Witch Monastery

An Nuo silently prayed and began to channel his divine power to recover some of the mana he had consumed. While they were recovering and counting the spoils, the other side was also stepping up their preparations.

The goats were chanting spells, using natural magic to heal the seriously injured and dying orc warriors and the Chimeras. Although their magic power was low, they could at least pull these people back from the brink of life and death, and even recover to the extent of only minor injuries, so that they could participate in another battle later.

Those who were less seriously injured held their giant axes and looked at Hawthorne and the others vigilantly, ready for the next possible conflict at any time.

The same was true for Danqi Xiao. Now that the demons had been completely wiped out, his own people and the goats of the Green Ivy Tribe were protected. He had fulfilled his duties as the heir of the tribe, so now the anger brought about by the death of his beloved pet surged in his heart again, making him stare at Hawthorne in front of him.

But what caught him off guard was that suddenly, a fragrant breeze blew by, and then he saw the matron of the Centaur, Willow Greenvine, quickly step forward and rush all the way to Hawthorne and Anno: "Two sir paladins and three young ladies mages, please help us!"

Chapter 265 The Madam's Fawning

Although she was very anxious, the Centaur Matron did not forget to tidy up her appearance before going to negotiate, leaving a good impression on the other party. Of course, the battlefield was urgent, and she had no time to dress up. She simply used the druid tricks to simply clean up the dirt and stench on her body, and after becoming clean and tidy again, she rushed all the way to Hawthorne.

In the battle just now, she clearly saw that it was this Sein man who spoke first, proposed an alliance, and used his magic to attract the attention of the berserkers, saving the lives of two chimeras and at least four or five orc warriors.

From this, she judged that this man was a paladin with justice in his heart, excellent vision and flexible means. And from the fact that the other people changed their battle strategies as soon as he opened his mouth, she knew that he was also the actual leader of this team.

Therefore, Willow firmly believed that by negotiating directly with him, they could reach an alliance and resolve the demonic pollution at the lowest cost.

After saying this, she quickly introduced herself: "I am Willow Greenvine, the current matriarch of the Greenvine Tribe. This time, I came here with our ally, the Owlbeast Tribe, to eliminate the pollution source set up by those fallen people who worship demons in the mountains."

After introducing herself in this simple way, she went straight to the point: "This cave contains mechanisms and traps set by those demon worshippers. Now the portal to the Abyss has been opened, and a steady stream of demons and pollution are being sent to the material world..."

As she said this, in her excitement, she suddenly leaned forward and bowed to Hawthorne: "Please, both of you, please help us!"

Well, I was mistaken for a paladin again.

Hawthorne put away the system and looked at Willow in front of him, feeling a little subtle. But after so many times, he was too lazy to waste energy explaining, and just set his eyes on her, carefully looking at this centaur mistress.

She looked to be about thirty years old, but was obviously a well-maintained lady with a beautiful appearance and smooth skin.

As a half-goat, she has long, curly pure white hair. Unlike Hawthorne's silver-white hair, her hair is more like wool. As a woman, she has no horns on her head, and her two ears hang down softly like a real sheep, making people want to play with them.

She was wearing a yellow robe that seemed to be made of fallen leaves. In the panicked battle, the robe was inevitably damaged. In addition, she was bending over, so the pair of full and huge snow-capped peaks on her chest were exposed to Huo Sang, and the deep ravine in the middle attracted his eyes...

She wasn't wearing a bra.

Realizing that these primitive mountain tribe women had no habit of wearing bras, Hawthorne's blood pressure immediately rose to the highest level.

Next to him, An Nuo, who was also a woman, did not have such a strange reaction. Seeing that the goat man had a good attitude, she breathed a sigh of relief, pulled open the mask of her helmet, revealing her face, and said to her: "No need to be like this, Ms. Green Vine. I am

Anno Amkasla, this is Nigel Hawthorne, we are both sent by the Black Rod Tower to investigate and solve the problem of demonic pollution."

"We also need your help and support. After all, the evil spirits are the common enemy of all living beings in the material world."

Her attitude was very positive, and Hawthorne frowned slightly and continued, "Union is of course necessary, but before that, we need to establish the most basic mutual trust."

After he finished speaking, he looked up at Danqi in the distance, and the meaning was self-evident.

In the distance, Danqi Xiao couldn't help but grit his teeth secretly, feeling extremely angry. His beloved Chimera Barbari had died tragically at the hands of these people in front of him, so how could he cooperate with them calmly?

However, when Willow Greenvine turned her head and looked at him with eyes as gentle as water and confused, he gritted his teeth and felt his heart bleeding when he thought of his mission as the young master of the tribe. "The Owlbeast Tribe is here for this too. We are of course willing to cooperate with anyone who tries to solve the demon pollution."

"Please forgive me for what happened before!"

At this moment, responsibility overwhelmed his personal feelings. After he finished speaking, he let out a breath in his heart, as if he had lost his energy and spirit, and the whole person looked much more decadent in an instant.

The Green Vine Tribe is probably the only tribe among the mountains where all its members are spellcasters and possess valuable healing spells. It is the target of every tribe, especially those like them with a small population and forced to adopt an elite military strategy.

Therefore, in order to maintain Willow Greenvine's favor towards his tribe, he must be patient!

Calm down, Danchi, cooperate with them for now. It’s not too late to take revenge on the orcs even after ten months!

Let’s remember this grudge first. After we destroy the demons, it won’t be too late to settle accounts with these Sein people!

He silently swore in his heart, and seeing that he was so reasonable, Willow immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then turned back and smiled at Hawthorne: "Don't worry, Mr. Hawthorne, Mrs. Anno, we are definitely allies on the same front in fighting against the devil."

Hawthorne was slightly startled, and Annuo blushed instantly: "Uh... you are wrong, I, I am not his wife..."

As she said this, she felt something was wrong again. She secretly glanced at Hawthorne's expression, signaling him to think of a reasonable explanation quickly.

Hawthorne was too lazy to explain this, but when he saw An Nuo was so shy, he had no choice but to smile and said, "You misunderstood, Madam Madam."

In front of him, Willow looked slightly surprised: "Ah? Aren't you two husband and wife? Sorry, I was abrupt and spoke nonsense..."

She said this with a slightly regretful tone: "I'm sorry, when I first saw you, I really felt that you two were a good match..."

An Nuo lowered his head, his face flushed, feeling both shy and delighted, and his favorability towards the mistress in front of him rose by more than one level.

In the back, Heidi and Celine covered their mouths and giggled, while the latter kept looking at Nidalee on the other side.

The latter bit her lip, naturally feeling unhappy. After pondering for a moment, she suddenly took a big step forward, walked to the front, and took Hawthorne's arm: "Yes, I am his fiancée."

Anor was stunned, but that was not all. As he spoke, the druid held Hawthorne's arm and reached out to Willow: "Hello, Madam Greenvine, I am Nidalee, the daughter of Archdruid Ilarod of the Mountain Riders. I have heard of your great name for a long time, and I am honored to meet you today!"

Willow was stunned again, and then she also reached out her hand and shook hands with Nidalee: "Nidale...it's you? Wait, your father said you had other missions before..."

Nidalee nodded and lied without hesitation: "Yes, the result of my mission is to attract two powerful paladins, Mr. Hawthorne and Miss Anno, and later, two powerful mages, Miss Heidi and Miss Celine."

As she said this, she let go of Willow's hand and leaned her head on Hawthorne's shoulder: "Besides, I also found the only true love of my life. In many ways, it was worth the trip."

There was a sound of teeth grinding nearby. Willow felt that something was wrong, but as a simple-minded satyr, her limited experience was not enough to distinguish the sinister human heart, so she could only nod in confusion: "Then congratulations, Miss Nidalee."

Nidalee's smile became even more pronounced. She glanced at Anno's expression and felt proud and happy.

Hawthorne quietly held An Nuo's hand and comforted her. He then tried to smooth things over and changed the subject, saying, "It seems that all the demons in the cave have come out. The portal must be unstable and is now closed."

As an old player, he naturally knew the rules of this temporary demon portal: it was very small at the beginning, so only a small group of cowards could run out; then it expanded rapidly, allowing some large demons, such as berserkers, to pass through; but because it was unstable, it would shrink rapidly after expanding to its limit, so in the final stage, there would still be many cowards running out.

The situation just now happened to perfectly fit this rule, so it is likely that the portal has been closed and they are safe.

Chapter 266: Burrowing Demonic Bug

"I see that you all have injuries and your magic power is almost depleted. Why don't we all take a break and recover first, and then explore this cave together, what do you think?" Hawthorne suggested.

Willow naturally had no objection to this, she then said goodbye and returned to her own department.

After learning her next plan, the goats took out herbs from their backpacks and applied them to the slightly injured warriors. Then they also meditated and rested, recovering as much skill points as possible.

Hawthorne glanced at Anno, whose expression was gloomy. After Willow walked away, he quickly broke free from Nidalee's arm and said to her in a disgruntled tone, "What are you doing? Is this necessary?"

Nidalee's lips curled up, her heart was filled with joy, but she still pretended to be innocent and said, "Willow Greenvine, the matriarch of the Greenvine Tribe of the Centaur. Although I have never met her, I have heard of her a long time ago."

"All of their tribe are spellcasters, which is very rare. My father has always wanted to form an alliance with their tribe. Now that the Mountain Cleansers Alliance has been formed, I guess they should have joined the alliance as well."

"And those Owlbeast tribes that tame Chimeras are most likely also members of the Alliance. This time, it's their joint action."

Anor had heard about the Mountain Riders tribe that Nidalee belonged to being part of the Mountain Purifiers Alliance. However, Hawthorne testified that she had joined the monastery a long time ago and knew nothing about the specifics of the alliance, so Anor did not question her too much.

"So, in order to reject my father's arranged marriage, it is of course necessary to play this role." Nidalee's eyes looked pitiful as she said this. "Father, you will help me, right?"

"Miss Anno, you won't mind, right?"

She said this deliberately, and Huo Sang pinched her secretly. He made up his mind that he must teach this girl a lesson when he returned.

At the back, Celine held her forehead slightly, she actually didn't like this kind of dispute. And Heidi covered her mouth and laughed secretly, she found these open and covert struggles of human beings very interesting.

When she heard that the other party was actually a member of the military alliance that was hostile to Libel Port, the female paladin's expression suddenly changed. She frowned without caring about being jealous and immediately got into work mode: "They are also members of the Mountain Cleansers Alliance? Then I just exposed my identity... Isn't that very dangerous?"

Nidalee was slightly disappointed and shook her head. "Of course not. The satyrs originated from the Feywild. They are emotional creatures and are very sensitive to emotions. Naturally, they like positive and happy emotions, not sadness and pain."

"So, they should be the type who are very actively against the war. My father is actually the same, but in order to win over allies, he would first create a radical face, and then explain the reasons why it is not appropriate to go to war from other aspects..."

Only after she said this did An Nuo feel relieved. But Hawthorne's eyes were fixed on the young orc who was obviously the leader, taller, stronger, and more skilled in martial arts. His eyes flickered and he kept thinking.

This tribe that raises chimeras should also be one of the more radical ones? After all, they were full of hostility from the beginning.

Be careful...

This is what he thought, but after all, they had formed a temporary plastic alliance, so the surface peace was still maintained.

Then, both parties sat down to rest and recover. Hawthorne handed Anno a mana recovery pearl, which could instantly restore five mana points. It also had the ability to self-recharge and could be used once every 24 hours, making it very suitable for paladins who were short of supplies.

The only thing that makes people uncomfortable is that a person can only use this pearl once a day, otherwise it will cause permanent damage to the spirit. If not for this, Hawthorne really wants to buy ten or eight at a time...

cough!

The latter was not polite, and used up the energy in the pearl and drank a bottle of small sober potion. You can drink many bottles of this thing a day, but after drinking a bottle, the user must remain quiet and meditate to absorb the potency of the medicine, and cannot exercise or sweat, otherwise the potency will be wasted.

In this way, the user can recover one mana point every ten minutes, up to a maximum of five points. Drinking multiple bottles of potion at the same time will not add up the effects, but will only waste them.

After drinking it, Anno began to meditate and pray, absorbing the potion's power while recovering the divine power he had used up. Nidalee also absorbed a mana recovery pearl, and then began to meditate and rest - but she couldn't recover any mana, she just used this method to recover her energy and physical strength.

Hawthorne did not use or drink anything. He just replenished his magic buff, drained his mana, and then began to meditate to obtain mana replenishment from the witches.

Thus, an hour passed quickly.

Huo Sang had finished resting, and everyone had basically recovered to their peak condition. On the other side, the orcs had too many wounded, and the mana of the low-level spellcasters had basically dried up, so in the end, they only picked out five people to enter the cave with Huo Sang and others, and the others waited outside.

The five people are the satyr matriarch Willow Greenvine, the young master of the Owlbeast tribe, Danqi Owl, the elderly priest who can cast spells, a male satyr, and a strong middle-aged half-orc barbarian.

Hawthorne had no objection to this, but he could clearly feel that Willow and the goat man were okay, but the three orcs were still hostile and repulsive to him. The old priest was better, but the resentment on the faces of Danqi and the middle-aged orc could not be concealed at all.

In this regard, he expressed

They were very polite, yet subtly kept a distance from each other. Although they said it was a joint action, they behaved like two different teams, and then entered the cave side by side.

This two-meter-high cave was in the shape of a nearly regular circle. As he walked in it, Hawthorne couldn't help but frowning frequently. He felt that he was not walking in a natural cave, but more like... walking in a subway tunnel?

It was too regular. Although there were some potholes on the surface, overall, at least this road looked like a straight cylindrical hole...

He couldn't help but be alert, and Willow, who had been carefully observing his expression, suddenly said, "Mr. Hawthorne, did you find anything too?"

Hawthorne nodded and did not deny it: "Well, this place... doesn't look natural, nor does it look like it was dug by wild beasts or miners. It looks more like..."

He wanted to say it was more like being drilled out by a drill, but when he remembered that there was no such big drill for digging tunnels in this world, he gave up and began to think of a new metaphor.

And Willow added what he was about to say: "More like an oversized earthworm, isn't it?"

Hawthorne nodded: "Yes, this is the feeling this cave gives me!"

Willow smiled slightly, but then her eyes were filled with worry: "Mr. Hawthorne, and ladies, you are all knowledgeable mages, and you are from Libel Port, so you must be well-informed."

She complimented him first, and Hawthorne and Annuo hurriedly responded with courtesy and modesty. In the back, Danqi frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable. He always felt that the implication was that they, the mountain people, were a group of ignorant bumpkins...

But he also had to admit that he really didn't know what Willow said next.

"I wonder if you have ever heard of a super-large monster called... the burrowing bug?" Willow asked tentatively.

At once, Hawthorne and Annuo's faces changed drastically. Heidi and Celine also stopped in their tracks, looking surprised: "Drilling Demon Bug?"

Only Nidalee stared with her eyes wide open, not understanding what they were talking about.

Seeing their reactions, Willow breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, you all know it, which saves me a lot of time explaining."

Hawthorne suppressed his shocked expression and looked extremely serious. He knew about the burrowing demon worm. In fact, this super-giant monster, which looked like a combination of a worm and a squid, was not a beast or a monster in nature. It was the product of loopholes in the rules of the material world, just like the Old Ones, the Outer Gods, and the witches!

Chapter 267 Shadow Demon: Sneak Attack!

The material world is not perfect. Although the gods of order refuse to admit this, this is the objective reality. Moreover, the chaotic energy from outside the many worlds will enter through these loopholes and turn into various terrifying existences.

Those big loopholes in the rules will give birth to Outer Gods, and when they awaken from their slumber, the loopholes in the rules will expand infinitely, and the entire universe will be shattered;

Those that are smaller will become the Great Old Ones, and also have the power to destroy entire planets;

The smaller ones are the various types of chaotic horror monsters, such as the Star Color, the Hound of Tindalos, the Black Goat Kid...

Heidi and the others actually belong to this category, but they were lucky enough to gain higher intelligence and stable spellcasting ability, and can also transform into human form, so they are called "witches".

The burrowing demon worms that Willow just mentioned, although they look like worms, are also monsters of this kind in nature. Their bodies are extremely large, and their surfaces are covered with high temperatures like magma, and they can easily drill holes in the rock formations; and their adult individuals can even cause earthquakes. The destruction of many ancient cities was caused by these worms!

Legend has it that the most powerful individual among the demon insects, an Old One named "Shude Meier", can cause earthquakes that can easily sink a continent.

Thinking of the horror of this insect, Huo Sang's face suddenly became very ugly: "Madam, are you saying that this cave here was created by a burrowing demon insect?"

If it really is an adult burrowing demon worm...

hiss.

With their current configuration, it's not that they can't fight. Apart from anything else, with Xilin's strength, it shouldn't be too much of a pressure to kill one alone.

Moreover, although the burrowing insects are very powerful, their weakness is also obvious: they are afraid of water.

It just so happened that the first spell he learned when he came to this world was to create water. And Heidi was here too, and Nidalee also knew this spell, so when they created water together, there was no need to worry about not being able to drown it.

But, they are in the cave now after all. They are afraid that this guy will cause a landslide, and then they will all be unable to leave...

Willow nodded, her face serious: "Yes, our ancestors have recorded that under these mountains, there is a group of burrowing demon insects sleeping. But now it seems that they may have been awakened by the pollution of the devil."

"Even more terrifying is the speculation that some of them have been controlled by those demon worshippers..."

Hawthorne took a deep breath. He didn't want to go any deeper and had the urge to turn around and leave.

But in the end, he forced a smile and said, "It's not a big problem, don't be afraid. The weakness of the burrowing devil worm is obvious. It is afraid of water, so it is not difficult to deal with it."

"As long as the legendary Shude Meier doesn't show up, ordinary adult burrowing demon bugs are still easy to deal with, haha... haha?"

He was about to laugh a few times to lighten the atmosphere, but then he saw Willow's eyes become more serious.