"Ugh..." Merlin covered his face with both arms, peeking through a small gap between them.

Unfortunately, thick dust and smoke blocked his view, making it impossible to see anything in front of him.

A few moments later, the dust began to settle, and Merlin could finally see the scene before him—chaos.

The forest within a radius of hundreds of meters had been reduced to ashes, leaving behind a horrific sight.

The black-cloaked man had also vanished from view, most likely killed by Lyserra's devastating attack.

Whoosh!

Lyserra's massive body emitted a bright blue light before slowly shrinking.

Merlin quickly leaped from one side to the other and caught her falling body.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Lyserra looked extremely weak, as if all her strength had been drained away.

"I'm fine..." she replied softly.

Merlin frowned. "If you're fine, why do you look so exhausted? All right, don't lie. Return to my consciousness to recover your strength."

Lyserra didn't argue. Her body turned into a red light and shot toward Merlin's forehead before disappearing.

"Hah..." Merlin let out a small sigh as he lifted his head and looked at the destruction around him.

Although the man had been defeated, the impact was enormous.

The forest had served to prevent erosion and flooding, especially in areas close to fast-flowing rivers like the one before him.

If it was gone, it would only be a matter of time before a massive flood engulfed the villagers—or worse, the city of Droswen.

"Brother!"

Catrine's voice came from behind. Merlin turned and saw the girl running toward him, tears glistening in her eyes.

Quickly, he opened his arms, and the girl leaped toward him, hugging him tightly.

"Brother, I'm sorry I'm late. Are you okay?" She sobbed, burying her face in his neck.

Merlin smiled softly and patted her head. "I'm fine. Thank you for worrying about me."

"Young Master!" Another voice came, and it turned out to be Gover with several soldiers behind him.

Merlin gave a brief nod. "Uncle Gover, soldiers, welcome. And I'm sorry for making you worry."

Gover swallowed hard as he examined Merlin from head to toe.

"Are you all right, Young Master? How about I take you back to the post for a checkup? We brought a doctor from the city just in case any of us got injured."

Facing his offer, Merlin shook his head. "Thank you, but that's not necessary. I'm fine."

Seeing his confidence, Gover didn't press further. The most important thing was that Merlin stayed safe and alive. If not, James would have killed Gover himself.

"In that case..." He lifted his head, looking at the destruction around them. "Can you explain this to me? And that dragon... how could it appear in a forest like this?"

As the gray smoke cleared, he could finally see the dragon clearly.

Its form was undeniably terrifying—an enormous body, fangs so sharp they could easily destroy anything.

The most terrifying thing was the plasma ball it had thrown. If that attack had hit the city of Droswen, Gover was one hundred percent sure everyone in it would have been wiped out in the blink of an eye.

Merlin didn't panic at the question. He had already thought of several reasonable explanations.

"I don't know either, Uncle Gover," he said, shaking his head. "When I was fighting that man, the dragon suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I guess it's a native inhabitant of this forest and was furious with that man for poisoning the river."

"Native inhabitant?" Gover and the soldiers were surprised.

They were a little skeptical of his explanation, but judging from how serious he was, he didn't seem to be lying.

In the end, they only nodded without asking further questions.

However, there was one person who didn't believe him—Catrine.

The girl let go of her embrace and stared at him intently.

"Jezzz..."

Sensing her gaze, Merlin pretended not to notice.

"By the way, you said the river was poisonous, right?" Gover frowned. "Does that mean the river is the cause of the plague? As far as I remember, we already checked it and found nothing wrong."

With the help of the mages hired by the Clay family, they had searched the river, the forest, the land, and even the air but found no trace of poison.

But now, Merlin was saying that all of this was caused by poison in the river, which was clearly very different from the results of their previous investigation.

"I'm telling the truth," Merlin replied casually as he turned and gazed at the river in the distance. "The reason you couldn't find it is because the poison used is so powerful that it isn't listed in the catalog of mages."

"It's not listed in the catalog of mages, huh?" Gover narrowed his eyes. "If that's the reason, then it makes sense. All right, we must report this to Viscount Clay first. After all, this problem can only be solved if he hires mages from the capital, who are more powerful and knowledgeable."

However, Merlin refused. "There's no need to wait for Father. I already have a cure to remove it."

After saying that, he took a potion out of his pocket and showed it to them.

"This is a potion to neutralize the poison. Many of you may be confused about how I got it. But I'm sorry, it's a bit of a secret because it has to do with Linda."

Upon hearing Linda's name, everyone gasped. They knew very well who Linda was and also the fact that Merlin had been trained by her.

Since he had already said that, Gover and the soldiers didn't dare to argue. They simply nodded slightly.

After a brief conversation, they finally walked toward the river to cleanse the poison from the water.

"Brother, how about we start from the headwaters? That way, all parts of the river will return to normal," Catrine suggested.

Merlin was a little surprised, then smiled. "You're really smart. I didn't even think of that."

He gently patted her head, and Catrine couldn't help but smile.

Accompanied by Gover and the soldiers, Merlin and Catrine then walked toward the river's headwaters.

Due to the destruction of most of the forest, the beautiful trees on the right side of the river had vanished from view.

Fortunately, the forest on the opposite side remained, so the ecosystem wasn't completely destroyed.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the headwaters. Merlin opened the bottle and poured its contents into the water.

Whoosh!

The river emitted a dazzling golden light that quickly spread throughout its entire flow.

A few moments later, the light dimmed and disappeared. Merlin washed his hands and drank the river water.

Gover wanted to stop him, but he was one step too late and could only hope that his young master was okay.

Seconds passed, but Merlin felt no strange changes in his body.

With a wide smile, he turned to Catrine, Gover, and the soldiers, raising his right thumb.

"The river is safe now."

"[Ding! Congratulations, Master, for completing the mission 'Saving the People of Droswen City from the Plague Outbreak!' A reward of 30,000 system points has been transferred to your account!]"

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