Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 179 The Shadow Behind

With Zhang Yuan and the Berserker Trio finally free to charge into the fray, the trolls on the outer front went from a stalemate to a rout, and then fled for their lives.

With the enemy overwhelmingly powerful and their leader defeated and killed, no matter how savage and warlike the trolls were, they truly could no longer hold out.

After slaying several demoralized trolls, the Canaan squad did not pursue them relentlessly. Who knew what awaited them in this dangerous region?

With everyone exhausted, it's best to hold off for now.

However, a certain monk, sensing something amiss, didn't let them off the hook. A sharp eye in the sky was relentlessly watching their every move.

As the sun rose, the Canaanites began to clean up the battlefield and take stock of their spoils.

These green-skinned barbarians were truly poor; they had nothing of value and not even a ounce of oil. Fortunately, troll blood was an alchemical ingredient that could be used as one of the main materials for healing potions.

For Zhang Yuan, who had mastered the basic preparation of recovery potions, this batch of raw materials was quite valuable, whether for his own use or for resale.

These trivial matters were left to his teammates to handle, but what interested him more was the black-robed priest.

He slowly walked forward, looking down at his opponent who had just been fighting him. The bloodied corpse was riddled with gruesome gashes, undoubtedly the work of Butcher Pudge. The poor fellow had been chopped to death like a meat patty.

Fortunately, his face was unharmed. His eyes were wide open, almost bulging out of their sockets. His hooked nose gave him a somewhat gloomy appearance. His lips were thin and had turned pale and lost their color.

After careful observation, Zhang Yuan determined that the other party's physical condition was abnormal, and it was not just caused by the battle, but to a large extent by the result of long-term exposure to negative energy before his death.

If it's a mage, that's understandable; necromancers aren't exactly a forbidden class. But what about priests?
Is the deity you worship related to death or the dead?

"Now the possible range is very small," Zhang Yuan thought as he searched the other person's belongings, pulling out a few items here and there.

The most conspicuous thing is a holy emblem.

Against a pure black hexagonal background, a lich skull wearing a crown and grinning menacingly stands out.

Visharen!
The monk didn't dare utter the name aloud, but he was somewhat wary.

When it comes to scheming and petty tricks, the goddesses Rose and Shar are undoubtedly among the best. There are very few who are qualified to be their rivals, while the gap between Vesalon, with her weak divine power, and them is probably as far as the distance between Mount Paradise and the hell of Bathor.

However, this does not mean that we can take this matter lightly. After all, a god is a god. Even disregarding his extraordinary divine power, Vesalon's own spellcasting level is not to be underestimated.

Killing a priest in a fight is a minor matter, but if the priest has something important ruined by you and holds a grudge against you, that would be really bad.

The most urgent task is to figure out the other party's intentions. There must be a reason why a tribe of trolls would chase after them all the way here. Zhang Yuan vaguely guessed that the box in his hand was probably the key.

After taking stock of the spoils found on the other party, they discovered a holy emblem, small healing potions, several divine spell scrolls, an enchanted necklace, an enchanted ring, and an enchanted short sword. However, the documents, information, and even the secret letters and plans that every villain in novels and games like to carry were nowhere to be found.

With a somewhat unpleasant expression, Zhang stood up, determined to break the magical seal on the box as soon as possible.

Zhang Yuan wasn't in a hurry to leave anymore. Taking advantage of the fact that the Leomon Shelter still had some time left, he simply took out a bottle of calming potion from his storage bag and gulped it down.

This potion was not something he could create with his current alchemy skills; he had to shamelessly beg it from his teacher. After taking it, the spellcaster could easily enter a state of sleep, and the subsequent high-quality deep sleep could save nearly a third of the time required to restore spell slots.

If it weren't for the need to act expediently, Zhang Yuan wouldn't have been willing to waste such a bottle of medicine.

After giving instructions to his teammates and having the pieces cooperate in defense under the leadership of four two-star pieces, he ran back to the stone house to continue his nap.

Despite their captain's "lazy" behavior, the Canaanites, busy cleaning up the battlefield and covered in sweat, had no complaints. They were easily persuaded by just one sentence from someone:

“My spell slots are almost all used up, including the spell that created this big house.”

So, our Master Zhang was practically begged by his teammates to go rest. After all, which of the team members who had slept in a hotel all night wanted to go camping?

Another issue is safety. Zhang Yuan's own spells are all used up, and the team can't possibly travel with this group of summoned creatures, can they? What if they encounter another attack like this?
It's better to defend where we are. The summoned creatures that still have a long duration can help protect the camp. Besides, the local gang leader has been taken down, so I don't believe there will be any more daredevils coming to our door.

While Zhang Yuan was fast asleep, his teammates, with the help of the chess pieces, had already finished handling the funeral arrangements. They simply piled all the corpses together, cremated them directly with hot glue, and buried the remaining ashes in the ground.

It was basically a matter of bleeding people out and then setting them on fire. It didn't take much time, and by the time everything was done, the sun had just peeked out with its full round face.

Since they had nothing else to do anyway, the Canaanites now had the leisure to watch the summoned creatures that had fought alongside them.

Especially Little and the other butchers, their distinctive and intimidating appearances drew the team members' constant scrutiny and observation, not to mention Winter Dragon.

The Winter Wyvern, which shocked the entire Canaan squad upon its appearance, was lying idly on the ground without receiving any orders. If it weren't for its truly remarkable appearance, people might mistake it for a brooding hen with its demeanor.

Not to mention the so-called power of the dragon's breath. The team members who had witnessed it always felt that something was wrong, or that what was being spat out was not dragon's breath, but just saliva.
But as I said before, a dragon is a dragon. As a one-cost piece, it looks more imposing than other pieces like Axe or Mars, not to mention the protective and healing effects it demonstrated with two instances of Winter's Embrace.

Having accumulated enough mana in the previous battle and completed its cooldown, the Winter Wyvern cast a second Winter's Embrace on the head of the dwarf Bard.

Just as the chess pieces' defenses crumbled, it was the two dwarven shield warriors who held off the trolls' onslaught. The price they paid was that they were both severely wounded by the trolls' relentless attacks, but they gritted their teeth and persevered.

Kagan, having spent years in adventurer groups, possessed some valuable items, such as a recovery ring, which allowed him to barely hold on, while Bard had no choice but to tough it out.

Thank you to Junziyuebuqi and RUOK Leijun for your monthly ticket support!

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(End of this chapter)