The mount leaped out of the forest, and without the shelter of the trees, Fern's eyes suddenly brightened. The sky was full of stars, the bright moonlight shone on the earth, the flat land occasionally crossed a few low bushes, and in the distance, with the help of the silver moonlight, stood several small trees. Not far in front of Fern was the back of Nokos, the dust raised by the soldiers' horses fluttering in the air, clearly pointing the way to the others.

Fern looked behind him, and Lamar rode the clouds to follow, and behind him was a dark forest of Westwood, from which they had escaped death just a few hours earlier, but in the meantime, the four soldiers had remained there forever, and there were no dead bodies. After hours of riding, Fern's thighs had gone numb, and the saddle was even more crowded because he was riding the same horse as Molina. To Fern's surprise, Morena didn't complain, but grabbed the horse's mane in front of him and leaned down slightly.

After leaving the forest, and only after riding, Nokos rode towards a small wood, and at the edge of the woods, Nokos stopped, and immediately several soldiers took out their weapons and rushed towards Fern.

"They saved us, don't hurt them. Nokos boasted, rolled off his horse, lost sensation in his legs for a moment, and fell to the ground.

The soldiers picked him up and waited for Fern and Lamar's horses to arrive. "What about the others, Tabour, Schuyler, and ......," one of the soldiers looked behind Lamar, and only three horses had returned.

"They're dead, hell, they're all dead, that forest is a nightmare!" Lamar jumped off the back of the clouds and sat down on the ground.

Fern had also dismounted, moving his stiff legs. "We'd better keep an eye on the direction of the forest, the monsters don't know if they're going to chase them out of the forest. ”

"What?!monsters?" the soldiers raised their weapons in horror and stared warily in the direction of the return of several men.

"Don't worry, they won't leave the forest. Jalena found a tree and sat down against its trunk and closed her eyes. "Those things are creations of evil magic, and they can't be too far away from where they gather, or the mana that controls them will be gone. ”

"What the hell...... What you say. The soldiers were no longer nervous, but they still didn't withdraw their weapons.

Nokos lifted his water bladder and drank a few large sips of water, then coughed violently, and after calming his breathing, he sat down against the trunk of the tree. "We encountered a group of monsters in the forest, and the other four were devoured by them, only me and Lamar escaped, and if it weren't for the help of these two strangers, we would have been buried there. ”

Fern also took out the water bladder and handed it to Molina. "Are we going to inform the nearby villages and ask them to go to the nearest town and ask the guards to clean them up? ”

Jamina drank the water gently, and even after a long run, she was still unhurried. "No, those monsters need a lot of meat to keep them alive, and at the same time they can't go too far from that area, and when they eat all the animals in that small area, they will naturally starve to death, and if you let an inexperienced soldier deal with them, you will definitely kill innocents. ”

"You say they're demonic creatures, so who created them and controlled them against us?" Fern took another water bladder from his pannier and drank it himself, drinking it until his stomach was full.

"Maybe it'......" Jalena gave a quick glance at Tempe's soldiers. "Those in Chavanna. ”

"Possibly, Twilight ......" Fern was about to say the next word when he saw Morena shaking her head at him, and immediately turned to Nokos and changed the subject. "Nokos, have you been attacked by anyone since you arrived here?"

Nokos was still so overwhelmed by the loss of his companion that he didn't have the heart to answer Fern's question, and Lamar answered for him, "No, don't talk about the attack, we didn't even see a human figure." ”

"Why are you here? There's no one here. Fern leaned against the trunk of the tree, his hands crossed over his chest.

Lamar hesitated, glancing at Nokos, who looked back at him blankly. "For the sake of you saving our lives, and giving me horses to ride, tell you that we have come here by order of the king to look for holy weapons. ”

"Hallows!?" Jasmina opened her eyes and looked at Lamar in surprise.

Fern waved at Jamine. "Isn't the Hallows in Canrito?"

"To be honest, we don't know much, anyway, it's an order from above, let's come to the Westwood Forest to find the whereabouts of the holy weapon, our team is only a part, and there are several similar teams like us who are also searching nearby. Lamar looked in the direction of the Westwood Forest, his eyes glazed. "If they run into the forest too, it's over. ”

"You'd better hurry up and find a way to inform them that they don't go in for a few days, I estimate that in three days at most, those flesh beasts will fend for themselves. Jamina closed her eyes again, her long eyelashes twitching slightly.

"Well, I'm sure I won't set foot in that damn forest again, so I'll go to them when I have the time to spare. Lamar glanced again in the direction of the forest, and after making sure there were nothing unusual, he relaxed and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

As the sky grew brighter, the soldiers extinguished the bonfires and prepared to leave. After a night of tossing and turning, Morena did not sleep all night, and Fern took advantage of the escape to rest on the trunk of a tree for more than an hour, but was woken up by Morena not long after, and the archmage's charming eyes were bloodshot. "We have to think about the rest of the trip, we can't go to the forest for the time being. ”

Fern shook his hand, changed directions, and went back to sleep. "Don't be in a hurry, let me sleep again. ”

Nokos came over, and after a period of rest, the captain finally came to his senses. "If I'm not mistaken, you're here to find the Hallows, too. ”

Fern opened his narrowed eyes and looked at Nokos alertly. "You don't want to hurt your savior. ”

Nokos sighed, pulled out an earthy yellow map from his clothes, and spread it out on the ground. "Four of my men have died, I have no intention of continuing the search, Lamar also told me, we will go to the other colleagues and tell them about the situation in the forest, I don't know why you are looking for the Hallows, but I don't think you will use it for evil purposes, so...... I am giving you this map. ”

Fern and Morena looked at each other, sat up, and looked at the map carefully. Nokos pointed to the place on the map marked with a few red crosses. "These are all places where we think it is possible to find the Hallows, and you can try to search for them. ”

Jarena looked at Nokos suspiciously. "Why are you telling us this, and giving us the map? You don't know if we're enemies of Tempe. ”

"It doesn't matter whether you are Tampe's enemies or not, the important thing is that in my opinion, you are definitely not evil people, as long as the holy weapon does not fall into the hands of evil people, I think the holy weapon will definitely play its role better in your hands than in the hands of Tempe. Nokos smiled self-deprecatingly. "Although I am an officer of Tempe, but to be honest, I don't care about these things, I care about the lives of my subordinates, and in order to find this thing, all four of our good fellows died, and they died so miserably......"

Fern patted Nokos on the shoulder. "I can understand your feelings, Nokos, in the cemetery where we met, where my former companions are buried. ”

"Really?" Nokos' eyes showed fear. "You...... Is it really alive?"

Fern could see something unusual in his reaction. "What did you find? I was the only one who survived, do you think I look like a dead man?"

Nokos stared at Fern's face for several seconds before his expression softened. "We arrived here a few days ago and found the cemetery, and we found ......," Nokos hesitated before continuing, "there was a tomb that had been turned over, and it was empty, and we didn't think much of it at the time, thinking that the grave robbers had done it, but when we passed by it the next day, we found that the traces of the turning were gone." ”

Fern raised an eyebrow and looked at Molina, the archmage frowning and shaking his head. "Could it be that there is someone else besides us who is also looking for the Hallows, and then he thinks the Hallows are in that tomb?"

"Then he doesn't need to go and refill the tomb. Fern blinked to wake himself up, but after just over an hour of sleep, he couldn't recover from the fatigue of running all night, and even made him feel more tired.

Nokos rolled up the map and handed it to Fern. "None of this has anything to do with us anymore, I tell you just to keep an eye on you, there may be more terrible things in this forest than just those monsters. With that, Nokos pursed his lips. "Another thing, we're fighting for the same item, and while I can guarantee that my men won't interfere again, I can't control the other squads, so we're still nominally rivals. ”

Fern nodded gratefully. "Thank you very much for your kindness, Nokos, I understand. ”

"We're leaving, and I don't think we'll have a chance to see you again in the future, thank you again for saving your life, and may the seven gods be with you. Nokos stood up and walked over to his horse.

Fern put away the map and stood up. "May the Seven Gods bless you and return to Delus soon. ”

Nokos nodded in acknowledgment, then flipped onto his horse, and Lamar walked over and saluted Fern and Molina. "I'm a rough man, and I don't know how to say thanks, but I know that if you hadn't come back to save me, and given me the horse to ride, I would have died there, and I would have repaid you if I had the chance to see you again. ”

Fern nodded in return. "Don't worry, Lamar, I just hope we are all safe. ”

The Tempe soldiers walked slowly toward the rising sun, and Fern and Morena watched as they watched until their figures disappeared into the morning light.