The faint fragrance, the wonderful touch, and something else...
Griffith lifted the quilt and looked up at the sky. The morning light had already passed through the soft mist on the seaside. He rubbed his face, and there seemed to be an evocative feeling still surging in his heart.
I seemed to have missed something last night...
What's going on? Forget it, I'm going to ask Kroger for potions class materials today.
During lunch break, Griffith knocked on the wooden door of the cabin.
"Look, who's here! Come in, my little friend." Kroger, who was as tall as a giant, immediately invited him into the house.
"Mr. Kroger, come and try these wines!" Griffith said as he presented the greeting gift. "Associate Professor Velonos made a list. The Potions course requires me to collect these supplementary materials within a week."
"Oh, are you looking for these things? You can find some at the edge of the Whispering Forest, but it's against school rules for you to go there."
If there is a professor or you taking the lead, then it must not have violated the school rules, right? Griffith thought to himself, waiting for the ranger to finish his words without saying a word.
Kroger took a sip of wine and then said: "Don't worry, kids, I will collect the materials. These magical plants are hungry for the afterglow of the sunset, and are best found at dusk. If you are willing, can you come and collect them when I leave?"
Do you have time to supervise these hired workers? I have a few new boys who will fight and cause trouble if they are not careful. Just leave the work to the hired workers. Our job is to supervise their work and protect them.
"The leader of this group of boys is named Root. He is a smart guy. For their safety, the school allows them to carry some weapons, so we cannot let them hurt each other, let alone let them enter the campus."
Griffith naturally understands this. The heavy school work at Homemon Watts is very labor-intensive. Professors and officials have their own budgets and personnel rights, which are specifically used to hire foreign workers they like to work for them.
Serve.
Naturally, these outsiders must be strictly supervised, and they must not offend the distinguished students. On the other hand, some jobs are very dangerous, and they are often attacked by out-of-control magic equipment, familiars, and even mutant creatures in the forest.
occurring.
Griffith walked out of the hut and went to a nearby farm to watch the employees working from a distance. Although Kroger was not welcomed by the noble mages, he still had a lot of authority within the scope of his work.
The people invited all had flexible hands and feet and strong bodies.
They were tending the pumpkin patch, deworming the trees or mowing the lawn. When they saw Griffith and the Hometown Watts badge flashing on his coat, most people looked away and continued to do the work they were doing.
However, there were also a few people who secretly looked up at him from time to time.
…
In the next week, Griffith began to go to Kroger's hut on time before dinner every day. The tall ranger carefully found many herbs and materials, which not only met the needs of the course, but also allowed him to
Griffith floated some.
When there are no tasks, Griffith can review the day's lessons by himself and live quite easily.
At dusk on the fourth day, Kroger, who had just finished dinner, hurriedly put his package on his back, picked up his heavy crossbow, pushed the door open and walked out. He had just reached the door when he remembered something and turned to the trainee knight.
Said: "Well, my friend, I have to go out to do something private tonight. Can you help me guard the cabin? I will be back before eight o'clock."
Griffith stood up immediately, "Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"
The ranger scratched his head and looked at the hut where the employees lived outside: "It's nothing. Just don't let those ordinary people enter the Whispering Forest. They are all naughty. However, it shouldn't be difficult to subdue them with your strength!"
After saying this, Kroger seemed to let go of his worries and nodded and left without waiting for Griffith's reply.
Okay...it's only a few hours, it should be fine.
In the past few days, in order to help the rangers at the edge of the Whispering Forest, Griffith applied to the school for small shields, swords, battle axes and heavy throwing guns to fight against large creatures. He looked at the neatly packed
There were throwing guns piled up on the bed and in the corner. He nodded with satisfaction, raised his legs and rested them on the wooden table to continue reading his book.
The late autumn sunset gradually set in the west, and the sky became dim soon after. Griffith flipped through the book leisurely. After a while, he felt thirsty, so he jumped off the chair and went to grab a spoonful of water from the water tank.
Through the narrow window of the hut, Griffith could see the neatly tended pumpkin patch and the longhouse where the hired workers lived. It was quiet and harmonious, like a picture of pastoral scenery.
"..."
Something is wrong!
At this moment, Griffith suddenly noticed something strange. He quickly put on his armor, grabbed the sword and spear beside him and rushed out.
Kroger's nine adult male employees lived in a longhouse not far away. Griffith saw them several times picking radishes, potatoes and pumpkins from the fields for dinner, and after eating, they
They would play cards and rest by the farm in twos and threes.
But tonight it was extremely quiet here, and the employees seemed to have disappeared along with the rangers.
Griffith quickly checked the road leading to the Homemon Watts campus. The magic barriers and alarm circles set up there to stop the hired workers were intact. They could not pass without the college's coat of arms, and there were no signs of being triggered.
.He hurriedly turned around and ran towards the fence beside the Whispering Forest.
In the clearing at the edge of the forest, the ranger had already erected a strong low wall as high as one person. Along the inside of the low wall was a specially cleared path, and even the weeds on the soft mud had been pulled clean.
, if something crosses here, it will definitely leave footprints on the soil.
Sure enough, there were still a series of messy footsteps on the soil on the inside of the low wall. Judging from the footprints and the wet mud on the low wall, it seemed that the hired workers had not climbed over the low wall into the forest for a long time.
Griffith's first reaction was to return to the school immediately to report. But the thoughts that followed stopped him.
In the huts of the hired workers, he saw that they were carrying two-handed swords, crossbows, giant axes and other weapons. They were not ordinary kind-hearted citizens. Maybe they came to apply for jobs and were waiting for such an opportunity to enter the forest.
What did they want to do? Griffith arranged his weapons and jumped over the low wall with a deep leap.
…
The footprints of the employees were clear and unambiguous. They had no plan to conceal their whereabouts and rushed towards a certain goal. Griffith did not follow the footprints very far before he found suspicious signs near a wet depression.
Although this is the edge of the Whispering Forest, the sun is about to set at this time, and the tall and dense dark black tree crowns above the head block the light, and the surrounding scenery can only be barely seen clearly.
A thick fallen tree trunk suddenly appeared on the path. Near the thick tree, a strange tall thorn grew here in an orderly manner, extending from the path where the hired workers passed to the woods on both sides.
Faith checked along the thorns and discovered that these plants had been deliberately planted into a three-meter-thick ring, surrounding the depression in front.
Could this be planted by Kroger? Griffith used a dagger to cut the thorns in front of him, and was surprised to find that the plant was very tough and difficult to cut off. The thorns on the thorns were as hard and long as iron awls, so he wanted to do it without using tools.
You may lose your life if you cross over.
This is a prison.
Just like the fence of the sheepfold on the farm, this patch of thorns is used to confine some kind of creature. The only entrance and exit is the giant tree on the path where the employees left their footprints.
Griffith checked the fallen trees again and found fresh marks left by the axe, and the branches and leaves on the trunk showed no signs of withering. It seemed that the hired workers had just cut them down to use as a road bridge.
As for the interior of the thorn cage, there must be some hidden creature, and the hired workers may be trying to steal it.
Interesting. Griffith stepped onto the giant tree, quickly crossed the thorns, and walked towards the inner forest.
Before walking too far, a large pond appeared in the field of vision. A strange black fish appeared vaguely in the pond, revealing its pale and sharp teeth toward Griffith on the shore.
Serrated Scale Fish. Griffith immediately recognized the fish in the pond and trembled involuntarily.
This kind of strange fish lives in the swamps of the East and feeds on all living creatures. They reproduce very quickly and attack in hundreds or thousands together when looking for food. The Eastern Legion once had soldiers wearing heavy armor.
Shen fell into the swamp where they lived, and when he was rescued, he was already a pile of bones hanging with scrap metal, which took less than half a minute.
Griffith took two steps back and examined the water situation in a circle. He found that the pond was only about a hundred meters in diameter and was a closed puddle in the forest.
The serrated scale fish is greedy and brutal, with thick but fishy meat. It is the staple food of some of the more ferocious monsters in the swamp. With their food intake and reproduction speed, it is impossible for them to survive in such a small space for a long time. Someone must have raised them here.
.As for the purpose of raising these ferocious fish, it must be to use them to feed some more ferocious creatures.
Could it be...
Griffith can probably guess what kind of monster the owner here will be.
At this moment, an earth-shaking roar came from the forest. The roar was ferocious and angry, filled with an ancient and terrifying atmosphere. Even the strange fish in the pond in front of them were frightened to the point of boiling.
Griffith's heart skipped a beat. He was frightened by the roar and fell into chaos for a short time. Fortunately, there was no direct threat around him. He regained his composure within a moment and narrowed his eyes.
Thoughtful.
This is the roar of a mountain monster.
This large, extremely strong and fierce monster lives in the high mountains in the southeast of the Sea of Tranquility. It is said to be the hybrid descendant of the Behemoth and one of the most powerful creatures in the world. They are more than four meters tall and have properties as hard as steel.
With their skin and terrifying strength, they can pull out the trunks of centuries-old giant trees in the forest and use them as weapons. They are almost immune to blunt force damage. Only ballistas and heavy throwing guns can effectively damage their bodies.
The intelligence of the mountain monster is relatively low, and it looks like a walking mountain of meat. But if you underestimate it, you will pay a heavy price. They have agility and explosive power that are extremely disproportionate to their size, and can quickly catch those who attack them.
The enemy is torn into pieces. Compared with the mountain monster, the goblin troll is just an inferior subspecies, too weak to be worth mentioning.
When Griffith guessed that there was a monster hidden in this thorn cage, he had already predicted what would appear, but he did not expect it to be such a terrifying monster as the mountain monster. He quickly recalled the characteristics of this monster.
Ability, realizing that even the most ordinary mountain monster has more than three extraordinary characteristics, including but not limited to:
Heartbreaking. The roar emitted by the mountain monster when hunting can cause instinctive fear in small creatures, causing short-term dizziness and a certain chance of running away due to fear, followed by a slow movement of no less than ten seconds. This monster
The monster is able to prey on the dangerous Serrated Scale Fish thanks to this ability.
Terrifyingly powerful. The mountain monster can crush hard rocks or pull out trees with huge roots, and throw or wave them as weapons; its attacks have a concussive effect, and human armor cannot defend against its attacks.
Can cause internal organ damage and internal bleeding.
Burst shooting. Although the mountain monster is not a creature good at long-range attacks, it can accurately and continuously throw stones and trees to attack in a very short period of time, with extremely high accuracy and a wide range of splash damage.
Some mountain monsters have other types of powers after training, which is beyond the scope of Griffith's knowledge. Just their powerful bodies and the above three abilities already make the mountain monsters superior to most monsters and beasts.
to become another kind of existence
"Legendary creature!"
In a one-on-one situation at close range, even world-famous knights and mages have to consider whether they can survive from the hands of the mountain monster.
The roar had just stopped, and was immediately followed by bursts of human screams, and even an earthquake that shook the earth.
It's the hired hands.
Griffith was a little confused. The environment here was obviously designed by a strong man who could control all the mountain monsters, and was specially built to raise mountain monsters for a short period of time. So what are these foreign employees?
How do you know the secret of the mountain monster, and why do you dare to challenge this ferocious beast?
The screams in the forest began to become more and more terrifying. Griffith hurriedly wiped his body with wet mud from the pond, took off the throwing gun from his back, and groped towards the place where the sound came from.
Under a big tree not far from the pond, Griffith first discovered a hired man. Broken pieces of wood and metal were inserted into this man's body. It could be vaguely distinguished that he was the part of a heavy crossbow. The left half of his body was
It was like a peach that had been stepped on, with all its flesh and blood squished together.
The heavy crossbow can cause damage to the eyes of the mountain monster and some weak points at the appropriate angle and distance. The hired workers obviously arranged the heavy crossbowmen to ambush for this purpose, and most of them succeeded. But the shooter did not escape the mountain monster.
Griffith searched around and found a boulder not far away with traces of flesh and blood on it. It should have been used by the mountain monster to attack the shooter.
It's getting late. The moonlight shines on the open space at the edge of the Whispering Forest, as if watching the tragedy in the forest.