Chapter 851: Another option
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Low grey skies, swirling clouds, rough, huge boulders, and lush sea buckthorns.
Those were the unique features of the Dwarven outpost.
The Gray Dwarves may be called Dwarves, but they were very different from actual Dwarves. The Dwarves, Gray Dwarves and Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings world were all shorter than a meter, but their differences were very distinct. They were a bit similar to the Dwarves, Goblins and Gnomes in WoW.
The most distinct feature of the Gray Dwarves were their large ears, their messy hair, and their evil smile. Because they lived in such a desolate land, even the faces of younger Gray Dwarves were full of wrinkles. Their flesh and blood contained a terrible stench, while their souls were distorted and in tatters. They had no use to creatures of darkness. That was also the reason why they could survive here and do business with the creatures of darkness.
Sheyan walked around the base of the Gray Dwarves with a cold look on his face. The rancid smell of decay indicated that quite some time had passed since the massacre. It was clear that the Gray Dwarves had attempted to fight back, but from the look of fear and confusion on the faces of the corpses, their resistance wasn't very effective.
Sheyan found some strange injuries from grabbing, freezing and piercing attacks on the ankles and backs of some of the corpses. Besides that, there were also some injuries caused by explosions and shrapnels. Franklin cast an 'Evoke Detection' spell. He informed Sheyan that there was a very chaotic fluctuation of mana in the area.
Sheyan noticed that the area around the outpost showed an odd but strong vitality. Plants started sprouting here and there. What was strange was that the plants did not grow on the spots where the bodies lied. In theory, those spots should provide richer nutrients. Instead, the plants grew in some irregular places.
"I know who did this," said Sheyan faintly as he stood up.
"It was that guy from the Stockholm Party, Drubal! Only his advanced ability of 'Misty Jailhouse' can entrap all these Gray Dwarves and kill all of them without letting a single one escape! I'm guessing that the thing I extorted from him is extremely valuable. That's why he would come here and do something like this that served no purpose except to vent his anger."
Reef frowned as he asked.
"But how did he know this is place is our objective?"
Sheyan calmly said.
"You forgot one thing. There were many contestants who entered this world together with us and received the same mission. With the overwhelming might that the Stockholm Party displayed, it wouldn't be hard for them to find out."
Franklin abruptly sucked in a deep breath and asked nervously.
"Could he have...laid down some traps here to ambush us?"
Sheyan shook his head and said.
"The chances are low. He probably paid an additional price to continue staying in this world in order to come here, but he should be long gone by now. More importantly, he knows that even if he tries to ambush me, he has no confidence in killing me. He may be the one killed instead."
Reef kept frowning as he asked.
"So what do we do now?"
Sheyan gave it some thought before he replied.
"Call the guide over. Let's ask him if there are any more Gray Dwarven outposts around this area."
Franklin shouted for the guide a few times but there was no answer. They started getting nervous. After all, there was still a minute possibility of the Stockholm Party lying in ambush.
They searched around and finally found the guide next to a Gray Dwarven underground cave. He actually was killed by the Stockholm Party. A trigger-type magic ice trap froze him into an ice sculpture. The guide was still half kneeling on the ground with a greedy smile on his face.
The ice trap was placed on the body of the guide who brought Drubal's group here. Sheyan's exceptional memory told him that the guide's name was Samomo. The delighted look on his face showed that he died a very sudden and unexpected death. A few rubies on his chest gleamed amongst the wind of the Gobi desert. Sheyan's guide also held a ruby in his hand.
Even an idiot could tell what happened. Sheyan's guide went on a search for his colleague's body, either out of comraderie or for other reasons. He found the body and also found the glimmering rubies on it. Once he touched a ruby, an ice trap was triggered.
The trap seemed simple but the real trap lied in the greed of humans. It completely severed all possibility of Sheyan finding the next Gray Dwarven outpost with the help of their guide. Even after leaving this world, Drubal could still so accurately manipulate their situation. He really was an extremely calculative person.
Sheyan's party only had 2 days left in this world. 48 hours was obviously not enough to return to Eriador to hire another guide. It seemed like they only have one choice left, and that was to use the remaining 48 hours to search around the area and see if they can stumble upon another Gray Dwarven outpost by chance.
Since the scope of the choices left to them was so limited, who's to say Drubal wouldn't lay another trap for them? Don't forget that the Stockholm Party was very influential in the world of the Lord of the Rings, so much so that they could even stir the Ringwraiths into actions.
"We'll go back," Sheyan announced calmly.
They were shocked to hear Sheyan's decision.
"Go back where?"
Sheyan emotionlessly said.
"Eriador, of course."
Reef exclaimed in disbelief.
"But we won't make it back here in time."
Sheyan instead answered emotionlessly.
"We're not coming back here. In fact, we can't stay here any longer. We must leave at once! Every step of Drubal's plan is interconnected. Did you guys notice? Most of the corpses exhibited bite marks. Once it turned dark, there might be a terrifying creature coming here for food!"
Franklin instead laughed and said.
"Our Main Mission has no punishment for failure anyway. The default punishment was only to force us back to the realm. I feel like we've already gained an absurd amount from this trip. So what if we miss out on some rewards from the realm."
Franklin was telling the truth. He felt that his biggest gain from this world was to become a member of this party called Ace. Truthfully, with Franklin's ability, it's not hard for him to join a major party. But this is a Silver party! To join this party was like winning the lottery.
Sheyan's lips curled into a weird smile as he said.
"It's too early to declare that we will fail the mission for sure. We're not at the end of the road yet. Back at the teleport formation, I saw the name of another destination. I feel like we can try our luck there. I don't think Drubal could stretch his hands so far away."
They once again rushed back to Eriador. They paid no heed to the cost as all their remaining mounts were worked to death due to exhaustion. As a result, they managed to squeeze out 16 remaining hours from their precious 48 hours.
When they arrived at the teleport formation and asked to use it, they were refused.
The reason was simple. The guide that they hired, Lubaba, had not returned.
Due to the precedence of Samomo's disappearance, Lubaba's disappearance became a big deal. Even though Sheyan explained that the guide died from an accident during the trip, no one would listen to them. These greedy f*ckers had their eyes on the group's wealth. The cost to send 4 people to Isengard was not a small sum at all.
Melody was unexpectedly the first one to act in this situation.
She pulled her bow at an alarming speed and shot out a couple of really sharp arrows. They pierced into the arms of a tanned, stout fella a distance away and pinned him onto a board behind him.
The man screamed in pain as the bottle he was holding shattered on the ground. Next, he was instantly engulfed in a fierce flame, causing him to wail in agony.
For the group of people to even prepare Molotov cocktails, this must be a planned operation. The one who was pinned to the board revealed a cruel expression as he slashed his blade at the arrows pinning him, then launched himself to the ground. He rolled around a few times before shouting.
"Kill these bandits! They deceived our people to follow them into the Gobi desert, then murdered them. They must be followers of the Dark side."
His provocation caused the other local guides to rush madly towards Sheyan's party. All of them used a kind of thick-spined long blades as their weapons. They would leap forward and chop down to initiate their attack, a move which left no ground for retreat for themselves nor for their opponent.
Sheyan faced the assault of two local guides. He ignored the attack aimed at him as he brandished '+7 West' and lodged it deep into the abdomen of the other enemy. Then, he used his strength to tear a long, deep opening in the enemy's abdomen. The guide's internal organs spewed out with a large amount of blood as he cried in pain. The scene was truly gory.
At the same time, the blade of the other local guide slashed down on Sheyan's shoulder. However, it was clamped by Sheyan's muscles and couldn't move another inch!