Chapter 363 362. Noble Scavengers

Ilos came to the entrance camp of Shenmu Dungeon, and behind him were several students including Salian with the scout's hat on his head, and another 7 mages.

The atmosphere here is completely different from the tranquility and peace of the City in the Trees.

The camp was surrounded by temporarily reinforced fences and barriers that flickered with rune light. The elven rangers walked hurriedly, with obvious fatigue and vigilance on their faces. Even the air was filled with a faint smell of blood.

A ranger captain wearing light armor and carrying a longbow quickly stepped forward and saluted Ilos respectfully: "Sir, the captain of the guards has ordered me to greet you all."

However, just as he finished speaking, a suppressed and painful howl came from the direction of the medical tent not far away, the sound was full of inhuman frenzy.

Ilos paused and looked in the direction of the voice: "Is it an infection? Take me to see the wounded first."

The team leader's eyes lit up slightly, and he nodded immediately: "Yes, Your Excellency."

When the ranger captain led Ilos and the others here, two elven rangers were working together to carry a druid out.

"What happened to him? Is it serious?" asked Salian.

A ranger explained, "It's not a big deal. Dui is just pushing himself too hard. Just carry him down and let him sleep for a day!"

Judging from the two rangers' expressions, it seems that this is not the first time they have encountered such a thing.

In the medical tent, several druids with tired faces were sitting in front of some bound elves, maintaining the light of purification in their hands.

Under the continued effect of the purification technique, the elves with dark red lines on their bodies were relatively quiet.

On a chair a little further away, there were a few druids lying there, exhausted and falling asleep.

"Chief?!" A druid quickly recognized the person.

Ilos glanced at the druids' miserable expressions and said, "I'll come and help. It's time for you to take a rest."

He took two steps forward, his lips moved silently twice, and then he raised his hand.

A soft and majestic light rippled out from him, instantly covering the entire medical area like water waves.

The light is not dazzling, but it carries a powerful and pure force.

The signs of infection on the wounded in the tents melted away rapidly like ice and snow in the sun, and some of the wounded even hummed comfortably in their sleep.

The effect was so powerful that even the scout Puji felt fuller!

The Ranger Captain was the first to react. He excitedly placed his right hand on his chest and bowed deeply to Ilos: "Thank you for your help, Chief!"

The druids nearby finally recovered from their shock, their faces filled with awe and admiration.

"Such a powerful range purification... in an instant..."

"As expected of the Chief of Ilos..."

Ilos just nodded slightly. He turned to the captain and said in a steady tone, "Now, take us to the front line."

"Yes! Please follow me."

The team leader led the team into the dungeon, explaining the current situation as they advanced. "Currently, the cleanup and reconnaissance efforts are primarily focused on the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, and progress is...very difficult. The monsters entrenched there were already powerful, and now, due to the infection, they've become extremely violent and aggressive, completely disregarding their own casualties. Even more challenging is the logistics. Every time we advance a certain distance, we have to expend tremendous effort to consolidate our defenses."

They were now walking on the "safe path" opened up by the rangers.

On both sides of the path, you can occasionally see charred spots caused by magic burns, or arrows deeply embedded in tree trunks, all of which are traces of battle.

Looking up, there were elf rangers standing at intervals above the giant trees, on guard against the crazy monsters that might suddenly pounce.

As he went down, Salian could clearly feel that the entire Shenmu Dungeon had become much more desolate, and the monsters that were once seen everywhere were now hard to find.

However, there are exceptions.

In the forest, there were more Puji and Slime figures, and they were chasing each other all the way.

The rangers guarding along the way were already accustomed to this. As long as Puji and the Slime did not take the initiative to attack, they would ignore them and let them run around nearby.

This is because the madness that corrodes the mind is not effective on all living beings.

Creatures like Puji and Slime, which have almost no complex minds and act only on the most primitive instincts, are immune to infection.

Their thinking is so simple that it cannot be distorted, so they are naturally not afraid of madness.

In fact, there are several species in the dungeon that are not affected, but Puji and Slime, as typical scavengers, have a feast in this disaster.

The cleanup operation left behind a large number of monster corpses. The elves themselves had no time to deal with them thoroughly, so these abundant resources were naturally devoured by them.

With such an abundance of food, the quantity naturally grew explosively.

Salian looked at the ordinary Pooji running around aimlessly, frowned slightly, and subconsciously raised his hand to support the particularly well-behaved little Pooji above his head.

Unlike its peers, Xiaoji obviously possesses higher intelligence, but because of this, it may now be at risk of infection.

This thought made him feel a little alert, and he had to pay extra attention to this little guy.

After all, if something unexpected really happened, he would have to go back to see his sister with a bunch of broken pieces of Puji... He couldn't even imagine that scene.

But other elves have different insights.

“The accumulation of the sacred tree over the years... Alas..." Seldan, who is also a student of Ilos, sighed slightly as he looked at the scene in front of him.

His emotion resonated with several mages around him, and everyone nodded.

Some people even began to discuss in low voices the ecological reconstruction plan after the war subsided, considering whether it was necessary to introduce specific monsters from the outside world to speed up the recovery process.

Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps the rangers ahead had done a thorough enough job cleaning up, but they didn't encounter any monster attacks on their way down, and the journey went unexpectedly smoothly.

But when they arrived at the front line, it was completely different from the desolate area before.

Lively, even a little too lively!

The sharp and shrill howls and roars of the monsters never stopped, like endless background noise, constantly assaulting the eardrums.

In the deep darkness, from time to time, a swift streak of light from an arrow would suddenly appear, or a huge fireball would explode, briefly illuminating the shadows ahead.

Due to the large amount of continuous casting, the magic concentration in the entire area became extremely unstable, fluctuating violently like the tide.

This abnormal energy environment disrupted the magic circulation in the bodies of Salian and others who had just arrived, causing them to feel nauseous and uncomfortable.

"Go ahead and vomit! You'll get used to it after a few times!" Amidst the chaos, with a loud voice, Captain Eko, covered in mud and dark red blood, strode forward.

Under the flickering light of the magic crystal lamp, he walked straight towards Ilos, "Ilos! The king finally decided to send you over for support!"

As he spoke, he opened his stained arms, as if wanting to give his old friend a warm hug.

But when he was only one step away, he paused, and a slender but tough root emerged from the soil and wrapped around his ankle.

"Dirty." Ilos refused expressionlessly.

(End of this chapter)