Heavy rain poured down.

Gray lurked in the bushes, carefully holding his breath, his longbow in hand, and the cover of the forest to hide his tracks.

But a hand suddenly appeared from behind and pressed it on his shoulder, almost causing the ranger to scream. He turned his head and saw an old bearded face looking at him with a sly smile.

"Hey, Ben! Don't be scary, okay? I almost screamed! ”

"That just means you're not home yet, kid."

Ben pursed his lips and walked quietly to Gray's side with the dexterity and agility of a wanderer, the old oilman seemed to be showing off his skills, but Gray was speechless about it, both rangers and wanderers are known for their concealment, and in fact......... It's true that my own kung fu is not at home.

"How's it going?"

"No one came out."

Gray lowered his voice and spoke.

"What about the others?"

"Stand by in the back, I just looked around, no one noticed us, it seems that we can really catch a big fish this time."

Ben covered his mouth to avoid the white air from overflowing, and replied almost in a muttered manner, his voice mixed with the cold rain of early autumn, which was inaudible.

The Judgment Blade team had set out a week earlier, and the Judgment Blade team was similar in nature to an adventure team, basically a team of five, and their main mission was to investigate the commissions and requests received by the Inquisition from all over the world, and to complete it.

For example, if a village suffers from a goblin, or if a ghost woman in a swamp steals a child, the Inquisition is on the radar of the Inquisition.

While there is no problem within the territory of the Inquisition, it is a different matter outside the territory. After all, most of the villages in this world are some remote base areas. For example, some villages were rudimentarily built and not within the confines of any territory, and because they were generally remote, the lord's guard would not travel long distances to help. Therefore, once such a remote village encounters any problems, then it can only rely on itself.

But now that there are courts, it's a different story.

The Inquisition is an organization that exists to protect human beings, so anything that threatens humanity is under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. This is how the Judgment Blade Squad was born, and they are as agile as adventurers in organizing and operating, mainly responsible for reconnaissance. Just like this team, the Inquisition received a request for help from a village in the nearby Lost Mountains, saying that a goblin had attacked the village recently, and hoped that the Inquisition would send someone to support it.

So the team set out from the city and went to that village to investigate the situation.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late, and by the time they arrived, the village had been destroyed, some of the villagers had been killed, and the other was missing.

Luckily, goblins aren't a smart race that can erase their footprints, and Gray, as a ranger, still captures their footprints and finds the goblin's camp and launches a successful raid.

The goblin camp was defeated, but the battle didn't end there, and according to the goblins, the villagers had been sent as captives to an being known as the Supreme God, whose souls would merge with the Supreme God and become even more powerful beings.

In the beginning, Gray didn't take the so-called supreme god too seriously, and the goblins were a weak, evil, and very scoundrel race. As long as they see a powerful being, they will think that the other person is a god, and maybe today their so-called god is a dragon, and tomorrow they will become a mage......... But in any case, they had to save the villagers, so they made it all the way to this place.

Although they were mentally prepared, the scene in front of them still surprised them.

In the middle of the col, a ruined fortress stood here, it looked like a dwarven fortress, but it was abandoned at the moment. But even so, the fortress is largely well preserved. However, the problem is not here, the problem is the presence of hundreds of goblins, mountain giants, and even orcs gathered here in this fortress——— They formed an army, and it is not known who led these guys.

But it is certain that the existence that can bring these savage monsters together and make them obedient is certainly not a small role.

So the team encountered a problem, and they began to think about what to do next, should they sneak in and find out the situation of the other party and report back, or should they report back immediately and wait for the rear to come to support?

"I have to apologize to you first."

Ben retracted his smile and stared at Gray.

"What's wrong?"

"I have sent a report to the Trial Chamber."

"You're ..................!"

Gray was taken aback by Ben's answer, and he subconsciously reached out to grab the other party, but fortunately, the only remaining reason let him know the consequences of making things happen here, but even so, the anger in his heart was still burning.

"Why don't you discuss it with me?"

Gray is the captain of this team, Ben is the vice captain, although Ben is about ten years older than Gray in terms of age, but Gray is young and strong, and he has a lot of experience as a ranger, plus ——— it always feels a little wrong to let the Wanderer be the captain, so in the end, the captain of this team is Gray, and Ben becomes the vice captain.

"Don't be in a hurry, young man."

Ben seemed very calm, even if his clothes were grabbed, he stared at Gray and shook his head.

"You know why I did it."

“………………………”

Gray let go of his hand, then turned his head angrily, looked at the fortress below, and remained silent.

Ben tidied up his clothes.

"Believe me, boy, I've seen a lot of young people like you, heard a lot of heroic epics, and thought that I could single-handedly turn the tide and save the world like the Mithril Four or the Neverwinter Heroes. But let's be clear, we don't have that ability, we can't deal with so many goblins and mountain giants. I know that you are in a hurry to perform meritorious service, and it is good to be self-motivated, but it is another thing not to know whether you live or die. ”

“…………………”

"Are you married?"

Hearing this question, Gray nodded gloomily.

"My daughter is a year old."

Then you should also understand that you also have to work hard to live for the sake of your wife and children. The Inquisition Court has given you such good conditions, but it is not for you to be sent to death. ”

Hearing Ben's words, Gray was speechless for a moment.

Gray is a ranger who originally lived a peaceful life with his wife in a small village, but later the village was attacked by robbers, and although Gray protected his wife, the entire village was destroyed. It was the most painful day for Gray, who was homeless and had to sleep in the open, and his wife became pregnant. In this case, Gray is even more powerless.

In the end, they chose to go to the courtroom.

In Arkham City, Gray decided to give up his identity as a Freedom Ranger and join Judgment Blade as a soldier.

The Inquisition was treated better than Gray could have imagined, and after becoming a Judgment Blade, he was given his own house, which was completely unimaginable for Gray. Generally speaking, soldiers will basically live in a large bunk, a large room, and then squeeze into a dozen bunk beds, in which a group of stinky sweaty men rest. Only people with a little spare money can rent a house, and it is even more difficult to buy a house.

In fact, when he first came to Arkham City, Gray wanted to use his savings to rent a house here and find a way to live. But to his surprise, when he finished the formalities, the staff who handled the formalities for him was given a completely new choice.

"You can rent an apartment building if you want."

According to the clerk, the so-called apartment building is a high-rise building, and as long as Gray is willing to sign an agreement, then they can live in it, and of course, the monthly rent will be automatically deducted from the salary. But compared to the rent outside, it's quite cheap.

Gray didn't have much choice but to nod in agreement.

Admittedly, at first, Gray was very uncomfortable with this eccentric architectural style. In the world of Ferron, every family builds a house, basically enclosing a piece of land by themselves, and building whatever they want. Especially in those remote villages, you have the ability to enclose the whole mountain and no one cares.

But in Arkham City, Gray rented a two-bedroom standard room, which was unfurnished, but had a kitchen and bathroom. It's so convenient that when you wake up every day, you can even enjoy the view from the colorful floor-to-ceiling windows in front of you.

However, as a ranger, Gray still prefers a house with his own courtyard, and although the apartment is fully equipped and comfortable to live in, it always feels a little uncomfortable for him to live in a luxurious birdcage.

Of course, Gray knew that he was too greedy, and being able to give such good treatment to a new soldier was enough to prove that the Inquisition was quite good to them, so he wanted to make a contribution as soon as possible so that he could repay the Inquisition.........

"Don't think too much, kid."

Ben slapped Gray on the back of the head, interrupting his thoughts.

"Remember, we're soldiers now, we're soldiers, you're no longer the free-spirited ranger, remember what mission we received before we set off?"

“…………… Investigate the specific situation of the village attacked by the goblins, and respond and report the situation as appropriate. ”

"That's right, we've done everything we need to do at this point, so it's a soldier's duty to report to the Inquisition Chamber and wait for the next move."

Ben reached out and pointed to the ruins of the fortress below.

"You know what? Gray, I've explored similar ruin fortresses a few times before, and I've often seen some corpses in it, and then I'll wonder who they are, where they came from, and why they're here......... But I can't find an answer because they're dead and there's no record of what's going on. ”

Ben spread his hands.

"You see, we don't want to end up in the same situation, we go in, maybe we find something, maybe not. Maybe we will be killed, and then we will leave the body, and then the latecomer will stand in front of our corpse and wonder why we are here, but we are dead, and the dead will not speak. ”

“………………………”

Gray didn't speak.

"Remember, Gray, it's good to make a difference, but first you have to figure out your duties, we are the Blades of Judgment, we were told the day we joined, we are mortal troops of the Inquisition, we fight for the Inquisition, we fight to protect humanity, or do you think this body is not cool enough to become that kind of iron shell?"

Speaking of this, Ben patted Gray on the shoulder, the situation of the night guards, almost no one in Arkham City did not know, they were the most loyal warriors of the Inquisition during their lifetime, and after their deaths, their souls were possessed by the steel armor, and they turned into undead warriors to continue to serve the Inquisition.

Of course, in other places, even if you say so, it will not be recognized by most people, not to mention how evil the appearance of the Night Guard's armor is, it is more acceptable to say that this is a necromancer using a spell to extract the souls of living people and seal them in steel armor as slaves.

The reason why the people accepted the Night Guards was that even during the day, these Iron Guards would patrol the streets tirelessly, not caring about the sun at all. And they were often seen talking to the clergy or paladins of the Church, and because of this, everyone accepted the Inquisition.

After all, there are so many churches of gods here, and among them, there is also the Lord of the Dawn, Loshanda, who hates the undead the most, if it is just a certain church, it can be said that it may have been deceived or bought by the Inquisition, but it is impossible for all the gods to be blind.

"That's good, too."

Hearing Ben's quip, Gray reached out and touched the Inquisition logo on his collar.

"If I die, my soul can go to the Inquisition, and then come back and watch my daughter grow up, get married, and have children, I think it's good."

"So you don't want to leave your daughter when you die, your daughter is really miserable..............."

“—————————！！！”

However, before Ben's words were finished, suddenly, a black shadow suddenly swept through the sky, and a howling wind blew, and for a moment, an indescribable fear and trembling feeling in the hearts of the two of them suddenly exploded, making them feel that they seemed to have lost their strength all over their bodies, and they could only sit on the ground like a puddle of mud, staring at the shadow that swept across the sky and landed in the fortress.

It was a dragon.

"God, God, the gods are above, what do we see?"

Ben's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth trembling and almost shouted, but luckily the goblins and giants in the fortress were not much better at the moment, they fell to their knees trembling, completely unaware of the two people who were watching not far away.

"Quick, get out of here!"

Ben bit his tongue hard, and a sharp pain came, diluting the fear, and he grabbed Gray and tried to take him away.

Gray, however, shook his head.

"No, I can't go."

"Are you crazy? That's a dragon! ”

"I knew it was a dragon."

Gray turned around and stared at Ben.

"But this is an opportunity, what the hell is this place, and why is there a dragon? What exactly are they trying to do? I don't believe that these people went to great lengths to capture the villagers just to feed the dragon's belly. ”

With that, Gray got back to his feet.

"I'm going to investigate the situation, and maybe I can get some valuable information."

"You ..............."

Ben reached out and pointed at Gray.

"You don't want to die? That's a dragon! ”

But Gray didn't say anything more, just stared at Ben, who shook his head.

"I'm not going to die, and there are other people who want me to take care of them, so if you want to die, you can go......... In any case, the pension of the court is enough to support orphans and widows. ”

After saying this, Ben snorted coldly, turned around and disappeared into the bushes. Gray withdrew his gaze, looked at the fortress in front of him again, and took a deep breath.

Then he bent down and felt in the direction of the fortress.

(End of chapter)