Chapter 1470
As for the method of searching, Leon knew it well. By using the magitech array for a quick calculation, he could pinpoint the real location of these four Pureblood Elves. Of course, the elves themselves had no idea about this. They seized the chance to attack and then tried to escape—this was their one and only shot...
The four elves clearly hadn’t expected this. The moment they dodged, Leon burst out at his fastest speed, vanishing instantly, following right behind the Arcane Rail Cannon’s spell as it flew off.
Their faces turned ashen, and without hesitation, the four elves chased after him. In that split second when their guard was down, another nimble, hooded figure darted off in a different direction.
Leon and the hooded guy fled in opposite directions. The four elves, still shaken by what just happened, didn’t dare split up to chase them. Before they could decide who to pursue, both targets had already vanished.
After flying dozens of kilometers, Leon suddenly masked all his presence and disappeared. Unless he was unlucky enough to run into a Songblade Elf who knew the True Song, he should be safe—the range of True Song was limited. Unless it was that seventh Sky Rank Songblade Elf from earlier, no lower-ranked Songblade Elf could hope to keep up with Leon’s speed, even if they mastered True Song...
Once he’d escaped over a hundred kilometers, Leon sensed a terrifying ripple behind him. The brilliance of the blazing sun emerged in the sky, its scorching, blinding light covering a hundred kilometers in mere seconds.
Feeling the radiance appear, Leon decisively dropped into the forest below. Blobs of water formed around his body, a watery layer covering his skin. A faint blue rune glimmered on his forehead as he casually summoned more than a dozen water elementals nearby...
As the Water Elemental Elf King’s avatar, blending in as a pure water elemental was almost too easy. There was a lake nearby, with some water elementals in it—and a dozen more at the shore.
The dozen water elementals Leon had just summoned gathered at the lake’s edge. Leon mixed in among them, his aura no different from the others. Even the wild water elementals showed no hostility toward him. Sensing the presence of the Water Elemental Elf King, they instinctively formed a vigilant ring around Leon...
Just then, the sunlight swept past, vanishing in an instant. Yet in that brief moment, Leon keenly sensed a beam of light brush over him. It felt almost casual, just a glance, but the opponent was so powerful that Leon could barely sense it at all.
After the light swept by, Leon glanced back toward the Pureblood Elf territory, his face darkening. He’d just gotten caught up in the crossfire. The Pureblood Elves were searching for that other guy, but after he escaped, a Sky Mage, Ninth Rank Sunfire Elf came out and unleashed a massive search spell. No wonder Leon looked so grim...
It was basically a level-ten detection spell—wherever the sunlight reached, nothing could hide. It even dispelled invisibility. The larger the area, the greater the mana cost. Judging by the coverage just now, that spell must have covered at least eight or nine hundred kilometers, if not a full thousand...
With so little time, even if Leon risked opening a Sky Portal, he couldn’t possibly jump a thousand kilometers. Besides, if he dared open a portal, those guys would be on him in an instant—the portal’s disturbance would be as obvious as a lighthouse in the night to them...
Leon had no idea what that other guy did to piss off the Pureblood Elves, but for a Sky Mage, Ninth Rank Sunfire Elf to burn so much power searching for him... well, that took some serious skill.
Leon didn’t rush to leave. He stayed by the lake, maintaining his avatar. Only after an hour did he quietly disperse the Water Elemental Elf King avatar and switch to a water elemental avatar.
His water elemental avatar had long since reached the level of a Limit Spell. Once released, and with his aura hidden, he was indistinguishable from a real water elemental—at least as far as aura was concerned.
And this spell could be maintained indefinitely, with negligible mana cost.
He waited a whole day, sensing no further danger. Only then did Leon turn to look at Tubby, who’d been clinging to his shoulder in abject terror this whole time...
Tubby’s chubby little face was scrunched up, eyes squeezed shut, too scared to look at what was going on outside. But it was only now that Leon noticed something odd.
Ever since the last Mindscape, it seemed that everyone and everything in these worlds just ignored Tubby. It was impossible not to see him, but his presence had become so negligible it was as if he didn’t exist.
In the previous Mindscape, the apocalyptic survivors could almost be excused. Those numb, waiting-for-death types wouldn’t even bat an eye if someone ran naked through Heather City. Leon hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
But now that Leon thought about it, Tubby looked just like a giant green caterpillar—practically pure protein. In the apocalypse, people ate sandworm meat; there’s no way they’d ignore something like Tubby.
Now, in the Mindscape of the Nesser Dynasty era, even the elves seemed oblivious to Tubby. That was definitely odd...
Leon guessed it might be a special ability of the Nightmare Leotail. Anything that exists only in the Mindscape is unable to see Tubby—or if they do, they simply ignore him. After all, the creatures in these worlds aren’t truly alive; they’re just mindscape projections...
The Nightmare Leotail is a parasite of the Realm of Nightmares, and it does have some special abilities here. Leon could understand that—parasites are meant to avoid rejection by the world. So, it’s only natural that none of the mindscape beings notice Tubby.
He stayed put for ten days. Three groups of Pureblood Elves passed by, and there was even a massive search spell once. Leon didn’t move a muscle.
After ten days, the Pureblood Elves seemed to finally give up. Only then did Leon slip into the lake, following the underwater tunnel out of the area.
Elves are famous for their arrogance, and it all starts with the Pureblood Elves—they’re the most conceited of all. This time, two people escaped, one even from inside their defensive lines. Their pride must’ve taken a real beating. There’s no way they’d let it go. In ten days, two Pureblood Elves at level forty-nine had personally joined the hunt...
There’s no way they’d give up so easily. It just looks that way. Proud Pureblood Elves never back down...
Leon’s guess was spot on—the Pureblood Elves hadn’t given up at all. They started sending out their strongest, combing the area bit by bit, even dispatching Treefolk. With those Treefolk around, hiding in the forest was pointless unless you stayed perfectly still.
Leon followed the underground waterway linked to the lake, sensing his direction as he moved forward. It looked like there was no exit at all—the tunnel stretched for over three thousand kilometers, with no way to the surface, only leading deeper underground.
Leon wasn’t worried. With his water elemental avatar, he could sense the flow of water perfectly. When he switched to the Water Elemental Elf King avatar, he knew that just a thousand kilometers ahead, there was a spot he could surface. Even if there were Pureblood Elves nearby, none would have power to rival what’s found near the Eternal Tree.
Just then, Leon detected a strange ripple far off—not the kind produced by underwater creatures. Seconds later, he saw a bubble float up from another branch of the waterway. Inside was that hooded guy.
Seeing this guy, Leon’s face fell. He immediately fired off two frost runes at the bubble, freezing it into solid ice. Even the river itself froze, forming a massive block of ice that trapped the guy inside.
A second later, the ice shattered with a bang. The hooded guy clutched a Black Dragon Scale, hastily conjured another bubble, and stared at Leon in panic.
"Don’t attack—you’ll bring those damned elves down on us..."
At those words, Leon stopped the spell he was about to cast, glaring coldly at the guy. The hooded figure looked young, handsome, pale, with obvious elven features—but his jaw bore a tiny dragon scale, and it was black...
A half-elf with Black Dragon blood...
Leon couldn’t help but be amazed. The Nesser Dynasty was ruled by Pureblood Elves and Chromatic Dragons, but their relationship was far from friendly. Legend had it the Elven High King once fought the thirteen rulers of the Chromatic Dragons—details lost to history, of course.
The Pureblood Elves looked down on Black Dragons most of all. And Black Dragons? They were the branch with the worst relations to the elves. There are records of seven or eight wars between Pureblood Elves and Destruction Black Dragons.
In this age of Pureblood Elf rule, keeping bloodlines pure was everything—hence the name. Half-elves had no status; they were either executed or lived worse than slaves...
A Sky Rank half-elf, descendant of both Destruction Black Dragon and Sunfire Elf—Leon was genuinely shocked. This kind of thing would never appear in the historical record...
Running into such a half-elf by chance—even if Leon was annoyed at being dragged into trouble and nearly killed, if he wanted to figure out what was going on here, this guy was probably his best bet.
Once he’d made up his mind, Leon put away his staff.