"Maybe they are not afraid of ice, but simply not afraid of fire," Emmeline replied.
"Not afraid of fire? Do you mean they are monsters with extremely high resistance to fire?"
"You could say that. I suspect their true form is a kind of ash. Ashes are naturally not afraid of fire. I even feel that all the white things around are the ashes of something after it burned." Emmeline said solemnly.
"Ashes? If they really are ashes, then what could have burned and left behind?" Isidor said, trying to burn the surrounding ground and trees with flames. As expected, he could hardly cause any damage - there was no longer any combustible material inside them.
The two were walking and talking when suddenly a group of people came running over in panic, with a dozen huge white monsters chasing them from behind.
"Run! The white beast tide is coming!" When several people saw Isidor and Emilyne, they hurriedly shouted at them to escape together.
Isidor would naturally not run away. Although the white beast that was chasing him was several times larger than the one he had just encountered, it was just a small fish that he could kill instantly.
"Stop first, I have something to ask you." Isidor said as he raised his hand and shot more than a hundred ice cones at the white monster, then lowered his head and said to a few people.
"Now is not the time to talk, the most important thing is to escape!" several people said as they ran.
"Look behind you." Emmeline couldn't help but remind them.
The few people who were escaping were all dressed as adventurers. When they heard Emmeline say this, they bravely looked back and found that the white monster chasing them from behind had been smashed into piles of ashes by the ice cones.
"Who are you? How could you kill such a big white beast so easily!" Several adventurers were horrified when they saw this, so they stopped and turned to ask.
Isidor naturally would not tell them his true purpose. After a brief thought, he decided to pretend to be an adventurer like them - after all, he was a registered D-level adventurer in the Adventurer's Association, so it was not a lie.
"I am an adventurer who came here to investigate. I have just arrived and would like to learn about the situation from you. When I saw you being chased by monsters, I rescued you." Isidor said after dismounting from his horse.
"Then you must be an adventurer of a very high level, right? Our team didn't even have the strength to resist a white beast of this size, but you were able to kill it in seconds." The leading adventurer asked.
Isidor wanted to say A-level, but after calculating the strength of the monsters, he felt that an A-level adventurer might be able to kill one or two, but if he killed more than a dozen at once, it would be hard to convince people. But he couldn't brag too much. He planned to let these people act as guides. If they thought they could do whatever they wanted with a backer, it might cause unnecessary trouble.
Thinking of this, Isidor said, "Yes, I am an S-rank adventurer from Piedmont. But it is not as easy as you say. The ice cone just now has consumed a lot of my magic power. If possible, I don't want to fight a monster of this size."
"Did I hear it right? It's S-level? Oh my God, I have never seen an S-level adventurer in my life, but I didn't expect to see one here." The leading adventurer said excitedly.
"That's right. Without S-level strength, it's unlikely to defeat so many monsters in one blow. After all, there are A-level adventurers among us, and they got beaten badly anyway." Another adventurer said in a somewhat complaining tone.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Batty, and I'm an A-rank adventurer. These are my team members, and they're all B-rank adventurers." The leading adventurer smiled awkwardly, pointing at several of his companions and saying their names one by one.
"My name is Isidor, and this is Emily. We came here because we heard that there is money to be made here, but we don't know the situation yet. Could you please tell us in detail?" Isidor asked.
Chapter 127 Mysterious Crystal
Seeing his benefactor asking a question, Batti quickly answered, "You may have heard about the feathers that fall here, but those feathers are rare now, and you basically rely on luck to pick them up. As for the more valuable crystals, they are actually very rare in the periphery. Although there are actually more buried in the central area of the White Zone, the closer you get to the center, the more "white beasts" there are, and the bigger they are. Now the crystal stones in the periphery have been almost dug up by the adventurers who came earlier. If you want to get rich, you can only risk getting closer to the center."
Isidor nodded thoughtfully: "Okay, let's go to the center. You guys can lead the way, and I'll take care of the fighting. If there's any benefit..."
Batti said quickly: "You saved our lives, and we haven't repaid you yet. Besides, you are just leading the way this time, and we don't have to do much, so we won't take any money for this reward."
Isidor smiled and said, "You are quite professional. But don't worry, if I really find something good, I will not treat you unfairly."
Batti did not refuse but smiled gratefully. His team ventured deep into the hinterland and had collected a lot of crystal stones. However, when they were about to leave, they were suddenly attacked by a white beast and were forced to throw away the spoils. He was indeed a little unwilling to do so.
"Then please allow me to lead the way for you." Batty said, leading a few companions in front, while Isidor and Emmeline followed on horseback. Although they encountered some white beasts on the road, they were all crushed by Isidor with ice cones.
"Please be careful. At this distance, the white beast may attack at any time." Batti reminded nervously.
"Just keep going. If there are monsters, I will deal with them myself." Isidor replied.
"Mr. Isidor, I know you are very strong, but the white beasts here are endless, and they will turn into ashes after death. They are not like ordinary monsters whose corpses have a certain value. So if possible, we should try to avoid fighting. It is better to conserve your strength and slowly collect crystal stones." Batty said.
"Boss, this location is very close to the center, why don't we try to collect some now?" suggested another adventurer.
"That's true." Batti nodded, and together with his companions, they dug on the ground with the shovels they carried with them. Sure enough, after a few tries, they dug out a crystal stone the size of a goose egg.
"Mr. Isidor, this is the crystal stone. Just a piece this big is worth more than a dozen gold coins." Batti excitedly handed the crystal stone to Isidor.
Isidor took it in his hand and looked at it. It was a milky white stone, round to the touch, like a pebble.
He knew nothing about either alchemy or minerals, so he just looked at it for a few seconds and handed the crystal stone to Emmeline.
Emmeline took the stone in her left hand, examined it carefully for a while, and then said, "This is a high-purity magic crystal, usually produced under some kind of high-pressure environment, either naturally or artificially. This one seems to be a byproduct of the magic that overflowed when some magic was activated."
"This lady is obviously an expert! Alchemy scholars also say so. This kind of stone can be used as a high-quality material for alchemy, and can also be used as fuel for magical reactions. Therefore, many merchants in the alchemy industry gather in Bailu City to buy it at high prices. Because of the shortage of supply, the price is even rising." Batty said.
"Can you find any clues?" Isidor asked Emmeline.
"There is more than one magical aura in it. I guess it may be the result of the collision of two powerful magics." Emmeline said, crushing the stone with her palm and showing the patterns in it to Isidor.
"Look, there are clear layers here, which is obviously the result of being impacted from two sides at the same time. If I'm not mistaken, the central area where the crystal stones are found in large quantities is where we are looking for." Emmeline continued.
Batty, who was standing nearby, didn't hear clearly what Emmeline said, but when he saw Emmeline crush the hard crystal stone with her bare hands, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. He originally thought that Emmeline had never fought and should be a scout or support type of job, but he didn't expect that she had such amazing power. Could this be another S-level adventurer?
"Bati, keep going, to where there are more crystal stones," said Isidor.
"Yes!" Batty nodded. He was originally a little worried that Isidor alone would not be able to protect the team members, but when he saw that Emilyne also had such strength, he immediately felt relieved.
So the group continued to move towards the center, and after walking another two or three miles, they saw more crystal stones visible to the naked eye. Many of them could even be seen on the ground, so there was no need to dig at all.
"Oh my God, this is the first time we have come to such a deep place! There are crystal stones everywhere. We are rich now! We don't have to worry about the rest of our lives!" Batty was overjoyed. He hurriedly asked his companions to take out the bags prepared in advance and slowly filled a few bags with crystal stones.
"Keep going, we need to get closer to the center," said Isidor.
"Ah? We have to get closer? But we can't take all the crystal stones here. There's no point in going deeper." Batti said puzzledly.
At this moment, the ground suddenly shook violently, and a white beast as tall as a hill emerged from the ground and ran towards the crowd with great momentum.
Batty was so frightened that his face turned pale, and his legs were shaking so much that he couldn't even run away. But Isidor calmly raised his hand, and a purple shockwave blew the giant white beast into pieces.
"I repeat, keep moving toward the center," Isidor repeated.
After seeing Isidor's strength, Batti dared not disobey, and hurriedly asked his companions to put down the crystal stones and bravely led the way.
The group moved forward and finally arrived at the central area.
It was a dry riverbed, with thirty to fifty people gathered at the bottom of the riverbed. They were all dressed like adventurers, with dishevelled hair and dirty faces, looking miserable as if they were fleeing.
Isidor led his men up and was about to ask questions when a tall adventurer stepped forward with his hand outstretched: "A few more unlucky guys have come - do you have any food with you? Bring it out and share it among us."
"What's going on? Are you trapped here?" asked Isidor.
"You'll know after you see it, right? We are adventurers and speculators who want to make a fortune. We broke into the central area and wanted to dig up some crystal stones to make a fortune, but we didn't expect to encounter a large white beast. We were lucky enough not to be eaten on the spot, but our way back was blocked and we couldn't go back." The tall adventurer said impatiently.
Chapter 128: White Statue
"Oh? From what you said, the white beast won't attack here?" Isidor asked curiously.
"Nonsense, why else would we gather here? Are we waiting to die? Stop fussing. We are all on the same boat here. Hurry up and take out the food and share it. We can only survive if we hold on until the city sends rescuers." The tall adventurer stretched out his hand to urge.
"You'd better not go off topic when I ask you questions." Isidor said, reaching out and tapping the tall adventurer's open palm. The adventurer's entire arm was instantly frozen. He waved his arm in disbelief and accidentally hit a tree nearby. His arm was instantly shattered along with the ice.
“Ahhh! You bastard…” The tall adventurer had only said half of his words when his mouth was frozen and he couldn’t utter a single word.
"I have food here. Who of you can answer my question?" Isidor asked, reaching into the saddle bag and taking out the dry food and water bottle he bought on the road.
Seeing the food and water, the adventurers gathered together immediately, but because of the strength Isidor had just shown, they did not dare to get too close.
Finally, a skinny adventurer bravely stepped forward, swallowed his saliva and said, "I was the first adventurer to come here. At that time, I was greedy and dug a lot of crystal stones but refused to leave. As a result, I encountered a white beast and all my companions were killed. I was the only one who ran here by mistake and accidentally fell into the riverbed. I thought I was dead at the time, but I didn't expect the white beast to turn around and run away, not daring to approach here at all."
The skinny adventurer paused, then continued, "However, as long as you leave a certain distance from here, the white beast will start to attack. Although I don't understand the reason, I guess it may be related to the statue here."
"Idol?"
"Yes, it's this statue." The skinny adventurer said as he separated the crowd and brushed away the pile of feathers on the ground with his hands, revealing a white statue covered with feathers.
When Isidor saw the statue, he dropped his food and water on the ground and walked over in a daze. Most of the statue was still buried in the soil, with only the part above the chest exposed. Isidor dug up the soil around it and took the statue out.
The statue is about one meter tall and is pure white in color. It is as delicate as ivory carving, but its texture is extremely hard.
Because of the blurry appearance, Isidor could not make out the face of the statue, but from the posture, expression, hair style and the medicine bag it carried, he could still recognize that this statue was the Esna they were looking for.
"What is going on? How did Esina...turn into a statue?" Isidor said with a trembling voice, hugging the statue.
"Sister!" Emmeline could no longer control her emotions. She ran forward, hugged the statue with one hand and burst into tears.
The adventurers around looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.
"Don't cry so quickly. Esna might still be alive. Listen - there seems to be a faint heartbeat here." Isidor said, pointing to the heart.
After hearing this, Emmeline stopped crying in a hurry, put her long ear to Esna's chest and listened carefully for a while. She first showed a look of surprise, then approached and asked worriedly, "There is a little heartbeat, and there is a little warmth in the chest, but how can we make her return to normal?"
Isidore sighed, looked at Emmeline with a determined gaze and said, "I don't have any way for the moment, but don't worry. As long as I am still alive, I will find a way to make her recover even if I have to search the whole world."
With tears in her eyes, Emmeline said, "The fate of us sisters is now in your hands. You must save my sister."
Isidor nodded, picked up the statue, called Batty and prepared to leave.
"Wait a minute! We all rely on this statue to avoid the white beast. If you take it away, how can we survive?" A trapped adventurer stopped Isidor and asked.
"You guys just leave with me. I will deal with the white beasts on the road." Isidor said coldly.
"There are so many of us. Can you guarantee our safety?" asked the adventurer.
"Stop talking. It's too sleepy to stay here. Why not take a gamble? Hero, wait a moment. We'll pack up the crystals and leave." Another trapped adventurer said, and quickly poured out the bag of food and filled it with handfuls of crystal stones.
Isidor was a little angry and a little amused. He looked at the adventurer who blocked his way and said, "Why should I protect you? Tell me what you mean?"
The adventurer who was blocking the way was stunned for a moment, and blurted out: "You are also an adventurer, right? How can you just sit back and watch us, who are also adventurers? And if you don't help, how can you live your life if the news gets out?"
Isidor took off his hat, revealing the goblin's unique upturned pointed ears, and said in a deep voice: "First of all, I am not human; secondly, just like you don't care if there are ants under your feet when you walk, I don't care what you think of me."
Isidor turned his head and looked at Batty and said, "You guys, follow closely."
After hearing what he said, Batty quickly followed with his team members.
Seeing this, the other trapped adventurers did not dare to continue to put crystal stones into their bags, but quickly picked up their own bags of crystal stones and followed. Only a few extremely greedy adventurers continued to put crystal stones in. When there were no more bags, they took off their pants and tied up their trouser legs to use as pockets.
However, before they could fill their pockets with crystal stones, a huge hand as thick as a roof stretched out from the ground and slapped several people down.
Upon seeing this, the adventurers panicked and dropped their crystal stones and fled. Only Batty and his companions gathered around Isidor, trembling in fear.
Isidor looked back and saw a giant hand supporting the ground and slowly standing up. It turned out to be a Cyclops as big as a skyscraper. Compared with it, the white beast he had just defeated was just a harmless little white rabbit.
Seeing the giant taking steps towards this side, Isidor did not dare to hold back any longer and directly shot a void shock wave at the giant's chest.
There was a loud noise from the giant's chest, and half of his chest collapsed. However, he did not fall down, but instead stomped even harder at Isidor and the others.
Isidor quickly materialized a greatsword, and with a whirlwind blow, he completely turned one of the giant's legs into ashes.
The giant's huge body finally lost its balance and slowly fell down. Isidor took advantage of the situation and jumped up. In mid-air, he saw the giant sword thrown out and smashed his head into powder.
However, at this moment, a dazzling white light suddenly appeared behind Isidor.
It was inconvenient for Isidor to turn around in mid-air, so he quickly turned his head and saw another giant standing behind him. A white light shot out from its huge single eye, which scattered into countless light balls at half the distance and poured towards everyone.
Isidor was horrified. The speed of the light ball was extremely fast. No matter whether it was an evil creature or a fantasy construction, at this distance, it seemed that there was no way to protect Emmeline's safety.
Chapter 129: Aisina's Memory
Seeing that the white light was about to hit Emmeline, Isidor exclaimed, and with the attitude of trying everything possible, he shot a void shock wave in front of Emmeline, hoping to be able to withstand the attack of the white light.
However, at this moment, the white statue tied to the horse suddenly opened an invisible protective shield, blocking all the white light outside the circle, until the white light was completely emitted and slowly disappeared.
Upon seeing this, Isidor hurriedly summoned the ghost bird and asked it to fly to the top of the white giant's head. He then summoned countless ice cones to pour down until the white giant was reduced to ashes.
After killing the white giant, Isidor observed in the sky for a while, and after confirming that no new giants stood up, he slowly landed next to Emmeline.
"Are you okay?" Isidor asked worriedly.
"It's okay. It seemed like my sister protected us just now." Emmeline said, looking at the statue on the horse.
"The protective shield just now is indeed somewhat similar to Esina's 'Perfect Virgin'. Anyway, let's leave this dangerous area first and find a safe place to slowly find a way to help Esina recover." Isidor said.
"I've thought about it carefully. We can go to the Magic Academy in Piedmonton. The principal and professors there are knowledgeable, and they have received a lot of money from my sister over the years. If they are willing to help, maybe there will be a way." Emmeline said.
"Piedmont is far south of the continent. Even if we take the ghost bird, we won't be able to get there in a short time. Moreover, the crystals and feathers here may be related to Esina's transformation into a statue. I think it's better to investigate here now." Isidor said.
"Then I'll listen to you." Emmeline nodded obediently.
"Bati, take us towards Bailu City, the faster the better." Isidor turned around and said.
After hearing what Isidor said, Batty quickly led the team to turn around and headed straight for Bailu City. Although white beasts blocked the road from time to time along the way, they were all killed by Isidor in seconds, so the group was able to leave the Bailu area smoothly.
The walls of Bailu City can be seen outside the Baiyu Domain. Many adventurers are trying to go in to search for treasures, and Isidor is too lazy to stop them. He directly used his imagination to create a few gold bricks, pretending to take them out of his backpack and hand them to Batty: "Share it among you. I think the value of this gold should be far more than what you can get from selling the crystal stones. But if I find out that you have leaked what happened here, don't blame me for being rude."
Batti escaped death and thought he was lucky to be alive, but he didn't expect Isidor to be so generous. He immediately picked up the gold brick, thanked him and left with his companions.
"Let's go to the city first. I heard from Batty that there are many alchemists gathered here. We can find out about the crystal stone here." Isidor said, and he took Emily to dismount and walk into the city to look for the alchemist.
A wall of Bailu City collapsed in the previous earthquake, and it is now under repair. However, compared with the repair work, the trading market of alchemical materials is even more bustling. Because of the influx of a large amount of raw materials, there are more assistants for identification and sorting, and the whole city is as lively as a market.
Isidor looked around, found a larger shop and walked in. He bought some expensive alchemical tools and started chatting with the alchemist.
