"Not now. If you have anything to do, wait until I get back..." After Lin Li finished speaking, he was already in the corridor. He hurried to the guild reception room along the way. As soon as he walked into the door, he saw Kevin there.

Walking around restlessly.

The person responsible for receiving Kevin was a big magician, his name seemed to be Steen or Steen. Before going to Shadow Valley to try out his face, Lin Li had met him twice and knew that this was also an important role of the Oranna Magic Guild.

One of the characters, his status should be similar to Dallion.

It seems that although Medellin didn't say anything, it took this matter quite seriously.

"Mr. Stern, can you tell me when Ferre will be back?"

"This..." the great magician hesitated for a moment: "To be honest, I don't know either. Feyre's trial instructor is Mr. Medellin. Apart from Mr. Medellin, we have no right to question him.

whereabouts……"

"But..." Kevin opened his mouth, looking extremely anxious.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stern." After Lin Li entered the door, he greeted the great wizard first, and then turned around and said, "Long time no see, Kevin."

"Well... long time no see." Kevin looked surprised: "Feire, when did you come back?"

"Feire, you are finally back. Your friend has been waiting here for two days and comes to see me every day. If you don't come back, I will really go to Mr. Medellin to ask for someone." Steen is a man.

The good-natured gentleman made a few jokes with a smile, then opened the door and walked out of the living room: "Okay, you guys can chat slowly. I have something else to do, so I won't accompany you."

"Goodbye, Mr. Stern."

After sending Gryffindor away, Lin Li turned around and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Kevin, what happened?"

"Something serious happened..." After not seeing each other for more than a month, Kevin seemed much more haggard than before, his hair looked messy, and his eyes were bloodshot: "The Demon Slaughter Valley is lost..."

Lin Li frowned. Faced with the sudden bad news, he did not appear to be panicked. In fact, he had already been mentally prepared on the way here. Since Kevin appeared in Olanna

, something must have happened over there in Garros, and it's definitely not a trivial matter. Otherwise, with Greg's strong character, he would never allow Kevin to come to Olanna to look for him.

At first, he even thought something had happened to Greg.

But okay, okay...

Although Demon Slayer Valley is important, it is nothing if lost. We can just get it back when we have time.

So he just asked in a deep voice: "Did the Nest of Shadows do it?"

"Yes..." Kevin nodded and leaned on the chair feebly: "Less than a month after you left, the people from the Nest of Shadows attacked the Demon-Slaying Valley."

"They have often attacked before, why didn't they defend this time?" Lin Li was a little confused. The Nest of Shadows coveted the Demon Slayer Valley. This was a well-known fact in Garros, and they would be ready to make a move almost every month. In Grean's words,

To put it bluntly, this is simply more punctual than old Merlin's aunt.

Whether Old Merlin has an aunt or not, we don’t care about this for the moment. Anyway, the Nest of Shadows has never succeeded once in the past ten years. How could it be such a coincidence this time that they had taken over the Demon-Slaying Valley just after he left Garros?

went?

"This time... this time..." Kevin hesitated for a moment, as if he didn't know where to start. After about a minute, Lin Li heard his voice again: "This time is different. , their fighting power is much stronger than before, if it weren’t for recognizing a few old acquaintances during the battle, I would have even thought that it was another force that attacked the Demon Slaughter Valley.”

"The combat effectiveness is much stronger?" Lin Li was stunned for a moment, but then he reacted: "You mean, they got better equipment?"

The improvement of combat effectiveness is nothing more than two aspects, stronger personal strength and more sophisticated equipment. In such battles involving hundreds or thousands of people, unless there is complete level suppression, personal strength can be said to be insignificant, and even more so. What's more, breakthroughs in personal strength don't happen overnight. What's the reason for hundreds or even thousands of people to achieve breakthroughs at the same time?

The most direct and effective thing is actually the equipment.

Especially when the level is low, a set of junk equipment and a set of excellent equipment are two completely different concepts. For example, if a magician has just broken through level five, if you give him dozens of scrolls and dozens of bottles of potions, what will happen if you give him dozens of scrolls and dozens of potions? Wearing a void robe, he could casually kill a dozen magicians of equal strength.

So when he heard that the Nest of Shadows' combat power had exploded, Lin Li's first reaction was that there was something wrong with their equipment!

"Yes..." Kevin nodded, with a somewhat painful expression on his face: "I can't believe that they have so many magical equipment in their hands. It can almost be said that they have one piece for each person. They are all Frost Demon Swords, Fire Demon Swords, yes! And the Blade of Annihilation... I have never seen so many magic equipment in my life, and even... they even equipped a team of heavily armored warriors. , I have no idea what kind of metal the armor they are wearing is made of. They are like monsters. Magic below level five hits them, but it does no harm to them at all..."

"Chongkai Warrior?" When Lin Li heard this, he was stunned for a moment. For him who is proficient in blacksmithing, magic equipment is nothing special, such as the Frost Demon Sword, the Fire Demon Sword, and the Blade of Annihilation. The names are just scary, so Lin Li With the current level of forging, if you just give him a few pieces of scrap metal, he can forge magic equipment of this level.

The only ones that really caught his attention were the heavily armored warriors.

Heavy armor warriors are notoriously expensive. Just a set of heavy armor forged from fine iron requires at least tens of thousands of gold coins, not to mention giving this set of heavy armor magical properties and expensive maintenance in the future. The cost, it is no exaggeration to say, the money consumed by a heavily armored warrior is not much worse than that of a magician.

There are countless mercenary groups in the Kingdom of France, and many of them are extremely rich. However, the only ones who can really afford to raise heavy-armored warriors are the Silver Hand family, and the Silver Hand also relied on this combat power to successfully occupy the territory. He took the position of one of the three major mercenary groups in Oranna.

The Nest of Shadows is only a third-rate force in the Kingdom of France. Why do they do this?

Moreover, this seems to be no ordinary heavy-armored warrior...

"Kevin, are the heavily armored warriors you mentioned completely immune to magic below level five, or are they occasionally resistant? Think about it carefully, this is very important."

"Complete resistance." Kevin's tone was very sure.

"Sure enough..." Lin Li nodded and didn't say anything more, but he was already a little confused. Armor that was completely resistant to magic below level five was not something extraordinary. From the design drawings that Lin Li knew,

There are at least several methods that can achieve this effect.

But precisely because of this, he became more and more confused.

The few blueprints in my memory require at least high-level blacksmiths. The Nest of Shadows is only a third-rate force, so how can they recruit high-level blacksmiths? What’s more, these blueprints are all expensive to make, and they can be used at every turn.

Tens of thousands of gold coins each. If the group of desperadoes from the Nest of Shadows really have so much money, do they still need to covet the Demon Slaughter Valley all day long? They have already rushed to the city of Garros in groups to rescue the young woman who has lost her footing.

Already...

"Is Ysera okay?" Lin Li thought for a long time and suddenly asked inexplicably.

"Ah?" Kevin looked blank. He couldn't figure it out at all. How could Feyre suddenly ask such a question? The Nest of Shadows has captured the Demon Slayer Valley. Does it have anything to do with Ysera?

But after being stunned for a moment, Kevin answered honestly: "He didn't suffer much loss. He was just robbed of a caravan. But to be honest, he really helped a lot this time. He was very busy.

Not to mention all kinds of supplies, we even had twenty magicians from the Mannes family sent to us. If we hadn't relied on their help, we probably wouldn't have been able to survive even a week."

"Twenty magicians?" Lin Li nodded, eliminating Ysera's suspicion.

At first, he really thought that the Mannes family was behind this.

Although when he left Garros, the Mannis family and the Magic Guild were as good as one family. Lin Li knew very well that this was just because he had no chance. If he really had the opportunity to dominate Garros, Mannis would

The family will not let it go, and Ysera will not be polite.

The thing is obvious. With the current strength of the Magic Guild and the various potions he left behind before leaving, the Nest of Shadows has no chance at all. If this were not the case, Lin Li would not leave so confidently.

But after just over a month of walking, Kevin came to tell him that the Demon-Slaying Valley was lost. If no one supported the Nest of Shadows, who would believe it?

This attack by the Nest of Shadows smells of money from beginning to end. Whether it is a magic weapon or magic armor, it can be said that it is something burned with money.

And who in the entire Garros City is so rich? There is no doubt... the Mannis family, and the pretty boy Ysera.

So after Lin Li heard this, he was the first to suspect Ysera.

But listening to Kevin's words, it seems that's not the case...

After all, Ysera is also a young talent. He supports the Nest of Shadows and the Magic Guild at the same time. This kind of left-handed fight against the right hand is similar to the legendary stupid thing of fighting each other. Lin Li believes that he can't do it yet.

Even if you want to dispel the wariness of the Magic Guild and reserve a way out for yourself, there is no need to work so hard. Twenty magicians are no joke. Garros is not Oranna. The great magician is doing it every day.

It can be seen that since the disappearance of old Merlin, Garros has only had one great mage, and that is President Grean. With the strength of a mage, he can already be regarded as a top powerhouse. Ysera did this.

, it can be said that he really spent a lot of money, it seems that he is still determined to stand on the side of the Magic Guild...

But besides the Mannis family, who else could afford so much money? Lin Li thought about it and filtered the seventeen forces in Garros one by one. After much deliberation, he couldn't think of one with such a large amount of money.

Of strength.

"Is it an external force?" When this idea suddenly appeared, even Lin Li himself was shocked.

If this were really an external force coveting the Demon Slaughter Valley, things would be much more complicated.

It's barely reasonable that one of the seventeen forces in Garros supports the Nest of Shadows. Maybe it's to attack the Magic Guild, maybe it's to compete for the dominance of Garros. In short, no matter what the reason is, it's barely worth them spending a lot of money on.

In exchange, what do the external forces want?

Even if they attack the Magic Guild, they will not get any benefits. Garros City has maintained eighteen forces for thousands of years, and the number one position is also held by these eighteen forces in turn.

This is just like the replacement of the royal family of the high elves in the dark ages. During the long thousands of years, the six royal families with the blood of the Sun King have always controlled the royal power. No matter how they fought among themselves, they finally won

Anyone who takes the throne must be a descendant of the Sun King. As long as the power of the final winner is enough to frighten other royal families, the other royal families will be convinced and wait for the next opportunity.

But if the person who wins the throne is not a descendant of the Sun King, or even a high elf, then the result can be imagined...

No high elf can allow himself to be ruled by someone other than a descendant of the Sun King. If this happens, the entire high elf dynasty will completely riot, and all the high elf will use all their strength to destroy this usurper.

Pulled off the throne.

The situation in Garros is similar to this...

There are eighteen forces crowded into a remote town, which is really too much. No matter whether it is the six underground forces or the eleven magic families, other external forces will never be allowed to intervene.

At this time, if there is an external force attacking the Magic Guild, they will be happy to watch the excitement. When the Magic Guild is completely crippled, they will express their sadness while secretly thinking about how to take advantage of this opportunity.

Get benefits.

But if this foreign force wants to extend its hand into Garros City after attacking the Magic Guild, then the leaders of the other seventeen forces will not be so easy to negotiate.

Put your hand into Garros, but it will bleed.

As for those truly powerful forces, those powerful enough to wipe out the eighteen forces of Garros with a wave of a hand, I am afraid they don’t look down on Garros.

No matter which way you look at it, there should be no external forces supporting the Nest of Shadows.

But Lin Li thought about it, but couldn't think of any other possibility. He had already eliminated the seventeen forces of Garros, and the Nest of Shadows did not have this ability. Could it be that the foreign force was interested in something other than Garros?

, but the place in the Demon-Slaying Valley?
To be continued...