Chapter 66:

“Huff” Following the orange-red flames of the torch Lumina threw down, the fire spread rapidly like a writhing fire snake along the alchemical fire oil she had previously spilled. This fire oil was clearly enhanced with additives. The flames spread at an abnormal speed. Fortunately, Lumina had thrown the torch from far away. If she were closer, she might not have had time to run with that ignition speed. In the blink of an eye, the two alleys in front of her were engulfed in bright flames. Under the flickering fires, the shadows of obstacles stretched long, but Lumina could also hear faint explosions, like something crying out as it was ignited by the flames. This made her eyes widen as she grabbed her hunting rifle again. The earlier Astral Wolf attack reminded her of her true advantage, she might be better suited to shooting from a distance rather than close combat fighting, though it was a pity about the elven sword arts she had just acquired. She wondered if there was a job that could balance ranged and close combat abilities? “Awoo” A shrill howl interrupted Lumina’s imagination. She immediately aimed her rifle at the flames and saw the formless shades of despair spawned from the burning smoke, struggling to escape the raging fire as if fleeing. But they didn’t get far before a lead bullet from Lumina shattered their forms into black ashes, swallowed again by the blazing fire. “Effective!” Lumina watched as the Astral shadows in the alley were consumed by the spreading flames, leaving only pale gray ash in their wake. It seemed Lord Murphy’s plan had a successful foundation. All they needed to do was douse the entire outer city ruins with this alchemical fire oil, then set it ablaze for total victory. She glanced at the “Burn Test” quest now showing as complete on her player interface, shouldered her rifle, humming a tune as she carried the strange bones she had collected from the Astral Wolves, heading back to the defense line to turn in the quest to Lady Tris. Lord Murphy wasn’t around, she didn’t know where he had gone. “Hmm, the quality of this Astral Wolf Palate Bone is not bad. Seems you’ve had quite the lucky find, little girl.” Lady Tris maintained her signature half-drunken posture, sitting by the alchemy table. After examining the special material Lumina handed over, she nodded in satisfaction and asked: “Is there anything you want? I can trade you the secrets of spirit magic for these materials.” Lady Tris looked both alluring and kindly at the moment, but in reality her heart was delighted. The crystals of raging Astral spirit energy contained in the remains of these Astral creatures were considered rare materials in other spirit circles. But now she only needed to offer a bit of basic spirit knowledge to easily obtain them from these adorable little warriors. As her little Murphy had said, after getting familiar with the way these little warriors operated, she really was growing fonder of these eternally energetic, fearless, insightful but easily satisfied little cuties. Their courage clearly needed to be directed in more reasonable ways, like obtaining fine wines or rare and expensive materials for her. Lumina had previously known she could exchange rare drop materials with Lady Tris for manuals on spirit skills. But as a solo player who didn’t raid instances, she hadn’t expected to have this opportunity. Hearing Tris’ inquiry now, she felt a bit lost. After a moment’s thought, she carefully asked: “Do you have any books on elven-style spirit magic here?” “Elves?” With the Computation Bead’s precise translation, Tris understood Lumina’s intent, but frowned and said: “Why would you be interested in those conservative, exclusionary people? They are not kind characters. The war between the Castilia elves and the Sanghai people 300 years ago at the ‘Bridge of Heaven’ shocked the continent, that was our first realization of the immense power held by those reclusive Avalon nature-worshippers. Little girl, you should be more cautious. What I mean is, stay away from those dangerous things.” But seeing Lumina’s unchanged expression, Lady Tris knew her warning had fallen on deaf ears. Recalling that little Murphy had asked her to secretly look after this bold but careful girl, Tris pondered for a moment before retrieving a scroll and elegantly beginning to write. Nearly five minutes later, the scroll was rolled up and handed to Lumina. “This is an elven spell from my memory, but you won’t be able to use it for now.” Hearing Lady Tris’ words, Lumina excitedly accepted it and activated her player interface’s item identification. Soon, a simple description appeared: Name: Lady Tris’ Magic Manual – Eye of the Wilderness “Yes,” Murphy nodded. “Over the next two days, the militia at the survivor camps will gradually burn the city district with fire oil, eventually pushing to the Astral Rift to secure the new border. The hard-to-reach areas on the outer ruin edges will be ‘air-dropped’ by the Young Lady and Adele. “Only by burning away those shadows can this place truly belong to us again. “Also, the dire situation you prophesied has emerged. According to my warriors’ scouting in the sewer regions, ghouls and their ‘cousins’ the waterlogged undead have appeared in droves under the ruins. “The death spirit energy in Transia isn’t converging, so this rate of transformation is too fast, isn’t it?” “Too fast? I think it’s too slow,” Tris snorted, adopting the cold arrogance befitting a Spirit Sovereign. “The spirit energy of the physical world is filtered through the Astral Realm. In the face of that primal, raging spirit energy, further classification is meaningless, they inherently possess shared characteristics across spirit types. “The appearance of ghouls is just the first step; more troublesome wraiths await. “After burning away the city’s surface Astral shadows, we’ll have to deal with those specters next. “But it seems your warriors implemented some rather special management methods at the camp. I overheard them hotly discussing something called a ‘big pot meal’ today.” Tris sounded a bit concerned as she knew the little players’ backgrounds, so she asked, “Are you sure it’s okay to just let them do that?” “If it’s a proven effective method, then we have no need to worry,” Murphy said with a nuanced tone to Tris. She paused, then realized Murphy meant their warriors might be employing methods from other realms. She nodded, not asking further. —— “Battalion Commander! There’s a problem in Kadman City!” A few hours after nightfall, a White Oak scout rushed into Old Finoch’s tent at the Witch Hunters’ temporary camp, loudly telling the Battalion Commander who was carefully polishing his Great Oak Holy Blade. “There are flames rising from the ruins! The glow penetrates even the astral shadow shroud, allowing us to see it from the observation point. We suspect something happened in the city to set the whole place ablaze. Perhaps a conflict erupted between that strange vampire and the civilians he’s oppressing?” “Hmm?” The old knight, clad only in a simple tunic, raised his head in surprise. Slinging his sacred Great Oak Blade across his back, he followed the scout out to a vantage point overlooking Kadman City through a surveying telescope. The burning flames stood out starkly in the night. But the war-seasoned old knight immediately judged it was not an entire citywide conflagration. He was quite familiar with such things from his long life of campaigns, not just once, but many times. “No! The flames are too small and not intense enough, at most a small district is burning. This is an intentional, planned arson.” The old knight lowered his telescope and said gravely: “It seems they are using fire against the overflowing Astral shadows, a decent substitute in the absence of professional purifying spirit mages. But I never expected vampires to willingly use fire, that truly surprises me. I recall the rural folk of this Transia region passing down an ancient tradition of using flames to purify corruption and darkness, right?” “Yes, Battalion Commander. Such customs are indeed passed down locally, said to be methods concluded by their ancestors from conflicts with vampires long ago,” replied a scout versed in the local traditions. “This approach can’t be wrong, flames are indeed employed in many exorcism rituals. But should we really allow those vampires to reclaim their city uncontested? Perhaps we should seize the opportunity to launch an attack while they’re vulnerable? With the intelligence we currently possess, under your leadership, those vampires can’t possibly stop us!” “We shall advance, but not attack,” the old Finoch shook his head solemnly. “Those vampires and their blood servants cannot escape from our grasp! The astral rift will close tomorrow, and that is when we will act. But remember our mission, Hunters. Those scattered vampires and servants are inconsequential, confirming Salrokdar’s death and the Blood Vultures’ destruction is of utmost importance! I know those who have survived this war have bloodied their hands, some more than others. But if I find any of you losing control of the destructive urges in your heart, raising blades against those survivors, don’t expect any leniency from me!”