Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 173 Schemes

Unfortunately, Richard, who had long since departed, could no longer hear their words.

He and Stephanie had already rushed to the original supply trading point, which should now be considered the Spider Knights' base camp.

Moreover, the two of them did their best to avoid the Night Elf patrols along the way, thus avoiding battle and achieving the goal of concealing their tracks.

After the two arrived at a secluded spot near the trading point, Richard took out the only remaining substitute doll from his pocket. After chanting a low incantation, he transferred all four tracking marks on his body to the substitute doll.

Richard then began to carve a vengeful spirit transformation array on the ground. With fluid movements and skillful technique, he quickly completed the complex array.

Richard stood up, carefully examined the array patterns again, and after confirming that everything was correct, he took out a transparent crystal ball from his pocket, chanted a spell, and began to imprint the vengeful spirit transformation array into the blank crystal ball.

After a flash of dazzling red light, the printing was complete!

Immediately afterwards, Richard cast another strange spell, and the crystal ball lit up with a white light, as if some strange energy had also been incorporated into the crystal ball.

After the spell was completed, Richard handed three items to Stephanie: the substitute doll, the crystal ball with the vengeful spirit conversion array printed on it, and the Mysterman Tor Orb obtained from Donato.

After Stephena accepted the three items with a surprised look, Richard whispered something in her ear.

Immediately, Stephanie's beautiful eyes sparkled with admiration, and she nodded repeatedly.

After asking Richard a few questions, Stephanie looked at him with admiration and complimented him:

"Master, I've only just realized that although your strength is already formidable, your wisdom surpasses even your physical power."

"Stop flattering me, Stephania. Do you have any questions about this plan?"

"If not, then you should set off as soon as possible and enter the Night Elf stronghold."

"Yes, my master!" Stephania bowed slightly, giving Richard a ladylike curtsy.

Just as Stephania was about to leave, she suddenly stopped, thought for a moment, turned around and said, "Master, I think I should change my clothes; it would look better that way."

The next second, Stephanie didn't mind taking off her clothes right in front of Richard and slowly changing into a black tulle dress. In the classic pose of a high-class spider woman, she twirled in front of Richard.

"Master, do you think this outfit looks more like the everyday attire of a high-ranking spider woman?" Stephania said softly.

This immediately overwhelmed Richard, who dared not look directly at the surging waves ahead.

"This outfit definitely looks more like it!" Richard nodded quickly after glancing at it out of the corner of his eye.

"Let's hurry and set off!"

Richard quickly waved his hand, signaling Stephena to hurry up and leave.

"Hehe!" Seeing Richard's unnatural expression, Stephania giggled and then walked gracefully towards the original supply point outside the dense forest—the current headquarters of the Spider Knights.

The overall structure of the supply point was a simple gathering place, surrounded by wooden fences, forming an irregular circle.

Of course, the fences here are more symbolic, used to protect animals and such. The real defense relies more on the magic arrays that are pre-marked within the supply points.

However, since the night elves launched a surprise attack, these defensive magic arrays have been almost completely destroyed.

Inside the camp, there are seven or eight wooden houses, mostly built along the inside of the fence, each selling different daily necessities, such as food shops, shops supplying commonly used spellcasting materials, and so on.

Surrounded by these wooden houses, the tall wooden house in the very center of the camp was the residence of the former supply point manager.

Now, it has become the residence of Dolores and Portia, the leader of the Spider Knights.

When Stephania's graceful figure appeared at the camp gate, several spider knights on guard were stunned. They looked at each other in disbelief at the high-ranking spider woman who had suddenly appeared before them.

This... Princess Dolores just left with a group of people not long ago, so who is this person?

However, his face seems somewhat familiar!

It seems to be His Highness Shadra?

Stephania giggled. "What, you don't even recognize me?"

These words instantly sent a shiver down the spines of the spider knights. The deep-rooted sense of hierarchy among the night elves, ingrained in their blood, made them immediately bow in respect.

One of the spider knights asked nervously, "Are you Prince Shadra?"

"We are very sorry that we were unable to pay our respects to you immediately. We really did not know that you had also been sent into the Norman Secret Realm by the Matriarch."

Stephania waved her hand, indicating she didn't mind such a trivial matter, and then asked, "Where's Dolores?"

"Lady Edoros has just led four squads of Spider Knights out. The highest commander in the camp now is Lord Portia," the Spider Knight replied respectfully.

"Yes, take me to see Portia immediately," Stephania said, feigning impatience.

"Yes, Your Highness Shadra! Please follow me."

The spider knight immediately turned around and led the way, while Stephania followed behind him with a calm expression, freely observing the defensive arrangements of the entire camp.

Within the entire camp, including patrols, guards, and sentries, there were likely no fewer than fifty Spider Knights.

In addition to what the Spider Knight just said, Dolores has already taken some people away.

Based on this, it seems that the number of Spider Knights in the entire supply point should have exceeded seventy.

No wonder none of the wizard apprentices from the three academies within the Norman Secret Realm have been able to break through the barriers and send back messages.

Meanwhile, Richard, who was hiding in a nearby secluded spot, was playing with the short, curved bone staff that originally belonged to Donato. This bone staff, which was only half a meter long, was officially called the "Winding Bone Staff".

Just now, Richard used the cleansing water to completely wipe away all traces of the sinuous bone staff, so there's no need to worry about being followed or anything.

【Wandering Bone Staff】A top-tier sorcery item. When the wielder casts the level 0 sorcery spell "Summon Ghouls," the summoned ordinary ghouls will mutate into Clawed Ghouls. Additionally, the number of ghouls summoned increases by one.

After reading the contents of the spell array, Richard suddenly realized why Donato was able to summon three mutated clawed ghouls and fight his Abomination to a standstill; it was all thanks to this winding bone staff.

Originally, he thought Donato, like him, had raised his mastery of the zero-level sorcery of summoning ghouls to the grandmaster or limit level.

It seems I overestimated him.

After playing with the top-tier sorcery tool, the Winding Bone Staff, for a while, Richard took out a pair of low-level sorcery artifacts resembling iron shackles—war shackles—and examined them carefully, marveling at their appearance.

"What a clever idea! They actually thought of using the power of witchcraft arrays to restrict the movement of enemies."

This was Richard's first time obtaining a low-level magical artifact, and a rare auxiliary magical artifact at that.

The previously obtained mutated summoning staff was a damaged low-level magical artifact, so strictly speaking, it did not possess the power that a low-level magical artifact should have.

However, the thought of the word "assistance" prompted Richard to pick up a low-level magical artifact shaped like a cloak from the side.

The light black veil-like cloak was the very one Donato and his wizard apprentices had initially worn, the one with a concealment function.

After reading the instructions on the concealing cloak, Richard realized that Stephena's ability to discover the other party was definitely due to a bit of luck.

Logically speaking, unless there is a huge difference in strength, it is almost impossible to find someone hidden under a cloak from ten meters away.

Of the three items, Richard valued the last one the most—the cloak of concealment.

Because the effect of this low-level magical artifact is so amazing, it can not only hide the figure and aura of the user and all teammates within a five-meter radius.

Moreover, Richard just tested it and found that the cloak can conceal a significant portion of the energy fluctuations caused by witchcraft.

The cloak's concealing effect is perfect for Richard to use in his next plan.

Now, with the cloak of concealment, a low-level magical artifact, Richard's plan will have a significantly higher success rate.

Because Richard had transformed Donato and the group of wizard apprentices who had besieged him into vengeful spirits, he didn't summon the sleeping crystal this time.

Richard would occasionally observe the Spider Knight sentries near the camp.

Sure enough, not long after, these sentries seemed to have all retreated.

It seems that Stephanie has already begun to execute his plan.

Since that's the case, we need to get started on our side too.

Richard immediately waved the mutated summoning staff in his hand, and a huge green inverted pentagram magic circle appeared under his feet, instantly summoning an abomination that was over 2.8 meters tall and extremely obese.

He looked around with his narrow, squinting eyes, but couldn't find any enemies in the vicinity.

That bewildered look in his eyes seemed to be saying, "Huh! Why did my master summon me here?"

Looking down, it saw Richard handing it a test tube of bubbling purple liquid.

Richard said with a smile, "Drink it, and when you awaken again, you will be even stronger."

Trusting Richard, Hatred picked up the test tube, sniffed it, and poured it directly into his mouth. After smacking his lips, he felt a little dizzy, and suddenly, the world spun around him, and he collapsed to the ground.

Before long, the abomination lying on the ground was already snoring loudly!

Richard manipulated the mimicry wristband, transforming it into a gleaming silver scalpel. Based on his memories, he carefully reviewed the process of transforming the vengeful spirit.

The next second, a sharp scalpel sliced ​​open the hideous, obese belly—

Near the cave of the golden-scaled lizard.

Gildas's werewolf clone, now covered in bruises, stumbled and fled from the golden-scaled lizard's clutches in a sorry state.

He then realized that, for some unknown reason, Robert must have been swallowed by the Golden Scaled Lizard, leaving the [Mistman Tor Orb] inside the Golden Scaled Lizard's stomach.

Therefore, when the three of them, each holding the precious pearl, followed the pearl all the way there, they not only returned empty-handed, but also lost one of their own.

This infuriated Gildas!

Damn beast!

It's not that he's incapable of fighting the Golden Scaled Lizard, but rather that his current mission prevents him from unleashing his full power and engaging in a major battle with the lizard.

Because once Gildarts unleashes his trump card, his strength will soar to the level of a formal wizard, and he will then be restricted by the rules of the Norman Secret Realm, and will soon be teleported out of the Norman Secret Realm, thus causing the rescue mission entrusted by Archmage Graf to fail.

Therefore, Gildas can only endure it for now.

Suddenly, he was jolted, and a gloomy feeling settled over him.

Gildas immediately looked up towards the northeast of the Norman Secret Realm.

He sensed that the tracking mark on his child, Donato, had been triggered.

this means

One of his most valued sons was murdered.

This means that a future wizard of the Colonna family with great potential was nipped in the bud.

This made Gildas's already resentful heart, like a volcano about to erupt, almost uncontrollable.

His clenched fists loosened and clenched again!

After taking a deep breath, Gildas silently vowed in his heart:

"Donato, whoever killed you, I will avenge you!"

Thus, the seeds of hatred had already begun to sprout in Gildas's heart.

As for the rescue mission?

All I can say is I'm sorry, Donato is dead. What's the point of rescuing you mediocre people trapped in the secret realm?

Seemingly remembering something, Gildarts took out the Mysterman Tor Orb from his pocket, carefully sensed it, and found that the orb was gradually dimming.

Gildas immediately realized that this meant the person who killed Donato had most likely also taken the jewel from his body.

Gildas then walked around the area and carefully sensed it again, discovering that the person holding the Donato Orb and the person indicated by the tracking mark were almost in the same location!

Now Gildas was almost certain that the enemy was definitely in this direction.

As for why Gildas was so cautious.

This also brings us to Richard. If it weren't for the fact that he had chased the bird for thousands of miles, leaving such a deep impression on Gildas, he wouldn't have been so cautious this time, making two judgments before daring to confirm the murderer's location.

Having pinpointed the enemy's location, Gildas turned to Stefan and said, "Let's go!"

After saying that, Gildas dashed away without looking back.

Stefan was about to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, he gave up, sighed, and quickly followed.

(End of this chapter)