Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
After saying what he needed to say, the Elven Blacksmith fell to the ground.
The others were shocked by what they saw. Soran thought that he had died after exhausting himself, but soon, there were sounds of snoring. He waved his hand to the apprentices, motioning them to move the Elven Blacksmith to the bed, and then left a dozen Derahls by the furnace. During these three days, the apprentices had been very exhausted. They all had bloodshot eyes and very tired faces. Since Soran was satisfied with the result of the forge, he did not mind giving an extra tip.
“Dragonslayer.”
Soran caressed the blade gently, and with a slight curl of his mouth, he said, “That name is too unlucky. Let’s call it the Slasher.”
There were many pieces of equipment in this world with the name Dragonslayer.
For example, the city of Whiterun had a Dragon Slaying Sword. However, all the equipment with this name carried a curse and the bearers of these weapons were all eventually killed by Dragons. Soran did not have the hobby of slaughtering Dragons, but he would not hesitate to swing his sword against them when if it was necessary. The Slasher was a rare-grade weapon that he once possessed. Although it was not as good as the present one, it was similar in many respects.
Although this curved sword was a rare grade 1 weapon, its attributes reached that of a grade 2 weapon!
It did not have any energy damage, but the additional Sharpness and Penetration were quite strong. Gloria could only add 2 points with “Enchant Weapon”, but now the sword itself already had 3 points of Sharpness and Penetration effect. In simpler terms, this sword could now break through the natural armor with a defense of +3, like that of a Drake.
However, the last two attributes were key. Toughness was the characteristic of Elven forged weapons. It made their weapons strong and resistant to damaged. Armor Piercing was usually an additional attribute of Adamant, which was very useful against Dragons, Demons, and Liches. As long as the weapon had armor-piercing effects, these weapons could basically break Dragon scales, and they were also effective in dealing with Fighters with heavy armor. Besides the whole body plate armor which was very difficult to break, other scale armor and chainmail could be cut open in a matter of one or two slashes.
Since the weapon was done, Soran had no reason to stay any longer.
His wounds had already recovered two days ago. In these two days, he had also studied about 70% of the ‘Charm Person’ spell. Charm spells were more difficult to learn and was much more difficult than other spells.
Soran went to the inn to settle the bill and gave one or two Derahls as tips. Then he went straight out of the village. His arrival did not alarm too many people, and his departure did not concern too many people either.
Adventurers were a group of passers-by. They only stopped to rest when they were tired!
Inside the gloomy forest.
After entering the wilderness, Soran’s vigilance began to rise. He was now going north along the Elven Forest. He was heading thousands of kilometers away to an icebound valley on the edge of the Frost Kingdom. After crossing this valley, he would enter the Frost Kingdom, which used to be a big battlefield with many sunken relics. What separated the North from the Frost Kingdom was a snowy mountain range that stretched hundreds of miles. Because of this separation, these two places became two completely different worlds.
Soran moved quickly since he was alone.
His Constitution of 20 allowed him to jog all the way. As long as he did not exceed his physical consumption, his recovery speed was almost the same as that of his physical consumption. Within the morning, Soran had traveled for tens of kilometers, and the scenery around him changed greatly. The trees around him were as thick as three people. They must have been growing for at least a hundred years. Here in the depths of the Elven Forest, the Elven characteristics were obvious. The trees here lived longer than average. There may even be a chance of encountering the legendary and beautiful Dryad.
That also was the embodiment of great mother nature!
Suddenly Soran stopped, frowned, knelt, and pushed away the grass. He pulled out a rag with his hand. The rag felt very smooth and there were blood marks on it. Soran figured there must have been a fight here, and it was recent, only about three days old. The footprints on the ground were blurred, but intuitively, he was able to determine the direction of the battle.
He tracked for a hundred or so meters along the trail and then saw clear signs of combat. There were broken branches of trees that were cut by swords and very dense footprints.
A battle definitely happened here!
Soran looked at it for a while and was ready to leave. His was concerned whether there would be ambushes ahead. He had no interest in these occasional battles because battles took place too often in the world.
Suddenly, he paused.
He turned around and took a detour around a big tree. He seemed to have seen something for a brief moment. In front of him were marks left on an Elven Skytree. They were five inches deep.
Claw marks!
He determined that the attacker was fierce.
Soran’s expression suddenly turned cold, and his face was a little fierce. The blood lust was evident in his face. He stretched out his palm and touched the five paw marks on the tree. Then, he slowly pressed it on his back. There were still five shallow red marks on his back which the Priest could not completely erase. Soran silently grasped his curved sword. He gradually became blurry and, finally, completely disappeared into the shadows.
It was those hunters!
They did not abandon the hunting ritual. Within three days, they had killed another target.
Soran would never forget the paw marks, the black, high-grade Gnoll who almost killed him. Soran was bloodthirsty. His injuries had basically recovered, and all of his Shadow Dancer abilities had recharged. Soran even got his rare-grade weapon. He was ready to use the blood of the hunters to worship his sword!
Soran was not afraid of the number of enemies when he was alone. Because he was a Rogue, the shadows and forests were his best cover.
His figure disappeared from where he was, and the shadows covered his tracks.
You could only see him in bright areas. This was because his Sneak ability was not enough. It required more than 200 in Sneak to be invisible in a shadowless place. But it did not matter much to Soran. Distributing his Skill Points more evenly meant that he has strengthened his other combat capabilities. Soran could also use the Wizards spell of Invisibility to completely become invisible if necessary.
“There seem to be around 20 hunters.”
Soran stopped and looked at the ground. The footprints on the ground were chaotic, but it had a circular encirclement. It was not like it had been left behind when attacked, rather it looked as if they were retreating. He pushed away the grass in front of him, and there were some pieces of cloth which had been cut by thorns. The texture of the cloth was similar to those he found previously, but the pattern was familiar. He murmured, “Where have I seen this pattern?”
He looked to where they went and continued to follow the trail.
Rogues were also pretty good trackers. Why else would have the advanced profession Bounty Hunter and Assassin? Soran advanced about a kilometer or two and stopped in front of another big tree.
On the tree had three paw marks and the branches were broken. Further in front were sounds of the river.
“Seems like those guys have been fighting for some time.”
Soran stretched out his hand and picked up the earth, which was dark red. Although the body was missing, a person should have fallen down here. Judging from the bloodstains, the person must have died at this spot. In front, there were obviously cut bushes from swords. It seems like whoever the hunters were attacking were quite weak, or they weren’t good at fighting. They had to cut down the bushes that affected their movement as they fought.
“They probably won’t make it!”
He could see the signs of one dead person and, according to his estimations, the other party could not have run away.
If the group was protecting a weak person, then they could not run away from the hunters.
The trails disappeared around the river.
There were no footprints on the other side. It seemed that the group had not crossed the river. Soran walked along the river bank and soon found new clues.
He saw a weapon and a torn yet intricate armor.
“An Elven Rapier?”
Soran picked up the broken rapier and looked around for movement. He then said to himself, “Was it the Elven aristocrat that day? His guards seem to be equipped like this. No wonder the cloth looked so familiar. Ordinary Elven Patrol Guards could afford to wear their expensive cloth. So that nobleman ran into the hunters?
It was probably three days ago.
In front of the village’s Temple of Life, Soran met an Elven nobleman who had some blood of a deity. They should have met the hunters, and probably became their next target. Then there must have been a fight to escape. His guards must have failed to beat the group of high-grade hunters.
“They must be in front.”
Soran’s pupils shrank. His figure slipped back into the shadows and then sneaked toward the foot of the mountain ahead.
There were more mountains in the Elven Forest area, but they were not very high. The terrain was a hilly area. According to Soran’s estimation, the Elven guards would get cover at the foot of the mountain in front of him, and then they would have been caught up by the hunters.
The distance between them was getting closer.
Suddenly Soran stopped, then pulled out his curved sword and lightened his footsteps.
There were more tracks in front.
They seemed fresh and there were signs of at least a dozen people. Soon, he heard some faint voices. It seemed that there were people in front of him and they definitely outnumbered him.
