Chapter 376 Alien Battlefield (5) The Mage Who Was Silenced
The gathering place of mages.
The priest, the city lord, some of the city lord's confidants, and the guards gathered in a lounge of the Mage Assembly Hall, observing the bodies of the mages.
"These people are all good mages. If you want to kill them at close range, it will definitely cause a lot of noise. But according to the chief mage of the assembly hall and several other mages who were near the room at the time, they didn't hear any strange noises. They just said that these dead mages were talking about something, and then suddenly there was no sound."
"We also found several small holes on the walls of the meeting hall. The first one was on the west outer wall of the meeting hall. Then, we found holes of similar sizes on all the walls between this room and the west outer wall. Based on the positions where these mages fell, we can infer that these things that penetrated several walls finally penetrated their skulls."
"Can you find those things?"
"Yes, Lord City Lord, these things are embedded in the corridor floor on the east side, one wall away from this room. One or two are broken, but the others are intact."
"These look like some metal balls the size of a fingernail, some like the iron beads on a hunting crossbow, but they are very hard and difficult to break. I have never seen similar materials before. Father, you have traveled around and seen a lot of things. Do you have any impression of this kind of thing?"
"I haven't seen anything like this either, but I may have some friends who have experience in this area. Lord Mayor, can you give me one of these metal balls? I can ask my friends to investigate."
"Of course, we all believe you. Stephanie."
Stephanie, the captain of the city lord's guard, took the metal balls from the surrounding investigators and handed a relatively complete one to the priest. The priest took it in his hand, observed it, frowned, and seemed not to recognize it.
"This kind of weapon can penetrate multiple walls without making any sound. After killing these mages, it can still penetrate another wall. No one in the entire coalition can make it."
"Moreover, these dead mages were well-known good guys who had good relationships with everyone, so we should be able to preliminarily rule out the possibility that it was done by one of our own people."
"And the common point between them is that they all saw something flying in the sky during the previous battle. Based on the current information, it is speculated that the cause of their death is most likely this."
"You mean, someone wants to silence me?"
"Yes, Lord Mayor. But there is one thing I don't understand. That is, now we have found the metal, or the flying thing. Although it was completely damaged by the giant's attack, its wreckage has fallen into our hands after all. And..."
"Based on the way these mages died, no matter who the murderer is, if they want to keep these secrets and continue assassinations or attacks on the city, it will be difficult for us to be prepared. But according to the information from the guards in the city, since the end of the war and the departure of the two giants, no one has died except these mages. There are no signs of troops gathering in all directions of the city to prepare for an attack. Stephanie, do you suspect that these mages may have seen something else, and that what they saw was the real reason why they were killed?"
"Yes, Father. I guess that the discovery of these metal artifacts is probably not important at all to the murderers who killed these mages. Two of our soldiers were counting the fragments of these metal artifacts at the time. I happened to be nearby at the time, and we didn't see anything unusual or strangers approaching there. If these metal artifacts were important and could not be discovered, someone would definitely come to secretly recover these things, or at least destroy them. However, compared to the relatively sparsely populated barracks storage room, these murderers attacked the crowded mage gathering place instead. I think this should be enough to prove that what these mages saw was much more important than these metal artifacts and their fragments."
"So important that they attacked these mages in public... Stephanie, was there anyone else in the room besides these dead mages?"
"Yes, Lord City Lord. There were also several servants and some friends of these mages in the gathering place. They were holding a small banquet, apparently to celebrate the victory in the previous battle and the birth of the second son of one of their friends."
"Have you asked them about their situation?"
"I asked. They were all drunk at the time and the scene was very chaotic. Some people saw these mages suddenly fall down, but they thought they were drunk and didn't pay much attention to it. And the strange thing is that these mages whose heads were pierced did not bleed at all. Not a drop of blood was found until not long ago when their wounds started bleeding and were discovered by several maids who came to clean up. The bloodstains we see now also appeared not long ago."
"Apart from this, is there anything else unusual? Did the maids notice anything unusual?"
"Yes, Father. According to the maids' memories, they smelled a scent similar to that of burning plants on the bodies of the wizards. However, according to their descriptions, we did not find any similar plants."
"Could it be those guys?"
"Lord City Lord, are you referring to our enemies?"
"Well, although they are not good people, they are excellent in war. They always develop some new tactics or weapons. This attack looks like it was caused by a magical crossbow. But none of them should be able to use magic. Is there something else going on?"
"Lord City Lord, in terms of the level of creation, which one is higher, the coalition forces or the enemy?"
"In general, it is us, Father."
"Then I think that this attack was not done by them."
"But if it wasn't them, who else would dare to assassinate the coalition forces? In addition to the two of us, there are indeed other races on this continent, but compared to humans, they are more like beasts gathered together. Being able to form a tribe is already their limit. I don't think it's possible..."
"My Lord City Lord, Mr. Priest, I have a guess."
"You say, Stephanie."
"I think that these metal creations and the people who assassinated those mages are not targeting us or the enemy, but someone else."
"Are you talking about the two giants who suddenly appeared? Could it be that they killed these wizards?"
"No, Mr. Priest. When the war was going on, the location where the two male giants were fighting was very close to the city wall. I was there at the time. If that giant really wanted to attack, we would have no chance of resisting. I witnessed with my own eyes the way that giant fought. It was very primitive, but also very efficient. This was all based on his powerful body that no attack could cause any damage to him."
"And they have been consciously helping us during the war. After the war, they took the initiative to help us repair the city wall."
"They can speak your language?"
"It seems like that, but the male giant never used our language. He only used another language that we couldn't understand to communicate with another female giant. The female giant was the one who communicated with us. She could perfectly understand our language and communicate with us in it, but her speaking speed was very slow. It seemed that she was not very proficient in speaking our language. However, judging from the male giant's reaction, he could understand our language."
"What do those two giants look like? How long have they been here?"
"The male giant is very tall, almost half the height of the city wall, very strong, with long hair that almost touches his shoulders, black pupils, but sometimes the color changes, and there is a strange pattern on his left arm, which may be some kind of tattoo. The female giant is not as tall as him, probably half an arm's height shorter than him. If she were reduced to a normal size, she would be about the same size as Captain Stephanie, with a muscular body that is often exercised, short hair, and blue pupils. She wears a style of armor that we have never seen before."
"The time they stayed here, from the time they showed up until the main work of repairing the city wall was completed, was about eight or nine hours. Then they left using their amazing jumping ability. The direction they left was to the south."
"In short, Lord City Lord, Mr. Priest, what I mean is that it is very likely that the target they are tracking is the two giants, and these mages may have discovered that someone is tracking the two giants. Because the two giants showed friendliness, it is very likely that those people mistakenly thought that we have a good relationship with the giants, and they may tell the two giants about this matter, so they took action to eliminate these mages who are likely witnesses."
After listening to Stephen's guess, the city lord fell into deep thought, and soon he spoke again.
"Stephanie, if the situation is really as you said, I think we should find a way to find those two giants and tell them about this. They helped us resist the enemy's raid and prevented casualties among our people. Although we cannot compare with them in terms of military strength, at least we can do this."
"You are right, Lord Mayor, but we don't have enough manpower right now, and the giants are very powerful. We may not be able to find them at all. And we have to be on guard against the enemy attacking again."
"Leave this to me. I'll be leaving soon."
"Father, why are you leaving now? Don't you plan to continue wearing it for two more days?"
"I have found the location of the herbs you asked me to find. I will go and confirm it myself soon."
"You really helped us a lot, Mr. Priest. I didn't know what to do..."
"You have helped me before, Lord City Lord. By the way, Stephanie, I want to know more about the two giants to avoid doing something impolite after I find them. After all, you know that I am not good at fighting."
"Yes, Father, two giants..."
The priest learned in detail about the fighting style of the two giants and the details of the situation at that time. After providing treatment assistance in the city for a day or two, he waited for his convoy transporting supplies. After handing the supplies to the city lord, he prepared to leave with the convoy.
"These supplies are a great help to us. Thank you for your help, Mr. Father."
"You are too polite, Lord City Lord. I will set off now. If I can find the two giants, I will definitely tell them the news, but I cannot make any guarantees. I hope you can understand this."
"I understand. Just go with the flow, Mr. Father. On behalf of everyone in this city, I look forward to your next visit."
"City Lord, Stephanie."
"Father."
After a brief farewell, the priest left the city with the returning convoy.
A few hours later.
The priest frowned, observing the metal ball in his hand and the fragments of the metal artifact he had asked for from the city lord. Unlike the natives of this planet, although he also didn't know who was behind it, he knew very well what these two things were.
This metal ball is a special type of ammunition fired by a prototype Gauss weapon. It is made of a special material, so it is extremely strong. The maid who found the body smelled a scent similar to burning plants. In fact, it was a special chemical agent filled in these ammunitions. These chemicals can embrittle most of the substances they come into contact with, which is why this type of ammunition has such strong penetration. However, when they hit a living creature, they will cause the blood to coagulate for a long time. Only when these chemicals lose their effect due to lower temperature will the blood flow again. This is why no blood flowed out of those mages when they died.
The fragments of the metal object actually belonged to a special type of drone. The main purpose of this type of drone was tracking and surveillance, because they were extremely quiet when flying and had stealth capabilities. In addition, their special material and shape made them difficult to be destroyed, so even if they were discovered by the target, they still had a certain ability to escape. Unfortunately, they ran into two giants.
As for the two giants, based on the witnesses and Stephanie's description, the priest could basically confirm that these two giants were the two targets with contractor equipment that the sentinels they controlled were chasing. The priest immediately passed the news back and prepared to let those who controlled the sentinels to deal with it carefully, but he learned the bad news that the sentinel team had been wiped out and the two targets disappeared.
"I understand. Continue to search for their whereabouts, but this time don't use the remaining sentinels. Use those special aircraft we have cracked."
But now, the priest still has a headache, that is, he doesn't know who this suddenly emerging force is. They seem to be tracking the two targets, and it is obvious that they have much more information than he does.