Gou is a dark elf in Warhammer

Chapter 190 40. A Wonderful Encounter (Still)

Dorian approached the river. Although the time was shorter than he expected, he was also uncomfortable. He kept losing his balance and tumbling down the thorny hillside.At this time, his face and hands were all torn and bleeding, and the broken thorns were still stuck on his cheeks and chin.He didn't care about these trivial injuries for a long time, because the light was gradually dimming, and the sun was about to set.

Unfortunately, as Dorian got closer to the river, the bushes became thicker and thicker, so thick that it was impossible to walk through. He stood for a while, watching the river flow by, and suddenly made a decision.He drew out his sword to test the depth of the water, and when he found that the water was not too deep, he stepped into the rapids up to his knees and began to advance cautiously upstream.

An hour passed and the sky began to darken.Dorian struggled with the rapids, tired, his calves and feet numb with the cold.He rounded another bend in the river and made another sharp turn in the river ahead.

Rising from the narrow stretch of land where the river made a sharp bend was a broad black barrier against a leaden sky.It was a huge old black willow tree, standing tall on the bank of the river.Even at this distance, Dorian could see masses of twisted roots spreading like a tangled web into the icy water.

Dorian felt like he was freezing to death, fighting to hold back a cry of pain as the freezing water stung his thigh.Forcing myself to stop and think about the terrain, after a moment's thought, it became clear that there was no good solution.The thick undergrowth on the banks of the river obscured the land beyond, and he could see the tops of the trees but not what lay below.He could only move slowly so as not to make any more noise than the river itself, pushing toward the strange willow tree.

Night had fallen as Dorian approached.The willows glowed against the dark night with a malevolent aura.He smelled a smell on the wind, the stench of rotting flesh, coming from the willow tree.The wind picked up now, and he realized that the branches of the willow tree were not swaying in the breeze, but seemed to be crouching there motionless, like a predator waiting for its next meal.

The sound of running water grew louder the closer Dorian got to the willow, and in the moonlight he could see trails of foam and eddies of churning water on the downstream side of the willow.The rushing water is forced through the tangled roots, creating strange countercurrents.

"No wonder this witch can eat people." Dorian estimated that there would also be a turbulent vortex on the upstream side. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to go in from the downstream.

Dorian soon found that the closer he got to the willow, the deeper the water got, until he forced himself to wade up to his waist.The water hit him first from one direction, then the other, trying to spin him.He forced himself closer and closer to the willow until he could finally lunge forward and grab a thick root.

"Like rotten meat! Cold rotten flesh!" The smooth and sticky skin brought him a strange touch, and Dorian shuddered in disgust.

Using the sticky roots as a support, Dorian began to explore deep into the roots.Soon, his neck was in the icy water, and the roots brought him ever closer to the surface.He might have gone inside the roots, he was completely engulfed in this maze.As he went deeper, he was surprised to see a pale green glow within, glowing like tomb mold and providing faint illumination.

A few minutes later, Dorian came to a place where he was blocked by a thick tree root wider than his leg.The only way out was to swim under the thick roots, and for the first time the thought stopped his thoughts.He felt the damp air smell like a burial crypt, and an atmosphere of terror hung over his head like a shroud.

"I didn't run this far to drown under a damn old tree!" Dorian was a little angry. His purpose of coming here was not to let his subordinates be eaten by those savage guys. Thinking of this, he directly bowed Swimming down from the roots of the big tree.

But the underwater space was much narrower than Dorian imagined, barely enough to support his head, he barely took a breath, but he exhaled again, the biting cold made him gasp again, he Dimly aware of the cramped space being lit by green mold.He filled his lungs with air and dived again, propelling himself forward.

"Further!" Dorian's head hit a sheet of springy roots, and he pushed himself lower and farther, his hands resting on the mess above his head.

"Turn back?" Dorian's lungs began to burn as he fought back the panic.

The tree roots bent down sharply, and there was no end in sight, and Dorian's chest turned from burning to pain.All he could do was not open his mouth and gasp for air that wasn't there.

Dorian turned, struggling to keep his bearings in the dark, when suddenly a slow, painful moan filled his ears.The whole tree roots around him moved, the water moved with it, and a powerful force suddenly pulled him up.He rolled in the whirlpool and hit the roots as hard as iron.His hands and feet were caught in loops and sharp turns, his ears were buzzing, his lungs were dribbling the last breath out of his mouth and nose.

"I will not give in to fear!" Dorian's eyes snapped open in confusion, the pain and numbness made him blink violently, and he glimpsed a green light ahead.This time he clung to it like a drowning man, it took all his strength.

Dorian's head surged out of the churning water, and he began to gasp violently, breathing the foul smell into his lungs as the air wafted a sickly, sweet smell of decay.

Suddenly, a pair of cold, rotting hands grabbed Dorian's throat, and his eyes widened in shock. The light did not come from mold, but from a woman's figure.

The rotting skin sagged like melted wax on a woman's bones, and the bones darkened with age like dead tree bark.Most of her hair was gone, and beneath her withered cheeks, her lips had completely rotted away, remnants of a deathly snarl and struggle.Her eye sockets were empty, but Dorian could still see the burn scars around the edges, and the rusty iron collar around her withered neck.

Without saying a word, with hatred, the woman pushed Dorian down until the sound of surging water rang in Dorian's ears.She is not strong, but there seems to be a strange magic in her body, and she is tireless.Dorian tapped on her rotting arm, feeling the bones bend like roots.Dorian's strength was draining rapidly, and her bony fingers tightened relentlessly around Dorian's neck.

"Let me go! I am not those mountain people, I am Drucci from Naggarond, not those shadows that blind you! Take my life!" Dorian took the woman's hand in despair , until he could suck out a faint breath.

That terrible second, when nothing happened, was extraordinarily long for Dorian.Immediately after another muffled grunt, he felt his surroundings change again, the churning water calmed down, and the hand that was holding his throat loosened at a creepy slow speed.

Freed, Dorian began to stride back, putting as much space between himself and the woman as possible.He was in a sort of hollow, probably in the heart of the tree, where the walls, ceiling, and floor were a network of solid roots.

Dozens of skeletons were pieced together, and the air was filled with the stench of decay, hanging over Dorian's nostrils and throat.He felt as if his hand had touched something, sunk into a soft, pulpy paste.Gel-like fluid oozed from around his spread fingers.He turned to find his hand lodged in the stomach of a dead shadow, and frowned in disgust as he withdrew his hand from the mess.

The chief's eldest son was spread out on the roots of the tree like the other victims.Beneath the tattered throat hung the ruby-burning phoenix binding, engraved with the Asuryan symbol still alive.

Dorian turned to face the woman, his thoughts racing wildly.Apparently, the woman was a former hateful slave who escaped her captor, only to fall blindly into the river and die under a willow tree.He looked at the woman's rotting body, and he could tell from the tattered kaitan she was wearing that she had once been a nobleman.

In the hazy light and shadow, the tree roots seem to run through dozens of places in the woman's body. It is difficult to tell where the willow tree ends and the woman begins. The willow tree and the woman have become one.

"Listen to me, even when I walk out of your room, the chief's other son will be waiting nearby and kill me. He intends to make my warriors slaves, just as he enslaved you. I want to watch him Die in agony, and I would gladly hand him over to you. If you allow me to leave here with the curse around this corpse's neck, I will hand him and his men over to you. As a The same noble Drucci, I swear to you!" Dorian said hoarsely.

The black water lapped gently at the roots of the trees, insects crawled over the rotting corpse of the chief's eldest son, and the empty sockets of the woman's eyes stared at Dorian silently for a moment.

Suddenly, the roots moved again, lengthening and contracting, pushing Dorian relentlessly toward the woman.

When the movement finally stopped, the woman stood less than ten centimeters away from Dorian. A tree-like finger pointed at Dorian's heart. Dorian knelt on the ground and cried out in pain.

After a while, icy air drifted down from above.Dorian looked up to see a passage opening at a slight angle, leading to the dark sky outside.With the creaking sound of bones and skin, the woman quietly pointed upwards.

"Your wish is my command, my lady!" Dorian said with a cruel smile, bowing his head to the woman.

The willows made a curtain of dangling branches and long black tendrils, and Dorian hid his sword, and when all was ready he turned and ran.

"I know you're there! I got the spell!" Dorian yelled, sounding tired and hurt, and he took a few more steps and fell to his knees.

Soon, the leader's second son and his men met a cruel fate, but the curse on Dorian's heart remained.

"The statue, the curse, Dorian's curse, there are good things on that woman, and that black willow tree is definitely a treasure!"

While Dacius was still thinking about Dorian's story, there was a sudden noise outside the cave.

(End of this chapter)