As follows

  It seems that since the thunder strike like the wrath of God, the fate goddess's balance began to tilt towards Orudas. Although there was no news from Dufan at first, soon after, Witte and Farma, who were sent earlier, returned with several messages using transmission magic scrolls.

  It seemed that the lightning strike was the last trap in this dense forest, and after that, there was nothing.

  Aoldas didn't believe it at first, but after thinking about the traps and mechanisms he had encountered along the way, he realized that it was absolutely not something that could be accomplished in a day or two. The people of the Sacred Tribunal, although they had set out a few days earlier than him, were accompanied by divine artificers and mages, so how fast could their speed be?

  Being able to arrive a day earlier than oneself is already impressive, and being able to set up so many mechanisms and traps in less than a day is already exaggerated.

  With this analysis, Ordas is even more convinced of the news brought by Witt and Farmer. However, if he knew that all these mechanisms were actually dismantled from Dufan's home basement before departure and didn't take much time to set up, it's unknown whether he would vomit blood on the spot.

  After another half hour, Witt and Farmer sent back the message that they seemed to have found Duvan's trail in the depths of the forest. However, after setting up an ambush, he missed his shot and quickly retreated. Although Witt and Farmer tried to pursue him, due to their unfamiliarity with the terrain, despite their utmost efforts, they still failed to catch him.

  To put it in Wyatt's words, that son of a bitch is as cunning as a fox, and I've tried to get close to him several times with caution, only to be discovered at the last minute, which is really infuriating.

  However, there is some good news. Wit said that although the bastard shaman had escaped from their hands several times, he was finally hit by Fahmer's sword and is now in a desperate situation.

  Ordas knew that although Farner was not well-known on the Roland continent, he was almost a household name within the Roland Academy. He had a sinister and venomous swordsmanship, as well as a body imbued with various cursed properties. Those who were stabbed by his sword would be afflicted with all sorts of curses unless they possessed exceptional strength, making it difficult to predict how long they could last.

  Auerdas naturally knew the power of Famer's one sword, so this rare good news made him overjoyed.

  His heart was already filled with anger, and he didn't even have time to verify the authenticity of the news again. With a wave of his hand, the remaining people rushed into the forest like meteors.

  As he sped along, Orald found himself getting closer and closer to the outer edges of the dense forest, and with Witte and Farner's messages coming in constantly, Orald was well aware that Duvan was being pushed towards the lake near the valley, where there would be absolutely nowhere for him to hide unless he turned into a fish and stayed underwater forever.

  As they approached the lake, the messages from Witt and Farmer suddenly stopped, a faint scent of blood began to diffuse in the air.

  Ardas furrowed his brow, wondering if those two bastards had already killed Dufan. Although it wasn't bad this way, compared to letting Dufan live a life worse than death, having him die so cleanly was somewhat unsatisfying.

  Aoldas considered for less than a second, then waved his hand again, and his figure flashed out of the dense forest like lightning. Far away on the lakeshore, a camp that was not small could be seen, as well as corpses stained with blood on the lake shore.

  Ardas focused his gaze, and suddenly felt a blackness in front of his eyes, almost falling to the ground. Fortunately, he still had some self-control, and his body stiffly stopped in mid-air. Then, he stared at the two corpses, his facial expression changing unpredictably.

  Those two corpses were half-soaked in the lake water, and it was unclear whether it was Du Fan's hobby or intentional that the two corpses had been divided into countless pieces. A large amount of fresh blood had already dyed the lake water red, and this scene was simply shocking to the extreme.

  At this time, the students who followed behind also rushed up. Kriss came to Ordas' side and looked in the direction of the lake water. She suddenly felt a wave of dizziness in her stomach and couldn't help but cover her mouth.

  Ardas's fiery gaze swept around, but didn't find any trace of Dufan. The anger in his heart had nowhere to vent, so he could only let out a low growl and said gruffly: "Get a few people to collect the bodies of Witt and Farmer, and have the others go into the camp to see if they can find any clues."

  Several students retreated immediately, and after a moment, several students who had been circling inside the campsite walked out quickly and said in a low voice: "Senior... there's something we've found..."

  "What discovery..." said Orudas.

  The apprentice opened his palm, and inside was a small piece of black charcoal. Orudas grabbed it in one hand, but found that it was still warm to the touch. After flipping the charcoal over several times, Orudas suddenly let out a cold laugh and said: "This wood was cut with the sword of a Temple Knight, and there's still residual heat on it. This means those guys from the Sacred Theocracy haven't gone far yet. If we hurry up and catch up to them now... they won't be able to do anything to us."

  The student responded with a sound and quickly retreated.

  "However, Chris wondered: "Senior...that Du Fan..."

  When he heard these two words, Ordas's face changed slightly, his teeth clenched tightly, and after a moment, he took a deep breath, his face returned to calm. He said in a low voice: "What does Dufan count for? We don't need to waste time with him now. If we continue to play cat and mouse with him here, aren't we extremely foolish? As long as we can complete this mission, when we return to the Imperial City, I will still have the opportunity to settle accounts with him."

  Kerri let out a sigh and nodded.

  A'erdashi saw that Keli didn't object, and for some reason, he felt a warmth in his heart. He waved his hand, just about to give the order, when suddenly, a shrill cry echoed over from afar.

  Aldas and Chris were both stunned at the same time, looking towards the direction of the scream, only to see that a huge shadow had appeared on the lake surface at some point, with several tentacle-like objects stretching out from the shadow. The two students who had been sent to collect the bodies earlier were caught around their throats by those hands, and although they struggled hard, they couldn't get rid of the restraints no matter what.

  A nearby student let out a cry of surprise, seemingly quite knowledgeable, covering his mouth and muttering: "We're done for, this is...this is an Octopus Demon Beast..."

  As soon as his voice fell, the octopus demon beast exerted its strength and wrapped around the two disciples who were trapped in their throats, their fighting spirit gradually fading away. Then a line of blood shot out, and their heads were squeezed to burst.

  As for their bodies, they didn't even have time to fall to the ground before being dragged into the lake.

  The student's face turned even paler, and he let out a low growl, his voice almost dripping with despair: "This... this is an adult body... this demon beast... we can't handle it, let's just get out of here..."

  Before he could finish speaking, the student felt a flash of light in front of his eyes, then a sharp pain on his cheek, and several teeth were knocked out by this sudden slap.

  Aorldas moved in and out like the wind, extremely fast. At this moment, his fighting spirit had already recovered to 89%, so the slap just now, except for Kriss, no one else in the scene could see clearly.

  Ardas didn't have time to think about anything else, he let out a cold snort and said: "What's it to me if the Octopus Demon Beast is in its adult form? With me, Ardas, here, am I supposed to be afraid of these beasts?"

  The apprentice who was slapped spoke intermittently: "Senior... our goal is the Divine Palace... no need... no need to get entangled with this demon beast..."

  Aoldas glared at him and said in a low voice, "Do you understand? The depths of this lake are also part of the Divine Palace. If we don't get rid of this thing, even if we can enter the Divine Palace alive, we won't be able to come out alive."

  As soon as the words were spoken, Orudas's mind flashed back to all that had happened today. He gazed far away at the bloodstains by the lake and thought of the demonic octopus within. Suddenly, he let out a cold laugh and said in a hoarse voice: "Well done, Dufan! So you've been planning this all along, trying to lure us from Roland Academy here to deal with this demon... You really did expect me to take action, didn't you? But... do you really think I, Orudas, would be foolish enough to fall for that?"

  But to say that, Orudas thought for a moment, and found out that if he didn't get rid of this demon beast, he absolutely couldn't enter the divine palace to search for treasure with peace of mind. No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like he was bound to suffer a loss anyway.

  At this moment, Kris gritted her teeth and drew out the long sword at her waist.

  His sword tip slightly rotated, a silver-colored Dou Qi was emitted from the long sword in his hand, and people around him suddenly felt a lightness on their bodies, as if they could fly at any time. At the same time, with this silver glow covering them, everyone's strength, agility, spirit, and defense were all enhanced.

  Auerdas's skill was astonishing, this move could only be used by high-ranking Temple Knights, the group blessing of Holy Light was brought out by him, with an effect that was astonishingly flawless.

  He slowly converged his aura, and in one breath, the yellowish-brown aura replaced the silver one. With his entire body surrounded by the aura, he walked step by step towards the lake.