The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1180 - 353: "Green Teeth" Hecajelin

The night in the forest is cold and long.

Under the expectant gaze of the villagers, the hastily assembled team held torches borrowed from the Mill Master and stepped into the forbidden area outside Pompeii Village, known locally as the "Black Forest."

The dense coniferous forest obscured the sky, and the pale moonlight was shattered into pieces, casting fragmented and eerie shadows over the thick snow.

Everything was unusually quiet except for the crunching of footsteps on the snow and the occasional crackling of the torches.

Finic and his companions were clearly undertaking such a dangerous task at night for the first time, and the brave young man already regretted that rash invitation.

"All day... that kid is definitely dead," Barrett whispered.

"Don't say that, maybe there's still hope?" Leo replied in a low voice.

"Whether there's hope or not, we have to try... After all, that's the client's only son." Finic suddenly fell silent for a moment.

The only son...

Wasn't he also one?

In the past few days, he had often questioned whether leaving his parents and venturing far from home, betting everything on his dreams, was worthwhile.

This journey was nearing its end, but among the four of them, only Ira had successfully cast magic so far.

While he had only memorized the roster of the Mage Tower.

Perhaps...

He didn't actually have the talent to become a Mage; he wasn't any more special than those around him.

But regardless, the current task was the most crucial.

Finic took a deep breath and tried to muster up his Spirit.

Barrett walked beside him, one wielding a Sword and Shield, the other gripping a Warhammer, both intensely alert, stepping cautiously with every footstep.

Hunter Leo's bowstring was already drawn halfway, his watchful eyes like a hawk, continuously surveying the edges of the darkness beyond the torchlight's reach.

As for Ira, she clung tightly behind, clutching a Protective Talisman engraved with a Rune, her little face pale with fear under the torch's glow.

The torch's light only unfolded a small, frail orange area in the boundless darkness, while further out, the bottomless depths seemed to hide countless greedy eyes watching them.

In stark contrast to the tension of these four young adventurers, Mr. Colin's group appeared overly relaxed.

Luo Yan walked in the middle of the team, his expression so casual it seemed he wasn't chasing the Undead but strolling in his backyard.

As for Sarah, she followed silently beside him, like his shadow.

She made no extra movements, showing indifference in her expression, yet her sharp vertical pupils had already taken in all the surrounding activity.

Taufu, held securely in her arms, poked her little head out from the cloak, nostrils flaring continuously.

She remained indifferent to the dangers that instilled fear in mortals, merely curious about the cold and decaying scent unique to the Undead wafting through the air.

The group cautiously ventured deeper into the forest along traces left by the Undead in the snow—unnatural drag marks and scattered animal bones.

"Wait!" Leo suddenly crouched down at the front, raising a hand to signal the team to halt.

He pointed to a shadow beneath an oak tree ahead, his voice dry.

"Look over there."

Everyone gathered forward, the torchlight illuminating the area where a dead wolf lay in the snow.

Its body was frozen in a struggling posture, fur intact, without a single wound. Yet, its flesh had bizarrely shriveled away, as if all its life force had been drained instantly by something invisible, leaving only an empty shell.

This was definitely not the work of a Hunter nor a Demon Beast!

A chill arising from the unknown climbed up the spines of the four, making their hands and feet go cold.

"This doesn't seem like a simple Undead Mage casting a Spell, it feels more like... a Witch Demon's Magic." Luo Yan examined the corpse with interest.

Finic swallowed nervously.

"Have you seen it before?"

Luo Yan nodded briefly.

"Hmm... encountered it on journeys. But rest easy, it may not be a Witch Demon, it might just be a particularly sinister Wizard."

Although his words didn't offer any substantial information, they still gave the tense young adventurers some relief.

At least...

Among them, someone had dealt with an Undead Mage.

With spirits boosted, the group continued onward.

Following the sporadic animal fur on the snow and bloodstains that had solidified into dark brown, they traversed the woods for about half an hour.

Eventually, those crooked traces led them from the dense jungle into a relatively open area.

It seemed to be an abandoned lumberyard.

A few wooden huts had half-collapsed, almost buried under thick snow. Rusted saws and axes were discarded in corners, frozen together with decaying stumps... everything breathed a silent death, forgotten by time.

And the traces they had been following stopped abruptly at the center of this clearing.

Luo Yan glanced around and suddenly curled a faint smile.

As he had guessed all along, the villagers of Pompeii Village, though pitiful, weren't entirely honest folks.

This lumberyard wasn't lost just recently, and they clearly knew who the Undead Mage was, where it was hiding, and its capabilities.