The sun had sunset, and all that remained on the horizon was a very wide, slightly curved bright edge.

With Amber's shadow interference, the group easily climbed over the eastern wall of the castle and reached the interior of Viscount Andrew's fortress through the internal stairs of an old tower.

They hid in the shadows on a terrace on the second floor of the castle, looking down on the empty atrium below and the corridor opposite it.

Like most of the aristocratic fortresses in the southern border of Ansun, this castle has a roughly square and layered structure, the outermost layer is the wall, the inner layer is the arch guard area formed by the stables, servants' rooms, utility rooms and verandahs, and then the inner is the living quarters formed by the inner porch and the lord's residence, and several areas are connected by strong and heavily walled passages, and there are light and dark sentinels throughout the castle, and the highest points of the four corners have arrow towers and bell towers and beacon towers for early warning.

This dwelling was not comfortable, and most of its structure looked like a military fortress, which was due to the fact that the southern frontier was the front line against the demon tide, and the architectural style of the past was passed down from generation to generation - but with the peaceful times of the last few hundred years, many parts of the southern border have begun to change, and even the less wealthy southern nobles have begun to learn to improve their living environment like the northerners, and even prefer to live in comfortable and bright manors. But it is clear that Viscount Andrew was not a man who cared much about the conditions of residence: his castle still maintained a considerable degree of "classical style".

But in such a castle that was almost a military fortress, Gawain didn't see many guards who should have patrolled and stood guard everywhere, and even the atrium in the center of the castle was empty.

"No one here?" Amber's eyes widened and she looked down curiously, her gift for shadows allowed her to make out in dim conditions, "and the courtyard looked like it hadn't been trimmed in months...... Weeds and shrubs are growing up to cover the road. ”

As Amber said, the atrium of the castle was not only empty, but also the plants were growing extremely vigorously, and it was clear that until a few days ago it should have been in order, but at this moment, Gawain swept it down, and it felt as if the castle had been abandoned for months or even more than a year, and the lush vegetation was growing everywhere, covering the roads, covering the walls, and even some vines had climbed to the gate leading to the main building.

"Byron, you haven't fully recovered yet, just wait for us here" Gawain turned his head and said to the middle-aged knight behind him, "I'll leave you three 'crystalline grenades' for self-defense, have you memorized the usage?" ”

The gray-haired middle-aged knight twisted his neck uncomfortably: "It's not a good feeling to be treated as a burden. ”

Gawain smiled and patted the shoulder armor of the knight, who was usually a little out of tune: "You have already done great things and fought bravely, and I don't want my knight to die because of recklessness at this time." ”

Gawain's words came from the bottom of his heart, although he also secretly complained that this mercenary-turned-"non-mainstream knight" had some unreliable words and deeds, but Byron had indeed shown enough bravery and determination in this incident, and there was no need for him to continue dragging his weak body to participate in adventures - maybe a person with an exceptionally strong chivalry like Philip would fight with Gawain to the death, but Byron was not such a pedantic person.

So the middle-aged knight nodded, took the three grenades handed to him by Gawain, and looked at the exquisite "Magic Energy Industrial Products" with a slightly complicated face: "Tsk...... I'm afraid even children can learn to use this kind of thing......"

A moment later, Gawain and his party had already entered the atrium of the castle under the cover of increasingly dark sky.

Along the way, they didn't see any guards, no cultist minions or magic traps, and the huge fortress seemed to be abandoned, empty, quiet, and eerie.

Knight Philip followed Gawain quietly with his sword in hand, but soon he shrugged his nose and said in a low voice, "There's an evil aura here. ”

Amber couldn't help but glance at the young knight who looked a little dazed, "You should shout 'Holy Light, this evil is worth fighting' in the next second, and then rush out and slash - you're not a paladin." ”

"Shhh," Gawain whispered to interrupt Amber's BB, "don't forget that Philip is Kyle's follower." ”

Amber's eyes widened slightly, and then pursed her lips to stop talking.

Kyle, the god of warriors and knights, and also the god of war, is the most powerful god in the lineage of the gods after the god of light, he protects all warriors and blesses war, although he is not the god of light, but his divine power also has the power to fight against blasphemy and detect evil, and his followers will receive additional blessings when looking for cultists, although not as powerful as the orthodox priest of light or paladins, but also much stronger than ordinary people.

Philip was a devout Kyle, and even if he wasn't a priest, his piety made him more sensitive to the cultist aura entrenched in the castle than anyone else.

Gawain didn't believe in the gods, and naturally he didn't receive the blessings of the gods, but his body was naturally sounding the alarm, and he grasped the Pioneer Sword and stared warily at the dense flowering shrubs and ornamental trees in the atrium: "These plants are growing too luxuriantly, and most of them are problematic. ”

Pitman held a handful of Ironwood Seeds in his hand, but he didn't dare to unleash any druid spells to detect his surroundings: just as he could easily sense the cultists of the Dead Society of the Same Origin, a cultist from a druid could sense him the moment he cast his spells, and he would never dare to take risks unless a head-on conflict broke out.

They began to walk through the courtyard towards Viscount Andrew's main castle building: the most likely hiding place for the cultists.

A dim "tulle" shrouded the four of them, and Amber walked in the middle of the group, using her ghost-level shadow affinity talent to create a group stealth effect for everyone - if it weren't for such a stubborn guy following, Gawain wouldn't have chosen to risk sneaking directly into the castle to save time.

The sun had completely set the horizon, and the only remaining glow on the horizon was gradually being swallowed up by darkness, and the starlight began to emerge, and at the first moment of starlight, a cool night breeze blew through the atrium.

The dense plants, which seemed to have grown uncontrollably for a year, swayed in the night breeze and made a clattering sound, and in that sound seemed to be mixed with countless muffled murmurs.

Amber instantly got goosebumps, and as the shadow power grew stronger as night fell, her vision began to shift in the direction of the "transcendental", and something that had been ignored during the day suddenly entered her field of vision.

Miss Half-Elf almost screamed in fright—but before she could speak, Gawain was holding her mouth.

"I saw it too." Gawain whispered.

In the atrium, beneath the lush vegetation, between the unbridled roots and vines, there was something.

The nearest bush swayed in the night wind, and from its roots emerged a pale hand, which was buried in the dirt and spasmed slightly; A half-buried face poked out of the weeds beside it, its eyes half-open and half-closed, and its chapped lips still moving; An old oak tree, half-alive and half-dead, was crooked by the side of the road, its roots bulging in a swollen lump shaped like a head, and a pair of eyes exposed from the cracks in the bark, yellow and stiff, half-alive and half-dead like an oak tree......

Beneath all the plants in the entire courtyard, there are buried human limbs, and the owners of those limbs are clearly still alive!

"The name of the god of war!" Philip Knight suppressed his voice and whispered, "What a mad act! ”

"These people...... Alive or dead?! Amber took two deep breaths and whispered with a hint of horror as she broke Gawain's hand.

"Most of them are still alive, but it's hard to say how long they will live," Pitman squeezed the seeds in his hand that were ready to be used as casting materials, "No wonder we don't see any guards and squires...... They're all buried in the atrium! ”

"Be careful not to touch these plants," added the old druid, "they are the eyes of the cultist!" ”

"What are the cultists doing by burying these people here?" Amber forced her disgust and frowned, "Extract their life force?" ”

“…… I'm afraid not," Pitman shook his head, "Extracting life force doesn't require such a troublesome ritual. The cultists keep these people half-alive and half-dead, and keep them in a trance...... I suspect he's extracting the minds of these people. ”

"Extracting thoughts?!" Amber was taken aback, "Can all things do this if they die?!" ”

"Of course, it's not so easy to deal with extraordinary powerhouses, but these are ordinary people who have no ability to resist spells, alas," Pitman sighed softly, "It seems that that cultist doesn't just want to kill a few people here, he has a purpose, he's collecting intelligence......"

As they spoke, they had already walked through the atrium full of crazy plants with extreme caution to the portico leading to the main hall of the castle, in front of which was a hidden oak door with the insignia of the Leslie family inscribed on it.

There seemed to be blood flowing in the emblem, dark red and shiny.

Gawain did not directly touch the obviously abnormal door with his hands, but pushed the door with the Pioneer Sword, quietly and slowly pushing it open, and then he was vigilant and took the lead in stepping over.

And the moment he stepped through the door, a noisy and unbearable noise suddenly swept over from nowhere!

It felt like 10,000 voices were blowing in your ears at the same time, 10,000 people were shouting in your ears at the same time, 10,000 chaotic and absurd instruments were playing in your ears at the same time, or two high-drinking amber BBs were in your ears......

Gawain felt as if his body was rusting, and even turning his head became extremely difficult and slow, and he soon realized that the noisy noises were not from the outside world, but from his own head—in that maddening sound, he saw that the corridor of the castle covered with a dark red carpet in front of him was suddenly elongated, and the walls on both sides with the portraits of the ancestors of the Leslie family had rapidly receded into infinity distance, suddenly becoming extremely wide in all directions, and the dark starry sky replaced the original scene in the castle.

The chaotic noise finally merged into a clearly discernible voice that kept roaring: "All things will perish!" All things will perish! All things will perish! ”

However, although Gawain was shrouded in noise and illusions, he found that his thinking was unusually clear, and the roar that converged was clearly heard, and he could even involuntarily pop up a very clear thought in his mind: "Yes, because of the increase in entropy, what's wrong?" ”

"All things will ...... eventually"

Before Gawain could react to what was going on, the crazy noise and the illusion of the dark starry sky had come to an abrupt halt and vanished.