Arcane splendor begins with the throne

Chapter 26 The Place of Foothold
The sky is gloomy, with dark clouds rolling over, and what's worse, apart from the cold moon disappearing, there is not even a trace of starlight.

In this environment where everything is hidden in the thick night, it undoubtedly added a heavy burden to Brian and his party.

After all, this is a dangerous wilderness, and no one dares to light a bright torch to travel at night.

Because doing so is simply telling all night predators your exact location.

Even so, Brian killed two eyeless bear goblins with a sword during the half-hour journey Mario said, and used magic to scare away a pack of wolves hunting at night.

The only good news is that Mario, who is a half-goat, has surprisingly good night vision, so he won't lead a group of people away from the original direction.

As everyone moved forward cautiously, Brian could clearly feel wisps of smoky night mist creeping up into the sky from the surrounding streams and deep in the grass, gathering above their heads.

The birch trees with sparse branches and leaves are not willing to be lonely and sway gently in the breeze, reflecting the dark sky, like a depressing black net.

Not long after, under the leadership of Mario, they plunged into a deep trail again, with tall trees on both sides of the trail, and dry leaves rustling in the night wind.

Just as everyone hurried through the path, everyone heard two terrifying and desolate cries from afar: a cold call and a cold echo.

This undoubtedly added a thick black ink to everyone's fearful hearts. Even Mario, who was leading the way, couldn't help trembling, stopped, and moved closer to Brian's direction.

"It's nothing to be afraid of. This is just an instinctive response between two ghosts who are relatively close. Don't worry, they are far away from us. As long as we don't break into their territory to seek death, there is no danger."

Brian noticed the uneasy look on everyone's face and explained this strange phenomenon to them in a relaxed tone.

After everyone heard this, they slowly suppressed the fear in their hearts.

Since setting off from the valley, Brian has almost always led the way.

He also witnessed the other party cleanly killing the wandering goblin bears. When encountering wolves' siege, he even stood up alone and used magic to scare the wolves away.

Unknowingly, Brian has become the backbone of everyone, so he naturally believes in his words.

Then Mario glanced at Brian behind him, and then he led the group of people with peace of mind and continued to move towards the dense bushes ahead.

Even though it was night, Brian's eyesight was not affected much.

He found that the terrain in front of the group sloped to the south and was wild and roadless, with bushes and short trees growing in clusters, with bare wasteland in the middle.

The grass on the ground is also very scarce, and it is rough and gray. The leaves of the bushes have withered for some reason early and are constantly dying.

Just like the half-goat Mario said, this is a gloomy land, as long as you pass through this place, you will see a small village built by humans.

But Brian's heart was not on the small village he was about to arrive at. Instead, he pinched a leaf that had fallen from a dead branch, put it on the tip of his nose and sniffed it lightly, frowning and meditating.

Because he felt a very faint breath of negative energy on the leaves.

In other words, in this gloomy place in front of you, it is very likely that ghosts or banshees among undead creatures really existed.

However, his instinct told himself that things were not as simple as he imagined.

The reason why he thinks so is that Brian senses a familiar smell in this negative energy atmosphere.

If the negative energy is generated by undead creatures with their own corrupting abilities, he, with his arcane fire, can search for the source of the energy very accurately.

But the negative energy in front of him was different. Not only could he not find the direction of the source, but he also vaguely felt that this special negative energy was more like falling from the sky.

Thinking of this, Brian suddenly looked up.

Through the gaps in the bushes, what greets the eyes is the deep darkness like ink.

In a daze, Brian seemed to notice that a pale and piercing dead moon was staring at this place coldly.

This inexplicable sense of crisis made his heart tremble, and he couldn't help but shudder, and quickly looked away, not daring to look directly at her.

Unexpectedly, this place was also affected by the ancient evil, so Brian threw away the leaves casually, secretly startled.

Then he stopped thinking about it and chose to go on his way with peace of mind.

In this way, in this gloomy place where no fingers can be seen, everyone walked hard all the way, almost few people spoke, and the journey seemed slow and depressing.

Just when everyone's eyes touched and found a few lights that looked like torches, they finally showed expressions of relief.

Immediately afterwards, he immediately speeded up and walked towards the village in the dark night.

"Who?" At this moment, a man with a bow and arrow noticed the trail of a group of people, stood on the arrow tower and shouted vigilantly towards the bottom.

At the same time, the rope of the alarm pendulum clock was tightly grasped in his hand.

Brian didn't bother to pay attention, so he glanced at Artes, and the other party understood instantly. Under the threat of the bow and arrow, he took the initiative to take a few steps forward and said:

"We are a group of adventurers heading to the Castle of Thorns. We were attacked by gnolls on the way, causing many of our companions to be seriously injured, so we wanted to rest here for a night."

After Artes finished speaking, he immediately winked at the people behind him.

Soon, several torches lit up in the team, clearly showing the embarrassed appearance of the group.

The guards of the arrow tower inspected one by one, and then relaxed a little, then put away their bows and arrows, and gently tapped the rope of the alarm bell in a slow rhythm.

Following the gentle ringing of the bell, after a while, the heavy gate of the village rang, and a middle-aged man in plain clothes appeared, followed by seven or eight vigilant guards.

Brian, who was observing secretly, also found that the left sleeve of the middle-aged man in the lead was empty, swaying in the breeze.

Obviously, he should have broken an arm.

However, he soon made a new discovery. This plainly dressed middle-aged man, at first glance, looked like an extremely ordinary civilian, but there was a sense of vigor in his gestures.

Although the sky was dark and there was only the faint light of torches around him, Brian could accurately see the determination and confidence of the other party.

Only people who are used to wearing armor and weapons would do this.

Brian dared to bet all his property that this middle-aged man was definitely a professional soldier.

"A group of adventurers?" The middle-aged man with a broken arm inspected the group of people with sharp eyes, and said in a playful tone.

Brian clearly felt that the other party's gaze stayed on him the longest, which puzzled him.

Because compared to his status as a half-elf, Mario with two horns in front of him and Artes with the silver griffin emblem should attract the attention of outsiders.

"That's right." Artes assured him very politely: "We passed by here, just want to rest here for one night, and we will leave tomorrow. There will be absolutely no trouble."

When Brian heard this, he secretly scolded the other party for being an idiot in his heart.

No one who wears the family crest and the armor of nobles deceives himself into saying that he is an adventurer.

As long as you are not a fool, you can easily expose this lie.

It can be seen from this that the little Duke in front of him has no experience of alone adventure at all.

"When did even the members of the Silver Griffin family become reduced to the point of becoming adventurers to make a living?" The middle-aged man withdrew his gaze from the badge on Artes's shoulder, he laughed, and greeted in a sarcastic tone :
"Since the Swift family, who value honor, wants to stay here, we wilderness people have no reason to refuse, so hurry up and come in."

(End of this chapter)