Gerag looked at the ground with a blank face and let go of the woman in his arms.

He took a few steps forward, and it looked like he was on a walk.

Finally stand by the campfire in the camp, sword in hand.

Herag looked at the ground, sword in hand, silent.

A moment later, he slammed his sword into the ground, plunging deep into it.

A stream of blood shot out of the ground, and the monster's painful wail could be faintly heard.

Underground is a kind of monster with many tentacles on its body, attached to it like the roots of a plant.

This monster is summoned through the Altar of Shadows, so it will not attack Herag.

Herag watched the monster's movements and waited in this place in advance.

The moment the monster swam past, a sword killed it, killing it directly.

Herag's goal was to make it to Tares County, and the monster was doing his part.

These monsters were summoned to help the wizards, but now it's just a different way.

Torre and Ferry were relieved to see this, this kind of monster lurking underground was the most difficult to deal with.

Monsters that operate underground are generally very fast, and it is difficult to accurately catch their tracks.

Even if the location can be accurately located, it is difficult to inflict effective damage on them.

The methods they are good at are a little helpless against the monsters hidden underground, and the powerful power on their bodies can't be exerted much through the thick layer of soil.

This situation is usually handled well only by the caster, but there are very few casters these days.

Now, because of the war with the wizards, the importance of spellcasters is increasing.

As long as they have the qualifications of spellcasters, they are basically recruited by some big forces, and few wander outside as adventurers.

As a result, even if a party offers a high price, the caster will rarely choose to become an adventurer.

Even a powerful adventuring group like Ferry is now having a hard time recruiting spellcasters.

It's not that you can't afford the price, it's that others don't want to come.

After Herag cleared the underground troubles, Ferry's party had an easy time dealing with the other monsters.

After about half an hour, the group of monsters that came to attack was completely annihilated.

Although a few people were injured on Ferry's side, no one died, which is considered lucky.

After this night, the people in the caravan had a more intuitive impression of the strength of this taciturn thin man, and they were more in awe.

……

Two months later, the caravan arrived in County Tarres, only with eight fewer men.

Herag lost count of the number of monster attacks he had encountered on the road, and it had become commonplace.

The remaining half of the territory of the Norn Kingdom is dangerous, except for the area around the city that is slightly more stable.

At least for the average person, it is more dangerous.

The farther away you are from the border, the fewer monsters there are.

By the time we arrived in Tarles, there were very few monsters.

Even if a monster appears, it will be quickly eliminated by the defense forces here.

It's still a bit difficult for those monsters to travel long distances to get here.

"Mr. Ruak, this is your reward, thank you for all your efforts along the way." Torre said, pulling out a bag of gold coins.

Herag is not amazing, but he is powerful, and he has made many moves along the way to save the day.

He took the heavy money bag, and there were probably more than 300 gold coins in it, which was far more than the original agreed price.

Herag said, "Is this a little more?" ”

Torre smiled, "You deserve this reward, we will stay in Tarres County for about half a year, and you can continue to come to me if you are interested." ”

"No problem." Herag nodded slightly, expressionless, and said no more.

Torre didn't care either, he had long been accustomed to Herag's expression, and knew that he was like that, and he didn't like to talk.

After saying goodbye to Torre and the others, Herag went to the city to buy a horse, replenished some supplies, and then left the city in the direction of Strange Valley.

Herag had also learned during this time, since the invasion of the Valley of the Strange, the World Tree there had been uprooted.

Now there are no elves living in Strange Valley, and there are no humans living there.

Only some people go there to see the scene, but they don't stay long.

Because it was always the territory of the elves, no one dared to stay in that place for long, so as not to provoke the elves.

It took about a month to get from Tarres County to Strange Valley, and there weren't many people to see in Herag along the way, and there were very few caravans.

In the past, there were many caravans on this road, specializing in the business of the elves.

But now that the elves over there have been wiped out, these caravans have naturally moved.

A month later.

Herag arrived in the town just outside of Strange Valley.

When he first came to this town with the Ruby Chamber of Commerce, the town was still very prosperous, with a constant stream of people coming and going.

But now there was only a dead silence in front of him, and the whole town was already in ruins.

Many of the houses have collapsed, and occasionally a few adventurers can be seen resting in a deserted house in the town.

They only used this place as a foothold when they were on their way.

The arrival of Herag caused alarm among these people.

Those who dare to act alone outside these years are not simple people.

Instead of paying attention to these people, Gerag walked around the town.

The inn where the house was staying at the time was in a dilapidated state, and it seems that there had been some violent conflict before looking at the traces, and the main structure of the house had been destroyed.

After wandering around the town for a while, Herag headed into the depths of the Valley of the Strange.

When he came to the outskirts of Strange Valley, he was a little dumbfounded.

Originally, the outskirts of the Strange Valley were a forest, and it was also a fortification of the Strange Valley.

But there is no forest now, there is only a wasteland in front of me, and there is no grass.

There were some residues of char on the ground, and a lot of messy footprints.

Herag looked at the scene as if he saw a lot of people taking all the coke from here.

It seems that the forest is indeed extraordinary, even if it was burned to charcoal, it was snatched away by a group of people as a treasure.

The original fence was gone, and Herag stepped into the wasteland and went deeper.

He looked up into the distance, and the huge World Tree was gone.

The houses in the Strange Valley are also gone, replaced by large pits and crevices.

The cracks in the ground were exaggerated, the widest of which was seven or eight meters wide, like a canyon.

Herag quickened his pace and came to the location of the World Tree. (End of chapter)