Above The Sky
Chapter 385 - 385 357 It must have been done by Fiery Flame Land!

385: Chapter 357: It must have been done by Fiery Flame Land!

385: Chapter 357: It must have been done by Fiery Flame Land!

After traveling for a day or two, the caravan reached Amor Town, where they dropped off a batch of goods that were to be transferred by water to the Bison Mountain Range colony.

They received a batch of Natives’ specialties and then set off again.

Between Harrison Port and Three Rivers City lies the ‘Great Rift Valley District’.

This area used to be a high mountain, but due to the geological changes caused by the Calamity of Heavenly Fall, the entire mountain range cracked and collapsed, sliding into the sea.

The fissures, hollows, and sedimentary layers formed by the collapse have become today’s Great Rift Valley and Fantasia Labyrinth Reef Cluster.

Some cracks, perennially washed by river water, have become staggered waterfalls under the earth’s surface.

Here, dwell unique water cliff species native to South Ridge, and quite a few water-series Magical Beasts that can fly reside here.

It is even said that these fissures lead directly to the ocean.

However, none of this mattered to the White Chamber Caravan.

They simply crossed the shortest gap over the rift on a stone arch bridge and headed towards the area where the Fantasia Labyrinth Reef Cluster was located.

“There are quite a few Magical Beasts around here, making it a hotspot for Magical Beast attacks.

Even the Natives rarely come near,”

Upon entering this area, the caravan became vigilant.

Even Brin began to clean his long knife, preparing for any battle that could occur at any moment: “See over there?

A small caravan was trying their luck.

Looks like they were probably attacked by a Demon Beast-led Forest Leopard.”

At the place Brin pointed to, there was a wagon wreck overgrown with moss, with clear, delicate claw marks visible on it, horrifying against the backdrop of a tropical jungle.

Some chewed-up skeletal remains were scattered beside it, a rather recent event.

The forest would quickly consume all of this.

“Judging by the fragments of the bodies, there were only five or six people.” Ian raised his eyebrows as he observed the skeletal remains, and said in surprise, “Only this many people daring to take the South Ridge trade route?

They should have at least ten times more.”

“The profits are really high,”

Brin, however, was somewhat sighing: “Inscription Creations and Alchemy Lamps from the Great Plains, along with metal tools, can fetch two to three times the price here.”

“And the medicinal herbs and rare fish catches from here, along with the special Magical Beast Materials you know about, Ian, can easily fetch more than four times the profit when sold in the Great Plains area around the Imperial Capital!”

With a 300% profit, merchants dare to trample all the laws of the Human Realm— not to mention the more than tenfold profits gained from round trips?

There were plenty of people who burned out the last strand of sanity in their brains, ignoring the exorbitantly high costs and risks accompanying the huge profits, not to mention the need to secure official relationships for round-trip transportation, reliable local partners, armed forces to ensure safety, and all other preparations.

“Such small caravans often suffer many deaths; most don’t have the money to gamble with their lives.

But if they make it, they really can accrue the capital to engage in proper business and establish a foundation,”

Brin once dreamed of making it big and doing great things, but then he realized those were just wild dreams.

The Magical Beasts of South Ridge were ravenous, and they did not mind indulging in a few more feasts.

The White Chamber Caravan also had more than a hundred people, with numerous guards equipped with Alchemical Firearms for self-defense.

Ordinary Magical Beasts would at best come close to see if they could drag away a few unlucky stragglers.

They would never dare to launch a large-scale attack.

Not to mention, they had a Sublimator like Ian present, so the trade guild took the extra step of bringing along more goods, hoping to make a bigger profit on this opportunity.

The sun gradually set, and nighttime arrived.

But the caravan increased their vigilance, arranging their wagons and Camel Beasts in a circular formation to create a makeshift fortress.

Guards like Brin were all patrolling the surroundings, monitoring the traces of Magical Beasts.

What bandit could be as terrifying as a Magical Beast?

A single enraged Hard Shell Bear could demolish a small house.

Their wagon fortifications were barely better than nothing; if it really came to a fight, they would have to employ various methods to repel and scare them off.

Everyone was tense, except Ian, who appeared calm, continuously taking notes and writing something with pen and paper.

No one bothered him; after all, it was obvious who the real leader of the caravan was.

Until a sharp whistle sounded.

This was the signal that a Magical Beast was approaching.

Accompanying it was the sharp howling of a Magical Beast in the distance.

All in the caravan turned grim, or took in a breath of cold air— Brin swiftly took out a light crossbow and loaded it with arrows.

Though he had experienced several similar Magical Beast attacks before, each one brought different tensions and dangers.

“It’s a Reef-eater Otter!”

The voice of a nearby scout rose, with surprise: “How could this be?

Although this area is indeed around the Labyrinth Reef Cluster, how could they leave the shore and attack us this far inland?”

Upon hearing this, Ian finally looked up.

He first glanced in the direction of the Magical Beasts and then towards the direction of the caravan’s goods wagons.

Indeed, there were quite a few blue mists there.

The caravan was transporting a batch of Magical Beast Materials.

Materials from the Magical Beasts belonging to the Natives.

Unlike the preferential treatment given to the Tenglan Tribe, the price for the Mountain Tide Faction Natives surrendering to Harrison Port was the extermination of all their nurtured Swamp Crocodile Dragons with potential or at Demon Beast Level.

Compared to the unexterminable Giant Eel Series, which had already become the vast Forest Sea of the entire Great Redwood Forest District, the Swamp Crocodragon was the Totem Spirit series most easily eradicated.

Indeed, this was an excessive demand, but faced with the absolute power wielded by Viscount Grant, the Natives ultimately submitted.

And those killed Swamp Crocodragons’ materials were part of the batch shipped out by the White Chamber Caravan.

As for why it was the White Chamber Commerce Guild…

certainly, it was to share some of the profits with the White Folks, while incidentally, Ian, the Sublimator, protected and escorted them.

As expected, now there were Magical Beasts eyeing this batch of Earth Series Magical Beast Materials, and Ian would definitely intervene.

“The Viscount sure knows how to make use of people…

he could have just said so outright.”

“And, there’s something strange about this group of Reef-eater Otters.”

Shaking his head slightly, Ian stood up, put on his helmet, and walked towards the direction of the Magical Beasts.

At this time, nearly everyone in the caravan was preparing their weapons, stringing their bows, and readying for battle.

The Reef-eater Otter might have been impervious to swords and spears, its fur nearly metallic, but armor-piercing arrowheads could still let their blood, not to mention those Reef-eater Otters that hadn’t reached the Demon Beast Level had shells that were not so hard, heavy arrows were enough to penetrate their tough skins.

As the Otter community was approaching, accompanied by the sound of snapping brush, one after the other, the giant otters with silver-white hides disregarded the scouts’ continuous rebukes and flame threats, and unheedingly closed in on the caravan’s main formation.

The Otters collided with each other, creating a ringing sound akin to metal.

They came for the materials of other Magical Beasts, a rare opportunity to acquire a large quantity of Origin Quality to promote the growth of their pack; just as Humans would sometimes ignore risks for profit, Magical Beasts acted the same way.

Eyeing the wagon fortifications, the Otters’ gazes turned greedy, their needle-like fur standing on end, clearly entering combat mode.

And the caravan’s guards were also extremely tense—all of them armed with bows and crossbows, ready with oil and long spears, preparing to make these slightly frenzied giant otters pay using the protection of the wagons.

But they didn’t get the chance to act.

Because Ian walked to the front of this group of Otters.

He didn’t even draw his sword; he merely stood before the leading Demon Beast Otter, ensuring the beast could clearly see and, or shall we say, clearly sense his Origin Quality aura.

Then, the Demon Beast Level giant otter knelt down in fear.

Crash crash crash.

It quickly lay prostrate in front of Ian with such force that it even crushed some of the rocks beneath it, its entire body trembling continuously as if bowing deeply like humans do, causing the ordinary Reef-eater Otters trailing behind to lie down as well.

A baby otter stood there bewildered, not quite understanding why everyone else was lying down, but soon a mother otter slapped the child, who couldn’t sense the strength of others, to the ground as well.

She truly did look like a caring mother.

“Get lost, don’t bother me,” Ian said with a sigh.

“I don’t even know who led you here, but they chose well.”

“If I really killed all of you, the caravan would surely be in chaos too.”

Feeling Ian’s annoyance, wanting to let them go, the leader otter was like a reprieved soul, immediately getting up, letting out a long howl, and directing the pack to act.

So, the community began to retreat in disarray.

Ever since many years ago, when Ian had slain a leader of the Reef-eater Otters, propelling himself to the First Energy Level, he came hunting Magical Beasts here at the Labyrinth Reefs from time to time, to obtain sufficient resources—the Magical Beasts of the Labyrinth Reefs recognized him by now.

In a sense, he was also a kind of Beast King.

After meeting Shasha, he even brought it here for a feast twice—once including several Reef-eater Otters.

The Ironclad Shark Series were natural predators of marine metallic Magical Beasts like the Reef-eater Otters and one of the few large Magical Beasts that could threaten them.

By chance, those Reef-eater Otters were probably the ones that bred after the ones Ian killed years ago.

With their wisdom and memory that were much higher than ordinary wild beasts, they recognized Ian as the formidable ‘Lineage Severer’ and ‘Friend of the Ironclad Shark.’

When Ian told this group of Otters to leave, they obediently retreated.

“…Having a Sublimator around sure is handy,” one of the hunters remarked as he walked forward after the Otters quickly left the way they had come.

Brin shook his head, still shaken.

“If it were just our caravan, killing this group of Otters wouldn’t even cover the compensation for the people we’d lose…

Magical Beast attacks are just too terrifying.”

He didn’t ask why Ian, after clearly suppressing the group of Reef-eater Otters, didn’t kill them all—there were at least two Demon Beast Level Otters in the group, which could earn a couple hundred Talle if sold, and even more if their fur was intact.

That was because Brin had sensed that other pairs of eyes, which had been surreptitiously watching the camp, also retreated apprehensively after the Reef-eater Otters left.

Though only the Otters had come out this time, if a real fight had erupted, the Magical Beasts lurking in the nearby jungle certainly wouldn’t mind taking advantage of the chaos.

Experienced hunters knew this as well, and thus everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“It has nothing to do with you guys, it’s my own trouble,” Ian said, causing everyone to pause.

“Let’s not discuss that without me, the Viscount would never have entrusted this batch of goods to us.”

“These Reef-eater Otters rushed out of the reefs in haste, making a beeline for us, there must be someone behind this.”

“And moreover, I know it has to be from Fiery Flame Land.”

He turned his head, his helmet shining with the radiance of Spirit Energy, the blue of his eyes sweeping across the entire caravan.

“Among the hunters in the convoy, there is a spy from Fiery Flame Land,” Ian said calmly.

“These Reef-eater Otters were led here by him.”

“I’ll give you a chance to stand trial alive, come forward on your own.”

“Otherwise, I’ll turn you into Alchemy Material.”