Seeing the system prompt, Cao Xing's eyes once again showed a thoughtful look.
"This is the deepest part of the forest, and according to the system, this is the witch's castle."
"Could it be possible to find the witch in here?"
It was obvious that Cao Xing had touched upon the long-hidden truth of this forest.
Why do the plants, animals, and the Church of Light that are corroded by the breath of darkness have to deal with the black snake?
And the legendary witch...
All of this will soon be presented to him.
As long as Cao Xing enters the castle, he can explore all of this.
Thinking of this, Cao Xing took a deep breath.
"Let's go and take a look."
They soon arrived about ten meters away from the city wall.
The castle seemed very deserted. Not only were there no guards, there wasn't even a human figure in sight.
Obviously, there was no way to stop them with this four or five meter high wall.
Just when Cao Xing was about to approach.
About five meters away from the city wall, Dabai suddenly bumped into something.
"puff!"
There was a dull sound of flesh hitting each other, and Dabai's head was shaken by the impact.
And at this moment.
Cao Xing saw a blue energy shield appear out of thin air in front of him.
"Hey guys, what the hell is this?"
"Protective shield?"
And at this moment, the system prompt appears.
[The Witch Castle is the private forbidden area of the Forest Witch. She has set up a powerful seal around it to prohibit all foreign creatures from entering or leaving.]
(Hint: Maybe you can look for clues around the castle.)
…
When Cao Xing saw the system prompt, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.
"Isn't this a barrier instead of a shield?"
"No wonder the durability isn't indicated. This means I can't get in by brute force."
"However, the system prompted me to look for clues around the castle."
So Cao Xing ordered, "Let's go and explore the area nearby."
After saying that, he led everyone around the castle and began to search.
This castle is really big, with a diameter of at least four or five kilometers.
You know, the diameter of Cao Xing's entire territory is only about one kilometer.
"This castle is really nice. It's large and in a great location."
"It would be great if this was my territory. That way, I could save countless resources."
Cao Xing couldn't help but fantasize.
Of course, he was just thinking about it.
The survivors' territory cannot be moved, after all, the [Bonfire] is the core of the territory.
Unless, like before, we take over other people's territory.
Then take it over and start developing again.
But it is obvious that this castle does not meet the requirements to become a territory.
"However, although I cannot turn this castle into a territory, the location of my territory is not bad."
"The area around us is quite empty. If we stand on the sentry tower, we can easily see if there are any enemies."
Moreover, Cao Xing believed that it would not be long before his territory would develop to the same scale as this castle.
…
As they were thinking, they had already walked half way around the castle.
Through such observation, Cao Xing roughly figured out the terrain inside the castle.
There are many tall towers and some two-story buildings inside.
These buildings have a unified style.
They are all made of stone and are full of medieval style.
The castle was overgrown with weeds and some unknown plants, covering the roads. It looked like no one had been inside for a long time.
In the central area, there is a tower that is 100 meters high.
It seems that this tall tower is the most important building in the entire castle.
And at this moment——
Sarah dodged and emerged from the shadows, looking ahead vigilantly.
Cao Xing realized that Sarah might have discovered something and followed her gaze.
There was a figure lying on the ground in front of him.
What surprised Cao Xing the most was that this figure was actually inside the barrier.
In other words, this person has entered the castle!
This moment aroused Cao Xing's interest.
"Get ready, we'll go take a look."
After receiving Cao Xing's order, Assam picked up his weapon and walked in front of him.
As they got closer, the figure seemed to hear Dabai's heavy footsteps.
He slowly stood up from the ground, lowered his head, and looked at Cao Xing and others.
A beast-like growl came from his mouth.
“Roar… Roar…”
As he got closer, Cao Xing saw the man's appearance and was immediately shocked!
This is a man wearing soldier's armor, but his appearance is completely different from that of an ordinary person.
In his left hand he held a long sword, and in his right hand he had a claw covered in grey hair.
His face was also covered with gray hair, with a pair of exposed fangs, full of ferocious aura.
"Werewolf? Or what?"
There was a look of doubt in Cao Xing's eyes.
Seeing this strange scene, everyone stopped.
However, although the opponent looked scary, it didn't seem to be a very powerful creature.
"Assam, Sarah, go and see how he is."
After hearing this, Asam rode his Frostwolf and rushed forward quickly.
Sarah, who was in the shadows, also came over quietly.
And at this moment.
The strange soldier seemed irritated by Assam's approach.
"roar!!!"
He let out a strange cry, then instantly crossed the barrier in front of him and rushed towards Assam.
Seeing this scene, Cao Xing quickly reminded, "Assam, be careful!"
Assam, which has rich combat experience, responded immediately.
The moment the other party rushed over.
The [King's Battle Blade] in his hand swept horizontally.
"Bang!"
【-3124】
-
1562
The soldier was instantly blown away more than ten meters.
After landing, the opponent quickly got up, then got on all fours and pounced over fiercely.
The movements at this time were really like those of a wild beast.
Seeing this scene, others were about to go up to help.
Cao Xing stopped them, "Don't go over there yet, they can handle it."
"Assam, Sarah, don't kill it, just beat it half to death."
He wanted to find clues to enter the castle from this monster.
After hearing the order, everyone stood still.
And Cao Xing also quickly took a look at the attributes of this monster.
[Experimental object: Tamera Soldier]
[Race: Human/Beast]
[Level: Level 31 (Level 4 Ordinary Creature)]
[Health value: 24623/28747]
[Attack power: 1213~1246]
[Armor: 279~311]
[Skill: Intermediate Sword Mastery (When using sword weapons, attack power increases by 20%, attack speed increases by 10%)
Fierce Claw Attack (Swing the wolf claws on the left hand, causing 124% tearing damage to the enemy and causing it to enter the third level of bleeding)
Three-stage slash (three consecutive slashes forward, causing 97%, 75%, and 64% damage respectively)
Enraged (After being attacked 5 times, it will enter the enraged state, attack power +20%, attack speed +20%)]
[Talent: Fusion (HP +20%, Attack +10%)]
(The soldiers of the former Kingdom of Tamera have now become a product of an experiment. They become extremely violent during the day.)
…
Seeing the attributes of this soldier, Cao Xing's eyes showed a thoughtful look.
A fusion?
It seems that the wolf's genes have been integrated into this soldier's body.
This allowed him to display his impressive combat power, as an ordinary creature could possess four skills.
Cao Xing thought of the human-faced trees he had encountered before, and it seemed that they were using the same method.
And these soldiers can enter and exit the castle freely.
While Cao Xing was thinking about these things, the battle over there had already come to an end.
As a Tier 3 boss, it was not easy for Asam to deal with this Tier 4 common monster.
Together with Sarah next to him, they stabbed the soldier severely with just a few blows.
And because of Sarah's deliberate control, her silent blade slashed across the soldier's heel, making him unable to move.
At this point he could only fall to the ground and struggle, blood seeping from his mouth.
Seeing this scene, Cao Xing quickly led his men over.
He walked quickly to the soldier and asked directly, "Tell me how to get into the castle, and I will let you go."
However, the other party seemed not to understand what he said at all, and continued to roar like a beast.
“Roar! Roar!”
Not only that, he was also constantly waving the wolf claw in his left hand, trying to attack Cao Xing.
Seeing this scene, Cao Xing frowned.
He asked Isabel to come over and use [Confession] to try to control the soldier by force.
However, Isabelle tried it and then shook her head and said, "No, my lord, this soldier's mind is extremely confused. Confession will not work on him."
Hearing this, Cao Xing frowned again.
“Roar! Roar!!”
The soldier continued to roar, and his roars were getting louder and louder.
If we continue like this, we might disturb the creatures in the castle.
So Cao Xing said directly: "Forget it, let's deal with him."
After receiving the order, Sarah appeared immediately and chopped down with a knife.
Swish!
【-4672】
Health points reset to 0.
At the last moment, the soldier seemed to regain a bit of clarity in his eyes.
He looked at Cao Xing for help and uttered the last words.
"The king... deceived us..."
[Your territory member: Sarah Blade Dance killed the fused soldier level 31, a fourth-level common creature, and gained experience points: 1240]
[Experience points gained by combatants: 620]
…
"The king deceived him?"
"Which king?"
Cao Xing was thinking about the last words the soldier said.
However, there are too few clues to make any inferences.
He shook his head and put these thoughts behind him.
"Forget it, let's just pick up the things that exploded from his body and have a look."
After saying that, Cao Xing put the things on the ground into his backpack.
[Obtained: Chaos Soldier Soul Orb (Green) *1]
[Obtained: Tamarra Standard Iron Sword (Green) *1]
[Obtained: Tamera Soldier Seal (Green)]
[Obtained: Intermediate Power Heart*1]
[Obtained: Medium Chaos Book *1]
…
What this soldier revealed was pretty good.
One [Heart of Intermediate Strength] is equivalent to 10,000 Ice Dragon Marks.
"Not bad, I save money again."
Cao Xing thought happily, and then began to check the properties of other materials.
There's no need to check the standard iron sword, since it's just green quality equipment anyway.
Cao Xing first took a look at the properties of the seal.
[Tamera Soldier Seal (Green)]
[Equipment Part: Accessory]
【Quality: Excellent】
[Attributes: Strength +3, Agility +3]
(Note: The mark of a soldier who has destroyed a kingdom has a certain commemorative value.)
…
"Oh? Has the Kingdom of Tamera been destroyed?"
"So the king this soldier is talking about is the king of Tamera?"
Cao Xing's eyes showed a thoughtful look.
He didn't think much about it and started checking another thing.
[Chaos Soldier Soul Orb (Green): Special Item]
[Introduction: The fusion of two souls of different races contains extremely chaotic consciousness.]
[Item Effect: After using it, you will suffer a strong mental shock, with an 80% chance of falling into a state of confusion, and your mental attribute will permanently decrease by 10 points. There is a 20% chance of increasing your mental state or agility by 10 points.]
[Number of uses remaining: 10/10]
…
"Good guy! Soul beads that can be used to improve attributes, 10 points at a time."
"This is twice as powerful as the improvement from the Large Attribute Book!"
The most important thing is that this thing is different from those attribute books.
This can be used for the Survivor Lord!
In other words, Cao Xing and Liu Muxue can both use this thing to improve themselves.
[Soul Orb] can be used 10 times.
If you are lucky, you might be able to directly increase your spirit by dozens of points, which is a huge improvement.
However, this kind of [Soul Orb] has a major drawback, which is that the probability of failure is too high.
A full 80% chance of failure!
At this time, Cao Xing suddenly noticed the prompt above, [Using will cause a strong mental shock, causing oneself to fall into a state of confusion]
"So, the failure was caused by a mental shock, right?"
"What if I can withstand this mental attack?"
After all, they now all have a status skill called [Faith].
This skill just makes you immune to one mental attack.
Can it be used to be immune to attacks from the [Soul Orb]?
After thinking for a moment, Cao Xing decided to give it a try.
Although the side effects of this thing failing are a bit scary, he can still bear it.
So Cao Xing took out the gray bead directly from his backpack and looked at it carefully in his hand.
This bead is the size of a thumb, and there seem to be two auras entangled with each other inside.
The method of use is also very simple, just crush it.
And he did not hesitate and crushed it on the spot.
“Crack!”
The next moment.
Two cold auras suddenly penetrated into Cao Xing's mind.
He seemed to see a horrifying scene: a soldier was placed on a laboratory table, his body covered with knife wounds, and there was a figure standing next to him.
Then they transplanted organs from various animals into his body...
At the same time, a system prompt.
[Ding! The thought of faith has been triggered. You are immune to this mental attack...]
…
The scene in front of me disappeared instantly.
[Successfully used the Chaos Soldier Soul Orb (green), Spiritual attribute +10, remaining times: 9]
Seeing the system prompt, Cao Xing was delighted!
"Haha, it works!"
"Great! This way, this thing has a 100% success rate for me!"
Thinking of this, Cao Xing's eyes showed ecstasy!
He even wanted to get a few hundred more and use them on all the mages and assassins on the field.
After all, a few points of spirit or agility attribute improvement is very significant.
To Cao Xing, this thing is just 100 to 200 points of magic attack power.
But unfortunately.
There is only one of this thing.
Shaking his head, Cao Xing put these thoughts away.
"Keep going," he ordered.
Then, they circled the castle and began to explore.
A few minutes later.
They advanced nearly another mile.
At this moment, Sarah appeared again silently.
"There's something going on ahead. I found a cabin in the forest."
"A cabin?"
Cao Xing was stunned.
Sarah nodded and pointed to the trees not far away.
Obviously, it is abnormal no matter how you think about it, for a small wooden house to suddenly appear in such a forest.
So Cao Xing said directly: "Take me over there to have a look."
“Yes, sir!”
Then, Sarah led everyone towards the area she discovered.
Soon, at the foot of some big trees ahead, we found a wooden hut surrounded by vines.
This cabin looks really small, it only has one floor.
The surface of the wood has turned black and damp. The humid environment in the forest has caused some fungi to grow on the surface of the cabin.
The most important thing is.
There was still light inside, as if someone was still living there.
Cao Xing thought for a moment and stopped in front of the door of the wooden house.
He walked up and knocked on the door.
“Boom! Boom!”
No one responded the first time, so Cao Xing knocked again.
After a moment, a voice came from inside.
"Who is it......"
The voice sounds like that of an old man in his eighties or nineties.
Old and extremely harsh.
Just listening to it gives people a creepy feeling.
Tong Chuchu and Elisa behind them couldn't help but hold each other's hands tightly.
But Cao Xing didn't think much about it, after all, their strength was there.
He straightened his expression and continued, "Hello, we are explorers passing by and would like to ask you something."
After hearing this, there was silence for a moment, and then there was the sound of footsteps.
After a moment, the wooden door of the cabin opened a crack.
A skinny, mummy-like right hand stretched out from inside and grabbed the wooden door.
“Crack!”
The wooden door opened.
An old woman with a hunched figure, wearing a dirty black robe and a black scarf on her head, appeared in front of everyone.
When the opponent raised his head, everyone on the field felt a slight shudder in their hearts!
Even Cao Xing was frightened and took a step back.
The old woman's face really scared everyone present!
Because she looks too much like the witches in fairy tales.
The wrinkles on her face were piled up like the folds on a crocodile's skin, and even her eyes were a little unclear.
The most iconic feature is her wide nose, which almost reaches her chin!
It is not normal to have such a scary old man appear in such a forest.
And Cao Xing also checked her attributes in an instant.
【Witch in the Forest】
【Race: Unknown】
[Level: Level 12 (Second-level common creature)]
[HP: 1340/1340]
[Attack power: 95~102]
[Skills: None]
【Talent: None】
(The witch of unknown origin seems to have existed in the Witch Forest a long time ago...)
…
Seeing the opponent's panel attributes, Cao Xing's eyes showed a thoughtful look.
It's just an ordinary level 12 creature and doesn't seem to pose any threat.
However, Cao Xing did not underestimate the other party.
You know, in this world, there are many beings who use disguise.
His [Eye of True Vision] can only see through fifth-level disguises.
Therefore, Cao Xing also remained extremely vigilant, ready to escape or fight at any time.
The old witch took a close look at Cao Xing and the others, and her eyelids gradually opened.
Cao Xing discovered a pair of cat-like eyes among the wrinkles on her face.
Her eyes swept over Cao Xing and others.
Everyone who was targeted by her felt a creepy feeling in their heart!
“Hehe…”
The old woman's throat made a sound like a blower, as if she was holding a piece of thick phlegm, which was very unpleasant...
"Young explorers...what do you want to ask me?"
Cao Xing calmed down, suppressed the discomfort in his heart, and asked, "Old man, I want to know how to enter the castle?"
He pointed to the castle behind him.
The system prompted him to look for clues nearby.
And nearby, Cao Xing only found this forest hut.
So he got straight to the point.
Hearing this question, the old witch's cat-like eyes moved a few times.
"Young explorers... why did you enter that castle..."
"That castle... is too dangerous... there are many man-eating monsters in it..."
A man-eating monster?
Cao Xing's eyes moved slightly, "Old man, can you tell me more about this?"
The old witch thought for a moment, as if recalling something.
"There is a big evil wolf in there..."
"An ogre who loves to eat humans and drinks a glass of freshly squeezed corpse juice every day..."
"And there is also a Rapunzel who enjoys torturing other people's souls..."
After Cao Xing heard this, a thoughtful look flashed across his eyes again.
The Big Bad Wolf, the corpse-juice-drinking ogre, Rapunzel...
This should be the monster in the castle.
But the strange thing is that Cao Xing just walked around outside the castle.
Apart from the soldier, no signs of biological activity were found inside.
So, Cao Xing directly asked his doubts: "But, when we just came here, we didn't find any monsters in the castle?"
When the old witch heard this question, a curve appeared at the corner of her dry mouth.
It looks like she's smiling, but it's uglier than crying.
“Hehehe…”
A blower-like laugh came out of her throat again.
"That's because... this castle only reveals its true appearance at night..."
"Young explorer... haven't you noticed that there are very few wild animals in this forest?"
Hearing this question, Cao Xing looked thoughtful.
Because he did discover this problem.
Except for the group of wild boars we met last time we came in.
This time when I came in, I didn’t even encounter a wave of beasts.
What they encountered were strange monsters such as the man-eating plant and the human-faced tree.
He nodded.
"Hehe... That's because all the beasts in the forest were captured by the witch in this castle..."
"That evil witch...sends her soldiers every night to the forest to capture all the beasts and bring them into the castle to conduct evil experiments..."
"It was not until recent years... that the number of wild animals in the forest decreased, and the castle finally became peaceful..."
…