This day, evening.
In the swamp in the southern part of Lake Vizima, a long team of long dragons entered. Most of the team were soldiers in silver chain mail, with long swords, small round shields, or crossbows on their waists.
There were also a few scooters with them, full of wooden barrels that exuded a strange smell.
Three figures in light leather armor walked right in front of the group—the two witchers guarding the left and right, and Yada in the center.
The woman pulled the reins abruptly, stopped the steed white horse under her, looked at the gradually darkening sky and said, "According to the original plan, we will spend the night in the village ahead, and then take a boat to the black tern tomorrow morning. island."
Roy lay on Vettel's back and nodded. Through the light mist in the swamp, he could clearly see the outline of the house not far away.
Kona Village, the village at the entrance of the Dustwallow Marsh by Lake Vizima, was also the temporary residence of the two previous murloc crusades led by Yada.
Hearing the movement of the brigade, the village chief Boev hurriedly greeted him and said a lot of compliments.
"In short, welcome Princess Yada and all the knights to come to Kona Village again. The old man will arrange accommodation for the adults."
The old man, who was talking about his hunched body, glanced at the long line in awe.
"This time it's not as small as the last time," Princess Yada bravely waved the whip in her hand, and said loudly while riding on her horse, "I've brought dozens of elites from the knight order to prepare Sexually eradicate the beasts on the island and solve your troubles completely."
The head of the village buried his head lower, and said with reverence on his face, "Your Highness is merciful! Fortunately, you have been thinking about Kona Village, otherwise we would have been swallowed by the beasts in the lake, even flesh and bone. "
"Since you are the people of Vizima, this princess will naturally take care of you!"
…
During the conversation, the horse team had entered the village.
The village is not big or small, with only about 200 residents. At this time, most of the villagers have returned home to enjoy dinner.
White smoke billowed from the chimneys on the thatched roof, and among the smoke curled, some curious villagers and their own children leaned against the doorframe and stared at the knights on horses in surprise.
It seemed that he had seen the savior, showing joy from his heart.
And the young witcher's eyes swept across the faces of these villagers,
"The residents of Kona Village don't look very good..." He noticed that most of the villagers had dark circles under their eyes, whether they were children or adults.
"They all seem to suffer from insomnia."
Next, Yada gave orders and arranged the affairs for tomorrow. The knights set up tents around the open space in the village, leaving only one-tenth of the staff to take care of the horses, baggage, and night duty.
"Listen to me!" Yada raised the whip of her right hand and gave a crisp twitch in mid-air, "If anyone dares to violate the rules I set and harass the villagers, don't blame me for being cruel!"
The knights touched their chests with their right hands, and bowed in unison.
Only then did the woman follow the village chief Boev into the most "luxurious" building with satisfaction. The two witchers who followed her were slightly surprised, but the princess was not acting as willful and arrogant as rumored. .
"My humble house, please bear with me, Your Highness. You need to ride a horse for a day to come from Vizima. You must be hungry. If you don't dislike it, my old lady is still cooking..."
"No need..." Yada sat comfortably on the rattan chair, leaning on the side of the chair carelessly, her two slender legs were folded together, and her beautiful face was slightly tired, "I have already used dry food. . If there is nothing urgent, you can go down first."
"Then these two adults?" The village chief glanced cautiously at the tall Lesuo,
"These two are professional monster killers, the viper school demon hunter Lesso and Roy." Yada glanced at the two with her unique eyebrows.
"They just came to Vizima, and they don't know much about the surrounding situation. Boyev, you can introduce them."
Seeing that Yada was exhausted, the village chief left the room with the witcher.
"Two adults, how much do you know about fallen murlocs?"
The two witchers looked at each other,
To be honest, Roy knows most of the monsters in the witcher world, but only a rough idea of the fallen murloc species.
And Leto thought about it and said, "Half-murlocs are amphibians, living near water, living on algae and fish in the water, and they also have the weaknesses of most amphibians, and are afraid of fire and strong light. Vizima Since the half-murlocs in the lake area have the prefix 'fallen' before their names, they must be different from ordinary half-murlocs?"
Boyev's chrysanthemum-wrinkled cheeks sank.
"As you said, the fallen murlocs are even more ferocious. From the day they appeared, they began to attack the fishing boats in the lake... Everyone was afraid of being attacked and dared not go deep into Lake Vizima to fish, and the fish caught less. Most of the time, life was tight..."
Boyeff paused, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes,
"Occasionally, fallen murlocs rush to the shores of Lake Vizima to hunt nearby critters, and then use the critters' flesh to kill..."
Deep fear emerged from his cloudy pupils, "Sacrifice."
"Many years ago, Noel, a fisherman who accidentally landed on the island, saw a hearth-like building in the center of Black Tern Island, or more precisely, an altar. The fallen murlocs used the flesh and blood of other creatures to make offerings to the altar. Horror Creature Sacrifice…”
"That fisherman, can you come and talk?"
Boev sighed, "Then Noel disappeared for no apparent reason."
"disappeared?"
Roy couldn't help but be disappointed. If he understood the characteristics of the altar from his mouth, he might be able to infer what the fallen half-murlocs were enshrining.
"You know what they're offering sacrifices to?"
"That's not clear." Boyev said blankly, "God of half-murlocs?"
What kind of gods do half-fish people have
Roy turned to ask, "As far as you know, how many fallen murlocs are there in the lake?"
The village chief shook his head, "I don't know the exact number, but it must be more than two hundred."
Roy thought for a while, a fully-armed knight and soldier was enough to deal with two fallen half-murlocs at the same time, and Yada brought about forty men.
"Then the strength of the knights this time is quite reluctant..."
Even with two witchers.
Now Roy can only hope that the prepared plan will work.
"According to your description, since there are fallen murlocs, there should also be normal murlocs?"
Boev nodded, a flash of memory flashing on his face, "More than ten years ago, the murlocs in Lake Vizima did not enshrine that evil altar. The half-murlocs are still docile by nature and live in peace with the residents of the lake area. To feel sorry for the fishermen. The old woman who died in Kona Village the year before was rescued ashore by a half-murloc after she slipped and fell into the water."
"The relationship between people and animals at that time was extremely harmonious... It's just that now, the degenerate half-murlocs are flooding into disasters, resulting in a great reduction in the living space of normal half-murlocs. Their status quo is as precarious as the black fish in the lake."
"The two half-murlocs are on opposite sides, so is there any way to get in touch with normal half-murlocs?"
Roy thought, this is a reinforcement that cannot be ignored.
Boyev's eyes shone strangely, "Even Princess Yada never thought of this. The old man heard that you can still see normal murlocs on the eastern shore of the lake."
"They don't have the bloody and evil aura of the fallen, there are no large black tattoos on the surface of the skin, and they will not actively attack humans, so they are easy to identify."
"But even if normal species are found, ordinary people can't communicate with them."
"Boy, you're not a Druid, this method won't work." Leto said.
"Haha," Roy smiled and said nothing.
"This time, Princess Yada has brought a large number of troops and is going to directly attack the lair of the fallen murlocs and destroy the altar on Black Tern Island. As the village chief of Kona, do you think this method will work? The princess is not here, you Just tell the truth!"
Boyev's face was slightly hesitant,
"My two lords, with all due respect. Although the knights are highly skilled and skilled in martial arts, Black Tern Island is the home base of the fallen murlocs after all..."
"You're a large group of people heading to Black Tern Island by boat, and they're bound to be alarmed. No doubt they'll attack the boat on the way. This will cause some damage first, and the rest will have to bear the front and rear when they get to the island. Flanking, I am afraid it will not be easy."
Roy glanced at the old man in surprise. He didn't expect the village chief of the swamp village to have such insight.
He observed the other party again and determined that it was an ordinary person.
"I also have this concern, but Princess Yada has decided not to listen to the advice at all. You can only make full preparations and the rest can only depend on the will of God!"
"Ah..." The village chief sighed. "I hope that His Royal Highness Yada's trip will go well, completely eradicate those wicked guys, and return the village to normal fishing business as soon as possible."
"Do your best."
Roy looked at the dark bags under his eyes, and couldn't help but ask,
"Why do I think the mental state of the villagers in Kona Village is not very good."
Boev's throat wriggled, and facing the piercing eyes of the two, he squeezed the gray beard on his chin, "This is another matter. In the past year or so, the villagers in Kona have often done The same nightmare. Sleep has been greatly affected. Everyone has checked their bodies with herbalists, but they can't find any symptoms. Some people have specially investigated food and drinking water, and there is no problem."
"Two masters, do you think the village is entangled with some dirty things?"
"I can't be sure now, I have to check to find out."
The witcher shook his head, and Anjin's eyes revealed doubts.
Could it be that apart from the fallen murlocs, there are other monsters raging in the swamp
"Then the two of you will have to worry about it." Boyev continued, "Kona village is fine, another village..."
"What's wrong?" Roy asked,
Boev looked out the window to the northwest with his cloudy eyes, "The Xinte village that stands on the shore of the lake and makes a living by dredging mud and making bricks... Some of the villagers were attacked and killed by the mad fallen murlocs, and the rest were not Willing to move, the mental state has become extremely bad."
"The nightmares are repeated, and the frequency far exceeds that of Kona Village."
"The old man went to see it once half a month ago. I found that some of the 300 or so villagers in Xinte Village were confused and unable to concentrate all day long, and some were unconscious, either making some weird body movements or talking nonsense. The gibberish speaks some language that others can't understand, like chanting strange spells."
"There are less than one-third of normal villagers."
The two witchers were suddenly silent for a long time.
"What kind of dream did you have, can you describe your dream in detail?"
Boyev frowned and recalled for a long time, "I'm sorry... I only remember that a vague shadow appeared in the dream, I couldn't see what it was... It kept saying some obscure and eloquent words beside my ear. , it is definitely not a common language, and it is not like an ancient language... Anyway, the old man can't understand a word, but because of this, he often loses sleep. The situation is similar to the villagers."
"Any symptoms other than nightmares and nonsense?"
"I haven't seen any other symptoms," Boyev asked worriedly, pinching his beard, "could it continue to get worse?"
"Don't worry, it's just a guess... until we get back from Black Tern Island."
"Well, the old man will represent Kona Village, and I wish you all the adults and His Royal Highness a triumphant return!"
After Boyev left worriedly, the two witchers began to exchange their thoughts,
"Invading the dreams of the swamp residents, whispering strangely in the dream?" Roy's face was solemn, "Is this the ability of Sim, or the little earth spirit?"
"Devils and earth spirits don't have such great ability, they can't affect hundreds of people at one time." Leto pondered, "But this is definitely not a coincidence... There is a problem with food and drinking water? They are also ruled out."
"Could it be that the altar... the things worshipped by the fallen murlocs are doing something wrong?"
"It's possible..." Lesuo nodded, "A powerful alien, such as a special half-murloc, like the ancient species in the deer-headed spirit, has some extraordinary abilities."
"In any case, there will definitely be a fierce battle tomorrow. Now check the alchemy bombs, potions, and everything in your space bag, and be fully prepared..."