In late summer and August, the "Sorrowful" mercenary group finally broke away from the initial stage of squad combat and began to establish its basic framework.

Allegri walked downstream along the Broken Jade River, where the mercenary group's temporary base had been completely set up, and the wooden houses nailed out of the newly cut logs were tightly sealed, and the mercenaries were clearly very concerned about their residence.

The base is located in the middle of the valley, five or six kilometers away from the Magic Tower, separated by cultivated farmland that has been cultivated. Nearby sloping land that is not suitable for cultivation is preserved as native vegetation and serves as pasture for livestock.

Allegri walked down the river of pearls, lined with sparse woods, and the evening cicadas chirped in a poetic way.

In the distance, the training ground of the mercenary group could already be faintly seen, divided into three parts according to the terrain, the largest of which occupied four-fifths of the area. Dios is training troops of the Warrior Battalion and the Knight's Battalion subordinate to him.

The Warrior Battalion is the bulk of the mercenary group, and now has a total of 900 people, divided into four squadrons, and is training basic weapon skills under his guidance. For mercenaries, all kinds of strange weapons can be used, but the army is the opposite, and the standard of weapons is uniform. The warrior battalion of the "sad" mercenary group, Dios is regulated and trained according to the standards of the army, and the standard long sword is the most conventional choice, and more than half of the mercenaries use them, practicing one by one.

Among the remaining mercenaries in the warrior battalion, Dios chose a large part of the strength and used heavy weapons such as giant axes and spears for attacking fortifications. Dios is ready to choose a reasonable number of troops after the basic weapon training is completed.

The knights' battalion, which also belonged to him, had only about 200 people, and they were practicing their sword stabbing skills against grass targets on the adjacent field. According to their plan, the knight force of the mercenary group will definitely be formed, but the conditions are not sufficient at the moment. You can only pick out a squadron to take precautions first, so as not to be in a hurry later.

In addition to this, the bow battalion belonging to Illo had two squadrons of four hundred men, and Celyl's scout battalion had only one squadron of two hundred men. As for Allegri, Herseus had reluctantly picked out dozens of guys with magical talents to prepare for training. So when it came to the worst, it was the group leader who had the least manpower.

These mercenary battalions basically constitute the combat units of the "sad" mercenary group.

The non-combat units are made up of the remaining mercenary members, who really have no talent in martial arts or magic, and are drawn to form the necessary departments such as logistics support for the mercenary group.

While thinking, Allegri walked towards the mercenary base, and just as he reached the door, he suddenly heard the sound of hooves behind him, and Hoel's anxious voice followed. "Commander, Commander!"

"What's wrong?" Allegri turned, a little puzzled.

"An urgent letter just sent by the messenger of the Grand Duke, addressed to you. Hoel raised the letterhead in his hand, turned over and got off the goat, and handed it over in a few steps.

Allegri took it and skimmed through a few lines, the expression on his face getting heavier and heavier.

"Hoel. Come!" he pondered for a moment, and Huo Ran raised his head. "Go and find me a horse!"

"What?" said Hoel, scratching his head in confusion.

"I must rush to the Green River Valley right now. Allegri frowned, glanced into the distance, and tucked the letterhead into his arms.

Misty swamps, Stone Tooth tribes.

Illo and Bai Ji had been here for five or six days, though they had completely regained their freedom since they knew that the evil power of the Dao had nothing to do with the two of them. But no matter what Kashiko suggests. Illo insisted on staying in the ogre tribe, not knowing what Lu Dao's idea was.

The maiden priest had to go to the cave every day, thinking hard about how to get rid of evil and purify the totem pole, but she found nothing. Pakki was bored. She also follows the girl every day, after all, she is a little kinder in the whole tribe. Therefore, among the tribes, in addition to the maiden sacrifice, she is the one who knows the invasion of evil forces best. Originally, it was just wisps of gray-black smoke, but now it is bubbling out like a fountain, and the number of infected totem poles has also increased rapidly from a dozen, just in the past few days, it has occupied about half of the number of stone pillars in the cave.

The maiden sacrifice, who tried again to gain nothing, sighed dejectedly and walked back tiredly.

"How's it going?" asked Kashiorgie casually.

"It didn't work, the force was completely beyond my realization, and all the methods I tried were useless. The girl shook her head, her face full of helplessness.

"I don't know," asked Bai Ji, "why should the entire tribe leave after the totem pole is eroded?"

"What do you mean?" the girl frowned, as if unable to understand.

"Can't we live here as long as it doesn't exist?" Bai Ji pointed to the mist, which had a strong evil aura, but it didn't seem to her to be so terrifying to the girl and the tribe.

The maiden priestess smiled bitterly and shook her head, "It's not these mist that we are afraid of, but the power behind it. ”

She paused, then continued to explain, "The Misty Swamp is full of dangers, and ogres have great physical strength, so they are naturally fearless against beasts or enemies, but there is nothing they can do with the evil spirits and demons in the mist. These erected totem poles communicate the protection of the souls of the ogre's ancestors throughout the ages, and each generation of sacrifices will pour all their power into it before they die, so the longer a tribe survives, the stronger the tribe's sacrificial power will be. ”

"So when these totem poles are eroded, your strength will be greatly weakened?"

"No, not only that," the girl whispered, "you can't feel it in your squad of one or two, but such a large tribe, once it loses the protection of the ancestral spirits, the vigorous blood qi of tens of thousands of people gathered together will attract powerful evil spirits and evil spirits, and the tribe will have to split into small teams and flee in all directions at that time." ”

Bai Ji's expression also became solemn, looking at the gradually polluted totem poles, and the gray-black mist that permeated them also looked quiet but terrifying.

"Actually, I'm more worried about ......" The girl's voice seemed a little ethereal in this claustrophobic space, "These powers have only found the ancestral souls on the totem pole, and these powers are likely to come from more evil beings, and they want to achieve some ulterior purpose by absorbing these soul powers......"

Bai Ji didn't know much about any of this, so he could only scratch his head.

The girl closed her eyes and continued to think, and silence returned to the cave.

Gradually, however, a clicking, creepy voice slowly rose behind them......

Illo walked around the tribe casually, his expression casual and natural, as if he were in his own home.

Even though it's still daytime, there are still piles of bonfires burning among the tall buildings, and in such a season, the blazing flames can dispel the fog, repel mosquitoes, and, according to the ogres, drive away the evil spirits and evil spirits of the swamp.

Yes, it was his own explanation of listening to the ogres, not the maiden sacrifice. I have to say that what kind of person has what kind of ability, but in a few days, Illo has already mastered the simple language of ogres. What is even more unimaginable is that the half-elf sat between the two ogre men sitting by the campfire, and it didn't take long for them to talk happily with these hideous-looking big guys, eating and drinking together.

The half-elf and the ogre are holding each other, which is a unique scene in the history of the entire continent, and I am afraid that only a good man like Illo can communicate this kind of cross-racial feelings. Back in the day, Illo and the skeleton could slip their shoulders on their backs without changing their faces, and now it seems that a few ogres can be counted as nothing.

Irlo felt a little hungry, so he took a slice of jerky and grilled it on the fire, the black-red pieces of meat gradually emitting an enticing aroma. Illo knew that these pieces of meat were definitely not human flesh, but considering the environment of the Misty Swamp and the fact that he could eat with peace of mind, he decided not to ask about the origin of the pieces of meat of these ogre friends.

But as soon as he took the first bite, there was a sudden shout of Bai Ji in the distance, and Illo immediately jumped up and ran towards that side quickly, and the ogre warriors of the tribe were stunned, and followed in the direction of the cave.

None of the ordinary ogres were allowed to enter the cave, except for the priest, Illo, and Pakki, except for the chief of the Stonefang tribe, the ogre warrior with a metal axe on his back.

However, even if he is as strong as him, he can't help but change color slightly when facing the scene in the cave.

The gray-black mist was surprisingly thick, and most of the totem poles became dim, and puffs of smoke swirled and intertwined, standing in the cave like a tornado. As it rolled, the withered skulls at the tops of the surrounding pillars trembled and threw themselves into the tornado.

The tornado of gray and black smoke looked slow and harmless, but the skull that was thrown into it was rolled into pieces in an instant. In an instant, the shards of white bones turned into a tornado-colored gray-black, and they swirled endlessly.

Chief Stonetooth roared, drew the metal axe from his back, and was about to step forward.

"Don't," the maiden priestess grabbed him, Illo could barely understand her conversation, "useless, chief. ”

"Those are the bones and souls of the ancestors, how can they watch being desecrated?" said the Stone Tooth Chieftain angrily, glaring at a pair of bronze bells.

"Chief, what has been infested can no longer be purified, we must hurry up and rescue the totem poles that have not yet been infected, and then prepare to migrate. The maiden priest suggested.

"Migration?" Although he had thought of this result for a long time, Chief Stonetooth did not expect it to come so quickly, which was still a little unexpected to him.

Before he finished speaking, the gray-black tornado suddenly dissipated, and the gray-black broken bones flying everywhere instantly formed a huge skull, levitating in front of them, and the upper and lower jaws collided and let out a strange big laugh,

"Quack, little ones, why are you migrating?"

With his strange smile, two plumes of smoke suddenly erupted from the hollow eye sockets on the skull, which was about two meters in diameter, and rolled towards them like a giant python. (To be continued......)

PS: (1st Update)