In the next few days, similar things happened in several different taverns, and these taverns were distributed in several different towns at the junction of the aristocratic faction and the merchant faction.
As the adventurers spread word of mouth, the news quickly spread, spreading wider and wider, and becoming more and more bizarre.
Rumors are like this. They start from "Zhang San bought a painting of a tiger", and soon it will become "Zhang San killed a tiger", or "Zhang San was eaten by a tiger" - ordinary Most of the things that are serious will be reported as bizarre; most of the peaceful things will be reported as weird.
So, what if it is inherently dangerous and terrifying
Anyway, within a few days, an atmosphere of panic filled the long border. A large number of cautious adventurers left one after another, and those who stayed or came were brave or reckless and ambitious adventurers. The civilians could not leave and could only be more cautious. Many houses would lock their doors during the day. As for those villages, militia patrols were simply organized to patrol day and night, hoping that in this way they would stop those crazy and dangerous cultists. Keep yourself safe.
But these methods did not have much effect. About ten days later, another incident of cult sacrifice occurred.
This time the commotion was more serious than the previous times, because this time the cultists only just barely completed the entire sacrifice. If a ranger who believed in the God of Justice had not come quickly, the demon who received the sacrifice would have even been half a demon. The claws have already stretched out the summoning door.
Fortunately, the ranger was very powerful, and his arrows were as fast as lightning. He shot through the four nodes of the sacrificial circle in one breath, preventing the summoning gate from being completed. No matter how much the devil roared, it could not really rush over. Instead, it lost a claw under the siege of the priests of the Church of the God of Law who arrived later. It is not known whether it is a profit or a loss for it. .
The news this time was supposed to be kept confidential, but somehow it spread again quickly. Many adventurers rushed to the village and saw with their own eyes the traces of the demon's summons.
Although the priests of the Church of the God of Law have completely driven away the breath of the abyss, the traces of sulfur left by the demon summons and the blood stains left by the killings in the village all tell people how terrible things have happened here.
Especially in the small square in the center of the village, the large area of ground, even though it was covered with brand new soil, still smelled of blood, was even more terrifying.
Some not-so-daring adventurers quietly left, and they discovered that they were actually not that courageous, and they were not that confident in themselves. Faced with a terrorist cult that could easily wipe out an entire village, they thought it would be better not to go head-to-head with such a guy.
If you want to make money, you can make money anywhere. There is no need to make fun of your own life.
But other people with different ideas gathered over again, thinking that maybe this was a good opportunity.
Although demons are terrifying, there are real benefits to be gained by making sacrifices to demons.
Unlike these adventurers, the lords, magistrates and the Church of the Good Gods in various places feel a little anxious. They had put in a lot of effort to track down the whereabouts of the mysterious cult, but they couldn't even find any valuable clues.
That weird cult organization seemed to have wings and disappeared every time. Even the most powerful rangers could not trace their traces.
Every time they retreated, they left clear footprints, horse hoof prints and ruts. But all these traces often disappear suddenly about a mile or two after leaving the village, and even the smell disappears. It was like - these people really flew away.
However, even if people can fly away, horses cannot fly away. Even if a horse can grow wings and fly away, the carriage cannot grow wings and fly away!
Reward orders were quickly posted in every town, and the amount of the reward was constantly increasing. Correspondingly, the atmosphere became more and more tense. All the soldiers were holding their weapons tightly all day long, and the adventurers were equally nervous and cautious. If they disagreed, they would draw their swords.
Some far-sighted lords and sheriffs began to worry, knowing that things would not go well if this continued. Over time, it is likely to cause large-scale panic or even a refugee flow, and it may also trigger fierce conflicts.
But... there was nothing they could do if they couldn't catch the weird group of cultists.
This news gradually spread more and more widely, and finally reached the ears of the exploration team who were sleeping and sleeping in the wild mountains in the northern part of the Gold Coin Federation.
"Have you heard? Something big happened in the south!" Fela mysteriously said to Hopps during lunch, "It's scary!"
Hopps chewed a carrot, looked at him with some confusion, and asked vaguely: "A war?"
"It's much scarier than fighting!"
"More terrifying than war? Are you kidding me?"
"Why are you joking!" Fela looked around, lowered his voice and said, "On the border between the merchant faction and the aristocrat faction, there is a cult organization that is conducting sacrifices. It has been done several times!"
Hopps was stunned for a moment, hurriedly ate the carrots in a few mouthfuls, took another sip of vegetable soup to calm down, and then asked what happened.
In fact, Fela was not very clear about the specific situation. He only got the news while chatting with the team member who was delivering vegetables. But in front of friends, of course he would not say something like "Actually, I don't know either". Instead, he would use his imagination to try to figure things out and explain things clearly.
Although many of his statements are quite bizarre, if compared with the facts, they are actually not too far off. Because the teammate who told him this was very outrageous, Fela certainly couldn't accept that he "summoned a terrifying demon with a head as big as a mountain, poisonous smoke and flames coming out of its nose, and a mouth that was Countless poisonous insects flew out of it, and hundreds of knights and paladins joined forces to drive it back into the abyss." - Although he is not strong, he is not an ignorant countryman after all. The result is positive, which is closer to reality.
For this reason, the situation he described is more realistic. Hopps went back to talk to Ruby. After thinking about it, the old Jianghu Ruby felt that maybe... it was really possible.
So Ruby was a little worried, so she went to find the adventurers escorting the caravan that was transporting supplies to them, and asked them carefully.
After asking clearly, he finally felt relieved.
"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with us." After returning, he said to Hopps with relief. "The cult's sacrifices are concentrated on the border between the two forces and have no tendency to spread northward. We can now It’s almost at the northernmost point of the Merchant Faction’s influence, and those cultists can’t get through.”
Hopps breathed a sigh of relief, but he was not relieved. Instead, he still asked worriedly: "So... have the cultists been caught? Has their organization been eliminated?"
"not yet."
"I always feel terrible..."
"Yes!" Ruby sighed, shook her head and said, "I hope our work here will end soon. I really want to return to the Republic as soon as possible. Only there is truly safe!"