Chapter 500

Chapter 500: The Dark Valley

Looking across the grey valley, it all seemed monotonous. Jesse and Greed found a small room to rest for the night, and when they woke up the next day, it was still dark and gloomy.

The sky was filled with dark and shadowy clouds, as if they had been tainted by a sinister force. Thorny bushes resembling sharp-toothed creatures covered the hills and peaks, as if some strange insects or beasts might leap out at them at any moment.

Following the map’s directions, Jesse walked southwest for most of the day until he saw a tall windmill next to a dried-up riverbed.

When he first saw the windmill, he almost thought it was a tower and that he had already reached the real Karazhan… It wasn’t until he saw those damaged fan blades that he felt a little relieved.

The two of them walked along a completely deserted field towards the town, but as they walked, Greed suddenly grabbed Jesse’s clothes and pulled him aside.

"Look over there," the dwarf pointed across the riverbank. Jesse squinted his eyes to see a tall, swaying gray figure gradually moving forward.

It was an Ogre, a slightly skinny two-headed Ogre, dragging a long magic wand in his hand, followed by a few short, swaying shadows. Jesse could see through Detect Demon that they were a group of Felhounds.

It seemed that a considerable number of Ogres who had escaped from the Dark Portal had settled here. Soon, a stronger Ogre emerged from the group of Felhounds, carrying a rough war sword in his hand and wearing some tattered armor.

"Dealing with these two won’t be easy," Greed said. "Let’s wait for them to pass…"

"They’re heading towards the village," Jesse said. "And they seem quite relaxed, not very alert. Could the village have already been taken over by the Ogres?"

"It’s possible," Greed replied. "Thank goodness we spotted that big monster ahead of time, or else we would have foolishly walked into the village and gotten into trouble."

The two of them waited quietly for a while, when suddenly a burst of laughter came from the village in the distance.

It was the Ogre’s laughter, and they guessed right.

"We thought we could find wandering spirits in this village, but it seems even if there are any, they would be driven out by these Ogres." Jesse whispered.

"Let’s go around and look for another place," Greed said.

The two of them changed direction and walked towards the fields, trying to stay away from the Ogre’s voices. When they reached the edge of a small woods, Imp said, "Master… I sense a soul nearby."

"Do you have the glasses, Greed?" Jesse asked.

The dwarf nodded, put on the glasses and looked around. Then he pointed to a deserted farmland in the distance and said, "There… there, I see it."

The two of them immediately ran over, and when they got close to the field, Jesse saw a figure gradually materializing. It was a soul in tattered clothes. When the soul saw Jesse and Greed, it let out a cry and shouted, "Go away, don’t provoke me! This is mine… I can never leave this place… I can never leave this place!"

Greed placed the device on the ground, and at that moment the arcane energy core in the center of the machine began to glow.

Does this mean the spirit can absorb the Essence of Undeath?

"He’s coming after you, Greed!" Jesse held a bottle of holy water and said, "Be careful!"

"Saenor, are you ready?"

Greed stepped aside to dodge an attack from the spirit of the hunter. The imp immediately started shaking a handle, causing the spirit to try to pounce towards Greed again, but it was as if something pulled it back towards the direction of the machine…

Although the small machine didn’t look very strong, it had quite a powerful suction force on the spirit. With each shake of the imp, the ghost was drawn closer.

Jesse quickly took out an empty bottle from his bag and inserted it onto the pipe at the back. She watched as the spirit was sucked in, then on the outlet of the pipe, it turned into a faint purple mist, slowly settling into a tiny bit of purple dust at the bottom of the bottle.

"Just this little bit," Greed sighed.

"Perhaps it’s because this spirit is really weak," Jesse said. "Let’s keep looking, this could be a good start."

"The magical core of this machine is weakening, darn it!" the imp pointed at the machine and exclaimed, "Take a look, master! If this continues, we won’t be able to fill a bottle…the energy will run out!"

Jesse moved closer to the machine and looked at the Arcane core. It seemed like the light was a bit dimmer than when he first took it out.

Could it be that the soul has disappeared, so it no longer reacts?

Could it be that this thing needs to be recharged?

Jesse took out the manual and checked, but couldn’t find anything about recharging.

But looking at the dense Goblin Language instructions, which were much shorter than the general language instructions…

"Can you speak Goblin Language, Greed?" Jesse asked.

"How could I?! You’d better ask this imp." Greed replied.

"In that case, it’s even more unlikely." Jesse sighed.

At that moment, he remembered the Living Ice Crystals.

Since both of them are Arcane, and both of them need to be recharged… Can Living Ice Crystals restore the magic of this thing?

He took out the Living Ice Crystals from the box, brought them close to the machine, and then noticed that the core lit up slightly.

"Okay, okay!" Saenor laughed and said, "This darn little thing really works!"

Jesse handed the Living Ice Crystals to Greed and said, "Carry this thing, Greed, put it in a bag with the machine, keep it charged all the time, in case we encounter some powerful souls later and run out of energy."

Greed nodded, packed up the item, and asked, "What if we don’t have this thing, and the machine runs out of energy, what should we do?"

"Who the heck knows," Jesse said, "When we get back, I must settle the score with that goblin."

The two of them packed up their things and set off again, heading towards the next village settlement, this time needing to cross through a forest in a valley.

The closer they got to the south, the darker the light became, and it was even gloomier.

By this time, it was around three or four in the afternoon, but it was no different from the middle of the night, with the sunlight filtering through the thick clouds dimmer than the brightness of two moons in Elwynn Forest at night.

The two people walked for several hours, but they didn’t find a second wandering soul in the wilderness. However, Jesse suddenly felt like someone was following them from behind.

Treasure hunter?