Blood tax

Chapter 460 Sacrifice
While Ophelia's team was searching the castle, the teams led by Dedius and Kulala approached small villages one by one.It is located on the east side of the castle and is the only way to the safe zone.

There were fields, houses and roads, but like everywhere else, it was empty.

Dedius activated a reconnaissance spell.Firefly-like balls of light flew between the houses.If there is a slight trace of life activity, this spell will catch the clues.

After a few minutes, he shook his head:

"It's really quiet. Not to mention the villagers, there are no livestock or small animals."

"Spread out, occupy the commanding heights and establish an observation post. After confirming the safety, contact other teams to follow up." Kulala waved his hand, and the officers and sergeants of the team spread out in battle formation, and quickly advanced along the roof and low walls.

This team is composed of elite soldiers who have just survived the battlefield.Despite the exhaustion of all, they completed the task with impeccable speed and tactical movement.In a moment, they advanced to the small square in the center of the village.

On this land shrouded in haze, a circle of oval-shaped giant eggs stands impressively, with protruding lines like meridian tentacles spreading on it.They are gathered together, and their lifeless appearance looks like fossils, and they look like some kind of wicked statues.

"What is this?" Dedius stared at these strange things for a while, and asked Kulala beside him, "Would you like to break it open and have a look?"

"Huh?!" Kulala raised his eyebrows, "A person like you in a horror story can't survive two chapters~
"I'll go to a high place to see the situation, you, don't touch these things, stay away."

She jumped onto the roof a few times and looked into the distance.Under the vast gray sky, there are still more than a dozen piles of such giant fossil eggs, stretching from the farmland outside the village to the forest and low hills in the east.

Here is the exit of the mountain range that traverses east and west. The gray and cold rocky slopes are dotted with small patches of green grass and bushes. The howling north wind passes through the mountain pass and pours into the collar.

The cold air was mixed with a faint odor, and Kulala's sensitive spirituality was suddenly touched.

"Look!" A Extraordinary in the team suddenly said, "Is that a dark cloud?"

Everyone looked up at the distant sky, only to see a large group of black shadows approaching rapidly.

"It's so fast!"

"It's too fast, it doesn't look like a dark cloud, is it a flock of birds?"

"What is this?" Kulala squinted her eyes, and suddenly shouted in panic, "Hidden! Everyone hides! Dedius, distribute the scent potion to everyone, hurry up!"

The whole team swarmed into the haystacks, farmhouses and ravines aside, and Dedius, who didn't know what happened, hurriedly took out the potion and threw it to everyone.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

He looked out from the gap in doubt, and suddenly a shriek that overwhelmed the mountains and seas came on his face.

"Hiss - Li Li Li!!!"

The earth-shattering strange sound, like the evil sound of a rattlesnake, hit the earth from the distant sky.An astonishing terrifying aura swept over the sky, like countless prehistoric beasts pouring out of their lairs.

"What... what is it?" Dedius took two steps back in shock, and saw a huge black shadow sweeping past in his vision, completely blocking the light of the sun.

Kulala had already rolled to his side, put the cloak on him, and said with a trembling voice:

"That is……

"A giant dragon."

The huge wings that can cover the entire village, with the roar of piercing the sky, passed over the hidden village of the team.The terrifying black shadow just passed through the gap above the head, and everyone instinctively fell to the ground with their heads in their hands.

There was a strange and frightening aura in the air, and even those who knew nothing would immediately guess that it was the coercion of a dragon.

Kulala felt as if she had been wrapped in a blanket of terror and chaos, and trembled on the ground involuntarily.

She almost lost control of her body, subconsciously screaming and running blindly.

The elite soldiers who survived on the battlefield were staggered by the terrifying breath, and those with particularly sensitive perception even vomited.

"boom!"

There was a loud bang on the ground.Something was thrown down.

"That's it? Viscount Varian?" Kulala put her hand on her forehead and carefully looked out from the gap in the wall of the farmhouse in a dizzy manner.

I saw Viscount Varian, the leader of the local noble officers in Verona who were fighting together not long ago, and his horse were thrown on the ground together, and the slurry was splashed everywhere.

The mighty Extraordinary fell prey along with his mount.

The giant beast fell from the sky and landed on the hill outside the village.It opened its mouth wide, and Dragon Scale's chest immediately became red and swollen.

"Hiss - Li Li Li!!!"

The scorching dragon's breath spewed out.The flames and air waves rushed down the mountain, scorching the bushes and grass along the way, and even swept all the way to the village where everyone was hiding.

There was a sudden commotion among the crowd, and several sergeants who were as firm as steel shouted and jumped up, scrambling to escape out of the village.

"Oops! You're going to kill us!" Dedius, who was still sane, exclaimed, and the arcane brilliance gathered on him immediately.

He waved his wand and chanted a spell, then tore open the scroll he carried with him, and threw a spell combination at the deserters.

"Subgroup Invisibility."

"The breath is blocked."

At the same time, Kulala also opened his strong bow.She didn't catch the arrow, but gathered a powerful cyclone between the bowstrings.

"Hurricane impact."

The skills of the two took effect almost at the same time.The first two spells blocked the shouts of the soldiers and hid their shapes; the last hurricane blast rolled them up with a powerful shock wave, and then threw them far away.

The running soldiers suddenly found that their feet were suspended in the air, their bodies were swept up by a gust of hurricane, and they rolled in circles like leaves.If they hadn't blocked their aura and applied invisibility, they would have been spotted by the dragon the moment they rushed out of the village.

"What are you doing?" Dedius was surprised to see the soldiers thrown far to the ground by Kulala's impact.

"In front of Longwei, magic can't save them," Kulala said coldly, "at least keep them away from our hiding place."

"Aren't they destined to die?"

"From the moment they lost control because of fear, death is doomed," Kulala replied, "We can send them away quietly in a short time, but we can't last long in front of mythical creatures like dragons.

"They are destined to die, we...

"I still have to think about living."

The giant dragon that was devouring the viscount suddenly raised its head.It sensed something, and scanned the land below the hill with its golden vertical pupils.

The invisibility and breath-blocking magic covering the soldiers disintegrated the moment they met the sight of the giant dragon, revealing several panicked humans.

Everyone heard a nasal voice that sounded like a human voice.

"Oh, humans."

The voice that seemed to penetrate all obstacles echoed in everyone's minds, as if a giant dragon was whispering in their ears.

A huge fireball roared out, hitting the fleeing crowd.

"Boom!" The sergeants were instantly ignited by the dragon's breath, rolling and burning in the flames.

After the giant dragon spit out the fireball, it no longer stared at the tiny creatures that disappeared in smoke, and devoured the flesh and blood in front of it.

When it was full, the giant dragon spread its wings covering the sky and roared down from the top of the mountain, and flew towards the castle.

All those who survived fell into a state of extreme depression and panic.The horror of the giant dragon seemed to become a reality, firmly occupying everyone's minds.The dragon chant was like a curse, lingering in everyone's mind, making everyone's minds confused and their steps getting heavier.

They slowly left the hiding place.The team, which already had few people left, lost half of its companions.

"Contact other people quickly," Kulala held her hand, trying to calm down, "Let everyone evacuate. Didius, do you hear me? Hurry up and let... what are you looking at?"

She patted her lord.The normally brave and impulsive young wizard started to wobble as if he had dysentery.He raised his hand and pointed forward:

"Kulala, you, look, am I dreaming?"

Miss Shutoral throbbed.She has not yet seen the scene that frightened Feng Jun, but the depth of her heart has already trembled like a scream.

It was extreme fear, despair, unreasonable, a vision that should not appear in this world, and surpassed the limits of human physiology.

She turned around, only to see that the giant rock egg was glowing with flesh and blood.

It is divided into four petals, split like petals, open and close up and down, greedily swallowing the surrounding air.The originally dusty rock surface wriggled like skin.

Viscous, red-black mucus gushes out from the giant egg continuously.There are some weird shadows, peeping between the light and the dark.

"What is this--!"

"Attack, attack!"

Kulala heard a series of insane shouts.Before she could even see what happened, there were extremely shrill hissing in her ears, and some kind of creature she had never seen before shot out like black shadows and rushed towards the team.

……

"It's time for assembly, why haven't the teams come back?"

Joshua, who was caring for the wounded, had just finished a round of nursing care, and stood up wiping the fine sweat from his forehead.

The team he was in stayed in the open space at the intersection, waiting for the teams that collected supplies to return and continue their operations.

"Master, did you hear that?" said a wounded man.

"What did you hear?" Joshua shook his head helplessly, "I'm not very inspired."

"Sounds like a rattlesnake..."

"Stupid, the rattlesnake can't bark, it just wags that disgusting tail."

"That's almost what it means. I vaguely heard something moving."

Several wounded who had rested for a while started talking.Just then, they heard footsteps, and everyone heard them clearly.

Joshua hastily stood on guard.He vaguely felt that something was wrong, dropped the medicine box, picked up the warhammer and holy shield, faced the direction of the footsteps, and was on high alert.

"who!?"

With this order, a man in a black robe appeared from among the bushes.On his chest hangs a copper coin inscribed with ascending stairs, hanging orbs and twisted, hideous lines.

This is the emblem of the "Deathrattle" cult that roams Verona and everywhere!
Joshua kept his posture low, ready to go.He is a monk who has participated in many battles with Griffith. He is wearing heavy armor and hammered with holy light. He is fearless even in the face of a war elephant.

The black-robed man paused for a moment, then turned to this side, and slowly raised his hood:

"Long time no see, Joshua, my friend."

Under the hood was the ex-Storm Squadron member who attacked King Aurelius and then disappeared, Gilles de Ace.His originally handsome face has been distorted by indescribable ferocity, his eyes are protruding, as if they will burst from their eye sockets at any time:
"You're here, that's fine.

"Tell me quickly, where is the half of the savior? Quickly, tell me quickly?"

what? What?What savior?What kind of half body... Joshua didn't understand, but became more vigilant:

"I don't understand you, Jill."

"That's that, that, that, that!" Jill said vaguely, grabbing her face with both hands restlessly, tearing off the bloodstains, "It is the Son of our Lord, the eternal one who saves the world, it is Him The other half of the container that walks the world!

"Hey, my lord, for losing such an important container, Lord Horus will be in chaos!
"Quick, Joshua, tell me, the other half of the container, the other half of the body, where is where is where is where is where is where—! Why don't you tell me, stupid Joshua, Stupid stupid wooden man, why why why why!"

Joshua's team watched in horror as the traitor of Byelan shook his body in front of everyone, shaking desperately like a crazy seaweed.This out-of-control disorder is really worthy of the madness of a traitor who assassinates the king.

Suddenly Jill stopped shaking.

His twisted body tilted ninety degrees to the right side, and then bounced back like a spring-loaded clown:
"Oh, it's too late."

"What's too late?" Joshua asked.

All the wounded have been armed during this time and surrounded the crazy Jill.

"You're too late, hee hee," Jill grinned, "It's activated."

"What started?"

"Imitators, failures, futile rituals have started, hee hee," Jill answered every question, "he is about to offer a sacrifice."

"What sacrifice?" Joshua and everyone asked in unison.

Blood-colored mucus oozes from the ground, like blood, but also like swamp mud, red and black, coming from all directions, soaking everyone's ankles in a blink of an eye.To the horror of everyone.

Joshua, he followed Griffith to charge the orc's spear array, blocked the roaring crowd in Odessa, and saw all kinds of mystery and chaos.

He considers himself fearless, and if his destiny comes, he is confident that he will be ready.

However, at this moment, his whole body was shrouded in indescribable fear.Every premonition reminded him how cheap and insignificant human beings are in the face of the ultimate mystery.

"Hee hee hee," Jill stared at his former comrades-in-arms with protruding eyes, and whispered, as if whispering, as if talking to someone else, "Look, they're still in the dark!
"They, don't know what is—

"Sacrifice."

(End of this chapter)