Chapter 559: Chapter 559: The Disappearing Trace

Not every rescue mission could be completed perfectly.

Yang Yu didn’t have a map of the Curse Sect’s attack locations; he could only rely on Lotcar’s instincts to track the traces left by the Curse Sect in the forest, which was extremely inefficient.

Once when Yang Yu arrived, all that was left in the forest was a hollow charred area; the Elf Hunting Team had already been captured by the Curse Sect.

Continuing the search along other scents, such incidents became increasingly frequent.

It seemed that the attacks launched by the Curse Sect were concurrent at multiple locations.

Even if the Elf Queen dispatched her Personal Guard to protect the elves, it only caused them to be wildly encumbered and suffer severe losses.

Realizing this, Yang Yu patted Lotcar’s back, signaling him not to pursue new scents but to continue following the scent left by the believers who had captured the elves.

This indeed proved to be a wise choice. To capture the elves, the Curse Sect’s believers had acquired a strong scent of smoke, which was particularly clear outside the burnt forest areas. Lotcar could keep tracking without having to stop to confirm the scent.

Unfortunately, the scent abruptly ended in another charred area of the forest.

Using his keen sense of smell, Lotcar found numerous different human scents near that area.

Carefully observing the long-extinguished ruins, an unnaturally burnt tree had broken in the middle and fallen in the center of the ruins. Upon closer inspection, traces of something dragged over the still-warm ashes were visible.

Yang Yu guessed that this might be the remnants of a Teleportation Magic Array.

The Curse Sect likely gathered the elves here and used a large Teleportation Magic to transport them to another place.

Teleportation Magic in this world was not well developed; it had high technical thresholds, with range being a primary issue.

When planning subsequent strategies, Yang Yu had considered using the All Things Library as a springboard to instantly support every corner of the world at the onset of the Demon King Descent.

However, even the All Things Library, a holy site for magicians, was still at the stage of constructing Teleportation Points inscribed with complex Magic Arrays. Despite this, the All Things Library couldn’t reach human capitals for fast support, let alone transport people to every corner of the world.

Personal use of Teleportation Magic was possible, but it generally required pre-set destinations and demanded a deep mastery of magic from the user to avoid mishaps.

After all, no one wants to suddenly end up in an unknown place, possibly being live-streamed and attacked violently by a couple.

Generally, the weight of the items carried also affected the distance of personal Teleportation Magic significantly.

Transporting so many elves at once, they likely couldn’t have gone far; unfortunately, with the scent trail gone, Lotcar couldn’t continue tracking and rescuing the elves.

Such elaborate destruction of the Teleportation Magic Array was also to prevent magicians from deducing their travel distance based on the Array.

At this point, there was no need to continue the tracking.

A magician capable of using Teleportation Magic to transport so many elves undoubtedly possessed formidable strength, at least equivalent to the level of the elders of the All Things Library.

Chasing someone who clearly resembled a mid-level boss, when only just gaining strength, was like frantically testing the limits on the edge of death.

Perhaps others had even left self-destructing spies here, monitoring everything.

Bai Jin was not there, and it was impossible to rule out that possibility.

Staying too long would only draw attention to oneself; pretending to just pass by was the best option.

Having made up his mind, Yang Yu once again commanded Lotcar and headed back the way they had come, straight for Luoyu City.

The elves who had been rescued by Yang Yu gradually gathered behind him, forming a sizeable team. However, they always maintained a distance from Yang Yu.

Along the way, they witnessed numerous battles involving Yang Yu, Lotcar, and He Meng. They had intended to help Yang Yu when he seemed to be in a deadlock, to repay the favor.

But Yang Yu’s team was too adept, and they could not intervene in the fight between Yang Yu and the Curse Sect.

Eventually, this elf hunting team, numbering more than two hundred, followed in Yang Yu’s footsteps to Luoyu City.

Two days later…

The elf hunting squad following Yang Yu arrived at Luoyu City.

Yet there were no signs of joy on their faces; the harsh scene before them assaulted their fragile nerves.

A golden protective shield enveloped Luoyu City. The city inside was almost completely unharmed, but a golden crack had formed at the top of the shield, casting a unique vertical beam of light down into Luoyu City, shining on the trunk of the Elf Tree. The light that once sparkled in the crown of the Elf Tree also dimmed somewhat.

Outside the golden light shield, the temporary village that had housed the elves had turned into a pitch-black burnt ground, the air filled with the smell of various things charred.

In the scorched village, noticeably protruding mounds of earth were everywhere.

Atop each mound was a beige-colored little flower; every elf knew what that symbolized.

Some elves had left this world forever without their knowledge.

The elf hunting team had been skeptical about what Yang Yu had said—that Luoyu City had also been attacked—but upon seeing the actual carnage, they could hardly bear to look directly.

A few elves responsible for guarding, relieved to see the returning Elf Hunting Team, became alert again upon seeing Yang Yu and Lotcar with the elves and hurriedly sent a messenger to inform the Queen.

Many elves sensed the guards’ reactions and came over. At first, they smiled a sigh of relief upon seeing the Elf Hunting Team, but then seeing that the returning team had returned empty-handed, their smiles turned bitter and resigned as they sighed and dispersed.

To avoid seeing others’ expressions, the Elf Hunting Team unconsciously lowered their heads.

Yang Yu looked around at the burned houses while the Elf Queen was gathering all the elves together, but the elves on the outskirts of Luoyu City still maintained the division of the original villages.

When Yang Yu had first come to the outskirts of Luoyu City, he had seen many storage rooms guarded by elf warriors.

In the temporary villages, each relocated village likely had its own winter food storehouse to prevent disputes over food supplies between the villages and feelings of unfairness.

These winter storehouses had all been burnt down in the great fire.

Food shortages had become even more severe.

Elves are a race capable of understanding each other, and many elves firmly believed this.

However, Yang Yu did not think so. At least at this moment, Yang Yu felt that these elves were no different from ordinary humans.