Hyperdimensional Warlock

Chapter 4382 The Inscription Inside the Tree Hole

Chapter 4382 The Inscription Inside the Tree Hole

Dead tree stronghold, tree hole space.

"Report—"

A scout hurried through the narrow, damp tree hollow path and stumbled into the deepest core space.

Inside the tree hollow, a thick stench of blood mixed with the musty smell of decaying leaves permeated the enclosed space. The scout, however, showed no reaction and knelt before the acting leader, "One-Ear."

"What's all this fuss about?"

"Reporting to the Second Boss, a thick fog has suddenly rolled in outside!"

One-Ear frowned slightly: "This is a swamp forest, fog is normal. Go back to your post."

“But…” The scout looked up, his eyes filled with urgency and difficulty: “The fog is very thick this time! Much thicker than before! The chief said before that any changes in the swamp forest must be reported…”

One-Ear's expression hardened: "I'm in charge here now!"

After speaking, One Ear vaguely sensed that his subordinates around him were secretly observing him. He coughed lightly and toned down his tone a little: "I told the boss before that he was too cautious. There are many things that don't need to be done so carefully."

"Moreover, the more careful you are, the more likely you are to be discovered."

"Like that kid from the caravan before, either don't let him into the cave, or if you do let him in, be generous."

"But the boss is doing the opposite. He wants to show his authority, but he's also being careful to keep the other party away. This might actually make the other party suspicious."

"Of course, that kid probably wouldn't have thought of that, but what if a smart person comes next time?"

"At that time, the ruins here might be exposed."

One-Ear said this, then looked at the young scout: "So, I'm implementing reforms now! The boss is in trouble, and we don't know if he'll wake up, but whether he does or not, you can't go wrong by listening to me! I'll explain to the boss later."

The words spoken behind One Ear made the brothers hidden in the darkness inside the tree hollow nod repeatedly.

While they strongly support One-Eyed Dragon, they believe that, in terms of "caution" alone, One-Eyed Dragon is indeed being overly cautious.

Slight modifications to One Ear would be reasonable.

The scout said nothing more, nodded silently, and turned to leave the tree hole.

But when he returned to the outside world and saw the thick fog, he was still a little worried.

"We could see the treetops before, but now we can't even see them. The visibility is probably only about ten meters... This is too fast, something's not right." The scout hesitated and turned to look at the tree hole. Should he go back in and report? But after thinking it over, he finally decided to obey One-Ear's order.

With a light push of his feet, he leaped onto a nearby tree trunk and prepared to climb to the top to continue his watch.

Just as he was about to reach the top, he suddenly saw a figure appear at the treetop.

Because of the swirling fog, he couldn't see the other person's figure clearly and assumed it was a scout on another tree trunk, and that he had gone to the wrong place.

He was about to apologize, but before he could even open his mouth, he heard a familiar voice: "That's the scout who brought us here before!"

That voice... belongs to the caravan!

He suddenly looked up, trying to see the other person's face clearly.

Just then, a slightly immature female voice came: "He's the only scout left outside the stronghold, let's just take care of him."

An ominous premonition instantly enveloped the scout, and a great terror lingered in his heart. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately released his hands, preparing to make a leap of faith.

But before he could fall from the sky, a strange force came from behind him and steadily supported his body.

He looked down in surprise and found nothing beneath him, only a thick cloud of mist swirling around him, holding him steadily in mid-air.

"This power...you are extraordinary..."

Shock filled the scout's eyes. He wanted to say something more, but an invisible force gripped his throat, and the words stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

"Uriel, you should do it this time." The youthful female voice spoke again.

A slightly weary male voice drifted slowly through the fog: "I've dealt with the other scouts on duty. This one... he spoke up for us at the Dead Tree stronghold, which eased the hostility of the other bandits."

“Although it was a trivial matter, I remembered it. So, I decided not to do it.”

The scout didn't know what was going on, but it seemed he had been rescued?

But the next second, the weathered voice rang out again: "You guys do it."

The woman's voice sounded somewhat helpless: "I thought you were going to let him off the hook, but it turns out you just didn't want to do it yourself... Your principles really are inconsistent."

"Let's just stick to the facts... Besides, Mr. Angell said that they are just NPCs in the instance. I'm just not taking action here. If it were in real life, I wouldn't hesitate to act when the time comes, since I haven't received his favor."

The female voice then scoffed, "I don't believe you. If I remember correctly, you hesitated for ages when we told you to make your move. You only dared to attack after Mr. Angell said it was an NPC..."

After being exposed, he was not angry, but said in a deep voice: "It was my first time killing someone, so of course I hesitated. But with the experience here, I will be more composed in reality."

The woman chuckled, said nothing more, stepped forward, stared intently at the scout, then pulled out a dagger made of white mist and slashed it across his neck.

Blood gushed out instantly, and then his eyes lost their luster.

However, his body did not fall; instead, it was lifted up by a gust of wind and hung on the treetop.

……

The group jumped down from the treetops.

With the help of Angel's Swiftness Technique, the strong wind swirling around his feet steadily supported his body, and he landed so lightly that there was no impact whatsoever, standing firmly on the slightly damp ground.

Blanche turned to look at Uriel, and paused for a moment... His face was as pale as paper, and his body was still trembling slightly, but a cluster of scorching flames burned in his eyes, shining brightly.

"Are you alright?" Blanche asked, raising an eyebrow. "You only killed five scouts, oh wait, you only killed four."

Uriel slowly shook his head: "I'm fine, just a little excited."

His gaze was fixed on the crooked, gnarled, withered tree not far away, and the flames in his eyes burned even brighter—a mixture of the pleasure of killing Rigota's enemy and the eagerness and anticipation of discovering the truth.

"Go in, but don't kill the people inside yet." It was Angel who spoke. He paused and looked at Uriel, who looked puzzled.

"Get the information out of them first, then it's not too late to kill them."

Uriel then realized, "But what if they don't tell us?"

"Don't worry, with me here, they won't keep quiet," Angel said confidently. Then, without waiting for anyone else to react, he strode forward, pushed open the door of the tree hollow, and went inside.

Angell walked very lightly and slowly, but the echo of his footsteps still reached the tree hollow.

One-Ear frowned sharply and snapped impatiently, "Why are you in again? I've already said, this fog isn't a big problem. Let's start with these small things and gradually make improvements!"

As soon as he finished speaking, One Ear suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The surroundings were completely silent.

Even his brothers around him seemed to be silenced.

He turned around abruptly and saw that everyone around him was frozen in place, like wax figures, with only their constantly flickering eyes reflecting their shock and fear.

What's going on? What happened?

One Ear felt a sinking feeling in his heart. Before he could think further, he heard footsteps getting closer and closer in the dark and narrow passage, as if they had already reached the entrance of the cave.

He fixed his eyes.

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness—

The newcomer was a rather handsome blond young man.

One-Ear had never seen this person before. He wanted to shout and ask what the other person's purpose was, but he found that the person only glanced at him lightly. He felt his whole body stiffen instantly. At this moment, he was like everyone else around him, unable to move or speak. Only his eyes could still see.

The blond youth walked into the tree hole, circled around it as if taking a quick look, and finally returned to the entrance.

Just then, several hurried footsteps came from outside.

A glimmer of hope flashed in one ear: if it was a scout... perhaps he could still be saved!

But when he saw who it was, disappointment flashed in his eyes, but soon he seemed to think of something, and hope rose in his eyes.

The people who came in after them were from the Piccolo Trading Company!

He had seen them before!

He knew people in the Chamber of Commerce, many of whom were insatiably greedy. He believed that as long as one demonstrated value, there was a chance of being saved!

Furthermore, if this blond youth with strange powers is also a member of the Piccolo Merchant Guild...

Perhaps he can even trade this power with the Piccolo Merchant Guild!

Just as a delusional thought crossed One Ear's mind, Ke Mai, a caravan member he had seen several times, asked the blond youth, "Sir, what's wrong with them?"

“It’s under control,” Angel said calmly.

He then looked at Uriel and the others who had arrived later, and said, "I will use illusion magic to control their thoughts later. You will split up and ask for information."

"After asking the questions, we'll gather them together outside the tree hole."

After speaking, Angel snapped his fingers lightly.

An invisible force instantly spread throughout the tree hollow, and numerous illusion nodes silently enveloped all the frozen thieves.

A moment later, the thieves' wide-open eyes slowly closed, and when they opened them again, their eyes were empty and numb, like hollow dolls that had lost their souls.

Immediately afterwards, Angel raised his index finger, and the bandits controlled by the illusion walked out of the tree hole step by step like puppets, in an orderly manner without the slightest delay.

Once all the thieves had completely left the tree hollow, the ground inside the hollow, which had been hidden by them, was finally revealed. The stone slabs on the ground were mottled and dry, with some twisted and intertwined patterns faintly engraved on them, appearing and disappearing in the dim light.

"That's..." Blanche instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with surprise, "Could it be an inscription?"

Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed across Angel's eyes as he looked at her: "You know about inscriptions?"

Blanche quickly shook her head, her tone uncertain: "I haven't learned it, but my teacher does... The Church of Light is very good at inscription, and is unparalleled in the Western Continent wizarding world."

Blanche herself had no time to learn these skills because of her strange "sleep" ailment, but Camillo was skilled in these inscriptions.

Unfortunately, Camillo didn't get to enter the Misty Forest instance this time.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Angel's eyes. He had originally thought that if Blanche recognized these inscriptions, she might stay and help decipher them, and perhaps find key clues from them.

But since she doesn't know her either, there's no point in dwelling on it any longer.

He withdrew his gaze and looked back at Kemai and the others, his tone returning to calm: "Those bandits are already waiting outside. You can go over and ask for information now. Leave the inscriptions here to me."

Everyone nodded, covered their noses, and fled from the tree hole as quickly as possible.

Although they were curious about the "inscriptions," they also genuinely wanted to escape.

because……

The tree hole smelled terrible.

The intensely pungent smell of blood permeated the air, mixing with strange odors of sweat, mildew, and feet to create a unique, suffocating, and fermenting stench.

Angel had only walked around inside once before coming out, also because the smell was too terrifying.

However, this is not entirely the fault of the Forty Thieves.

It's normal for a group of burly men to have a bit of an odor living here. When Kemai first came, he also smelled it, but he could tolerate it... The problem is that their failed ambush of the evil spirits resulted in a large number of bandits being afflicted by the Whispering Curse.

These people were initially moved into the tree hollow.

Immediately afterwards, several people did not survive the curse and suffered severe hemorrhage.

Several corpses exploded and split open, their blood splattering inside the cave. Although people were sent to clean up behind one ear and carry the cursed person out, the situation was different.

But the smell of blood in the air is not so easy to get rid of.

Despite the overwhelming stench, Angell manipulated the power of celestial changes, summoning a cleansing wind and pure water.

Even with the help of feng shui, it still took half a minute to completely clean and odorless the cave.

Only then did Angell take a step forward and enter the cramped tree hollow.

His gaze immediately fell on the circular stone slab with inscriptions behind the tree hole.

This stone slab is somewhat like a large rug, and many of the Forty Thieves sat on it before.

When Angor had observed the stone slab from a god-like perspective before, he had noticed it before, but because it had been sat on carelessly and the patterns on the slab were inscriptions that Angor rarely encountered, he did not recognize them at first and simply thought they were random scribbles.

Later, while pondering the third fragment of truth, Angor thought of the Dead Tree stronghold. After careful investigation, he discovered that something was amiss.

There are faint traces of authority information near these patterns.

However, it is too incomplete to be deciphered remotely, and in addition, inscriptions are something that are difficult to decipher from a god's-eye view.

It was precisely because of this that Angor first had the idea of ​​personally entering the dungeon, and later, when the dungeon suddenly underwent an anomaly, he took the opportunity to enter the game.