The blood smell was very light and had been covered up by the chaotic environment in the forest. Hao Ren believed that if his physique was not that of a demigod and he could ignore the various interferences of the chaotic environment on mortal perception, he would definitely not be able to smell this smell.
A kind of flavor.
Veronica and her party next to them obviously didn't notice the traces of fishy smell in the air.
The princess and the knights are just happy now. After trekking in the dangerous land of chaos for so long, suddenly seeing a light of order that is still shining is very inspiring. The knights are also human beings, and they will also feel tired and frustrated.
, they persisted here entirely relying on a strong belief, and now, the faint light shining deep in the forest gave these tired warriors new strength: they were approaching Talos' outpost.
For those who are trekking in the realm of chaos, seeing such an outpost is like returning to their hometown, which is a symbol of the world of order.
But Hao Ren had to pour cold water on them: "Then the situation ahead is not quite right."
"What's wrong?" Although Veronica was excited, she did not lose her calmness and judgment. When the "Ancient Guardian" said this, she immediately controlled her mind, "What did you see?"
She knew that the "ancient guardian" had special powers and could sense more things in the realm of chaos than ordinary people, so she had no doubts at this time.
"There's a smell of blood," Hao Ren said simply, "It's coming from the outpost."
Veronica's eyebrows immediately frowned: "...How is it possible? The fire in the outpost should still be burning. It is impossible for the servants of Chaos to attack, and if they are corrupted monsters, they are no match for the guards at the outpost.
"
Veronica's self-confidence is justified. "It is impossible for a servant of Chaos to solidify within the scope of the light of order." This is an unbreakable truth in the world of Kolo. Although corrupted monsters can forcefully rush into the light of order, they cannot
They are just moths to the flame. Maybe they are a huge threat to civilians, but they will not be the opponents of the elite veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles in the outpost. So here is a common sense: on the front line, as long as there is an outpost
If the fire is still burning, then the outpost is safe. No matter how fierce the battlefield outside is, monsters cannot break through the goddess' barrier.
So she immediately made another guess: "Maybe there was a fight near the outpost."
Hao Ren shook his head slightly and said nothing, but he knew that Veronica's guess was not very reliable.
Because in the realm of chaos, everything disappears at an alarming rate, especially things related to life. If the remains of fallen soldiers are not protected by sacred objects of order, they will usually be eroded into magic elements within ten minutes, so in
Battles in the Realm of Chaos usually require no clearing of the battlefield at all; everything will be gone before the second force arrives.
If a battle breaks out outside the outpost, it is impossible for the bloody smell to remain.
In fact, not only Hao Ren can think of this, Veronica can probably think of it as well, but Her Royal Highness the Princess may not be willing to think so: she would rather believe that there was a fierce battle outside the outpost than that a kingdom's outpost has fallen like this.
.
But Hao Ren's warning still had an effect. Veronica ordered everyone to be vigilant and ready their weapons. The old knight Morian opened the way in front. The small team slowly moved towards the Hearthfire Outpost deep in the jungle.
Come closer.
After crossing the ancient trees and bushes, the whole picture of the Hearthfire Outpost was gradually revealed to everyone. This kind of outpost is just a small stronghold. It has a circle of walls built with stones and rough wood.
In fact, it has no protective effect on monsters. It is mainly used to block those corrupt monsters that occasionally appear, so it is not very tall. Some runes that emit faint light can be seen on the wall. Those runes do not seem to be working.
, three tall wooden sentry towers can be seen in the wall. Standing on the sentry tower, you should be able to monitor the movements in all surrounding corners. In addition, there are only a few two-story wooden buildings in the sentry post, which should be barracks.
and facilities such as warehouses.
A not-so-bright beam of light shoots into the sky from the center of the outpost. It is the light from the furnace device. It is located at the core of the outpost. It is the reason why all the facilities here can stand in the chaos. The kingdom spends a lot of money to maintain these outposts. In fact,
More than 80% of the investment is used to maintain the miniaturized fire device here. In this place far away from order, the fire device needs to rely on precious magic fuel and sacred objects that bless the holy power to continue burning.
That's not easy to come by.
Veronica's heart sank as soon as she saw this outpost. She knew that Hao Ren was right: something had happened at the outpost.
Because there is no light inside, except for the light pillar of the furnace fire and the light of runes on some permanent fortifications, all the lights in the outpost have been extinguished. Even the light of order from the furnace fire looks particularly dim: small furnace fire device
It requires constant manual maintenance to light, and the dim light means that no one has added "fuel" to the fire for at least several days.
The faint scent of blood drifted into her nostrils, and even Veronica was aware of it this time.
The Princess Knight pulled out her long sword and used magic to cover up the light on the blade. She ordered the flag bearer to stay put and then slowly moved forward.
Hao Ren watched the other party cautiously come to the gate of the outpost. He clenched the spear in his hand, ready to assist at any time.
Soon Veronica made a gesture from a distance. This gesture meant that the front was safe and there was no atmosphere of chaos.
"The door is closed," Hao Ren walked over and pushed the heavy copper-covered door of the sentry station. "There is no sign of being breached."
Veronica nodded: "The door is blocked from the inside, which shows that the commander of the outpost ordered the entrance and exit to be blocked before the accident. Maybe the people inside noticed something."
"But something happened after all," Hao Ren put his hand on the motionless door, "Can we use some violent means to open the door?"
Veronica didn't react for a moment: "...Ah? It's okay to break the door, but we need to get a hammer to break it out first..."
"boom"
After a loud explosion, the metal-covered door was directly removed by Hao Ren's brute force. The entire door frame and the nearby wall within two meters were directly torn off and thrown into the distance by Hao Ren.
go into the forest.
Veronica and the knights were stunned: Goddess! Is this meow human? What did ancient people eat to grow up?
But Hao Ren didn't have time to care about Her Highness the Princess's eyes that could not see the unknown life form, because he couldn't help but froze after seeing the situation inside the outpost:
All the soldiers in the outpost were here. They fell dead in the open space between the barracks and the outpost. The solidified dark blood had stained the entire land red, and the thick smell of blood was coming to the nostrils. However, no fighting could be seen in the outpost.
traces of the past.
The soldiers appeared to be killed without resistance.
Veronica also noticed the situation inside, and the princess's face turned slightly pale. She walked into the outpost with Hao Ren, and when passing by a kingdom soldier, she bent down to turn over the other's body. When the man in cloth
After the young man in military uniform was turned over, Hao Ren saw that his chest was in a mess. The situation was mind-numbing: the flesh and blood on the young man's chest was almost scratched, and the muscles bloomed one by one, and his face
His expression was distorted to a frightening level, as if he had suffered an unimaginable fright before his death.
Veronica raised the soldier's hand, which was stained with blood: "He caught himself like this."
Morian squatted down next to him. The old knight's face was full of solemnity: "Looking at this expression, it's as if he was scared to death."
"And most of these soldiers are not wearing armor," Veronica looked up and looked forward. More corpses were spread out in front of her. The corpses were basically in the same death state, and more than half of them were not wearing armor: the first-line army of the Kingdom of Talos
Soldiers are uniformly equipped with enchanted half-body armor that is easy to put on and take off and has a balanced attack and defense. They only wear this kind of armor when preparing for battle or when they are on duty. They usually wear cloth military uniforms. "Many people seem to be on duty."
They suddenly ran out while resting in the barracks, and you see, some of them didn't even have shoes on."
"They ran out of the barracks and were scared to death outside. They scratched their own chests before they died," Hao Ren said while shaking his head slightly, "It's so weird."
At this time, a knight who was exploring the road suddenly shouted loudly: "Your Royal Highness! We have found the outpost commander!"
The outpost commander also died, but the way he died was different from that of ordinary soldiers.
The commander died in the open space in front of the small fire device. It seemed that he wanted to protect this place before he died. He was wearing a full set of armor, but there were no scars on the armor. He was holding a broken commander in his hand.
An official-style long sword, and countless criss-crossing sword marks can be seen on the ground around him, as if the officer had a desperate fight with an invisible enemy before his death.
The cause of death of the commander was also suicide: he wiped his neck with the broken sword in his hand at the end.
Veronica carefully examined the body of the junior officer and confirmed that he committed suicide in a fit of madness. Soon, she discovered something else on the ground next to the body of the other officer.
"There are words here!" Her Royal Highness the Princess shouted.
Those were a few lines of last words written in blood. It seemed that the commander suddenly regained a moment of clarity before his death and struggled to write them. The letters in the line were crooked, but it did not affect reading:
"There is something in dreams, and it escapes from our hearts..." (To be continued.) 8