Blood tax

Chapter 81 Strange Cultists

"Griffith lost a bit of his sanity after hearing strange noises on the boat," Amber thought, "perhaps because of the activation of the worm shell organ."

That's it!

Griffith finally connected some doubts:
"During the night of January 1th and 7th, I heard strange noises and witnessed strange and unreal sights where a door was opened from nowhere.

"In addition, the information from the beacon claims that the stolen "Linyuan Collection" contains knowledge of advanced advent art.

"I think that the worm shell organ turns Quark Sol into a monster is just a superficial side effect, its real purpose is to complete a certain summoning ritual, and devouring flesh and blood is the charging process before the summoning is activated, not the purpose."

The second lieutenant of the Paladins Skoltz and the sergeant major of Finland who were in attendance were surprised. They thought it was just a monster ceremony, but they did not expect things to get bigger and bigger.

Griffith looked at Amber with a dignified face, and then said to the garrison mage: "I think this is also related to the black wooden box in the cargo hold. There are signs of black magic left on the box, and there are living corpses nearby. , "Linyuan Ji" also has the knowledge of living corpse creation and domination.

"My point is that, whatever the motive, Quaxor performed some kind of ritual using the worm-shell organ and the Lin Yuan Ji, which was attached to the black wooden box, or was Something merged, and in the end, it was not found by us."

The Church of Grace fell silent for a while.

The stationed mage thought for a while: "We are not sure how much this box is related to Quaxor, but the detection shows that there are traces of black magic left in the box that we have not yet identified, at least it can be determined that the box once contained a dangerous black magic items, and were transported to Neopolis Island.

"The owner and true consignee of this crate is already under investigation. If Quaxor is not the owner of the box, it means that the Equinox incident exposed dark magic items smuggled by other gangs, or that the owner is also an accomplice of Quaxor. ."

Master Sergeant Finn of the garrison on Neopolis Island raised his right hand and applied to speak: "Are we going to monitor Milovan Neville Arcane Council Member? Is there evidence that he is innocent now?"

"No, but he is a big man, and he is going to the Southern Continent tomorrow," the garrison Mage Connex glanced at the team in front of him, "The Senator is not under our jurisdiction and dispatch, and he himself is a powerful Sequence Six. Caster, let's not trouble him. The superiors will arrange an investigation."

According to the results of the meeting, Griffith is responsible for the inspection of Hepu Town.The soldiers of the two city defense squads have been deployed to the town to take charge of the security, and are ready to listen to him and other Beyonders' orders.

……

"Second Squad Leader, Miss Investigator, come with me," Master Sergeant Finn gestured to Griffith and Amber after the meeting, "Get your gear."

"This used to be an outpost monitoring the bay. It consists of a front fort and a back fort. The two independent outposts on the left and right are connected by a drawbridge. In recent years, after the sea threat has been reduced, it has been converted into a church sanctuary," said Finnish Shumen. He walked through the corridors and rooms, and brought the two of them to the small courtyard behind the main hall, and introduced the various facilities here one by one, "The walls of the church are very strong, and the courtyard is reserved for the artillery's heavy catapults. position."

Amber followed the introduction of the sergeant major and looked around, only to think that this place is much larger than the ordinary monastery of the Church of the Gods.The three tall white stone buildings are arranged in an "L" shape, connected by a wide courtyard in the middle.

The garden is planted with rows of grapes and nectarines, and even a small gazebo.The vine man with blue and white petals hangs from the sharp corner of the pavilion, which is extraordinarily unique.

"If you want to set up artillery, you have to cut down these vines," Griffith stood by the backyard fence, looked at the level ground, and then looked at the stone walls on both sides, "This wall is facing The direction of the bay? The trebuchet was originally deployed here?"

"Yes, there are observation posts and bunkers on the roofs on both sides, and the bay is under the hillside. Heavy catapults can be placed here to suppress the beachhead of the bay and the foothills in the distance. You can't attack in the direction of the residential area, which will cause a sea of ​​fire." Finland nodded, "From a structural point of view, this fort has many defects. There is also a mage tower in the urban area of ​​Neopolis. In addition, the waters around the island here have been very calm for a long time. Now it is only used because of its sturdiness. As one of our strongholds, it will take a while to deploy the artillery."

The sergeant-major Finland came to a three-story tower at the end of the courtyard and knocked twice on the solid iron gate of the entrance.

With the creaking sound of the door, two garrison soldiers opened the thick door from the inside.

"There are still people stationed here?" Amber probed inside.

"No, this is a warehouse. But after the war in the east, there was no time to replenish the supplies," the sergeant major cheerfully invited the two of them in. "You can choose at will, anyway, there is nothing good. You can leave it when you leave Neopolis Island. It can be returned here, or it can be returned directly to the material warehouse at the port.”

Griffith thanked the sergeant major and immediately glanced around the arsenal of Saint Grace Church.

The tall weapon racks were empty.Several spears and shields were haphazardly erected against the walls, and a few empty quivers with no arrows hung on the shelf where the iron armor should have been placed.

The soldier guarding the arsenal brought a large box.Finn pointed to the box and said, "Apprentice knight, your saber was damaged during the battle. Let's see if there is any suitable for use here. Miss Investigator, do you want something?"

Griffith reached into the box and fumbled for a while, took out the only piece of mail, and shook it in front of Amber: "Are you wearing it?"

The blonde girl was standing by the door sniffing here and there.She looked at the gray mail in Griffith's hand and shook her head in disappointment.

"Do you need compensation for battle damage?" Griffith asked.

"We'll send the bill to the Earl's House, hehe," the Finnish sergeant-major winked at him. "This is your first time out on a mission?"

Griffith and Amber nodded together.

"Okay, my friends, don't be fooled by the rewards when you get a mission, especially those C- and D-level missions," Finn pointed to the armor and weapons on the two men. Your arrows, armor, and weapons will be billed to your employer, and will be deducted from your bonus. Even if the equipment is not destroyed, there is wear and tear, right? If you are unlucky or spend a lot of money, you can only accumulate points after a mission. Merit points are no longer profitable.

"Only for those particularly important tasks, the big men will carefully arrange everything for us, and there will be big rewards."

Amber patted his tight and beautiful leather armor: "I have my own armor, I don't wear yours!"

"Okay, what about the second-level squad leader?" Finn took back the leather armor and put it aside without hesitation. "Would you like something?"

"Well, I have an iron helmet and shield," Griffith went to the wall and drew a long spear to examine it, "and a long sword, two daggers, a long spear, three javelins, saber, short An axe and a mace."

"..."

Amber and Master Sergeant Finland looked at each other.

"Ahem, Mr. Apprentice Knight, our next task is to patrol and search, and then deal with a small group of cultists," the sergeant felt it necessary to remind his comrades, "you don't need to break the line. This long sword Average quality, make it for you. Shot on that rack."

"You are really cautious," Amber praised, "I like your character."

"That's because you haven't been careless," Griffith said, equipping himself with weapons, "I've suffered a few losses, and I've learned to be good."

Receiving the weapon, Griffith, fully armed, walked towards the town with satisfaction.Amber and Finn were behind him, watching the foot armored cavalry rumble forward.

Before he could come to town, a team of local city defense troops ran over.The sergeant who led the team first saluted, and the apprentice knight confirmed their identities.

"Is there anything unusual in town?" Griffith asked.

"There are some," the city defense corporal thought for a moment and said, "Mr. apprentice knight, we are a peaceful and peaceful town here. We don't usually talk about fallen mages, monsters, etc. Even public security cases are rare."

"Is there any difference between these two days?"

"Yes," replied the corporal, "just yesterday, a group of foreigners appeared out of nowhere. They first fought in the market, then robbed two shops and took some hatchets and hammers. And some money and food. We reported it to the garrison mage."

what's going on?Griffith looked at the corporal in surprise. He didn't expect anyone to snatch these things.If it is said that this is the work of the black magic gang, it would be too unbearable to rob the shop and rob the hatchet~
"I received a notification from the Church of Holy Grace. They did this?" Griffith asked curiously. "Have you caught it?"

"Unfortunately, we didn't catch them. They disappeared before we got there," the corporal's face was a little hard to hang. "There has never been such a case in this small town... I was caught off guard for a while."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye out," Griffith patted his scabbard. "Let's see if we can find them during our patrol. Did you make a note of the facial features?"

"Yes, apprentice knight," the corporal took out a few rough portraits, "there is nothing special about the clothes, but the complexion is ruddy and healthy, the figure is tall, the eyes are sharp, and there are several women with them, according to eyewitnesses. Said they didn't look like someone who would do this kind of petty theft."

(End of this chapter)