Chapter 67: Sharing in the secrets of the dwarves
Han Shuo stayed within the cemetery of death for the next couple of days, studying the book of “Foundational Magics of Necromancy” on one hand, while looking after the “Original Demon Cave”.
Utilizing the round green ball, that most likely originated in the cemetery of death, Han Shuo would receive a large increase in mental strength whilst experiencing a high degree of agony and pain in his mind.
Except, with his increased usage of the round green ball, Han Shuo could clearly feel that his mental strength was no longer growing as speedily as before. It looked like this strange round green ball couldn’t help him continuously. As the number of times he used it increased, the benefit that Han Shuo received continually decreased.
One day, Han Shuo meditated for a while and left the cemetery of death after infusing the “Original Demon Cave” with his blood and magical yuan.
After investigating the vicinity in which he met the dwarves last time, Han Shuo finally found traces of a dwarf. He followed the dwarf tracks while maintaining his composure. After walking for a while, he finally discovered that the dwarf tracks had stopped in front of a highly concealed cave entrance.
There was luxuriant shrubbery near the entrance of the cave, and the surroundings had obviously been fixed up. If it weren’t for a dwarf moving aside the large patch of leaves, Han Shuo wouldn’t have been able to discover that there was a cave here.
After observing the cave entrance for a while, Han Shuo noticed that several dwarves had appeared nearby again. They were holding iron spades and hammers as they filed into the cave. After a short while, the dwarf who’d given Han Shuo the bag of beer, Bennett, was helped out of the cave by two dwarves. He seemed to have been injured.
A soft sound came from afar. Han Shuo’s ears were sharp and could immediately tell that it was likely the sounds of magical creatures approaching. He crouched on the branch of a big tree and waited for a while. Shortly after, he saw two Windblade Wolves slowly approach in the distance.
His thoughts moving, Han Shuo snapped one of the dry branches off the big tree and threw it towards the shrubs next to the cave entrance. The sound of the dry branch falling to the ground obviously attracted the attention of Windblade Wolves. The two moved according to the noise and padded softly, quickly as they changed direction, heading for the cave entrance of the dwarves.
When Bennett and the other two dwarves looked around their surroundings after hearing the movement, the two Windblade Wolves had already appeared in their range of vision.
“Oh, damnit. It’s Windblade Wolves. Let’s hurry and and return back to the cave!” The injured Bennett threw out an involuntarily complaint upon seeing the two Windblade Wolves appear and decided to head back into the cave.
“Bennett, it’s too crowded inside. If these two Windblade wolves follow us into the cave, then the ones inside will be in danger.” One of the dwarves shook the hammer in his hand as he heard Bennett’s words.
Bennett thought for a moment after hearing his words, “Mm, then we’ll kill these two damned Windblade Wolves at the door.”
“No way, it’s impossible for the three of us to do so. I think we should let the dwarves within the cave stop mining for now and join forces to kill the two Windblade Wolves.” The dwarf said.
Just at this moment, Han Shuo suddenly jumped down from the big tree and arched his body on the ground, dashing out like lightning. After he revealed himself in the far off shrubbery, he nimbly dashed towards the two Windblade Wolves. The dagger in his hand was like a bolt of cold lightning as it shot towards one of the Windblade Wolves. Han Shuo followed closely behind with the speed of cheetah, facing down the other Windblade Wolf with his bare hands.
The two Windblade Wolves had been staring at the three dwarves as fiercely as a tiger does and had their backs to Han Shuo. The back of one of them had already taken a hit from the fierce strike of Han Shuo’s dagger. The other Windblade Wolf turned around and sent a blade of wind whistling towards Han Shuo. While performing his high speed dash, Han Shuo suddenly changed direction and magically evaded the wind blade’s attack, his body already dashing to the front of the Windblade Wolf.
The Wolf that had released the wind blade didn’t give any impression of weakness as it raised its sharp claws, pouncing towards Han Shuo when it saw that the enemy was at hand. A crossbow bolt from the left sleeve first shot towards the claws of this Windblade Wolf, with Han Shuo slamming down on its head using a fist interspersed with with the glacial air from the “Mystical Glacial Spellfire”.
With a shrill scream, the Windblade Wolf fell stiffly to the ground, like a block of frozen meat, cold air emanating from its body.
On the other side, the dwarves suddenly flung out the sharp axes in their hands, aiming for the other Windblade Wolf. However, the strength of the two dwarves was visibly subpar to Han Shuo’s. The thrown axe wasn’t traveling too fast, and the injured Windblade Wolf could actually still evade it.
However, although it could evade the axes from the two dwarves, it couldn’t dodge Han Shuo’s crossbow bolt. The Windblade Wolf finally couldn’t escape and fell down listlessly.
“Oh, Brave friend, you’ve saved Bennett again! How could I possibly thank you?” The injured Bennett cried out involuntarily upon seeing Han Shuo dispatch of the two Windblade Wolves, calling out loudly to him.
After relieving the Windblade Wolves of their magical cores and pelts in a practiced manner. Han Shuo waved his hand and smiled, “You shouldn’t thank me, these two Windblade Wolves were my prey to begin with! Not only did I not help you, but it was your two friends who helped me with their axes!”
“You’re too polite. Eh, do you not want the bodies?” One of the dwarves asked in astonishment upon seeing Han Shuo take only their magical cores and pelts, but displayed complete disinterest in the corpses.
“Yes, I only need the Windblade Wolf cores and pelts. This way, I can sell them for a good price.”
“Then, dear friend, could you give us their bodies?”
“Of course, but, what do you want them for? They’re not worth much.”
“The bodies of Windblade Wolves can be used to prepare food.” Bennett looked strangely at Han Shuo and explained. “To us, the flesh of the Windblade Wolves is a very sumptuous delicacy!”
Han Shuo had also eaten Windblade Wolf meat before, but he’d found it dry and hard to chew. It didn’t seem to be a delicious type of meat… who would’ve thought the dwarves would be interested. Han Shuo rather thought it was odd upon hearing Bennett’s words, but the dwarves weren’t human, perhaps their habits were different from human habits, Han Shuo thought.
“Right, what are you doing here?” Han Shuo asked.
“This is a mining cave that we’ve discovered. There are some copper and iron ores inside. However, it often collapses inside and large stones will crash down from above. The process of mining has been exceedingly difficult and dangerous, a lot of tribesman have already been injured. A tribesman was smashed to death yesterday. I was also accidentally hit just now and thus had to come out.” Bennett seemed to be kindly disposed towards Han Shuo as he blurted out the secret that the dwarves were concealing without hesitation.
The other two dwarves had wanted to stop Bennett, but realized that Bennett had already finished before they’d had a chance to speak. They blew on their beards and glared at Bennett, as if admonishing his undiscerning mouth.
“So that’s the case. If you don’t mind, I can help you with the mining. I think with my help, a lot of the dangers will decrease for you guys.” Han Shuo’s thoughts raced as he proposed with a smile.
“No, it’s too dangerous inside. You’d be smashed by the rocks if you went inside. If you happened to run into a widespread collapse, you wouldn’t be able to walk out from there and would be trapped to your death.” Bennett offered a reminder out of good faith.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be taking action myself. I’m a necromancer and can summon necromancy creatures. There won’t be any problems if the necromancy creatures go in and mine for you.” Han Shuo smiled.
“I see, then let me go in and discuss with them to see if they agree.” Bennett thought for a moment, responded, and walked back into the cave with the two dwarves helping him walk.
After a while, one of the dwarves walked out and said politely to Han Shuo, “Noble friend, we are willing to share the secrets of this cave with you. Please come in and mine this cave with us!”
Happiness making it way to his heart, Han Shuo said humbly, “Thank you for your trust, I’m very happy to work together with you.”
After he spoke, the dwarf dragged the bodies of the two Windblade Wolves into the cave and, along with Han Shuo, covered up the cave with tree leaves, finally walking into the cave with Han Shuo afterwards.
