The Fifth Volume of Wind and Clouds 005. Scout

  Finally back home, for a small person like me, Guangzhou is really overwhelming, got lost N times, what a tragedy...

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  In the quiet depths of the forest, a strange and eerie sound faintly emerged.

  At last, after a moment, Ordas emerged from a thicket of trees with an embarrassed look on his face.

  The people present pretended they didn't know anything and slightly turned their heads away.

  A'erdashi calmed down and quickly ordered several students to bury the sacrificed people on the spot, then counted the remaining number of people again, and couldn't help but feel a wave of suffocation in his heart.

  This journey has not sacrificed anyone on the northern ice field, but when facing that damned Dufan, half of the elites of Roland Academy died inexplicably. If this weren't happening right in front of one's own eyes, who would believe it?

  Kurisu walked up to Okabe with a pale face and whispered: "Senpai, what should we do next?"

  Orudas gazed at Chris, his eyes filled with tenderness. After a moment, he spoke in a low tone: "We've already come this far, what else can we do? Can't just return empty-handed, can we? I promised Professor Bruce that no matter what, I'd bring back the things from this divine palace... even if it means risking my own life, I'll definitely make it happen..."

  At this point, Ordas had a completely calm expression on his face. Probably every little girl in the Gavin Empire would be starry-eyed and screaming with excitement if they saw him like this.

  Unfortunately, he could only maintain this expression for less than five seconds before his stomach suddenly hurt again.

  Ardas's face changed greatly, and this time he didn't even bother to cover it up. His figure flashed into the dense forest, perhaps because he was in a hurry this time, and he stopped not far away. The crisp and pleasant voice clearly entered the ears of the students of Roland Academy.

  Most of those students were male, and there was no excessive reaction.

  It was Chris who let out a soft "hiss", her face suddenly turning bright red.

  A moment later, Ordas hurried back again, but this time he couldn't hide it no matter what. Facing everyone's strange gaze, his spirit was almost collapsing.

  Auerstadt almost bit his lip, from the moment he was born, everyone regarded him as a treasure, and when his genius name was slightly revealed, everyone regarded him as a star in the sky. From birth to now, how could he have suffered such humiliation?

  After hesitating for a moment, Ordas finally spoke in a low voice to Chris: "I... think... that bastard Dufan put poison in the red tea..."

  When he said this, Ordas didn't have much confidence in his heart either. He knew that with the characteristics of the earth spirit's fighting energy, if Du Fan had poisoned him, he would have definitely detected it the moment the red tea entered his mouth. But who would have thought that Du Fan wouldn't poison him, but instead gave him a laxative?

  This laxative may have some unusual effects, but no one has ever considered it a poison. If Ordas had taken this laxative on an ordinary day, he would have been able to force it out of his body with his internal energy, which wouldn't be difficult at all. But today...

  Just thinking of this... Orudas's face changed again...

  He clutched his stomach and let out a painful groan, and then disappeared into the dense forest once again...

  It wasn't until who-knows-how-many times later that Orudas's stomach finally returned to normal, but this morning his stomach had ached countless times, and by the end he was drained of all strength, able only to lie down at the base of a tree, moaning softly.

  Everyone was helpless and could only carefully guard around the tree, but Kriss was quite good to this senior, personally serving him by his side, which brought a few warmth to Orudas' nearly icy heart.

  But the more it is, the more Orudas hates Du Fan. At this moment, he has sworn countless times in his heart that if he meets Du Fan again, no matter what the situation is, he will definitely take his life without hesitation.

  By noon, Ordas' body had also recovered normally, although he was still a bit weak, but it didn't affect his actions much. After resting for a morning, most of the students' physical strength and fighting spirit had recovered by more than half, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.

  He took out a little secret medicine from the Roland Academy and swallowed it, restoring some of his fighting spirit. This time, Orudas didn't dare to be too big, but instead jumped up to the treetop to observe the surrounding terrain from afar.

  Although there was a layer of misty fog covering the valley, this place had been visited by Ordas before, and he had a few points in his heart. He looked at it for a moment and had already calculated the route to proceed next.

  Kurisu jumped up from the bottom of the tree and said, "Senpai, what should we do next?"

  "This is the nth time Krista has asked today, but Orudas doesn't feel annoyed. He points in the direction of the Temple Palace and says: "Krista, do you see that place? That's our destination. Once we get there, we can naturally enter the Temple Palace. When I came here before, I had some understanding of the situation in the Temple Palace. As long as we can pass through this dense forest, the final victory will ultimately belong to us."

  Kris nodded silently and said in a low voice: "But what about Du Fan..."

  A'erdashi furrowed his brow, thought for a moment, and said: "You and I both underestimated Du Fan before. Plus he repeatedly provoked us, and due to our carelessness, we sacrificed so many people. This time, no matter what, we can't make the same mistake again. How about this? We'll split into two teams, front and back. I'll take a few people to deal with the traps ahead first. That way, even if something happens, with my skills, I can still protect a few people. As for you, follow behind from a distance, ready to provide rescue at any time. What do you think?"

  Kurisu thought for a moment, although she didn't quite understand why Aldous, who was usually the one in charge, would be discussing things with her. Nevertheless, she thought seriously for a moment before responding: "Senior, I think this plan is unwise. Your ki has recovered by more than half... but if you're going to take on Du Fan... I'm afraid..."

  What Kris said after that didn't come out, but Orudas understood what she meant.

  He didn't argue, but pondered for a moment and said: "How about this? Our large team will temporarily rest here first, then send two people to scout ahead and figure out the general situation. After that, we'll adapt accordingly."

  Kris nodded and said, "That's the best way... In my opinion, let Witte and Farma go. The two of them have excellent martial arts skills and are also quite clever. If they were to go, I think even if Du Fan wanted to deal with them, he would have to pay a certain price."

  Ardas thought for a moment, then said softly: "Alright, let's do it as you said. Also, have them bring the transmission magic scroll, no matter what happens, we can notify each other at any time."

  Kris nodded and quickly descended from the treetop, and a moment later, two figures wearing black cloaks disappeared into the dense forest.

  Auerdas looked up at the gloomy sky, feeling increasingly heavy-hearted. He jumped down to the base of the tree, and someone naturally handed him a dry ration. Auerdas took a small bite, chewed for a moment, but felt as if his chest and abdomen were about to explode - this precious food was somehow impossible to swallow.

  Du Fan remained crouched on the treetop, maintaining the same posture for a long time, causing his hands and feet to feel slightly numb. The magical shield that had surrounded him earlier had already dissipated, but at this moment, he had retracted all his aura and was hiding on the treetop, just like he had really become a part of the tree itself.

  A rustling sound came from afar, Du Fan's spirit lifted, and he stared tightly in that direction.

  At last, two figures appeared in his line of sight. These two people were wearing black cloaks, and their entire bodies were almost wrapped in the cloaks, making it impossible to see what kind of people they were.

  But Du Fan only gazed at their figures for a moment, then smiled slightly and said in a low voice: "That Orudas guy really can't come to explore the way himself."

  After finishing, he took out a bottle of magical potion from the storage ring and opened it. This time, a faint white smoke emanated from it. Du Fan blew some of the smoke towards the direction of those two people, then quickly put away the bottle. Following that, his figure hid again.

  Those two men in black looked around for a moment in the dense forest, but found no mechanism or trap. They exchanged a glance, and both seemed to see the confusion in each other's eyes.

  One of them hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Famer, have you found anything? Why do I feel that this dense forest is extremely normal, and it doesn't seem like the previous sinister atmosphere at all?"

  That person named Fahmer nodded slightly and said, "Witt, what you said is right. Could it be that Du Fan only set traps in the previous place and didn't have time to come here?"

  After the two finished speaking, they searched around for a moment and confirmed that there were no traps. Whit then pulled out a messaging magic scroll from his pocket, wrote on it for a moment, and threw it to the ground.

  Falm looked at his movements and said after a moment: "What's our next move? Are we waiting for Orudas-senpai and the others to catch up, or are we going ahead on our own?"

  "We'll go first, of course," said Wit. "As Orudas-senpai has already said, Du Fan's strength is definitely not above level 5. Although he has a lot of strange things on him, we just need to be careful and we shouldn't be afraid of him. Now that there are fewer people, it should be harder for him to notice our movements. As long as we discover his location first, we might even have the chance to kill him on the spot."