THE SUN TREE AGAIN?
"I will see if the Control Freak has a schedule for this", I replied to them.
"It is not easy killing the liches and their boss", Chash said to us.
"If only we have the Lantern of Regret of the Apostles. That would save us a lot of energy", I told them.
"The Lantern of Regret? I may have one of them", Ratatouille told us to our surprise.
"Where did you get the lantern?" Cassandra asked him.
"Do you even have to ask? He must have stolen it from the Monastery of Elis", I replied to her.
"Did you also steal their powerful sword?" Chash asked him.
"I may have several of them", Ratatouille replied to us.
"That is fantastic", I said to him.
"The Apostle's swords only work for the apostles. We would not be able to use its magic", Ratatouille told us to our disappointment.
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"I can bring us here on my air carpet", Anitor told us as he looked out from the window of my Whalechopper.
"You can save your magic for the mission later by flying on our ship", I replied to him.
"We are already here in the valley where liches have been found to gather", Chash told us as our chopper floated above a valley in the west mountains of Trogdol kingdom.
"We land our ships on one of the mountain cliffs", I told him.
Our chopper found a cliff overlooking the valley below and landed there together with another squadron of choppers.
We walked out from our ship to inspect the valley below.
"Are there really liches in the valley below?" Illiwyn asked us.
"We wait for the survey ships to return for more information", I replied to her.
Several choppers that came with us did not land on the cliff with us. They continued to scour the valley and mountain to survey the place.
We waited for some time before the ships returned.
"We have surveyed the entire valley and mountain range", Asterix said to us when she alighted from her ship.
"What did you find?" Iras asked her.
"There is a suspicious village in the valley that is covered by fog and mist", Asterix told us.
"Did you find any signs of liches?" I asked her.
"There are only a few liches roaming the valley", she replied to me.
"A few liches here and there is not consistent with the report of a massive lich uprising in the valley", Iras said to us in surprise.
"It is strange. This is not what I expected. This A-ranked mission was available in the mission center of the Knight Templar academy for several months and the mission was taken by many teams. All the teams failed the mission and was never seen again", I told them about the mission.
"Did the previous teams who came for this mission get killed in the valley?" Eless asked us.
"If it is peaceful down there, the previous teams shouldn't be missing in action. They should return to the mission center and report the situation here", Iras told us.
"Maybe the Lich King is inside the misty village?" Cassandra told us her suspicion.
"What is inside the misty village?" I asked Asterix.
"Humans live in the village", she replied to me.
"We should go down to the village to check", Iviar told us.
"We should be careful with this. The other teams went missing in this valley and it is likely to have something to do with this village", Iras told us.
"What else is in the village? Are there anything out of the ordinary there?" I asked Asterix.
"There is an unusually large tree in the middle of the village. The mists around the village are likely to have emanated from the tree", Asterix told us.
"A magic tree is in the village? I wonder if they have any treasures there?" Ratatouille said to us and asked.
"We should still have to go down to the village to check. It is the only way to complete the mission", Iviar told us.
"That may not be necessary", I told them.
"Why? Do you have a better way to scout the village?" Iras asked me.
"I think I know what that magic tree is", I replied to him.
"What is it?" Eless asked me impatiently.
"It is another Sun Tree if I am not mistaken", I told them.
"What is a Sun Tree?" Iras asked.
"It is a sacrificial tree, a vessel where blood is sacrificed to it. From the blood magic is transferred to the Lich King", I told them from my experience dealing with the Sun Tree and the Lich King before this.
"There is another Sun Tree in Trogdol. I thought we destroyed the last one", Cassandra said to us.
"You destroyed a Sun Tree last time? Don't tell me you have a hand in killing the Lich King?" Eless asked me.
"The way to kill the Lich King is to break his connection to the Sun Tree that supplies him with his magic", I replied to them.
"So, we are not going down to the village?" Chash asked us.
"No, we are going. Definitely", I replied to him.
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From the rugged peaks, a troupe of conjurers descended upon the humble village nestled in the valley below. Five figures gracefully rode upon a shimmering magic carpet, woven from the intangible threads of the air itself.
This was a carpet made from the forces of gravity.
As the villagers caught sight of these visitors descending from the heavens, they greeted them with open arms, their faces filled with reverence as if they beheld gods or celestial beings.
The conjurers, taken aback by the warm reception, couldn't help but feel a twinge of apprehension at the unexpected welcome. The conjurers were expecting a confrontation but were instead met with hospitality.
In honor of their arrival, the villagers organized a lavish feast. Amidst the offerings laid out before them was the finest wine to be found in all the realms of the Trogdol kingdom.
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