The aberrations had indeed left a lot of traces of pollution in the process of wandering. Although the aura of the chaotic magic power had quickly dissipated, there were still many traces left because they were discovered in time.
Following the polluting aura that appeared from time to time, Gawain's group continued to advance through the Gloom Mountain Range. They gradually approached a gap in the mountain southwest of the camp, and this gap made Gawain vigilant.
This was a relatively low point in the Gloom Mountain Range, and also the easiest pass to cross. If the monsters came in through this gap, then they would be able to sense the scent of the humans in the camp and rush straight down the mountain to attack the camp.
The three of them climbed up a boulder and looked at the mountain gap in front of them from afar. There were not many plants covering the rocks there, and the exposed grayish-white rocks were like broken bones, lifeless. The whole terrain seemed to have been cut by a sharp axe, and below the gap, they could clearly see a disturbing grayish-black fog rising up.
Gwen immediately asked Heti to cast a spell to conceal the aura of the three, including magic power. Of course, the ability of a third-level mage in this aspect was limited, and this kind of aura concealment could not be hidden from any middle-grade or above professions. But Gwen was well aware of the weakness of the aberrations: after leaving the environment of the magic wave, their senses would become very dull, and their thinking ability would be low. As long as they did not clearly sense the aura of magic power or intelligent creatures, they would not react.
After completing their concealment work, the three of them carefully moved forward. Before they were even halfway there, a rotten smell came from the front.
"Ugh …" Heti retched in a low voice, and at the same time, her fingers slightly tightened slightly. She was too familiar with this smell, and it had even appeared in her nightmares more than once, waking her up from the dream. A few months ago, the entire Old Cecil Hill was destroyed by this smell.
Knowing that the aberrations could sense magic waves, and that the effect of her concealment spell was limited, Heti restrained the urge to cast a Breeze Shield, and carefully followed behind Gwen, bypassing the rocks and old trees in front of them.
Walking in front, Gwen suddenly made a gesture. "Hide — in front."
The three of them hid in the craggy rocks. Amber boldly poked her head out a little from under Gwen's shoulder, and in the next second, goosebumps rose all over her body.
The mountain path below was shrouded in a layer of grayish-black fog, and the plants there were withered and mutated. Hideous spikes and tentacles grew out of the rocks and soil, and countless soft-bodied creatures wriggled and rolled between the rocks. It was a disgusting sight, and groups of fleshy giants staggered on the hellish mountain path. Their mud-like flesh and blood flowed like mud on their chaotic faces, and blasphemous and low murmurs came out of their chests, forming and forming a buzzing sound in the air..........
What was even more chilling was that many of these fleshy giants had decayed and broken ancient weapons stuck in their bodies. Amber even saw a hollow human skeleton stuck in the abdomen of one of the giants. This disgusting evidence proved Gwen's judgment.
This was an army of demons from hell, wandering out of the Gondor wasteland.
Amber immediately grabbed Gwen's arm, and said her clearest thought at the moment, in the lowest voice in her life, "Boss, I don't want my salary, let me go..."
"Shh —" Gwen pressed Amber's head, but his eyes swept among the aberrations. He confirmed again and again, and finally he was a little relieved. "Fortunately, it's not the worst situation."
"This is not the worst situation?!" Amber looked at Gwen as if she was looking at a lunatic. "Such a large group is enough to tear down the entire camp three times!"
"Don't be scared by their appearance. In fact, there are not as many of them as you think." Gwen knew what kind of misconception ordinary people would have when they saw the aberrations for the first time, so he patiently explained. "The mist and the surging creatures on the ground will give you the illusion that there are a lot of them, but if you count carefully, I'm afraid there are less than a thousand of them..."
Amber was stunned. She carefully estimated the number of fleshy giants in her sight. "It seems that there are only a few hundred of them..."
But then she reacted. "But there are only 800 people in our camp, and 700 of them can't fight!"
"But it's much better than my worst expectations," Gawain said in a low voice. "What I was most worried about was that their numbers would exceed that 'line' by too much. If that happened, they would increase rapidly as if they were growing out of the air. Back then, we suffered a lot because of this. The two thousand enemies in the report might have multiplied to three thousand or even four thousand by the time we encountered them. But look at these, there are no new aberrations growing out of the air. This means that their numbers have not exceeded that line, or maybe it has exceeded it by a little, but not to the point where they will naturally increase …"
"But even if there are so many of them, the camp can't deal with them now," Heti whispered worriedly. "Ancestor, they are now moving towards the north of the mountain. Sooner or later, they will come near the camp. Once the camp is exposed to their perception range..."
Amber's two pointed ears trembled uneasily in the air. "Didn't you say that these aberrations will wander randomly or simply stay where they are when they don't sense magic or humans? Maybe they will stop moving after a while and stay where they are for thousands of years... "
"Don't put your hopes on that. Although their number will not increase, it has exceeded the critical point of natural extinction. You expect these monsters to stay in the mountains and be our neighbors forever? Dream on. "Gwen frowned." We have to find a way to get rid of them... "
Amber silently looked at Gwen. "Then I have a plan..."
Gwen was a little surprised. "You have a plan?"
"It's like this. I'll sneak over and kill one of them. Then, you, the legendary knight, will jump out with 'God's Descent' and use 'War Charge' to kill the remaining nine hundred and ninety. Your beautiful great-granddaughter will set off a few arcane fireworks to liven things up. When we get back, we'll say that it was the two of us who defeated nearly a thousand monsters. You can continue being a lord and farm in peace. I'll go find a tavern and brag … Hey, don't go, I'm not done yet …"
Gwen knew that she had entered a state of serious nervousness and random analysis when she was halfway through her sentence. So he did not listen to what she said. Instead, he looked up at the surrounding terrain and finally found a way to bypass the monsters. So he pulled Heti's robe and carefully began to detour from the side.
Amber was stunned for a moment. He stopped his random analysis and obediently slipped into the shadows to follow Gawain's footsteps.
The three of them bypassed the slow-moving aberrations and found a path between the rocks. Following the direction indicated by the corrupted path, they approached the gap in the Gloom Mountains and finally found a high ground where they could see beyond the rocks to the south of the Gloom Mountains.
Gwen climbed up the rock and looked into the distance.
On the other side of the mountain... That was close. He accidentally thought of the Smurfs.
There was no group of cute Smurfs on the other side of the mountain. There was only the ruins of civilization, the wreckage of the world of Order, and the Gondor wasteland shrouded in chaos and darkness.
Even though the real wasteland of Gondor was still further away, the smell of the tainted land had already appeared in the sky on the other side of the Gloom Mountains. Beyond a certain boundary, the sky on the other side of the Gloom Mountains was as dark and chaotic as an eternal dusk. Large clusters of filthy clouds hung down from the sky, giving off an oppressive feeling as if they were about to devour the land. Under the cover of this strange sky, the land was twisted in a strange way as if it was in another world.
Starting from the southern foot of the Dark Mountain Range, a boundless dark forest covered all the mountains and a small part of the belt plain. Even from afar, Gawain could see that in the Gnarled Grove, which was called the Black Forest, there were many mutated giant trees that reached into the sky. They were slowly swaying and extending poisonous tentacle-like branches toward the sky. Further away in the belt plain, dense fog was rising. In the fog, illusions of cities, fortresses, palaces, and so on were constantly appearing. Beyond the illusions, one could see a barrier that looked like an aurora.
The aurora-like barrier was the only thing that was reassuring and pleasing to the eye. From this distance, it looked like a hazy ribbon, but in fact, it was extremely tall and magnificent. The layer of 'light' connected the sky and the earth. It looked like a fragile light curtain, but it was thicker and sturdier than a mountain. On the foundation of the light curtain, there were neat rows of towers.
The light curtain was maintained by the powerful energy released by the towers.
The light curtain was the Great Wall, and the towers under the light curtain were the Sentinel Towers. This system sealed off the entire Gondor wasteland, preventing all life on the continent from being wiped out.
Everyone knew that the barrier was built by the elven Silver Empire. But in fact, it was so unimaginable that the technology and resources needed to build it were beyond what any intelligent race could bear alone. Even the powerful elven Silver Empire could not bear it alone. So in fact, the elves only took the lead to bear half of the pressure and provided all the technology. Then, all the forces on the continent, including the dwarven kingdom and the Gondor survivors, shared the other half of the task to build the barrier.
That was truly an era that made one's emotions surge.
But it was also an era where terror shrouded the land, and no one could sleep peacefully.
Amber's head swayed under Gwen's shoulder. She looked nervously at the polluted land to the south of the mountain, and then looked at the barrier further away with amazement.
Even with the Great Wall, the breath of the Demonic Tide still polluted a large area outside the barrier. But compared to the inside of the barrier, even the Dark Forest was a paradise.
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