The Book of Hibernation

"That golem didn't lose control." Ryan stood on the commanding height of the hill, overlooking a large forest.

The north wind shakes the dense canopy.Today is clear and cloudless, standing here can overlook the silvery Khiva River.

This morning, the executions team received a tip that someone had seen a large hoofed animal in the forest.With horns like a deer and a body like a cow, it walks around in the forest, sometimes calmly, and sometimes bumps into anything around it for no reason.

The person who discovered it was a woodcutter in Hammer Village. He said that there are only relatively small muntjacs in the gem forest, and there are no deer of this size, let alone cows and wild horses.It was clear to him that it was not any known animal.

The execution team initially judged that what the woodcutter saw should be a chimeric golem that was out of control.Another monster left by the Necromancer.

This kind of golem can be used on the battlefield, can carry food and grass, and can also participate in the attack.I heard that the northern necromancers have been developing such things.

The execution squad immediately went to the spot where the villagers had witnessed the golem.There were footprints of the golem on the scene, and the traces of it hitting trees from time to time, so it was not difficult to track it.

The team members did not ride horses, but walked deep into the dense forest.In the old days, Dorin the Elf would go with them, willing to go ahead and scout.Dorin can move deftly and silently through the trees without getting lost or injured, and without alerting his enemies.After he ascertained the terrain ahead, he returned to point out the most suitable route for the execution team.

Although Dolin had already left, the execution team successfully found the target on their own.Judging from the traces at the scene, it was the golem that smashed through the trees all the way, and finally lost the ability to move suddenly and collapsed to the ground.

The execution team went up to observe. This chimeric golem was made of bones and metal. When the chest was cut open, a human heart could be seen.The heart was still beating, larger than normal, and it was connected to the blood vessels of different animals, and the magic potions flowed in the blood vessels.The golem's skull is a curved metal plate that protects the crystals inside, which connect to the metal spine and the human eyeballs that lead to the outside world.

Execution Squads are trained in how to safely dispose of golem cores.They not only want to destroy the golem's body, but also cut off all the "organs" that can produce works, take them to a proper place, and then burn them centrally.

The execution party was divided into two groups, one group dealt with the golem, and the other group patrolled the area in case any spellcasters or other monsters approached.

In the end, the two groups returned to the wreckage of the golem to assemble. When counting the number of people, one knight did not return to the team on time.

The knight who did not return was called De Carlo, the fat knight who asked Dolin to deliver the letter for him.Ryan first waited for him for a while, and after a long time, he still disappeared, only then did Ryan realize that something was wrong.

The execution team searched the vicinity for a long time, and finally climbed to the nearby high ground, overlooking the forest from a high place, but unfortunately found nothing.

While looking into the distance, Ryan realized one thing: the golem was not out of control.

Ryan said the words softly.The team member next to him asked what he meant, and he explained that the witness described the appearance of the golem very clearly, which meant that he was not far from the golem, and the golem either could not find the villagers at all, or even if it did , and do not consider villagers as enemies.

Judging from all the signs, it was indeed a very dilapidated golem, the only thing it could do was bump and run around, and it probably didn't have the function of automatically finding enemies.

If there is no automatic enemy hunting function, then the orders that the golem can accept must be very limited, and it cannot do complicated things.The only thing it has to do is to run around, bump around, attract people's attention, and let the execution team chase it to the depths of the dense forest.

In order to find De Carlo, the execution team continued to search the forest until night fell, but they still found nothing.

Ryan led the team back to the camp temporarily.He sent two knights, one of whom rode to the city of Fesisit to inform the city-state council and the guards of the situation; the other went to the barracks of another execution squad to help them search and raise their vigilance.

The rest of the knights rested for a while, had a simple dinner, and took turns to take a nap in the first half of the night.After midnight, they packed up and set out again to continue their search in the jungle.

This time they were in groups of three, and agreed on distress signals and regular rendezvous times, and each group searched for different areas.

The two men in Ryan's group were very alert.One of them was born in a hunter family. He often hunted with his father when he was a child, and he was very good at tracking in the wild.When passing by an area, he found some scattered human footprints.The footprints were covered by weeds and fallen leaves, and it looked like it had been there for some time.

The son of Orion walked in the front, the team members in the middle were responsible for carrying the lanterns, and Ryan cut off the back.The vegetation in this area is lush, and the footprints are becoming less and less obvious. The son of the Orion deduced from the law of the shrubs and weeds dumping that there should be creatures passing by here recently.

Just as they continued to grope forward, Ryan heard a strange sound, like the sound of a bowstring being stretched.

Before he could say a word to remind him, two spikes flew out from left and right in the darkness and hit Orion's Son at the same time.

Although hit by the spike, the knight was not injured.The spikes were all wooden, one hit the center of his back and the other hit his raised arm, because he was wearing knight armor, the wooden spikes didn't hurt him obviously, they just shook him Staggered a few steps.

Although no one was injured, the three were still in shock.Someone set up a trap.

The son of Orion took the lantern from his companion, looked around, and soon found the place where the wooden spike was fired.He pushed aside the bushes and walked towards a tree, pointing out where the organ was.

Just as he took another step closer, the sound of strings crumbling resounded in the air, and countless spikes shot out from the crown of the tree and fell down in a vertical direction.

Although it was still a wooden thorn, the attack direction was different this time, which was very dangerous.They were not wearing helmets.The vision in the woods at night is already poor, and the helmet not only affects the vision, but also affects the hearing.

The Orion's son tried his best to jump away, but was injured on his forehead and wrist, and the other knight also fell in the grass, and he didn't know the extent of his injuries for a while.

Ryan was far away from the trap, and he dodged in time, only a wooden spike hit his armor.

He wanted to step forward to check on his companions, but he heard rustling in the bushes behind him.So he yelled, telling Orion's Son to take care of the wounded, and he immediately followed the sound to catch up.

After running a few steps, he saw a figure in front of him.The man backed away for a while and then stopped. He probably didn't want to escape, but just wanted to distance himself from him.

Ryan touched his chest and put his hand down again.In the past, whenever he was in a dark environment, his first reaction was to reach for the lighting pendant made of winter thistle.

Now that the pendant was gone, he had returned it to Winter Thistle, but he still had this subconscious movement.

Ryan slowly approached the man in the darkness, took off the ax on his back, and held it in his hand.

"Ms. Daylight. We are the execution team of the temple, and we are making a routine inspection."

Hearing his self-identification, the person on the opposite side sneered.The voice should be that of a man.

Then, the man also spoke: "I know who you are. You can tell by looking at your clothes."

He slowly took out the lighting stick, polished the top, and held it in front of him.Ryan finally saw his appearance clearly.

This person is tall and thin, wearing a black leather jacket and leather armor, with several belts tied on his chest and waist and hips, holding various weapons such as short swords, maces, hand axes, and daggers.The collar of the leather jacket is connected to the hood, and together with the hard leather mask, it covers his entire head. The mask does not open at the eyes, but is covered with densely packed small holes. There are crescent and white orchid carvings in the middle of the mask , is the holy emblem of Otarot.

"You are a dead hunter." Ryan frowned.

The hunter bowed to him with a slightly theatrical gesture, which looked somewhat mocking, but Ryan didn't bother to pay attention.

After saluting, the hunter wiped out the lighting stick.They are all used to moving in the dark, if it is not for others to see him clearly, he does not need to light a lamp at all.

"We ran into a trap just now," Ryan said.

"Oh, we set it up."

"you……"

"Hey, don't worry, listen to me," the hunter slowly approached Ryan, "You should be able to see that this kind of trap is not aimed at you, but those who move slowly and have no armor."

"Are you still hunting necromancers in the forest?"

"Of course. Not only has their number not decreased recently, but it has increased. It is estimated that another necromancer sneaked over. Not only the gem forest, but also the outskirts of Feixisite have traces of their activities. A while ago, there was a caravan When I met the flesh golem, two people ran back, and the rest disappeared, and the corpse has not been found so far."

"I've also heard about this," Ryan said. "The two survivors of the caravan were basically uninjured. Obviously, someone let them go on purpose to let the news out. If this was really done by a necromancer, They should be deliberately provocative."

The hunter nodded: "So, in order to make it difficult for these necromancers to move, we set up many traps in this area."

Lane said: "If the hostages are still alive, your trap will kill them too."

The hunter tilted his head.It seems to be pondering the meaning of Ryan's words.Because Ryan spoke in a calm tone, not like an angry condemnation, but more like a normal statement of the situation.

After thinking about it, the hunter said, "That's all right. Do you know whose caravan was attacked?"

Ryan said: "I don't know who it is. But I have seen the list of goods transported by the caravan. It is water purification stone, brown sugar, salt, three kinds of spices, and several types of solid paint. There are no prohibited items."

"Indeed. Did you know that this batch of goods belonged to the Carlos family, and the caravan was led by the witch Deris. Do you know her?"

Ryan didn't have a deep impression of the name "De Lisi", so he didn't remember it for a while.

The dead hunter reminded him: "It's that red-haired elf bastard who likes to wear red clothes."

Ryan then remembered who it was.The hunter's words made him frown.Even though he didn't have a good impression of that woman, he still resented such vulgar words.

The hunter laughed a few times: "Don't you know? The Carlos family has been in contact with the northern frost plains. They sell things to necromancers, not only all kinds of necessities for survival, but also corpses, and even living barbarian slaves. Although those necromancers don’t have much money, they can use the crystals generated by spells to pay for them, and these crystals will flow into the spellcasting consumables market and be used for enchanting cores and spell defense.”

Ryan silently clenched the handle of the axe.He knew these things, but he didn't expect that after so long, the same situation was still going on.

The hunter walked up to Ryan and said while pacing in a small area: "What do you mean by that sentence - the sword holder often dies by the sword. The boss does business with necromancers, and his subordinates are killed by necromancers." Take it away... Look, don't you deserve it? This kind of people will die if they die. Besides, even if the trap doesn't kill them, they will be disassembled into parts if they fall into the hands of the necromancer, and they will die sooner or later. Same."

"That's different," Ryan said, "Go and dismantle the nearby traps. They may not only hurt ordinary people, but also my knight brothers by mistake. We will hunt down the necromancer with you, and please don't use such dangerous And evil means."

The hunter deliberately ignored his request and asked him instead: "Aren't you on a routine inspection today? It can be seen that you rarely act at night, and today there is a special situation. Did something happen?"

Ryan thought about it, and decided it would be okay to tell him.Just briefly talk about what happened during the day.

He specifically described the appearance of the missing person and asked the dead hunter to help them pay attention.

After hearing this, the hunter snickered a few times.His voice was small, like a sigh, but Ryan caught it anyway.

When Ryan was about to question him, the hunter said, "The knight is missing. You suspect that the necromancer did it. Well, that's right. I'm [-]% sure that it was the necromancer who did it."

"Why are you so sure?" Ryan asked.

The hunter said: "According to your description, this missing De Carlo is tall and fat, and he was taken away without a sound. As far as I know, there are two smallest people in your execution team, one is a woman Yes, the other is a male elf. Both of them are investigators. It is much easier to catch them than De Carlo. If it is a thief or an ordinary person who has a grudge against you, you will catch these two if you want to catch them. But if it's a necromancer, De Carlo should be caught."

"why?"

"Tall and fat people have large skin area, a lot of fat, and large bones," the hunter said cruelly, his tone still brisk and joking, "The complete large piece of skin is the most precious, and it can do many things , Human fat is also a material for casting spells. Well-trained muscles can be used as medicinal materials, and large bones can also be used on golems. In my opinion, your De Caro is more ominous. After all, he has many uses. It can be said that he is full of Treasure, don't bother to find him, you won't be able to save him, save your energy and kill a few more necromancers in the future."

Ryan gripped the handle of the ax tightly, his gloves rubbing against the wood.

"Please respect our companions." He almost gritted his teeth.

The hunter glanced at his tomahawk, and then raised his eyes to look at his face: "You are bound by the doctrine, you will not fight with me at all... What's the use of your face being so fierce?"

Just as Ryan was about to say something, the voices of the two fellow knights came from behind him.They saw Ryan walking away, so they followed.

The hunter said softly: "We'll talk again when we have a chance, anyway, we'll meet again."

After speaking, his figure flashed and disappeared into the dark forest.

Soon, the two wounded knights came to Ryan.The knight who fell just now hit his head when he fell, and passed out for a while. Both of them had flesh wounds on their bodies, and they were not serious.

Although the dead hunter made a lot of sarcastic remarks, the knights still continued to search in the forest.

Those terrible words kept circling in Ryan's mind.He imagined De Carlo being killed and made into a flesh and blood golem, and he couldn't help but imagine what would happen to the missing persons of the caravan...

Thinking of this, he was very glad that Dolin had left the gem forest. If Dolin still acted with them now, even if he was not harmed by the necromancer, he might encounter the trap of the dead hunter.

When the sky was slightly bright, the execution team returned to the camp to gather, and Ryan was discussing the next plan with everyone.

At this time, a signal light sphere lit up in the sky. Judging from the direction and color, it was sent by the priest in the city-state.

The meaning of this signal light ball is to call all the nearby detachment leaders and sub-leaders to gather. It should be that the pastor has something important to discuss with everyone.

Ryan needs to obey the order and return to the city.So he seized the time to hold a small meeting with the team members, and assigned the tasks of routine patrol and continuing to search for the missing companions.

After arranging everything, Ryan was supposed to go back to the tent to rest for a while, but he couldn't sleep.Although his eyes were sore, there were various thoughts in his head but they kept turning, which made him not feel sleepy.

So he simply packed up his things, and rode to the city-state of Feixiite in the morning light.