https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-240-New-Mission-Guarding-the-Tears-of-Crys/12864663/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-242-The-Seven-Servants-of-the-Inferno-Lashtiros/12864665/
Chapter 241: Destruction, Black Flame
Chapter 241: Destruction, Black Flame
Since they set out in the afternoon and the destination was far, Rhod and Elfman had to spend the night on the way.
Watching Rhod use magic to fetch a tent, cooking utensils, and ingredients, Elfman thought to himself that if this person could always be so considerate, he might be able to take good care of his sister.
However...
"Your cooking is terrible! How can a man not know how to cook!"
Elfman pushed Rhod aside and took over the makeshift cutting board himself.
Rhod watched the broad-shouldered Elfman skillfully handling the various ingredients, always feeling that something was off.
Half an hour later, Rhod tasted the first bite of Elfman's cooking: "Not bad, you really can do it!"
Objectively speaking, this skill was almost on par with Alisha.
Alisha's skill was almost on par with Mira.
Mira was almost on par with Koch.
But Rhod couldn't catch up, and what he made was only loved by Vorm.
The problem was, Rhod hadn't yet found anything Vorm didn't like, the child neither sweet nor bitter.
He suspected Vorm's standards for food might be just to eat and not die.
It was already April, deep spring, and the weather had warmed up a lot.
After finishing the meal and tidying up the cooking utensils, there was to stay outside to look at the stars for a while.
But Rhod glanced at the side of Elfman.
Forget it, let's go back to the tent, meditate for a bit, and get some rest. We need to start early in the morning.
Elfman was puzzled, did Rhod always sleep this early?
...
The next morning, after eating breakfast, the two of them and the coachman set off again.
Although the target had some self-defense capabilities, it was best to arrive as early as possible.
The carriage followed the main road through the open plains, passing through a town, where the coachman only stopped to buy some food and didn't stop again.
As it was getting close to noon, Rhod suddenly shouted: "Stop, stop!"
The carriage quickly came to a halt, and Elfman asked, puzzled: "What's wrong?"
"Something happened," Rhod said, already connecting the pathfinder's view, having already seen the village where the client was.
The scene before them was nothing but ruins.
Rhod's expression turned grim: "Let's get out of the carriage."
It was no longer safe to let the coachman continue on.
This situation wasn't suitable to call the pathfinder back, so Rhod summoned two dark shadow wolves, and both he and Elfman each rode one, rushing towards the village.
Rhod didn't stop observing on the way, confirming there were no ambushes before they dared to advance quickly.
When they climbed a small hill, they finally saw the village with their own eyes.
No, the current state couldn't be called a village anymore, but rather a wasteland.
Looking around, there were almost no intact buildings within the village's boundaries, only broken walls, shattered pillars, and scattered debris.
In many places, smoke still lingered, and at the village entrance, a heap of black flames burned.
"Black flames?" Rhod, seeing the black fire, thought of the Heavenly Flame, or perhaps some otherworldly fire.
He asked Elfman: "Have you heard of this kind of fire before?"
Elfman shook his head: "Never, but it's definitely not an ordinary fire."
That was certain, this strange fire's appearance had almost confirmed what had happened here was done by a mage.
And not just any mage.
As Rhod and Elfman carefully approached the front of the ruins, their hearts grew heavier.
—They couldn't hear any cries, groans, or calls for help.
This meant that the people in the village had either all fled or none had survived.
The black flames were strong, though only a small pile, the heat could be felt from a distance.
The two dark shadow wolves, as they approached it, both lowered their bodies.
Rhod compared it to the most familiar Naz fire.
He was surprised to find that except for the Redbuff Outburst Dragon's Flame, this black flame might be even more powerful.
"Who could have left this behind?" Rhod tried hard to recall any fire-related magic from the magic encyclopedia, but couldn't find any clues.
He could only speculate that this thing was either a new magic created after the encyclopedia, or a very rare lost magic.
"Rhod..." Elfman's voice carried a sense of powerlessness, and he seemed somewhat dazed.
Rhod looked in the direction of Elfman's gaze and saw scattered weapons and armor such as spears, swords, and shields in the ruins, suggesting that the people here had fought hard.
What made Elfman dazed was that next to each weapon, there was a corpse.
It was the worst-case scenario.
Everyone in the village might have died in battle or been murdered.
Rhod summoned all the dark shadow wolves and patted one of them, feeling heavy-hearted:
"Search for any survivors, and look around for any strange people or suspicious things."
The dark shadow wolves spread out, lowering their heads to sniff the surroundings.
Rhod and Elfman also searched with a last glimmer of hope.
"Whine~ whine~"
Before long, one of the dark shadow wolves brought a tattered piece of clothing and whined to get its master's attention.
Rhod unfolded the black, tattered clothing, which had a dark red pattern on it.
Although it was somewhat damaged, it was clear that the pattern had a heart shape, sharp points, and something that looked like bat wings...
Rhod's eyes widened: "The Demon's Heart!"
"What?" Elfman was still reacting.
"It's the symbol of the Demon's Heart!" Rhod felt his hair stand on end, "One of the Barom Alliance, the strongest dark guild, the Demon's Heart!"
He wasn't sure how strong the Demon's Heart was, but since it was one of the three major dark guilds that could lead over 90% of dark guilds, it definitely wasn't weak.
During a routine meeting he attended with the guild master, Rhod had heard President Goldman mention the Barom Alliance.
When talking about the Demon's Heart, he even noticed some guild masters breaking out in cold sweat.
At the time, Rhod guessed that these three major guilds were probably equivalent to the dark world's Fairy Tail, Phantom Lord, and Blue Pegasus.
This was a big deal, and this mission might be beyond what he and Elfman could handle.
Elfman also realized the severity of the situation: "What should we do now?"
"Request reinforcements." Rhod used the transformation magic, and a pen and notebook appeared in his hand.
Elfman opened his mouth but couldn't voice any objections.
Usually, mages should handle various emergencies independently during a mission, and requesting reinforcements was seen as a sign of not being able to handle things alone, which was somewhat embarrassing.
But the current situation clearly couldn't be handled by normal standards.
Rhod quickly wrote down the situation on two pieces of paper and then summoned a river crab and Vorm to deliver the letters to the town they had passed through.
The town usually had a communication magic crystal for contact, and Rhod, as a Fairy Tail mage, wrote a letter requesting the town mayor to contact the guild and the council.
He sent Vorm along because it was the smartest among all the wild monsters and had the most friendly appearance.
After doing this, Rhod began to plan the next steps.
The safest choice would be to run away with Vorm immediately.
But there might still be survivors buried in the village, and even if there weren't, the siblings they were supposed to find for the client should still be alive.
As mages, their sense of responsibility wouldn't allow them to leave just like that.
Rhod quickly organized his thoughts and, based on the mission details, deduced that the Demon's Heart was most likely after the "Cry's Tear."
The tattered clothing was probably left by a member of the Demon's Heart, and they might have suffered casualties, but they had already taken their comrades' bodies away.
Given the state of the village and the fact that they had taken the time to collect the bodies, it suggested they had plenty of time and evacuated very calmly.
This meant they had likely taken what they came for and were unlikely to return.
Rhod judged that he and Elfman were temporarily safe, unless the Demon's Heart decided to return to cover their tracks more thoroughly.
"Try to find any survivors, but we can't stay here too long."
Rhod sighed, feeling that his sense of duty was dragging on his sense of security.
(End of Chapter)
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