Important news always spreads with wings, and not long after Velot and Austin deliberately leaked the location of the valley in the adventurer's guild, Oni hurriedly ran out of a noble carriage pulled by two horses, and its destination was the valley west of the city, where the captured maidens were held.
However, the carriage was not a big man, just a messenger, but as soon as the carriage reached the outside of the valley, two teams of cavalry were sent to greet it as a sign of importance.
The valley is not very large, only 100 meters wide from east to west, and although it is long from north to south, it is only more than 500 meters, but there is a camp that can accommodate 300 people inside.
Sir Rorakas was the head of the camp, and he waited until the carriage had come to a stop, and had carefully arranged his armor and clothes, before he came over and waited respectfully.
The messenger was a man dressed as a butler, his long hair meticulously combed and oiled, which made it feel jet black and shiny even at night, and he dragged a letter with the private seal of Count Haniri in his right hand, while he carried a small dark red wooden box in his left hand.
"Good evening, Mr. Winton. Sir Rorakas did not despise him in the slightest because he was a commoner's butler, but bent over as if he were meeting the Earl.
"Well, you're good, Sir Rorakas. Count Hanirie's butler straightened up, and spoke in an unguessable tone of anger.
"Mr. Winton, what instructions do you have for your visit?"
Sir Loracus didn't ask, but this question was met with a scolding from the steward's messenger: "You have done a good deed yourself! Your men have been caught alive, you know? And you have confessed here, and now the greedy people of the Adventurers' Guild have paid their attention here, maybe tomorrow, or tonight, someone will come to your camp!"
"When the Earl learned of the news, he was furious, and said that if something goes wrong with you, be ready to die to apologize!"
He said it so unceremoniously that he even pointed his finger at Sir Roracus's nose, but Sir did not dare to show his dissatisfaction at all, and carefully defended himself with a sincere and frightened expression: "Mr. Winton, I really don't know, my men came back today, and it is true that there are three less, but everyone else says that they were killed in battle, you wait, I will tie up these guys who dare to conceal the truth and hand them over to you." After saying that, he really ordered the guards around him to call the team that had an accident during the day.
"Come on. Seeing this, the steward of Winton waved his hand to stop Sir Rorakas, "It's useless for you to show me, now the key is how to complete the task of a good earl, understand?"
"Please also make it clear. Jazz took off the money bag from his waist in distress, and handed it over with a smile, but in his heart he scolded the sky, he had dealt with this Winton more than once, and he had to blackmail him every time he came.
The butler of Winton weighed the money bag in front of everyone, and only after feeling satisfied did he accept it, this time he said no more, and handed the letter and the box in his hand to the knight, "Lord Earl told you to do as instructed in the letter." "
After saying this, Winton didn't look at Sizz, turned around and boarded the carriage, and without even saying hello, he ordered the coachman to drive away from the valley, as if it was disgusting here, and he didn't want to stay for a second longer.
"Phew, a dog dares to poop on Lao Tzu's head. When the carriage was far away, Sir Roracas spat the ground and cursed. Just give the Earl's letter and things to yourself, and play this set every time.
"Well, Commander, do you want to punish the first squad?" asked the knight's guard.
"It's all my own brothers, and I punish a fart, just pretend to show the old dog. "
These words were deliberately said so loudly that the cavalry around him could hear them clearly, and soon a large number of praises rang out around him, praising him for his affection and righteousness, and praising him for being a good commander who could entrust his life.
When his anger had subsided, Loracus finally opened the Earl's letter, which was similar to what the Butler of Winton had described, and the Count was so angry that he consciously skipped this paragraph and looked at what was really the point.
Of course, the Earl did not want the adventurers to mess with his good deeds, and he asked the butler to bring a chest containing a statue of the devil given to him by the Orientals, and its usefulness was that after being placed in the center of the camp, he could create a black mist by simply offering the corresponding sacrifices, the range of which was enough to envelop the entire valley, the effect was comparable to that of high-level spells, extremely difficult to dispel, and the duration was determined by the number of sacrifices. What's more, his people can avoid the effects of the black mist by wearing the strange little amulets that come with the wooden box.
As for the sacrifice, it was blood and soul, and if a large number of adventurers really came, the sacrifice would still be easily prepared.
When Sir Roracas saw how to place the statue, he hurried to the centre of the camp with his small box, next to the huge tent where the maidens were kept. And the first sacrifice... After thinking about it, he called the guards again: "Go, tie up the people of the first squad." "
...
At noon the next day, Austin and Velot appeared at the gates of the city on time, and their new companion, Karina, appeared on time.
She had already changed into the dress of an ordinary girl last night, which was worn to attract people, and today she wore a short-sleeved tight-fitting deerskin armor, and a short little black leather skirt that could only cover her buttocks, which looked heroic and beautiful. It almost didn't make Austin and Velot unrecognizable.
"Let's go. Karena was ahead of the curve.
However, the two men soon overtook her side by side, because following her, their eyes would unconsciously follow the up and down of her skirt to explore the secrets under her skirt, which made them almost knock each other together as they walked.
Karina, who had been overtaken, smirked at the empty back, and although she couldn't see Love, she knew that she must be following her quietly.
In the valley west of the city, when the three of them arrived, a bunch of people had gathered on the periphery, without exception, all of them were adventurers, but they all hesitated, walking around anxiously outside, as if waiting for something.
What was going on? It was not what they had expected a group of people to be fighting in the valley. Austin, Velot, and Karenlu were all puzzled, and in the end, it was Karenlu, a well-known and senior adventurer, who inquired with people he knew well, that there was a thick black fog in the valley that cut off the sight! And from morning to now, more than a dozen adventurers have broken in, but without exception, they have not come out again, as if they have been swallowed up by the black fog in the valley.
"Aren't there any spellcasters among them? Use a wind spell, or summon a few wind elementals, it should have an effect. Austin asked curiously.
Kalianlu gave him a blank look, stood on tiptoe and knocked on his head, helpless at his lack of common sense, "What do you think a spellcaster is? How many adventurer teams do you think can be equipped with spellcasters? Of course, there are two low-level spellcasters like you, but even if there are a dozen, I'm afraid that if you are exhausted, you will be able to dispel the black fog in the empty valley." "
Austen, Austen was speechless, because after he became a special mage, he almost forgot that spellcasters are actually very rare, and among the spellcasters, there are very few who are willing to come out and eat as adventurers, although he is only a level 1 small special mage, if he really wants to register as an adventurer in the future, there must be a team competing to invite him to join.
"Isn't that what can be helped? Wouldn't the thieves be able to detect what's going on in the valley?" Austin asked after a moment of silence.
"If you're not afraid of dying, you can try it yourself, anyway, there are no more people gathered here who are willing to take risks. As for the situation in the valley, last night before the black fog rose, there were thieves who probed, and there was a military camp inside, and the number of enemies exceeded a hundred. Kalianlu calmly said the current situation.
"Barracks?, the Count has pulled the army over so openly?" Vilot began, a little difficult to understand the situation, "Isn't the Count afraid of being burned directly? The army of Oni City is the only one he can mobilize, and as long as he can get even the slightest evidence of the devil in the valley, he will not be able to clear his hands." "
Austin explained to the upright paladin: "The Earl can justifiably say that there is a special task for this force to carry out, and then send them to be stationed in this valley, even if we find a problem inside, we can completely blame the team itself and say that they did it privately." And the church power in Oni City is still weaker than the earl, and it is impossible to completely turn the other cheek with the earl because of this. "
"That's right, Austen has a point, whatever we find in this remote valley, as long as the big man ends up throwing an abandoned son to carry the black cauldron, everything will not be on his head, and unless evidence can be found in his castle, it will be difficult to point against him. Kalianlu agreed, "But that's fine, we can treat the regular army inside as real bandits, and kill them if they deserve to be killed, regardless of their identity." "
When such murderous words came out of the mouth of the innocent-looking Kalianlu, her two companions couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and they both began to speculate about how many people she had killed, and they could already say that killing people was as easy as stepping on ants.
'Sword Dance Girl' Kalianlu is certainly not a good stubble, and when doing tasks, it is inevitable that she will encounter situations that can only be solved by killing, she may be an enemy or a competitor in her peers, and it is always easy for her to choose between bounty and other people's lives, embracing the former.
"Velot, can your magic that illuminated a large area last night work in the black fog?" Austin suddenly remembered one of the magic spells that Velot had used last night.
"You say, 'Heavenly Light'. After pondering for a while, the holy warrior said with some uncertainty: "This divine skill level is not high, only level 2, if it is in an ordinary dark environment, it can illuminate the surrounding area of about twenty meters, but the black fog in the valley may be produced by a strong magical power, I am afraid that even if it can be illuminated, the range will not be large." "
Austin, who rescued Kelly, immediately seized on this glimmer of hope, grabbed Velot and said, "Let's try it!"
Karinlu, who was standing on the side, also thought back to the 'Heavenly Light' she had seen last night, and felt that it should be of some use, so she nodded and agreed: "Let's try it at the entrance of the valley first, if it is really useful, I will bring some acquaintances with me, so that the certainty of entering the valley will be greater." "
"Good. "
The paladin agreed very simply, and then followed Austin and Kalianlu to the entrance of the valley, a place that looked like a gourd mouth. The adventurers scattered around saw that someone wanted to try to break into the valley again, and they all gathered around, and among them, an acquaintance who knew Karenlu, asked from a distance:
"Sword Dance Chick, do you have any good ways to eliminate the influence of the black mist?"
Ka Lianlu beckoned to the man, and said without concealment: "This holy warrior wants to use a magic technique to try the effect, if it really works, do you dare to go in with the old lady with Bloody Eyes?"
"Divine magic?" The adventurer, known as Bloodeye, narrowed his blood-red eyes, which were very different from ordinary people. "What don't you dare, you dare to go on a woman, can I still hide outside like a grandson?"
"Then I'll count you as one. Karenlu nodded, then turned to look at the paladin.
Velot stood at the entrance, and did not immediately cast a magic spell, but instead looked solemn, and his brows wrinkled together involuntarily, as if he was thinking about something.
"What's wrong?" Vilot, did you find anything?" Austin asked nervously.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, this black mist was not created by the power of magic, but by an extremely powerful and evil force of hell. "
"The power of hell?"
"Yes, someone has attracted the power of the devil in the valley, and this black fog is created because of this. With that, Vellott closed his eyes and began to pray to Tyr in the most pious of words.
Soon, a holy light gathered above Velot's head, and then he stepped into the black mist without hesitation, and the 'celestial light' above his head also disappeared into the black mist.
For a second, two seconds, three seconds, Austin and Karenlu, who had not yet seen the light through the black mist, were already in a hurry, and just as they were about to reach out and pull back the holy warrior who was close at hand but could not see it, there was a sudden bright light in front of them, and the holy light finally shot through the black fog and re-revealed the figure of the holy warrior.
It worked! Austin's heart was overjoyed! However, the area of effect of the 'Celestial Light' was indeed much smaller, and it only illuminated a distance of about five meters around Velot.
"Paladin, how long will your magic last?" asked an impatient adventurer. He had been here since early in the morning, just to get a piece of the pie, but the black fog stopped everyone and made him very anxious, and now he saw hope, and he wanted to rush in immediately.
"If I do my best, half an hour. Velot replied with a mental estimate.
"Half an hour, great, this valley is small, we can kill the central area in a few minutes!" Karinlu was happier than anyone else, as if she saw 2,000 gold coins beckoning to her. However, the sudden crowd of many adventurers made her very unhappy, and if there were more people involved, the rewards of the mission would definitely be diluted in the end.
"Kalianlu, you just promised to take me. Bloody Eyes rushed up and said to Karenlu.
"Well, count you in!"
Seeing this, the others also learned to form a friendship with Kalianlu, hoping to join the team with the most promising completion of the task.
As a high-level adventurer, maximizing benefits and ensuring safety is the most important thing, Karenlu looked at the group of adventurers who were looking forward to being selected by her, and quickly called the names of the three people: "Doglan, Ryan, Coyote, you guys come too." "
These three are also well-educated adventurers, and each has their own abilities, among which the coyote has a keen sense of smell, and in the case of a narrow field of vision, it will be much easier to have him, Doglan is an excellent shield warrior and is reliable, and Ryan is an archer, almost no arrows within two hundred meters, plus a blood wolf with strong explosive power, Kalianlu believes that her new team of 7 people, even if she has to face more than a hundred regular troops, will definitely be able to complete the task! As for the bounty, even if it is divided according to the head, because she can get the two additional shares of Austin and Velot, it is nearly 1,000 gold coins, which is completely satisfied.
Austin and Velot naturally had no opinion, the more people the better, anyway, they didn't care about the pay, so the newly formed team simply lined up and marched towards the depths of the black fog...