Chapter 481

Chapter 481: More Questions

A group of people walked along the edge of the forest towards the east, entering the rocky riverbank. Hunter Dunn kept an eye on the distance and the ground, occasionally looking at the passing tree trunks.

Sometimes Gnolls would leave marks on the trees, he said so. But after passing through several forests, no suspicious marks were found.

After walking for a while, he hesitantly said to the lead Mage Aubergine beside him, "It’s strange, Aubergine, I can’t find any fresh traces of Gnolls passing through here. I should be familiar with Gnolls…"

"Do Gnolls exist in Gilneas?" Erlan asked.

"Not on the peninsula, but there are many in Silverpine," the hunter said. "Moreover, Gnolls on the continent of Lordaeron are adept at Black Magic. Before the Orcs arrived here, they had already mastered many dark spells."

As the sky darkened, the group had traveled quite far to the south while carefully navigating.

Aubergine then said, "Perhaps the burnt body we found earlier wasn’t the work of Gnolls."

Wallis asked, "Who could have done that? A group of individuals who wield Shadow Magic, they don’t need demonic bodies…"

Father Hubert said, "The army from the south, Nethergarde, is the only one in this forest focused on killing demons rather than capturing their bodies. But how could there be a mage in those armies who can control shadows?"

Aubergine said, "Jesse Seso used a terrifying Shadow Meteor to kill Demon Lord Azgath."

"That is just a rumor," Hubert said. "Even if there is someone in the alliance army secretly studying Black Magic, it does not mean there are many in Nethergarde…"

"Rumors are rarely baseless…" Wallis said.

Erlan glanced meaningfully at Jesse, who glared back at him.

"Who knows?" Dunn said. "I just hope it was done by the alliance army."

After making sure there were no Gnoll ambushes nearby, the group relaxed slightly and continued south.

Just when they felt like they were back in a traveling mood, they unexpectedly came across three demon bodies stacked together in a depression at night.

What puzzled them was that these bodies were all burned by Shadow Magic, looking dried up like mummies. Rather than a trap, it seemed more like some kind of eerie sacrificial ritual.

"This time, I’m sure it wasn’t done by Gnolls," said Aubergine.

"Why?" asked Erlan.

Aubergine looked at the massive demon corpse at the bottom and said, "That’s a Doomguard. How many Gnolls can kill a Doomguard?"

Wallis exclaimed, "Burnt like that, I couldn’t tell, don’t these demons have wings?"

"The tattered black things below are the wings, not belonging to the other two smaller demons," Hubert reminded.

"The other two are Felhounds," Erlan said. "Let’s go check out that biggest demon, Doomguard… maybe we’ll find something."

Aubergine nodded, pointing at Dunn, "Hunter, you stay above with Jurke and Surena to watch outside, I’ll go with Hubert, Erlan, and Wallis down to look at these bodies."

"Got it," said Dunn.

Jesse peeked into the pit and asked Dunn beside him, "Can we find anything good on a Doomguard corpse like this?"

Dunn said, "These demons are not just simple monsters. They like to wear magical jewelry and sometimes carry pretty good weapons. After burning like this, most things would be destroyed, especially their armor. But I believe there must be some fireproof magical items that can survive, and we can earn something if we find them. As for those two Felhounds… let’s not even think about it. Felhounds like them, even if they were not burned, are not valuable at all."

"At least these demon horns are intact," Erlan said from below. "Even shadows cannot burn these things; they are almost like normal."

"I’m going to chop off these horns," Wallis raised a Lumberjack Axe and was about to hack, but Aubergine immediately caught her axe, saying, "Be careful… lady, don’t chop like that, use a saw."

"The magic to burn these demon corpses is quite powerful," Gacresse told Surena. "And they intentionally wanted to burn the bodies like this, master."

Surena thought for a moment and said, "Whoever it is, why would they burn these bodies… do the Gnolls think these bodies are harmful and pollute their living space?"

"But I agree with Aubergine’s argument," Hunter Dunn said. "How could Gnolls take down a Doomguard?"

"What if there were hundreds of Gnolls?" Surena asked.

Dunn said, "If there were hundreds of Gnolls in a huge tribe, they could directly attack Stonewatch Keep to the west, why hide in this forest. So, could it be Orcs?"

Surena said, "But Orcs have many warlocks; they should need these demon bodies more…"

Actually, Jesse also feels like he might be an Orc.

In the world of Azeroth at this time, everyone in the Alliance thinks that Orcs and demons are similar. Powerful demons help Orcs invade Azeroth, and Orcs use lower-ranked demons as accomplices to burn, kill, and plunder.

However, many Orcs who have come to Azeroth have started resisting demon control after the demonic blood in their bodies has gradually subsided. It’s not surprising that they hunt demons in this forest.

But why burn these bodies like this?

Right now, Erlan brought a bag of demon horns to Jesse’s side. Jesse looked inside and immediately smelled a rotten demon scent, completely different from the expanding fel magic that demons release when they are alive.

"There are so many horns from Doomguards here… If we find one burnt, we could probably sell them for a few gold coins." Erlan said. "There seem to be some magic gem jewelry pieces below, Aubergine is trying to get those down, then it’s more money."

"Not bad luck," Dunn said. "We haven’t really entered the marshes yet…"

"If we take this stuff back to Lakeshire, are we sure we won’t be caught and dealt with by the guards?" Jesse couldn’t help but ask.

"No problem, Jurke," Dunn turned to say. "Heroes carrying demon heads into Lakeshire swagger around, the Alliance army doesn’t forbid scavengers from dealing with demon bodies, as long as your demon servant doesn’t parade around in front of them."

Jesse nodded, then he noticed Molofeel was staring intently into the depths of the forest, looking a bit cautious.

"What’s wrong?"

Molofeel said, "It seems… there is a hint of fel magic, master."