Chapter 548

Chapter 548: Ancestors of Maraudon

A Guardian of the Centaur’s Holy Land led three people and a big cat deep into the Valley of the Spears. They passed through many walls made of earth, towers built of stone and mud, and rows of sharp, black wooden stakes – all defense structures probably meant to fight against other Centaur Tribes.

This place was indeed a city of the Centaur, with animal hide tents on each side, stone houses everywhere, and some Centaur children hiding inside, looking like a group of little foals.

According to Jesse’s knowledge of the game, the whole Desolace, even the entire Kalimdor, didn’t have any other places built by the Centaur that could be called cities except for here.

But in this city, there was only the Maraudine tribe. Were the Maraudine tribe really so powerful that they could build a city that other tribes could not even imagine?

He guessed that a long, long time ago, the Centaur probably had a time of unity, and this place might have been the capital of all Centaur in the past. It’s just that they later split up, and the Maraudine tribe occupied it alone.

"Hey, elf, did you discuss the reward?" Greed quietly asked as he caught up with the elf.

"Of course," Vereesa said. "If I don’t talk about the reward, wouldn’t you have to fight me along with him?"

"Haha, not quite," the dwarf chuckled and asked, "Can they give gold coins? silver coins? or some other items?"

"If we deal with the demon, they are willing to give a gem accessory," Vereesa said. "She didn’t specify what it is exactly, maybe I didn’t understand. But she did mention that a few years ago, a goblin was willing to pay six gold coins to buy this item, as it was brought out from the depths of the Holy Sepulcher."

"Six gold coins," Jesse said, "If goblin is willing to pay this price, it definitely worth much more."

"Centaur must also know this, so it didn’t even consider selling it," Vereesa said.

"I didn’t expect you to be right in the end, Jesse," Greed said, "Even six gold coins is not a small amount, why would Centaur be willing to pay such a high price to hunt demons in the tomb?"

Vereesa said, "I don’t know either, Centaur didn’t tell me much. Once she knew the reward and how to prove our strength, I didn’t say much to her either."

Jesse said, "I guess these demons are not just hiding in there, they must be disturbing the souls in the Centaur Holy Sepulcher."

Vereesa asked, "Are you saying the demons inside are using the souls of Centaur ancient warriors for dark rituals?"

Jesse said, "Souls mean a lot to demons, and the powerful souls respected by the Centaur Tribe must be more valuable. Of course, this is just my guess."

"Powerful respected souls, demons attempting dark rituals… what you said is indeed very likely," Vereesa muttered quietly, then asked, "By the way, are your two followers inside with us?"

Jesse said, "They are right beside us now."

"I hope she really is as perceptive as you say," Vereesa glanced suspiciously to the side, but there were no demons in sight. Molofeel was walking on the other side.

Going deeper into the Valley of the Spears and around a corner, Jesse was adjusting his hood and hair. Greed looked up the hill and suddenly gasped in shock.

"What’s wrong?" Jesse quickly looked in the same direction and saw a terrifying spear-wielding monster crouched on the hill, its blood-red eyes staring into the distance…

It was a stone statue with huge, mysterious red crystals for eyes, known to be abundant deep within Maraudon. Goblins risk entering Maraudon to find these crystals.

Inside the statue’s embrace was a stone door, with muscular Centaur warriors pacing around, marking the entrance to Maraudon Holy Tomb.

Jesse couldn’t quite identify what creature the statue represented. Half-crouched, it seemed more demonic in posture but bore Centaur runes.

Considering the Holy Sepulcher was built by Centaurs, this could likely be an image of their ancestors or deities.

In fact, the Centaurs in Desolace are children of the Earth Elemental Princess Theradras.

When Theradras drained the life force of "Mashan’she," the sudden loss of life energy here alerted Cenarius in the far Ashenvale forest.

Cenarius is a god who looks like a mix of a person and a deer. He taught the great Druid Malfurion Stormrage and all other Night Elf Druids. He has been protecting the whole forest of Kalimdor for thousands of years.

Cenarius sent his son Zaetar to investigate what was happening in Mashan’she, but Zaetar got lured by the powerful life force controlled by the Earth Elemental Princess Theradras.

It’s hard to say if Zaetar was attracted, deceived, or confused by the hidden power of the Old God. The mix of Zaetar and Theradras gave birth to twisted and violent Centaurs. After many years, Zaetar began to realize his mistakes and felt guilty.

The ancient Centaur ancestors, driven by chaos and hatred, united to kill their own father. Theradras, angry, banished these patricides, but the Centaurs still considered the cave a sacred place.

Perhaps the statue at the entrance of the cave is what the Centaurs imagine their father looked like.

Jesse thought maybe the monster at the gate looked nothing like Cenarius and his children, who resemble old Night Elves more.

Thinking about this, Jesse realized that the cave where Maraudon’s princess Theradras lived seemed to be open-air in the game.

This means if one could avoid the Centaur’s watch and cross the valleys, they might reach the Earth Elemental Princess’s lair directly by jumping in from above. Maybe goblins found a way to sneak past the Centaur graveyard gate and enter the deepest part of the cave through openings.

Of course, in the game, you can’t do that because of barriers like models, invisible walls, or duplicate copies.

But it’s not an impossible task here, it’s just riskier than going through the main entrance.

The natural caves deep inside Maraudon are complicated, filled with all kinds of creatures loyal to Princess Theradras, as well as fierce beasts like hydras and burrowing worms. Jumping in directly would most likely end in disaster.

It’s better to go through the main entrance and explore step by step, it’s much safer.

The stone door slowly opened, the guards of the Holy Sepulcher gate stepped aside, and the Centaur soldier leading the way ascended the steps, Maraudon right in front of them.