Half-elf Ranger

The group of people who entered the dark jungle stopped for a while, and after finding no abnormality, they planned to go to the depths to continue their exploration.

However, just as Thorne was about to lead the way with the paladin Ava, he suddenly realized that he didn't know exactly which direction to go in.

Thinking of this, Thorne subconsciously stopped and looked up at the sky.

Although it is early morning, the bleak dawn can hardly dispel the deep shadows on the forest paths, the ancient trees gather into a dense canopy overhead, and the vines and shrubs that grow haphazardly on the ground are hardly noticeable. There are traces of human activity.

"Strange, we walked in through the gate of the cave, why did we appear in such a strange place?" Seeing the two of them stop and watch again, the witch Cecil whispered to herself, attracting everyone's attention force.

"After the door was opened, a black light curtain appeared. We should have passed through the light curtain of the gate and came here." The paladin Avar explained to the witch, and looked around carefully, as if in Find the exit back.

Unfortunately, to his disappointment, apart from the ancient forest, there are only wild vines and dense shrubs, and there is not even a small animal or beetle.

Finding the way back is obviously not as easy as you think.

"That is to say, the black light curtain uses the folding space technology. In my opinion, this place is more like a space that is sealed alone." Thorne thought for a while and expressed his guess.

The so-called folding space technology is to use the powerful arcane gravitational force to make the surrounding space bend and overlap.

This ability can make a building that looks very small from the outside, but when you walk in, the space inside is huge.

This technique is often used in wizard towers in spellcaster groups.

"That's right." The paladin agreed with the Ranger's opinion, then he frowned and said slowly:

"I can clearly sense that this forest should come from a certain corner of the main material world, but the negative energy aura floating in the air is very pure."

"Pure negative energy aura?" Thorne repeated doubtfully, and said, "It seems that the space around this forest should be torn apart by a crack, which caused the negative energy aura overflowing from the Fallen Shadow Underworld to pollute this place. "

"In that case, why is the negative energy aura here not as strong as I imagined, or even worse than the cave in the valley." Sorceress Cecil asked.

"The whole area is sealed." Thorne rubbed a small pure white spar on the paladin's ring with his finger, and after feeling a sense of comfort that gradually filled his body, he continued:

"As for why there is no dense cave in the valley, the main reason is that most of the negative energy in this area is absorbed by plants, and a small part pours into the narrow space of the cave, which naturally becomes easy to gather but not disperse."

"Okay." Thorne stopped the witch who was about to question again, and then looked around:

"The most important question we need to consider now is where to go, rather than standing here and studying how the forest came into being."

"Kevra, can you sense the strongest negative energy aura around you?" Thorne said, looking at the little banshee beside him.

Kevlar heard the words and immediately responded to Thorne's question with action.

I saw her eyes slightly closed, wearing a pure white dress without wind and automatically, the free negative energy in the air gathered towards her body at a very fast speed.

At the same time, a cool breeze suddenly floated across the forest, and in the silent space, there was a clattering sound.

As the negative energy around the little banshee gradually became richer, Thorne, who felt the chill attacking his whole body like a flexible poisonous snake, couldn't help but take a few steps back and keep a certain distance from her.

The little devil standing on Kevlar's shoulder also screamed, flapped his little wings, and flew down to the branches of the big tree.

In the eyes of everyone's expectation, when the strong negative energy breath was fully inhaled by Kevra, she finally opened her pale red eyes.

"No." The little banshee came to Thorne's side, and her pale face revealed a bit of frustration when she didn't help, and then shook her head gently:

"The plants growing in the forest have long adapted to the existence of negative energy. With their existence, my perception has been greatly disturbed, and I can't detect the source of the negative energy aura at all."

"Does General Ava have anything to say?" Thorne, who was a little disappointed, suddenly noticed the paladin's expression of hesitating to speak, thinking that the other party had discovered something unexpected, so he took the initiative to ask.

"Nothing to find." The paladin Avar naturally saw what the ranger meant, and then gave him an apologetic look, and then looked at the little banshee, recalled what he had swallowed, and then solemnly reminded Thorne:

"I know that Miss Kevra is a real banshee, and I also guess that she has experienced the washing of arcane energy before she retains her good heart and becomes what she is today.

So, Mr. Thorne, I have to remind you that in the future, try not to let her actively contact the negative energy from the Fallen Underworld, otherwise it will be easily affected by the evil energy, which will lead to awakening the evil thoughts hidden in her deepest heart. "

Not only intentionally or unintentionally, when the paladin said these words, he also gave the witch Cecil a meaningful look.

"Thanks for the reminder." Thorne thanked the paladin, reaching out and stroking the long silver hair of the little banshee.

After being reminded by the other party, he finally realized his negligence.

Because of this problem, Malvasia had solemnly warned him and Andrina when he held this kind of ceremony, but he didn't expect it to be forgotten by him.

Fortunately, a small amount of negative energy has little effect on Kevlar. As long as he returns to the wizard's tower, this evil aura will soon be eliminated by the energy of the element pool.

Then, he looked at Cecil, the witch who had fallen into contemplation because of a few words from the paladin, pondered for a while, and said:

"Since this place was brought to you by your teacher, it must have left you with a way to guide you to the depths of the jungle."

"Method?" The witch wizard couldn't help but be startled, and said helplessly: "Except for the magic amulet that opened the door just now, nothing is left."

"Then take out the amulet and try to use it." Thorne suggested to her without hesitation.

He actually knows a lot about the tokens in the hands of the Insight Organization.

After all, he used this token to gain the trust of the plane merchants, came to the abandoned half plane, and successfully contacted the manager of the upper half plane.

Even when he went to the wizard's tower in Winter City, he also gained the trust of the legendary wizard Kaladena.

It's a pity that in this forest alone, it can't play any role.

So he could only let the witch try it with her own token.

The witch nodded slightly, and took out the magic talisman from the secret pocket of the robe again.

However, just as she took out the amulet, an accident happened, and a bone-piercing chill suddenly overflowed from the amulet and quickly spread from her palm.

Cecil exclaimed, and hurriedly threw the magic amulet to the ground, shaking her palm covered in frost.

The elven swordsman Lance immediately came forward and used spells to help her dispel the frost that continued to spread.

Seeing the abnormal Thorne, he subconsciously turned his attention to the amulet on the ground.

I just noticed that the amulet that was thrown to the ground by the witch was shaking continuously.

Then it bounced up automatically, floated into the air, and then emitted a wisps of dark aura that seemed to be substantial.

"Clang!"

The paladin on the side saw this situation, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly pulled out the holy fine gold broadsword, the dark golden blade instantly emitted a light that was brighter than the reflected sunlight.

Seeing this, the elf banshee was so frightened that she quickly buried her head in Thorne's arms, and the little devil at the top of the tree directly drowned her thin body in the dense foliage.

"Don't be impulsive." Thorne comforted the little banshee in his arms, looking at the paladin and said solemnly.

The brilliance on the paladin's blade has diminished a lot, but his gaze towards the magic talisman has become more vigilant.

"I... I seem to have heard what it said." Just as everyone was at a stalemate with the magic amulet, at a loss, the witch wizard who had successfully dispelled Frost whispered.

"It's pointing me in the direction." Sorceress Cecil glanced at the floating magic talisman with fear.

She stretched out a finger and touched the surface of the talisman with fear, and found that the bone-chilling chill had long since disappeared.

So she tentatively stretched out her palm to the talisman, the floating magic talisman trembled a few times, the overflowing dark aura dissipated into the invisible, and slowly fell into the palm of the witch.

"From this direction, go directly into the depths of the jungle." The witch who took back the magic talisman stretched her finger to the direction where Thorne was standing, and said to the crowd.

"Let's go then." Thorne and the paladin looked at each other and took the lead to lead the way.

Cecil and the Little Banshee followed closely, and the Elf Swordsman Lance took the initiative to choose to follow at the back of the team.

Several people walked through the dense forest. As they continued to move forward, Thorne gradually felt a sense of depression that was similar to suffocation.

The air also became wet and greasy uncooperatively, making his forehead wet, mixed with negative energy and soil corruption.

At this time, how much he hoped that there would be a breeze from the wilderness, but this was undoubtedly an extravagant hope for their group.

The crowd walked for about an hour without any accident, and they arrived at a deep and cold stream.

The stream flows in the dense forest, the trees on the side of the stream are old and huge, and the width of the stream completely prevents the branches on both sides from entangling together.

There are many grey stones jutting out of the gloomy water, and in an eerily quiet atmosphere, the stream constantly washes over them.

"As long as we go upstream along this creek, we can find the source of negative energy." Sorceress Cecil said to the paladins and rangers who led the way.

Afterwards, the crowd hurried along the stream again.

Thorne was surprised to find that the stream seemed to be driven forward by a relentless force, but he felt a strange silence again.

The water is deep and often converges into a small black pond after a small waterfall-like or undulating flow.

But even in such rapids, the creek running through the dense forest did not splash or bubble as he thought.

Seasoned Thorne finds this mysterious creek more disturbing than the forest.

The same goes for the paladin beside the ranger—as can be seen from his wary look and the sacred adamantine broadsword clenched tightly in his hand.

During this short trip, the most relaxing ones were undoubtedly the little banshee Kevra and the witch Cecil.

"It's here!" The witch Cecil, who was walking and pulling the little banshee, suddenly shouted and said in a low voice, "Have you seen the place where the two streams converge? That's it."

Thorne followed the witch's gaze and saw that two streams flowed in a Y-shape ahead, eventually merging into the wider and deeper stream in front of him.

The tributary on the right swooped down a section of stone steps, and in some places, a few rays of sunlight leaked from among the branches overhead, reflecting on the shimmering water.

Thorne felt that the tributary on the left was more like the creek they were going upstream, as it meandered through a channel that wasn't as undulating as the other tributary.

Although the current is fast, it does not feel as dynamic as the other tributary.

Several people no longer hesitated and continued to move towards the place where the streams meet.

As he walked, Thorne looked in the direction against the current, and he could vaguely see the black rock outcropping from the ground in the distance through the gap in the trees.

It was from a gap between these tall rock walls that the creek flowed down. Although the trees blocked some view, he could still see a passage between the cliffs, a narrow valley and a tributary to the left. water source.

Thorne couldn't help thinking to himself how the water flowing down such a steep river bed could become such a stagnant stream with footsteps.

Maybe it's the negative energy of the source, he thought.

Not long after, everyone crossed the stream and came to a clearing between the two streams.

The witch Cecil on the side clearly pointed to the narrow gap between the rocks upstream of the creek and said to everyone, "The source of negative energy is above."

"I also feel that the negative energy there is very strong." The paladin Avar answered.

So several people no longer hesitated and went directly into the crack of the canyon.

The walls of the canyon are made entirely of granite, reaching high up, the weather-beaten surface is covered with moss marks, and the stone wall exudes a chill that resembles negative energy.

In fact, the part of the road they walked was not a road. The canyon was full of fallen trees, huge stones and thorny bushes. In this case, for ordinary people, every step was a Suffering, but they are not ordinary people, these obstacles will not affect their progress.

The stream was still flowing beside them, scouring the gully with a silent force, over the stones that blocked the stream.

As the stone walls on both sides began to flatten slowly, Thorne finally came to the top of the canyon.

Immediately afterwards, what caught everyone's eyes was a vague outline, a boxy-looking shape like a long, tall wall in gray or white.

Thorne saw that such an outline was too regular, not like a rock or something, but a man-made structure.

There are many towers and balustrades at the top of the wall, and the center of the wall is the only entrance.

In any case, he always felt that the sudden appearance of the building gave him a strong unease, so strong that he could not ignore it at all.

This made him unable to help but slowly draw out the steel soul sword emitting a pale blue light.

When everyone walked through a small pine forest with doubt, anxiety and nervousness, and entered through the gate of the gray-white city wall, a white castle was completely presented in front of them.

"Oh my God! This castle is actually made of bones." Cecil, the witch who put away the magic talisman, looked at the White Castle in astonishment and couldn't help but exclaimed.

"It's really a human skull, it's incredible." The paladin Avar stepped forward first, looking at the terrifying white castle, he whispered unexpectedly: "Could it be... that legend is true?"