Chapter 212 - 211: The Injury

When Ronin arrived in Black Earth Town, Ridder was lying in bed, unconscious.

The orange-red-haired Knight had always looked resolute and burly, but now his face was as pale as a sheet, devoid of his usual heroic air.

Although his left arm was bandaged, the bandage was stained red with blood. Ten days had passed, yet the wound was still bleeding.

No wonder Ridder had become so exhausted that he had to be carried.

Ronin gently lifted the other man’s arm and unwrapped the bandage.

Tom had been right; the wound on his arm was indeed showing signs of festering.

’With an injury like this, it should have already started healing under normal circumstances.’

The puncture wound hadn’t damaged the bone. With a Silver Knight’s powerful regenerative ability, it normally wouldn’t have been a problem at all.

Although Ronin’s movements were gentle, they still startled Ridder awake.

"My lord, you’re here."

He tried to prop himself up, but his right arm was too weak.

"Just lie still."

Ronin patted the man’s hand and, at the same time, took out a Healing Spell Scroll and activated it.

A gentle light shone upon the wound, but there was no sign of any change.

’What in the world did they use to cause an injury like this?’

Ronin leaned in for a closer look and noticed the wound was faintly blackening. ’Could their sword have been coated in poison?’

"I don’t think it’s poison."

Ridder disagreed. "I feel it’s a special kind of Fighting Qi that’s corroding my flesh and preventing my own Fighting Qi from stimulating it to heal."

As the one injured, Ridder was intimately aware of his own condition.

Hearing this, Ronin was reminded of Lurans’s injury. He, too, had his entire body corroded by a special kind of Energy, and his wound had refused to heal for a long time.

"When you use your Fighting Qi to stimulate the wound, does that special Fighting Qi devour yours and grow stronger?" he couldn’t help but ask.

’If Ridder has also been afflicted by the Soul-Devouring Surge, this is going to be trouble.’

"No, it doesn’t do that."

Ridder denied it again. "It doesn’t devour my Fighting Qi. To be precise, it’s like it has sealed the flesh around my wound, turning it into a special kind of stone that my Fighting Qi can’t penetrate."

In simple terms, it was like it had been insulated.

Ronin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t the Soul-Devouring Surge, it was a blessing in disguise.

"What about the wound on your chest?" Ronin lifted the blanket to check.

"The wound on my chest was similar to the one on my arm at first, but it started to get better on the third day. Once my Fighting Qi was able to get through, it healed."

Ronin saw that near his abdomen, the twenty-centimeter-long wound had already scabbed over.

It was strange that one wound could heal while the other couldn’t.

’Why are there so many strange things about that valley?’

"My lord, I suspect the difference between the two injuries is due to our opponents’ differing strength."

Ridder had analyzed it carefully during the first few days of his return journey.

"The wound on my chest was from that Bronze Knight, while the puncture wound on my left arm was from the Silver Knight. Their power levels are different."

"Also, the depth of the wound is likely a key factor."

Ronin nodded. The man’s words made a lot of sense.

Greater strength meant the special Fighting Qi was more potent.

And a deeper wound allowed more of the enemy’s Fighting Qi to invade the body, making the injury that much more severe.

That was why, even now, there was no sign of improvement in the wound on Ridder’s arm.

"My lord, I suspect... that besides the Silver Level opponent in that cave, there are others of the same level, or perhaps even higher."

"Because, during the fight..."

As he spoke, Ridder’s breathing suddenly grew heavier, and the exhaustion on his face deepened.

"We can talk about the analysis after you’ve recovered. For now, get some rest!"

As Ronin stopped him from speaking further, he had Tom bring a new bandage and re-dressed the wound.

"George has already gone to Swamp Town to notify Elron. He should be able to get here tonight."

As the only Great Physician in the Wubei Territory and a Mage with the Light Attribute, such a thorny problem could only be left for Elron to handle and study.

Fortunately, although Ridder was weak, his injury hadn’t worsened to an irreversible point.

Given that the abdominal wound had suddenly improved, perhaps the arm injury would also get better if he could just hold on long enough.

The only question was how long that would take.

Ronin finished bandaging the wound, then led his men out of the room.

"Wodun, Dandy, the two of you stand guard here. Inform me immediately if anything happens."

"Yes, my lord!"

"Tom, go have the cooks in Black Earth Village prepare some barley porridge for tonight, and also some meat broth and other food that’s easy to eat and drink."

"I’ll go right away!"

After arranging for Ridder’s care, Ronin mounted his Cloud Stepper and went to inspect the northern part of Black Earth Town.

It was almost unbelievable to him that such a bizarre place existed in the rear of his own territory.

From Tom’s and Ridder’s descriptions, this group was clearly different from the likes of Joffrey and Jenny.

Moreover, with Bronze, Silver, and even potentially Golden Level members, they couldn’t possibly be the forces of some runaway nobles.

The crucial point was, they were unkillable...

’Not exactly unkillable.’

Ronin’s brow furrowed. Ridder’s Blast Flame Slash had obliterated one of them, turning it to dust.

He keenly sensed that the power of Blast Flame Slash alone shouldn’t be enough to blast a person to smithereens. There was definitely something worth pondering here.

’A sword can’t kill them, but a Combat Skill blasts them to powder.’

’Could it be that their bodies are unique, and they self-destruct when a massive amount of external Fighting Qi invades them?’

The way they turned to powder seemed very much like an explosion from the inside out, which was why Ronin had come to this conclusion.

’This Mysterious Valley... should I go or not?’

Ronin returned to Black Earth Town and had Tom assemble a squad of infantry to reinforce the northern patrols, ordering them to keep watch at night as well.

All the while, he continued to ponder how to deal with the matter of the Mysterious Valley.

He definitely had to go; he couldn’t allow such a destabilizing factor to remain in his territory.

The threat from these things was far greater than that posed by Magical Beasts.

The only thing Ronin had to consider was when to go.

Currently, the Wubei Territory’s high-end combat power consisted of two Silver Knights, one Chief Mage, and Ronin himself—a Bronze Knight and a Great Mage.

In addition to that, he had a Sixth-level Fire Dragon Devouring Heaven Spell Scroll, which was powerful enough to repel a Golden Knight.

With such high-end combat power at his disposal, Ronin was confident he could go and investigate.

However, to be on the safe side, he decided to wait for a little over ten days.

On one hand, he was waiting for Ridder’s injury to heal. On the other, in a little over ten days, he would accumulate enough Attribute Points to become a Silver Knight and a Chief Mage in one fell swoop.

At that point, his chances of success in the exploration would be even greater.

Time passed slowly. Around midnight, the THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of horse hooves broke the silence of Black Earth Town.

It was Elron, holding a torch high as he galloped into town on his warhorse.

Following behind him were George, Jenny, and Krami.

Commander Ridder’s injury was a major event. They had come both to visit him and to see if Ronin had any new tasks to assign.