Chapter 249 [Conversations with the Dead]
Just as Catherine predicted, they arrived at the old site of Snover Camp when it was just getting dark the next night.
Although the night was shrouded in darkness, it had little impact on the three of them.
As a hunter, he will naturally master the [Dark Vision] in the 2nd level spell.
As for Gaode, he has already adapted to a higher ability to see in the dark. With his naked eyes, he already has an effect similar to dark vision.
Of course, the effect is not as significant as [Dark Vision], but it is enough.
Looking around, you can clearly see that the camp, which was so large and prosperous half a month ago, has now become a ruin, half-buried by the drifting snow.
Fragments of the tent can be seen everywhere, and the curtains are torn and fluttering in the wind.
On the snow, you can still vaguely see the evidence of the ravages of the beasts. Some chewed bones are scattered in the snow, as well as women's clothes, men's weapons, pots and other fragments of life scattered everywhere.
There is an indescribable heaviness in the air.
The fragility of life is even more evident on the snowfield.
Roich and Katherine were very calm about this scene.
This is perhaps the biggest difference between hunters and guardians.
Do guardians really have compassion and dedication, while hunters are more self-centered?
Gaode secretly thought in his heart.
The two of them took Gothe and wandered around the messy Snover site, looking around as if they were searching for something.
In Gothe's view, there are only broken chores and incomplete bones left here. It is impossible to find something to prove that his words are true.
But since Kathleen was so confident yesterday, she must be certain.
After all, spells can do many things that go against common sense, and there are too many spells in the world, each with its own miraculous effects.
This is the biggest difference between the extraordinary world and the ordinary world. Many things cannot be judged using common sense.
Facts have proved that since Kathleen, who rarely talks, dared to speak out "bold words" yesterday, she is really confident.
When he reached the center of Snover Camp, Roic's eyes suddenly lit up and he shouted: "Kathleen, look." Gothe also looked in the direction of Roic's gaze, and he could see a body frozen and whitened by ice and snow hidden in the snowdrift in front of him.
That is the body of an old man.
"When there is enough food, those snow wolves will also be picky about food. The old man's taste is not very good to them, so he will be left behind. With the low temperature in the north, the corpse will freeze quickly, and it can be well preserved even in the past few months." Loic explained to Gothe.
Gothe nodded slightly as a response to Loic.
He naturally understands these principles.
The question is, what is the use of a complete corpse?
No matter how complete it is, it is just a corpse and cannot come back to life to speak.
Roich obviously understood what Gothe was thinking, but he was not in a hurry to explain, and just smiled mysteriously.
The next moment, Kathleen walked steadily to the body of the old man.
Then, she slowly raised her right hand, and her slender fingers drew a complex and mysterious mark in the air.
Extremely rich mana fluctuations instantly burst out from her palm, surging like a tidal wave.
In the end, this powerful mana fluctuation turned into a slender, shimmering ray, shooting out from Kathleen's fingertips.
The ray accurately penetrated into the body of the old man who had been dead for more than ten days and had no trace of life.
In Gothe’s unbelievable eyes, after the ray penetrated into the body, a trace of blood miraculously appeared on the originally pale face of the corpse.
It is like a touch of green suddenly blooming on the withered branches in winter, which is completely incredible.
Soon after, the old man's eyelids began to tremble slightly.
The next moment, the eyes that were originally closed suddenly opened.
It's just that there are no bright eyes under the eyelids, but a dead white, like cataracts.
This proves that the old man is still a corpse, not brought back to life, but some wonderful changes have occurred.
After opening his eyes, the old man slowly sat up with his hands supporting the ground in an almost mechanical movement.
This scene gave Gothe a great shock, but Loic was used to it.
"This is a rare spell that only Kathleen has mastered [Conversation with the Dead]. With this spell, the dead can also speak, and nothing can be hidden from her." Roic introduced it at this time.
【Conversation with the Dead】. Gothe silently remembered the name of this spell.
Leic did not say anything more specific.
He can only judge based on experience. This must be a necromancy spell, and its ring number will not be lower than three.
“Did your tribe encounter two waves of snow wolf attacks more than ten days ago?” Facing the “resurrected” old man, Kathleen asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, it is true." The old man slowly responded to Kathleen's question in a rigid voice without any change in tone or emotion.
"Good luck," Loic quickly judged after hearing this. "It seems that the Snover body we found was sacrificed by the second, more violent beast wave."
"During the first beast wave, an outside guardian stepped forward and single-handedly killed the golden-eyed snow wolf who led the beast wave. This allowed your tribe to temporarily escape the crisis, right?" Kathleen asked the second question.
“Yes.” The old man replied in that monotonous voice again, without any hesitation.
As soon as he heard this answer, Roic's expression changed.
Kathleen continued to ask: "After the foreign guardian took action, did he stay in your tribe because of his serious injury?"
"Yes, he was seriously injured and almost died, but he survived." This time the old man answered more specifically.
After hearing this answer, Kathleen did not ask the next question immediately, but fell into a brief thought.
After a while, she moved her eyes away from the old man and turned to Loic.
Luoic understood immediately, took out a piece of animal skin paper from his arms, put it in front of the old man and unfolded it.
Gothe glanced at the animal skin curiously and saw Baruch's face clearly depicted on it.
"Does the guardian's appearance match that of the person pictured on this hide?" Catherine then asked.
However, the old man shook his head, "I don't know, I just saw him rushing in from a distance and fighting side by side with our clan leader, but I couldn't see his specific face clearly."
Katharine heard this answer and was silent for a moment before speaking. Finally, he spoke again: "Does that guardian have any impressive features?"
"The guardian rode a big snow-white tiger, twenty feet long, with high shoulder blades. He looked extremely powerful, but he was besieged and killed by snow wolves in order to protect the guardian during the battle."
This is the longest and most detailed passage the old man has spoken since his "resurrection".
But as soon as he finished saying this, the old man's eyelids suddenly closed.
The trace of blood on his face disappeared at this moment, as if all his life force had been exhausted.
With a snap, the old man who sat up fell to the snow again, turning back into that silent body.
The three people on the field had different expressions.
"The big snow-white tiger he depicts should be Baruch's pet, the ice-maned tiger."
"It's true, ice-maned tigers are extremely rare in the snowy fields."
"As far as I know, even among the guardians, only Baruch has conquered an ice-maned tiger as a pet, and the guardian who took action is definitely him."
Roic's face was both surprised and thoughtful, and a bit solemn.
Since the identity and actions of Baruch have been confirmed, the so-called abandonment of the doctrine is naturally self-defeating.
And what Gothe said about Baruch entrusting him with a summons can almost be considered true.
Neither hunter is a fool.
They then thought about the news they had received from within the sect that was almost like "disguising a deer as a horse", and they immediately reacted:
This person who practices forbidden necromancy has an extremely high status among the guardians of the snowfield, so he can have such energy.
“Kathleen, it’s a good thing that you came back just in time, otherwise other hunters would have never been able to discover the truth.”
“And once it exceeds thirty days, even you will not be able to wake up the dead Snover people, and the truth will be completely buried.”
Roich said with some fear: "In that case, Baruch will never be able to get rid of the blame."
Because Kathleen was wearing a bronze mask, it was impossible to see the change in her expression, but her eyes had obviously become sharper, with an edge blooming.
"What a cunning method. We must find this person out as soon as possible, otherwise if this continues, he will harm many more people in the north." She said coldly.
Hearing this, Gao De breathed a sigh of relief.
Obviously, his "innocence" has been proven.
To be honest, the two of them have no reason to embarrass him anymore.
"Now that the truth has come to light, you should be able to let me go, right?" Gothe said.
What Gothe didn't expect was that Kathleen glanced at Gothe sideways, but shook her head, "No, at least not yet."
"Why? This matter obviously has nothing to do with me, you asked it yourself." Gothe's face stiffened.
"First of all, the man behind the scenes is obviously a big shot among the guardians of the snowfield. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, this matter must be managed carefully, and calculated mentally and unintentionally, so as not to arouse the vigilance of the man behind the scenes, and to better investigate the identity of the man behind the scenes."
"As an outsider, you know such a top-secret matter. If I let you leave rashly at this time, there will inevitably be a risk of leaking the news." The only survivor is also the only witness. For this reason, I can't let you go until the matter is settled."
"Finally." Kathleen said softly: " You have appeared in our branch before, and perhaps the mastermind behind the scenes already knows about this. With the methods and cruelty this person has shown, he will definitely kill you and silence you. "
"If we can find you, he may also be able to find you. For your own safety, it is better for you to follow us until the matter is over."
Although she is explaining, Kathleen's thoughts are firm.
Gaode didn't look very good, but he didn't struggle any more.
There is no reason in the world.
Because in the face of absolute power, there is no need to be reasonable.
Gothe already understood this truth at Sires Magic Academy.
…
"What should we do next?" Loic asked Kathleen what she thought.
"We can't go back to the headquarters for the time being, as it may easily arouse the vigilance of the mastermind behind the scenes, and even take action to kill him." Kathleen thought for a while and said.
The "him" in her mouth refers to Gao De.
"And apart from the two of us, we cannot tell anyone else in the sect about this matter at the moment."
"Because we are still unable to confirm who is a trustworthy person in the sect and who is the mastermind behind the scenes. The more people know the news, the easier it will be to leak the news." We need to conduct an investigation. Since the man behind the scenes is a high-level member of the sect, he must be very aware of and sensitive to the transfer of personnel within the sect, and cannot hide it from his eyes.”
"Powers outside the sect?" Loic had no clue.
"We are going to the Zhenbing Tribe. Elder Grant of the Zhenbing Tribe is familiar with me. I can ask him for help, and with the power of the Zhenbing Tribe, he is also capable of helping us investigate this matter." Kathleen said decisively.
“By the way, I forgot that you knew people from the Zhenbing Tribe!” Loic’s frown instantly relaxed.
The two of them decided the next direction in a few words.
Gaode could only listen silently and was not qualified to interfere in the discussion between the two.
"Let me take out the forbidden ice needle for you first." After making the decision, Loic turned his head and looked at the silent Gothe and apologized.
"Goodbye first." But before Gothe could say anything, Kathleen had already stopped Loic.
"Although he is innocent, he is definitely not willing to follow us and get involved in our sect's affairs."
“If you take out the Forbidden Ice Needle for him now and let him restore his ability to cast spells, he will inevitably have other thoughts in his mind and cause trouble, so let’s do this for now.” Kathleen said in a calm tone.
This little girl... Gothe is definitely happy to keep the Forbidden Ice Needle in his body now, because it can promote his progress in adapting to evolution.
But it is one thing to be willing to do it, and it is another thing for Kathleen to impose it on him so unceremoniously.
Gaode has taken note of this grudge.
"When this matter is over, we will give you some compensation." Seemingly sensing Gaode's dissatisfaction, Kathleen added lightly, her tone still calm.
"Kathleen is very generous." Loic added in a low voice, trying to ease the resentment in Gothe's heart.
"I will cooperate with you, just as avenging Baruch. He and I are friends, and I feel very uncomfortable when he ends up like this." Gothe responded half truthfully and half falsely.
Since things have happened and cannot be changed, it is better to change your thinking and try to strive for greater benefits.
If they were filled with resentment, Roic and Kathleen would feel much more at ease.
But if he adopts a good attitude, given the lawful character of these two people, he will feel more or less guilty about himself.
"Let's go to the Zhenbing Tribe." Kathleen said coldly.
(End of this chapter)