172: Cloudy Peak

Due to the participation of the giant dragon's phantom and Lai'en's force field wall protection, not a single Allied Forces member was injured in this battle.

Lai'en contacted the Dragon King through his thoughts.

Southwest of Cloud Mist Peak, the Dragon King had already eliminated over a thousand Gnolls from last night until now.

He was firmly guarding the pass.

After communication, the Young Duke had the Dragon King split into two Level 1 Fey Creatures.

One, in the form of a smaller Pearl Dragon, continued to guard the pass.

The other reverted to its true form and, through the system space, instantly teleported out of the Qiankun Ring, returning to Lai'en's side.

The Young Duke instructed the Dragon King to devour the more than ten thousand Gnoll corpses on the battlefield into the system space.

Through system energy, the Gnolls' weapons and equipment were stripped off.

The Dragon King then spewed out the corpses, piling them in an open space.

They formed a massive "Jingguan" (a mound of enemy corpses).

He then had the soldiers pile dry wood around it, and the Dragon King doused it with oil.

High Lord Ryan Black personally shot a Flaming Arrow, and the tens of thousands of Gnoll corpses began to burn with a raging inferno.

Afterward, the Young Duke led the onlookers back into the large magic station, and incidentally, blocked the unpleasant smell of the charred corpses outside the wall.

At this point, he had the Dragon King spew out all the arrows that had been shot earlier, piling them in an open space.

He instructed the soldiers to pick up the corresponding number of arrows based on how many they had shot.

He had them perform maintenance work such as wiping and adjusting the fletching themselves.

Everyone had a limited number of arrows, and doing this maximized their recycling.

Having the Dragon King help retrieve them already saved the Allied Forces the maximum amount of time and physical exertion.

After finishing these tasks, Lai'en had the Dragon King's clone go to the seaside first, then return to the pass.

The Dragon King re-entered the Qiankun Ring, returned to Black Panther Fortress, and then flew to Treasure Sword Sea.

A few minutes later, the Dragon King, having replenished enough seawater, used the other Pearl Dragon-shaped clone as an anchor point, and energy converged into its body.

In an instant, the energy merged, the Pearl Dragon's size surged, and it once again returned to the size of a Level 2 magical beast.

The restored Dragon King suddenly increased its dragon breath output, catching the approaching Gnolls off guard.

In the afternoon, the Allied Forces, having rested, walked past the massive burning pile of Gnoll corpses and began to ascend Cloud Mist Peak.

The dense forest starting from the mid-slope slowed down the Allied Forces' march.

After the Forest Nymphs created Mana Vines to assist everyone in climbing the mountain, the marching speed increased again.

As the sun set, over a thousand people had climbed to the peak.

Upon reaching the top, everyone saw that the summit was also a large area of forest and high ground.

They marched until midnight before the Allied Forces set up camp in an open area on the north bank of a lake.

The faint sound of a waterfall came from the south of the huge lake.

This was the home of the Water Sprite Cascadia.

Surrounding it were the homes of the Forest Nymphs Adania and Eloise.

This was originally a very beautiful place.

However, the Gnoll invasion had left a large amount of filthy garbage and many scars corroded by hellish energy in the forest at the peak.

The priests and druids began to perform purification rituals in the surroundings.

With their remaining strength for the day, they purified the corrupted land near the camp.

The Forest Nymphs Adania and Eloise, and the Water Sprite Cascadia, accompanied by Fiona, Lilian, and the Siren leader Celinsella, found Lai'en to express their gratitude.

"Lai'en, thank you for everything you have done for us," Cascadia was the first to speak.

Except for Celinsella, the other Fey Creatures also echoed her words.

"This was all agreed upon; everyone should get a good rest tonight," the Young Duke said, "Tomorrow we need to rush to the pass in the southwest as quickly as possible, to prevent the Gnolls from rushing up Cloud Mist Peak again."

All the Fey Creatures nodded in agreement.

"Half-elf, don't worry, since we agreed to accompany you to attack the Gnoll fortress, we will never give up halfway," Cascadia continued with a smile, "Child of nature, we are here to remind you that the God of Nature will reward you for your actions."

"Please do not replace sleep with meditation tonight," Eloise said with a smile.

"Uh... why?" The boy felt this request was very strange.

"If you have a dream," Lilian said with a smile.

"You must let go of your body and mind and accept yourself in the dream," Fiona said with a final smile.

After speaking, they left Lai'en, who was utterly confused, and left directly.

"Kid, I remember who you are now," the Siren leader Celinsella, who was walking last, said, "On the way here, Lilian pointed out your territory on the cliff by the sea to me."

"I was..." The boy wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start.

"You are indeed very different, Half-elf. At least half of your ancestors share the same blood as ours," Celinsella said as she walked, "Moreover, having such a powerful neighbor as you, we obey the laws of nature! We hope that in the future, our territories can join hands to protect our homeland."

The Siren's voice gradually faded into the distance.

That night, the boy had a dream.

In the dream, a tall Forest Nymph with a crown of thorns on her hair spoke words of blessing to him.

What exactly she said, the awakened Lai'en couldn't remember a single word.

But the system message prompted him that he had gained a passive talent skill—

[Fey Affinity]

When the host negotiates with beasts, plants, and Fey Creatures, Charm checks gain advantage, and the host is immune to low-level Fey Creature's Charm spells.

Furthermore, when the host summons or encounters Fey Creatures through any means, in addition to friendly Fey Creatures, neutral Fey Creatures gain 60% favorability, with a high probability of converting to a friendly attitude;

Hostile Fey Creatures gain 30% favorability, with a certain probability of converting to a friendly or neutral attitude.

...

Additionally, the boy remembered that the Fey Creature in the dream had taken him to a place.

It seemed to be on the mountaintop, near this lake.

While the Allied Forces were still organizing their gear, he followed the memory from his dream and went to the northeast of the waterfall.

In the dream, there was a cave here.

After the Fey Creature in the dream led him here, she disappeared into the dark cave entrance.