Richard watched the White Crow, and the White Crow watched him, both locking eyes.
His eyes narrowed slightly, feeling an uncomfortable sense of being watched that grew stronger and stronger.
Without courtesy, Richard lifted his hand, aimed at the White Crow, and the free Energy Elements inside him began to surge.
But just then, as if sensing danger, the White Crow swiftly took off from the bare branches, flew towards the distance, and soon vanished from sight.
After watching it leave, Richard, with squinted eyes, lowered his hand as the roving Energy Elements inside him gradually calmed and retracted back into his Magic Origin.
"Is this giving up on surveillance? Or perhaps, is it preparing to switch to a more secretive way of monitoring? Or maybe... everything is just my illusion?" Richard muttered to himself. The next moment, without saying anything more, he whipped the horse beneath him and moved on.
But... it wasn’t long before he pulled on the reins and stopped again.
He did so because he had come to a riverbank.
The river surface was not frozen, water was flowing with a splashing sound. A wooden bridge spanned the river, seemingly passable, but in the middle of it, there was a several-meter-wide break—empty, and surely would lead to a fall if one tried to ride across on horseback.
The river was rapid, and the depth unknown; crossing it directly was clearly not a good choice, while searching downstream for a second bridge would take an indeterminate amount of time.
Pondering all this, Richard’s eyebrows raised slightly, then he made a decision.
With a flip of his hand, Richard pulled out a black cloth from his Space Iron Ring and placed it over the horse’s eyes, adjusting the horse’s direction to step onto the bridge before lashing the whip down fiercely.
"Smack! Smack! Smack!"
The horse, hit by the whip on its rear, was in great pain. Under the stimulus, it began to Rush along the bridge, picking up speed rapidly, and reached the break in the bridge.
The horse’s hooves hit the bridge surface, its body leapt. Mounted on the horse, Richard quickly waved his hand, and a Spell was released. Air suddenly condensed together, filling in the broken part of the bridge.
The horse landed on its hooves, stepping on the solidified air, took a fierce leap, crossed over the break, and stepped onto the real bridge planks. In a moment, it arrived successfully on the opposite shore.
After crossing the bridge, Richard removed the black cloth from the horse’s eyes, looked back at the broken bridge thoughtfully, but without any delay, he continued on.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The sound of hoofbeats echoed, the river left behind, and a forest appeared with the road becoming rough.
A human’s cry of pain floated over, and Richard saw a woodcutter half-kneeling by the roadside, pouring water from a skin onto his other hand repeatedly while grimacing in pain—the hand being doused was covered with white blisters as if burned, very unnerving.
Seeing Richard appear, the other person looked up and kindly advised, "Kid, you’re on your way and planning to keep going forward, right? I suggest you take a detour, because ahead there suddenly appeared a large patch of Demon Trees. I accidentally touched their sap and ended up . If you try to ride through them on horseback, you’ll end up even worse off than me."
"Demon Trees?" Richard’s eyes flickered upon hearing the woodsman’s words, and he said aloud, "Well, I’d actually like to see that for myself."
Saying this, Richard rode forward, ignoring the woodcutter’s loud warnings at his back.
Soon, Richard saw the Demon Trees.
In his view, a large patch of slender, withered yellow plants appeared, their branches and leaves wilted, shriveled, clinging to the stems. They looked harmless, distinguished from the crops in the fields only by their height.
Richard took a look and said slowly, "So it’s Giant Hogweed, huh."
Hmm, Giant Hogweed, referred to by woodcutters as "Demon Tree," is indeed a plant from modern Earth—Giant Hogweed.
The name might sound rustic, yet it shouldn’t be underestimated.
Though called a weed, it’s more like a tree, able to grow up to six meters tall. The real danger lies in the milky-white sap that oozes from the broken branches and leaves. This sap is highly irritating; contact with human skin immediately causes severe burns, and getting it into the eyes could lead to blindness.
Facing a thick barrier of Giant Hogweed, Richard felt little fear. He urged his horse forward, casting spells to push the mass of plants apart and blocking splashes of the white sap, passing through with ease.
Afterwards, Richard continued through the forest and soon found a wooden placard nailed to a tree trunk. Written on it in red paint were wonky characters, as if to warn passersby, "Recently, there have been wolf packs in the forest ahead. It’s best for travelers to detour or proceed with a sufficient number of people. Ignore at your own risk."
"Wolf packs?" Richard voiced with a hint of amusement, not slowing down.
It might have been too much of a coincidence, but just a few miles onwards, a chorus of wolf howls echoed through the woods.
Shadows darted out from the woods, circling the horse and Richard on its back.
Richard squinted at the more than twenty Green Wolves encircling him and without any fuss, he waved a "Single Ring Explosion."
A mars-sized spark flew out, landing precisely in the mouth of a wolf, detonating swiftly.
With a booming "bang," the entire head of the unlucky Green Wolf shattered. It collapsed without even a chance to yelp.
Seeing their companion’s fate, the rest of the Green Wolves enraged and pounced together in unison.
Mounted on his horse, Richard unhesitatingly released a "Wind Strike," repelling all the attacking Green Wolves, then kept casting "Single Ring Explosions," targeting and killing them one by one.
Before long, many Green Wolves were reduced to charred corpses, while the rest fled in terror, tails between their legs.
The area returned to silence, only disturbed by the horse nervously pawing the ground. Richard atop his mount bore a somewhat grim expression.
For him, if it was suspicion before, now after a series of troubles, it was confirmed: there must be a Black Shadow at work behind the scenes, intentionally obstructing his journey, delaying his progress.
Broken bridges were one thing, Giant Hogweed and wolf packs even more so.
He didn’t know how the hidden antagonist managed all these incidents. What he was certain of was that proceeding forward would unquestionably lead to more trouble.
What exactly was the purpose of the antagonist acting from the shadows? And what was their identity?
Richard pondered but could not come up with a definitive answer. The image of the White Crow he had previously encountered flashed through his mind. He pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and moved onwards.
He was ready to see what the hidden antagonist was up to and how much more trouble they had prepared for him!
"Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop..."