Volume 3 Takeoff Chapter 283: Haunted Forest
As soon as he saw Michaela, Levi knew that she was in a very good mood and she really deserved to be happy.
She was the supreme commander of the elves in the two consecutive captures of the Red Cloud Tribe's towns. Although gods were involved, no one could ignore her contribution.
It can even be said that her prestige in the eyes of the colonies and God's chosen heroes has temporarily surpassed that of the acting lord, Princess Belinda, and the indigenous people will certainly reward her.
Without much politeness, after praising Levi a few words, Michaela directly took out a black and red cloak and solemnly handed it to him with both hands: "Levi, this is the reward from the gods to you, please be sure to keep it properly."
As soon as he saw the other person's appearance, Levi knew that this cloak must be extraordinary.
As soon as he got it, he understood why the other party had this attitude, because this was a powerful item named after God!
Skegret's Dread Cloak (Purple - Epic - Rare Item):
Effect 1, immunity to fear;
Effect 2, anti-fear barrier (3/3);
Anti-fear barrier, a 4th-level magic, increases the ability of all friendly forces within a 5-meter radius to resist fear.
Effect 3, fear (3/3);
Fear, a 4th-level magic, releases energy in a cone-shaped range. If the enemy cannot be immune, it will enter a state of fear. The opponent will immediately give up the current action and try to escape from you. The success rate and duration are based on the comprehensive attributes of both parties, such as level, magic resistance, intelligence, etc.
If the opponent successfully saves, there is still a 50% chance that he will enter a shaken state, with his strength or agility randomly reduced by 1-3 points.
Effect 4, magic resistance +5.
(The items left behind by the Bugbear Fear Demigod - Skegret. Although they were once destroyed by a powerful force, the remaining parts still have a certain power after being repaired.)
After reading the system description to the end, Levi knew that this cloak of fear had probably been damaged before and its power had been greatly weakened, so it was his turn.
But despite this, he was still satisfied. After all, this was an epic item and the skills it came with were also excellent. Especially when facing ogres, vampires and even black dragons in the future, it would be able to play a huge role.
The strong ones among these races almost all have fear-related skills, and the dragon even possesses an enhanced version of fear - Dragon Might.
This means that in most cases, group fighting tactics are difficult to be effective against them, because low-level cannon fodder troops may find it difficult to stand in front of them, let alone fight with them.
Originally, he had no intention of directly participating in the battle with the black dragon, but now with this cloak, perhaps he could bring his most elite subordinates, such as Donna and Elegy, to join in the fun?
At the same time, he once again marveled at the generosity of the gods. Although this cloak might be of no importance to them, he had to know that apart from reporting the possible location of the other party, he had not done anything else!
Seeing how satisfied he was, Michaela smiled and congratulated him. She also conveyed the gods' expectations of him, which was to work hard, as the gods would certainly not treat any meritorious official unfairly.
Levi naturally nodded repeatedly. He still believed this. Facts many times had proved to him the generosity of the gods.
After settling this matter, Michaela also told him how the colony would deal with the haunted town next.
They will demolish most of the useless buildings in the town, reorganize and plan it, and then build it into a small military fortress.
The elves certainly looked down on the barren land nearby and the haunted town had no special products to speak of, but since they had conquered this place, they planned to hold on to it tightly.
Since Michaela still needs to deal with many affairs of Swineherd Town, as well as daily communication with Sobek and the crocodile people, Reiner should be the next person in charge of this place.
He performed very well in the early stages of the war with the greenskins, and later made many military achievements. Now, he can truly defend a place.
Levi naturally expressed his congratulations. If he had any actions in the vicinity in the future, it would definitely be easier to get things done with an acquaintance.
Let’s start with the second thing, which is about the haunted forest.
The Haunted Forest was originally a base camp of the Undead, and the Greenskins built a haunted town nearby in order to suppress them.
The threat of the undead there had gradually disappeared, and a forest had grown on the surface, indicating that the power of nature had completely overwhelmed the power of the dead. So later on, the greenskins gradually relaxed their vigilance and even neglected the defense of the haunted town.
But now the forest has withered, and even during the day there are all kinds of ghost howling and wolf howling. It is obvious that the undead have somehow regained their strength.
The original greenskins were busy fighting against demons, elves, and ratmen, so even if they knew about the abnormality here, they had no time to take care of it for the time being.
Levi privately guessed that the reason why Beast Blood Boiling gathered so many troops was not only because they wanted to occupy the haunted town by force, but also because they wanted to solve the problem of the haunted forest.
But now that the haunted town has become the territory of the elves, this naturally becomes their mission.
Similarly, the threat posed by demons to the haunted town has become a threat they need to face, so Michaela will soon need to go north to investigate the situation and see to what extent the demons have developed so far.
However, she was not particularly worried about this, because the temples of the two goddesses, Moon Bow and Lilith , had already been promoting the purification array extensively in the colony, and it had now been almost universalized to all regular troops.
As long as the purification array is used to offset the demons' sacrifice rituals, the demons will still be powerful, but they will no longer be invincible.
More importantly, as time goes by, they will welcome powerful reinforcements one after another, and the time to completely close the abyss rift is not far away!
"Could it be that the undead that were originally lurking in the colony came here to develop?"
After the Battle of Black Castle, the demons were defeated and the undead who served as their lackeys also disappeared. Levi had long suspected that they had come here.
Michaela shook her head. “I’m not sure, but it doesn’t make much difference to us.”
Levi also smiled. Indeed, the undead were the enemy of almost all living beings. It was always right to kill them when they saw them. After all, there were too few vampire hunters like Lucia.
After roughly communicating the existing information, Levi decided to set off immediately to avoid any further complications.
Before leaving, he also gave Michaela a mechanical warhorse and the spirit of a hero.
She originally didn't want to accept it, just like Reiner, but Levi had already had a successful experience once, so he naturally wouldn't give the other party a chance to refuse, so Michaela had no choice but to accept it in the end.
Then she reminded Levi that the days until the arrival of the two adults, Dragon Prince Imrik and Archmage Teclis, were getting shorter and shorter, and if he had anything else to do, he'd better get it done as soon as possible.
Levi naturally nodded in agreement. Although Michaela did not say it explicitly, he certainly knew that once the two legendary heroes arrived, the first thing they would do was to close the abyss rift, and the second thing would probably be to kill the old black dragon in the Underdark.
If he could return to Maple Leaf Village at a critical time, he might get a chance to participate.
With the current strength of him and his subordinates, it is definitely unrealistic to fight Old Black Dragon by themselves. But Old Black Dragon is not alone. He has so many little brothers under his command. Someone must be needed to deal with them, right?
As soon as he left the town, Levi saw the Sun Knight standing there, staring at the partial ruins of the town.
Levi suddenly laughed. He could guess that the natives didn't want to play with him again, which hurt his heart deeply.
However, looking at the number of his troops, it seems that they are less than before. Maybe he has encountered some tough challenges?
He simply took the initiative to go over and say hello, and after asking a few questions, sure enough, all his guesses were correct.
He was indeed sad, and he had indeed just fought a strong enemy.
Mikaela sent them to distract the surrounding area, but fortunately or unfortunately, he ran into a greenskin team led by a shaman hero.
The opponent was proficient in fire power, which was quite restraining for the undead troops under his command. Although he successfully defeated the opponent in the end, he also suffered considerable losses.
Then he heard what Illidan said. How could he not understand that he was disliked by the natives again?
After one or two times, no matter how enthusiastic he was, he could not resist the fact that the natives did not trust him at all, so this time he made up his mind to develop in the Underdark.
Levi comforted the other party with a few words and invited him to investigate the haunted forest together. The Sun Knights' troops were not elite, but they were numerous and relatively easy to replenish, so they were still very qualified as cannon fodder.
The Sun Knight naturally would not refuse, so they moved forward and chatted as they went. After walking for less than ten miles, they soon came to a large, decayed and decayed forest.
Even though they had never been here before, as soon as they saw the appearance of the forest, they immediately confirmed that this must be a haunted forest.
Apart from anything else, the branches of those trees were twisted like ghosts, which was a bit scary to look at, and a large number of branches were tangled together, so there was nothing that could be called a road at all.
However, unlike what the previous intelligence showed, the entire forest was now silent and dead silent, with no sound coming from it.
But this made Levi a little more serious, because an ordinary forest would not be without the chirping of insects and birds.
So he ordered his troops to form a formation on the spot first, and the cavalry troops went around from both sides to see if there were other entrances. Then he summoned some celestial creatures to go over from the sky with the giant eagles to take a look.
Levi was busy here, and the Sun Knight next to him couldn't help but feel extremely envious.
Perhaps at the beginning, the magician's combat effectiveness seemed a little worrying due to the weakness of its own attributes, but as the strength continued to increase, the gap between the magician and other professions became larger and larger.
It is now recognized by almost everyone that priests, warlocks, etc. are the official sons of the game, and professions such as paladins, druids, etc. that can cast spells are godsons. As for the mage, he is the biological father!
Because of the Mage's past strength, the proportion of newcomers choosing it has increased rapidly, far ahead.
Because of this, the value of all wizard-related equipment, magic, etc. has also risen sharply. Even though he is a man with a lot of money, he has not been able to help Levi acquire any high-value items for some time.
There's no way. It's not that he is reluctant to spend money, but many things are simply out of stock.
For example, with Levi's ability to summon celestial creatures, even if he was given three or five hundred gold coins, he probably wouldn't be willing to share it with others, right?
Only under monopoly can the benefits be maximized, and no one wants to create a strong competitor for himself!
Levi didn't know that the Sun Knight seemed to be in a daze, but was actually daydreaming. He just frowned at the feedback from his subordinates.
There are no entrances to this haunted forest. Looking from above, the branches of a large number of trees look like huge mushroom caps, covering the entire haunted forest.
Maybe not even a ray of sunlight could penetrate, which was similar to the dark sky unique to the undead. The giant eagle and the celestial creatures could not see what was going on for a while.
Those greenskins are really too stupid. The Haunted Forest has become like this. It is obvious that the Undead have been planning some tricks for a long time!
The greenskins failed to solve the problem themselves and finally left this mess to them. If they want to get in, it seems that they can only forcibly open up a new path.
Not to mention how much time and energy this will consume them, once they are attacked by the undead in the process, it will be difficult for them to respond quickly. After all, there are many virtual soldiers such as ghosts among the undead.
Zhou Miyin tried to chop a few times, and then kept shaking his head at Li Wei, indicating that this method might not work, because he felt that he was not chopping on the wood, but more like chopping on a fired brick wall, which was definitely not ordinary wood.
Others also tried it a few times. Indeed, although these things were not considered as military units or buildings, they were surprisingly tough.
So Levi asked Donna and other long-range units to line up on the ground, and then called everyone together to discuss with each other to see if there were any better ideas.
In the end, it was Janet who came up with a suggestion that seemed feasible, which was to find some druids who were good at controlling plants, such as Nar, and maybe they could create a path.
Levi thought it was feasible, but Nar was still in Blood Glory. If she went back and forth, by the time she arrived, the sun would probably have set.
Hmm, but thinking about it the other way around, with the Haunted Forest in its current state, could it be that druids from the evil camp are involved?
At this moment, Sally suddenly said something shocking: "Lord Levi, why don't we just use fire magic to burn this forest and the undead inside it!"
As soon as the words came out, everyone looked at him sideways, but the Sun Knight laughed out loud: "Levi, I like this beautiful lady's decisiveness!"
Levi thought about it carefully and found that this was indeed a good idea. Now they can be 100% sure that there must be undead inside. Since they can't get in, let them out!
However, they still had to determine some details, one being whether they could set fire to such a large forest, and the other being that they could not let the fire spread.
So he gave orders again and asked his subordinates to investigate, and this time he soon got an answer that satisfied him.
According to rough estimates, the entire forest covers an area of ten miles. The surrounding area is either yellow sand or gravel, and there is no combustible material. There is no need to worry about the fire spreading. If it burns, it will only burn the undead in the forest.
What else is there to consider? Levi decided to join forces with Sally to cast a spell to burn the forest. The Sun Knight also came over to join in the fun, taking out a lot of alchemical products, claiming that they could help with burning.
Levi took a look and found that they were bottles of consumable items - fire glue, which was popular among low-level indigenous adventurers and was a special combustion aid.
It is said that this thing can burn for a long time even on the water surface. Although the damage is pitifully low when dealing with enemies other than the undead, it is perfect for the current situation.
Sally first released the fuel spell several times in succession, and the Sun Knight also threw a circle of fire glue. Then Levi thought about it for a while and let Sally ignite the fire.
Because if you kill the enemy in this way, you might be able to gain a lot of experience points, which can help Sally grow faster.
Sally naturally would not refuse. As she cast the fireball spell, flames shot up into the sky. Almost in an instant, they covered hundreds of square meters. Along with billowing smoke, there was also a faint wailing sound.
Now everyone was alert. It was good to see some movement, which proved that their trip was not in vain!
Because it was a magical flame and was strengthened by special props, Sally was still constantly releasing fuel magic, and Levi was also casting various fire magic, so it didn't take long before the flames advanced hundreds of meters into the forest, and barely opened up a burning flame path for Levi and the others.
At this time, the undead hiding inside finally couldn't bear it anymore. With a slightly shrill scream, thick gray-black mist gushed out and covered the flames.
Although some fog was burned away from time to time, new fog kept coming in, so after a stalemate for a while, the large flames were finally extinguished because Levi and Sally did not continue to cast spells.
But Levi was not very dissatisfied because he had already seen the enemy he would face this time.
He had to admit that he was somewhat surprised. In addition to a large number of grave guards and ghosts, there were also some vampires, rotten tree men, and, standing in the middle of them, a death elf dressed as a druid but with bloodless skin.
At this moment, she was glaring at Levi fiercely, and the hatred in her eyes seemed to be able to turn into reality.
"You cursed living ones, you have disturbed the sleep of the dead!"
Levi snorted, "The dead should just stay in their coffins instead of trying to raise an army of the undead!"
After being retorted by Levi, the already very angry Death Elf could no longer bear it: "Then all of you go to hell!"
With a wave of her hand, the scattered bones on the ground quickly condensed into several white bone beasts several meters long.
Donna frowned when she saw this, because she recognized at a glance that the owners of those bones must have been big cats in their lifetime.
Thinking about the dress of the death elf, she couldn't help but have some bad guesses. Could they have been her animal companions when they were alive?
But she didn't have the energy to think about this problem now.
Because following the opponent's command, hundreds of ghosts, grave guards, vampires, etc. have rushed out in a swarm, and she is about to enter combat status!
Seeing that the other side took the lead in launching an attack, Levi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. It seemed that even if they had turned into undead, the other side was not particularly stupid. He knew that if it dragged on and they set a fire, they might not be able to hold on.
However, this is exactly what I want to see. Only in open areas can Donna and the others perform best!
As the rain of arrows fell, the number of vampires instantly decreased by dozens, and Levi also cast an ice storm in time to slow down their movement speed.
Vampires should be considered the most practical among the primary and intermediate level undead troops, because they are basically all-round players, strong in all aspects, and can fly, so they must be targeted first.
Janet led the druids to deal with the ghosts among the enemies. Even if the warriors had weapons enchanted with light, it was not easy to deal with the ghosts, but their lightning magic could basically kill them instantly.
Zhou Miyin naturally led the infantrymen to the front, while Cindy, Wange and others also took their positions. Having experienced hundreds of battles, they were already familiar with their respective responsibilities in the team.
But this time the Sun Knight's performance was slightly beyond Levi's expectations, mainly because there were a lot more ogres in his team.
These tall and fat guys, some hold sticks, some wield two sticks, and some wear iron gloves. There are quite a few types, and each of them looks like they can fight well.
This place is not far from the many kingdoms and tribes of the ogres. The ogres are famous for accepting mercenaries for money and meat. They don't care too much even if they have to associate with the undead. The impact on morale is relatively small. It is reasonable for the Sun Knights to choose to hire them.
The exit was not wide to begin with, and with the help of the Sun Knight, after all the vampires and ghosts were killed, a considerable number of the undead who were unable to break through the melee troops' defense line were trapped inside and beaten in vain.
Even though the death elf frequently summoned skeleton soldiers and occasionally transformed a few rotten tree men, it still did not help. The number of undead was decreasing at a very fast rate.
The death elf who dared to speak rudely to Levi at the beginning gradually stopped talking and hid far behind, as if afraid of attracting their attention.
This made Levi feel a little interesting. The fact that it knew fear and could cast spells meant that this death elf had not been blinded by the desire to kill, and they should be able to communicate.
However, isn’t the power of the undead here too weak?
Not counting the Death Elves at the head, there aren't even a few 4th-tier soldiers. Although their number has exceeded a thousand, they are all cannon fodder!
Although he spoke in a big tone, after the fight, Levi found that the death elf was just a showpiece.
He even began to doubt whether she was really the owner of the haunted forest or not. Was there no bigger boss behind her?
At this time, the Sun Knight came over and said, "Levi, does your mission this time require you to kill all the undead in there?"
Levi shook his head. In fact, Michaela did not have any restrictions on him. She just said that if it was convenient for him, he could come over to investigate.
The Sun Knight suddenly became excited: "Then let me discuss this with you. Can we not kill that druid girl first?"
Levi raised his eyebrows: "You like her? Although her level may not be high, it should not be difficult to recruit her under normal circumstances, but now we are in a hostile state..."
The Sun Knight chuckled and said, "It's okay. I bought a special consumable. You can try to recruit her. If it doesn't work, you can kill her later."
As he said this, he also showed it to Levi.
Diplomatic Order (Special - Consumable): Used on natives who do not have subordinate God's Chosen Heroes. Depending on the strength, camp, race, legend, reputation and other factors of both parties, there is a chance to make the other party submit to you. The stronger your strength is and the weaker the other party is, the higher the success rate.
Note 1: If the target is a hero unit, you need to consume 1 hero spirit to successfully recruit it.
Note 2: If you give the target additional gold coins or other precious items while using the Diplomatic Order, the success rate of recruitment will be increased accordingly.
My goodness, there is such a thing? Isn't this bribery?
Since the Sun Knight has taken out this kind of thing, Levi will naturally not give him face. Anyway, the combat effectiveness of these undead is indeed not high, and he can fully control the entire battle situation.
In fact, if he hadn't cast magic a few more times in order to give his subordinates more opportunities to grow and train, the battle might have ended already.
After making the decision, Levi also slightly adjusted the battle strategy and killed all the enemy troops first. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Death Elf wanted to escape, but the Tiger Envoy and other celestial creatures had already surrounded her.
This was truly a covetous look. Even though her heart had stopped beating, the Death Elf couldn't help but tremble. She was not good at hand-to-hand combat. If a fight really broke out under such circumstances, a Tiger Master would probably be able to kill her.
At this time it was the Sun Knight's turn to appear. He activated all his evil aura, dark blessing, despair and other special abilities at full power. These special abilities were enough to scare ordinary people, but the Death Elf was immediately like seeing a relative.
In addition, with a wave of his hand, he gave out diplomatic orders and a large amount of gold coins. Looking at the powerful enemies surrounding her, no matter what the Death Elf originally had in mind, she could only accept the gold coins reluctantly and choose to become a subordinate of the Sun Knight.
Naturally, the Sun Knight opened her attribute panel first, wanting to see her many abilities. Judging from the corners of his mouth that kept rising, he should be very satisfied with her.
But Levi was concerned with another issue:
Is there really only one Undead hero here? Why are these troops so weak? Are there other high-level Undead behind them?
Of course, the Death Elf would not answer Levi's question immediately. Although she had now become a subordinate of the Sun Knight, it was undoubtedly a fact that Levi had just led his troops to kill all her men.
But the Sun Knight and Levi were of one mind, so no matter how unwilling she was, the Death Elf had to tell her all the information she knew.
There used to be many heroes and thousands of ghostly troops in the Haunted Forest, including some of the stronger ones such as the Stone Cairn Wraiths and the Soul Bound Knights.
But they were all taken away a few days ago, saying that this area was no longer suitable for the undead to develop, and it would be better for them to go to the human kingdom.
Because to them, the souls of greenskins are of too low value. They are simple-minded when they are alive, and their souls are worthless after death, and are far less useful than human souls.
"Human souls? Could it be that they have followed the fang road to Zhendan?"
If that's really the case, the other party is simply looking for death. If you encounter a tribe of ogres on the way, even the skeleton soldiers can grind your bones into powder and throw it into the pot to make soup.
The death elf shook his head: "That is not something I can know. Because I was once an elf, I am not taken seriously here."
Rather than being an independent race, the undead are more like a special template. Humans, elves, dwarves, etc., can all potentially become undead. Naturally, because of racial differences, various small groups may also emerge.
Now it seems that the death elf in front of him is one of those who have been abandoned.
Levi nodded. If the undead were not that stupid, they might have used some special means to go to Maple Leaf Village further west.
There is also a human kingdom there, which is a loose kingdom composed of multiple city-states. Followers of various evil gods are very active, and even the old black dragon's snake worship cult is doing well there.
But the way they get there needs some consideration.
It is basically impossible on the ground. If they go by water, the kind races such as sea elves, seals, intelligent dolphins, etc. have been very active recently, so they probably wouldn't dare to do so.
Therefore, the biggest possibility is to pass through the Underdark. It seems that he needs to remind his many subordinates and indigenous allies to be careful and vigilant.
I just don't know if these undead creatures have any connection with Dracula, who is attempting to become a god.
"Okay, one last question. Apart from the demons, are there any other powerful forces or leaders supporting you?"
"Of course, and there are more than one. We have always maintained friendship with the Silver Blood Army, and our leader, oh no, our former leader, is the legendary necromancer - Herman Gost!"
