"Did something happen to those small towns where evil rituals were held?"
As early as when they first received the news from Bridger, Lando and Claire had analyzed that there must be something fishy in these places, but they found nothing after taking a look. In addition, the arrangement to deal with the Archbishop was nearing completion.
, the two believed that the problem would be solved by catching the archbishop, so they did not delve into it further. Now the trouble has indeed broken out.
"Let's go, let's go to the nearest place to check the situation!" Lando said in a deep voice.
Claire nodded, stretched out her hand and pointed forward, opening a portal.
Every time he saw Claire's move, Lando felt a little envious. He glanced at the talent [Sky Walker (Purple)] in the system that had been in the dust for a long time, and it seemed that it was not far away from its release date.
The two came to a plain area. In front of them were the ruins of a small town. A small stream ran through the town, which was once the main water source of the town. There were also seemingly abandoned farmland next to it. The farmland had grown over because it had not been cultivated for a long time.
Full of weeds.
Traces of black aura emanate from the ruins of the town. If you look closely, you can see that the source of these black auras is the shadow of the former residents wandering in the town.
These shadows are translucent and seem to have no self-awareness. They have been repeating the same movements as before, and their expressions are also dull.
The children were chasing and playing, running around.
The old people seemed to be sitting on rocking chairs basking in the sun. Unfortunately, there were no rocking chairs, only the old people rocking back and forth out of thin air.
The peasant women were washing clothes downstream of the stream, but the strange thing was that they had nothing on their hands.
The hunters seemed to be going hunting, but they seemed unable to leave the town and could only linger near the town entrance.
…………
A ghost came over and was held in Claire's hand.
After a moment, he said solemnly: "It has expanded! The range of activities of these shadows has expanded!"
"Um?"
"When the mutation first occurred in the town, those hunters couldn't reach the area where they are now wandering. The expansion rate was a bit fast. And the most important thing now is that we don't know how many mutation sites like this there are!"
Lando said: "Anyway, let's see if these evil ritual towns can be cleared away."
The moment the two entered the strange town, the shadows of all the townspeople stopped what they were doing at the same time and turned their heads strangely towards the two of them. Some even turned their heads 180 degrees because of the angle.
The two waited for a moment and found that the shadows were just looking at him and making no other movements. The two looked at each other and started walking in the ruined town.
Their goal is clear. According to Bridger, evil rituals usually place sacrifices in the center of the town. Although the sacrifices have long been dug up, the most likely location of the source of the strangeness is undoubtedly there.
When the two came to the small square in the center of the town, they saw a palm-sized fuzzy shadow floating there above a one-meter-square pothole, constantly emitting a strange force that affected the entire place.
The town is even growing.
"It is indeed that evil ritual!"
"Let's try it first and see if we can get rid of it."
After some research and experiments, the two found that ordinary elemental power could not affect the blurry shadow at all. Only light, death and some special powers could have an effect.
'The finger of death!'
As the corpse witch took action, the power of the finger of death dispersed the blurred shadows. The strange power lost its source, and the shadows in the town also lost their support and began to slowly dissipate. The black aura lost its source and slowly disappeared.
…………
Just as Lando and Claire were studying the strange town, greater changes and turmoil unfolded throughout the world.
Within the empire, a prosperous town has been located here for more than two hundred years. Due to its strategic location, the town has developed very rapidly and has almost reached the standard of a small town.
Legend has it that two hundred years ago, this place was invaded by the undead, which destroyed the former town. The current town was built on the original ruins, and it is more prosperous than before.
The town is built near a major transportation road and is the best supply location for merchants traveling between big cities to buy and sell goods.
Therefore, half of the townspeople in the town open taverns and hotels to make a living.
In the center of the town, there is a huge tavern. This is the best place for the mercenaries escorting the caravan to rest and be lazy while the caravan is replenishing supplies. The mayor of the town also makes a lot of money by virtue of the excellent location of this tavern.
The bowl is full.
Today is as usual, the tavern is already overcrowded before noon, mercenaries and adventurers are bragging and competing with each other, maids dressed in cool clothes shuttle among the guests, and are often rubbed by unruly guests. At this time
They will choose to be coquettish or angry depending on the appearance of the customer and the amount of tip.
The bartender was mixing drinks in a fancy way on the counter, and the cheers from below made the bartender very satisfied. After all, this was the purpose of the mayor paying a lot of money to invite him.
"Boom!~"
The sound of plates falling to the floor resounded in the tavern, but the guests didn't take it seriously. This was a common occurrence in a busy tavern.
Many guests looked at the maid who fell to the ground with expressions of interest, wanting to see if it was the maid who was careless or someone who was causing trouble. If it was the latter, it would be a good show.
The maid on the ground looked confused and horrified at this moment. She didn't care about the burning heat from the sauce-covered barbecue falling on her body, and even forgot to get up.
The guests followed the maid's gaze and discovered that it was not a certain guest who had caused the maid to make a fool of herself. Not far in front of the maid, a vague shadow appeared at some point.
There was silence in the tavern for a while, and then there was a lot of noise.
"Ghost of the Dead?!"
"Why is there such a thing here?"
"Get out of the way, don't be possessed by ghosts!"
"What, are there any ghosts of the dead? Let me see!"
Most of the people in the tavern were mercenaries and adventurers who had seen the world, so there was no commotion.
One adventurer boldly stepped forward, drew out the long sword from behind, and the sword glowed with gray light, slashing towards the blurry shadow.
His companions also took out their weapons and stood behind him, as if they were ready to support him.
Many onlookers around him did the same thing, but in order to avoid misunderstanding, they stayed away from strangers, which divided the people in the tavern into several small circles.
As the adventurer's sword slashed down, everyone went from hope and expectation to disappointment and confusion, because the long sword easily cut through the blurry shadow.
The adventurer waved the long sword in his hand a few times again in confusion, but the blurred shadow seemed to not exist at all, neither affected nor reacted in any way.
