Chapter 127: The Catastrophe Begins!
Half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
The situation on the continent became increasingly turbulent, but everything in Modo remained relatively calm. During this time, Princess Anna from the Frozen Kingdom sent several letters to Soren, offering some greetings and mentioning a few matters. The Long Princess seemed to be in seclusion recently, and with the arrival of winter, the Frozen Kingdom also had to deal with the upcoming cold climate. Winter is tough to endure in this materially impoverished era, but one good thing is that many military conflicts had to come to a halt due to the cold winter, and the widespread plague was almost under control.
The cold climate helped diseases to disappear earlier.
Although it hadn’t snowed yet, the first frost had already arrived. Modo was somewhat better off because it is located in a subtropical region, only experiencing some frozen ground, while other places had already begun to freeze. The frozen ground slowed construction significantly, but people were still busily working, as if they couldn’t rush to complete housing, they would be left to endure the harsh winter winds.
Five kilometers away from Modo, a town was under construction, bustling with activity as thousands of people worked there.
Laying foundations, building houses, constructing walls.
First, they needed to secure the essentials for survival, then they would begin to cultivate nearby land.
Half-elves have diligent and skillful hands; as long as you give them an opportunity to work, they know how to sustain themselves.
At this moment.
Ryan, whose injuries had nearly healed, was patrolling the construction site. As the leader who brought these half-elf civilians, he naturally became their manager, and it was expected that he would take over as mayor of the first town. The workers were divided into two factions: one was the half-elves from Leaffall City, and the other was merchants from the Southern Coast. Some farms had also been established outside the town, and the merchants were more focused on profits. Therefore, some land had already started to sow the first batch of winter wheat.
“Cole!”
Ryan circled the site, suddenly furrowing his brow and saying, “Where did Alec and Dandy go?”
“Did those two sneak off to slack again?”
Not every half-elf was diligent; there were some who preferred adventuring to tedious work, and the two guys Ryan mentioned were those types of layabouts.
Soon, a young half-elf ran over and whispered, “They said last night they were going to catch fish to eat. They ran out when it was still dark, and we haven’t seen them since.”
Catching fish?
Ryan frowned upon hearing this. There were rich aquatic resources near Modo, but these half-elves who had just moved over lacked fishing tools; they shouldn’t have gone out into the sea to catch fish. The most probable scenario was that they went to the nearby river. Due to its proximity to the Amazon rainforest, there were plenty of fish in the freshwater rivers around Modo. Among them, the most tender and delicious was a kind of piranha. Named the Tiger Tooth Fish, this fish could strip a person down to the bones if there were enough of them; they have razor-sharp teeth and really enjoy biting at people’s lower parts, making it quite dangerous to go into the water naked. If one isn’t careful, they could end up only being able to use half of themselves.
Ryan naturally had eaten this fish before, as there were simply too many of them, and they tasted good, often caught as a side dish.
“Those two lazybones! I’ll whip them when I catch them!”
This wasn’t the first time.
Not long after they had arrived, those two had slacked off once, carelessly going to the river to catch fish. They nearly had their privates bitten off by the fish. However, after that, they both grew fond of grilled piranha; normally they went for fish only after work, but today they didn’t even show up for work. Ryan was quite angry.
He asked someone nearby to keep an eye out, and he directly picked up a weapon and took a whip, preparing to head towards the river.
There were dangerous man-eating flowers further away, but those two guys weren’t idiots; they shouldn’t have gone that way, so they must be trying to catch fish in the nearby rivers.
Ryan was skilled in tracking.
After assessing the footprints on the ground and the trampled vegetation, he quickly found the route that the two boys took.
However!
Suddenly, a piercing scream came from a distance, causing all the nearby birds and beasts to fly away in alarm.
“Something happened!”
Ryan instantly sensed that something was off, quickly putting his hand on the hilt of his sword and sprinting at high speed towards the source of the scream.
The surrounding scenery flew past rapidly.
As a high-level professionist, Ryan’s running speed was incredibly fast, and within minutes he had traversed the dense jungle and approached the source of the sound.
“Dandy?!”
Ryan saw a bloodied half-elf boy and, without time to scold him, asked urgently, “What happened? What’s going on? Where’s the other person?”
The half-elf boy named Dandy was covered in blood, and upon seeing Ryan, he seemed to see a savior, grabbing him and mumbling, “Alec is dead! … He was eaten! …”
Damn!
Ryan was so angry he wanted to slap the guy in front of him. He had already warned them that the nearby rivers were dangerous and not to go catch piranhas for no reason. Now they finally learned their lesson, but a young life was cut short because of it. Ryan thought that the other half-elf boy had been eaten by a swarm of piranhas, but Dan’s next words made him tense up completely.
“Demon!!!”
Dandy, the half-elf boy, babbled, “It ate him! … Demon! … It ate him! … The demon ate Alec! …”
A demon?!!!
At this point, Ryan’s expression finally changed.
He wasn’t sure whether the half-elf boy was scared silly and talking nonsense by calling the piranhas demons or if he truly encountered a demon, or even if he was referring to something else as a demon. There were several dangerous creatures nearby, including man-eating flowers and others; a demon could refer to an actual demon or something else. However, this was Modo, and theoretically, demons shouldn’t appear here. But now, regardless of the reason, as the highest commander of this town, he had to investigate the situation.
“Follow me!”
Ryan grabbed the boy in front of him and hurried forward.
Dandy seemed to still be very scared, but he recognized Ryan’s strength, so he timidly followed him, pointing the way.
The distance wasn’t far.
Soon!
The view ahead opened up, and upon seeing the scene in front of him, Ryan couldn’t help but gasp, his expression becoming unexpectedly grave.
A demon!
It really was a demon!
………………(To be continued ~^~)
