Chapter 78 Ancient Ruins
The next day, August 8th, early morning.

After Lear woke up, he simply washed and immediately summoned the army. At the same time, he had the merman prisoners who had been detained for several days brought to him.

There are still several important areas near the City of Wisdom that have not been explored yet -↑ 30 kilometers to the north, there are more than 500 level 9 rotten centaurs.

The demiplane where the two-headed ogre chieftain resides.

A valley occupied by dark nagas and ancient ruins discovered by murlocs.

Today he planned to explore the ancient ruins discovered by the merman.

When there is time, I will go to the Dark Naga again and try to find out the specific strength of the other party.

The demiplane occupied by the rotten centaur gathering place and the two-headed ogre, one is not close, and the other is in another plane. You can put it aside for now and attack it later.

Step by step.

He brought three squadrons of wetland lizardmen and summoned 3 swamp wasps.

There is also a two-headed ogre chieftain accompanying the team.

The Bubble Beast and the Swamp Banshee who have been following the battle in the past few days are staying in the territory to rest for the time being.

Hags also stayed in the territory to manage the newly joined wetland lizardmen. The family needed a powerful hero to keep things under control.

Today we are mainly exploring, so there is no need to bring the entire army with us.

After the army gathered, they headed directly south.

The purpose is clear and the action is quick.

Among the 300 wetland lizardmen warriors, two hundred were new recruits.

It was their first time to fight with the army. After leaving the territory, they felt a little unfamiliar and did not quite know how to cooperate with him.

Upon seeing this, Lear disbanded the 10 teams of veteran soldiers and used the old to train the new.

Speed ​​up the running-in process.

The wetland lizardmen had a keen sense of combat, and with the help of the veterans, they quickly got along and gradually developed a tacit understanding.

Begin to become familiar with Lear’s conducting style.

After traveling about ten kilometers south, when they were still more than an hour away from the ancient ruins, Lear felt something strange.

This area has not been explored, but no wild monsters were found along the way.

There are even fewer mosquitoes.

Moreover, some messy footprints can often be seen in the mud.

But it is difficult for the mud to leave useful information and it is impossible to identify what kind of life it is.

He couldn't help but become alert and ordered the army to step up its vigilance.

After walking forward for another ten minutes, the wetland lizardman who was exploring the way came over with a pale and swollen corpse in his hand and a serious look on his face.

This is the corpse of a half-merman. You can still vaguely see the fear on the other party's face, as if he has seen something extremely terrifying.

The skin was completely bloodless and looked extremely pale.

"Master, this is a body that was just discovered. The person has been dead for no more than a day."

"The creatures around here have been cleared out!"

Lear frowned.

There were no major wounds on the half-merman's body, except for two noticeable marks on his neck, as if his neck had been pierced by the fangs of a wild beast.

While thinking, your senses are fully opened.

He sensed it carefully from beginning to end, and his expression changed slightly after a moment.

There was a faint evil aura lingering around the other person's heart.

Lear suddenly thought of the scene in which he had seen the swamp hippopotamus worshiping evil gods.

That evil aura is very similar to it.

Are there other lives in the swamp that also believe in the evil god?

As my thoughts turned, my mind moved.

Let the swamp wasps in the sky spread out and look around to see if there is anything unusual.

Numbers are king. Tens of thousands of swamp wasps were blown away, and soon the surrounding area of ​​several kilometers was explored.

Finally, I found something.

When Lear received the news and arrived at the area, he immediately saw a horrifying scene.

On a half-wet, half-dry lawn ahead, more than two hundred half-fishmen were kneeling on the ground with their heads facing the sky.

From outside to inside, form a circle.

The face is also facing the center of the circle.

The marks on the neck caused by the beast's sharp teeth were particularly obvious, and there was no sign of life anymore.

Moreover, the death status of all merfolk is exactly the same.

Lear's face turned serious.

These fishmen were apparently being drained of their blood for sacrifice.
The two-headed ogre chief also strode forward and said in a deep voice.

"My lord, these merfolk are just shells left, and all the blood, flesh and energy in their bodies have disappeared."

Lear said slowly.

"Anything found around here?"

“No, there are only dead bodies here.

The two-headed ogre chief's tone was also very serious.

He felt vaguely uneasy.

Being associated with evil gods is usually not a good thing.

Lear took a deep breath.

It seemed that the swamp was more complicated than he had expected.

"Let's go and look for the ruins first."

Without receiving any relevant information, he did not stay for long.

No matter what happens in the outside world, the most important thing is still yourself.

As long as you are strong enough, you can suppress any threat, no matter how big it is.

After this incident, everyone's eyes became serious.

The atmosphere during the march also became a bit depressing. On the rest of the journey, they still did not encounter any wild monsters. It seemed that all the lives in this area had been cleared out by those unknown evil god believers.

It was not until more than an hour later that the news from the front slightly diluted the heaviness of the air.

The ancient ruins have arrived!
Lear immediately cheered up and led his army forward.

After passing through the smelly mud in front, we came to a towering tree with countless vines and a crown covering a diameter of more than 100 meters.

Under the guidance of the merman captive, they passed through the dense vines and arrived at the trunk of a big tree.

When Lear got closer, he discovered that there was a stone door growing on the trunk of this giant tree!
The height of the stone gate is over fifteen meters and its width is an astonishing 10 meters!
There was dense moss growing on it, and the runes engraved on the stone door had long since become blurred under the erosion of time.

The merman captive said in a trembling voice.

"The respected Lord Chieftain said before that this alchemical gate has lost its magic power and can only be opened by brute force."

Lear looked at the exaggerated stone gate and the corners of his mouth twitched.

How much strength does it take to push this?

But he was still a little unwilling, so he waved his hand and let the wetland lizardman try first.

Upon hearing this, the two-headed ogre chief immediately became excited and took the lead, rushing to the front line.

With a height of nearly three meters, he looks like a little giant, and his strength is much stronger than that of an ordinary wetland lizardman.

The wetland lizardmen behind him took over one by one.

However, there are not many places to sit in front of the stone gate, and it is surrounded by dense vines and cannot accommodate too many people.

Under the roar of the two-headed ogre chief, more than forty wetland lizardmen exerted their strength at the same time, but in the end, even though they had used all their strength, the stone gate remained motionless.

It feels like pushing a majestic mountain.

The two-headed ogre chieftain, who had always been proud of his strength, finally began to tremble in his hands.

Unwilling to say.

"Master, clear away the surrounding vines and build a catapult to blast open the stone door!"

"This stone door cannot be opened by ordinary manpower!"

The fish-man captive next to him changed his expression drastically.

“You can’t do that”

After saying that, he quickly explained.

"Sir, the chief said before that this tree was originally part of the ruins. Once the vines or the trunk are damaged, the ruins will most likely collapse."

"According to the chief's estimation, this ruins has a diameter of at least five kilometers."

Lear raised his brows slightly.

Five kilometers?
No wonder the other party was so honest in looking for the Cyclops.

Upon hearing this, the two-headed ogre chief could only snort unwillingly and stop.

Li Er stared at the runes on the stone door, thought for a moment, waved his hand to ask the wetland lizardmen to make way, and stepped forward.

The closer you get, the more you can feel the thickness and heaviness of this door.

Even if we could use a catapult to smash it, I'm afraid it would hardly be effective.

He took a deep breath and placed his right hand on the stone door, feeling the touch of moss and rock at the same time.

Mental power escaped.

After a moment, his expression became a little subtle.

He could feel that the thickness of the two stone doors reached 3 meters! !
A stone gate three meters thick, fifteen meters high and ten meters wide. Are you sure this is not a city wall?
At this moment, Lear was a little doubtful whether the Cyclops could be pushed away.

He shook his head and let go of his hand.

But at this moment, new information quietly appeared in the mind intelligence system.

[You discovered an ancient ruin that has never been explored. Extra information: 1. The gate of the ancient ruins is mixed with a unique metal that is ten times heavier than ordinary rocks. Only the Cyclops can use the power of blood to move the metal to push the gate. Once you break into it, the energy of the ruins will restart and the gate will close again. Only by reaching the energy core deep in the ruins can the gate be reopened.]

[2. This ancient ruins is a relic of goblin civilization. It contains precious treasures, even 5-star treasures. However, the ruins are also guarded by extremely fierce mechanical puppets, which have reached level 10 and number over a thousand. The most powerful one is the level 14 mechanical puppet king.]

Looking at the additional updated information, Lear was somewhat surprised, but his brows furrowed again after reading it.

My goodness, this door is even more exaggerated than he imagined. It is mixed with metal and is ten times heavier than ordinary stone? !

Moreover, after entering, the door will automatically close and can only be opened again after passing through and entering the core.

The power guarding inside is even more ferocious.
But, can it produce 5-star treasures? ! !

He felt like it was a bait, tempting him straight away.

It smells so good! A 5-star treasure is not much different from a divine weapon, right?

He took a deep look at the door.

"Et, go back first. This ruins cannot be explored now."

Although 5-star treasures are tempting, you have to get them.

Not to mention other things, the thousands of level 10 mechanical puppets alone are a huge chasm blocking the road.

Mechanical puppets are mechanical creations. Toxins and pain that are fatal to ordinary life have no effect on them.

The effect of the swamp wasp is almost reduced to zero.

As for the rest, how much would it take for him to kill the wetland lizardmen in his hands?
Not to mention there is a level 14 mechanical puppet king guarding it.

The current power is not enough to explore
After the order was given, the army did not hesitate and immediately turned around and returned.

On the way, Lear was still a little worried, so he ordered the army to disperse over a larger area to look for traces of the evil god worshippers.

Finally, two more places of worshipping evil gods were discovered.

There were hundreds of corpses in each place, all with their necks pierced, arranged in a circle, facing the center.

The sacrificial offerings are also held within these two days.

Although the sacrificial site was discovered, no trace of the person who initiated the ceremonies was ever found.

Finally, as the sky gradually darkened, Lear had no choice but to temporarily stop searching and lead the team back.

Today's goal is to explore the ancient ruins, trigger additional intelligence, and learn the specific information of the ruins.

The goal has been achieved.

But the strange sacrifice he discovered along the way added some pressure to him.

He always felt that there was something hidden in the shadows. The elusive danger made him feel more threatened.

(End of this chapter)