Hearing Lisa's objection, everyone turned to her in unison, and Rogge exchanged glances with Antonio and Murphy, and asked Lisa curiously, "Why can't we go this way?"

"The road you are talking about, within the territory of the gnomes, is a very fierce and treacherous bunch of little creatures that lurk in the reeds or under the water, and shoot stingers at those who pass by from a distance, and the poisoned are almost hopeless. ”

Lisa's serious face made everyone present look at each other, Rogge and Antonio looked at Murphy's face at the same time, and the adventurer nodded after a moment's silence: "When I came to the swamp, it was indeed close to the territory of the gnomes, and maybe it is now occupied by the gnomes. ”

"Are they dangerous?" asked Antonio with concern.

"Gnomes are very hostile and wary of humans, they generally do not allow humans to enter their territory without permission, but they do not come into direct conflict with humans, as Miss Lisa said, they will shoot humans in the shadows from a distance, like shooting a deer in the forest. Murphy looked at the two and said.

"What do you think, Captain?" asked Rog as he looked back at Antonio with an inquiring gaze.

"It does sound very dangerous, but we must find Bach and the Hallows!" Antonio said firmly, looking around at the crowd, "I don't think William the Dark Wizard is weaker than the gnomes and their poisoned arrows, but we haven't been cowardly in front of William, have we?"

"I support the Captain, let's raise our hands to vote!" Rogge said, holding up his hand.

Tali raised her hand calmly, and Catherine and Murphy also raised their hands in agreement, only to hear the little furball lying on Rogge's hat ask in embarrassment, "Why don't you raise your feet to vote?"

"You'd better wag your little tail, little stupid bird!" said Rogge, shaking his head slightly.

Seeing that everyone present agreed, Lisa sighed and nodded, "Well, since you have made up your mind, of course I will go with you, but it is best for us to act during the day, because gnomes are afraid of the sun, and if they are exposed to direct sunlight, they will turn to stone." ”

"That's good news," said Rogge, nodding approvingly, glancing up at the foggy sky, "but there doesn't seem to be any sunlight in this swamp during the day......"

The group thus decided on their route, from here they searched north for the trail of Bach, the priest, and in the process they found several indistinct footprints that proved their inference, which made several people very excited, hoping to catch up with him.

But after a week of going like this, they still didn't find Bach's shadow, which made them a little demoralized, Rogge and Antonio walked in front of the group to discuss the next step, and then Murphy suddenly came up and whispered, "Look at that!"

The two of them looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a slender log standing in a puddle not far in front of them in the muddy water, and a skull was inserted at the top of the wood, and the surface of the skeleton was full of cracks, and it could be seen that it had experienced countless winds and rains.

"It is the custom of gnomes to kill humans who have invaded their territory and then stick their heads on wooden sticks and place them on the edge of the territory to warn other humans not to enter. Murphy said to the two of them as he looked at the skull with a solemn expression.

"So, we're close to the gnome's territory. Rogge glanced at the surrounding swamp and said that it was dusk, and the setting sun turned the thin clouds on the horizon red, and the glow sprinkled on the swamp floor, bringing an intoxicating sense of warmth.

"Then let's spend the night here tonight, and wait until tomorrow after dawn before we set out into the realm of the gnomes. Antonio looked at the dimming glow in the sky and said to the two.

Both Rogge and Murphy agree with his offer, and Rogge summons the little furball and tells her to fly into the air to find out if there is a suitable place to spend the night nearby, while reminding her not to cross the skull's position.

Lilith, who had just woken up, flapped her little wings lazily and flew into the air, looking around the place where they were, and suddenly, she saw a silver-white object floating in a puddle about a hundred meters north of the skull.

Aroused by her curiosity, Lilith had forgotten Rogge's instructions, fluttered her little wings and hurried over, circled around the puddle, swept over the silver-white thing, and then pulled up, and hurried back to Rogge's side.

"I saw it, I saw it!" the little furball cried out as it landed on Rog's shoulder.

"What do you see? don't make such a fuss!" Rogge frowned.

"I saw a dead man, it looks like a stinky priest, dressed in a silver-white robe, lying in dirty water, so stinky, stinking!" cried out the little furball, fluttering his wings.

"Wait, wait!" Rogge reached out and grabbed her, stared at her and asked loudly, "You tell me clearly, where did you see that?"

"Over there, past the place where there are skulls, continue a hundred meters and you'll see it!" said the little furball, waving his wings in the direction where the body was found.

Rogge looked back at Antonio when he heard this, and the moment the two made eye contact, they all turned to the direction that Lilith was pointing, Rogge let go of Lilith, turned back to the other four and said, "You guys are waiting here, don't act casually!"

With that, he and Antonio followed Lilith past the location of the skull, and hurried to the puddle where the body was found, and sure enough, they saw a corpse in a silver-white robe lying in the muddy water, emitting a strong stench.

"We were on our own side to see if there were any traces around. Rogge gestured to Antonio, and the two of them carefully walked around the puddle from both sides, observing their surroundings as they went.

They noticed that the corpse was facing northeast, with one bare foot, one of the shoes was thrown five steps away from the corpse, the mud between the two was covered with stray footprints, a silver holy hammer was thrown next to the corpse, it was stained with a lot of blood, and footprints of a pair of boots were found on the ground in the direction the corpse's head was facing.

After surveying the scene, Rogge and Antonio stepped forward to drag the body out of the muddy water, and when they turned the body over, a disgusting stench hit their faces, and they had to cover their noses and step back, only to see that the corpse was crawling with disgusting maggots, which made people get goosebumps.

"Damn!" Rogge covered his nose and frowned, staring at the corpse's abominable face, which could no longer be called a face, the bones of the entire face had been destroyed, and one could imagine what it would be like to be bloody when a person died, and now it was only stenching rotting flesh and wriggling maggots.

"Come on, Mr. Captain, we need to examine the corpse, although I know you don't want to touch him, and I don't want to, but we still have to do it!" Rogge lit a cigar and crouched down next to the foul-smelling corpse, and together with Antonio, he lifted the robe from the corpse and examined it for marks and remnants.

They found that there was nothing left on the body, and there were no visible injuries on the chest, abdomen, or limbs, except for a small wound on the neck, and the skin around the wound showed signs of a rash, but other than that, no other abnormalities were found.

"What do you think of this corpse?" Antonio asked as he looked up at the pensive Rogge, "Can you identify him?"

"In terms of stature, it looks very similar to Bach. Rogge stood up, turned around and stepped forward to pick up the blood-stained silver hammer on the ground, and said while looking down at the hammer in his hand, "Bach's weapon is also here, and everything seems to indicate to us that this corpse is Bach." ”

"But the Hallows is not here. Antonio got up and walked over to him and said.

"Yes, the gold box for the holy vessels is not here, and we have not found the body of another priest. Rog handed the hammer to Antonio, glanced at the blood on the hammer and asked, "And this, it looks suspicious, doesn't it?"

"What did you find?" Antonio looked at him with concern, but Rogge did not answer, but stepped over to the corpse, gulping on his cigar and staring at the corpse that had fallen to the ground crawling with maggots.

Seeing this, Antonio glanced down at the holy hammer in his hand, he had doubts in his heart and didn't want to disturb Rog's thinking, and when he was wondering, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, he turned back to follow the sound, and saw Murphy walking over with Catherine, Tully, and Lisa.

"Why are you here? Didn't you say you should wait over there?" Antonio hurriedly stepped forward, stopped the four of them and led them away from Rogge, who was thinking, and looked worriedly at the surrounding swamp in the dark night.

"No way, a few girls don't worry about you coming by yourself. Murphy looked back at Catherine and Tully, then looked at Antonio with an inquiring gaze and asked, "How's it going, did you find anything?"

Antonio told them about the current situation, and when they heard that Bach's hammer had been found, their expressions were a little solemn, and after learning that only this corpse had been found here, their hanging hearts calmed down a little.

"Since no artifact or another corpse has been found, there may be hope. Tali said hopefully.

"You're right, as things stand, it's very likely that Bach and the priests who accompanied him were hunted by the Void Hunters," Antonio said, glancing back in the direction of the corpse, pointing to its bare foot, "You see, the corpse's shoes have run off, indicating that they were in a mess." ”

"Looks like we should hurry up, maybe we should set out at once and continue the chase from here, otherwise the remaining priest will be left alone, and if the Void Hunters find it again, the Hallows will be in danger!" Catherine said, looking around at Antonio, Tully, and Murphy.

However, Rogge still seems to have doubts. Antonio said and looked back at Rogge, but suddenly saw him standing behind him like a ghost, with a sly smile on the corner of his mouth holding a cigar: "No, there is no doubt anymore, it seems that I underestimated him before this, this move, play smart!"