Black Hearted Mage

The peaceful night passed in a flash, and when the first ray of sunshine shone on the earth, a new day came quietly.

In the early morning, Rodman was already dressed, stretched his body, and was about to step out of the tent to start a new day's journey. However, at this moment, he suddenly realized that something was wrong - one of his beloved soft leather boots was missing!

Rodman frowned, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, finally settling on the nearby Caesars tent. Sure enough, the missing boot was there.

"Caesars! Your damn dog got into my boots again! Can't you get it a small sleeping bag or something?" Rodman yelled at the top of his voice, and his voice echoed in the empty mountain top.

Not long after, Caesars emerged from the tent, sleepily. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and then slowly walked to the boots, bent down, and picked up Rodman's boots. Then, he shook them vigorously a few times, and with a "plop," a chubby, furry puppy fell out of the boots in a messy manner.

"I'm so sorry, Rodman. I prepared a fur sleeping bag for it, but I was so busy that I forgot to take it out." Caesars scratched his head and explained embarrassedly.

At this time, the puppy seemed to be still asleep. It stood up shakily, shook off the dust and grass on its body, then raised its head and looked at Rodman and Caesars with its innocent big eyes.

Rodman sighed helplessly, took the boots thrown by Caesars, sat on a rock and began to put them on. As he put them on, he kept muttering, "Hey Caesars, how could you let it get into other people's boots? And why don't you put the boots outside the tent? That way it can't mess up!"

Caesar chuckled and said, "I used to put my boots outside the tent when I went camping, until I found a big centipede in my boots, then I put my boots inside the tent!" After saying that, he squatted down and gently touched the puppy's head.

Rodman put on his boots and stood up, dusting himself off. The rest of the team also dressed neatly and came out, eating their rations, ready to continue their adventure.

Not long after, the mercenary team set out again. Once again, the experienced Rodman led the way, with Caesars guarding the rear. The mischievous lava puppy now followed him, though it wouldn't go to the cliff edge.

A few hours later, just as he reached the fork in the road at the top of the mountain, Rodman made some discoveries. There were traces of trampled moss on the road to the east, and on the more rugged mountain road ahead, there were patches of moss on the rocks.

"Kaesas, be careful at the back of the team. The people from Roland Mercenary Group should have found our tracks. If they find the entrance to the cave, a large number of mercenaries will be here soon!" Rodman said with some concern.

"Rodman, just lead the way without worry! No matter how many mercenaries follow us, I will ruthlessly kill them one by one. Just think of it as preparing meat for the puppies in advance!"

The chubby, round puppy seemed to understand the word "food". It howled with excitement and wagged its tail happily, as if it couldn't wait to taste the upcoming "feast".

"Kaisas, are you really going to feed it these people's corpses?" Rodman asked with wide eyes and a look of surprise. He really couldn't imagine how human corpses could be used to feed a puppy.

"Why not? Since humans can eat the meat of Warcraft, then conversely, why can't Warcraft eat humans? As long as the puppies can grow up quickly, many things are worth doing!" Kaisas answered firmly.

Rodman looked at Caesar with suspicion, while the other mercenaries were terrified, their faces pale. However, Caesar remained composed, observing everyone calmly. He alone knew that the Church of Saint Roland had been hiding a terrifying secret. Once the ghouls and aberrations were released, they would spread rapidly like a terrible plague, plunging the entire Roland Continent into darkness, enveloped by endless mutation and contamination.

The key to completely eliminating this potential disaster and cutting off the source of the plague is not the elves living in the depths of the endless forest, nor the three highly respected elf elders in the crater, but precisely this little fat dog in front of him who only knows how to eat all day long.

"Caesars, you must have your reasons, so I won't ask any more questions. Beatrice, tie the animal skin rope, it will be difficult to walk from here!" Rodman said.

This puppy was unusual. Rodman had never seen this kind of monster before, so he didn't want to ask any further questions.

"Hurry up and get ready. I'll cast some buff spells on you so you can move forward much faster!"

The scene before us was daunting—the road ahead had vanished, replaced by a jagged, uneven expanse of massive rocks, like a ferocious beast entwined on a mountain ridge. These jagged, shaped rocks stretched across the ridge, seemingly deliberately blocking our path forward.

For the experienced Rodman, this difficult and arduous road was a piece of cake. He could navigate it with ease, stepping over each boulder with ease and grace, and moving forward steadily as if on flat ground. But for others, this road was undoubtedly full of difficulties and obstacles.

For safety, Beatrice was carefully tied with a tough animal hide rope to prevent her from slipping. The other team members also donned soft, durable leather gloves to better grip the rock surface. Meanwhile, Caesars began to cast a series of magical spells. Rays of magical light descended upon each person. First, he cast Agility, granting them increased agility and flexibility; then, Swiftness, further increasing their speed; and finally, he cast a powerful Strength spell, instantly and significantly increasing the team members' strength.

"Wow! I feel like my whole body is filled with endless power!" The young and energetic warrior Wagner shouted excitedly, his voice echoing in the valley.

"Yes, I now feel that I can break the hardest bowstring!" Stella, who was wearing tight leather armor, also had a happy face and said confidently.

At this moment, Rodman from the team joked, "Haha, it's a good thing Caesars didn't cast Levitation and Feather Fall on us, otherwise you would have flown down the mountain like birds!"

This sentence caused everyone to burst into laughter, and the tense atmosphere was immediately eased a lot.

Rodman glanced back at his high-spirited teammates, smiled and greeted them, then turned around and quickened his pace forward. Caesars placed the chubby, short-legged puppy in his backpack.

Despite the buffs they possessed, the journey was still fraught with danger and difficulty, slowing progress. Caesars silently followed the group. Taking advantage of a moment's leisure, he quickly pulled out his meticulously copied map and scanned it eagerly, his heart sinking. The nearest cave was still at least a day's journey away.

At this moment, the magic beacon trembled slightly, and Caesars was startled, instantly realizing that the magic circle he had set up yesterday had been triggered! There was no doubt that someone was climbing to the top of the Yellowstone Mountains along that steep path.

He didn't dare to delay for a moment and immediately took out a delicate magic telescope and set it up on the ground. He narrowed his eyes and observed the winding and undulating mountain ridges in the distance with full concentration.

This vast Yellowstone Mountain Range is made of extremely hard rocks. Even though the top of the mountain looks bare and desolate with nothing to cover it, Caesars stared wide-eyed and searched for a long time, but still failed to capture the figures of the Roland Mercenary Group.

Time slipped by, and in the blink of an eye, the day had already flown by. As night fell, our camping plans encountered an unexpected obstacle. Due to the limited flat rock surface on the ridge, pitching a spacious and comfortable tent as usual became a luxury. With no other options, we resorted to sleeping bags made from animal hides to endure the night. To make matters worse, with five people per rock, while everyone didn't need to be close together, there wasn't enough room to spare.

At this moment, at the western peak of the Yellowstone Mountains, hundreds of mercenaries had finally reached the summit and were looking for places to rest and recuperate. Some sat on the ground, breathing heavily, while others simply sprawled out on the cold rocks to soothe their exhausted bodies.

"The person who just explored the way has sent back a message. We may be in big trouble this time!" said a man in leather armor.

"What big trouble?" asked the middle-aged man sitting on the rock in confusion.

"There's a great magician in that mercenary team, the last person the captain wants to see!"

"Is Caesars in the mercenary team?"

The middle-aged man cried out in shock. His teacher had been beaten to the ground in the arena, and he too was disgraced. As a descendant of a great noble, he knew the cause of the magic duel and the attitude of the Roland Empire's power triangle.

"Go down the mountain early tomorrow morning and give up this treasure hunt!"

"Why would you give up? I'm almost dying of exhaustion climbing up the steep Yellowstone Mountains. How can you just give up like that?"

As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, someone next to him shouted in extreme dissatisfaction.

The Roland Mercenary Group has a complex background, and the people in the mercenary group are equally complex. The power of the mercenary group has become a target of competition among various parties.

"Phili, have you ever thought about the consequences of provoking Caesar?" the middle-aged magician asked.

"When faced with absolute profit, no consequences are considered. This is the rule of the Roland Mercenary Group!"

Philip, who was nearly forty years old and wearing a magic robe, saw the hope of seizing power and refused to give up an inch.

"If the Solomon family withdraws, we will not bear any consequences."

The middle-aged magician took out the photo stone and recorded everything that was about to happen.

"Don't want to bear the consequences? Then forget about taking any benefits, and you can't even hold the title of group leader anymore!"

Faced with the aggressive Fili, the middle-aged magician nodded decisively and gave up all the interests of the Solomon family in the mercenary group. The Solomon family members stayed where they were, and the rest of the mercenary group had to continue their journey. There was no way to camp here.

"Ire, is it worth it?"

A young man from the Solomon family asked the middle-aged magician.

"It's worth it. This way, we can all survive, but they might not. There are some things you shouldn't ask about. Just know that Caesar's current status is no lower than that of a Grand Duke!"

As Ai Lei watched the figure gradually retreat southward, he knew full well that it wouldn't be long before the Roland Mercenary Group was expelled from the group. Those who had left with Fili this time were the elite of the group, but judging by the current situation, their chances of surviving unharmed were slim.

At noon on the third day, after overcoming numerous obstacles and a long journey, the mercenary team led by Rodman finally arrived at their destination - the entrance to the cave. This entrance was located in a dangerous position halfway up the mountain, and to reach it smoothly, they had to use a rope.

"Oh no, someone got in first!"

Rodman suddenly cried out in surprise, his gaze fixed on the two seemingly ordinary trees at the cave entrance. It turned out these trees had been planted there specifically to obscure the entrance. While the trees remained standing, the simple barrier Rodman had set up was gone. Looking behind the thick bushes, he saw a large, yellow-brown rock, clearly visible signs of having been pried open.

"Rodman, how did you notice someone breaking in?" Stella, who was standing aside, looked suspicious and asked in confusion as she stared at the stone door in front of her.

Rodman pointed to the inconspicuous little stones in front of the stone gate and said slowly, "Look, the little stones that were originally placed here have moved. This is clear evidence that someone has been here before!"

Rodman frowned. Finding the cave entrance without a map was practically impossible. Furthermore, this was the sunny side, devoid of moss, and the rope wouldn't leave any marks. How had the previous person found the entrance? Rodman was baffled.

"This place is too hidden. Even with a map it's hard to find. If someone can find it without a map, it can only mean someone tipped off!"

Caesars smiled slightly. He already had a suspect, but he didn't say it directly. Some things require solid evidence to be convincing, especially since Rodman was the team leader.

"Kaissa, I think so too!"

Rodman said something.