The first impression the Dark Mountains left on Lucian could be summed up in one word: "massive." Massive peaks, massive trees, massive vines, massive beasts.
Towering trees hundreds of meters tall were everywhere, their leaves tinged with a dark hue that blotted out the sky, making travelers inside the Dark Mountains feel as though they were walking through twilight, with rare beams of direct sunlight breaking through.
Beneath their feet lay a thick carpet of rotting leaves, soft and muddy to walk on, making it impossible to tell where the ground was solid and where dangerous marshland lurked. One careless step could send you sinking in, unable to free yourself, and at any moment, venomous snakes, spiders, and other dangerous and disgusting creatures could burst forth from the soil, the trees, the rotting leaves, and the undergrowth.
Moreover, the various smells of decay frequently mixed into poisonous miasma of dazzling, multicolored hues — something even official knights would not dare approach lightly.
Yet in this hostile environment, Lucian was dressed in a white shirt, a black double-breasted frock coat, and a monocle, as though he were strolling through the safe cities of Arlin or Lontard.
"Mr. Elvis, approximately how long will it take to reach the magic tower of the Nightmare King?" the cautious Lucian asked his liaison while observing the towering trees, twisting vines, and eerily beautiful flowers that emitted a fishy scent all around him.
The liaison, Elvis, was an unremarkable-looking brown-haired man of average build who normally lingered around adventurer camps, purchasing materials and other goods, then reselling them to mages deep in the Dark Mountains who found it inconvenient to approach the fortress. Since he represented the interests of many such mages, no one in the adventurer camp — a place teeming with powerful, ruthless, and unhinged individuals — dared to provoke him carelessly.
But after accepting the mission, Lucian had learned from the Arcane Council's intelligence that Elvis was far more than he appeared on the surface. Behind him lurked the shadow of the Nightmare King, Stanis, and he served the role of gathering outside information and guiding visitors for the Nightmare King.
Therefore, the moment he arrived at the adventurer camp, Lucian had redirected his conflicted thoughts back toward the dangers of the Dark Mountains and the completion of his mission. He had gone straight to Elvis and, in vague terms, made his purpose known — and unsurprisingly, had received a response.
Elvis, dressed in a tight-fitting black outfit, moved with light, swift steps, his entire being like a cheetah coiling its strength, ready to pounce. After hearing Lucian's question, he didn't turn around, continuing to scan their surroundings warily, and answered in a flat tone: "At least half a month, possibly more. Mr. X, you should know — in the Dark Mountains, unless you have legendary-level strength, it's best not to fly. And moving too fast can lead to colliding with some terrifying creatures before you can even react."
Mr. X was the codename Lucian had given Elvis — not his real name.
Lucian gave a slight nod of agreement. The skies above the Dark Mountains were said to be riddled with rifts connecting to various dangerous extraplanar spaces, which was why the region boasted such a bewildering variety of strange creatures. Furthermore, many powerful magical beasts liked to mark out their own territories, and if one lacked the strength to fly over their domain, one would very easily be attacked. The most prominent examples were the dragons themselves — to say nothing of the various flying creatures that circled overhead, like lightning eagles, griffins, and carrion birds.
Stepping through the soft carpet of rotting leaves, a greenish-yellow viper suddenly lunged up and bit Lucian on the leg.
With a crisp crack, the viper had bitten down as though it had struck stone, nearly breaking its own fangs. Its elongated body bounced back, and it fled in a panic, vanishing into the rotting foliage.
From the moment he entered the Dark Mountains, Lucian had carefully layered two defensive arcane spells upon himself: "
"I didn't even sense it beforehand?" Lucian muttered, half to himself and half as if asking Elvis. With the spiritual perception of a fourth-circle mage, he had failed to detect a viper right at his feet. Even if the pervasive stench of decay was suppressing the spiritual field, it shouldn't have been suppressed to such a degree.
Elvis frowned slightly. "My instincts also seem to be suppressed. Could there be a high-level magical beast nearby?"
The path he was leading Lucian along was a narrow gap between the territories of various magical creatures, and it wasn't impossible that the balance could suddenly be upset.
After surveying the surroundings, Elvis veered slightly from their original course and continued onward. After all, there were never any real paths in the Dark Mountains to begin with.
After just a few steps in the gloom, Lucian suddenly heard a strange creaking and chittering sound.
A massive spider plummeted from the sky. The bulge on its back was a kaleidoscope of colors that seemed to form a bizarre, smiling human face. Its protruding fangs were like jet-black daggers, and extending from beneath were two black arms encased in chitin, each with twelve fingers totaling one hundred and twenty curved joints.
As the spider descended, thick white spider silk burst forth in every direction, forming a vast web that descended upon Lucian and Elvis.
A flash of light appeared at Lucian's wrist, and a red fireball materialized out of thin air, striking the spider web dead-on.
A violent explosion erupted. The flames that soared upward quickly ignited the spider silk, spreading rapidly until the web had become a net of fire.
The weakness of spider silk was fire!
As a mage, if you didn't even know the most basic knowledge about monsters, you didn't deserve the title!
The giant spider, the moment it touched down, began moving with extraordinary agility, its joints once again producing that creaking and chittering sound, its speed not much slower than that of a third-circle Great Knight.
And now, the surrounding creaking and chittering rose to a cacophony like noise. Giant, multicolored spiders descended from the sky or swung down on thick strands of silk to the ground, surrounding Lucian and Elvis in the center.
"Shapeshifting Spiders" — a species of spider unique to the Dark Mountains, monsters that could transform into human heads atop spider bodies. Adults possessed third-circle strength, moved with great speed and agility, excelled at using illusion-type supernatural powers, and preferred to act and hunt in groups, often able to take on enemies far more powerful than themselves.
Knowledge of this dark creature flashed through his mind. Immediately after, Lucian activated "Mass Terror," sending invisible waves of arcane power rippling outward in all directions.
When the arcane waves reached Elvis, the talisman at his chest burst with a milky-white glow, neutralizing the "Mass Terror" spell.