Hollow Knight: Hallownest

As early as the plague began to spread in Dirtmouth and the news reached Lurien's ears, the door into Hallownest had been closed, and those outside could not get in, and those inside could not get out.

I don’t know if it’s true or not, at least that’s what the sentries patrolling Ditmouth think.

"Gulu...did we have these things when we patrolled yesterday?"

"No...no way..."

"And when we patrolled yesterday, the door was closed."

"Well, I'm sure of that. Not even a revenge fly can fly out of there."

"Then...how did they get in?!"

The two sentries in charge of the area near the entrance of the kingdom in Dirtmouth stood there blankly, their eyes as if they had seen a ghost, motionless as they looked at an extra giant tent not far away, and there were many small tents nearby. The vassal, although small in scale, would never appear in Dirtmouth without any movement.

But now they appeared silently in front of the two sentries.

Similar to Wuthering Cliffs, Ditmouth, which is always gray and white, suddenly appeared a group of dazzling tents like flames. It was so eye-catching that the two sentries could not pretend not to see it.

"These tents look... a little bad."

One of the sentries swallowed involuntarily. He didn't know why, but when he looked at the tents, especially the giant tent with two long-necked weevils lying at the door, he felt unreasonable. I was horrified, as if I looked a few more times, and the tent door like a giant mouth was about to swallow me in.

"I...I think so too, then let's...should we go in and have a look?"

"Forget it, I still think it's better to report to Lord Watcher first."

Saying this, the other sentry was about to turn around and leave, but was pulled before he took two steps.

"No, have you forgotten? The main city is even more chaotic than here now. If you go to the Lord Watcher for such a trivial matter, aren't you asking for trouble?"

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Um......"

The sentry next to him also turned his head and did not look directly at the tents. He only glanced at them occasionally, thought for a while and said:

"Go find the sentry in charge of the other side. If there are more people, we will be grateful for the protection. Otherwise, if there is an accident, neither of us will be able to escape."

"Ok."

The two sentries looked at each other and ran away, not wanting to stay any longer. After a while, they were seen walking back not far from the tent, followed by no less than seven sentries.

"Hey~, I thought you two were having fun with us when you were free. This place is indeed like what you two said, it's a bit..."

"Evil?"

"Well, I feel the same way. It makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at it."

Several sentries discussed for a long time, but no one dared to take the lead, so they drew lots and decided to leave one sentry to report in case something unexpected happened to other sentries. The rest of the sentries went into the giant tent that was filled with red light.

Da da da......

The two long-necked weevils glanced sideways at the sentinels standing at the door and ignored them. The sentinels also reacted when they saw this. Their role was more like welcoming guests than guarding them.

"Let's go, let's stop looking."

The sentries pushed each other and it took a while to finally enter the interior of the tent. The light from the outside gradually disappeared, and the vision of the sentinels also became blurred. Just as they slowly and fearfully advanced inside, the music suddenly coming from the depths gave a heavy beat to the slowly beating hearts of the sentinels.

"Who! Who's there!"

One of the sentries had the courage to shout out, but what he answered was still the melodious sound of the piano under the dim light, but after his voice came in, the sound of the piano became slightly more urgent.

The sentry shouted a few more times, but there was no response, but no other accidents happened. Everyone groped forward again. After more than twenty steps, with the sound of the piano getting louder, the sentries finally saw a living insect.

"Hey! You guys broke in..."

The sentry who had not received a response before was holding back his anger. When he saw Bloom playing the organ, he was about to question him, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was stopped by a sentry next to him.

"Hello, may I ask why you broke into the kingdom for no reason?"

Bloom glanced at the sentries and said calmly: "Flame, look for it."

These four words without any reason left many sentries confused. Several sentries at the back frowned and whispered:

"It's like listening to your words. Isn't it the same as not saying anything?"

"I feel like he's here to cause trouble."

The sentry who led the question was also a little confused, so he repeated the question. This time Bloom had a new answer:

"Go find the leader."

"Leader? Who is the leader?"

"Go find the leader."

No matter what the sentry asked next, Bloom only had this answer. The sentry who was stopped just now was about to have a fit when he saw this, but was stopped again. The leading sentry waved his hand, indicating to continue moving forward.

"Why did you stop me just now?"

The sentry who was stopped shouted angrily to the leading sentry, his voice full of resentment. The sentry who was questioned was not polite and pointed at his chest and cursed:

"Why did I stop you? Why do you think I stopped you?"

"We don't know anything about this place to begin with. The bug just looked like he wasn't in charge. Do you want to scare the snake away?"

"Furthermore, did you see clearly what the insect was holding?"

The leading sentry's rhetorical question silenced the questioning sentry. He immediately realized his problem, but he was still a little dissatisfied.

"What else could it be, but a musical instrument? Why are you so scared?"

"You bastard! Sure enough, the ignorant are fearless. What he is holding is the body of the Organ Worm!"

"The reason why organ worms are called organ worms is because they can produce organ-like music through the friction of their own bones and flesh. And if they die, this quality will disappear!"

"so what?"

The leader of the sentry had a little fear in his eyes, and said with a trembling voice:

"If you want to play the organ sound when the organ bugs are dead, you have to have an extremely powerful external force to pull their bones and flesh. And that kind of force can only be achieved by all of us here combined. .”

"In other words, if you had really offended him just now, we might not be able to get in."

Having said this, the sentry who had become mute just now fell completely silent. Apparently he also realized what kind of stupid thing he almost did just now.

"Hug...sorry."

The leading sentry didn't respond to him, and just stared ahead. It was the light he had longed for, but at this time, he only felt that the darkness around him would be safer.

beep...

When the sentries cautiously stepped into a wide open space at the end of the corridor, they were caught off guard by the rapid beating of drums, which made the sentinels' hearts, which had only been calm for a while, become restless again. The chandelier hanging above them , the scarlet flames burning in it seemed to be jumping with joy due to their arrival.

The faint sound of the piano that was supposed to be heard as the sentries moved forward began to be loud and melodious again at this moment. The next moment, red smoke suddenly rose around them, slowly filling the field.

"Attention everyone!"

Feeling that the atmosphere was not right, the leading sentry shouted. All the sentries tensed up and kept turning their heads to look around, for fear that an enemy would appear nearby.

Immediately afterwards, from somewhere above, two pillars of light, wider and brighter than the flame chandelier, hit the sentries, wandering around as if they were looking for something.

Sudden!

When the two lights met, a cloud of scarlet smoke suddenly appeared in it, shaped like the flame burning in the chandelier. As the spinning robe hidden in the smoke slowly fell, a tall figure appeared. In front of the sentries.

The sound of the drums suddenly stopped, and the sound of the piano returned to silence. Everything that happened just now seemed to be preparing for his appearance.

The leading sentry was about to boldly ask a question, but the figure leaned down and bowed to the sentries in an extremely elegant manner.

"I am Green, the leader of this troupe."

"Welcome to the Grimm Troupe."