Chapter 250

Chapter 250 Tragedy

All the players were slightly surprised to hear thisTheir first thought was that this was a trap, but they did not overreact at all despite their shock .

After all, they wouldn’t really die, and even if they were killed in this trap, they could make a comeback after their resurrection .

Seeing that the players wore odd expressions but remained calm, Ans nodded in satisfaction .

He continued, “Although I’m a radical, I too believe that they’re outrageous . ”

Realizing that the elf was about to tell a story, the players each found a chair . But there were only six chairs in the lodge, and Ans had claimed one . So, four players had to sit on the ground . Schuck was among them . Margret sat on his thigh, yawning now and then .

Ans’s face changed slightly when he saw the cute dragon horns on Margret’s forehead . Then he went on: “Half a year ago, Nature’s Wrath annihilated a human village at the border of Urganda . They killed all two hundred people in the village, including the elderly, the women, and the children, just because one of the villagers sold a female elf in the past . ”

Everybody’s faces changed when they heard that . The players sitting on the ground all stood up .

When Schuck suddenly rose, Margret was flipped off, which was quite unexpected for her .

She didn’t blame Schuck . Instead, she glared at Ans, because Schuck wouldn’t rise all of a sudden if not for him .

Sensing Margret’s anger, Ans was rather nervous, which was understandable as nobody would feel comfortable when a dragon glared at them .

Betta asked indifferently, “Are you sure it’s true?”

“I don’t need to lie about that . I’m an elf anyway,” Ans said painfully . “Nature’s Wrath believed in punishing the devils who ruined nature and who polluted the earth with evil magic powers, but now, it has become a group of extremists who believe that human beings are the cancer of the world . ”

Ans covered his face with his hands, making it impossible to see his expression, but everybody could hear infinite disappointment in his voice .

They could sympathize with the elf .

The destruction of one’s ideal and the corruption of one’s community were worse than death, and that was what happened to Ans .

After a brief silence, Ans raised his face from his hands . “Two months ago, it happened to another village . Half a month ago, they slaughtered a town . None of the three thousand residents survived . They’re completely crazy now . A dozen days ago, a brother questioned the justification of their behavior, but then he was brutally murdered and transformed into a tree by the lake . ”

Everybody couldn’t have looked more awful after hearing that .

Roland couldn’t help but ask, “Sorry, not that we’re suspecting you, but do you have any evidence?”

Ans seemed to be expecting that question . He unfolded a piece of paper on the table . It was a map .

He pointed at the three Xs on the map and said, “They’re the places that have been slaughtered . You can take a look for yourself . ”

Everybody glanced at each other, and then Betta said, “Please give us a few days to consider . ”

Ans nodded . “Of course . ”

They left the lodge . At the edge of the forest, Roland set up a stone house with magic, and everybody got in .

Betta and a friend from Silver Wings took out tables, chairs, fruit wine, and of course, barbecue .

Everybody ate the food unhurriedly and silently . In the end, Roland said, “How much do you believe what Ans said?”

“Fifty percent . ” Schuck put down the barbecue and said, “In any case, we have to look into it carefully . I don’t want to be anyone’s pawn or tool . ”

At this point, a Warrior of Silver Wings said, “Don’t bother with that . Let’s just complete the epic quest . After all, it’s not going to be humans that we kill . It’s just elves . ”

Roland sighed . “Are you not scared that this is a trick quest that will turn our inclination from Neutral Good to Evil?”

The Warrior immediately shut up .

As frequent visitors to the forum, they had read a lot of posts of other players on “trick quests . ”

One of the players, who accepted every quest he encountered, was directed by a sordid NPC to kill many innocent people .

He didn’t realize what was going on until his inclination changed from Neutral Good to Chaotic Evil .

Now, he was wanted by the game system . Multiple players had triggered the quest “Eliminate the evil Golden Son and reduce him to level zero . ”

The EXP reward for that mission was quite high .

The player couldn’t even delete his character . The option was unavailable after he entered the Temple of Life .

He could only be killed by other quest maniacs again and again .

Of course, nobody wanted that to happen to them .

“Let’s divide into three groups and check the locations marked by Ans,” Schuck suggested . “Margret and I will go to the farthest place . You can split into two parties and search the other two . ”

Hawk pondered for a moment and said, “I fear that what we see will be what the elf wants us to see . ”

Roland smiled . “But there will definitely be traces . It will be fine as long as we remain careful . ”

Everybody nodded and agreed with the plan .

They quickly finished the meat and left in three groups .

On Margret’s back, Schuck took off and soon became a black spot in the sky .

Craning his head at them, Betta said enviously, “I wish I could fly too . ”

Roland said with a smile, “You can try to pick up the flight spells of the wind class later . ”

“The spells that the Warlocks can awaken are random except for the ones related to the dragon blood power . ” Betta sighed . “Chances are few that I can pick up a flight spell . ”

“You can still learn to make a magic scroll and then pick up the magic model of flight spells . Then, you can fly with the scroll,” Roland suggested .

Although Roland was incapable of making magic scrolls yet, he had read relevant knowledge in the library in his magic tower .

So, knowledge was only beneficial . With more knowledge, one could plan better for the future .

Betta nodded . “I could try that later . ”

Then, the four-person squad set off .

Roland’s squad included the Warrior named Suel and the frustrated Priest, as well as Betta .

According to Ans’s map, it would take them two days to reach that village at a normal speed .

But as professionals, they had much more stamina that normal people did, and most importantly, they needed no rest .

They walked without stopping . When they were out of stamina, they would eat while they walked . As a result, they arrived at their destination after only a day and a night .

When it was dawn, they saw twenty ragged grass cottages as well as a few low houses made of red bricks .

Far away, many birds were chirping on top of the dilapidated buildings .

The village was quiet .

At the entrance of the village, they found that the wooden fences around the village meant to keep out beasts had been broken .

As far as their eyes could reach, skeletons in clothes that were riddled with holes were scattered on the road .

Some of the bones were stuck to dried, blackened flesh . There were also clear bite marks on the bones .

There was no telling if it was their imagination, but a vague stink was spreading in the air .

Subconsciously, Roland walked forward with his nose covered .

As they pressed on, they saw more and more skeletons . There were both adults and children who were no taller than one meter .

Suel looked quite awful, and Betta was similar .

Roland and the Priest, on the other hand, seemed natural, but they were not as peaceful as they appeared .

Those dead bodies, after being tormented by storms and beasts, actually couldn’t have any scent left .

The vague stink was merely their imagination .

Thinking that through, Roland dropped his hands from his mouth .

Standing in front of a dry well, he looked around and said, “Check the bodies and see if we can find any leads . ”

They dispersed and regathered half an hour later, each lifting a white skull with a wooden stick .

Betta said, “I found no weapons, but it occurred to me that most skulls had a hole in them . ”

He showed the skull on his stick .

The other three showed their skulls too . Though the holes were at different locations, there was indeed a hole of similar size and shape on each of the skulls .

Holding the skull with Hand of Magic, Roland observed it for a moment and said, “I found no weapons in the places I explored, but all the skulls had a tiny hole in them, which means that they were indeed killed by small pointy weapons . ”

“Arrows!” Betta suggested .

Suel frowned . “But I didn’t see any arrows . They couldn’t have collected all the arrows that they shot, could they?”

“I read from books that the elves are naturally endowed with magic power . Their expert archers can form arrows with magic power…” Roland suddenly paused and frowned . “Wait . What’s that smell?”

Roland turned back and looked around . Eventually, he looked down at the well before him . Gradually, he became grim .

He extended the blue Hand of Magic and picked up a big bucket from the bottom of the well .

The bucket was placed on the ground, and everybody gathered around it .

Inside the bucket was a body that had almost rotted into fluid . Though disfigured, it was probably only a baby, two to three years old .

The body was very slim . Though it was also rotten, a little pus was in the bucket .

Though the air was getting smelly, nobody covered their nose .

Observing it for a while, Roland clenched his fists, but his voice was very soft, as if he feared that he might wake up the kid . “He was starved . ”

Suel’s and the Priest’s eyes were immediately bloodshot .

Betta turned around and kicked the tree nearby into pieces, before he roared desperately .

“F*ck!”

The birds in the village, shocked, all flew away in flocks .