165: Lakeside Encounter

The newly completed tower and the inn connected by a wooden fence on the hillside were still lacking in internal facilities.

Ryan had Randall lead the cavalry to set up camp, and also told the construction team to rest first.

After Kordor Ironanvil, the Minister of Craftsmen, took him on a tour of the building complex, inside and out, he began to draw magic runes within the tower and inside the inn's fence.

This included the base of the tower and the hollowed-out mountainside—a sizable wizard's cavern.

Five hours later, he once again independently completed the drawing of all rune arrays and auxiliary independent magic runes.

This system assimilation was expected to take seven and a half hours.

The guard duty was left to the soldiers.

Ryan and the cavalry, after a night's rest, set off westward early the next morning.

Before they even reached the vicinity of the Great Lake, the Forest Nymph Fiona emerged from a tree ahead, "Ryan! Randall!" she called out.

Her voice was drowned out by the sound of hooves, but Ryan still saw her.

"Whoa..."

The team began to slow down, gently coming to a halt not far past the Forest Nymph.

"Fiona! Is something wrong?" The Young Duke, riding his white horse, turned back and extended his hand to the Forest Nymph.

Fiona took Ryan's hand and swung onto his horse, "There are a large number of Gnolls to the south, heading towards the lake. Their numbers are unknown, but they stretch as far as the eye can see. Lilian and her group haven't arrived yet; they're probably still in the underground river, and we can't contact her right now."

"How many people did you bring?" the Young Duke asked.

"Besides me, there are six other Forest Nymphs, and Tree Person Angdem and his companion Duosi Green Crown are waiting for us to the west," Fiona said anxiously, "We Forest Nymphs are hard to spot when hidden in trees, and Water Sprites are safe when they hide in underground rivers, but I'm afraid they might not see us and directly engage the Gnolls. Also, the Tree Person would be in danger if discovered."

"We'll hurry over. I'll temporarily block the Gnolls with mist. Once everyone arrives, whether we fight or retreat, we'll decide based on the situation," the Young Duke said, then spurred his warhorse, leading the team to run again.

He spread out the mist, enveloping all the cavalry within it.

At the same time, he granted Fiona visual access.

More than twenty minutes later, the team arrived at the lakeside, where a few scattered Gnolls had already appeared.

The large expanse of white mist appearing in the forest in broad daylight immediately alerted these Gnolls.

But no matter how vigilant they were, they were still swallowed by the rapidly moving white mist, losing their vision and unable to discern direction.

"Fiona, leave this to us. Go bring your friends into the mist and tell them that they will be temporarily blinded when they first enter. I will restore their vision as soon as I sense them enter," the Young Duke stopped his horse and said to the Forest Nymph behind him, "Then send someone to the lakeside to wait for Lilian and her group."

"Alright!" Fiona dismounted and ran towards the west side of the lake.

Ryan, with his abilities as a Level 3 Mage, could now manipulate the mist to obscure and change within a maximum radius of 480 feet and a maximum height of 40 feet.

This Great Lake was about 16 li long from east to west and about 3.6 li wide from north to south.

There was originally a powerful Water Sprite in the lake, who was now going to pick up Lilian via the underground current.

A portion of the cavalry, led by several knights, quickly dealt with the seven or eight Gnolls enveloped in the mist.

Before arriving, Ryan had instructed: if a large-scale Gnoll encounter occurred, try to use as few spells and abilities as possible, and resolve it with ordinary weapons first.

This was to avoid consuming magic too quickly, which would leave them in a passive position for later battles.

Ryan could currently only obscure a small section of the southern shore of the lake with mist and slowly move westward.

The Gnolls behind, seeing the mist clear and their companions lying on the ground, began to howl in rage.

Subsequently, more Gnolls charged into the mist.

For prey that "delivered themselves into the tiger's mouth," the Young Duke naturally used the Defensive Fog Labyrinth to trap them.

Then, he dispatched several small teams to go forward and eliminate them individually.

The rest rested in the mist.

Ryan could also see the continuous streams of Gnolls in the distance; he had to conserve his strength and wait for the opportune moment.

After two rounds of killing, most of the Gnolls stopped their blind charges.

Ryan continued to move slowly westward with the cavalry and the thick fog.

Suddenly, among the Gnolls on the periphery, a unique Gnoll not wearing armor appeared, catching the Young Duke's attention.

It began to chant something facing the mist.

It was a spellcaster!

"Quick! Shoot that spellcasting Gnoll! Shoot!" Ryan shouted loudly, simultaneously flipping his palm to equip himself with the necklace "Diplomat's Helper: Lavinia's Gift" and activating the "Comprehend Languages" spell on it.

The arrows shot by the cavalry were blocked by several Gnolls; two ordinary Gnoll soldiers died, but the spellcaster remained unharmed.

The Young Duke now wanted to cast a spell to stop it, but it seemed too late.

In the noisy environment, the Young Duke tried to discern the content of the opponent's incantation: "...Plague Cloud!"

As the incantation ended, a cloud of gray mist was pushed from the hand of the Gnoll spellcaster, flying towards the mist.

"Dragon King!"

Ryan summoned the Dragon King and communicated with it telepathically, telling it to use its dragon breath to blow the gray mist back.

But as soon as the gray mist touched the white mist, its diffusion speed was surprisingly fast, instantly enveloping more than a dozen cavalrymen in front.

The Young Duke decisively cut off the contaminated mist from the mist behind, creating a gap of more than twenty meters.

Then, he controlled the contaminated mist in front to rise into a mist wall, standing between the Gnolls and the dozen or so cavalrymen.

The Young Duke ordered Youdala Priest Miri and Dawn Priest Brann to step forward and use Lesser Restoration or Healing Potion to treat the unconscious dozen cavalrymen, bringing them back to the center of the team after healing.

While the two priests went forward to save people, the Dragon King, in its Pearl Dragon form, flew into the air. From behind the mist wall, it exhaled a large amount of scorching dragon breath towards the south.

A cloud of boiling steam, dozens of feet long, over ten feet wide, and 10 feet high, penetrated the mist wall, enveloping dozens of Gnolls, including the spellcasting Gnoll.

Then, as the Dragon King swooped from west to east, continuously exhaling dragon breath, more contaminated mist walls and Gnolls were enveloped in the boiling steam.

Ryan released control of that portion of the mist, letting it be blown towards the Gnoll horde by the dragon breath.

Creatures enveloped in the steam continuously took 1d10 points of scorching damage every six seconds.

This wide-ranging dragon breath attack enveloped thirty to forty nearby Gnolls, taking away a third of their health, including the spellcasting Gnoll.

The rest were severely burned, and only a small number of Gnolls in the rear escaped.

At this moment, the Dragon King's Pearl Dragon form in mid-air was also revealed to the Gnoll horde.

Ryan silently chanted in his mind: Second-ring Arcane Pearl Mirror Image!

At the same time, three pearlescent mirror images were created behind the Dragon King. Amidst the Dragon King's roar, three mirror images identical to it swooped down towards the dense Gnoll horde to the south.

When these three pearlescent mirror images are destroyed, their explosion will cause 2d4 acid splash damage to all creatures within a 30-foot radius.

And Ryan on the ground also charged south with the cavalry.