"Warning: You have received Plague Damage, 0 Damage (33 of which have been resisted)."
"Warning: You have received Plague Damage, 0 Damage (31 of which have been resisted)."
"Warning: You have received Plague Damage, 0 Damage (40 of which have been resisted)."
Brando suddenly stopped and opened the battle log in his vision. A pale green screen appeared in front of him, and it was filled with shocking system records.
He immediately looked up and saw that he had entered the Empress District. This was the busiest district in the whole of Rushta. Dozens of the Empire's most famous merchants were stationed on both sides of the street. The majestic buildings were now immersed in darkness and silence. Every door and window was tightly shut, and a thin layer of fog hung over the street.
"Fog?" Brando suddenly raised his hand and opened his palm, revealing the bodies of several flying insects.
"What is it, my lord?" Behind him, Metisha and Hipamira also stopped. The latter looked at him curiously and asked.
However, the Silver Elf princess stared at the colorful flying insects in Brando's hand without saying a word. There was a calm light in her eyes.
"You know them?" Brando asked.
"These are the Plague Insects. They live in the fog of the Gray Wilderness and reproduce by devouring the corpses of demons and the stench of fallen souls," Metisha answered quietly. "I have seen them more than once."
"These are larvae," Brando nodded. "They haven't fully matured yet. The ones you have seen should be adults."
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the dead silent street in front of him. He knew where Medissa had come into contact with these insects. The Plague Insects were the inhabitants of hell. They fed on rotten flesh and were usually born from the same mother. The mother was a kind of giant insect, and there was usually only one in a colony. The Plague Insects would rarely stray too far from the mother, and they would also rarely migrate out of the Gray Wilderness.
But there was one exception.
Among the twelve branches of Tree Herders, the Gu Insect Lords had been Insect Wizards for generations. This branch of Tree Herders controlled a large number of Plague Bugs. As early as the War of the Holy Saints, the Tree Herders had fought against the Silver Elves and Humans more than once, so Metisha should have seen these visitors from hell more than once.
The current Gu Insect Lord, Mayad, had been captured by the Empire a few decades ago and was locked up in an underground prison in Lusk Tower. However, even Andesha was alive and kicking outside not too long ago, and Mayad would definitely not be content with being left alone.
"Looks like Her Majesty isn't the only one in trouble."
"Should we prepare for battle, my Lord?" Metisha asked.
"Let's cast a defensive spell first. These larvae won't cause us any trouble, but it's hard to say what will happen if we go further in." Brando frowned. Every branch of the Tree Herders was difficult to deal with. Andesha was one of the weakest, and Mayad was not that strong either, but he was especially difficult to deal with.
He had fought with this Gu Insect Lord before in the game, which was why he found it difficult to deal with him. This was the outer area of the Plague Mist, and the plague damage to the central area could reach up to a hundred damage per second. Without a Baptismal Priest who was proficient in hymns, it would be difficult to move forward.
Although the magic damage had little effect on him, and he might even be able to resist the plague damage in the central area, it was hard to say whether Metisha and Hipamira would be able to do the same.
He did not want to cause too much trouble at this time. His most urgent goal was to pass through Lusk Tower and meet up with the others in the west. He also wanted to confirm whether Scarlet had been rescued. If everything went smoothly, they would be able to leave the Empire.
The way to leave the Empire had already been arranged. The eldest prince and the northern nobles would fully cooperate with him. They could pass through the Evergreen Walkway, or take a detour through the Duchy of Antoburo. This route was still considered safe, at least for now.
As for what happened in the Empire, it had nothing to do with him or Erouine. Anyway, it was Her Majesty's trouble.
He carefully looked at the thin fog, thinking that if they were lucky, they could directly pass through the edge of the fog. However, Mayad's Element was the Mind Mist, not the simple Plague Mist. It was easy to get lost in the fog, and it was not so easy to leave.
Besides, Mayad was a psychopath. He might not allow a few living people to leave his Plague Mist unscathed.
But it was too late to retreat now. The trade zone was behind them, and who knew if the Silver Queen had chased after them.
Hipamira put up a defensive light shield, but Metisha did not react. Brando glanced at her and remembered that the Silver Folk were immune to diseases. In their confrontation with the Lord of the Parasites, they won more than they lost.
"The blood of the Silver Folk is really enviable." He could not help but sigh.
"The Lord is not bad either." Metisha smiled. "I'm just a poor ghost. How can I be envious of the Lord?"
"Is that so? How can there be such a cute ghost?"
Metisha stared, her silver eyes seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist. Hipamira could not help but giggle.
The atmosphere eased a lot for a while, and the three slowed down their pace. The Queen's District was a little more than two kilometers long. The whole area was made up of a main street, with magnificent shops and tall buildings on both sides. The shrine of the old God of Commerce, Crewe, stood in the mist not far away. At this moment, it had already become a monumental building to commemorate the glory of the gods in the past.
Brando could almost see the gold inlaid on the mottled outer wall. Their brilliance was dim, and the glory of the past was no longer there. The Holy Cathedral of Fire was very generous and did not knock it down. Of course, it was also to show respect to Martha and her followers. In fact, in the countryside of the Empire and many areas of Erouine, people still maintained their faith in the old gods, but they could no longer get a response.
Without response and protection, there were no priests. The shrine of the God of Commerce, Crewe, was like a mottled empty shell, silent in the mist for thousands of years.
In fact, it was not only this shrine that was silent. The whole Queen's District was shrouded in a deathly silence, and only the sound of the three people's footsteps echoed in the air above the stone street.
The further in they went, the thicker the fog became. From time to time, an insect would crash into Hipamila's light shield, turning into a puddle of green water and flowing down the light shield, scaring Hipamila so much that her face turned pale.
On the other hand, the Silver Elf Princess was very calm, almost without a change in expression as she walked forward. It was only at this time that people remembered that she was once the supreme commander of an army.
Although according to human age, she was only fourteen years old when she became famous, and was just a budding girl.
At this time, Brando almost did not have a fluke in his heart. He knew that the silence was because there was probably no one alive in Queen's District. This was the area with the richest nightlife in the entire Imperial City, close to the Noble District. The period between evening and late night was often the most lively time, and there were even nobles who often sneaked out to experience life. Although it was not a busy area, at least it was not empty.
There was not a corpse on the street, but looking at the carriages that stopped crookedly on the side of the road or hit a sycamore tree, it was clear what had happened before. The carriage's shaft and noose fell to the ground empty, and even the horse that pulled the carriage was not left behind.
Hipamira looked dignified.
Brando was thinking about where Sidney and Veronica went, and if it had anything to do with Mayad's sudden appearance.
At this time, the fog in front of them suddenly buzzed and separated into two sides, and a fist-sized insect rushed towards them. Brando reacted quickly, and without thinking, he pulled out his sword. With a flash of the sword, the insect was split into two pieces and fell to the ground, its six legs still twitching.
He looked down and found that it looked a bit like a beetle. Its body was dark, and its six legs were as sharp as knives. Before he could say anything, Metisha answered first, "This is an adult insect, we are close to the mother body."
Close to the mother body meant that they were close to Mayad. Brando did not expect that not only did he not pass through the Plague Fog from the edge, but he also walked into the center of the Plague Fog.
But now that they were here, it meant that the enemy had already discovered them. If he continued to run away, he would be deceiving himself and others. He did not retrieve his sword, but instead looked up. There was a tall and majestic building in front of him. He thought for a while and remembered that it was the headquarters of the patrolling cavalry.
He took the time to look at the light green screen floating above him, and the battle record showed that the damage had risen to nearly a hundred, which was slightly weaker than what he had encountered before. But thinking about it, Mayad, who had just escaped from the dungeon in this era, was not at his strongest.
"Looks like he is waiting for us there," he said to Metisha and Hipamira.
"Yes," the Silver Elf princess nodded, "But something is strange, my lord."
"What is it?" Brando knew that Metisha's experience was not inferior to his, and she was even more experienced than him. In terms of understanding of Tree Herders, she was not inferior to him, so he valued the latter's opinion.
"There are too few insects," Metisha replied softly, "Even if Mayad deliberately hid, there should not be so few insects in the Plague Fog. Besides, we have only encountered one adult insect here, which is a little too unusual."
Brando raised his eyebrows, and only then did he notice this. He had only fought with Mayad once in a limited opportunity, and he was not the main attacker at that time. At that time, the Gretius Knight Squad was only responsible for containing the insects, and the real attacker was the Diamond-level Warrior Guild.
He recalled the experience of that battle, and there was indeed an overwhelming number of insects in the Mist Fog, but it was a little too different from the sparse two or three insects here.
"What do you think?" Brando asked cautiously as the three of them walked forward carefully.
"I thought of a possibility," Metisha shook her head gently, "but I am not sure."
Brando looked at her biting her lips, and a thought flashed through his mind, but he did not ask any more questions.
The Patrol Cavalry Headquarters in the Mist Fog was like a living creature of flesh and blood. The towering fortress-like building was its back, and the city wall was its snaking neck and spine. It curled up there, motionless, as if it had fallen into a silent sleep.
There were no signs of living people in the fortress, and it was obvious that they had all died. Fortunately, the Patrol Cavalry Headquarters had a camp outside the city, and the headquarters in the city was usually only guarded by a squadron of cavalry. But even so, this incident was enough to shake the upper echelons of the Empire. One must know that among the Patrol Cavalry in the Imperial Capital, most of them were nobles.
The commander of the Patrol Cavalry Headquarters was the Count of the Empire, a master second only to the supreme class. If he was here when the incident happened, then the Cruz people would be in even more trouble.
The three of them went through the city gate, and the suspended suspension bridge did not cause any trouble for them. Then they went through the empty courtyard, the front door of the manor, the corridor, and the spiral staircase. There was not a single person in the entire fortress, and there were not many insects. They only encountered a few attacks along the way, and it was not so much the plague swarm, but the individual insects that were left behind after the swarm.
But the thick Mist Fog that shrouded the place told Brando that this was definitely the center of the plague swarm, and not the place where the swarm had passed through.
They went all the way to the third floor of the fortress, which was also the top floor. This was the center of the Patrol Cavalry Headquarters, and in theory, the Count's office should be here.
The internal structure of this kind of military building was similar, and Brando was quite familiar with the Cruz Stronghold, so he quickly found the Count's office along the corridor. At the door of the office, he finally saw the only few humans on this trip.
To be exact, there were a few corpses.
Two of them were crawling in the corridor, facing down, wearing the uniform of the Patrol Cavalry Headquarters. The uniform was pale, and black blood seeped out from under their bodies, seeping into the thick carpet.
The other person was leaning against the wall. His face was badly mutilated, and his facial features could no longer be seen clearly. It was as if something had gnawed a large hole in his face. He was dressed in a more extravagant manner. He was wearing a count's windbreaker, gold-trimmed breeches, and boots. His entire body was covered in bits and pieces of ornaments. He was also wearing an extremely luxurious breastplate.
Unfortunately, this breastplate could not save his life. There was a big hole on the left side of the breastplate, and dark red blood was flowing out from it. This should be the fatal wound.
The corpse leaned against the walnut wall with its head tilted, and the wall was smeared with blood. His sword was scattered to the side, and Brando recognized the other person's identity when he saw the sword.
The scarlet falcon proved that this person was the commander of the Patrol Cavalry Headquarters, one of the Counts of the Empire.
Brando waved his hand, and the sword flew from the ground into his hand, disappearing into the dimensional hole in a flash.
Although the Scarlet Falcon sword of the Imperial Patrol Cavalry Commander couldn't compare to sacred swords like Halran Gaia or Oderfeiss, it was still a rare ancient sword. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been passed down from generation to generation. He didn't have the habit of leaving good things to the people of the Empire.
There were a few plague worms crawling around the Patrol Cavalry Commander's corpse, but as soon as Brando moved, they immediately discovered an unfamiliar intruder and pounced over. But before Brando could make a move, the priestess beside him took a step forward and swung the Descent of the Mountains with both hands, sending the worms flying with a perfect home run.
The worms buzzed as they crashed into the wall, shattering into green juice on the ground.
Brendel's brows furrowed. He suddenly realized that these insects did not attack him on their own initiative, but after he alerted them, they attacked him passively. In fact, the closer they were to the mother base, the more cautious the plague worms became. They would attack all living things in this area, regardless of whether they were humans or animals.
This wasn't a habit that plague worms should have.
He couldn't help but turn around, only to find that Metisha was also frowning deeply, looking thoughtfully in the direction of the Count's office not far away.
There was only a half-broken wooden door in the thick fog.
… …
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