Black Hearted Mage

When the mercenary team heard Geralt's exclamation, they all followed Clarisse. They should all know the dead stalker.

"So many bodies! Geralt, which one is Scar?"

"Captain, the third one is it!"

The body was stripped clean, and Clarice glared at the old mercenary fiercely.

"Captain, stop glaring at me. Scar isn't wearing any underwear!"

Caesar continued to rummage through the storage ring and threw aside everything he didn't need. Geralt pounced on the things Caesar threw out like a vicious dog pouncing on its prey.

"Kaesas, you don't want these things anymore?" The old mercenary guessed that these things were discarded, but he still asked.

"No, they're not worth much. They're all yours!"

The old mercenary's face was full of smiles, and he started packing all the things, ready to send them to the carriage later.

"Geralt, is Scar an independent mercenary, or does he belong to a mercenary group?"

"Neither of them. He belongs to a viscount, and this viscount belongs to Count Ronald. There is a marriage between the nobles, and the viscount married Ronald's daughter!"

Caesars nodded slightly, thinking to himself, "I haven't even had time to deal with Count Leonard yet, and now another Viscount has appeared. This is really troublesome."

"Scar has a grudge against you, right?" Caesars asked softly.

"It's just a small incident. This guy is always looking for trouble. He is not someone you can easily mess with!" Geralt replied.

"I'm even harder to mess with, so he died!" Caesars said firmly.

After carefully examining all the bodies, Clarisse looked at Caesar with a puzzled look.

"You are not a low-level magician. These people are all high-level professionals, but you killed them all. Moreover, this corpse was a famous archer in the Violet Alliance when he was alive, but the cause of his death was a bit strange!" She said puzzledly.

"He is the most cunning and the most unlucky one. He had been hiding in the low hill behind and was bitten to death by my pet. Clarisse, your judgment is correct. I am an intermediate magician!" Caesar explained.

At this moment, the mercenary team was filled with awe for Kaisas, who was actually a mid-level magician. Kaisas blew his whistle toward the hill, and a small black snake, about three feet long, arrived within two or three breaths.

"Black Demonic Snake!"

Clarisse screamed and immediately hid behind Geralt.

"Captain, please don't push me. I'm also afraid of the black snake!"

The old mercenary also screamed, and the other mercenaries retreated. They watched in horror as Caesars reached out and picked up the black snake, placing it on his shoulder. The small, pitch-black snake even coiled around his neck.

"It's the Golden-Eyed Black Demonic Snake, my companion. It was the one who killed the Stalker and the Archer. It's still just a young snake. I came with you to explore the mines to prepare some dark magic cores for it. This thing grows too slowly!"

Caesars took out a small piece of cheese, and the little black snake crawled down his arm, stretching out its pitch-black forked tongue to touch the cheese.

"Stop licking, eat it!"

The little black snake bit the cheese, without showing its sharp fangs, and slowly swallowed the cheese.

"I can sell you the magic core at the market price. Just don't let your black magic snake crawl around!"

Clarisse said this before quickly running towards the mercenary camp. The golden-eyed black snake had inflicted immense fear on her. Seeing this, the other mercenaries followed her out of the scene. Geralt, carrying two heavy packages, struggled to follow at the back of the group.

The morning sun shone across the land. After a night of terror, the butler, Rollo, and the guards of the Leonard family looked through the windows of the cabin and were horrified to see more than a dozen naked bodies lying on the ground. These tragic scenes filled them with fear, as if they all demonstrated the magician's power.

His magic power had returned to peak form, and Caesars emerged from the tent, Blackthorn Staff in hand. He casually folded up the tent, feeling deeply distrustful of the Leonard family's guards. He suspected the armored leather tent had been stolen while he was exploring the mines.

The mercenary team members had already begun packing their bags, some even carefully examining their weapons and equipment. Caesars also donned his camouflaged magic robe, which was strong enough to withstand the claws of high-level magical beasts. He then carefully examined the various alchemical solvents, placing those he needed within easy reach.

Finally, the group arrived at the mine. This mysterious mine was hidden behind a magic steel door. As the metal door opened, an old and decaying smell filled the air.

The inside of the magic steel door was covered with scratches of varying depths and traces of impact. There were also several dried corpses of monsters on the ground, about the size of hunting dogs.

Kaisas explored the monster's corpse. It should be a low-level magical beast. Its sharp claws were hooked, which made the monster good at climbing.

"Kaesas, did you see anything?" Geralt asked cautiously.

"These underground monsters aren't very fast. Their scales are very thick, providing strong defense, but also increasing their weight. Their claws are sharp, but they can't be retracted, making them difficult to run. They probably don't eat their own kind, otherwise there wouldn't be corpses left here. You'd better use two-handed long weapons; swords and knives are difficult to kill them!"

"How fast are they?"

“It’s definitely not as fast as you guys!

Geralt nodded, and Clarisse decisively gave the order. The mercenaries quickly sprang into action, drawing their spears. Clearly, they had made ample preparations for this expedition.

After everything was arranged, each mercenary carried a small bundle of fly repellent, and Caesars put all the fly repellent from the carriage into his storage ring. Then, he and the mercenary team entered the mine. As soon as they entered the mine, a cool feeling hit them, as if they were in a cold cellar.

As the magic steel door behind them slowly closed, the light in the mine gradually dimmed. The mercenaries stopped and took out the moonstones they used for lighting from their backpacks, firmly attaching them to the tips of their spears.

The mine tunnel is about two to three meters high and two meters wide, designed to facilitate the passage of standard mine carts. Steel tracks are laid at the bottom of the mine tunnel, which is a road specially designed for mine carts to travel.

The monsters' claw marks were clearly visible on the ground, while there were only traces of excavation on the walls of the mine tunnel, as if these monsters did not like to climb.

This was a medium-sized vein of magic crystals, with a relatively shallow ore layer, which reduced the difficulty of excavation and increased the speed of excavation. It took only fifty or sixty years to almost completely mine the vein.

The rock upon entering the mine is yellowstone, a hard, rough stone with a rusty hue. As one descends deeper, the surrounding rock gradually transforms into grayish-white sandstone. Sandstone is a common sedimentary rock composed of minerals such as quartz and feldspar. Its formation requires long periods of geological action and pressure fluctuations. Its high hardness and durability make it widely used in construction, road construction, and other fields. Sandstone is also a common rock found in magic crystal veins, as magic crystal veins are typically found only within sandstone.

Soon, an open area appeared ahead. This was the magic crystal mine. On both sides were piles of waste ore, mined from the veins but unusable due to poor quality or excessive impurities. The center of the mine was relatively flat, with tools and equipment scattered on the ground, clearly indicating that people had worked here in the past.

Although the moonstone can emit a bright white light, its light can only illuminate a small area. In this dark mine, the light of the moonstone is particularly weak, as if it could go out at any time.

Darkness represented the unknown, and this place filled the mercenaries with fear. They advanced cautiously, not daring to make any noise. Their pace also slowed considerably, each of them tightly gripping their weapons and vigilantly observing their surroundings.

"I'll go ahead, you guys follow me!"

Caesars stopped, handed the moonstone to the old mercenary behind him, and cast dark vision on himself. He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and walked to the front of the mercenary team.

"Kaesas, you don't use moonstone?" the old mercenary asked with some confusion.

"I have dark vision, and holding the moonstone will affect my observation of the distance!" Kaisas said without turning his head.

"Magicians are still the best!"

The old mercenary muttered something and followed. He saw Caesar put the little black snake on the ground, and the little snake immediately swam away into the darkness in the distance.

The vein wasn't straight, but rather curved downward. Caesars pulled out a worn animal hide and began to map the mine. Although abandoned, it still contained a wealth of magical elements, making it an ideal environment for magical cultivation.

After completing the map, Caesars led the mercenary team forward. This vein had yet to discover any branches, only a single passage. After about an hour, the hissing of a small black demon snake was heard from the front. This time, the sound was not urgent, as if it were a signal of discovery.

Kaisas quickened his pace and walked forward. At a turning point in the mine, a small black snake was coiled on a pile of abandoned ore. When it saw Kaisas approaching, its tail gently slapped the abandoned ore. Kaisas immediately understood that there must be something hidden underneath.

"Go away, let me see what's hiding down there!"

Caesars put on animal leather gloves, turned over the waste ore piece by piece, and threw it aside. The mercenary team also followed, and they all looked at the magician with confusion. The magician was searching for something in the waste ore pile.

At this moment, Caesars detected a very dense magical power. As the waste ore was turned over, a large, sturdy wooden box was revealed. As the box was opened, a group of mercenaries exclaimed in surprise.

A large box of magic crystals was filled to the brim, neatly arranged. These were the highest quality, high-grade magic crystals, like pieces of high-purity crystal, emitting a captivating and dazzling light under the illumination of the moonstone.

"Damn Earl Leonard, he actually hid so many magic crystals!"

Geralt cursed, looked at Caesar with envy, and put the big wooden box into the space ring.

"Luckily, not much magic power was lost! Geralt, when mining for magic crystals, there should be someone from the Mage Alliance supervising, right?"

"Of course there are. Everyone entering and leaving the mines is inspected by magical instruments, so the storage ring can't be brought in. But Earl Leonard is a wise guy, and he wouldn't normally sneak the magic crystals out. He probably only found a way to get the magic crystals out when the box was full. He must have waited until the Mage Alliance was careless!"

Caesar nodded and rewarded the black snake with a small piece of cheese.

"The black magic snake's perception is extremely sharp. It can sense even the slightest changes in magic power. In this respect, it is much more powerful than humans!"

The expedition team continued on their journey, and the little black snake that was rewarded had disappeared into the dark mine.

After more than an hour, no monsters from the underground world were encountered, and everyone's tension was relieved a lot.

"Does the mine map you got show that you're already halfway through?"

Caesars discovered that the mine had become noticeably smaller, which meant that it was approaching the end of the vein and the collapse was not far away.

"We haven't even seen the map of the mines!"

Clarisse suddenly said that they had been following Caesars and had not had time to look at the map at all.

The female mercenary quickly took out the map. Under the illumination of several moonstones, the map showed that they were less than three miles away from the collapse.

At this point, the atmosphere in the team grew tense. Everyone knew they were about to face unknown dangers and challenges.

Along the way, they carefully observed the surrounding environment, fearing any disturbance. Not far ahead, they saw a dark hole, which was the location of the collapse.

"This is it."

Caesars said in a low voice, a hint of vigilance in his eyes, and his staff tightly grasped in his hand.

Everyone gathered around, looking at the dark hole, a sense of fear welling up in their hearts. Below was an unknown area, where underground monsters hid.

"Luckily, the pit isn't too deep, only about twenty meters, and there's a gentle slope down there. The tailings of the magic crystals also fell down, and there are still quite a few scattered magic crystals below to pick up!"

Caesar grabbed the black snake in his hand and led the way down the extremely uneven slope. It was a slope formed by collapsed rocks and was not easy to walk on due to its unevenness.

After walking to the bottom of the pit, the temperature obviously rose. The sandstone here is reddish-brown and has a relatively high iron content, but it is softer than the gray-white sandstone.

There are underground passages extending in all directions around the collapsed area, which is definitely not a good thing for the mercenary team.