The sun was sinking behind the trees, and another day was about to pass. The two knights had approached the Morrit Wasteland, and they could already clearly feel the unusual place.

It is called a wasteland mainly because of the poor soil, and no matter what you plant, you will not get a good harvest. Only one out of ten seeds can germinate, and only one out of ten seedlings can grow. Farmers here have toiled all year long, and the grain they have laid is not enough for food rations.

The weather here is always very humid, so the locals have learned to grow mushrooms to make ends meet. The inhabitants of the Morrit Wasteland buy decaying trees from other places and use special secret methods to give rise to large and thick mushrooms. They not only make vegetables, but also sell them to passing merchants for some money to buy food and household utensils. Gradually, all the living creatures here began to eat mushrooms, and legend has it that the pigs here grew up eating them.

According to previous reports, Mage McGonagall lived in the Morritt Heath, where she was often seen buying large quantities of mushrooms. However, this message was three years ago, and no one knows what it is now.

In order to avoid going the wrong way, Siegel and Moore followed the road to find the village, ready to inquire about the situation. As they had approached the eastern side of the New World, far from the Battlefield of the Heim Realm, the lord's rule was still strong, bandits were rare, and the villagers were still friendly.

"Do you smell anything?" Moore sniffed and said suddenly, "There's a smell of dead fish here." ”

Siegel shook his shoulder, and Baron the raven flew forward. Walk through the trees and get closer to the village, the stronger the smell. Baron let out two quacks, indicating that he had noticed something unusual. Siegel concentrated, and observed with the eyes of a demon pet.

It is a fishing village located right on the shores of a reed lake. The invasion of the ghost mist swamp has turned the previously clear water of the lake into a mud swamp, but fish can still be seen swimming in the water.

Beyond the shore of the lake, a fence made of thorns. There is no movement in the village of low thatched houses. On the road in the middle of the village, a long row of racks was erected, all made of freshly cut trees, some with nails, some with straw ropes. The corpse, which had long since lost its human form, hung upside down from the torture rack with its head and feet, and its feet were bound with straw ropes. Large stones are tied to the wrists.

The corpse had been decomposing for a long time, and hundreds of flies were buzzing. The ravens let out a loud cry, and the flies all flew up with a buzz, fleeing like black smoke. The corpse was driven by this force, and swayed gently in the air, as if it was about to break free. The stones dangling from their wrists rubbed against the ground, and the sound of brushing and pulling was clearly audible.

Siegel and Moore covered their mouths and noses and entered the village, where they looked at the corpses with a frown. One after another, seventy-eight. They have been dead for a long time, and their bodies are so rotten that they can no longer see their faces clearly, and they can only distinguish them by their size. There are old and young, men and women, who did such a murderous thing?

There is a bulletin board on the side of the road, and a notice on it seems to answer this question. The proclamation was issued by Viscount Puran Scotton, Lord of Moritt. "All evildoers who reject good and believe in evil gods will be punished, and those who harbor the devil should be purified. "At the same time. There was also a notice posted next to it, "To all pedestrians, the Morrit area is no longer safe due to the effects of the Ghost Fog Swamp." Don't leave the main road, go to Morritt Castle and buy an amulet to keep you safe. ”

"Your Excellency. Are there devils and evil gods here?" Moore asked, looking away from the corpse and holding his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"I only felt the breath of the dead, and there was a lot of resentment around me. Siegel looked at the long row of corpses hanging from the torture rack, his heart full of doubts. "The area of the Ghost Swamp has always been prone to spawning undead, such as skeletons, zombies, and ghouls. Why haven't all these bodies changed?"

Moore said, "Maybe Viscount Puran asked the priest to do a purification to avoid this?"

Siegel shook his head, he didn't see any trace of the purification ritual here. The upside-down corpse, with its hollow eye sockets and mouth with only teeth remaining, stared at Siegel and screamed silently. There were no wounds from swords or spears on their corpses, and if the dead were to fall down, they did not have stones tied to their hands. These people were tied up alive and died step by step in despair.

With a flick of Siegel's fingers, crimson fireballs flew out and hit the corpse accurately. Seventy-eight torture racks were turned into seventy-eight torches, and there seemed to be the sound of wailing as the corpses burned. The two riders turned their horses' heads and continued along the road towards Morrit Castle.

At this moment, the water of the lake next to the village made a rattling sound, which seemed to be the plucking of oars, and it seemed like someone swimming forward. More nervously drew his sword, the metal reflecting a terrifying glow in the light of seventy-eight torches. "Come out!" he shouted, and the paddling died down.

It's already in the Morrit Wasteland, and there's not much point in camouflage. With a wave of his hand, the surging wind blew away the fog in front of him, revealing the vast surface of the lake. In the reeds, circles of ripples drifted away, but there was no movement in sight.

If it were a fish, it wouldn't have such a loud sound, and it wouldn't have been so perfectly hidden. Siegel turned on his vision to scan the surface of the lake, but still found no clue. The lake is quiet, the reeds sway gently in the breeze, and everything looks calm.

Then they heard a thudding sound, and when they turned their heads, it turned out that the rope on the torture rack had been burned and the body had fallen. Moore laughed softly at himself, and when he turned back again, he noticed a figure in the middle of the lake.

Dressed in a long grass-green dress, he stood quietly on the water, his golden hair covering his face and hanging down to his waist. She didn't move, she didn't speak, she just stood there quietly. More knew he couldn't see clearly, but he was sure that the woman was staring at him intently with red eyes behind her hair.

With a palm resting on his shoulder, Siegel patted his squire lightly. "Don't be nervous, it's a braid, a species of undead creature that can sense your fears and grow with it, and may eventually become a banshee. I'd be surprised if it didn't appear. ”

"Can you destroy it?"

"It's not impossible, but it's going to be a lot of trouble. Siegel explained, "It would be much better if Red were here, and the priest's superpower is the best way to deal with the bindings." But don't worry, if it dares to come close, I can make it disappear by the stupidest means. ”

"Wouldn't it be very dangerous to keep her here, there are still ...... here," Morton paused, there were no more villagers here.

"Before she turned into a banshee, she had almost no ability to move, at most she flew along the aura of fear emanating from your body, but there was also a limit to her range, and because of this, she was called a binder. That guy is more than a mile from the shore, and my spells rarely have such a range, and the only way to deal with it is to take a boat. But I look like a trap no matter how I look at it. The Ghost Mist Swamp has invaded the lake here, and my detection spell can't go far into the water before it reaches its limit, so there are too many places to set up ambushes. Moore, the real undead are not like skeleton zombies, they are very intelligent and always have to be careful. ”

Especially after meeting Naegus, Siegel has a deeper understanding of this sentence in the book.

The two men stopped at the edge of the lake, and the bound spirits found that they could not be frightened and there was no possibility of causing a fight, so they slowly sank into the water.

"Let's go to Viscount Puran and tell him about the undead creatures here. ”

Morritt Castle sits on a bare hill and is built of large blocks of black stone bricks. The castle is huge and vast, but it has never been attacked. The wasteland is so barren that there is nothing but mushrooms and pigs and sheep raised on mushrooms. Therefore, the city lord here is too lazy to repair, and many places are almost decaying and withering. The castle has three tall towers, only one of which is now inhabited, and the other two have long since been converted into storage rooms - which are overgrown with mushrooms.

The black fog brought by the Ghost Swamp matches the style of the castle perfectly, making it always look damp and muddy, and no matter what color of clothes people wear, they will end up in dirty clothes covered with gray mud deposits. The Crest of the Scotton family is a large tree that grows vigorously, with golden leaves all over the red trunk, and the background of the flag should be green. But now it's all black, and the trees look like mushrooms.

The guards at the door were sleeping leaning on their spears, and the sound of the horses waking them up with the sound of their noses. Siegel sat in the saddle and looked at the guard condescendingly, exuding majesty.

The doorman's hand gripped the spear tightly, and the tendons bulged out because of the force. He took a half-step back vigilantly, and then asked, "Two adults, are there ...... Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm the Knight of Thus from Heim, and this is my retinue. If it is convenient, we would like to meet His Excellency Viscount Puran Scotton, who has a letter to be forwarded from my master, Baron Siegel. ”

"Our lord will not be a guest unless you bring amulets. The guard lifted his coat and could see a six-pointed star badge pinned to his chest with a drop of blue water in the center. He pointed to the badge and said, "With him, you can easily tell if you are a real person or a ghost, so that the lord will see you." ”

Siegel didn't feel any magic fluctuations from the badge and judged that it must be some kind of artifact. However, the blue droplet part in the center of the badge seems to be made of alchemy gel or crystal glass blowing, a technique that only a very few craftsmen can master, and is mostly used in mage's experimental equipment, which seems to be overkill.

"Since you have come to the territory of your own consciousness, you will naturally abide by the local rules and customs. Where can I get this badge?" Siegel asked.

The guard raised his hand, and following the direction of his finger, Siegel saw a rudimentary thatched house with crooked walls that had begun to sink into the mire. On the walls and doors of the house, strips of cloth were hung everywhere, gently swaying in the breeze.

For some reason, Siegel thought of the upside-down corpses, and always swayed gently like this. (To be continued......)