"It sounds impressive, but when you think about it, it doesn't seem to help us in our current situation." Kate reminded.

Duran scratched his head and smiled wryly. The allusion to the mysterious hand was also purely curious, and he looked at it twice, plus it had a common cultural connotation with some ancient organizations on the earth, so he paid extra attention. The meaning of the mystical hand may not be difficult to understand, but it exists in a variety of forms - it can be a real hand, a picture, or a set of symbols. In short, it does not have a fixed form of existence, which causes Duran a lot of trouble.

Lake Sola is actually not very big, and it only took about an hour for a group to walk around the lake. They did not dare to wade into the water easily, because Duran and the others had witnessed a waterfowl that did not know whether to live or die trying to fly into the lake to catch fish, only to be caught right by the dryad on the island - the long branches seemed to have no end, and they suddenly pulled up from the bottom of the lake, and smashed the little bird into pulp in the blink of an eye!

Such a scene is undoubtedly terrifying, and it also confirms that the two goblins are not lying, this guy is indeed hot-tempered, and it is difficult to deal with.

Finding nothing, Duran helplessly fixed his gaze on the island in the middle of Lake Sora. Since there is no trace of the mysterious hand on the lake's edge, it is quite possible that this symbol, which symbolizes the meaning of invitation, would be hidden in the lake or even on an island.

"Looks like we're going to have to find a way to get on that island." Duran looked at Lulu and Nana with consulting eyes, hoping that the two goblins could make a little suggestion to take refuge from being attacked by the dryad, who knew that at this time, Kate suddenly reminded him: "Hey, Duran, look!" ”

Duran was stunned for a moment, and looked in the direction of her finger - only to see several very tall figures suddenly emerge from the forest on the other side of the lake. The creatures were only a little shorter than Ironhide, and they were heavily armed to protect a diminutive figure.

"Who are they?" Kate asked uncertainly.

Duran shook his head, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, the distance between the two sides was too far, he could only see that there were five people on the other side, four tall guys surrounded a petite woman - it should be a woman, Duran's eyesight was still very good, of course, he could make such an accurate judgment thanks to the other party's bumpy figure and close-fitting and compact robes.

"It's a wizard, or a warlock, and the people next to her should be her followers. It's really rare, it's impossible for a wild wizard to be able to afford such a powerful following, and although these guys are of unknown strength, they are big enough. Duran spoke slowly, and while a lot of the time, size doesn't equal strength, but in low-tier battles, the side with the advantage of weight and strength tends to win.

In wizard combat, the first thing they have to do is protect themselves - this is the same as all other classes, but the difference is limited to the characteristics of the class, wizards tend to be more vulnerable, they don't have the stealth and strong stealth skills of assassins, and they don't have the strong vitality of warriors, so in many cases, extra protection is necessary. A few qualified meat shields act as followers, allowing wizards to cast their powerful spells in spite of enemy attacks, and in many cases, a good follower can even change the outcome of a battle.

Although far away, Duran still saw that these followers were extraordinary, and they moved with great professionalism, protecting the wizard in the airtight. These men must have been professionally trained and worked well with each other, and if a battle broke out at this time, the wizards under their protection could cast spells with ease—something the caster could only dream of.

Obviously, the wizard on the opposite side also saw Duran and his party, but she didn't seem to have any intention of communicating with Duran, so she just stayed by the lake for a while, and then resolutely chose to step into the lake.

"Their purpose is also the island in the middle of the lake?" Duran was taken aback, the mushroom forest is such a deserted place, ordinary people must have come here for a special purpose. Could it be that this wizard also knows the secrets of the Valley of Shadows?

This is not good news, and with the addition of a wizard with four powerful followers as a competitor, the already tricky situation will suddenly make Duran feel anxious.

"Duran, what are we going to do?" Kate asked with a frown.

"Rush up and beat them!" The two goblins coaxed.

Duran waved his hand and said calmly: "Don't worry, wait and see what happens." ”

……

On the other hand, the wizard with four powerful subordinates was obviously much more decisive than Duran, and it seemed that she did not know about the existence of the dryad, and several tall guys cut down a few large trees on the spot, and in the blink of an eye, they formed a row of rafts and threw them into the lake. Soon, the wizard stepped onto the raft, and four followers stood guard around her. Instead of standing on the raft, they pushed it towards the center of the lake.

"The lake is not deep, and with the size of these people, it doesn't hurt to walk over directly." Duran secretly wondered if he should shout and remind him of the existence of this wizard dryad of unknown origin?

It's just that as soon as this idea came to him, the great changes that took place in the lake completely dispelled this thought, because there was no need to open his mouth.

Countless thick branches flew up from the bottom of the lake, and the dryad, as if enraged tyrants, waved the branches all over the sky, and whipped at the wizard and his party fiercely. The sudden attack did not panic the wizard's group, and the followers reacted very quickly, and instead of choosing to defend passively, these people took the initiative to pounce.

The big man at the front reached out and grabbed a few thick branches, more of which struck his armor with a clanging sound. The rest of the people were in a similar situation, but with the cooperation of several people, the wizard was completely unaffected and began to chant spells.

As if it had never encountered such resistance, the dryad became angry, and the lake rippled rapidly, and more branches twitched and went around the group.

The four followers were unmoved, they moved in unison, and their strength was strong, especially the big man who was the leader, who actually grabbed a bundle of branches with one hand and tore half of the dryad's minions alive!

At this moment, a shining silver light flashed on the surface of the lake, and the wizard placed his hands on his chest, and Duran could only vaguely see her holding a crystal ball in her hand. In an instant, the crystal ball shone brightly, and a faint purple color emanated from it.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen straight lines suddenly appeared in the place where the silver light had flashed, and these lines were like the sharpest scalpels, and the thick branches would be cut in two as long as they touched it slightly!

"[Cutting Ray]! The second ring spell, to say the least, is also a silver wizard. Duran shook his head and looked at Kate as he pondered the wizard's strength.

The spells of wizards are divided into nine rings from low to high, wizard apprentices can cast zero ring spells, gray iron wizards can master one ring spells, and those who can use second ring spells must be wizards above the silver rank.

Kate bit her lip, and though she was a little reluctant, she honestly said, "She's a little better than I am - maybe even more." To be honest, this cutting ray is more than twice as powerful as the standard one. The crystal ball in her hand wasn't ordinary, and it was sure to be an amplification, but the key was herself—if I'm not mistaken, it took her only four and a half seconds to chant this spell, almost close to the limit of the spell. ”

Duran nodded, agreeing with her. This is definitely not a wild wizard, since it is impossible for a wild wizard to be able to afford such a well-trained follower, and secondly, it is unlikely that these poor people will have such a powerful weapon.

Such a sorcerer is undoubtedly terrifying, and even a dryad with golden power is not necessarily her opponent.

In fact, it was true, even though the dryad continued to try to attack the intruder with its branches, the wizard's cutting ray was unambiguous - even though she had only used this spell the whole time, the scales of battle were still tilting in her favor little by little. Her followers kept her airtight and the battle lasted for more than a minute, and instead of driving the raft out of Lake Sora, the Dryad brought the wizard and her men closer than half the way to the island in the middle of the lake.

Watching the fierce battle between the two sides, their attention focused on each other, Duran couldn't help but feel a move in his heart: Why don't you take this opportunity and sneak around the island? See if the so-called mysterious hand is on the island in the middle of the lake?

Just thinking about it or not is obviously not Duran's style, and he said his thoughts, which was immediately opposed by everyone except the fairy sisters.

"It's too dangerous." This is Kate's opinion: "Even if you want to go to the island, we can cooperate with you." ”

"I agree with Miss Kate." Iron Sheet plucked up the courage to speak.

Lulu and Nana, a pair of ice goblins who feared that the world would not be chaotic, naturally did not object, and they raised their hands in favor, and the latter also asked Duran to set a fire on Stuka's roots after he went to the island, and burned the hateful old dryad.

Ignoring the goblin sisters' nonsense, Duran said confidently, "Now that the dryad's attention is on the wizard and her followers, I sneak over to take a look, and I don't think he has time to care about me." ”

After saying that, he quietly walked to the lake and tentatively walked into the lake.

Sure enough, the dryad, who would attack frantically whenever someone approached the lake, seemed to be exhausted by the wizard's cutting ray, and he couldn't spare his hands to deal with Duran. Duran was overjoyed and made a reassuring gesture to Kate and the others. Of course, he had his own intentions for doing so, and the existence of the flickering skill made Duran different from ordinary people. Three flashes in a row allowed Duran to escape from the dryad's attack, so he had nothing to fear.

The wizard's raft was halfway through, but the dryad's attack had become a little sparse and weak from the initial insanely dense and dense. Floating on the crystal clear surface of Lake Sola are a large number of ruined branches, most of which are contaminated by the magic of chaos and are very misshapen—some even look like the faces of babies, but with a hideous and terrifying smile.

Duran wandered back and forth between a pile of branches, safe and unattacked along the way. Thanks to the swimming coach in his previous life, Duran's swimming skills were quite good, and he soon approached the island in the middle of the lake.

At this time, the wizard's small raft also rushed to the island strongly.

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