Chapter 539

Chapter 539: The Trouble of the Tauren

"Mosa, Mosa!"

Greed patted the Tauren’s waist, but the Tauren just angrily stared at Jesse, refusing to move. Vereesa held her head, furrowing her brows in pain, breathing heavily.

In fact, not only the Tauren and the elves, even Molofeel who was following behind looked extremely upset. The imp had long since run into the Warlock Pack, trembling in fear.

"Oh no," Greed wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at Jesse, saying, "We didn’t run far enough. The power of your spell this time is much scarier than before. If I wasn’t mentally prepared, I might not have been able to handle it."

"What spell?" Vereesa asked, turning her head slightly.

"Fear, sorry," Jesse replied.

Upon hearing Jesse’s words, Vereesa chuckled sadly and said, "Well, darn it, I don’t know what I saw… So this is the effect of some kind of magic related to mental disorders, right?"

Jesse explained, "The purpose is to disrupt combat effectiveness with fear. There wasn’t time to explain just now."

Vereesa briefly explained to Tauren, who took a few deep breaths and looked somewhat relaxed.

Jesse didn’t know what Mosa saw, but at least Tauren remained composed, showing strong resistance against Fear.

Harpies in the sky scattered in all directions, screeching at each other to leave, suddenly clearing away many obstacles in front of them.

"While these harpies are still disoriented, let’s leave quickly," Jesse reminded.

Greed nodded and walked to the front, charging up the hill, with the other people following the dwarf to the entrance of the village.

Jesse glanced inside and saw a small pond in the middle of a valley, surrounded by makeshift Tauren tents made of animal hides and rough cloth, along with a totem pole. A small bridge crossed the narrowest part of the pond, connecting both sides.

This was definitely Sun Rock Retreat.

At that moment, Jesse saw a tall Tauren covered in blood turning around, wielding a totem pole to knock down a harpy attempting to attack him from behind. Nearby, some harpies were tearing at the curtains of a tent, while cries and howls echoed from all directions.

A blue-feathered harpy called out from above, commanding the other harpies still entangled to fly upwards. Some of them reluctantly tried to grab something to take with them, but Greed let out a loud roar and fiercely threw a hammer trailing with lightning, smashing the slowest flying harpy into pieces. The burnt fragments scattered in the air, no longer resembling its former self.

"They’re retreating," Vereesa said, looking up.

Jesse nodded and reminded Molofeel beside him to stay hidden.

Mosa ran towards the Tauren holding the totem pole, but the Tauren suddenly collapsed to the ground. Mosa struggled to lift him up.

While Mosa was healing him, Taurens living in the village emerged from houses and caves to extinguish the burning flames. Jesse counted, realizing there were only around a dozen Taurens living here.

Although some are big and some are small, the child Mosa was holding seemed to be the smallest in the whole village.

By the river lay the body of a tall Tauren Warrior, covered in blood but with no visible fatal wounds. Perhaps he had fought until he could fight no more and succumbed to exhaustion.

Even though the powerful Tauren could handle many harpies on their own, their numbers were few. Faced with continuous harassment from the harpies, they would eventually fall due to exhaustion.

Two young and strong Tauren Warriors with wounds all over their bodies dragged the body to the shore. After extinguishing the flames with water from the pool, the remaining Tauren looked towards Jesse in silence, which was unsettling.

A towering Tauren holding a long staff approached, dressed in thick Kodo hide clothing adorned with patterns similar to those on a totem pole.

He appeared to be very old, with greyed brown fur and only one horn, the other broken. Despite the single horn, which seemed to tire him just by lifting his head, he leaned slightly towards that side.

Without speaking, he nodded deeply, assessed Jesse, then gazed at Mosa in the distance and let out a soft sound. Mosa seemed to understand his meaning and, after tending to the injured Tauren Warrior, walked towards them.

Jesse sensed that the elder might have detected the shadowy aura around him. Even in a calm state, he could be easily identified as emanating a demonic scent by any Tauren in Gadgetzan. Especially considering he had unknowingly used numerous spells of Shadow Magic, it was impossible to conceal.

However, the elder seemed uninterested in dwelling on the issue of dark powers. He slowly spoke a few words to Mosa, who then relayed something to Vereesa. Vereesa replied, "They are very grateful to us outsiders and wish to express their thanks, although the village has nothing more to offer."

"It’d be great if we could stay for one night," Greed said to Jesse, "right?"

Jesse nodded, and Vereesa relayed the message to Tauren; the elder in front of them nodded twice with effort.

He spoke to Mosa, pointing to a distant cave, which had been a shelter for many Tauren before. It seemed the Elder planned for Jesse and his group to stay in the cave.

Leading everyone to the cave, Mosa showed them inside. Though dark and narrow, the cave was lined with thick blankets on the ground that looked so inviting, and there was a small clay pot burning quietly with a comforting scent filling the room.

Jesse had never dared to hope for a place to rest peacefully after leaving Gadgetzan, but now, having this cave to spend a night in, he couldn’t be more grateful.

Even though they claimed to have nothing to give, the Tauren sent lots of food into the cave – some looking like large bird wings and a giant bird leg, along with a pile of strange fruits that appeared plump and juicy, all kinds of food they had never seen before on their journey.

Despite their mouths watering at the sight of the food after eating bitter little fruits and tough lizard meat along the way, no one felt ready to dig in right away considering the recent village raids.

Mosa spoke at length with Vereesa, who then relayed to the other two, "A Tauren representative from a coastal tribe had come here before, seeking unity with this village’s Tauren to combat the threats of Centaur and Quilboar. None of the Tauren here were willing to leave Stonetalon’s sacred grounds, so they declined. But now, it seems that the Elder is having second thoughts."

"Is that the same Dark Totem that Mosa broke away from before?" Greed asked, "The name alone sounds off-putting for anyone to join."

Vereesa asked Mosa, but Mosa shook his head and said a very difficult name in the Tauren language. Then he explained it to Vereesa in Elvish.

"The tribe is called Bloodhoof," Vereesa said. "Their leader is called Cairne Bloodhoof."