Above the mage!

Chapter 262: Releasing the Imprisonment
Thomas died just like that.

Elder Grant frowned, squatted down to check, and finally stood up and said, "The poison is hidden in the teeth. It is so horribly poisonous. From taking the poison to the onset of the poison to complete death, it only took a few short breaths."

"It was my negligence." He gritted his teeth, looking a little ugly, and apologized to Roych: "I didn't consider the possibility that he might commit suicide. The only clue is broken just like that."

As it stands now, Thomas was the only clue and witness, but he committed suicide in front of them.

What made him even more embarrassed was that according to Thomas's last testimony before his death, he was involved in Catherine's arrest.

And Thomas was his servant. From this perspective, Elder Grant should also bear some responsibility for Catherine's current situation.

However, Roychi didn't have the mind to delve into these things now.

His only thought at the moment was to find a way to clear Catherine's name and rescue the imprisoned Catherine as soon as possible.

He silently took a step forward, approached Thomas's body, slowly closed his eyes, raised his hands gently, and his fingertips trembled slightly.

An imperceptible magical fluctuation suddenly filled the air.

The next moment, a silver light burst out from the tip of his nose and then disappeared quietly.

This is the power of the spell.

Second level transmutation spell.

[Hound tracking].

Loichi closed his eyes and concentrated his mind. At this moment, his sense of smell had become extremely sharp. Every molecule in the air seemed to be clearly discernible, and all kinds of smells poured into his nasal cavity like a tide.

The fragrance of the soil, the freshness of golden wheat. And the unique smell of Thomas, the smell of fabric of clothes.
These scents intertwine to form a complex odor portrait.

Loitch filtered out those common useless smells one by one and focused on finding the smell he needed.

Finally, a chemical-like, extremely pungent smell rushed into his sense of smell.

His nostrils twitched as if to confirm the discovery.

After confirming that everything was correct, Loichi suddenly opened his eyes, with a hint of excitement in his tone.

"If it were any other pet, I might not be able to do anything about it, but that pet happened to be a toad pet."

Looking at Thomas' fallen body, Roych said in self-pity, "Although scent tracking is the strength and ability of every hunter who practices the Wilderness Secret Art, in fact, this ability is not as powerful as it seems, and it has many limitations."

"For example, if the time interval is too long, the odors are too similar, or the odor conditions are too complex and numerous, odor tracking often doesn't work."

It's like a pot of heavy-flavored dish, it's hard to distinguish all the seasonings in it, but in a pot of light and original soup, you can always easily distinguish all the seasonings in it.

The same is true for scent tracking.

[Wild Mysticism] The practice can improve the mage's performance in the "tracking" spell, and also allow the mage to gain abilities including "enhanced sense of smell".

But it is not a panacea.

A big part of the reason why Loych was able to track Goder's scent on the snowfield was that Goder was a foreigner with a completely different diet from the people in the North. Therefore, he had an extremely unique and distinctive smell, making him easy to track.

If Gao De is also a northerner, it would be extremely difficult to track him down in the vast snowfield since northerners smell roughly the same.

"But the toad's skin secretes a special kind of mucus, and this special mucus has an extremely unique and pungent smell. It is very easy to identify and easily stain on clothes."

"Toads are animals that do not naturally exist in the North, so there may be only this one toad in the entire Phoenix that exists as a magical pet. There is no need to worry about being confused by the smell of other toads." Loichi explained with confidence in his tone.

"Plus, only five days have passed. Under these conditions, I can definitely track down where this toad pet has gone by scent."

"If we find the toad pet, we will find the real murderer, or at least someone who knows the truth." He finally said to Elders Gode and Grant with full confidence.

By the scent of the toad familiar in Thomas' mouth, he could find more clues.

No matter how meticulous the person behind the scenes is, there is still no way to be completely flawless, no matter how small the flaw is.

But even this pinhole-sized flaw was enough for Loichi to poke a hole as big as a mountain.

Now that we have the clues, the next thing we need to do is to follow the clues.

There is no doubt about Leutsch's professionalism.

After casting [Hound Tracking], with the double buffs of the [Wild Mysticism] practice of enhanced sense of smell and enhanced tracking spell effects, plus Loichi's own tracking ability, no tiny trace of smell can escape his detection.

"Just get to the bottom of it. Don't worry, I won't let this matter go no matter who the other party is. If it doesn't work, I will report it to the higher-ups and ask Mother Zhan to take action."

Elder Grant said in a deep voice: "If they were only targeting your Saint, the War Mother might not be willing to take action. After all, this is your sect's business, and it is not easy for her to interfere."

"But since the mastermind behind this has set his sights on Jin Hui Mai from our tribe, then this matter is related to the Zhen Bing tribe. Mother Zhan will definitely not tolerate such behavior."

At this point, Elder Grant's eyes turned vicious.

"I feel relieved with your words, elder." Loichi responded.

Anyone could see that the mastermind behind this was extremely powerful, so he was indeed worried that even if he tracked down the real murderer, he might not be able to catch him.

But things would be different if the Zhenbing tribe took action.

The Zhenbing Tribe is the largest tribe in the North, with the strongest power as well as being the most powerful force in the North.

Even if the entire sect of the Snowfield Guardians were combined, they would still be no match for the Zhenbing Tribe.

late at night.

Everything was silent and the cold wind was howling.

There were almost no people on the streets of Phoenix, and snowflakes were falling intermittently.

In the North, at night, almost no one is active.

But tonight, in an inconspicuous gray stone house in the alley, there are still whispers.

There was flickering light from the oil lamp and the crackling sound of burning charcoal.

Several figures sat in a circle, eating boiling yak beef soup in a pot over charcoal fire in the freezing cold weather.

"The problem of the ice nematodes has been solved, and the plan to remove Grant from the position of elder has also failed."

"Didn't you solemnly promise me that this would be absolutely safe?"

"It should have been foolproof. Given how hidden the ice nematodes are, if they hadn't been exposed to them before, how could they have been discovered? Not to mention being able to find a solution in such a short time. The knowledge of your elder is far beyond my imagination."

The man explained helplessly, his words drifting away with the cold wind. "What's that sound?!" At this moment, one of them suddenly pricked up his ears, as if he had discovered something.

But just at the moment he was alert, several arrows pierced through the night like lightning, and with a swish, passed through the bone door and all shot into the house.

The arrow appeared a clear blue color under the moonlight, faintly reflecting a little ice crystal light.

It's not an ordinary arrow, but an ice arrow!

The people in the house groaned, obviously caught off guard by this sudden attack.

After this wave of ice arrows, the house fell into deathly silence, as if everyone inside had been destroyed by this wave of ice arrows.

However, in the next moment, with a loud bang, the wall of the stone house collapsed.

Immediately afterwards, several figures rushed out from the collapsed wall and fled in different directions.

However, after they rushed out, they were shocked to find that the house they were in had been surrounded by nearly twenty high-level Ice Wizards.

When these Iceborn mages saw them rushing towards them, they all smiled with a hint of teasing and confidence.

Rich magical fluctuations instantly rippled out from the palms of their hands, transforming into ice-blue new starlight, shooting towards the fleeing figures in panic.

After the light left his hands, it was like tiny meteors, drawing beautiful star tracks in the sky and then falling on those who were fleeing.

Every hit was accompanied by a crisp sound of ice breaking.

Several novae fell on the same person's body, freezing him into an ice sculpture in an instant.

"Elder, we've taken them all down." At the outermost edge, an Ice Mage reported softly to Elder Grant.

Elder Grant nodded with satisfaction and said to Roych beside him, "I have learned my lesson this time. I will never give them any chances, even suicide is out of the question."

"Thank you for your help, Elder." Loychi thanked.

With Loitch's ability, he quickly found the whereabouts of the toad pet mentioned by Thomas by smell.

Fortunately, I didn't leave Phoenix.

However, this time, after discovering the target, Loich did not attack immediately, but waited for Elder Grant to "shake" over enough manpower, and only took action after ensuring that there was no chance of error.

After all, if this clue is broken again, there will be no way to save the situation.

Elder Grant and Loich walked up to the frozen figures.

"How did you find us?" One of the men looked at the two approaching people and asked unwillingly, with a hint of resentment in his tone.

Loichi did not answer their questions. Instead, he glanced at the faces of these people, then shook his head and turned to look at Elder Grant with a questioning look.

Elder Grant also shook his head, indicating that he did not know these people either: "I will take them back first. Don't worry, our Zhenbing tribe's interrogation methods are no weaker than your Snowfield Guardians."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you then."

"No problem, just wait for good news from me at home. If everything goes well, you may be able to meet your Holy Lady tomorrow." Elder Grant said with a smile.

"I hope so." Loichi took a deep breath, but the tension was still not completely relieved.

In the place provided by Catherine, Gode was waiting for Loichi's return.

To be honest, he didn't want to get involved in the internal affairs of the Snowfield Guardian Sect, and he was even unwilling to get involved in the affairs of the Golden Wheat Seedlings.

Gao De is not an evil person, but he is not a nosy person either.

And his original intention of coming to the North was to plant trees from the beginning to the end.

But he had to get involved in this matter.

Because he was involved with Baruch, given his current situation, there was a high possibility that he would be targeted for silencing by the behind-the-scenes mastermind who was a high-ranking member of the Snowfield Guardians.

Once the murderer behind the scenes has dealt with Catherine and Loic, he will definitely be the next target.

Therefore, even if Gao De doesn't want to get involved in this matter, he has to contribute.

He was also very clear about the criticality of Loichi's actions tonight.

However, his strength is relatively low, so he is not suitable to participate in the night operation and can't contribute at all. He can only wait here for Loichi to return.

Fortunately, we didn't wait too late and heard some noise at the door.

Then the sound of footsteps came in along with Loitch's voice.

"I am back."

Luo Yiqi pushed open the door, sat down at the Goddess's table, drank a sip of water and said, "All the people have been arrested and taken away by Elder Grant."

Gode ​​heaved a sigh of relief. At least as far as Flora was concerned, Elder Grant had no ill will towards him. From this point of view, he should be considered a trustworthy person.

"Thanks to you this time, whether it's helping to discover and resolve the insect pests in the golden wheat seedlings or finding the key clues." Roychi hesitated for a moment, but still expressed his gratitude to Gao De solemnly.

The relationship between them is a bit weird. Judging from their normal interactions, they seem like friends, but both sides know that it is essentially a coercive relationship, yet there doesn't seem to be much hatred between them.

And after this incident, this already weird relationship became even weirder.

At least with Loychi's cultural level, he couldn't think of a suitable adjective. Perhaps it was a bit close to "no fighting, no acquaintance"?
In short, in Roychi's heart, he can no longer treat Gaode the same way as before, otherwise he will feel guilty.

So, he thought about it, and suddenly reached out his hand and began to explore Gao De's body.

As Loichi's palm moved, a cold current began to move across Gode's skin like a snake.

Then, Gao De felt as if something in his body was being pulled out like a cocoon.

When he took a closer look, it was indeed the forbidden ice needle that Loichi had inserted into his body earlier!
"During this period of time, you'd better not leave Phoenix easily, and it's even better if you don't leave my side." Roych carefully put away the five forbidden ice needles, and then reminded him:

"Although we arrested a group of people last night, there is a high possibility that they still have people in the city. You are only a first-level mage. If they target you, it will be very easy to kill you. Stay with me, at least I can take care of you."

Gao De stretched his muscles and felt the sense of freedom.

Although he had already become immune to the five forbidden ice needles, he still felt much more at ease after they were actually taken out of his body.

"I understand." He responded, without being ungrateful.

(End of this chapter)