The hooves of the horses, nailed to the iron horseshoe, made a crisp clatter against the road, breaking the silence that seemed to have been inherited from the dark mountains.

Today is the third day after Duke's departure, and according to Tiger's previous statement, there are at most two days left to reach the place where they were initially in distress to carry out rescue operations.

Due to the proximity of the front section of the Dark Mountain Range to the area of human activity, coupled with the fact that Duke Duke had cleaned up a huge beast tide, there had been no trouble or harassment from demonic beasts in the past few days, and everyone had come at a gallop all the way.

The deeper part of the mountain range has been swept by Tiger and their guards, and naturally there is no hindrance.

Tiger was riding his own war horse at the front to act as a guide, his war horse was a mixed breed specially provided by the church, and he was still alive and well after three days of almost non-stop travel, and his speed was not slower than everyone else.

He was followed by eight soldiers with magic rifles on their backs, riding four horses, and they were about fifty meters away from the troops behind them, acting as the vanguard of the entire team.

In the middle, Duke and Lenia and the rest of the soldiers serve as the home team, while the other horses are tended as reserves. At the back were ten bouncing dwarves led by Anvil as cover for the rear team.

The whole group walked for a while, but Tiger at the front quickly signaled Duke to stop, and he himself drove his horse around a small area in front of him for a moment.

After three days of acclimatization, Duke already knew it was Tiger signaling to camp and rest.

Now it has gradually penetrated deep into the interior of the Dark Mountain Range, since no one has stepped into this forbidden place for thousands of years, and the surrounding plants have grown wildly without human intervention, and have long obscured all the sky, it is difficult to judge the approximate moment by the naked eye, and can only rely on experienced guides to estimate the time.

"Well, can we stay and rest ahead?"

Duke asked aloud when he saw Tiger running towards him, and he noticed that Tiger's face was a little depressed.

Tiger stopped his horse and gave a knightly salute before saying, "Ahead is where we were stationed last time, and there are still some remnants of things that can be used, but it's just ......"

"Just what?"

"Lord Duke, you can come with me. ”

He hesitated to say this, but finally bowed again, and invited Duke to come with him to the front to check.

Duke and Lenia looked at each other for a moment, and thought that there was nothing wrong with it, so they nodded and agreed to his invitation, and drove their horses forward with him.

Rounding several large trees that required two people to hug each other, a flat ground that had apparently been artificially treated appeared before Duke's eyes.

There are still some fires and firewood remnants in this area, and it seems that Tiger's rumors that the vanguard is stationed here are true.

However, what caught his attention most were the three mounds of earth that had risen at the back of the camp, each with a long sword stuck in it, and the crystal dew and some fallen leaves gently covered it, indicating that they had been around for some time.

"It's ......"

Duke looked at Tiger with some confusion, he had probably guessed that this might be the grave of Tiger's fallen comrades, but he didn't understand why they were buried in this part of the Dark Mountains, and in his vague memory the final destination of the knights from the Templar should be the Templar.

"This is the three of our comrades who were killed by the monsters brought by the 'Calamity', and for some special reasons, they could only be buried here hastily. ”

"A special reason?"

"Yes, those killed by those monsters carry an inexplicable curse, and if they are not buried in the dirt of the Dark Mountains, they will turn into new monsters and hurt people at night, and we have suffered a big loss in this regard before. ”

Speaking of which, it was clear that Tiger had been reminded of some bad meetings, and his whole face was covered with sorrow.

"Have you been in a 'calamity' here?"

Although Duke understood Tiger's mood very well, he was more concerned about the other information revealed in his words, he had thought that it would be two more days before he collided with the upper echelons of the Church of the End, but he didn't expect to meet it now.

"No, the first thing we encountered was the monster he brought. At first, we thought it was an ordinary monster, and even Mr. Simon didn't see a flaw, until we finally found out that he was watching us all along. ”

After listening to Tiger's explanation, Duke asked with some curiosity: "You told me a lot of things about monsters before, can you explain the specific information of these monsters to me?"

At this time, Lenia and Anvil also came over with people, and when they saw the tomb in the middle, they were a little silent for a while.

"In fact, most of the monsters are still similar to ordinary monsters, and their strength is even worse. The most important thing is that there is a huge ball of flesh with octopus-like tentacles and suckers, as well as the 'calamity' itself, they all have the ability to extract people's consciousness and affect the mind, and we have lost a lot of money because we are defenseless at first. ”

Combined with the words tentacles, suckers, meat balls, and mind-swaying, Duke overlapped with the monsters he had encountered under the bunker of Baron Rhein.

According to Agnes, the monsters raised by Baron Rhine are inextricably linked to the Plague Counsellors, and it is not surprising that they are now in the Dark Mountains as one of the Church of the Ends.

It's just that this encounter may be a complete body or an improved version, and it is personally controlled by the high-level of the Church of the End, so it will definitely not be as easy to deal with as last time.

"The monsters under the Scourge have lost most of their lives to the desperate battle of my robes, and that meat ball has been badly injured, and I don't think they will have the strength to come back against us now, so I think it's okay to rest here for the night. ”

After seeing that everyone was almost here, Tiger told him his plan to camp today, hoping that Duke could make good use of this half-abandoned camp to save time for rest.

Duke thought for a while and nodded in agreement, but to be on the safe side, he still arranged for double the vigilance manpower and raised the alert level to the highest level.

After all, he can't rule out that in case of a disaster, as soon as his brain is hot, he will let his subordinates find him back on a whim, and if he is not prepared at that time, it is estimated that it is possible for the entire army to be annihilated.

"Lord, I'll be on duty for the first half tonight, and you and Knight Tiger will rest for a while. ”

Lenia lit the remaining dry wood with a fighting spirit, and said as she drew her sword and wiped it.

Originally, her arrangement was to divide the night's duty into two halves, with herself and Tiger alternately on duty.

However, Duke always felt that he could not be relieved to leave Tiger alone, and he was embarrassed to enjoy the privileges of being a lord without making any contributions, so he proposed to be on duty with Tiger.

In the end, the two couldn't resist Duke's request, so they had to agree to form such a rule.

"That's hard, I'll do it for you in the early morning. ”

Duke didn't shirk, nodded in agreement, and walked towards the tent that the soldier had just set up.