Whispering Verse

Shade, who had left home, naturally didn't know about the conversation at home. At this time, he had already walked out of the Dragon's Nest, walked through the low woods for a while, and saw the St. George Stone Bridge in the night.

The St. George Stone Bridge is quite busy during the day, but at night there are almost no pedestrians here. Gas street lamps only exist at the end of the stone bridge close to the city wall. The bridge leading to the countryside in the north of the city only has a little moonlight and the light of a portable kerosene lamp.

Several figures riding horses, wearing cloaks and hoods, were already waiting for Shade by the bridge. Because he has the badge of Detection Witch, Shade is not worried that he will make a mistake. As I got closer, I saw that those participating in tonight's operation were Miss Belindel, Miss Matilda and two other nine-ring girls.

Speaking of which, although this is Miss Belindel's territory, she actually doesn't have many people at her disposal. On the one hand, it is because her own fighting ability is not strong, so it is not very convenient to recruit followers. On the other hand, because this is Moon Bay, it is difficult to hide herself.

Therefore, the high-level girls under her are very few compared to Miss Carina, Miss Benanis, Megan and Audrey, who were also originally in the eleventh level. These two nine-ring girls are probably the core members of the followers.

Four people were holding five horses. In order to facilitate movement, even Miss Belindel did not wear a skirt, but wore a pair of trousers that flattered the shape of her legs. Seeing Shade looking her up and down, the witch's face hidden under the hood felt a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, Shade quickly looked away.

"Mr. Watson, can you ride a horse?"

"Yes, I often ride horses through the countryside and forests of the Randall Valley during the winter."

This is the truth.

"Why did you come from outside the city?"

The witch asked again, glancing in the direction of the woods from where Shade came. Miss Matilda on the side handed the reins to Shade, and Shade patted the maroon horse with a tuft of white hair on its forehead. The latter behaved very docilely.

"Go to do something outside the city. Let's leave now. How long will the journey take?"

"With any luck, less than an hour."

The witch said, and the four ladies quickly got on their horses, and Shade also sat on the saddle and prepared to set off. At this time, Miss Belindel also saw the long sword hanging on his waist, raised her eyebrows in surprise, and finally warned:

"I don't know what will happen tonight. Although Vanessa said you are very good at fighting, except for Matilda who is the sixth ring, everyone else here is higher than your level. If you really encounter trouble, you stand From behind, use your time magic to help control the situation."

"clear."

Shade nodded in agreement, held the scabbard on his waist, then swung the reins and followed the four ladies towards the unlit country road.

Miss Belindel's riding skills are quite good, probably just like what Lesia said, girls from great noble families will receive similar training. She took the lead, and the others followed. The group of five people set off from the St. George Stone Bridge, first headed north along the country dirt road, and then turned northwest at a five-way intersection centered on a huge locust tree. Then it passed through rural farmland and villages, and entered the rugged mountainous area in the northern part of the Moon Bay area, known as the "Whispering Hills".

This mountain forest is an important source of local timber and an important forest farm controlled by the Wood family, but the destination of the group is not here yet. The mountain forest is not suitable for horses to run, but Miss Belindel found a path in the forest that seemed to be used by loggers to transport wood, and led everyone to continue heading northwest.

Crossing the rugged and narrow roads between hills, walking on winding paths on nearly 60-degree slopes, riding horses across small wooden bridges built over mountain forests and rivers, letting horses jump over mountain streams, and even Use your whistle to scare away the surrounding wolves. Finally, the running mount deviated from the forest path and jumped onto the hills, stopping under a giant tree in the southwest of the Whispering Hills.

Of course, the size of that giant tree cannot be compared with the giant tree that seals the "narrow space of life and death" at the top of Mount Sikar and the unstable space on Green Island. It is not the tallest tree nearby, but its huge crown, developed root system, The tree patterns with a sense of vicissitudes of time prove its antiquity.

The thick tree roots make the ground around the trunk rugged. The surface of the slightly skewed trunk is wrinkled but looks like a human face in the dark.

Instead of summoning the ball of light, the maids took out torches from their saddle bags for lighting. Shade dismounted with them, and Miss Belindel introduced:

"This is it. It's not certain whether this ancient tree is the oldest tree in the Whispering Hills, but it is at least a thousand years old. Villagers living in nearby villages will even come to worship this tree every year, thinking that it has The ability to make the coming year smooth.”

The five horses were tied in the forest a little away from the giant tree. The two ladies with nine rings walked behind. Miss Shade and Miss Matilda followed the great witch of fate.

The witch herself was not holding a torch. She looked up at the crown of the ancient giant tree. The starlight shone on her face from the gaps in the tree crown, making the witch's face become even more gentle:

"The information I decoded from the family's documents, combined with my own divination investigation, shows that this tree is tonight's target."

After saying that, he put his hand on the tree trunk, waited for a moment and said to Shade and others:

"There are traces of elements on this tree, which are not very obvious. It seems that I found the right place."

"Miss, what are you going to do next?"

Miss Matilda asked, so the witch took out the divination cards, drew one, and then said to everyone:

"Look for any caves nearby, and don't go too far around this tree."

Investigations are made infinitely easier in the presence of a diviner.

"No need to look for it, I found it."

And those with space abilities will also make things easier:

"The tree is hollow under the tree, and there is a secret cave between the tree roots. The cave has only one entrance, and the internal space is not large."

"How did you find it?"

The witch was a little surprised:

"Space ability?"

"Yes, sense space, come with me."

The ancient but crooked giant tree was at the top of a low hill. Shade took the four ladies down and circled around the edge of the hill like a first-level platform, finally stopping at the southwest side of the giant tree. In front of the stone cliff below.

This place is only about two meters high from the position of the giant tree above the hill. Although the cave entrance can be seen through the thick weeds, it would not be easy to find this place in the night without Shade's leadership.

"Paw prints."

When everyone was about to enter, the witch pointed to the shallow mark on the left side of the cave entrance. Some kind of sharp claws once left a mark here. Shade's first reaction was dragon claws, but upon closer inspection, he felt that it was definitely not the case.

Although the paw prints look unclear, it cannot be inferred that they were left a long time ago. The witch began to draw cards again, and the three maids also used sensory magic. Shade closed his eyes:

"Heart of Stone."

The hilly forests at night are very suitable for using this kind of sensory thaumaturgy. In addition to the five heartbeats around him, including his own, in the deepest part of the cave, the strong heartbeats like ripples echoing in circles are also Sensed by Shade:

"There's something in there, one, and it's not human."

The great witch of fate’s divination has also yielded results:

"Moon, teeth, blood."

The black-haired maid called "Maggie" by the witch added:

"I smell a wolf."

"A werewolf?"

Shade asked curiously:

"Is there such a thing in the Moon Bay area?"

Although werewolves often appear together with vampires in some strange literary works, the number of currently active werewolves is actually far lower than the modern vampires represented by Mr. Bernhardt. And most vampires live in groups, or at least there are people of the same race nearby, but werewolves tend to be solitary.

Vampires hate being compared with werewolves, and believe that werewolves are not a separate race, but cursed people suffering from "lycanthropy". This view is not wrong. After all, vampires can control whether they appear inhuman. However, once it is a full moon, unless there is a "wolfsbane potion" prepared by the potion master, the werewolf will definitely transform. This world is... There are three moons.

"I don't care much about the mountainous areas outside Yuewan City. Maybe he's a guy who's good at hiding."

Miss Belindel was also surprised:

"I have never heard of werewolves in the local area before. But tonight the yellow moon is full. Although the werewolves do not have the blood-sucking instinct and the tearing effect of the claws when the red moon is full, and they do not have the talent of being immune to divine attacks when the silver moon is full, tonight Its physical fitness and recovery capabilities will be greatly improved, so be careful.”

Everyone nodded and followed the witch deeper into the cave, drinking potions or adding a temporary passive state to themselves.

The winding passage is damp and cold, and the tree roots penetrate the rock wall and reveal themselves like claws. There was a faint smell inside the cave, and after walking more than fifty steps inside, the torches in the hands of the maids illuminated the open cave directly under the giant tree on the hill. The cave was roughly gourd-shaped, with the middle part narrowing. Werewolves seemed to live in the outer cave, and beds made of straw and a recently extinguished firewood pile could be seen on the walls.

At the same time that everyone was looking at Mars beside the wall, the sound of wind came from above. The furry black monster lying on the cliff of the cave widened its yellow eyes and pounced from top to bottom towards the woman standing at the front of the team.

Boom~

Its successful fall made the entire cave tremble. As the dust fell from the top of the cave, the phantoms of the group also disappeared into the air.

"Curse of Weakness!"

"Exorcism Holy Light!"

"Arad's Beast Expelling Technique!"

The thaumaturgy of the three maid ladies followed immediately as the werewolf landed and relieved its strength. The eleventh-level witch of fate raised her hand and performed a very famous high-level thaumaturgy:

"The finger of death!"