"What a pity. We still have a lot of things to deal with." Iris stood up and stretched lazily.
Maeve jumped onto the spellbook and silently floated over to Anser's side, looking sleepy.
"Let's go. We should first check what's happening in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. The number of wyvern patrols seems lower today," Anser said as he activated the Rod of Security, teleporting the two of them and the cat away together.
There were too many matters to handle, but the problems in the Wood of Sharp Teeth were definitely more important than the affairs of Rock of Bral. Only if Durlag Union remained stable could his commercial plans truly move forward.
There was no need to worry about White Stone Island for the time being. He had left Arcane Lock protections in both locations. As long as someone manually destroyed them, he would immediately know something had happened there.
After returning to Fort Jacqueline, the two of them went downstairs together.
When the butler saw them finally come out of the room, he quietly let out a sigh of relief.
He did not dare ask questions and merely reminded them in a low voice that food had been left in the dining hall.
Iris had already eaten, but Anser had gone an entire day without food. He immediately changed direction and entered the dining hall, sitting at the table and devouring the meal voraciously.
A faint smile hung on the butler's face as he continuously brought more dishes over.
Noticing the strange look in the old butler's eyes, Iris opened her mouth as if to explain, but ultimately gave up and simply rode her flying carpet away.
Anser smiled without saying anything, pretending not to notice.
After quickly finishing dinner, he transformed dragon wings in front of the stunned butler and guards. With several running steps, he soared into the sky and shot straight into the clouds.
The movements and appearance were undeniably cool, though the initial acceleration was indeed somewhat slow. Jumping off a city wall might actually have been easier.
Iris followed behind him as the two first made a trip to the Durlag Union.
After confirming that Makaria had not come looking for him, Anser was not disappointed. That tiefling tribe was supposedly quite far away, so returning within a single day was unlikely.
Councilor Graham had temporarily assembled a management team of around a dozen people. Their abilities were average, but managing a small island of roughly a thousand inhabitants would not be a problem.
Anser planned to send them to White Stone Island after resolving the situation in the Wood of Sharp Teeth so that Quentin could begin establishing the framework of an administrative system there.
After giving a few brief instructions, he and Iris headed directly toward the skies above the Wood of Sharp Teeth.
The forest was enormous. They flew for nearly two hours before finally spotting the iconic basin located in the middle of the forest.
They did not recklessly approach the target directly. Instead, they drew near from high altitude and first used the Farseeing Scope to observe the situation below.
"That place is called Moonscar Basin. The ruins at the center of the basin are the famous city of Viheral. Supposedly, werewolves have always guarded it…" Iris patiently explained. She had carefully researched the legends surrounding Viheral before.
Legends of treasure had always fascinated people. Almost no one could resist such temptation. The difference was merely that some were willing to risk their lives, while others remained more rational.
"Look at that pit—it's glowing!" Anser's eyes flickered as he tossed the Farseeing Scope to Iris flying beside him.
Iris caught the telescope and carefully observed through it. Her expression changed slightly as her gaze swept across the pits. "Those definitely appeared within the last few days."
She frequently observed Moonscar Basin and was extremely familiar with the Wood of Sharp Teeth. It was only because the wyvern patrols had blocked the area these past few days that she had not dared venture closer to investigate.
"With this many pits, it would take at least several hundred people to dig them, right?" Anser said in surprise. "Could this really have nothing to do with Sosk? He doesn't seem to have many subordinates."
Thinking of the dense undead aura surrounding Sosk, Anser suddenly felt uneasy. Could that wizard from Thay have created an undead legion?
Even if Sosk was not from the necromancy school, nobody would doubt a Thayan wizard's ability to manipulate undead.
"I found undead—werewolf zombies, plus half-dragons and adventurers…" Iris described while continuing her observations.
"This Sosk… he's got some nerve." Anser's expression stiffened. Those werewolf corpses seemed to have been sold to him by Anser himself.
Did this count as helping a tyrant commit evil?
Fortunately, Moonscar Basin was located deep within the center of the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Even if the undead lost control, they would not immediately threaten Durlag Union or the surrounding villages.
"Should we go in and take a look?" Iris frowned slightly. The situation was too confusing, and it did not seem like they had any other choice.
Anser looked toward the wyverns circling above Moonscar Basin and nodded faintly. "Let's deal with those wyverns first."
He had no intention of getting trapped and killed at the entrance on the way out.
Focusing his mind, he began casting a spell, summoning one of his most reliable assistants.
"તત્વજાદુ"
Extended Spell + Conjure Elemental — Air Elemental!
Dozens of meters ahead, violent winds howled as they rapidly gathered toward the center. A vortex quickly formed, growing larger and larger until it resembled a tornado.
A minute later, a gigantic being over four meters tall emerged within the cyclone. It looked like some kind of vividly colored gaseous mixture, each shift in form resembling an abstract oil painting.
Another unfamiliar air elemental, though this one seemed stronger than all the previous ones.
Using Telepathy, Anser briefly attempted to communicate with the elemental, only to discover that it barely responded to him.
Too lazy to waste words, he cast Fly on himself, raised his shield in his left hand, spread his dragon wings, and dove straight toward the four wyverns flying above the forest.
"Come on, let's fight!"
The wind elemental said nothing, yet shot forward faster than the wind itself, overtaking Anser as it charged toward the wyverns.
Iris froze for a moment, completely unable to understand Anser's casting logic. But this was no time for random thoughts, so she immediately rode her flying carpet and followed from a distance.
After spotting the enemy, the wyverns let out several shrill cries and simultaneously lunged toward Anser. One of them even carried a half-dragon rider on its back.
Wyverns were extremely aggressive creatures. They rarely landed on the ground, and in the air, unless they encountered dragons or faced an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, they simply did not fear battle.
That said, they did not fight head-on. Their usual strategy was aerial skirmishing, waiting for the perfect chance to deliver a killing blow.
As the distance between both sides closed, they finally saw each other clearly.
Then, the four wyverns suddenly turned around all at once.
They stopped fighting and fled!
'That cowardly?' Anser raised a brow before quickly realizing the truth. The other side recognized him.
Back in Blue Water City, the wyvern patrols had acted arrogantly beyond belief. Yet these recent encounters had been nothing but cowardice. He seriously suspected that the Emerald Kingdom had suffered badly at Candlekeep.
'Quick, chase them down!' He directed the air elemental toward the half-dragon rider, because the armored half-dragon's weight greatly reduced the wyvern's speed.
The half-dragon focused solely on escaping, but soon realized the air elemental was far too fast. The distance between them rapidly shrank to within a thousand meters.
Even then, the half-dragon still did not dare fight back. Instead, he ordered his wyvern mount into a steep vertical dive toward the ground, using gravity to temporarily shake off the air elemental while heading straight for Moonscar Basin. His intentions were obvious.
The air elemental pursued relentlessly.
From above, Anser carefully surveyed Moonscar Basin and quickly discovered the undead, half-dragons, and adventurers confronting each other around the glowing pits.
The undead side had slightly greater numbers: roughly a dozen werewolf zombies, twenty to thirty skeletons and ordinary zombies, plus two black-robed figures hidden among them, likely spellcasters controlling the undead.
The half-dragons had the fewest members, only three in total, though their strength was unclear. There could very well be high-ranking half-dragons among them.
The adventurers numbered over a dozen. Among them, Anser recognized a familiar face—Sergey, a senior hunter whom he had previously met during the werewolf hunts.
However, compared to those groups, Anser was far more interested in the pits emitting multicolored light.
Earlier, the angle had prevented him from seeing clearly, but now he finally noticed the vast clusters of glowing mushrooms inside the pits. The fungi stood taller than people, forming what was unmistakably a bizarre forest made entirely of mushrooms.
'Something's wrong. Weren't there supposed to be ruins and treasure?'
This style… why did it look so much like the Underdark?
'Did they dig in the wrong place?'
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