"What is this...?"

After the final scream of the humanoid smoke dissipated, Lann frowned and rubbed his ears; the sound was not something of this world.

"Is this some kind of demon spirit?"

Lann mumbled in confusion.

Demon spirits, he had seen and eliminated many of these monsters in the Magic Middle Ages.

They are often souls full of resentment and obsession, unwilling to go to their rightful place after death.

However, that resentment and obsession generally twist the soul into mindless monsters, forgetting what they were obsessed with in life after becoming a demon spirit.

But the eerie green humanoid smoke just now felt different to Lann...

It was a force more evil and darker than demon spirits.

Lann looked at the only thing left on the ground, the black short sword, and crouched down cautiously, reaching out his fingers.

Before he could even touch it, just approaching it caused a deep chill to emanate from his fingertips.

It wasn’t an ordinary physical cold...

"Careful! Don’t touch it directly!"

Radagast clutched his magic staff to his chest, cautiously pointing at the short sword on the ground, stammering.

"That thing... it’s from the Netherworld! Not of this world!"

Netherworld?

Lann slowly withdrew his hand, stood up, and stepped aside, leaving it to the professionals.

Radagast pulled out a piece of some unknown leather from his chest, then dared to grab the sword with it.

"It’s another layer apart from the reality dimension, not a place mortals should contact... This is really a big deal now! Someone has tampered with the power of the Netherworld!"

The world appears differently from various perspectives.

Lann, possessing Spiritual Vision, could comprehend this.

In the Magic Middle Ages, if he wanted to view the world from the elemental plane, the scene he would see would vastly differ from that visible to the naked eye.

And the Ardan World... its composition might also be very different from the Magic Middle Ages.

Lann didn’t quite know what the ’Netherworld’ was.

But that didn’t hinder him from understanding everything through reason and thought.

Because the enemy resides in the ’Netherworld’, even Aron Dite can’t truly touch them, unable to inflict substantive damage?

Just the ability to ’exist in the Netherworld’ has already neutralized all ordinary attacks; even Lann couldn’t harm enemies in this form.

The Yarden Rune might not help much, with little hope of being effective. Yarden could forcibly transform demon spirits from spectral into more tangible forms.

But whether it works against ’enemies existing in another dimension’... Lann felt that even Alzur, who developed the Demon Hunter’s Rune, probably hadn’t researched this far.

"So, is this evidence of the awakening of the Great Dark Enemy? Can we persuade others?"

With Aron Dite in hand, Lann cautiously scanned the dark, grim old castle, while questioning Radagast.

He had just started feeling the world was relaxing and leisurely, yet now a war threatening the entire world was brewing.

"I, I’m not sure! But I know who to find!"

Radagast packed up the black short sword with leather and securely tied it with a string before tucking it into his chest.

He panted, taking Lann by the hand, hurriedly heading out.

At the same time, the once silent old castle began to echo with an intense flapping of wings.

It was those giant bats!

"Go! Quickly! We need to find Gandalf!"

Frightened and flustered, Radagast stumbled ahead.

Lann swiftly caught up from behind, grabbing him by the collar, lifting him up.

The disheveled old wizard, holding his magic staff close to his chest, was dangled like a chick.

"Need to hurry? Leave it to me!"

Radagast hadn’t processed it when he saw Lann, who had lifted him, directly leap toward the sinister, towering walls of Dorguldu!

"Ah~"

The old man screamed in bewilderment.

But soon after, mechanical clamping sounds emanated from Lann’s left hand.

As they jumped down, a grappling hook caught on the enduring walls of the ancient castle, decades of wear notwithstanding.

The rope made from the mane of the Fierce Jackal Dragon easily bore a weight of several hundred kilograms.

Descending multiple levels, over thirty meters, they landed on the malicious bridge they had first crossed into the old castle.

In the last few meters, Lann released the grappling hook outright.

He fell vertically to the ground.

Behind, the flapping and screeching of the vampire bats grew ever nearer.

That symbolized the dark forces within the castle closing in!

"No, no, no!"

Radagast shouted incoherently at the sight of the ground.

But Lann remained as calm as ever.

On his finger, a silver ring with a cat face ornament glimmered faintly.

They landed directly!

A fog appeared out of thin air, enveloping Lann’s landing feet.

No obstacles presented.

Even as the bats’ screeches still trailed far behind, Lann sprinted toward the castle exit, seemingly unfazed, dragging Radagast along.

The old wizard was still bewildered, dangling in Lann’s grasp.

It wasn’t until a while later that he burst out complaining.

"Heavens! Couldn’t you have discussed it with me first?!"

"Discuss? You’re the one in a hurry! Besides..." Lann replied insincerely, "Don’t you wizards have magic that allows for a safe and fast descent? What kind of magic do you even know?"

"What love? What’s there to love anyway, I won’t do it! Is it any of your business?"

The scruffy old man mumbled harshly under his breath.

Thanks to Lann’s swift actions, Radagast was able to calm down a little.

In a few quick steps, he jumped onto his own wooden sled, and the lead rabbit began stamping its feet on the ground, prompting the rest to get into action as well.

"Good job, Rong Buqiu and Qilin."

Lann also approached his companion, got onto Qilin’s back while holding Elu Cat.

"Let’s go."

Radagast first turned around to call out, then lifted his hat. Three little birds that had nested in his hair flew out, circling around him, awaiting his instructions.

"Go find Gandalf! Then lead the way for us, quickly!"

The birds chirped in response and flapped their wings, flying through the twisted, sinister branches, polluted and distorted by Dorguldu’s darkness, heading towards the distance.

Radagast didn’t even have time to return to Rossga Castle to gather his things; he just rode the rabbit-drawn sled, racing out of the Dark Forest. The Demon Hunter and Qilin followed closely behind.

Meanwhile, the large swarm of vampire bats, trailing far behind due to the Demon Hunter’s superior mobility, along with their representative dark forces,

had already abandoned the chase.

The forces of darkness recoiled back into Dorguldu, as did the bats. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The powers in this world seldom display dazzling light and sound effects, yet there are changes in atmosphere and other bizarre phenomena instead.

On the staircase platform where the Demon Hunter and Wizard scattered the ghastly green misty figure,

a sinister wind blew, and the ghastly green mist reappeared, gathering into a small whirlwind, restoring its form.

It seemed that being dissipated earlier had no real effect on it.

And on the side, from the dark doorway that Lann and Radagast had not noticed earlier, a deep shadow emerged from the darkness.

No, rather than ’emerged’ from the darkness, it was as though it was the darkness itself.

Like a photo with an inverted color effect, the moment the figure appeared, everything around it turned strange in color.

The figure itself remained... deep black.

It began to converse with the reanimated misty figure.

The language was harsh and barbaric, just by hearing it, one would feel oppressed.

This was the Black Speech.

A language created by the Dark Monarch Sorun.

’They fled, my lord. Quite swiftly.’

The decaying skull bowed low.

"It doesn’t matter, Radagast is foolish and shallow, always has been, no surprise there. But that person accompanying him..."

"Very peculiar. Such a body... and that sword..."

"The technique on that sword bears traces of High Elven techniques, but it can’t enter the Netherworld nor affect it... I do not recognize that sword."

"He possesses a power I have not seen before."

The black shadow rippled, each slight ripple causing a distortion in the surrounding scene.

"...No, this too is inconsequential. Now, what’s paramount is to form an alliance with that dragon."

"Persuade it! Entice it!"

"Even if the dragon refuses to submit, ensure it does not interfere!"

The withered skull bowed deeply, signifying compliance and obedience.

-----------------

With Radagast leading the way, exiting the Dark Forest was easy.

The rabbits pulling his sled were very strong, and Lann even suspected that these rabbits’ stamina matched the monsters of the Magic Middle Ages.

They had little opportunity to speak as they followed the birds westward.

They burst out of the Dark Forest, then took a relatively gentle path across the Mist Mountains.

Though convenient, the path was quite secretive, winding, and treacherous. It was impossible to traverse without guidance.

So originally, when Radagast couldn’t leave the Dark Forest due to a mission, he never even mentioned it to Lann.

The birds flew ahead; having spent a long time with Radagast, they, like the creatures around Rossga Castle, possessed human-like intelligence.

Lann wasn’t exactly sure how they found people, but they certainly seemed to be guiding the way.

"Keep moving forward? Got it! We’ll keep up!"

Radagast spoke to the birds while steering the rabbit sled.

Having left the chaotic magical environment of the Dark Forest, Qilin and Rong Buqiu were noticeably in better spirits.

They crossed the wasteland at the base of the mountains, following the birds’ lead toward a small forest.

The revitalized Qilin wasn’t keen on lagging behind the rabbit sled.

It began to show its flair, while the rabbit sled had to twist and turn among the exposed rocks, the lead rabbit seeking a suitable route.

But Qilin could gracefully leap onto those rocks with its sheer leg strength.

Maintaining the general direction, it quickly overtook Radagast.

Amidst the wind, a slightly chaotic sound of footsteps became faintly discernible, chaotic due to their sheer number.

In the barren wilderness, the group should be the only ones within kilometers.

Once the target was confirmed, Qilin gracefully and nimbly leaped towards the group.

Lann was fine with letting Qilin relax a bit, so he didn’t intervene from the outset.

After all, when finding people, isn’t it enough to find them?

However, when Qilin carelessly crashed through the bushes and poked its head out...

"What the hell is that?!"

"Monster!"

With a "whoosh", a sharp, piercing sound shot straight towards Qilin’s face before Lann had even emerged from the bushes!