Crimson Servant

Chapter 89 Shadow in the Forest

Redel stumbled into the forest. He was frightened and confused, as if he had lost his soul. His weapon had been discarded, and there was a very eye-catching bruise on his face. He kept bumping against branches, making his muddy armor look even more miserable, and his tears were flowing down his face, showing no trace of the demeanor of a knight. If you were a friend who was familiar with this descendant of Esther in the past, it would be difficult to imagine what happened to this brave and energetic paladin in that forest.

The power and brilliance shown by Karl negated Redel's life in terms of strength and faith. He did not collapse his faith on the spot because the panic in his mind was too strong.

The face-covering mechanical armor retracted into the Breaker breastplate, and Karl stood there next to the body of Imperial Knight Oldham Essert, watching helplessly as the disgraced young man left. The rangers of the Pearl Sanctuary did not stop the enemy's only survivor from escaping, and some of them even had expressions of pity on their faces.

John walked to Karl's side, he slapped the silent paladin, and stepped on the blood with his boots, absorbing the blood of the Imperial Knight in a subtle way.

Karl’s voice was a little dull.

"The blood in him is still very shallow, not beyond hope. Let him leave so that he can spend the rest of his life repenting for his sins."

He seemed to be explaining to John, or maybe comforting himself.

The warlock was thinking about obtaining information about the Eversa army from the collected blood, and replied to Karl nonchalantly, "I don't care, the name you reported is not my name."

John walked up to Ranger Captain Weathert, who was arranging for his companions to recover arrows from the enemy's corpses. They were not kind enough to collect the enemy's corpses, so exposing the corpses of these intruders to the wilderness might also be an act of revenge.

John's gaze made Weatherett raise his head, and he arranged the work with a few words. His eyes were strangely focused on the warlock in front of him. His lips moved slightly, but in the end he said nothing.

John raised an eyebrow, "I thought you would not let any enemy go, especially since they have committed such evil deeds."

The ranger shook his head and gently twisted the natural talisman on his necklace with his fingers.

"We usually leave one or two behind. Letting the enemy spread fear rather than just disappearing into the woods without a trace, ensuring deterrence is more likely to keep those people away from our sacred sites."

John crossed his arms and tried his best to suppress the smell of blood on his body.

"Ephesa's army is not an adventurer who accidentally broke in. They are bound to win."

"As you said," Weathert stuffed the fallen hair back into his hood and straightened the edges. "If the enemy's actions are already determined, what impact will leaving one person alive have?"

The ranger looked at the silent paladin and said calmly: "It's better to obey the wishes of your friends. This is harmless."

A strange emotion floated in John's heart, like a few wisps of breeze making waves in the water. Warlocks are not used to this kind of ubiquitous kindness, and they don't approve of their actions. This is actually the hometown of Nora Sebas? Can that little thief live here too? John was completely unable to connect the ranger in front of him with the druid who was at home in the Dark City.

"Come on, our mission has been completed. Now take a good rest and go back to resume your life. The fatigue you have experienced along the way should be healed by the druid."

Ranger Weathert led John and Carl toward the depths of the woodland. The place where they fought the Imperial Knights was on the southwest outskirts. They thought the dense jungle they walked through was at least half of the way, but the ranger told them that the woodland cultivated by the druids was far wider than they thought.

"Many outsiders can be accepted by the Pearl Sanctuary, and some of them who are not talented and the descendants of those members of the forest will leave the holy land. They will either establish villages on the periphery, or they will become rangers patrolling the forest like us. Those who suffer After the knights' attack, we have gathered our manpower and evacuated most of the southwest. We have too few people, and our dispersed strength is really unable to compete with Eversa."

They passed three giant pines that looked so similar that Carl suspected he was spinning in circles. Weathert led them across the river that cut through the woodland, which was the only way to the Pearl Sanctuary.

There are more and more village houses on both sides of the river, and a few wooden platforms stretching out to the water are like square duckweeds. At this time, the buildings are empty and the village is silent. The water vapor was thick as they walked on the misty path, and the houses on both sides became eerie due to the silence.

After Karl crossed the bridge, his eyes looked around from time to time. The thick fog around him made the paladin feel very uncomfortable. "who is she?"

Karl pointed to a shoal covered with reeds at the corner of the village. A white figure stood in the mist, with a light white skirt fluttering gently. The woman had long hair and looked at everyone calmly.

A woman wearing a white dress appears in a quiet village, accompanied by thick fog, which is enough to make people's hair stand on end. And she stood in silence, an uneasy feeling emanating from her brows and eyes, with a ghostly and gloomy look.

John noticed that several of the Rangers were shivering as well.

"That's the 'Lady in the Forest.'" Weathert took off the wooden necklace, then took a companion's necklace and put it on the necks of John and Carl respectively. "She is the guardian of the Frostmist Forest. Let's go to the Pearl Sanctuary to meet Passing through her territory. Don't be nervous, the 'Lady in the Forest' just noticed the scent of outsiders."

As if to prove what the ranger said, when Carl and John put on the amulet necklaces, the white figures disappeared in the blink of an eye, as if they had never existed.

Karl couldn't help but pinch the amulet on his chest and asked with lingering fear: "What would happen to outsiders if they didn't wear this?"

Weathert fell into a brief silence, as if he had become part of the thick fog.

"If you are targeted by the 'Lady in the Forest', there are only two outcomes: death from fear or disappearance."

"When you say disappear, do you mean leave here?"

"It means something else."

Weissert deliberately eased the tension between the two of them and kept reassuring them, "The 'Lady in the Forest' doesn't deal with us. She is the guardian of this forest and the village. Most of the residents here are used to her presence. Although there are occasionally a few There was a disappearance case, but it turned out to have nothing to do with the 'Lady in the Forest', as only animal carcasses were found in her territory."

Karl stared at the ranger captain and said anxiously: "Isn't this necklace 100% effective?"

Weathert's palm never left the paladin's shoulder. "No one has heard the voice of the 'Lady in the Forest', and they don't know her rules. It's just that there is a precedent for outsiders to use amulets to escape attention, and some people You don’t need a talisman to stay safe. All I can say is that in most cases, a druid’s talisman can guarantee safety.”

At this time, they had walked out of the village and were walking along the edge of a mist-shrouded forest.

The paladin pointed to a shaded area with lush branches, and everyone followed his finger and saw the ethereal shadow again.

The lady in the forest stood in the shadows, looking at them expressionlessly.

"Does this count as being targeted?"

Weathert's explanation was a little pale, and he continued to repeat.

"When targeted, the possibility of the outsider disappearing is not 100%."

　happy New Year!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)