Chapter 1080: Riding in the Snow

"This is truly terrible."

Miss Galina, standing in front of Xia De, looked down at her boots stepping into the mud and water in the snow, and then asked Miss Sylvia:

"Where are we now?"

The seven people gathered together. Xia De, carrying a suitcase and a sword on his back, saw Miss Sylvia make a map of the Pantanal region float in the air, pointing her finger at the southeastern position of the map:

"We are three miles off from the expected location, but still within the plan. The Wonder 【Spatial Perception】 tells me we are now on the outskirts of the Gurus ruins."

Miss Aurora tilted her head and took a look:

"6.5 miles (about 10.5km) from the central lake? We need to speed up our actions."

If it were in a plain area, the seven people present could walk 6.5 miles in at most two hours even on foot. But the terrain in the Great Swamp area is extremely complex, and danger is everywhere. The Voodoo Society must have set up blocking means around, so 6.5 miles is indeed a very long distance.

"We can take this path."

Miss Sylvia, wrapped in a brown scarf, pointed to the light gray lines on the map. Although the wind in the swamp area was cold, it was not strong, but the snowflakes filling the sky were exceptionally astonishing:

"The Langma Ancient Road. It was a supply channel while the Kassenrick army was still stationed on the central island. Although this road is a bit of a detour, at least it doesn't require passing through dangerous zones."

The Pantanal region is one of the few places on the Old Continent that still has "dangerous areas" recognized by the Sect. What lives here are not necessarily ordinary animals. According to legends, there are even hybrid dragon species living in the depths of the Great Swamp.

"Can we fly over?"

Xia De asked. Miss Galina shook her head:

"It's probably the influence of the seal. The area further ahead prohibits long-distance spatial movement. Although flying is not prohibited, flying easily attracts dangerous things. We still have enough time; there's no need to take risks."

"Then let's go quickly."

Miss Aurora waved her hand and took out some bone powder, pouring it into the snow. Following the witch's spellcasting, the flowing bone powder proliferated and molded until it formed four undead skeletal horses.

As the hooves stepped on the snowy surface, the mud under the snow that had not yet frozen made a strange "puchi puchi" sound. Blue fire was lit in the eye sockets of the skeletal horses' heads. At the same time, rose vines wrapped around the pitch-black bones, growing from the eye sockets toward the four hooves, and cleverly avoided the position of the saddle, making these summoned undead appear even more miraculous.

"Xivi, when did you improve your undead summoning ability?"

Miss Galina looked curiously at those rose vines, but the lady with long wavy hair, who had her hair coiled up today, frowned slightly:

"I didn't improve this Wonder. This area is affecting my spellcasting."

"Space is also abnormal, otherwise we wouldn't have deviated by 3 miles."

Miss Sylvia added. Miss Galina nodded slightly, understanding that this was a characteristic of the depths of the Great Swamp. This land had long been polluted by Xiewu, and one must be extremely careful when casting spells here.

After confirming that the undead skeletal horses only had a change in appearance, they put on the prepared horse gear.

Among the seven people, Miss Sylvia, who needed to lead the way at the very front, rode a horse alone, the other witches rode two to a horse, and Xia De finally sat behind Miss Galina.

This was not because Miss Aurora was "generous," but because she was the highest-ranking witch in the team and had to face more dangers, so she didn't want Xia De to follow her.

The time was now 1:03 PM on Wednesday, the 24th of the Month of Slumber, 1853, General Calendar. The story of the fourth Chosen One was about to come to an end.

The blizzard in the Great Swamp area was much larger than in Huntington City, which was located outside the swamp. After Miss Sylvia led the group to find the ancient road, even though the skeletal horses were more suitable for moving in complex terrain than real horses, the environment within the swamp still greatly hindered the group's progress.

This wind and snow even forced Miss Avril, one of the three Ninth Tier female Ringed Shushi, to cast spells to summon temporary shields to block the wind and snow for everyone. And even if they pushed forward against the low temperature, in the blizzard-filled swamp, Miss Sylvia, who was extremely sensitive to spatial anomalies, still almost lost her way.

"This is definitely not right. In previous reports, there was no mention that the interior of the Great Swamp had the characteristic of losing one's way. It seems we have already entered the Voodoo Society's area of influence."

The end of the ancient road, which was almost about to disappear in the Great Swamp, was actually a frozen wetland. Miss Sylvia gripped the reins and stopped at the very front. After discussing with Miss Aurora, she borrowed Xia De's 【Night Watcher】, applied her own blood to it, and swung it forward fiercely.

The wetland was split open by the silver sword like a canvas and blown away by the strong wind, revealing the road to continue forward.

"It's not a Wonder, nor a Relic; it's some kind of more terrifying power."

The witch said softly. Afterward, the four skeletal horses continued forward, leaving only a series of hoofprints under the snow that were quickly covered up.

At 1:47 PM, the group continuing along the ancient road simultaneously felt the ground shaking. The earthquake ended after half a minute, but afterward, the sound of explosions came from very far away.

Miss Sylvia calculated the position and believed that the Sect's team had fought with someone, and the intensity of the battle was not low. At least one Thirteenth Tier Ringed Shushi was fighting with full strength, so the enemy was likely not human at all.

At 2:35 PM, the group moving forward encountered an attack by scarlet vines hidden under the snow layer. The scene of those vines, dense and numerous, jumping up together was truly terrifying.

But the battle ended in less than half a minute. The six ladies called out fireballs together. The fireballs bombarded the ground like steam cannons washing the floor. After the battle, after Miss Galina's inspection, these vines were classified as "Man-eating Corpse Vines," a Class II dangerous plant, extremely rare on the Old Continent, generally distributed on small islands overseas. Even in the Pantanal region, there shouldn't be such things. They clearly did not grow naturally to form a colony near the ancient road, but were specially arranged here like a hunter's trap.

"The Truth Society has studied this kind of thing."

Miss Aurora added with a grave expression. Next, there would be more and more similar things.

At 3:40 PM, the group continuing forward encountered an abandoned village with no markings on the map. After Miss Galina and Miss Aurora investigated together, they believed that this village was very likely the Sage-level Relic 【Udir Ghost Village】. After discussion, everyone had to temporarily deviate from the forward direction, paying the price of wasting more time to completely bypass the location-type Relic that appeared here for unknown reasons.

But even after deviating from the direction, the group still entered the abandoned village without realizing it. Terrifying evil spirits gradually surrounded everyone in the blizzard. The inevitable battle began after Xia De summoned the first huge snowball and smashed it into the group of undead.

The three Great Witches and three high-ranking female Ringed Shushi attacked any alien objects that dared to block them without holding back at all. However, the ghost village in the snow was not suppressed by humans in a head-on collision.

Fortunately, the group's goal was not to defeat this Relic, but merely to escape from here. In the end, Xia De led the way relying on his characteristic of not being actively attacked by the undead, while Miss Aurora, whose rotating life ring swept away the army of undead and corpses like a light cannon, guaranteed everyone's safety at the back.

After confirming that they could not keep the seven people, this desolate village, which seemed to have already given birth to consciousness, finally opened a path for them to leave. Only when the group riding horses went far away, Xia De looked back at the village again, but clearly saw those evil spirits still standing in the snow watching them.

At 6:00 PM, no sunlight could be seen in the Great Swamp area. Xia De and the six ladies were gathered around a crackling campfire, while the skeletal horses were tied to a tree nearby, waiting to be used next.

Miss Avril, a follower of the witch, was leading her companions, and Miss Scarlett, who had brown hair, was setting up an outer defense ritual. They were going to rest here for half an hour and then go straight to the destination in one go. The last female Ringed Shushi, Miss Catherine, was boiling hot soup and adding some potions to dispel negative states for everyone. Her work was similar to Mrs. Marx in the Silver Mountains.

Miss Aurora found a sufficiently open space nearby, entered the Council amidst singing, and went to report the situation to the waiting councilors. Miss Sylvia was observing the starry sky on a high tree, confirming that their position was not wrong.

"Your body temperature is really high."

A translucent shield covered the top of their heads, blocking the wind and snow. The red-haired Duchess, draped in a blanket enchanted with a constant temperature spell, leaned against Xia De without any scruples and said softly. The two were now sitting by the campfire waiting for dinner. Even though the environment was so harsh, the Great Witches were still unwilling to just gnaw on bread.

The long-haired Duchess also coiled her hair today for the convenience of action. Xia De could smell the scent on her red hair:

"It's probably because of the First Fire, and the fire of the sun."

The campfire in front of him was lit by Xia De. Although this fire could not compare to the campfires used by the witches he had seen at any point in the Fifth Era, it was at least enough to resist ordinary cold.

Miss Galina tilted her head and leaned on his shoulder, feeling that although the conditions were a bit difficult, at least she was very satisfied with the current situation:

"What will happen next?"

"We have already encountered Relics, traps, a crazy dragon beast..."

That is, a dragon-like creature without wisdom with a dragon blood purity of less than 5%. Because its meat was poisonous, it was casually discarded by the group. ===== CHAPTER 1081 =====