Chapter 577: Chapter 197: Red Dragon Uther_3
It just depended on whether the hunters could seize the opportunity.
Leonard Churchill squinted his eyes and murmured to himself while watching the Red Dragon, “If we can really kill it, the reward would certainly be astonishing.”
Superior Demon, those were top-notch materials.
Having benefited last time, he instinctively had the same thought this time.
…
Seeing the Flying Dragons approaching from the sky, the white-robed Mage Gandalf’s face changed dramatically.
He made a decisive call and bellowed, “Quick! Lighten the load and fall back to Ironforge City!”
With that, the old man swung his staff and knocked out the last Flying Dragon entangled with him, then started muttering and chanting some cryptic incantations under his breath.
A moment later, his robe started swirling with a whirlwind, visibly lightening his body.
Then the little old man actually started floating in mid-air and took the lead in retreating!
The Magician was physically weak, but when it came to flying, his speed was certainly not slow.
Seeing him taking the lead in retreating, a host of Non-Player Characters also discarded some of their heavy equipment and hurriedly followed suit.
“Quick! Keep up!”
“Back to Ironforge now!”
“…”
A crowd of Adventurers seeing this, didn’t hesitate to join the retreat without a second thought.
After all, the mission was now clear; the white-robed Mage Gandalf could not die.
They had to protect the old man, but also relied on his protection.
And anyone with a sane mind could clearly see that the current situation could only revolve around the old man.
He was known to be the most powerful character of the Ironforge human faction, and even for the Holy Grail, he would likely be the only one who knew about it.
Vivian White and a group of elites didn’t hesitate for long and followed suit.
In the blink of an eye, the forest was left with nothing but corpses and discarded equipment.
And where there were many people, tracks couldn’t be hidden.
Moreover, with Gandalf the Court Mage’s magical power surging like a tide, rapidly flying through the forest, he was like a beacon, perceivable from a great distance.
It wasn’t long before the Flying Dragon pursuers quickly swept by in the sky, heading towards Ironforge City.
Just then, on the chaos-ridden battlefield.
On the trunk of a tree that was still cracking and burning, a body twitched a finger.
Leonard Churchill reached out and pulled out the bone spear lodged in his abdomen, spurting out a stream of blood, and fell to the ground.
“Huff…”
The tearing pain in his organs forced a large breath out of him.
Churchill then took out a potent potion and poured it onto the gash in his abdomen where his innards were visible.
His ears twitched slightly; those people had already run far away.
Leonard also put his mind at ease, leaning weakly against the tree trunk, as strands of colorful sand started swirling around him.
In front of him lay the bodies of elite humans and high-tier demons, imbued with extraordinary traits.
The Secret Skill that Vivian had used previously had almost cost him his life.
As he absorbed their powers, he felt his condition improving bit by bit.
After what seemed like an age, Leonard finally felt able to stand up.
“Thud” “Thud” “Thud…”
The noise from the battle behind him continued intensely but grew more and more distant.
Leonard had no intention of catching up.
There were plenty of people over there; they didn’t need his help.
And he figured, even if he completed that A+ main quest, if he managed to get out alive, he likely wouldn’t live much longer.
The Holy Grail was the top priority.
Moreover, it was quite possible that after the completion of this A+ quest, the “Battle of Ironforge” campaign might disappear, and there would be no opportunity to return next time.
So he had to seize this opportunity.
Moreover, after hanging on that tree for so long, he had come up with some ideas.
If he guessed wrong, then he was as good as dead.
Leonard Churchill, while scavenging the flying dragon’s corpse for the extraordinary materials that the others hadn’t managed to take away, muttered to himself, “Tsk, tsk… that old man was really decisive. I originally thought he was using others as bait. Turns out, he was bait himself.”
It was not until just now that a bold idea had popped into Leonard’s head.
Only then did he understand why Gandalf had played out such a drama.
It seemed like the magician had just made a trip to Twin Tower Cliff, then his location was exposed by an insider, leading to his ambush.
And he embarrassingly fled back to Ironforge City.
It looked like he accomplished nothing.
But Leonard had guessed a different possibility from some clues and traces.
That was, Gandalf had actually anticipated everything!
From the beginning when Leonard had taken the bait, the other hunter teams were also bait, attracting almost all the fire from the Demon Vanguard…
It appeared to be a cover for the old man’s journey to Twin Tower Cliff.
Then, due to the insider revealing the location, his efforts fell through.
But actually, this was where Gandalf’s clever planning shone.
The old man knew he couldn’t hide his movements and that the Demons even had a lot of crucial intelligence, so he decided to go along with their plan.
He willingly became a pawn, entering the game.
Using himself as bait to mask his true intention.
He did indeed need to come to this place, but not for something he had to do himself, nor was it for the Holy Grail.
It was to attract firepower and cover for someone else.
For Gandalf, a court magician, to be willing to act as bait, it could only be for that “important person.”
And if that important person took such a risk to come here, it was almost certainly for the Holy Grail.
This wasn’t the main storyline.
It was a hidden storyline.
Although everything was just speculation.
But because Leonard had previously inferred the existence of that “important person” in Ironforge City, he was now certain of his thoughts.
Based on the current clues, this was the only possible lead to reaching the Holy Grail.
Leonard sorted out the thoughts in his mind, and a smile curved on his face, “In that case, that important person must be hidden among the scout team that first explored the cliff…”
Thinking this, he had partially transformed, carefully discerning the scents in the air.
The olfactory senses of the Ancestral Werewolf were highly exaggerated, almost capable of distinguishing the scent of targets even after they had used Deodorizing Potion.
Although the battlefield was a mix of different odors.
With some time, it was still possible to find the whereabouts of that important person.
So Leonard continued to devour the extraordinary traits around him while tracking that scent.
He initially thought he would have to gamble on his luck alone.
But unexpectedly, at that moment, a mushroom-headed youth carrying a deerskin bag suddenly appeared in the woods, asking, “Mr. Leonard Churchill, do you need my help?”
Looking again, it wasn’t just Noah Wright, but also that mysterious archer.
These two temporary allies not only knew he wasn’t dead, they hadn’t left either.
Leonard looked at the two of them, raised his eyebrows slightly, then smiled, “Sure.”
The difficulty for this non-main storyline was extremely high.
He needed teammates.
Although the motives of these two guys were not clear.
They were strong and did not show any hostility at the moment.
Cooperation was enough.