yasinovel Chapter 4356 Unknown Curse
Chapter 4356 Unknown Curse
Chapter 4356 Unknown Curse
If a gun appears at the beginning of the story, then the bullet will definitely be fired before the ending.
This is the "Chekhov's gun" theory, which applies here as well.
These two news items in the newspaper are about that gun.
The door that appeared under the tree was the bullet that had already been fired.
This also shows that the power of the fairy realm had already laid the groundwork for the Uriel instance from the very beginning; now, it is simply bringing these hints to the surface.
Therefore, Luigi's guess is most likely correct.
The character "Uriel" is very likely the key link connecting the two instances.
Ingres had actually deduced this point long ago, but at the time he lacked the key information of "newspapers" and could only rely on logical deduction; now, the appearance of newspapers has just confirmed his judgment.
However, they still do not know what connection Uriel has with the Misty Forest.
Since no further information could be obtained from the Uriel instance, Angor decided to part ways with Luigi temporarily and head to the outside of the Misty Forest instance to investigate its interior.
Soon, Angor arrived at the crystal artifact outside the Misty Forest instance.
Looking at the strangely shaped tree, he subconsciously thought of the withered tree in the Uriel instance... He shook his head slightly, not thinking about it anymore, and reached out to touch the tree in front of him.
The next moment, the scene inside the instance transformed into a miniature garden, presented to him from God's perspective.
With just a cursory glance, Angell was slightly taken aback.
He originally wanted to find out where Kemai was and ask him if there had been any new developments in the past two days, but when he looked around, he found something was wrong.
The Kermai team is currently in a makeshift camp deep in the swamp forest.
There were many people in the camp, including members of the Kemai squad, as well as some people dressed as merchants, and there were also free-roaming leeches around.
Judging from the emblem on the tent and the several "multi-legged leeches" carrying large and small bags, it is highly likely that this camp was not set up by Kemai's team, but by the caravan that Kemai had previously tracked.
Although Angor didn't know why the Kermai squad was mingling with the caravan members, that wasn't important at the moment.
What Angor is more concerned about now is... why is everyone in the camp unconscious except for Kemai?
Yes, everyone except Kemai, including his team members, the caravan men, and even the multi-legged leech tied to the tree stump, all fell into a coma and lay sprawled on the ground.
The situation at Kemai is also not optimistic.
He hid in the corner of the tent, his body blending into the surrounding air, and at first glance, he seemed to have disappeared.
This is Kemai using "Illusionary Invisibility" to become invisible.
Illusionary Concealment comes from the illusion nodes given to him by Angor. Continuously activating Illusionary Concealment will consume the node's power.
Now, those nodes are in grave danger and have almost disappeared.
Even so, Kemai still did not remove the illusion, as if he was using this illusion to resist something unseen.
Angel looked closely, but saw nothing unusual around him. There were no wild beasts, no monsters, and no attacks... It was as if Kemai was confronting thin air.
But judging from the unconscious people all over the ground, perhaps Kemai is really fighting against an invisible force?
“Kemai”.
Since he couldn't figure out what was going on, Angel simply asked directly.
On the other side, Kemai, who was hiding in the corner of the tent, was already in a state of high tension. Suddenly, a sound came from beside him, which made his heart skip a beat and he almost fell over.
Fortunately, Angel's voice rang out in time, reassuringly saying, "It's me, Angel."
Even after confirming it was Angor, Kemai took a long time to catch his breath before exhaling heavily and saying, "Lord Angor, you... how did you get here?"
Although Ke Mai was startled, he was not too surprised after calming down.
After all, Angell had previously contacted him remotely.
"I just came out of the Sandbox Wonderland and happened to be passing by, so I came to check on you." Angell: "The illusion nodes I left for you are almost gone, and you seem to be in a bad situation."
Ke Mai blushed, lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly, and said with a tone full of guilt, "I have disappointed you, sir."
"Tell me what exactly happened," Angell said, getting straight to the point without being overly critical.
Ke Mai let out a deep breath and slowly recounted his experiences over the past two days.
What they've done most these past two days has been traveling.
Meeting up with teammates requires getting on the road, opening the world map requires getting on the road, and tracking that caravan requires even more travel...
Aside from a few moments of sleep, almost all of the 24 hours in a day are spent on the go.
At least caravans had leeches for transport, but the Kemai team could only rely on their own two legs.
In addition, the environment inside the Misty Swamp Forest is harsh and fraught with danger; one wrong step could lead to certain death. These past two days have been incredibly agonizing for them.
It wasn't that they didn't want to gather clues, but the journey itself had exhausted most of their energy, leaving them with no energy to investigate further.
More importantly, they had no idea where to even begin looking for clues.
Just when everyone was feeling helpless, another accident occurred.
One of the team members, while following the caravan through the swamp, accidentally stepped into a hidden swamp and sank in instantly.
Kemai and the others immediately tried to rescue them, but the swamp was very deep, and there were many unknown deep pits around, making it impossible to move forward.
They had no tools available for rescue, and there wasn't time to make tools by hand. They could only watch helplessly as their teammates were slowly swallowed by the swamp.
At this critical moment, the caravan ahead noticed the unusual movement behind them.
Taking advantage of the multi-legged leeches' ability to move steadily across the swamp, the caravan acted quickly and rescued the people.
Afterwards, the Kerma team expressed their gratitude.
When the caravan members inquired about their origins, Kemai offered an explanation, claiming they were just an ordinary adventure team heading to Eveninglight Harbor to make a living.
Although the caravan members found their movements suspicious, they did not investigate further.
Kermai then suggested that the Misty Swamp Forest was too dangerous, and they regretted venturing into the forest. They hoped to stay with the caravan for the time being and leave once they were out of the Misty Swamp Forest.
The caravan leader was a kind-hearted man. Although the others in the caravan thought this group of people of unknown origin was too strange and advised him not to cause any trouble, the leader eventually nodded.
However, the other party also made demands...
“We are the Piccolo Merchant Guild from Dawn City. We are entering the Misty Swamp Forest to make a deal with the local inhabitants.”
"We will not leave this swamp forest until the deal is completed."
Just as Ke Mai was about to speak, saying that they could accompany him all the way without causing any trouble, the other party waved his hand first, cutting him off.
"Don't worry, I know you want to come with us for a favor." The team leader softened his tone, "but this transaction is crucial to our chamber of commerce. Your origins are unknown, and we really can't take you to the transaction location with us. If we miss the opportunity, the losses will be too great."
"So, if you really want to leave the Misty Swamp with us, you have to do as we say: For the next few days, you will stay in the camp. We will have people take care of your food and lodging, and also keep an eye on the safety of the area around the camp. Once the transaction is over, we will set off immediately and take you with us then."
Although he spoke eloquently, his meaning was actually quite straightforward: I don't trust you. If you want to follow us, then we will restrict your freedom.
After a brief discussion with his team members, Kemai decided to follow the caravan for the time being.
Firstly, they are currently clueless in the Misty Swamp Forest, unable to find even a trace of clues, while this caravan may be the only breakthrough point that can bring them into contact with clues.
As long as we can obtain useful information from them, we can smoothly advance the completion of the dungeon.
Secondly, it is unrealistic for the caravan to truly imprison them and completely restrict their freedom.
After all, Kemai possesses the illusionary stealth ability granted by Angor, allowing him to act silently whenever needed, preventing him from being completely passive.
In summary, the safest course of action right now is to feign compliance, follow the caravan, and then act according to the circumstances.
After that, the Kemai team traveled and camped with the caravan, and did not rest along the way, secretly gathering intelligence.
They intentionally or unintentionally struck up conversations with members of the caravan, subtly inquiring about the past and unusual events of the Misty Marsh Forest. However, no matter who they asked, the other party remained tight-lipped, either giving vague answers or simply changing the subject.
Even the seemingly most approachable tour leader would immediately stop smiling and remain silent whenever the topic of the Misty Swamp Forest came up.
Later, Kemai simply stopped beating around the bush and asked directly about the rumors of the evil spirits of the Misty Swamp Forest, but everyone in the caravan shook their heads in unison, looking blank and saying they had never heard of it.
Kemai carefully observed their expressions and found no trace of pretense; it seemed they truly knew nothing about evil spirits.
One night passed.
This morning, a sudden incident shattered the peace of the camp.
A strange figure silently wandered to the vicinity of the camp.
It was a man dressed in tattered knight's armor, which was covered in rust and cracks, with dark brown stains on the edges; his eyes were gray and empty, without any spirit, and his exposed skin was covered with crisscrossing blue and black scars, and his skin was dry and stiff, like a corpse that had long lost its vitality.
The moment Kemai saw him, he recognized him as the undead from the Misty Swamp Forest, the "evil spirit" in the mission.
After all, Ke Mai had personally contacted the other party back then.
The appearance of the "evil spirit" shattered the peace of the camp.
Because of his terrifying appearance, and because the caravan repeatedly warned him not to approach, but the evil spirit ignored them, one of the caravan's wandering knights took out his bow and arrow and shot a threatening arrow at the evil spirit.
The evil spirit stared blankly at the arrow that had struck the ground in front of it for a moment, as if it had remembered something. Suddenly, a flash of blood appeared in its gray eyes.
The next second, the evil spirit moved like a ghost, its speed exceeding the limits of what the naked eye could perceive, and appeared inside the caravan in the blink of an eye, launching an attack on the wandering swordsman from before.
With just two moves, the wanderer died under his fists.
The caravan was alarmed and launched a surprise attack.
But after killing the ranger, the evil spirit's eyes returned to gray-white from crimson, and it didn't react much to the attacks from those around it.
It just wandered around, making some strange noises.
The tone was low and lingering, like crying and complaining, like singing and lamenting. The mournful sound pierced the air, carrying an indescribable strangeness that made people's hearts tighten.
Amidst these mournful cries, something even stranger happened.
The caravan members seemed to suddenly become drunk; their bodies went limp, their weapons fell to the ground, their eyes quickly became unfocused, and then their legs buckled, and they collapsed to the ground in a deep coma.
The members of the Kermai squad were not spared either; within moments, they all lost consciousness and lay motionless in various parts of the camp.
Kemai reacted extremely quickly. The moment his teammates fell unconscious, he immediately activated Illusionary Concealment, hiding his figure in the air.
It's strange, really.
When Kemai entered the illusionary state, the mournful cries disappeared, as if the illusionary state blocked the external sound attacks.
Under the protection of the illusion, Kemai barely escaped the strange coma attack.
He remained motionless, holding his breath, watching as the evil spirit slowly wandered around the camp a few times before disappearing silently into the depths of the swamp.
Kemai thought the crisis was over and carefully withdrew his illusion. Just as he was about to get up to check on his teammates, he heard that familiar, eerie mournful cry again.
He was certain that the evil spirit had vanished without a trace, and even after opening the mini-map, he couldn't find any sign of it.
But for some reason, that sound kept lingering in my ears, impossible to shake off.
Ke Mai's heart tightened, and without the slightest hesitation, he immediately activated Illusionary Concealment again.
The sound disappeared again as the illusion vanished.
Although the illusionary concealment blocked the strange wailing, Kemai knew that this was not a long-term solution. The illusionary concealment would continue to consume illusion nodes, and once the illusion nodes disappeared, not only would the illusionary concealment not be able to be maintained, but even the minimap would probably be unable to be opened again.
He could only try to deactivate the illusion every now and then to see if the wailing from the outside world had disappeared.
But after repeatedly closing the illusion, I could hear mournful cries echoing in my ears.
By this time, Kemai had a general idea that the mournful cry he had just heard might be a special kind of curse, and that he had been marked by it. Illusionary Concealment might be able to isolate the curse, but it couldn't dispel it.
Once the illusion disappears, he will probably fall into a coma like everyone else.
Just as Kemai was beginning to despair, Angel's voice reached his ears...
……
"An unknown curse?"
Kermaine nodded: "Yes, I suspect it's a curse, but I can't get rid of it."
Angor didn't speak, but instead used the illusion nodes remaining around Kemai to sense Kemai's condition.
A moment later, Angell indeed detected a very slight fluctuation of power in Kemai.
It's just that it's too subtle, making it difficult to read the information contained in the fluctuations remotely.
However, Angell was able to confirm that this fluctuation would not last forever, and would dissipate in a day or two at most.
In other words, if Kemai can hold on for two more days, he can also get through it.
However, judging from the current remnants of the illusion nodes, it is basically impossible for it to last that long.