Deep in the Gloom Mountain Range.
The expedition team had been active here for a month. After establishing a foothold, Gwen would send out various exploration teams every day to the southern mountains, the western forests, the eastern mines, or the wilderness across the Whitewater River to search for supplies and survey the terrain. The route that the serfs took was one of the natural mountain paths that had just been discovered in recent days. But although it was a new discovery, there had been exploration teams and patrolling soldiers going back and forth several times, but they had never found any traces of monsters.
There was no doubt that the Aberrations had only appeared recently.
The path into the mountain was not easy. Although Gwen and Amber were amazingly fast, there were still two ordinary serfs who could not walk so fast. It took them nearly an hour before they finally approached the fork where the monsters had attacked.
As they got closer and closer to the place, Amber, who was usually carefree and lively, could not help but feel nervous. She clenched her dagger and lowered her voice. "It's been so long, those monsters should have wandered away by now …"
"Not necessarily. You don't know the 'habits' of the mutants." Gwen looked at the rugged mountain path and the vegetation on both sides of the mountain path. His eyes lingered for a long time on a steep mountain wall that looked as if it would collapse at any time. He then lowered his voice and said, "They are not normal life forms. They do not need to eat in a magic environment. Except for attacking intelligent life and moving towards the source of magic, they have no clear purpose of action. If there is a human or magic reaction within their sensing range, they will pounce. But if there is no human or magic reaction, they will wander aimlessly or stay in the same place. Of course, if their number reaches a certain level, their actions will be unpredictable. "
"So what the hell is a mutant …" Amber muttered, her eyes constantly wandering between the shadows of the trees. She was not vigilant against the enemy hiding in the dark, but constantly looking for an escape route.
Gwen shook his head. "It's hard to say. One theory is that humans became mutants after being attacked by chaotic magic. Another theory is that the Demonic Tide opened a passage to another world, and the mutants came from another space. But in fact, neither theory has been proven. "
Amber pursed her lips, thinking that even Gwen, who had fought monsters for twenty years in his previous life, couldn't tell where the monsters came from. It seemed that the so-called experts in the interior of the kingdom were even more unreliable in this regard.
As she scanned her surroundings, a trace on the ground caught her attention. "Hey, there seems to be something over there!"
On the stone wall not far in front of them, they could see that the rocks had been clawed and cracked. In between the cracks of the rocks, they could even see dried blood.
The two serfs, who were in charge of leading the way, saw the marks and suddenly trembled.
"Looks like it's nearby." Gwen gripped the Pathfinder's Sword tightly and sensed any subtle changes in the surroundings. "Stay alert."
Amber swallowed her saliva and followed Gwen carefully to the other side of the fork, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Suddenly, Gawain stopped in his tracks. An instinctive sense of vigilance that originated from this body spread out. Under the guidance of this sense of vigilance, he quickly hid behind a boulder and extended his head to look at the other side of the mountain path.
Four huge humanoid creatures, which looked like giants of flesh and bones, appeared in his field of vision. They staggered on the mountain path. Their faces were covered with red mud and had no facial features. Chaotic, blasphemous, and indescribable whispers constantly came from their chests and abdomens.
"Oh, whispers."
"One, two, three … four." Amber's lowered voice came from behind. She heard a slightly warm breath beside her ear. "It seems that the serfs encountered them. Looks like they haven't discovered us yet. You go first. I'll wait until you can't see me and then I'll run. "
Gwen did not pay any attention to the disgrace of the elves. His eyes were fixed on the abdomen of one of the aberrations. There was a distorted and decayed grayish-black object there. Others might not be able to tell what it was, but Gwen saw the clue after looking at it carefully. It was a standard weapon of the Kingdom of Gondor!
He withdrew his gaze and focused on the surroundings. After confirming that there were no more monsters nearby, he responded to Amber. "I'll charge in front. You sneak over and stab the last one. Hold the one next to it. After I've dealt with the other two, we'll work together to finish the battle."
Amber blinked and nodded happily. "Okay, I'll wait for you."
Although she had deliberately said some strange things before, it was obvious that when it came to serious business, she would not be careless.
The two serfs who led the way were too frightened to move. But at least they mustered up the last of their courage to cover their mouths. They did not panic and did not run away. This was quite a good performance for them. Gwen nodded to the two serfs and asked them to wait quietly. He then raised the Pathfinder's Sword.
Magic power poured into the blade, and a scorching light gushed out from the blade. Gawain's armor was also covered with a layer of pale white light. Then, he leaped up, crossing a distance of dozens of meters, and slashed at the monster that had just reacted from the sky.
At the same time, a hazy shadow flashed through the air. Then, the last of the four monsters shuddered. It had just been distracted by Gawain and was roaring at the sky, but its chrysanthemum was severely injured, and it fell to the ground after a critical hit.
Amber emerged from the shadows and began to wander around the other monster that had already reacted. Her small dagger had no effect on the monster except for its weak point. It could only splash some red mud and sparks. So she shouted as soon as the fight started. "Boss, help!"
Gwen's long sword had already slashed down, and the first monster staggered. Then he did not pursue it. Instead, he turned and rushed directly at the monster with the ancient sword in its abdomen. As he expected, although the sword in the abdomen was not fatal to the monster, and it would affect its movement, in the face of Gwen's fierce attack, it could only resist twice before it was cut in half.
If he had the power to cut the enemy in half, then it did not matter whether he hit the weak point or not.
The mutant in front of him let out an inexplicable roar. Its murmur before it died was mixed with the power to disturb people's minds. But Gwen did not care about the momentary trance in his mind. He twisted his body and the blade had already cut the enemy that was injured by his first slash.
Then, in the midst of Amber's shameful cries, the last enemy was successfully killed.
As the giant composed of flesh and mud fell heavily to the ground and quickly disintegrated into the elements of chaos in the air, Amber also fell to the ground. "Oh my god … I'm so tired … It seems that I still need to improve my escape skills …"
Gwen examined the monster wreckage on the ground and replied without looking up. "Shouldn't you improve your frontal combat strength at this time?"
"Let me tell you, my frontal combat strength is now my personal peak. I know myself very well … Hey, what are you studying?"
Amber asked curiously, only noticing that Gawain was squatting beside one of the Aberration's remains. He had his head lowered and was engrossed in his research.
Gwen waved his hand. "Come and have a look."
Amber obeyed and went over. She saw that the mutant had fallen to the ground. A large amount of flesh and mud had 'evaporated', leaving only a blood-red skeleton. (It would take a few days for the skeleton to completely dissipate.) And on this terrible skeleton, there was a severely twisted and corroded piece of metal stuck.
Hu Po blinked his eyes. "What's this?"
"A soldier's sword of the Kingdom of Gondor," Gwen said in a serious tone. "There's no mistake. It's the model used by the Empire's Northern Outpost."
Amber's personality was jumpy, but she was not stupid. She immediately reacted. "Wait a minute! This monster has this thing on it … So it came from the Gondor wasteland?! "
Gwen nodded silently.
"How … How is this possible?!" Amber felt cold sweat spreading from the back of her head to the back of her feet. "The Gondor wasteland is surrounded by the Great Wall built by the elves. Those sentry towers are not just for decoration … How did these monsters get out?!"
Gwen was silent for a moment before he suddenly said, "The Great Wall has been there for 700 years."
Amber's face twitched, and he laughed dryly. "Heh … Hehe, don't scare me. Perhaps these monsters have been trapped outside the wall since the beginning and have been wandering between the Sentinel Tower and the Dark Mountain Range. Then, they just wandered here this year."
"Impossible. The aberrations will gradually disintegrate after they leave the demonic tide environment. Unless their numbers are large enough to form a new chaotic magic environment." Gwen extinguished Amber's last hope. "These monsters can't survive outside the wall for 700 years. So … they came out from inside the wall."
Amber thought for a moment and shuddered. "… Oh my god!"
"Don't tell anyone yet." Gwen looked into Amber's eyes. "The situation is not necessarily that bad. I was there when the sentry towers were erected. I know those things have self-repair and load balancing functions, so it's unlikely that they completely shut down. The most likely possibility is that one of the sentry towers has temporarily lost power due to age, but the barrier will self-repair in a short time … "
Amber swallowed. "What does it mean in human language?"
Gwen said, "… It means that there may be a temporary hole in the barrier, but it will repair itself."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Amber quickly patted her inconspicuous chest. "You scared me."
Gwen was still frowning. "Don't be so relieved. It's obvious that there's a problem with the Great Wall. Even if the hole is repaired, it's enough to prove that it's aging. The small hole will become a big hole sooner or later."
"Then what should we do?"
"… No, I have to go and take a look. Even if it's just a glance from afar, the wall is still there." Gwen suddenly got up. "I'll never feel at ease if I stay here and guess blindly."
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