Chapter 1762: The Prisoners Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by Aelryinth Mo Fan had met the woman earlier. She was Wen Xia, the soldier who had applied the Seals on their Elements at the city entrance. Wen Xia drew closer to them, glancing at Mo Fan without saying a word. She then headed toward the Rock Monster. “Ain’t she proud?” Mo Fan scoffed, staring at Wen Xia’s straight back. The Rock Monster had caused a scene at the city west for some time before the military finally showed up. If he had not happened to be around to buy some time, there would surely have been some casualties. The Basic and Intermediate Mages who were watching him from the side did not stand a chance against the Rock Monster at all! Mo Fan also walked toward the remains of the Rock Monster. There was a pile of stones lying still at the intersection. It was obvious that the Rock Monster was dead. There was a sudden movement from the pile of rocks. Mo Fan had a bad feeling when he noticed the tiny movement. “Watch out!” Mo Fan dashed forward and pushed Wen Xia away. There was a certain species in Egypt that could reassemble their bodies to attack travelers after they were shattered into pieces. Many inexperienced Mages had died to those sand creatures as they were unable to tell if they were alive or dead. Therefore, Mo Fan subconsciously thought the Rock Monster was about to rise again when he noticed the movement from the rocks, even though he could not detect any sign of life from it. Mo Fan was quite strong. The push almost knocked Wen Xia to the ground. Luckily, Wen Xia was quick, too. She managed to regain her balance with a backflip. “What the hell are you doing!?” Wen Xia lifted her eyes. Her attractive face was filled with anger. “You should be thanking me for saving...” Mo Fan pointed at the pile of rocks. He was going to say he had just saved her life when he saw a human rising feebly from the rocks. It was a skinny middle-aged woman, her clothes covered in a thick layer of ash, like a cocoon. Chunks of ash rolled off her as she rose to her feet. Mo Fan stared at the woman with a blank expression. Did a human just appear from the pile of rocks? What’s going on here? Did the woman turn into the Rock Monster? He had never heard of any magic that could transform a human into a Rock Monster! The woman was petite and skinny, a great contrast to the huge and tanky Rock Monster just a moment ago! Wen Xia rolled her eyes at Mo Fan before ordering two soldiers who had arrived late, “You two, take her away and confirm her identity!” Mo Fan had yet to recover from the shock. He immediately stopped Wen Xia when he saw she was leaving, too. “What just happened? Why is there a living human inside the Rock Monster?” he asked. The woman inside the Rock Monster was still alive, Mo Fan had confirmed it; she was very feeble, like she had expended all her energy. “It’s none of your business!” Wen Xia snapped. “You came so late. I had to risk my life to keep the Rock Monster busy to avoid casualties. I have the right to know the reason why that woman was inside that creature!” Mo Fan stood in front of the Battlemaga. He had no intention to back away. “Risk your life?” Wen Xia was amused by Mo Fan’s choice of words. She grinned like a man and said, “A creature of its level is as harmless as an infant to you!” “That’s not the point here!” Mo Fan complained. “I would like to know the reason, too. Can you please inform the military if you manage to find it out? We will reward you handsomely,” Wen Xia shot right back. Wen Xia brought the middle-aged woman away, leaving without wasting any more time with Mo Fan. The street was still a complete mess. Mo Fan frowned. He had a bad feeling about this. The Rock Monster was an Elemental creature, so it was supposed to turn into a pile of rocks after it died. It did not make sense for an older woman to appear from the pile of rocks, unless the Rock Monster had eaten her! “That doesn’t make any sense, either! If the Rock Monster had swallowed the woman, the Mountain Drill Spinning Top would have murdered her, too!” Mo Fan could not make any sense of it. He returned to the wall to check on the state of the battle there. The battle at the ravine seemed to have come to an end. Mo Fan only saw a few probationary Mages cleaning up the field. He did not learn anything valuable. “How strange!” Mo Fan blurted out before returning the same way. The whole incident felt so weird. Mo Fan knew he was not going to find out anything useful for the time being. He would have to wait until the Rock Monsters showed up again to learn the truth. —— Mo Fan regrouped with Tao Jing and Lin Qihui. Lin Qihui was treating Tao Jing’s wounds. Mo Fan noticed a few of her wounds were still bleeding. “Use this,” Mo Fan took out a potion and gave it to Tao Jing, “Just drink it, it’s vanilla-flavored.” “Are you really offering her a drink?” Lin Qihui said. “Yeah, it will help calm her down. I didn’t expect you to be such a brave soul, even though you are normally quiet and gentle,” Mo Fan complimented Tao Jing. “Being brave isn’t enough, I ended up giving you a lot of trouble,” Tao Jing received the drink from Mo Fan. She drank it right away, since she was indeed feeling a little thirsty. “It’s worth it, since we did save the man’s life,” Lin Qihui smiled. “It’s two of them,” Tao Jing said. “Two? Oh, you meant the person that appeared from the remains of the Rock Monster... that scared the crap out of me!” Lin Qihui admitted. “It felt like the woman was trapped inside the Rock Monster’s body. I heard that many Mages have gone missing in the city recently. I should be able to find the woman’s name on the list of missing people,” Tao Jing said thoughtfully. Trapped inside the Rock Monster’s body? Mo Fan found Tao Jing’s speculation to be convincing. Speaking of which, didn’t he also hear a Hunter mentioning that the military had found a living human inside the Rock Monster they took care of yesterday, too? “The Barrier Core might be attracting some strange creatures while it’s accumulating the energy of the Earth Element, due to its extraordinary nature. Otherwise, why would the military send so many soldiers here? It’s obviously to make sure the Barrier Core is well protected!” Lin Qihui pointed out. “From what I remember, the Barrier Core has similar side effects to Elemental Detectors, with a greater area of coverage. Therefore, demon creatures are expected to show up,” Tao Jing agreed. “It’s going to be busy in this city...” Mo Fan murmured to nobody in particular. CREATORS’ THOUGHTS XephiZ ohhh, mages as more than food and mincemeat bags. Inneresting... COMMENT3 commentsVOTE3 leftChapter 1763: The Wriggling Mud Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 Edited by Aelryinth — Drawing the Earth Star Pattern was not too difficult for Mo Fan. He expected to succeed at it after cultivating diligently for a few days, so he decided to clear his mind of the unimportant matters and dove into his golden-brown world! Time passed swiftly. Mo Fan totally forgot about sleeping and eating when the thought of learning a new powerful spell crossed his mind. Knock knock knock! Mo Fan suddenly heard a few heavy knocks on the door. He found them very annoying, as he was only a few Stars away from completing the Star Pattern. He would be able to cast the spell with ease if he could spend half a day more on it! “What is it?” Mo Fan decided to respond after he recalled he was still a member of the group. After all, he had disappeared for two days! “Fan Mo, are you in the room? Is everything fine?” Lin Qihui’s worried voice came from outside. Mo Fan rose to his feet and walked to the door. He opened the door and saw Lin Qihui standing there nervously. He had an uneasy look in his eyes. He let out a relieved sigh as soon as he saw Mo Fan. “What’s wrong?” Mo Fan asked. “Some people from our group are missing,” Lin Qihui told him earnestly. “Missing? What do you mean?” Mo Fan asked, surprised. “We went for an adventure on the mountain this morning. After all, it is important for us to gain some practical experience. Everyone except you went along. “We encountered some demon creatures who forced us to split up. We agreed to part ways temporarily to ensure our safety, and regroup at the foot of the mountain later. However, we waited until evening for the other group, but they did not show up,” Lin Qihui told him with a grimace. “Aren’t they carrying communication devices?” Mo Fan asked. “They are useless, the disturbance is too strong in the mountain,” Lin Qihui shook his head. “So who’s missing? Where’s Tao Jing?” Mo Fan asked. Lin Qihui was silent. “Tao Jing was with the other group?” Mo Fan frowned. “Mm, it’s my fault for failing to take care of the group. I’ve already asked the Magic Association for help, but the Magic Association says it’s too early to organize help for them. I’m worried they might be in danger,” Lin Qihui sighed. Zhou Donghao came up while the two were talking. He glanced at Lin Qihui and Mo Fan before saying impatiently, “Senior, there’s no point wasting time on him. He doesn’t even have the guts to go to the wild. We should hurry up and search for them inside the mountain again.” “Fan Mo is pretty strong, it will be safer if he comes with us,” Lin Qihui said quickly. Lin Qihui believed having an extra person was safer for the team. He had no idea how strong Mo Fan was. He had only seen Mo Fan being chased around by the Rock Monster to keep it busy. “I’ll go with you,” Mo Fan stated. He had no other choice. Saving women had always been his sacred duty. He would find himself grieving if anything happened to a pretty gentlewoman like Tao Jing! “We should be glad as long as he isn’t a burden to us!” Zhou Donghao snorted. Mo Fan completely ignored the man, and followed Lin Qihui outside. The remaining people of the group had already gathered downstairs. They were surprisingly righteous, having volunteered to help after learning the missing members might be in danger. — The group did not go inside the cave. Even the military would have trouble rescuing people inside the cave, which was as complicated as a maze. The desolate mountain was rugged and craggy, so there should be no problem finding the missing group if they did a thorough sweep. “What’s going on? Is something serious happening?” Mo Fan saw a huge army had gathered at the entrance of the city. “The military is planning to eliminate the threats to the Barrier Core by taking the initiative to wipe out the demon creatures within five kilometers of the city. Otherwise, they will struggle to handle them if too many demon creatures show up at once in the next few days,” Lin Qihui told him. “How many days left until the Barrier Core is set up?” Mo Fan asked. “Three or four days? I’m not too sure, either,” Lin Qihui admitted. “Let’s not waste our time talking and go to the mountain. The search is going to be a lot harder when it’s dark.” Taking advantage of the delayed sunset, the group formed a search team and quickly went over to the mountain. The mountain was like a staircase. They soon reached a tall cliff, and after they climbed to the top of it, they were immediately greeted by another. The cliffs were stacked irregularly on top of one another. They were able to jump between them at times, but for those that were too far apart, they had no choice but to climb with their hands. — “I’ll take a look up there, the view is clearer. Are you sure this is where you split up with them?” Mo Fan asked. “It’s so high, how are you going to get up there?” the female student with glasses, Cao Juan, wondered. “Yeah, it’s not like you can fly!” Lin Qihui looked up and realized how steep the cliff was. It was unlikely a normal person could climb up there. Mo Fan did not respond. He jumped directly onto the straight cliff. He jumped surprisingly high into the air. When he reached the highest point, a golden-brown Star Orbit surrounded him. A rocky spar emerged from the wall like a bamboo shoot, right under Mo Fan’s feet. Mo Fan kicked the rock and launched himself higher into the air once again. Another stone beam popped out from the wall, and Mo Fan launched himself higher once again. He was slowly disappearing from the others’ view. More rocks popped out of the wall as Mo Fan made his way up, and he soon reached the top of the cliff. The rest of the group was dumbfounded after witnessing him. It was extremely rare to see anyone using the Earth Element in such a manner. More importantly, his strength and agility were comparable to a powerful demon creature! “Humph, he’s only good at useless tricks like that!” Zhou Donghao said disdainfully, trying to break the mood. Mo Fan was able to see the mountains nearby from the top of the cliff. He looked down trying to search for Tao Jing and the missing members, and suddenly noticed something wriggling rapidly in a crack between the slopes not far away. Mo Fan tried to get a closer look at it. He was having trouble identifying it. It simply looked like mud. The problem was, the mud was moving down the mountains. It seemed to be heading for the students! “Something is heading your way. Look out!” Mo Fan immediately yelled at the group when he sensed something was not right. “What did you say? Are they close to us?” “I said, something dangerous is heading your way! Hide, now!” Mo Fan raised his voice. “Oh, that way? Sure, we’ll try searching in that direction!” Lin Qihui responded. Mo Fan could hear Lin Qihui’s response, but the man’s hearing was obviously not as good as his own. He looked down again and noticed the wriggling mud was getting even closer to the students! “Damn it, I asked you to run, run!” Mo Fan jumped down from the cliff, yelling at the people below who were unaware of the situation they were in.