strokinit Chapter 105 Ralph's Choice and Kurt's Madness!!
Chapter 105 Ralph's Choice and Kurt's Madness!!
Chapter 106 Ralph's Choice and Kurt's Madness!!
Kurt's gaze was fixed on the small, pure white beast that was lazily curled up on Ralph's shoulder, as if drawn by a magnet.
The fur, bathed in dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, shimmered with an almost ethereal, moonlit glow.
Time seemed to stand still.
Kurt, Dilla, and Andy were frozen in place, their breaths stopped.
They involuntarily twitched their throats, the swallowing motion standing out starkly in the deathly silence.
Moonlight Fox!
The immense shock left Kurt's mind blank, then he was overwhelmed by ecstasy and unprecedented greed.
He instantly understood what he had to do!
His previous arrogance and murderous intent were as fragile as paper in the face of the temptation of becoming a formal wizard!
"You—you're Lav? Right?"
The ferocious anger on Kurt's face melted away like ice and snow, instantly replaced by what he considered to be his most "amiable" smile. He also deliberately softened his voice, giving off a false sense of friendliness.
"That little guy on your shoulder is so cute. Can I have it?"
Ignoring Laf's wary gaze, he went ahead and stated his terms: "Give me that, and I promise! I'll let you leave safely right away! These villagers—"
He casually waved his finger at the crowd kneeling on the ground.
"I guarantee they won't lose a single hair! How about it? I can also give you a huge bag of gold coins, enough to ensure you'll live a life of comfort for the rest of your days!"
John was completely stunned! Let him go? What about his dead brothers? He instinctively tried to speak, "Young Master, this—"
"Shut up!"
Kurt abruptly turned his head, his eyes like those of a ferocious beast ready to devour its prey. He roared in a low voice, and the sudden burst of chill made John shudder, swallowing back the rest of his words.
John looked at the little white beast, then at the burning greed in the young master's eyes, and instantly understood—the value of this little thing far exceeded everyone's imagination!
Far more than a few lives!
Kurt turned back, his face once again plastered with that unsettling "kind" smile, as if his earlier ferocity had been nothing but an illusion.
Jona, who was next to him, immediately understood and frantically tried to signal to John with her eyes.
John understood immediately and made several fierce gestures to the thugs behind him.
Instantly, dozens of threatening and hostile gazes, like cold blades, pierced the kneeling, trembling villagers on the ground!
The fear of death instantly overwhelmed all other emotions.
"Ralph! My good boy! Please say yes to the master! We've all watched you grow up!"
"That's right, Lav! It's just a little fox! How many do you want? Uncle will catch them for you! As many as you want! Quickly, give it to the master!"
"Ralph! Listen to me! Don't get us all in trouble! Give it to us now!"
"Raff! I'm begging you! Think of your dead parents! They wouldn't want to see you kill the whole village, would they?!"
Ralph's mentor even broke down in tears, taking moral blackmail to the extreme.
Faced with the villagers' cacophony of "persuasion" and blatant moral blackmail, Laf's face was filled with struggle and pain.
The immense betrayal he had just experienced was now being used as leverage to blackmail him, completely shattering any remaining warmth he had for the village.
He looked down at the small white beast on his shoulder, seemingly oblivious and still lazily licking its paws. This was a friend he had accidentally discovered in the cave, who had been saved by the herbs he had gathered when the beast was on the verge of death, and with whom he had depended for survival ever since.
Its pure gaze made him feel safer and warmer than the villagers kneeling and begging for mercy with their ferocious expressions.
"impossible!"
Lav suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion and pain, replaced by an unprecedented determination. His voice was not loud, but it clearly drowned out all the noise.
"I will never hand Xiaobai over to you!"
"Raff!"
Kurt's fake smile vanished instantly, replaced by a dark, almost menacing expression, and his voice became as cold as a venomous snake.
"Have you thought this through?! These are over a hundred living people! Just because you can't bear to part with a single animal?!"
This statement was like lighting a powder keg!
"Raff! You heartless ingrate! Are you going to kill the whole village for one beast?!"
"I knew you were no good! You jinx! You jinx! Hand over that beast!"
"Kill him! Kill this scoundrel!"
The villagers erupted in chaos, hurling all sorts of vile insults and curses at Raf as if he were the executioner who had raised the knife, and they were merely innocent victims.
They didn't say a word about who was truly threatening their lives.
Hearing the harsh and vicious insults behind him, Lav's heart turned completely cold, and his last bit of hesitation vanished.
He took one last look at those once-familiar faces that now seemed utterly foreign, his eyes cold and resolute.
"Little White, let's go!"
He let out a low shout, no longer looking at anyone, his body leaning slightly forward, and a power far beyond that of ordinary people erupted instantly!
Whoosh—!
Having grown up listening to wizard legends, Raff didn't hesitate for a moment.
His figure shot out like an arrow, leaving a trail of afterimages, and with a speed that even Kurt found astonishing, he suddenly rushed towards the steep, dense forest behind the village!
It moved so fast that only a few withered leaves were left behind, swept up by the wind!
"Damn it!!!"
Kurt's gloomy expression instantly turned into rage and astonishment; he had never expected Ralph to be so fast!
"Chase him! Chase him! He can't escape!!" he roared in exasperation.
The four of them quickly leaped onto the eagle-headed bat, their enormous wings whipping up a whirlwind as they sped off toward the forest where Laf had disappeared.
"What are you all standing there for?! Chase them! Chase them now!!"
John realized what was happening and yelled at his men at the top of his lungs.
The thugs, as if waking from a dream, surged chaotically toward the entrance to the mountain forest.
In the open space, only the group of villagers remained, looking at each other blankly and still kneeling on the ground.
Before the relief of surviving the ordeal could even rise, it was replaced by a deeper sense of unease and bewilderment.
They gazed in the direction where Laf had disappeared and at the receding black dot in the sky, as if they sensed an even greater storm was about to break.
"Whoosh—whoosh-"
"9
Lav sped through the dense forest, his heavy breathing particularly clear in the silent mountains.
He felt the endless, strange power brought to him by the little white beast, which supported him as he ran at high speed, but his heart was filled with confusion.
Home? Gone.
The village where he grew up, the villagers he once regarded as family, pushed him into the abyss.
A manhunt? Like a shadow following him.
The influence of the Wentworth family is like an invisible net, and the "big bird" circling in the sky is a deadly threat.
He was clearly acting on behalf of Heaven to punish those who preyed on the villagers and drove his parents to their deaths; the villagers had clearly applauded him before—
Why did everything change overnight? This world shouldn't be like this!
He reached out and gently touched the little white beast that was still curled up peacefully on his shoulder.
It seemed to sense Laf's sadness and unease, raised its head, and rubbed its wet, star-like white nose against Laf's cheek, making a soft, soothing "howl".
"Don't worry, Xiaobai!"
Lav's voice was choked with emotion, but his eyes were incredibly firm.
"I will never abandon you! You are the only one who has never betrayed me—my friend."
He carefully navigated through the dense primeval forest, where vines entwined and ancient trees towered, using the complex terrain and lush vegetation to conceal himself.
He would occasionally look up and, through the gaps in the dense canopy, see the enormous eagle-headed bat circling and searching in the sky like a vulture.
Ralph secretly rejoiced: "Luckily, this forest is there to block the view—"
He thought that the route he had chosen and the dense vegetation had blocked the view of those "wizard masters".
He had no idea that the true guardian of this seemingly lucky escape was the seemingly harmless little white beast on his shoulder!
Its almost instinctive stealth field, derived from its ability to ignore all negative effects, is the key to rendering all of Kurt and the others' detection magic ineffective!
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!"
On the back of the eagle-headed bat, Kurt, his eyes bloodshot, pounded his fists on the saddle in agitation.
They had circled the mountains and forests countless times, employing various detection techniques: life detection, thermal tracking, and energy fluctuation scanning—
All of it was like throwing a stone into the sea, without any reaction!
Lav and the little beast vanished into thin air!
"All detection spells have failed!"
Dila's expression was solemn, but her tone carried a hint of excitement.
"This is no coincidence! Only the legendary Moon White Fox, with its immunity to all negative status effects and even the ability to distort perception, could do this! It's definitely it! There's no mistake!"
"So what do we do now? This can't go on."
Andy looked down at the vast, lush forest below, his brow furrowed.
"The scope is too large; we can't afford to waste time on it."
"How about we report it?" Andy tentatively suggested. "If the information is true, the reward Boss Hick promised—"
"No! Absolutely not!!"
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Kurt turned his head sharply, glaring fiercely at Andy, his voice shrill with excitement.
"Once it's reported, will we even get a chance to get it? It'll definitely be snatched away by those modified monsters like Labour and Brown! They have all sorts of ways to find it! Then, our chance to become official wizards will be completely gone!"
He took a deep breath, suppressing his surging anger and anxiety, and looked at Dila and Andy in an almost pleading tone: "Dila, Andy, we're brothers! We're veterans who came up with Boss Hick from the Apprentice Tower together! Think back to the past, the three of us were the Boss trusted the most! Now we're being overshadowed by those newcomers, are you willing to accept that?"
He pointed to the forest below, his eyes burning with a mad ambition: "As long as I capture that Moon White Fox, I'll become a full-fledged wizard! I swear, I'll never forget you! With me protecting you, resources..."
"Positions will all be tilted in your favor! The three of us brothers will be the core force under our leader! Isn't that a hundred times better than handing over the opportunity to outsiders?!"
Dila and Andy exchanged a glance; Kurt's words struck a chord with their deepest resentment and longing.
Yes, it's been reported, so the credit goes to everyone, but the lion's share of the reward definitely won't go to them.
But if Kurt succeeds, their status as "loyal followers" will inevitably rise. The risk is great, but the rewards are immeasurable!
The two finally nodded slowly.
Seeing that the two had given their consent, Kurt breathed a long sigh of relief, but then his gaze toward the forest below turned incredibly sinister and vicious.
"Raff—you forced me to this!"
He gritted his teeth, his voice sounding like it came from hell.
"Since you insist on hiding like a rat, don't blame me for destroying your entire rat hole!"
He yanked the reins sharply, and the eagle-headed bat let out a sharp cry as it swooped down toward where John and the others were gathered.
Two days later—
On the ground, John was directing a disorganized thug and able-bodied men forcibly driven from nearby villages to set up a makeshift blockade line like herding sheep.
Upon seeing Kurt land, he hurriedly went to greet him.
"Young Master! Don't worry! As you instructed, I've mobilized everyone I can! I've sent all the able-bodied men from the nearby villages! Now, every passable opening in this mountain is being watched! As soon as that kid dares to show his face, we'll find him immediately!"
John reported the news with a self-satisfied air, his face full of flattery.
Kurt, his face grim, merely nodded coldly at his report.
His self-sunlight swept over the villagers, their faces filled with terror, forced to stand guard at the edge of the forest with makeshift weapons and even farm tools; it swept over the fierce-looking thugs and the mercenaries and hooligans he had temporarily recruited.
The influence of the Wint family, coupled with his status as "the Wizard," forced nearby smaller families and forces to send people to assist him, forming a crude but vast encirclement.
"very good."
Kurt's voice was icy and devoid of any emotion as he pointed to the mountain of barrels piled up beside him—filled with pungent kerosene, sulfur, and tinder.
"Now, move all these things onto the eagle-headed bat's back!"
"Move—move it upstairs?" John was taken aback, not understanding.
"Yes!" Kurt's eyes flashed with a mad and cruel light as he commanded, word by word, "Then, burn them!"
Mountain!!"
"Burning—burning the mountain?!"
John gasped in shock, his face turning deathly pale!
This isn't just about dealing with one or two people; it's about burning an entire forest to the ground! What a terrible tragedy that would be!
"Young Master! This—this—"
"Execute the order!" Kurt didn't give him a chance to question, shouting sternly, "Immediately! Right now!"
John trembled at Kurt's unquestionable, devilish gaze and dared not say another word. He hurriedly directed his men to load the heavy fuel barrels onto the eagle-headed bat.
He knew that the young master had gone completely mad in his quest to catch that fox!
Soon, the backs of the four eagle-headed bats were loaded with heavy fuel barrels.
Kurt, Jona, Dila, and Andy took to the air again, like death birds that bring destruction, circling above the lush green forest.
Kurt looked down at the forest that sheltered Ralph below, a ferocious and gleeful smile spreading across his face.
He suddenly opened the valve of a fuel tank, and the pungent kerosene poured down like a black waterfall!
"Laf! You think you can hide?!"
Kurt laughed maniacally, his voice echoing through the sky, filled with a destructive desire.
"Let's see where you hide this time! Burn it down! Burn this whole forest down!!!"
With his roar, Jona, Dila, and Andy also opened the valves.
The black, viscous fuel, like the ink of death, was splattered on the verdant canopy of the mountain forest.
Immediately afterwards, a bright spark appeared at Kurt's fingertip, and he flicked his finger!
laugh--!
The spark landed precisely on the tree canopy, which was soaked in kerosene!
Boom! ...
A huge, orange-red pillar of fire shot into the sky!
It was as if the gates of hell had been suddenly opened, and the blazing flames, like a greedy beast, instantly devoured the fuel-covered branches and leaves, letting out a deafening roar!
The fire, fueled by the wind, and the wind, amplified the fire's power, and the raging flames spread in all directions at an astonishing speed!
Thick smoke billowed, obscuring the sky and the sun!
The trees crackled and groaned in the flames, as if the entire mountain was burning and howling!
The firelight illuminated half the sky, and also reddened Kurt's face, which was contorted with madness and anticipation.
What he wants is a path to heaven!
For this reason, he did not hesitate to burn the mountains and boil the forests, turning this green mountain that had given birth to the Moon White Fox into a scorched inferno!