Grand Duke Francisco didn’t seem content with having just one suspect, “By the way, Edwina. I’ve heard that your alchemist is not on good terms with Adolf. They had a fight at the banquet the other night, no?”
“About that,” Grand Duke Edwina said cautiously, “When I first heard about this murder, I immediately called Master Bennett with my communication circle. My own daughter Carrie was with him, and she can confirm that he’s at least one day’s journey away from this place.”
“He was deep inside the Double Moon Forest. It wasn’t just Carrie. Lady Muriel, Lady Morrie, Lady Jenny, and Lady Mary were all there to prove his innocence, so how could you point fingers at him?”
“Edwina!” Grand Duke Francisco suddenly raised his voice, but spoke in a sad, helpless tone, “Please, forgive this old man for his imprudence, but I’ve just lost my son to a killer, and I am more than upset. I want to find him as soon as possible.”
Grand Duke Francisco turned to the intelligence officer, “I am very aggravated right now. If Master Bennett was not a suspect, tell me, then: who are the people that are enemies with my dear son?”
The old elf was bitter for vengeance. Grand Duke Edwina didn’t know what to do with him. He was the lord of a city. If something went wrong with his mental state, the whole Jochberg City would be in a disaster.
And that bounty he’s put up. Right now, many experienced fighters from Jochberg and Angstrom were flooding into the city she ruled. They were all desperate for the gold and title of a duke, so they searched everywhere for the killer who assassinated Prince Adolf.
It was a mess in Angstrom City right now. A lot of the elven fighters would find themselves in the same location, be in disagreements with each other, and ended up fighting till one side went down. They would get competitive for any hints they could find. Many were badly injured because of the havoc they’ve brought. When Grand Duke Edwina got sick and tired of it, she ordered her druids to lock up all the elves who dared to start a brawl.
Not that it was relevant for Abel. Right now, he was on his quest with five elven ladies in the Double Moon Forest. That being said, it was getting weird inside the Double Moon Forest. It had only been a day since they’ve encountered the ghost-face poisonous tarantula, but they were already facing a blackrock python from the Rocky mountain.
It was not a common occurrence at all. The blackrock python was an intermediate spiritual beast that was not local to where they were. There might be some inaccuracies with the map, but it was definitely not common.
“Take care of our front, Bennett!” Carrie said with a solemn look on her face.
“You got it, Carrie! I’ll have the front covered for you!”
Abel tightened the grip of the small shield in his left hand. He wasn’t planning to reserve any strength. Soon, a golden combat qi armor appeared around his body.
The blackrock python was a giant snake that was about twenty meters long. Its body was covered in thick, rocky scales, which made it appear even more sturdy than it already was. Worse yet, there were black flames that were lit around its scales.
Lady Jenny called out, “Watch out for those dark flames, team! Not only are they extremely hot, but their venom is also lethal! Make sure you keep your distance when you attack it!”
The blackrock python was much stronger than Carrie thought. The spirit wolf’s claws did nothing to break through its defense. In fact, just by making contact with the burning scales, flames started climbing on top of the spirit wolf’s body. Despite how resistant it was against poison, it could not resist the venom that was injected into its body.
After a few minutes, two-spirit wolves went into death protection mode and were taken away by their masters. Carrie wasn’t sure what to do now. The spirit wolves couldn’t fight the blackrock python, and it wasn’t like the poisonous ivy could trap its muscular body. Without no other choice, she jumped off her dire wolf and allowed two other ones to charge at the powerful beast.
As slow as the dire wolves were, they were much more aggressive in the way they attacked. As soon as they were unleashed, the scales on the blackrock python were slashed open with multiple claws.
These claws didn’t do much harm, though. When the blackrock python fought back, its tail wagged like a whip and lashed at the wolves that went close to it. Whenever the hits were made, flames would jump onto the dire wolves’ bodies.
The dire wolves didn’t back down. Instead, they attacked faster than they did before. Just like the python, they were already in a frenzied state. When Carrie and the rest watched this fight, all they could see were the rocks and blood that were flying around. The rocks belonged to the blackrock python, and the blood was from the dire wolves.
When the other four ladies called back their spiritual wolves, each of them called out for their own dire wolf to join the fight. From Abel’s perspective, while the dire wolves were in a higher rank than the spiritual wolves, they were actually not that stronger because of how low their skill level was.
“Volcanic explosion!” Carrie took out her magic staff and called out. When she pointed it at the blackrock python, the ground in front of her split apart. Lava started bursting out from below.
Contrary to what she thought, instead of dealing damage to the blackrock python, the “volcanic explosion” was actually a pleasant thing for it. In fact, when the magma started hitting it from below, the cracks on its scales even started to recover.
“Carrie, no!” lady Jenny called out, “The blackrock python is immune against fire and earth spells! Its favorite things are magma and lava!”
After hearing that advice, Carrie quickly switched into her wind element spell, the “little cyclone.” She got the right idea of what to do, but the wind spell was not strong if it was cast in a forest. Besides, because of how untrained she was with it, it didn’t do much to the blackrock python apart from blowing it away.
Carried turned to Abel after a few tries, “You’ve any ideas, Bennett? If you don’t, I might have to kill it with something that I’m not willing to use!”
The blackrock python was too powerful. It would be hard to kill it with normal methods, and it wasn’t like the dire wolves could hold on for too long. Like Carrie, all the other elven ladies could kill the blackrock pythons with their special techniques. They seemed reluctant to use them, though. The cost of performing these skills must be very great.
After fighting with them over these past few days, Carrie had gotten a fuller understanding of how strong Abel was. In fact, she knew that he was hiding a part of his real strength. That’s why she asked him to do something about the threat they were facing now.
“Let me deal with this, ” Abel said. He’s already become a level twenty-five knight’s commander. That being said, it had been a while since he’s last fought as a knight. He’s been very reliant on his spells ever since he became a wizard. Since he couldn’t reveal his identity as a wizard, he could only fight with the techniques of a knight.
Still, it would be weird if Abel fought as a knight in a team of elves. He didn’t have much choice, though. In fact, it’s not that suspicious since a lot of elven warriors also knew how to perform a knight’s techniques.
After calling the spiritual wolves back to protect the five elven ladies, Abel tapped Black Wind on its stomach. It then quickly became black lightning that went straight at the blackrock python. When he was close to it, he swung his Jade Tan Do into its body. To make sure that the hits were effective, he aimed for the spot where the dire wolves scratched.
Just like all the times before, when Abel’s attack made contact, dark flames started jumping on his body. Unlike the other animals, however, the Jade Tan Do was a powerful weapon that could cancel out any poisonous attack. Besides, the crescent small shield could repel most of the attacks, so the flames didn’t really stay on his body for too long.
And there, the first wound that the blackrock python received. In fact, the Jade Tan Do actually attacked its internal organs with the poison it contained. After a few agitated hisses, the python shifted its target from the dire wolves to Abel.
When the blackrock python’s tail struck at Abel, Black Wind would doge it at a clearly faster pace. It was changing position even when the tail was just starting to move. At the same, Abel was raising his arm for a second swing of his sword. When he dropped the hit, another wound appeared on the blackrock python’s body.
It was a bizarre sight for the elven ladies. They could see the blackrock python moving at an extremely fast speed, but Abel and Black Wind were so fast that they were barely visible. Whenever they could see the python’s tail move towards another direction, a new wound would suddenly appear on its body.
