Versatile Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-329

Biyi City was located to the southeast of Dongting Lake. The entire city was managed by the military, and the residents here were mostly involved in jobs that could fulfill the needs of the army.

A large amount of Battlemages was stationed at Biyi City's headquarters. They were primarily here to form a military defense with the Giant Lizard Horde at Dongting Lake. The city could be described as a defensive barrier between the Dongting Lake and the cities in the east.

In the clear sky outside of the safe zones, a group of white figures was flying toward Biyi City rapidly. They landed directly on a platform located on a military fortress.

The group consisted of twenty people. They made their way to the main meeting hall in the fortress after handing the Heavenly Eagles to the Beastmasters.

Nine commanders were already seated inside the hall. Their eyes were fixed on the map of Dongting Lake being projected on the wall.

"Permission to speak!"

"Granted." The commander standing in front of the projected map said to the captain of the investigation team who had just returned.

"We've verified the findings. We've found a large number of Giant Lizard's corpses west of Dongting Lake. We've brought back some samples. The results should be out fairly soon." the leader spoke after saluting.

"I say, Great Commander Qiu Xin, who cares if the Giant Lizards are dead. Why are we wasting our time on them? Maybe a new Razortail Drake has just been born, and they were fighting one another in order to claim their territories. It's not like there hasn't been any infighting within the Giant Lizards Horde in the past. Why do we need to be here?" An indolent-looking man with a Commander badge said.

Great Commander Qiu Xin had a fierce face, but he had always been extremely cautious in everything he was in charge of. As long as the soldiers detected anything that was slightly out of place, he would demand it be investigated. Knowing that there were millions of lives behind Biyi City, if they failed to react and prepare themselves in time against a possible attack from the horde of Dongting Lake, the casualties would be absolutely terrifying!

The Commanders waited patiently in the meeting hall. Soon, a military surgeon came into the hall and presented the result.

"From the data we've acquired from the samples, it turned out that the majority of the Giant Lizards died in three different ways. Firstly, being burned to death. I believe most of them were burned into ashes. Secondly, being shocked by lightning. A clean, instant death. Last, being torn apart by brute force. It seems like the killer has quite a strong claw grip and great strength!" the fairly aged military surgeon said with a cough.

"Fire, lightning, and physical force?" Great Commander Qiu Xin fell into deep thought. He was trying to filter out the demon beast using the three important clues.

However, from what he knew, there was no demon beast like that around Dongting Lake.

"Is there anything else?" Great Commander Qiu Xin asked.

"Oh, the team did say that the area was absolutely clean."

"Clean?"

"It means that there was no sign of dead souls. Normally, when an area has a strong presence of death, ghosts would begin to appear, not to mention the insane amount of corpses there. However, not a single dead soul was seen. This means that after the demon beasts were killed, their souls were either shattered, or being collected straight away," the old military surgeon explained.

"Isn't...isn't this a little bit too bizarre? The Giant Lizards were getting slaughtered for no reason, and even their souls are gone too..." a female Commander, Li Man, said.

"Who cares, we should be happy that something is helping us wipe out the Giant Lizards. I hope it would kill another hundred thousand of them. It will make our lives easier for the next few years," the indolent Commander Zhao Mang said with a smile.

"We should keep an eye on it still. I'll spread the news and see if anyone knows the truth behind it," Great Commander Qiu Xin said.

The meeting was over soon. Great Commander Qiu Xin proceeded to contact the other headquarters and see if someone from the public domain knew anything about it.

The Hunter Union was the best place to ask for information about something weird like this, since their members were pretty much everywhere. They would even go to places that the military would avoid at all costs.

"What do you think it was? Corpses of the Giant Lizards started appearing a week ago. Is it something that would threaten the entire horde?"

"Who knows, it must be some extremely powerful beast. Just from the number of corpses alone, it's only possible to kill that many beasts by sending an entire army."

Commander Li Man was wearing a frown. Her attractive face was filled with a hint of worry.

She never liked strange phenomena like this, as it was normally a sign of an approaching disaster.

She rose from her seat and ordered sternly,"Captain, give me the location. I'll investigate it myself!"

"Well, maybe we should wait..."

"I don't like to wait!" Li Man snapped.

As Commander Li Man finished her sentence, she was already dragging the captain out of the meeting hall. The rest of the people subconsciously shook their heads.

This empress in the army was as hot-tempered as usual. She insisted on investigating the matter herself even though it was most likely due to infighting within the beast horde. Or maybe she was just wilder and more violent than men, and preferred to go out on an exciting adventure instead of rotting here in Biyi City...

Tsk tsk, a woman who loved exciting adventures!

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Communication between army headquarters was fairly transparent among the military. The information that Great Commander Qiu Xin had made public soon made its way to the headquarters in the south.

The army in the south was mainly in charge of the Demon Wolves Horde. Normally, the Dongting Lake's Giant Lizard Horde was not their concern, but their Commander Zhan Kong had been keeping an eye on them recently.

Zhan Kong had just received the news when someone knocked heavily on the door.

"Who's that?" Zhan Kong asked.

"Boss, it's me, Zhang Xiaohou!" his excited voice replied from behind the door.

"I knew you would come. Come in." Zhan Kong said laughingly.

Zhang Xiaohou rushed into the room and blurted out excitedly, "Is there any information about Brother Fan? I've heard that there's something strange happening at Dongting Lake. I recall what you told me before, and I think it's highly possible that it's actually Brother Fan himself..."

"Not sure yet, I'll send someone to investigate it. Don't panic." Zhan Kong said.

"How can I not panic, he's my only brother!"

"I know, now off you go and wait patiently. I'll let you know when I learn something new."

"No, boss, please let me go to Dongting Lake. I've finally had a glimpse of hope. I will bring Brother Fan back at all costs," Zhang Xiaohou said with a stern face.

"It's not your business. Besides, with your current strength, you'll just be feeding yourself to the Giant Lizards."

"It's definitely my business...Boss, I can take care of myself," Zhang Xiaohou said.

"Idiot, with your capabilities, even if you trained ten more years, you will still die right away." Zhan Kong booted the annoying kid out of his room.

What did he think Dongting Lake was?

Even he, Zhan Kong, had no confidence that he could return from there in one piece. An Intermediate Magician like that kid would definitely get himself killed if he went there!