127: Chapter 127 Elena's First Move! The Wizard's Trail! A Decision!

About an hour later, a squad of knights appeared at the edge of the Mist Forest.

Surrounded by more than a dozen heavily armed knights, Elena arrived at the scene.

It was a relatively open clearing in the woods, with a faint scent of blood permeating the air.

In the center of the clearing, three corpses covered in coarse burlap lay silently, surrounded by over a dozen wounded lumberjacks and a few townspeople who had arrived upon hearing the news.

Low sobs, suppressed wails, and whispers filled with fear and numbness intertwined.

When Elena and her party appeared on horseback, the clearing fell silent for a moment.

Everyone's gaze converged, especially falling upon Elena, who was tightly guarded by knights in the center and dressed in luxurious noble attire.

In an instant, they were dumbstruck.

How had these rugged men, who dealt with timber year-round, ever seen such a beautiful and noble woman?

The lumberjacks subconsciously lowered their heads, afraid to look again, their bodies shrinking slightly as if fearing that their gaze might disturb the Lord.

Elena observed everyone's reactions, but felt little stir in her heart; she had seen this situation far too often back when she was still Miss Farrell.

She agilely dismounted and, under the protection of her knights, walked toward the corpses.

"Uncover them," she signaled to the guard beside her.

The burlap was lifted, revealing the scene beneath.

The bodies were covered in massive, jagged wounds that reached the bone, and the blood had already congealed and turned black.

However, Elena's gaze did not linger on the horrific wounds; she narrowed her eyes slightly, fully activating the special senses of her vampire heritage, which had been strengthened to the extreme.

A certain perception of life and blood, like invisible tentacles, carefully probed the corpses and the lingering aura in the surroundings.

She sensed something wrong!

Beyond the stench of magical beasts and the thick smell of blood, there remained a trace of extremely faint distortion and corruption in the blood, which made her feel an instinctive repulsion.

This seemed to be a special kind of energy?

Just as Elena was deep in thought, trying to capture the source of that strange aura—a sudden change occurred!

In the clearing, a giant wolf carcass that appeared to have long been dead suddenly sprang up without warning!

Its eyes were blood-red and lifeless, yet its movements were as fast as lightning. In a posture that completely defied biological reason, it opened its foul-smelling maw, bared its stark white fangs, and lunged directly at Elena in the middle of the crowd!

"My Lady! Look out!" Lady Lexi and Ms. Iris shouted simultaneously, drawing their swords to intercept!

However, Elena's reaction was faster than everyone else's!

The moment the wolf carcass sprang up, her vampire dynamic vision had already captured its trajectory.

She did not panic, but simply raised her right hand.

"Crackle—!" A dazzling blue bolt of lightning, like a spear of thunder, shot out from her fingertips!

The lightning struck first despite being launched later, hitting the head of the leaping wolf carcass with pinpoint accuracy!

"Boom!!" A piercing explosion accompanied by a burnt stench erupted instantly!

The wolf carcass's entire head exploded into pieces within the lightning; the headless remains, carried by the residual force, flew backward, slammed into a distant tree trunk, twitched twice, and then remained completely still, wisps of blue smoke rising from its body.

The clearing fell into a dead silence.

Everyone stared in dumbfounded silence at Elena, who still had faint sparks of electricity dancing around her body.

A few of the lumberjacks were so frightened they slumped to the ground.

Lady Lexi and Ms. Iris rushed to Elena's side, looking at her calmly retracted hand and then at the charred remains of the wolf carcass in the distance, their eyes filled with incredulous shock.

They knew that Runic Warlocks were powerful, but a thunderous strike with such terrifying might was certainly no ordinary feat!

Elena, however, acted as if she had merely done a trivial thing. She lowered her hand, her gaze falling once again upon the wolf carcass she had shattered, her brows furrowed, and her suspicions deepened.

In that instant just now, she had seen it more clearly.

When the wolf carcass lunged, what surged within its body was not life force or the wild nature of a magical beast, but a strange energy filled with traces of artificial manipulation.

It was that energy that had driven this long-dead corpse to launch the attack.

This was... a form of control!

A vague term that immediately set off alarm bells in her mind suddenly struck her—Witchcraft!

When she was studying at the Ice Source Rune University, she had seen similar descriptions in an elective textbook.

It mentioned that some wizards proficient in necromancy and curses could use special methods to corrupt living beings, control corpses, and even transform living creatures into puppets driven by them!

The energy characteristics described in those textbooks were extremely similar to the twisted energy remaining within the wolf carcass before her!

Deep in the Mist Forest... there are wizards?!

This thought sent a slight chill down her spine.

But immediately following that, a strange sense of excitement welled up in her heart.

She had to immediately head to Gino City in person and report this important discovery to The Count!

Thinking of this, she no longer hesitated and turned to give quick orders to Lady Lexi:

"Lady Lexi, seal off this area immediately. Strictly forbid anyone from approaching!"

"Have these corpses, including the remains of the wolf carcass, carefully collected and transported back to the castle cellar. Appoint someone to guard them. There must be no mistakes!"

"Ms. Iris, strengthen the guard at all outposts and villages along the edge of the forest. Double the patrols, but strictly forbid anyone from venturing deeper into the forest!"

"If you encounter any abnormalities, sound the alarm and retreat immediately. Try to avoid combat as much as possible!"

Her instructions were clear and decisive, carrying an unquestionable authority; she was like a completely different person from the melancholic girl at the window earlier.

"Yes, My Lady!" Lady Lexi and Ms. Iris were jolted awake from their initial shock. They subconsciously straightened their backs and struck their right hands heavily against their left chests.

Watching their Lady's resolute stance, they felt as if they were seeing The Count of the past.

Once the orders were given, no one hesitated. The well-trained personal guards began to execute the commands.

The forest clearing, originally permeated with the stench of blood, was quickly cleared through efficient and silent action.

A moment later, the group, along with the lumberjacks, completely disappeared into the thin mist.

Not long after Elena and her party left, two figures wearing hooded wizard robes quietly emerged from a patch of dense vines not far from the clearing.

One of them, from beneath the hood, spoke in a dissatisfied young male voice: "Wesley! Are you crazy?! Who told you to use the Corrupted Blood Puppet without authorization?! And you attacked that female lord!"

The man called Wesley, whose voice was slightly raspy and carried a cynical tone, replied: "Relax, Cassian. I was just using a little trick to scare that excessively beautiful Lord."

"Who would have known... she turned out to be a Runic Warlock, and her reaction was quite fast."

"Scare her? If she had actually died here, drawing the investigation of the Empire and the Church, and interfering with the teacher's experiment, both you and I would be thrown into the corruption pool!" Cassian's voice carried suppressed anger and lingering fear.

"Die here? No, no, no, I know my limits. That bit of energy would at most give her a fright and make her look a bit disheveled."

Wesley waved his hand dismissively, his gaze beneath the hood seemingly lingering on the direction where the carriage had disappeared: "However... I really didn't expect her to be a Runic Warlock. Looking at the purity of that lightning, her bloodline level isn't low... Tsk tsk, what an unexpected discovery."

Cassian took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said coldly: "Enough! The teacher's experiment is at a critical stage, and that thing deep in the forest is becoming increasingly unstable."

"What we need is quiet, and time! Killing a few lumberjacks to drive them away is enough; do not create extra complications!"

"From today on, you are not allowed to use witchcraft to provoke people from the outside! Do you understand?"

Wesley was silent for a moment, seemingly dissatisfied with Cassian's severity, but eventually shrugged and said lazily: "Fine, fine, I'll listen to you, Head Steward Cassian. But... do you really think that just by relying on us few, we can keep this hidden forever?"

"Some adventurers from Mist Town are getting closer and closer to our outer perimeter. Today's incident might scare the lumberjacks, but it might not necessarily scare those fearless adventurers."

"Even without me, conflict is only a matter of time."

Cassian looked at the clearing, which was gradually being swallowed by the mist in the distance, his eyes beneath the hood gloomy: "We'll hide it as long as we can. Once the teacher's experiment succeeds... Hmph, by then, let alone a tiny Mist Territory, even if a Great Knight comes, so what?"

On the other side, after Elena returned to Mist Castle, she immediately ordered: "Prepare the carriage; I must leave for Gino City immediately."

Lady Lexi was taken aback upon hearing this: "My Lady, you want to go to Gino City now? Here..."

"Handle this place according to my orders. The problem in the forest is likely beyond what we can currently solve. I must go see The Count immediately."

Then she thought for a moment and added: "If I cannot return in a short time, during this period, you will exercise the duties of the Lord in my stead. If anything happens, just send someone to deliver a message to me!"

"My Lady... this..." Lady Lexi seemed to want to say something, but looking at the determination in her Lady's eyes, the words in her throat ultimately turned into a deep bow of compliance: "I shall obey your will!"

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the main castle. Elena, accompanied by her maid Emily, stepped into the carriage quickly.

Before the carriage door closed, she glanced at the castle looming in the thin mist, her eyes devoid of any reluctance.

Lady Lexi and Ms. Iris stood side by side under the porch, watching the luxurious carriage break through the mist and quickly move away from the castle, glancing at each other helplessly.

After a long time, Ms. Iris sighed softly, breaking the silence: "It seems that our Lady really does not like this Mist Castle at all."

Lady Lexi did not answer. She knew that Ms. Iris was right.