The intrigues and aristocratic incense of the Karl Kingdom were completely left behind.
Mark's team headed southeast, exhausted, and headed straight for the Lor Swamp, the forefront of the conflict between the human kingdom and the orc tribe.
The kingdom's border is an iron wall of defense.
The closer we get to the southern border, the stronger the smell of iron and blood in the air becomes.
The border of the human kingdom is no longer the desolate place imagined, but has been replaced by a continuous barrier made of huge logs, rocks and enchanted metals.
Flags fluttered on the fortress, among which the most eye-catching was the golden holy sword emblem that pierced the shadows and surrounded the wheat ears.
That is the flag of the Church of Holy Light.
The fully armed soldiers looked solemn, their armor stained with mud, and their eyes vigilantly scanned the southern horizon.
The patrolling Holy Light Knights were dressed in standard white armor, with a faint holy light flowing around them. The sound of their horses' hooves echoing dully as they stepped on the compacted hard earth road.
Intertwined with the hustle and bustle of convoys carrying supplies in the rear fortress and the clanging and chaotic sound of iron in the blacksmith shop, it creates a tense and busy wartime scene.
Occasionally, the wind brought vague roars and the sound of metal clashing, reminding everyone that beyond the peaceful defense line was the meat grinder.
Mark tugged at the collar of his frayed priest robe, looked at the crossbows and flickering magic circle lights on the fortress, and grinned:
"Wow, what a big scene! It turns out this is where the Church of Holy Light invested a lot of money."
He reached out and stroked his forbidden holy book in his arms. There was no fear in his eyes, but rather a hint of eagerness to try.
Enzo carried his war hammer and snorted:
"No matter how many fancy tricks you have, when it comes to a real fight, it all comes down to how strong your weapons are! In this damn place, even the air smells like rust and... uh, the smell of dead fish?"
He sniffed and frowned.
A trace of worry flashed in Anna's emerald eyes. She could clearly sense the disorder and thinness of the natural magic in the air.
Instead, there was a mixed smell of killing and an unsettling smell of decay buried deep underground.
She whispered, "The earth is wailing. The breath of life here has been corroded by some foul force."
Monica's gaze passed over the barrier and turned to the southeast, where the horizon was shrouded in mist and appeared an ominous dark green.
The wine-red eyes were calm as water, but the fingers holding the dagger moved flexibly, appearing eager to try.
Battlefield buffer zone, death quagmire.
After completing the cumbersome border crossing procedures, the team officially entered the gray area known as the "buffer zone".
There are no peaceful villages or trade routes here anymore; everywhere you look, there is devastation.
Where farmland and sparse woodland may have once existed, all that remains are charred tree stumps, churned mud and trampled earth.
Muddy puddles were scattered everywhere, emitting a strong stench of sulfur and blood.
Broken weapons, shattered shields, and fragments of mud-stained flags were everywhere.
Several abandoned watchtowers hastily built with stones and logs stood alone at the end of the sight. The towers were covered with traces of knives, axes, and magical bombardments, and the tops of the towers had long collapsed.
“Gah!”
A few vultures were startled by the sound of horse hooves. They flapped their wings and flew up from the corpse of an orc wearing tattered leather armor that was half-sunk in the mud. They circled in the air and made harsh cries.
Several fist-sized hard-shelled insects, unique to swamps, with shells gleaming with a dark green luster, were crawling in and out of the gaps between the exposed ribs of the corpse.
Little Mu squirmed restlessly on Mark's shoulder, making subtle "mumm" sounds. It felt an instinctive repugnance to the foul energy in the area.
"Damn, what a damn place!" Enzo spat, carefully avoiding a seemingly ordinary swamp that was emitting strange bubbles.
"Even more disgusting than the Rot Dragon Swamp in the Monster Mountain Range!"
Mark's expression also became serious. He signaled everyone to slow down:
"Everyone, cheer up. This place looks peaceful, but who knows what's hiding here."
Just as she finished speaking, Anna suddenly whispered a warning: "There's unusual natural magic in the left front! It's very weak, but... very strange!"
Almost at the same time, Mark also felt an extremely slight unnatural vibration coming from the ground beneath his feet.
"Scatter!" Monica shouted coldly, and her body rushed to the side like a civet cat.
At the moment when the team members dodged, the seemingly solid mossy ground where they had just stood suddenly collapsed, revealing a deep pit covered with rusty iron spikes underneath!
Then, from the seemingly chaotic bushes on both sides, several thick vines with barbs and caltrops popped out and rolled towards Anna and Enzo who were dodging like living things!
There was also a large net woven from extremely tough swamp vines and coated with sticky black oil, which silently covered their heads!
trap!
And it is a set of mechanical traps that work in perfect harmony and are linked together!
"Fuck!" Enzo roared, sweeping his hammer across, smashing the vines that were wrapped around his calves.
But another vine cunningly wrapped around his ankle, and the barbs on it gleamed with a faint blue luster, obviously poisoned.
Anna was agile and barely avoided the vines that were wrapped around her waist, but the large net covering the top was too large and was about to catch her!
Green light flashed on her fingertips, and she tried to stimulate the surrounding plants to grow as a barrier, but the plants here had already been infected by filth and were extremely slow to react.
At this moment, Monica's cold voice sounded:
"Identification Technique: Weakness Detection!"
The surface of the [Ring of Truth (IX)] on her finger shone faintly.
Invisible ripples instantly swept across the ejected vine ropes, the triggering mechanisms of the spike pits, and the core nodes of the fallen vine nets.
“Crack! Bang! Swish!”
A series of subtle but crucial cracking and deflation sounds were heard!
The vine rope, which was originally as taut as a bowstring with a powerful catapulting force, suddenly dislocated and collapsed with the carefully arranged winches and energy-storing tendons inside, and fell down limply, with the poisoned barbs weakly poking into the mud.
The mechanism at the bottom of the spike pit was stuck, and several popped-out iron spikes stuck there crookedly, no longer posing a subsequent threat.
The large net covering her head suddenly exploded with a complex pulley system at the gathering point, releasing a ball of metal debris and broken vine tendons. The falling momentum of the entire net suddenly slowed down, becoming loose and powerless, and was easily swept away by the natural vines that Anna casually waved.
The trap collapsed instantly!
It's like having all my bones and muscles pulled out!
"What the hell?!" Several shocked and angry curses were heard from deep in the bushes about a hundred meters away.
Several figures were forced to reveal themselves. They were wearing camouflage uniforms made of swamp moss, dead branches and tattered leather armor. Their faces were smeared with oil paint and their eyes were fierce and greedy.
The leader held a serrated flail in his hand and had a string of dried animal teeth hanging around his neck.
"They're the swamp hyenas from the Rotten Ivy Alliance!" Mark's eyes sharpened as he recognized these notorious mercenaries. "They specialize in capturing 'live goods' on the battlefield and selling them to both sides as slaves or sacrifices!"
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