"If I'm not mistaken," Qiao Sen, the elder of Qingfeng Village, who had also been a hunter in his youth, put down his magnifying glass worriedly, and said to the young man next to him as he got up from the ground, "This hoof print should have been left by the twin elk." ”

The sky was covered with heavy clouds, and a smoky gray pressed against the overhead. Today's weather is gloomy, and it seems that there will be heavy rain that is rare this season, and of course, after the haze, it is more likely that there will still be another heavy snowfall. Jossen and the two Hunters of the Night, who were not injured in the Snow Goblin attack, were checking for the monsters on the ground outside the south wall of the village.

"Twin elk?" the two hunters looked at each other, barely believing their ears, "the legendary twin elk, isn't it supposed to be in the Stygian Forest, in the southwest corner of the continent......"

"Look here," Jossen said, gesturing to the hoof prints on the snow, "Look here." He pointed his fingers at the two on the left and the two on the right of the four hoof prints. It was then that the hunters of the Eternal Night discovered that the front and rear hoof prints on the left side were exactly the same size and shape as the ones on the right, but they were not the same: the left side was deep, and the right side was light.

The most peculiar thing is that the land and weeds on the left side of the hoof print are withered, while the right side of the hoof print is unusually lush. These are subtleties that even experienced hunters have to look at carefully before it is possible to draw conclusions. Young hunters who have never seen twin elks are more likely to ignore these clues.

A hunter quickly took out a small vial containing a clear liquid from his bosom and dropped a few drops onto one of the hoof prints on the left side.

Suddenly, a fierce black mist emanated from the hoof print, as if struggling in pain. After a few moments, the black mist disappeared. The hunter turned his head in shock to look at his companion, who responded to his companion's gaze in an almost trembling voice: "Reacted to holy water...... It's really ......."

Legend has it that the twin elk had two heads separated from its neck, the left side of its head and half of its body were completely covered in dark shadows, and some scholars say that the other half of its body was darkness itself, while the right side was the opposite, emitting a holy and soft light that contained the energy of life. Elder Qiao Sen looked at the hoof prints on the ground and said slowly, "This kind of high-level monster has considerable wisdom and can drive low-level monsters to work for it, it seems that most of this wall hole is a ghost that it sent its minions to trouble." ”

"Judging by the size of this hole, it should be a small elf like a mushroom thief, and it won't be too big. If it were just them, we would have been able to handle it, but if the elf was behind the twin elk, it wouldn't have been that simple......" one hunter said worriedly.

"God knows what's getting in......" Jossen muttered to himself, then turned to the two hunters and said, "Go back first, find someone to seal the broken wall, and I'll go to the village chief to discuss what to do." After saying that, he walked briskly to the village chief's house.

The village is now on alert, and almost all villagers stay at home, except for some necessary outings. The main road of Light Breeze Village has never been so deserted, and even the Wind Song Tavern, which can usually be heard from a long distance, is now quiet and silent.

The chief's house, more than 200 steps west of the village centre, was built in an alley that crossed the main east-west road, and was the first house near the south wall. Jossen had already walked outside, but could not hear anything inside. I was suspicious, and I saw the door creak open by the wind. He felt even more strange, so he took a few steps forward. As soon as he got closer, as the air poured in, the air in the room was poured out, and a thick bloody breath came to his nose.

Startled, Jossen slammed the door open and walked in. There was a chandelier lit in the room, and it was dancing with the wind that poured in. Although the light was dim, it was enough for him to see the village chief lying in the center of the house. The little old man's body was lying on his back, and a large hole was torn open in his neck and abdomen, and the blood seemed to have dried up. His body, face, and the furniture floor around him were black-red from the clotted blood on his body, face, and surrounding furniture.

Qiao Sen's eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room, and only then did he realize that not only the village chief himself, but also his family and children were all lying in the corner of the room. The furniture was barely toppled over, just turned into a mess as if it had been looted.

What kind of poison did someone do it, and he didn't even let go of the child? Qiao Sen was shocked and sad at the same time. Suddenly it occurred to him that they were all dead before they could even make a call, and that no one in the neighborhood had heard any movement, or had they all been ...... Immediately, Qiao Sen stopped his meaningless speculation in time.

He was about to go up to examine the village chief's wound when he heard a "click" sound in his ears, like the sound of some wooden mechanism working. He turned his head to look, and his hair stood on end at the sight, and he almost jumped up.

On his right, there was a doorway to another room, and several mushroom thieves came out one after another, the one at the head was as tall as a human woman! From the tip to where it was held, it was all dyed red and black. The most terrifying thing is that the mushroom thief's fierce and terrifying face is already baring his teeth, and almost every one of the teeth in front of Qiao Sen is dripping with blood.

Jossen didn't think about it, turned and ran away from the door, rushing out of the house with only one thought in his mind: get out of here and warn the night watchman!

Just as he ran out of the village chief's house, a series of hurried, non-stop bells rang from the bell tower.

"Bell ......"

"It's on fire!

"The barn is on fire!"

Villagers near and far shouted out of nowhere.

Everyone came out of the house, shouting, and beckoning the neighbors to run north with their utensils. All eyes were focused on the smoky barn not far away, where the villagers stockpiled emergency food for the winter. No one noticed old Josson standing in the deepest part of the dark alley, looking dazed.

"It's ...... Raid, this is raid...... It's an attack!" Jossen finally reacted, stomping his feet and shouting. But there was no one left, and the villagers rushed to the burning barn. The noise in the distance contrasted sharply with the silence around him, and an inexplicable sense of dread captured Jossen. Although he kept telling himself that it was just a low-level demonic beast, there was no need to be afraid at all, and that there must be another reason for the death of the village chief's family, but the survival instinct of the old hunter warned him that things were unusual and could not be judged by common sense.

He looked back nervously, and none of the mushroom thieves had left the village chief's house and chased them out.

Jossen looked at the bell tower again, and ran in that direction with his trembling legs. As he ran, he tried to organize his thoughts.

The village chief's family was killed silently, and the unusually tall mushroom thief leader would also use weapons to attack humans. Bloodthirsty? quite possibly. Jossen remembered the blood on the mouths and teeth of the mushroom thieves...... But what was the matter with the laceration on the village chief's body? The old hunter was never able to connect such a fatal wound with the mushroom thief.

"Ahh

He believed that he had heard correctly, and the screams came from the bell tower dozens of paces away in front of him. The door of the bell tower was open, and it was pitch black and nothing could be seen. Qiao Sen looked around and saw a shovel leaning against the outer wall of the room beside him, and hurried over to hold it firmly in his hand.

He trembled and touched the door of the bell tower, and was about to go inside, when he heard some kind of chewing sound coming from inside.

The sound creaked, reminding him of the sound of beasts chewing hard food. When he was younger, he once touched the nest of the manticore-tailed flying lion by himself, and heard the terrifying sound with his own ears. But the food wasn't hard enough compared to the sharp teeth, for Jossen soon heard a crackling sound and chewed louder. He swallowed, emboldened the hunter, and poked his head out of the door to see what was inside. However, just now only a little bit of the head was exposed, and the sound of chewing inside stopped almost at the same time, and all that was left was the whirring wind in the doorway and the sound of Qiao Sen's own violent heartbeat. He felt that his heartbeat was so noisy that he was afraid that it would be heard by the living creatures inside.

Qiao Sen gritted his teeth and looked into the bell tower, where he found two round white reflections. He couldn't describe what kind of reflection it was, but it didn't matter. Because in the next moment, he saw a pitch-black beast rushing out of it, and its two eyes reflected a strange white light at a certain angle.

The beast's speed was so fast that Jossen's reaction was barely enough to lift the shovel, and with the long handle of the shovel, he barely managed to hold back the sharp teeth that were biting into his throat. The all-black beast was far more powerful than Jorgeson, and it easily threw him to the ground, and the saliva with the strong smell of the beast and blood trickled down its teeth and jaw, dripping onto Jyoson's face.

Qiao Sen was at the moment of life and death, and he didn't even dare to blink his eyes, using all his strength to stop the row of giant jaws from biting down. Luckily, the wooden handle of the shovel was stuck in the bottom of the beast's jaw and prevented it from biting off, and if it had bitten down a minute earlier, the handle would have met its fangs on both sides, and would have been easily bitten off.

Suddenly, Qiao Sen felt a light in his hand, and the beast had jumped backwards, leaping back to the door of the bell tower, hunching over and letting out a low roar of threat. Immediately after, several stones clattered and landed on the ground not far to his left.

"Hurry up, Elder!" Jossen heard an unfamiliar young voice shouting at him anxiously.

He struggled to sit up, shovel in hand, and maintained a defensive posture as he glanced quickly in the direction of the stone's source.

He saw Ian, the grandson of Granny Sumu, a young man who had just returned to his hometown, and his face, which had not been bloody, was now as pale as paper. He was holding a short sword in both hands, the tip of the sword trembling and pointing to the beast's position as he slowly moved towards him.