"Thanks to the Reindeer King who watches over Oak Town, we are protected from the shadow of evil, and we are saved from the torment of pain by relying on the holy water He has given us. ”

The battle finally came to an end, and the head of the synagogue, Mayor Orlov, busily treated the wounded farmer. Unlike in the past, the townsfolk paid their respects to the deity from the bottom of their hearts, rather than just paying lip service to the deity, and had been tempered by the baptism of iron and blood, and their pan-faith had become extremely religious.

In the synagogue in the center of the town, the hoofed reindeer statue in front of the gate, the gray marble texture gradually became warm as jade, revealing a faint spiritual light from the inside to the outside, and the ripples spread outward.

Aldrich Triss didn't know why his true vision hadn't been brought into the secret realm of the lake, but he vaguely felt that the town of Oak shrouded in night had become different from before, as if lifeless rotten wood had been injected with vitality and suddenly came to life. The roots of the trees buried deep in the soil sprout tiny shoots and drill upwards through the thick layer of soil, revealing the ground to soak up the blessings of sunlight and rain, and radiate new life.

The remains and fragments of the pumpkin monsters scattered across the fields, whether the pale green phosphorescence like fireflies or the sap of the faint starlight flickering from time to time, were harvested by the invisible scythe, and even the hideous ghosts were missing.

The melon fields, which were once rampant and noisy with ghosts, were immersed in a quiet atmosphere, and after a while, the soft chimes of the weaver girl sounded one after another, playing an intoxicating night for the end of this field disaster.

Although no one urged him, Aldrich felt that the time to leave was getting closer and closer, especially when he got the spell pumpkin missile, there was a faint pull force, as if he wanted to pull him away from the wonderful world of the secret realm in the lake.

The knight silently walked into the dark corner, avoiding the peasants who had converged on the keeper's hut, and glanced back at the mayor Orloff, who was surrounded by everyone, and the old man seemed to be aware of it, and looked back to see that Tris had saluted him on the forehead, and then carried a pitchfork and quietly disappeared into the cold night.

Looking at the direction he was going, it was the lemongrass hills, and the destination was the dead woods, and he opened his mouth to say something to keep it, but for a moment there was no suitable reason.

The night wind was tight, the sky was densely clouded, and from time to time a little dim starlight was cast from the gaps, and Aldrich, alone, walked in the wilderness, his steps were steady and steadfast, and his eyes were like torches looking ahead. At some point, the fox Temothys and the raven Kronis appeared beside him, and the clever former did not say a word and hurried away, but the clever crow chose to land on Tris's shoulder.

After walking for half an hour, the gray mist of dead wood came into view, and the knight slowed down and stopped a little later on a half-man-high mound. Aldrich looked out at the jungle not far away, and there was no sign of the dead at all on the edges, and the strange fog had become lighter, and there were no dead wood clearings, and even shocking hollows appeared.

"Pumpkin Jack's territory has shrunk, and after the failure of the Field Plague, it seems that the losses are not light, and the momentum of expansion has been interrupted, which is really good news. ”

The fox lay beside the knight and said nothing, but the crow flapped its wings and carefully lowered its voice: "This is only a temporary appearance, as long as Pumpkin Jack is still around, it will come back sooner or later." ”

"Perhaps, the master of All Souls' Day is secretly hatching a new evil plan in the depths of the Deadwood Forest. "Temosis made a bold and imaginative guess based on his previous experience of dealing with children of vines and wandering dead men while wandering in the wilderness.

"That's right, you see, the withered realm is shrinking, and the jungle should be almost finished, at least the part of the ground that has been taken by Pumpkin Jack. The Skeleton Knights, the Cocks, the Snake Beasts, and the Wild Pumpkin Monsters must all be gathered around it now, defending the Lord of All Souls' Day. ”

The fox retracted its hook-like claws, and its forelimbs brushed the short whiskers of its long and narrow chin, and he was like a wise man who saw through the world.

Kronis thought about it carefully, remembering that not long ago, many giant trees in the dead wood forest fell to the ground, and the pumpkin monster dug up and rocks everywhere, "Before that jungle changed, it was the resting place of the dead in Oak Town, and the farmers who chose to bury it often dug a shallow pit casually, and the pine coffins with thin panels were buried on the spot, and the guards of the town were greedy for the convenience of sleeping in the jungle. ”

"Pumpkin Jack isn't that simple, maybe he's found some treasure in the deadwood that he owned, like a knight's graveyard. "Temothys never played according to the rules, he said whatever came to mind.

However, this sentence shocked Aldrich Tris, who seemed to be vaguely aware of Pumpkin Jack's next move.

"I've decided to go into the Dead Wood to find out, and if you want to follow, keep your mouths shut and never be discovered by the other party. When the knight had finished speaking, the fox and the raven looked at each other, and both nodded in agreement.

"Explain in advance, if I find danger, I will not hesitate to choose to get out and leave first, and you can't complain at that time. The cautious Temosis paid no attention to the white eyes of Cronis, and ignored his own danger to preserve the righteousness of his words.

Aldrich smiled disapprovingly, knowing that he could not count on the cunning fox, the crow stretched its wings and gently stroked the knight in the hat and helmet, wanting to say something comforting.

"Kronis, you have to leave immediately at the critical moment, there are infinite possibilities to live, and don't easily throw your precious life into the dead woods. ”

The raven was overjoyed, and leaned his head against Tris's cheek, and looked very affectionate from one to the other, and looked at Temothys with greed.

"I have a hunch that I can't say whether it's good or bad, if you die in the Dead Woods, I'm afraid you'll fall into the hands of Pumpkin Jack, and never return to the arms of the Reindeer King. ”

The fox was silent for a while before nodding, "That's right, I also noticed this, the crisis that made my heart tremble, unlike a certain bad bird who betrayed the friends of the wilderness, who couldn't see the truth clearly, he would do things recklessly, and he would only know the pain when he hit the ground." ”

"Cunning fox, you liar, you have no reason to accuse me, I wanted to defend you at the beginning, I was really blind to know you, a shameless person. ”

"Come on, your eloquence is barely comparable to that of a stupid and ignorant farmer, and defending me is literally pushing me into a fire pit. ”

'Fool!' Temothys and Kronis secretly scolded each other, turning their heads away from each other.

"Alright, alright. If you continue to quarrel, stay here and don't get in the way of my plans to explore the Dead Woods. The knight's persuasion brought both sides to their composure.

A rough plan was discussed, and a simple agreement was made, the crow acting as a sentinel flew over first, and after checking it, it didn't find the skeleton knight and the rotten zombies, and the dead who were wandering the edge of the dead forest, so they flew in a figure of eight in the air.

"Kronis is as happy as a bee that has found a field of flowers!" the fox sneered, but he was the first to leave the mound and rush towards the dead woods, which had become safe.

Aldrich was amused, the fox and the crow, who loved and killed each other, were really incomprehensible to him, and although he had a slightly slow start, Tris, who had a good foot, came first, followed in the footsteps of Temosis, and ran ahead of him.

Crows, knights, and foxes entered the dead wood with their front and back feet, and the rotten branches were crumbling, the night wind blew through and squeaked from time to time, and the flying green phosphorescence illuminated the surroundings, and the faint moonlight cast dim shadows, like the dry hands of the skeleton knights with barbs.

Everywhere you look, the cracked and twisted trees reveal terrifying deep crevices, like evil spirits that open their bloody mouths, swallowing fresh life and spitting out rotten dead souls.

The Deadwood Forest is a giant graveyard, and only the goblins are used to it.

It was so quiet that there were no trace of the skeleton knights and rotting zombies, but even the chickens, snakemons, and wild pumpkin monsters, and Aldrich, who was in a hurry, and the crows and foxes did their best to keep up, so as not to be trapped in the dead forest of ghosts.

After a quarter of an hour, Tris had not yet reached his destination, and according to his footsteps, no matter how vast the forest should have penetrated, let alone the heart of the dead wood, and stopped at the moment.

"Strangely, I didn't lose my sense of direction, but I got stuck in a labyrinth of jungles. ”

Panting, Temosis nodded in agreement, squinting as the crow standing on the knight's shoulder flew over the dead wood to show the way.

Kronis also sensed that something was wrong, and it vibrated its wings through the withered branches, leaping into the air to take in its surroundings, and flew straight in one direction in an S-shaped dance move.

The fox followed the direction of the crow's guidance, "It's a hundred-year-old dead tree that is about to fall down, how can you pass through it?"

Aldrich Triss didn't care, he simply closed his eyes and rushed forward, just when Temothys thought that the knight was going to hit his head and bleed, and couldn't help but raise his forelimbs to cover his eyes, a strange scene happened.

With the hundred-year-old dead tree and Triss colliding as the core, everything in front of you ripples like a calm lake, and then everything shatters into countless pieces like a mirror.

"Illusion! can deceive my eyes. Angry as Temothy followed Aldrich's footsteps, the labyrinth's test was solved, and the right path was opened.

After a while, the knight and the fox climbed over a mound and saw a depression of water with a pumpkin at its core, standing lifelessly, leaning on a pole of wood.

Skeleton knights and rotting zombies fell to their knees in the outer ring, and black-faced ghosts flew past their corpses, and a light breeze swept up the faint green phosphorescence. The chicken, snake, and beast in the inner circle and the wild pumpkin monster did not fall well, and the vitality was forcibly taken away endlessly, and gathered in the scarecrow at the core.

"This is an evil sacrificial ritual. Temothys put his mouth to Tris's ear and whispered the truth about the strange scene that had taken place not far in front of him.

I know a lot of things, but it's a bit excessive. Aldridge was a little itchy when he heard this, and he reached out and scratched it, but the abnormality that happened here alarmed the pumpkin scarecrow, and it immediately accelerated its metamorphosis.

I saw it abruptly lift the hollow pumpkin head that had been hanging low, and through the holes and cracks that formed the hideous and ugly face, the phosphorescent light that gradually gathered inside ignited a dark green flame, and the straw soaked in the power of unclean blasphemy continued to squirm like a snake-like muscle, struggling to leave the wooden pole that supported its body, and fell into the pool of stagnant water in the depression.

"Shhh...... The scarecrow stepped forward with his left foot, his hands clenched into fists and back, his chest erected, and the pumpkin head of the green flame in the sky let out a soul-shattering scream in the direction of Aldrich Triss.

The pain of being torn apart by someone in the photograph instantly dropped the knight's life points to a dangerous bottom line, and the fox Temothys was very unproductively on all fours, and even the crow Chromis, who was flying over the dead woods, was hit by an invisible crossbow arrow and plunged to the ground.

At this moment, the red socks on Aldrich's belt, the favor of the reindeer king given by Oak Mayor Orlov, suddenly spontaneously jumped up, turning into a stag with a silver moon hanging on its head, and a pure white light flame condensed.

"Reindeer!" the surprised scarecrow made a hoarse voice.

Before it could react, it saw that the Halo of Light Flame continued to expand outward, sweeping the skeleton knights and rotten zombies on the periphery, turning them to ashes in an instant, and the lifeless chicken snake beast and the wild pumpkin monster without the power of ghosts returned to their original appearance.

When the aura passed through the pumpkin scarecrow in waves, shattering the body of the ghost wrapped in the cloth robe on the spot, hundreds of Yin Soul Flames escaped from the remnants of the body like fire, only to be purified into firefly-like white particles by the second wave in mid-air, falling on the dead trees.

"Unexpectedly, the reckless move woke you up. It's just that this was my plan. Welcome back, Your Highness the Reindeer King. ”

The pumpkin scarecrow hugged his right hand over his shoulder and placed his left hand behind his back, stooping down and bowing his head to greet the stag that was spitting flames, but a third shockwave struck and completely destroyed its remains. A faint sigh immediately sounded around them, but there was a hint of joy in them.

When the time had finally come, Aldrich Triss knew that the purpose of the trip had been achieved, but his tired body might not be able to support him to return.

The silver moon hanging above the stag's head split into three rays of light, fell on the knight, the fox, and the crow, and then quietly disappeared.

The system prompts a rapid increase in life points to return to its full state, and Tris just looks at it and closes his eyes, falling into a deep stupor.

Before he knew it, his body was grabbed off the ground by the invisible hand, leaving the secret realm in the lake, and returning to the camp of the Night Watchman.