Chapter 868: Knight and Wolf

Bidding farewell to the enthusiastic sheriff, Xia De rode his horse around Lu Se Lake, hoping to find that mysterious lake as well.

He still remembered the hint given by the professor, so he tried his best to forget the purpose of this trip, but the more he thought this way, the more various thoughts about the "Goddess of the Lake" echoed in his mind.

This led to the fact that Xia De didn't encounter the "Goddess of the Lake," let alone the talking black snake, rabbit, and raven, that afternoon. Instead, when the sun sank to the west and the sunset glow appeared in the sky, Xia De was riding his horse and thinking about whether to return to the city now, but soon noticed that a pack of wolves hunting in the early winter season had been trailing him at some point, seemingly wanting to bite Xia De and that date-red horse to death as reserve food.

Xia De, who was already in a bad mood, naturally wouldn't let them go easily. Therefore, after soothing his startled mount, he dismounted and charged at the wolf pack holding the 【Nightwatcher】.

Thus, under the intense sunset by Lu Se Lake, the knight holding the sword began to fight with the wolf pack.

This was not a large wolf pack, totaling only eight or nine wild wolves. They originally boldly besieged Xia De, but as Xia De swung his sword to split the wolves pouncing from both sides in two, then raised his foot to kick the alpha wolf pouncing from the front to death, and finally picked up the broken-tailed wolf pouncing from behind and threw it to the ground, smashing it into mud, the remaining wild wolves immediately scattered and fled.

"Why did these wolves still dare to attack me when I was clearly holding a sword and a gun?"

Xia De was puzzled.

【Probably because they were too far away from you, and you took action before they had time to observe closely.】

While "she" gave the answer softly in the wind, Xia De had already chased the scattered wolf pack into the withered forest by the lake, based on the idea of eliminating harm for the locals.

This area was a local logging site, but it looked more like wasteland in the current season. The wild wolves chased by Xia De fled in panic into the forest, but as several silver moonlight beams swept across the ground through the gaps in the withered trees behind them, the last wild wolves were also split in two, leaving only the one that ran the fastest to drill into the deeper part of the forest:

"Why did you have to come and provoke me?"

Xia De, holding the sword, looked back at the horse eating wild grass by the lake, and then chased after the wolf that had escaped, swearing that he must kill the other party before going home.

Four-legged wolves generally run faster than two-legged humans, especially in the forest with crisscrossing branches. But for Xia De, no matter how fast the other party ran, it wasn't a problem. Even without the power of miracles and curses, he soon cut a small path in the forest with his powerful physical fitness and the silver sword in his hand that could almost cut through everything, and caught up with that wolf.

The latter was scared out of its wits by the movement behind it, and after the moonlight flying from behind cut off the big tree in front of it, it was pressed by the big tree on the back half of its body, and then howled, watching the human behind it walk over:

"Really, why did you have to come and provoke me?"

Xia De asked again. If it weren't for the fact that it was getting late and he wanted to go home early, he even wanted to put the 【Fish-Training Ring】 on the other party's claw and ask why he was targeted.

Without paying attention to that wild wolf anymore, he swung his sword to kill the other party. But after thinking about it, he took two steps back, and then took out the revolver at his waist, which was the one equipped for him by MI6.

Speaking of which, since getting this gun, the number of times Xia De had fired it was probably less than five. At this moment, seeing that the wolf could no longer resist, he took out the gun and prepared to test his accuracy, anyway, the bullets could be reimbursed—

Bang~

A shot rang out, startling an unknown number of birds in the forest to fly toward the sunset. But that wolf was still alive, only a bullet hole exploded on the wood pressing it, because the wood was dry, and tree bark and wood fibers flew everywhere.

Before that wolf, which had successfully lived to the end, could wake up from its fear, the second gunshot, lingering in the early winter sunset, rang out again, successfully hitting its head.

"My marksmanship is still very accurate."

Xia De, feeling satisfied, blew on the muzzle, then put the gun back into the holster and hung it at his waist. He took out cloth from his pocket, wanting to turn the wolf pack's corpses into toys to bring back to Tobesk as a souvenir, but after walking two steps on the mud on the ground, he suddenly stopped.

He actually hadn't gone too deep into the forest, and because of the logging in the autumn, the withered trees on the edge of the logging site were unusually sparse. There were no leaves on the branches, the sunset could shine directly on the ground, and looking up, one could see more than half of the sky and clouds dyed red.

But at this moment, Xia De actually felt that the visibility around him was gradually declining, and the bone-chilling wind blowing through the forest became even more gloomy. The 【Nightwatcher】 in his hand suddenly vibrated rapidly at this moment; it perceived evil earlier than Xia De.

"What is approaching?"

He no longer paid attention to the wolf corpse pressed under the tree, but stood in the forest with his sword, looking around.

【Outlander, you have touched a whisper.】

"Whisper?"

Listening carefully, the faint whispers that were extremely difficult to detect had indeed appeared in his ears at some point. The sunset dyed Xia De's shoulders red, but the murmurs of women wailing, crying, and screaming made Xia De feel cold in his heart.

The sunset this evening was so intense, but the atmosphere at this moment was out of tune with that sunset. Looking at the light around him, because of the appearance of high-level relics, a feeling of dizziness had already appeared before his eyes. Xia De tried hard to maintain his spirit, carefully turning around in place, observing every detail around him, until when he turned halfway, he turned his head, and a pale-faced woman with disheveled hair was poking her head out from behind a withered tree trunk not far away, looking at him with black eyes.

Xia De was startled, this was the woman he saw in the cursed photo of Professor Drake:

"Sage-level relic 【Swamp Witch】? She actually appeared in a position so close to the city?"

The humanoid relic poked out her head and shoulders of the same pale color, as if she had been hiding behind the tree and peeking at the man in front of her since just now.

And Xia De only made eye contact with her, and saw countless evil spirits with tragic deaths rushing out from behind the dense trees and pouncing on him in the forest illuminated by the sunset.

【Illusion, don't move.】

The voice in his ear made Xia De's consciousness clearer. He gritted his teeth and stood in place. The evil spirits indeed passed through his body like phantoms and then disappeared into the light of the sunset.

But then, the pitch-black shadows of the withered trees standing in the sunset actually squirmed like tentacles. Then, the black shadows crawled toward Xia De along the ground like snakes; this was probably a scene that would only appear in horror stories.

【Still an illusion, don't move.】

Xia De believed "her" judgment and still didn't move. The squirming shadows indeed disappeared into the light of the sunset after reaching Xia De's feet.

But the abnormal phenomena around him still didn't disappear. Xia De heard the rustling sound behind him, but now he was concentrating on the movement of the woman poking her head out from behind the tree, not daring to move at all. Fortunately, "her" field of vision was not affected by eyes:

【That wolf you shot to death has crawled out from under the tree.】

"Also an illusion?"

【No, this time it's real.】

Xia De was startled and blinked subconsciously. The time of blinking was no more than half a second, but between closing and opening his eyes, it was as if the picture in front of him was pulled away and replaced with another one. The woman who had poked her head out from behind the tree had actually disappeared:

"What?"

He immediately turned around and looked behind him, and sure enough, he saw the wolf that had died thoroughly crawling out from under the tree, looking at Xia De with a limp, but it didn't attack him, but turned and walked toward the deeper part of the forest.

"Has the whisper element nearby changed?"

【The element on that wolf is the strongest.】

"Sure enough, it's a living corpse manipulated by the 【Swamp Witch】... but how did the main body of the 【Swamp Witch】 leave? Isn't it full of malice toward any male?"

The limping wolf walked a distance toward the depths of the forest, suddenly stopped, and turned to look at Xia De. Xia De looked at his surroundings and behind him suspiciously, feeling a bit unbelievable:

"Let me follow it? I'd have to be crazy to follow it."

Although he thought so, Xia De didn't turn around and leave immediately, but recalled the characteristics of the Sage-level relic 【Swamp Witch】:

"It will guide those kind-hearted women who are lost in the swamp, and may even protect them. But for women with impure hearts and any male, it will impose a curse that corrupts the soul."

Xia De was very sure that he hadn't encountered a curse, and that wolf really seemed to be guiding him toward a certain direction.

But the problem was, Xia De was not a "kind-hearted woman," and if he wanted to leave the forest, the direction he would take was not the direction the wolf was currently walking.

"Really strange, didn't encounter talking animals, but encountered such a strange thing instead."

The main body of the 【Swamp Witch】 had undoubtedly left, but since this wolf manipulated by the other party still existed, it meant that the terrible humanoid relic was still watching Xia De.

The living corpse wolf that stopped there and looked at Xia De didn't wait all the time and soon continued to walk toward the depths of the logging site. Xia De thought for a moment and said to the wolf:

"Please wait for me, I'll bring my horse over, and then I'll follow you."

To prevent the relic and the wolf from not understanding, he specifically used Kassenrick.

After speaking, he returned to the path by the lake without looking back, found the horse that was lowering its head and eating wild grass, and the latter followed Xia De, who was leading the reins, back to the forest. After crossing the corpses of those wild wolves, he saw the big tree knocked down by the "Moonlight Slash" again, as well as the wolf waiting not far away.

"Originally I thought, if you didn't wait for me, I would leave here and go home for dinner. But since you are still..."

This time without hesitation, Xia De led the horse and followed. The wolf, which was squatting like a dog, also stood up and walked slowly toward the deeper part of the forest.

7017k ===== CHAPTER 869 =====