Advent of the Archmage

Three days later, Link's group reached White Cloud City safely.

This Beastman city was the biggest city in the area. It was nestled in the valley of red rocks. Looking down from the valley, one could see an expanse of cramped buildings constructed of wood, hide, and bones.

At the entrance, there was a huge city gate made of wood and stone. Two strong Beastman Warriors guarded the gate. Beside them were big three-headed war wolves. These wolves were close to 12 feet long and six feet tall. They were either black or white and crouched on the ground, staring vigilantly at everyone going in and out the gates with their black eyes.

"Outsider, report your name and background!"

When Link arrived at the gate, he was stopped by the Beastman Warriors. They looked at Link's trio with guarded and fearful eyes.

"My name is Link," he introduced himself. "I come from the Norton Kingdom. We're all merchants."

They were now dressed in beast hide and looked very plain. The only special part was that Felina and Nana were a bit too pretty.

"Merchant, where are your goods?" The Warriors were extremely suspicious. They were naturally suspicious of outsiders.

Link reacted quickly. He shrugged with a bitter expression. "Unfortunately, all our goods were burned by those Red Dragons. I don't know if you're familiar with Masos. We're his friends."

"You all know Masos? Oh, I'm sorry. Many frightening things have happened these days. We have to be careful. You can go in now." The main Warrior's attitude did a complete 180-degree flip.

It appeared that Masos was quite well-known amongst the Beastmen. This was a good thing.

Link quickly thanked the two Warriors and secretly passed over some silver coins. "Treat yourself."

The Beastmen didn't have their own currency and just used human currency, so Link's coins were very effective. After slipping the coins to them, the two Beastmen treated Link even better.

The one on the left specially reminded, "Your two women are too pretty and might cause some trouble. Cover 'em up."

"Thanks," Link replied.

After entering the city, Link spent some money at a roadside stall to buy two loose beast hide cloaks. Felina and Nana put them on, covering their faces and curves.

To be honest, the inside of the Beastmen's city wasn't very well off. The road into the valley was jam-packed. Small stands one after another took up a good portion of the road. Feces was everywhere on the ground, and Beastmen with heavy body odor squeezed past each other. All the different smells mixed together into a nauseating scent.

The Beastmen acted crazily too. They pissed on the street, showed their private parts to flirt with the other sex, and even mated in the corner with people watching in interest. This would never be seen in the human world.

"Ugh, I hate Beastmen cities the most. I feel like I'm in a monkey kingdom every time," Felina whispered. Even though she was covered in the loose cloak, she'd felt dozens of harassing hands try to touch her as they squeezed down the path.

These Beastmen didn't really cross the line and just touched her, so she couldn't kill them just for that, right?

As for Nana…she was too fast and wouldn't get close to anyone. Even though the street was extremely crowded, no one could touch her. She was protecting herself instead of avoiding humiliation as a girl. Nana didn't have that type of conscience. She just wanted to avoid a sneak attack.

Link was having a hard time. In the previous game, there were uncivilized sights in the Beastman city too, but most had been censored. Entering the city, one would feel a primitive, barbaric, and straightforward atmosphere. This existed in the real city too, but he felt more shamelessness, dirtiness, messiness, wetness, and stickiness. It was disgusting.

If they didn't have to find the exiled god Elodim, he definitely wouldn't step foot here.

As they walked, Link asked, "Felina, can you feel his location?"

Felina caught a hand reaching toward her breast and squeezed, not letting go until the man yelled in pain. Hearing Link's question, she whispered, "The city is too messy. I can feel that he's here, but I can't pinpoint his location. We have to search carefully."

Link nodded and continued pushing forward. Half an hour later, he finally squeezed out of the market street at the valley's entrance. The land before him became vast. It was still crowded, and the ground was still disgustingly dirty, but at least he could breathe. He had the time to observe the surroundings too.

The valley was big with many paths and caves dug into the sides of the cliffs. Beastmen filled every cave. There were also some stone buildings in the valley. Each one surrounded by crude wooden cabins covered in ivy that looked like they would collapse at any time. Not only did the cabins lean against the stone buildings, but they also leaned against the stone wall of the valley. From afar, the layers upon layers of buildings were dizzying.

"This valley isn't that big, but I heard that there are at least 500,000 Beastmen living here. I didn't believe it before, but now I do." Link shook his head and sighed. He could only sigh at how efficiently the Beastmen used the space.

Felina wiped at her sweat and pointed at a tall stone building. "Look, it says Sleeping Giant Inn and looks okay. Shall we go rest inside?"

She wasn't tired—she just felt dirty and sweaty. She smelled indescribably of feces too. If she didn't wash up soon, she would go crazy.

"I was going to say that too." Link exhaled deeply.

Entering the inn, Link instantly felt like he'd returned to the human world. The spacious building was filled with the smell of cheese, and most of the people in the lobby were humans. He was relieved.

Coincidentally, Link actually saw Masos.

The guy was eating lunch with his mercenaries. He saw Link as well and chuckled. "Ah, what a coincidence! You look like you're in a bad mood. Come, come, I'll treat you to a good meal!" With that, he raised a hand and told the server, "Three more roasted lambs and three cups of grain wine."

Masos was very enthusiastic while Link needed someone familiar with the situation to help. He walked over and sat with them. "It's really hard to get accustomed to this city." Link sighed.

Grinning, Masos said, "Everyone's like that the first time, but you'll get used to it. Compared to us, the Beastmen are indeed a bit behind, but they're straightforward and rarely lie. It's much easier doing business with them."

That was true. Beastmen could be described with one word: straightforward. Other than the shamans, most were like inflexible rods.

Soon, a Beastwoman server brought the food over. The so-called roasted lamb looked like a roasted pig, so Link tried it. It was tender and tasty. He took a sip of the wine and instantly felt better.

Felina had a shocking appetite. She was a typical foodie and forgot all about the earlier unhappiness as she started eating. As for Nana, she tried the unfamiliar food and then sat there primly, listening to the others chat. She looked like a lady.

The people were all discussing the interesting things about the Golden Plains. Mostly, it was Masos talking while Link listened.

As they talked, Masos suddenly asked, "Master Link, did you hear about what happened three days ago?"

"Three days ago? What happened?" Link had been focused on avoiding Isendilan and didn't care about anything else.

Masos sighed. "A Magician cast some sort of terrifying flame spell in the northern village of Deral. The entire village was destroyed, and no more than 200 people survived. According to a lucky merchant, it was a young man dressed in a dark red robe. His hair was black-red, and his eyes were red too. Do you think the Red Dragon did it?"

Before Link could react after hearing this, Felina suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Link noticed immediately.

"Masos just described Isendilan." Felina had paled.

"Isendilan?" Masos didn't know the name of this Red Dragon duke.

"He's the fallen duke and is very powerful, no less than Bryant from before. The Red Dragon at Holun was his underling," Link described the legendary dragon to Masos in layman terms.

Regular people wouldn't know how powerful the Red Dragon duke was, but everyone knew who Bryant was. If a dragon could be compared to Bryant and was so cruel and his underlings so terrifying—it was a disaster.

This time, Masos and his mercenaries turned ghastly pale. They were even more unnerved than Felina.

Masos sucked in a deep breath and said uncomfortably, "I heard about this yesterday. At that time, the Sky Shattering Warlord had just helped us to the White Cloud City, and we got the news that something happened to Deral. The Sky Shattering Warlord hurried over with three grand shamans and an elite Beastman army of 1000. Hearing what you said now, they're probably all dead now."

Link and Felina exchanged glances at this news.

After a long while, Link asked, "How powerful is the Sky Shattering Warlord?"

"He's a Level-9 Warrior. He apparently leveled up a month ago." Masos was a regular man, but he was very knowledgeable and described the Sky Shattering Warlord's strength precisely.

A Level-9 Warrior with three grand shamans and an elite Beastman army of 1000 soldiers could give Isendilan some trouble if they fought with the right techniques. They could even defeat Isendilan.

But if they were unlucky or Isendilan attacked first, all of them would be killed without a doubt.

Felina put her mouth to Link's ears and whispered, "I think this is our fault."

Yes, it was definitely their fault, and they even caused so many innocent civilians of Deral Village to lose their lives. Link felt very guilty.

Thinking for a bit, Link said to Masos, "The Sky Shattering Warlord isn't Isendilan's match and will most likely die. I want to help, but I'm afraid the Beastmen distrust me. Can you help be my witness?"

The three of them couldn't go against Isendilan, but with so many Beastman Warriors and a Level-9 Beastman Warlord, they could fight Isendilan and possibly even injure him gravely.

Masos drank all his wine and said boldly, "The warlord is my friend. I just don't have the abilities. Otherwise, I'd gone to help long ago. Now that you want to help, why would I refuse?"

They were all direct and bold people. Since they decided, they acted immediately. After filling their stomachs, they set off.

Just as they hurried out of the Sleeping Giant Inn, a blue-eyed black cat with shiny and silky fur jumped onto the inn's roof, silently watching the leaving group. When they disappeared, the black cat jumped down. It flashed into an alley and disappeared.