CH 162

The towering Death's End Mountain Range blocked Rode's view of the entire north. Even with his Soul Eye, he couldn't see the end of its height, which was said to be thousands of miles long and between fifty to hundreds of miles wide. This massive mountain range that spanned the land became the boundary between two continents—the Gray Soil Continent to the south and the Dead Soil Continent to the north.

Guardian Lilyve had once told them during their monster cooking lessons that without the Death's End Mountain Range, the Thalorian Kingdom would soon be destroyed by the monsters on the Dark Plains. The terrifying beings on the plains would not allow the kingdom to survive until the second sunrise. Therefore, the Death's End Mountain Range was the kingdom's most important northern barrier.

The main structure of the Stonemason Workshop was inside the mountain range, with only a larger platform-like building on the outside. A large number of square stones were piled next to the platform, waiting for transportation. Dim firelight projected from inside the mountain, casting long shadows with numerous levers, iron frames, and mechanical cranes. Black mist rolled nearby, occasionally intruding into the firelight, making everything appear uneasy.

As soon as the two guards on the platform saw the approaching light cluster, they immediately rushed back to report. Workshop master Les and a large group of foremen came out to greet Rode and Mephisto.

Les was a round-headed man with comical features. His gaze wandered between the two for a moment before he determined that Rode was the leader. He rushed forward and hugged Rode's hand, bursting into tears.

"Wuwuwu, you finally came! Our people are almost all dead! Everyone can't live anymore! Wuwuwuwuwu."

Rode, who looked mature, gently patted Les's bald head and smiled calmly, "Don't be afraid, we're here, and you'll be safe."

"Really?" Les raised his tear-filled eyes and asked.

Rode forced down the urge to vomit. Big brother, you're not a beauty, so don't use the actions of a beauty, okay?

"Of course, who doesn't know the name of our Great Mourning Bell?"

Les obviously hadn't heard of it, but influenced by Rode's aura, he calmed down slightly.

Next, he detailed what had happened in the past few days.

The Stonemason Workshop was a stone processing workshop established in the easternmost part of the Death's End Mountain Range. Its main work was to collect raw stones from inside the mountain range and process them into building stones for defense through various procedures.

One of the procedures involved immersing the raw stones in a solution containing specific monster ashes.

However, since three days ago, this place had been attacked and damaged. The sudden appearance of monsters not only killed the workers but also absorbed a portion of the solution. As the main structure of the entire workshop was inside the mountain, it could only be assumed that it was some kind of evil spirit monster.

Two reinforcement teams had come, but they found no traces and were forced to hire hunters to solve the problem.

"Alright."

Rode said confidently, "Leave it to me. Let all the workers leave, and I'll find and kill the evil spirit right away."

Les expressed his gratitude and kept saying that as long as they could eliminate this hidden danger within a day, he would agree to any request.

Rode didn't take it seriously, but Mephisto stopped him.

"Do you have any Puppet Stones?"

Les's expression suddenly turned gloomy, and he immediately dismissed the foremen around him. Lowering his voice, he said, "Esteemed hunter, to be honest, the quality of our stones here is poor, and we can't mine that many."

Mephisto calmly said, "I want a complete set."

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Under the dim light, Les's expression briefly turned ferocious, but he quickly recovered.

"You are the ones I hired."

"We can declare the mission a failure."

"There will be other hunters."

"No, most hunters have gone to the front lines to resist the Black Tide. The remaining hunters won't take on such troublesome tasks. The guardians of the defense zone are also very busy. It will take a long time for your little matter to disturb them."

Les fell silent for a while, and Rode noticed that he looked at him, apparently testing the relationship between them.

Rode immediately took a step closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mephisto, showing their unbreakable friendship.

"Alright."

Les gritted his teeth and said, "If you can eliminate this hidden danger within a day, I'll give it to you."

Mephisto calmly said, "It's a deal."

Les left with a gloomy expression.

Rode looked at her with interest and asked, "Is this considered extortion?"

Mephisto calmly said, "No, half of this ghost's fault lies with him. It's normal to ask for additional compensation in such situations."

"Did he create the monsters?"

"No, he didn't intend for monsters to appear. He was just too careless and left too much black sediment in the stone soaking solution, which attracted some ghosts."

"Oh."Rode quickly understood that the rocks on the mountain had existed in the black mist for millions of years, and even lifeless matter had been eroded to some extent.

The soaking liquid was used to wash away these erosions.

These erosions probably had some illegal uses and also had some side effects. It was the greed of the bald man that led to the tragedy.

"This kind of person should be sent to the Internal Affairs Adjudication Office."

Mephisto said calmly, "He will go there, that's why he is so anxious to ask for help. If the situation gets worse, he will be sentenced to the Black Death Penalty."

The Black Death Penalty is to lock a person in a cage, send them into the black mist to be infected and corrupted into a monster, and then pull them back into the fire to be burned to ashes.

To erase one's identity and die as a monster, this is Thalorian's harshest punishment, even many Doomsday Cultists are unwilling to accept it.

Rode smiled, "Then we should definitely make him pay. Mephisto, do I get a share?"

Mephisto's light silver eyes looked at him, frost seemed to gather in her eyes.

"Hey, what are you thinking?" Rode cautiously took two steps back, "I advise you not to have any crooked thoughts. You can't control my power. If you make a move, you'll die."

Mephisto lowered her eyes and said softly, "I can give you my share of the reward."

Rode laughed, "Then it's settled. Don't worry, I won't take advantage of you. I'll handle this matter, you don't need to intervene."

Mephisto didn't say anything and stood aside.

"Hmph."

Rode came to the center of the soaking place, never before had he been so confident.

"Now, let me show you the top detective Soren's superior investigative skills and logical reasoning deduction."

Snap.

Rode pressed the ground with one hand and opened the Book of the Past.

He quickly turned back time three days and fast-forwarded at twenty times the speed until he found the moment the attack occurred.

To Rode's surprise, it wasn't the usual evil spirit, but a shining liquid mist. It had a human form and left a long trail when it moved, able to pass through a person's body.

The person who was passed through would be like poisoned, clutching their throat and vomiting desperately until their sticky viscera were expelled.

The entire place was quickly covered by the dispersing mist, and after absorbing the solution, the mist-like monster would choose to leave from the southwest direction—the weak fire in the stonemason workshop had a strong inhibitory effect on the monster.

Most monsters instinctively avoid fire and move away from its range.

Unless there is something that attracts them or angers them.

Rode opened his eyes, stood up, and tried his best to recall the knowledge he had learned about monsters. He quickly found the corresponding target.

Mist Wraith.

This was a very cruel monster, mostly born in swamp environments, adept at hiding, concealing, and attacking. Its outer layer had no fixed shape and its body was composed of mist clouds with strong toxicity. Precise control of spiritual energy was its instinct. It could travel in the spiritual realm but couldn't stay there for too long, otherwise, it would melt into pure spiritual energy.

Superior Knight Gale had explained in detail the method of cutting it with a physical longsword. The weak point of the Mist Wraith was under its ribs. When it found that the poison was ineffective, it would attempt to attack with its long claws. At this time, it would expose the weak point of its human form body, and one could use the tip of the sword to cut along the diagonal line under the ribs to kill it with minimal force.

Rode detailed his findings to Mephisto.

For the first time, she raised her wide-brimmed hat, and an unexpected expression appeared in her light silver eyes.

Rode smiled, "How about that? Are you shocked? Call me big brother, and I'll tell you how I found out."

Mephisto lowered her hat again. Although she was wrapped in a scarf, from her expression, it seemed that this high and cold lady had curled her lips.

Rode didn't mind. As long as he hunted down more monsters quickly, he would become a true big brother.

Hehehe.

Rode followed the path the Mist Wraith had escaped.

The Book of the Past could explore a range of sixty yards around him, so he only needed to use it every sixty yards he walked.

The Mist Wraith flew out through the mountain wall, and Rode circled around the stonemason workshop to continue tracking. They easily climbed the steep mountain wall and found the wandering Mist Wraith on a larger slope.

In Rode's vision, its soul was like a constantly changing mist, with a wide and long wave shape, like the tide of the sea. The fluctuation of spiritual energy was not obvious, proving that it was still in a calm state.

This was taught to him by Teresa.

The golden light shining Valkyrie was also a superb scout. Although her spiritual vision was not as exaggerated as Rode's, it was still at a very high level.

And her skills and experience far surpassed Rode's. While being trained by her, Rode also gained many very useful techniques.

This was also one of the sources of Rode's confidence now.

"Stop."Rode held out his hand to stop his companion, carefully observing the enemy. He quickly made a judgment from its soul waveform and the subtle disturbances in its spiritual energy.

"Great Luo of All Worlds"

This was a ferocious-level monster.

Its rank was likely between the initial and intermediate stages, with a spiritual energy strength of about 80,000 carvings.

According to Thalorian's tactical principles, a team with a total spiritual energy strength of over 20,000 carvings and adequate preparation could attempt to hunt this monster.

If there were specific soul characteristics, the total strength could be reduced to 10,000 carvings.

The spiritual energy strength of monsters usually far exceeded that of humans, but humans had wisdom. If they only matched opponents based on spiritual energy strength, there would be huge gaps in the entire Thalorian defense line.

"Stay here and don't move."

Rode ordered.

"I'll buy a few oranges... I'll clear the nearby disturbances. When I hunt the monster later, you can help me entangle it a bit, but don't overdo it. If it's dangerous, hide immediately. Uh, what's your sequence? I forgot to ask, sorry, I'm still a bit rusty."

Mephisto didn't mock him, her tone always calm and steady.

"Fire Spirit Giver, Ice."

"...Oh, oh, spirit fire, huh. Don't use formal language, your characteristic is ice? This is rare. It was said to be an unknown characteristic in the past, very feared. You're lucky to be in this era..."

Rode tried his best to play the role of a team leader, even though he only had one team member.

Mephisto remained silent. The aloof older sister also had her advantages, at least she wouldn't talk back. And this older sister was even better, she neither showed impatience nor rolled her eyes or turned her face away from him.

Rode gave her a thumbs-up in his heart and turned to walk towards the few corpses wandering nearby.

These weak, unranked monsters didn't even make him draw his gun. He just used a few graceful sliding steps and a few swift punches to eliminate them.

The strange experience of directly eliminating monsters for the first time once again boosted Rode's confidence.

He felt that given time, the golden, shining Valkyrie would only end up being rubbed under him.

"Hmph, the moment to test my training results has come."

Rode pulled out his spirit gun, loaded the sealing bullet, and held the thunderstone.

"Die!"

Bang!

The sealing bullet drew a white line, shooting towards the ferocious-level monster floating in mid-air.