Chương 54: The Professor's True Identity

Thanks to Catriona and her incredible knowledge of the Old Forest, they moved much faster than before. The young archer knew the quickest and easiest path through the dense forest, helping the group avoid both natural obstacles as well as monsters. They did run into a few smaller monsters, which they used as practice to get a feel for each other's fighting style. The first fight they fought together was against a group of rabbit-like monsters.

They were slightly larger than normal rabbits, with pitch-black fur and completely oversized teeth. The rank 1 rabbits weren't causing their team much trouble. The biggest challenge was actually catching them. Quick and agile, they kept evading Evan's and Oliver's sword strikes. Evan managed to hit two with his [Comet Shot], although he needed almost a dozen attempts for those two hits, overwhelming his mana regen and nearly completely draining his mana pool.

Oliver only got one, after immobilizing it with [Iron Root]. The rest were dispatched by Catriona. That girl could nock and loose an arrow so fast Evan's eyes could hardly follow her motions, and she only missed a single shot out of a dozen or so.

"Amazing," Oliver said, sadly looking down at the single slain rabbit monster next to his feet.

"Your dexterity stat must be through the roof."

"It's at sixteen," Catriona said with a half-smile.

"I've been using those Blacktooth Hoppers for target practice since I was twelve years old, long before I even got my affinity crystal." They continued their journey, but had to stop again when they ran into something called a Mudboar. The rank 2 monster looked pretty much exactly as the name implied: like someone had formed a boar from wet mud and clay, only it stood about 5 feet tall and had a nasty long-range mud-flinging attack, on top of impressive speed and strength.

This monster caused their group a little more trouble than the Blacktooth Hoppers. Catriona's arrows found their target, but they didn't do enough damage to even slow the Mudboar down. Catriona's fox familiar Lys joined the fight, chasing after the boar and nipping at its legs, but her bites weren't more than a minor annoyance to the charging boar. The monster headed straight for Oliver, who pulled up his [Earthen Bulwark] at exactly the right moment. The monster crashed into the wall headfirst.

The bulwark shattered, but the impact left the Mudboar momentarily distracted. It allowed Oliver to get a couple of strong sword strikes in. Evan teleported to his side and joined the effort. [+1 Strength] was the reward for his flurry of sword hits. The Mudboar grunted in pain, running away from them, flanks bleeding, before turning around and lowering its head.

"It's charging again, Olly. Tie it down," Evan yelled. Oliver complied and threw an [Iron Root] at the monster. Strong roots shot from the ground around the boar and wrapped around its legs. After some confused struggling, the monster resorted back to its long-range attack. A lump of mud the size of a soccer ball whizzed through the air. Oliver dove to the side. Evan used his [Teleport] to dodge. He reappeared a few feet away and reoriented himself quickly.

The boar was already starting to tear through the roots holding it down, so Evan didn't waste any time and flung several [Comet Shots] at the monster. [+1 Dexterity] When the golden light dissipated, all that remained was a half-burned corpse.

[You have killed 1 Mudboar] [You have earned 18 experience points] [You have looted 32 mana stones] [You have looted 1 Earth Affinity Crystal Shard] Luca cast [Refreshing Mist] on all of them to refill their mana and health before they all sat down on a nearby boulder formation to rest and analyze the fight.

"My arrows didn't do enough damage to make a difference," Catriona said thoughtfully, chewing on a piece of bread. She had brought several loaves in her inventory and had cut off a slice for all of them. It had a golden tint and tasted slightly sweet, halfway between white bread and a pastry. Evan liked the taste. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Catriona furrowed her brows.

"I might need to pick up a skill with a bit more oomph next, so I can contribute to the fight, even against more sturdy enemies."

"At least you contributed more than Luca," Oliver said, nudging the healer with his elbow.

"Man, I know you're a healer, but you could try to use your current pull skill to help. It has quite a lot of potential to control a fight." Luca brushed a few crumbs off his lap.

"You're right. I tend to hyper-focus on monitoring you guys' health and throwing out my Refreshing Mist. That's what I used to focus on during my training, before I met you. Fighting real monsters is still new to me."

"I wish we had more time to train together," Oliver said.

"But we don't. The time for the Beast's victim is ticking." Evan looked up. With the dense leaf canopy filtering out most of the sunlight, it was hard to tell what time it was, but the shadows were definitely getting longer.

"We should get moving again. I think the sun will set soon. If we want to reach the estate before it rises again, we need to hurry." The night caught up with them quickly. They took out their glow orbs to light the way, but the darkness still slowed them down. After a difficult few hours trekking through the woods and several more attacks from smaller monsters drawn by the light of their orbs, they finally reached the edge of the Old Forest.

The trees were smaller and stood farther apart; the ground vegetation was less dense and looked less magical than in the Old Forest. Silver moonlight shimmered through the leaves, helping them find their way. They continued until they reached something that looked like it used to be a road. It was mostly grown over now, barely more than a narrow clearing leading through the forest. Evan nearly stumbled over a stone. It was the size of a watermelon, with several runes carved into the smooth surface.

"A wardstone," Jasper explained when Evan bent down to inspect it, "but a non-functional one. Wardstones need to be recharged with mana every few years or so, but since the Vason family was exterminated and their family seat was abandoned, the surrounding villages were abandoned too. No one lives here anymore, and no one feels responsible for making the area safe again." They followed the road and soon found one of the abandoned villages Jasper had been talking about.

Even in the darkness of the night, Evan could tell it had been abandoned for a while. The buildings were falling apart, with crumbling walls and caved-in roofs, and the streets had been reclaimed by nature.

"The Beasts have been through here not long ago," Jasper said, "we're getting closer to the Estate." Evan peered into the night, but without Jasper's perception skills, he was unable to spot the tracks the criminals had left behind.

"We should probably stay off the road and make sure they don't see us coming." They all agreed on that idea. The group left the road again and steered toward the edge of the forest, moving parallel to it, using the vegetation to cover their approach.

"Do we have any idea what awaits us at the estate?" Evan asked. He had a general idea of how estates looked on Earth, but suspected that on this world they probably had little similarity with the grand houses he'd seen in Pride and Prejudice.

"I've never been to the Vason Estate," Jasper said, "The family was destroyed when I was still a child, but I've been to other aristocratic estates. The size varies. Some are small family homes with only a dozen or so rooms, others are large compounds housing hundreds of people, with rooms for the household guard, servants, and so on." Evan nodded along. So far that sounded pretty familiar.

"They all have one thing in common, though," Jasper continued.

"They have heavy magical defenses. Often the buildings are only the tip of the iceberg. Most aristocratic seats stretch underground, with a complex multi-level network of tunnels and rooms where they keep their valuable items. Weapons, mana stones, that kind of thing."

"A dungeon," Evan mumbled.

"We're going to crawl a dungeon?"

"We'll probably have to, yes. I assume whatever this Professor is doing to the poor people the Beasts abducted, he's doing it deep underground, where the chance of discovery is low and his victims can't easily flee. But first, we need to get into the building. There's going to be outside defenses too."

"But if there are magical defenses protecting the estate, how did the Professor get in?" Oliver asked. Jasper thoughtfully furrowed his brows.

"I've been thinking about that question since you told me about your conversation with the Patriarch. There are really only two answers I could come up with." Oliver frowned.

"I would say one is that this Professor is pretty powerful and simply fought his way past the defenses, right?"

"Right," Jasper said with a nod. Luca adjusted the holster of his dagger, looking uncomfortable.

"That doesn't sound so good. What's the other option?"

"The other option is that this Professor somehow managed to secure the key to the estate."

"The key?" Evan asked.

"As in a key you put into a door lock?"

"More than that," Jasper said.

"Buildings like aristocratic estates, with magical defenses, have magical keys. Usually just a single one, held by the head of the family or organization and passed down through a line of succession. The key allows the owner full control over the building. They can decide who enters, they can deactivate magical defenses or create new ones. They control every magical aspect of the building, from the door locks to the light color."

"Not a great option either," Evan said.

"If the Professor controls the entire building, that puts us at a huge disadvantage."

"True, but that's not what worries me about this scenario," Jasper said. Luca turned his head toward him and raised his eyebrows.

"You're not worried about a building trying to kill us?"

"No. I mean, yes, but no, that's not my biggest worry. The thing about these keys is that they are bound. You can't just pick one up and use it; you have to either inherit it from your predecessor or win it in a fight." Evan thought about his words for a moment.

"That narrows down potential suspects for the Professor's true identity, doesn't it?"

"Correct."

"It could be someone from a guild," Oliver suggested.

"The guilds killed all the members of the Vason family, so whoever killed the holder of the key inherited it, right? Maybe that guild member has gone rogue?"

"Sound theory, but unlikely," Jasper said.

"I know who killed Lord Vason. That man is now the vice-grandmaster of the Guardian Guild, and I know for a fact he's still in Stormhaven. I don't see how he could conduct forbidden magical experiments out here in the middle of nowhere."

"That only leaves one option then," Evan said slowly.

"The Vason family wasn't completely exterminated. At least one person must've survived, and they inherited the key."

"That's what I'm thinking," Jasper confirmed. Luca swallowed.

"So we're fighting someone with the Plague Affinity?" Oliver put his arm around Luca's shoulder.

"Good thing you picked up that cleansing ability at the Whisperleaf village. We're probably going to need it."