Chapter 407: Felicia in Danger

"Since this involves the lifelong accumulation of an Abomination Rank powerhouse, these relics highly likely include items it obtained in the Eye of Truth Floating City."

The White Dragon Lord's heart stirred, a faint guess forming in his mind.

"Enough nonsense!" The orc snatched a contract. "I'll sign!"

Scanning the contents, Odom Mad Axe signed his name at the bottom of the document. The Divine Contract spontaneously ignited without a flame.

"I'll sign too."

The White Dragon Lord took a contract and glanced over it. Finding it was merely a non-disclosure agreement to prevent information from leaking, he immediately signed his name. Namagani Skyhowler soon signed it as well.

When the final Divine Contract burned to ashes, Alan's expression turned serious.

"Everyone, since we've signed the contracts, we are now in the same boat. The Abomination Rank powerhouse I mentioned is the former ruler of the 71st Layer of the Abyss—the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh."

Also known as the King of the Swamp, the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh was a veteran Abyssal lord who had existed for an unknown length of time, boasting strength comparable to a deity with Intermediate Divine Power. Legend had it that in the ancient past, the 71st Layer of the Abyss was a vast, ordinary wasteland just like the rest of the Abyss. The arrival of the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh changed everything. Its power corrupted the entire plane, transforming the 71st Layer of the Abyss into a deadly swamp shrouded in toxic gas. Unfortunately, it became a casualty in the last blood war.

Mage Alan continued, "You all know that during the last great war among the gods over the Arcane Empire's Floating City ruins, the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh supposedly perished. Thanks to some special channels, I know a bit more than you do. The Lord of the Corrosive Marsh didn't die outright in that battle. Instead, it fled back to the 71st Layer of the Abyss heavily injured and subsequently vanished. Before its disappearance, it also took the vast majority of its wealth. For years, those aware of that battle have been secretly searching for the whereabouts of this fortune, and now I have finally uncovered some clues."

Skyhowler analyzed Alan's words. "But, Sir Alan, what if the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh didn't die and is merely hiding to heal its wounds? Wouldn't seeking it out be walking right into our own graves?"

Alan replied, "The death of the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh was confirmed by a being of Greater Divine Power using a great Divination Spell, so its reliability is very high. Moreover, the authority of the lord of the 71st Layer of the Abyss has already been vacated."

Skyhowler pressed on. "There are two possibilities for a change in Abyssal authority: either the original owner dies, or they willingly abandon it. If it's the second case..."

The White Dragon Lord chimed in. "Even if it's the second case, abandoning its lordly authority would definitely leave the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh incredibly weak. Besides, how can we expect rewards without taking risks? I'll take this gamble."

The bulk of a deity-level powerhouse's wealth was a tremendous temptation for the White Dragon Lord. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to join the adventure. Beyond the lure of wealth and treasures, the Lord of the Corrosive Marsh's Demon Origin was also a major target. The Grand Duke Silver Dragon back in Nordhill had been afflicted by a Demon Lord's Curse, requiring the Demon Origin of a powerful demon to break it. Now that a glimmer of hope had finally appeared, the White Dragon Lord was absolutely not going to give up.

"Well said!" The orc strongly agreed with the White Dragon Lord's words. "If you want to eat meat, you have to pick up a spear and wrestle the beast! Count me in!"

Skyhowler said, "Count me in as well. But these divine powerhouses are like a centipede that dies but never falls down. We must make full preparations before we act."

Alan nodded. "Namagani is right. Furthermore, the spot where this little snake found the crystal cup is very close to the Lord of Putrid Silt's lair. This matter is definitely tied to the Lord of Putrid Silt."

"Regardless, let's go check out that place first." The White Dragon Lord planted a foot firmly on the tail of the hydra, which had been trying to slowly slither away. "However, what should we do with this little snake?"

"You caught the snake, so you decide," Alan said.

The White Dragon Lord turned to look at the terrified hydra. "Tell me yourself, what should I do with you? Should I slaughter you, or should I slaughter you?"

"You promised not to kill me!"

"Hmm... I did promise you that, but I'm an evil dragon, you know! The kind that commits all sorts of atrocities! To prevent you from leaking information, I have to take some necessary measures." The White Dragon Lord pondered whether to beat it into a vegetative snake, banish it into the endless void, or imprison it...

The hydra shrank its necks back. One didn't even need to guess to know that whatever the White Dragon Lord was considering right now definitely wasn't anything good.

"Lord White Dragon! I'm willing to sign a contract! I'll work for you!" As it spoke, the hydra's tail instantly wrapped around the White Dragon Lord's calf.

The White Dragon Lord's eyes flashed, feeling somewhat conflicted. This hydra's strength was absolutely top-tier within the Legendary Rank. Subjugating such a subordinate was rather tempting. However, this hydra was quite clever, and their relationship was terrible. Even if it defected to him, the White Dragon Lord wouldn't feel at ease. Furthermore, it was a highly aggressive corrupted hydra; there might be times when it couldn't even control itself, making him even more wary.

After deep consideration, the White Dragon Lord decided to spare its life and drop it off in the Afiaiv Kingdom, letting the Ancient Gold Dragon observe it for a period of time. He immediately pulled out a Devil Contract and hastily scribbled on it.

Soon, a harsh Devil Contract was handed to the hydra. The beast didn't even look at it before directly signing its name. The White Dragon Lord nodded inwardly; if the hydra had actually read it carefully, he would have had to seriously reconsider its treatment.

Mage Alan looked at the Purple Crystal Cup in his hand. At the end of the day, this Arcane Empire era cup was just a drinking glass, and a broken one at that. He even felt it took up too much space in his dimension bags. "Hmm, does anyone want this cup? If no one wants it, I'll destroy it."

"Give it to me. I'll just have the hydra take it back; those pretentious human nobles love this kind of thing."

The White Dragon Lord took the crystal cup and handed it to the hydra. "Deliver this cup to Lord Willy of the kingdom. He'll know what to do."

When it came to these ancient but completely useless antiques, the White Dragon Lord had always hyped them up to convert them into gold coins. His methods were quite simple: first, organize a few sham auctions within the kingdom where they bid on and bought their own items to drive up the price. Once the item had built up a certain reputation, merchants would bring it to the prosperous regions of the continent for auction, searching for foolish, wealthy human nobles to take it off their hands.

This method had never failed. The ancient Elven relics discovered when they pioneered the Overseas Archipelago had been handled exactly like this. Willy had been following the White Dragon Lord the entire time and was already very familiar with the process.

The White Dragon Lord then took out an Image-Recording Crystal, recorded some information for the Ancient Gold Dragon, and handed it to the hydra. After that, he cast a spell to teleport the beast back to Nordhill.

"Let's clean up the traces of battle here." The White Dragon Lord looked around; ice created by his Dragon Breath was everywhere. "It wouldn't be good to arouse the vigilance of the Lord of Putrid Silt."

The four of them began clearing the battlefield, using intense flames to melt the ice and smooth over the signs of combat. Creating this mess had taken a mere second, but cleaning it up cost them half an hour.

Once everything was properly handled, the four flew toward the spot where the crystal cup had been found. From high up in the sky, the White Dragon Lord spotted a squad of demons patrolling the ground. These demons looked like lizardmen of the swamp, but they were much bulkier, with sparse spikes growing on their bodies.

"Those are Swamp Demon Lizards under the Lord of Putrid Silt. They are the lowest level of patrol guards. There's no need to alarm them. We'll wait until they move further away before heading down."

The four watched from the sky until the Swamp Demon Lizard patrol squad was far away, then landed on the ground.

Alan said, "Let's split up and search to see if we can find any other clues."

The White Dragon Lord spread out his spiritual power to scan the swamp, simultaneously activating his Gold Finger.

"Scan!"

"Abnormal object detected."

The White Dragon Lord moved to the location indicated by the Gold Finger, dug through the mud with his dragon claws, and pulled out the object buried underneath.

What was this?

Cleansing Spell!

The mud on the surface of the object was completely cleared away, revealing it to be a piece of iron ore. This iron ore had been subjected to the Abyss's demonic energy for a long time and was tainted with a trace of it, which was why the Gold Finger had judged it to be an abnormal object. The White Dragon Lord tossed the ore aside and continued his search.

"Abnormal object detected!"

The White Dragon Lord pulled out an item half-buried in the muck. Looking at the object in his hand, he was slightly surprised. It was half of a purple plate, and its material was exactly the same as the crystal cup.

"A plate from the Eye of Truth?"

Sure enough, the White Dragon Lord found a damaged pentagram Eye Insignia on the bottom of the plate. He kept searching. With the help of his draconic scanner, the White Dragon Lord dug out four items related to the Eye of Truth from the sludge.

When the four gathered back together, Mage Alan's expression was somewhat ugly. "I found three relics from the Eye of Truth Floating City."

The orc said, "I found one."

Skyhowler added, "I found two."

The White Dragon Lord said, "I found four, but they're all worthless junk: two plates, a cup, and a completely shattered magical longsword."

Alan said, "It looks like someone deliberately threw these things out here."

The orc scoffed. "Hah! Littering?"

Skyhowler said, "It's more like spreading a message."

The White Dragon Lord said, "Who did it? Why did they do it? And what do they stand to gain from doing this? That's what we need to figure out."

Alan said, "Amos, the three of us will search deeper into the swamp. You're fast—go catch a few demons and bring them back so we can interrogate them."

"Alright, kidnapping is right up my alley."

The White Dragon Lord flapped his wings and took to the sky, flying toward the Swamp Demon Lizard patrol squad. Approaching while invisible and utilizing a sleeping spell, he captured all five Swamp Demon Lizards alive before they even saw their enemy, then returned to where the trio was waiting.

After waiting a while, the three of them emerged from the swamp covered in muck. The White Dragon Lord tossed out three Cleansing Spells.

"How did it go? Did you find anything deep in the swamp?"

"Nothing. It seems we'll just have to ask them," Mage Alan said, looking at the five unconscious Swamp Demon Lizards on the ground. "Let's get out of here first."

The four of them carried the Swamp Demon Lizards and flew away. As to whether the disappearance of these specific demons would catch the attention of the Lord of Putrid Silt, the White Dragon Lord wasn't worried in the slightest. It couldn't be more common for a few demons to go missing in the swamp. Corrupted beasts lived in the swamp, and low-level demons were one of their primary prey; the hydra had found the cup precisely while snacking on a few demons here.

After flying a good distance away, the four-person team came to a halt.

"One for each of us."

The four each picked a Swamp Demon Lizard and used their own methods to extract information. The White Dragon Lord gripped a demon and rapidly chanted a spell.

Soul Search!

The White Dragon Lord's spiritual power invaded the trembling Swamp Demon Lizard's mind, searching its memories for useful information. These low-level demons didn't have much in their heads aside from slaughter and destruction, but fortunately, they still remembered some important relationships.

Apart from its direct boss—the Lord of Putrid Silt—the Swamp Demon Lizard also remembered information regarding several Legendary Demons. Examples included the Lord of Putrid Silt's grand steward, the Recorder; the legendary guard captain, The Flayer; and the Lord of Putrid Silt's favorite concubine...

After squeezing the Swamp Demon Lizard dry of its value, the White Dragon Lord gathered with his three teammates to exchange intelligence. They found that the information they had acquired heavily overlapped.

"Although the harvest isn't huge, at least we've figured out the upper structure of the Lord of Putrid Silt's forces. Whoever has access to these Arcane Empire relics must be someone the Lord of Putrid Silt trusts deeply. I think there are three demons who might be able to do this: the grand steward, the Recorder; the legendary guard captain, The Flayer; and the Lord of Putrid Silt's favorite concubine."

Alan said, "Amos, we can't rule out the possibility that the Lord of Putrid Silt leaked this on purpose."

The White Dragon Lord thought for a moment. "But the chances of that are slim. Even though I don't know the Lord of Putrid Silt, it has no reason to do that. If the secret gets out and people come knocking, the Lord of Putrid Silt will be the first to suffer."

Mage Alan nodded thoughtfully. The orc wiped his still-bloody fists on his leather armor. "What do we do next?"

"What else can we do? Even if we want to cause trouble for the Lord of Putrid Silt, we'll have to wait until the blood war ends. None of us can get away during this time." The White Dragon Lord turned to Skyhowler. "Lady Namagani, you have the most resources operating in the Abyss. Please keep a close eye on the Lord of Putrid Silt's movements. Whoever dumped these Arcane Empire relics might make another move soon."

Skyhowler said, "No problem. As soon as I get back, I'll dispatch an adventure squad to permanently station themselves in the Rotting Swamp. It just so happens that there are plenty of corrupted beast resources here anyway."

After destroying the corpses of the five Swamp Demon Lizards, Mage Alan cast a teleportation spell, and the four returned to the military camp. This operation became a shared secret among them.

The White Dragon Lord's life returned to its normal track, constantly alternating between daily tasks and studying magic.

That was until one day, the alchemy commander—Osiris Giant of Light—came knocking.

"Amos! A legendary adventure squad from the Boar's Howl Adventurer Group has run into an accident! They encountered a High-Tier Legendary Demon, and the situation is grim. They've called me for help, and you're the fastest flyer! I was hoping..."

"Which adventure squad?!"

"It seems to be the Third Legendary Adventure Squad."

The White Dragon Lord's expression changed drastically. The Third Legendary Adventure Squad was exactly the squad Felicia was in! "Where are they?!"

After Osiris pinpointed the location, the White Dragon Lord in his dragonkin form leapt into the air. In the midst of his ascent, he reverted to his true form, violently flapping his wings to shoot off into the distance.