Chapter 796: Chapter 496 Trap!

Acot City,

“Where should we head first?”

Xia Zuo, with a hint of curiosity in his eyes, surveyed the human city while addressing Erik by his side.

“You’re the captain, shouldn’t you be the one to decide?”

Erik, too, was visiting Acot City for the first time, but he was much more composed than Xia Zuo.

Their Elf Team, part of Nature’s Wrath, had come to Acot City on a mission, with Xia Zuo as its leader.

Xia Zuo had become the captain of the Nature’s Wrath team, not because of his elder who was a council member of Jade City, but due to his own strength.

Having trained and improved in Nature’s Wrath for a period, Xia Zuo succeeded in passing the trials prepared by Lis and formally became a member of Nature’s Wrath.

Additionally, after being granted the World Tree Mark by Lis, his strength had seen a noticeable increase.

In fact, the World Tree Mark and the elves had exceptionally good compatibility; basically, all elves who were granted the World Tree Mark by Lis not only experienced significant enhancement in strength but also saw a considerably faster rate of progress.

After gaining the World Tree Mark, Xia Zuo quickly advanced from the Silver Level to the Gold Level, reaching the same realm as Cendelle.

Furthermore, Xia Zuo quickly mastered various knowledge and skills imparted by Lis, so he became the leader of the second batch of Nature’s Wrath Elf Teams.

His close friend Erik wasn’t far behind, and after some time, he also successfully advanced to the Golden Rank.

Due to their relationship, Erik chose to become the deputy leader of Xia Zuo’s Elf Team.

The duo, along with other team members, arrived in Acot City to complete the task assigned to them.

“Hehe, you’re not unaware of how I am; this has always been the area I’m not good at!” Xia Zuo declared unabashedly, oblivious to the odd looks from his teammates.

“This is a mission given to us by Lord Agli, and besides us, there are two other teams waiting outside the city for our news.”

“We should be more cautious regardless; don’t think that reaching the Gold Level means you can be reckless.”

“If it wasn’t for Lord Lis, who knows when we would have broken through to the Gold Level?”

Erik shook his head; as a close friend, he knew Xia Zuo’s character very well.

Though Xia Zuo was exceptional in both talent and ability, sometimes his somewhat frivolous attitude was worrisome.

“Right, I understand.”

Xia Zuo nodded solemnly.

“Ever since we entered the city, I have been observing and it seems that the people here are aware of our identities…”

“Yet, it appears they are quite scared of us; we’ve never laid hands on anyone beyond the Elf Slave Catching Teams, have we?”

Erik felt assured in his heart; it seemed Xia Zuo’s frivolousness was just a facade.

After all, such an important matter would naturally make one apprehensive.

“It’s probably from the arrangements made by Lord Lis.”

Erik lowered his voice, speaking in a volume only they could hear:

“Do you remember when we were chasing those Slave Catching Teams in Elf Forest, Lord Lis specifically asked us not to kill them all.”

“To let one or two return, to make known the stance of Nature’s Wrath.”

“Looking at it now, Lord Lis’s arrangement worked very well. Once the word spread, at least the people near the Human Kingdom have an understanding of Nature’s Wrath.”

“Respect and fear are the best means to keep those with ill-intentions away from the forest.”

“This is what Lord Agli said, and only now do I realize what he truly meant.”

“Indeed, this has spared us a lot of trouble.”

Xia Zuo nodded and, changing his tone, said:

“But… given the situation, where do we go to gather information about the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group?”

“It seems these people don’t dare to come close to us…”

Xia Zuo scratched his head and took a look around.

“The Mercenary Tavern, the information dealers there should have something. If all else fails, we could ask for help from the Church of the Gods.”

“However, it’s best if we don’t approach the Church, as our relationship with them is merely cooperative…”

“Right.”

Xia Zuo nodded slightly, sharing the same thoughts.

The Starving Wolf Mercenary Group was quite special and low-key, comprising entirely of human members and active around the vicinity of Elf Forest, completing assigned tasks.

Despite their clandestine and mysterious dealings, the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group was still considered a large mercenary group.

Nature’s Wrath hadn’t paid much attention to this mercenary group before, but while pursuing a captain of an Elf Slave Catching Team, they obtained a crucial piece of intelligence from him.

Previously, many Elf Slave Catching Teams, after capturing Jingjing, didn’t directly take the elves out of the forest but conducted transactions with the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group.

Effectively, they sold the elves directly to individuals from the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group.

After an undercover investigation by Nature’s Wrath during this period, they discovered most members of the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group were unaware of this.

Concerning the elf trading, many mercenaries from the Starving Wolf Mercenary Group were in the dark, with all clues eventually pointing to a subdivision led by someone named Mosa.

This team was said to report directly to the group leader, Joxer, and was quite secretive; very few people knew what they were up to.

Finally, the trail on this Mosa subdivision team led to Acot City, and Agli sent Xia Zuo’s team ahead to gather intelligence.