Banner of the Evil God

In the following days, similar things happened in several different taverns, and these taverns were distributed in several different towns at the junction of the noble faction and the merchant faction.

As the adventurers spread the news by word of mouth, it quickly spread, and the wider it spread, the more bizarre it became.

Rumors are like this, starting from "Zhang San bought a painting of a tiger", it won't take long for it to become "Zhang San killed a tiger" or "Zhang San was eaten by a tiger" - ordinary things will most likely be spread as bizarre; peaceful things will most likely be spread as weird.

So, what if it is originally dangerous and terrifying?

In a few days, the atmosphere of panic permeated the long border, and a large number of cautious adventurers left one after another. Those who stayed or rushed were brave or reckless and ambitious adventurers. Civilians could not leave, so they could only be more cautious. Many families would lock their doors during the day. As for those villages, they simply organized militia patrols to patrol day and night, hoping to stop those crazy and dangerous cultists in this way and protect their own safety.

But these practices did not have much effect. About ten days later, another cult sacrifice occurred.

This time, the incident was more serious than the previous ones, because the cultists almost completed the entire sacrifice. If a ranger who believed in the God of Justice had not arrived quickly, the demon who received the sacrifice would have even stretched out half of his claws through the summoning gate.

Fortunately, the ranger was very skilled, and his arrows were as fast as lightning. He shot through the four nodes of the sacrifice array in one breath, so that the summoning gate could not be completed. Even if the demon roared, it could not really rush over. Instead, it lost a claw under the siege of the clergy of the Church of the God of Law who arrived later. I don’t know whether it is a gain or a loss for it.

This news should have been kept confidential, but somehow it spread quickly. Many adventurers rushed to the village and saw the traces of the demon summoning with their own eyes.

Although the clergy of the Church of the God of Law have completely expelled the breath of the abyss, the traces of sulfur left by the demon summons and the bloodstains left by the killings in the village all tell people how terrible things have happened here.

Especially in the small square in the center of the village, the large area of ​​ground covered with new soil still smells of blood, which is even more creepy.

Some adventurers who are not so daring quietly left. They found that they were not so brave and did not have enough confidence in themselves. Facing the terrorist cult organization that easily slaughtered an entire village, they thought it would be better not to confront such a guy.

If you want to make money, you can make money anywhere. There is no need to joke with your life.

Other people with different ideas gathered again. They thought that perhaps this was a good opportunity.

Although the demons are terrifying, offering sacrifices to the demons can actually bring benefits.

Unlike these adventurers, the lords, sheriffs and the Church of the Good Gods in various places felt a little overwhelmed. They had already put in 120% of their efforts to try to track down the whereabouts of the mysterious cult, but they couldn't even find any valuable clues.

The strange cult seemed to have wings, and it always disappeared without a trace. Even the most powerful rangers couldn't track them.

Every time they retreated, there were clear footprints, horse hoof prints and wheel tracks left. But all these traces would suddenly disappear about one or two miles away from the village, and even the smell disappeared. It was like - this group of people really flew away.

However, even if people can fly away, horses can't fly away. Even if horses can grow wings and fly away, it's impossible for the carriage to grow wings and fly away!

The bounty notice was soon posted in every town, and the amount of the bounty was constantly increasing. Correspondingly, the atmosphere became more and more tense. All the soldiers held their weapons tightly all day long, and the adventurers were also nervous and cautious, and they would draw their swords against each other if they disagreed.

Some lords and sheriffs with vision began to worry, and they knew that the situation would not be good if it continued like this. Over time, it is likely to cause large-scale panic or even a refugee crisis, and may also trigger fierce conflicts.

But... they can't catch the strange cultists, and they can't do anything.

The news gradually spread more and more, and finally even reached the ears of the exploration team who were sleeping in the wild mountains in the north of the Gold Coin Federation.

"Have you heard? Something big happened in the south!" During lunch, Fela said mysteriously to Hops, "It's terrible!"

Hops chewed a carrot, looked at him with some doubts, and asked vaguely: "Is there a war?"

"It's much more terrible than a war!"

"More terrible than a war? You are joking."

"How can I be joking!" Fela looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "On the border between the merchant faction and the noble faction, a cult organization is offering sacrifices, and it has been done several times!"

Hops was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly ate the carrot in three or two bites, and drank a big mouthful of vegetable soup to calm down, and then asked what happened.

In fact, Fela was not very clear about the specific situation. He only got the news while chatting with the team member who was delivering vegetables. But in front of friends, of course he would not say something like "Actually, I don't know either". Instead, he would use his imagination to try to figure things out and explain things clearly.

Although many of his statements are quite bizarre, if compared with the facts, they are actually not too far off. Because the teammate who told him this was very outrageous, Fela certainly couldn't accept that he "summoned a terrifying demon with a head as big as a mountain, poisonous smoke and flames coming out of its nose, and a mouth that was Countless poisonous insects flew out of it, and hundreds of knights and paladins joined forces to drive it back into the abyss." - Although he is not strong, he is not an ignorant countryman after all. The result is positive, which is closer to reality.

For this reason, the situation he described is more realistic. Hopps went back to talk to Ruby. After thinking about it, the old Jianghu Ruby felt that maybe... it was really possible.

So Ruby was a little worried, so she went to find the adventurers escorting the caravan that was transporting supplies to them, and asked them carefully.

After asking clearly, he finally felt relieved.

"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with us." After returning, he said to Hopps with relief. "The cult's sacrifices are concentrated on the border between the two forces and have no tendency to spread northward. We can now In the northernmost place where the Merchant Faction's influence is almost there, those cultists can't get through."

Hopps breathed a sigh of relief, but he was not relieved. Instead, he still asked worriedly: "So...were the cultists caught? Has their organization been eliminated?"

"not yet."

"I always feel terrible..."

"Yes!" Ruby sighed, shook her head and said, "I hope our work here will end soon. I really want to return to the Republic as soon as possible. Only there is truly safe!"

Merry Christmas to everyone. Something delayed me today, this is the first chapter.