziyu frowned and stepped forward, asking, "Who are you?"
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir," the gray-robed man expressed with some excitement, bowing deeply to Su Ziyu, saying, "May the spirits of nature be with you!"
"I am Adson."
"As you can see! A Druid!..."
Druid?
Su Ziyu was quite surprised as this was the first time he saw another caster besides female warlocks in this world.
It seemed he sensed something.
——"Spiritual Vision."
Su Ziyu activated his ability and saw a translucent owl on the Druid’s shoulder; it seemed quite respectful towards Su Ziyu, appearing as if it wanted to approach but didn’t dare.
"Come here," Su Ziyu curiously beckoned.
The invisible owl flew into his palm, affectionately rubbing against his hand.
"Chill seems to like you very much," the Druid named Adson smiled.
Not far away.
The female warlocks watched Su Ziyu’s empty hand curiously; only Lady Inid seemed to have detected something, her expression becoming quite remarkable.
"Is it called Chill? Such a cute little thing," Su Ziyu teased the owl in his hand.
This little creature seemed very fond of him.
The reason was unclear.
Possibly related to the blessing the Winter Witch gave him; the final Blessing of the Guardian Witch was jointly cast by the Spring Witch, Summer Witch, Autumn Witch, and Winter Witch, granting Su Ziyu affinity with elf-like creatures. He didn’t know if the translucent owl counted as such a creature.
The Guardian Witches are demigods, and their blessings aren’t simple.
The Druid named Adson hesitated, then softly said, "Originally, I didn’t intend to trouble you."
"But there are some issues nearby."
"I hope to gain your assistance."
"Certainly."
"We’re willing to offer some compensation as well."
People in this world are quite decent; they know to offer rewards when seeking help.
The owl named ’Chill’ flew back to Adson’s shoulder; others couldn’t see it, only Lady Inid seemed to perceive it.
"What’s the matter?" Su Ziyu frowned slightly.
He needed to escort the female warlocks to the City of Freedom and lacked the energy to attend to other matters.
"It’s not very troublesome," Adson humbled himself, pleading, "Heading south from here, a forest has a Thorn Demon Tree that is eroding the forest’s life force."
"We aren’t particularly good at fighting, so we hope you could help eliminate it."
At this moment.
Van Helsing’s figure approached, frowning as he glanced at Adson, asking, "Druid? I thought only the southern Kerry Islands had natural cult Druids, but I didn’t expect to see them here on the Northern Continent."
He seemed to have seen Druids before.
"Hello, Demon Hunter," Adson greeted politely.
His manner was very courteous.
"He wants us to help deal with a monster called the Thorn Demon Tree," Su Ziyu quietly said.
Van Helsing recalled, speaking, "Not very difficult to handle. They fear fire. Is there a battlefield nearby? Such monsters don’t appear without abundant blood and flesh nourishment."
Should they help?
By now, it was getting late, and the group needed to camp and rest.
If the monster could drop Source Power Value, Su Ziyu would definitely go. But if not, it would be a wasted trip. The Druid didn’t seem to have anything valuable, and the reward offered was likely not enticing.
Su Ziyu exchanged a look of inquiry with Van Helsing.
"Prepare some petroleum; it’ll only take three minutes to finish the fight," Van Helsing said softly, "If you want to help, I’ll go with you."
"Just right for Melissa to practice."
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