The next morning.

Thorne woke the little banshee leaning in his arms, and the little devil hanging on the branch also opened his eyes, flapping his small wings and landing on his shoulders.

Afterwards, the five of them simply dealt with breakfast, and then the paladin Ava, who was most sensitive to negative energy breath, led the way to the cave deep in the valley.

From a meadow dotted with sparse trees, they crossed a misty, winding valley, and across a grove that had been ravaged and withered by negative energy.

The paladin Avar who led the way stopped, touched the hilt of his sword, and looked around vigilantly.

"It should be that cave." Thorne walked to the paladin, stood side by side with him, and looked at the cave not far ahead.

This is a deep cave that is four or five meters high. There are very obvious traces of activity on the ground paved with gravel. He also found traces of bonfires left by hunters a few days ago.

A cool and humid breeze floated past, and the faint smell of blood blew from the direction of the cave, mixed with the morning mist, and filled the forest.

"There is such a secret base in the valley. You two have lived here for so many years, haven't you discovered it?" After thinking about it, Thorne turned to look at the elf swordsman Lance and the witch Cecil behind him.

"I've been to this place a few times, but I've never found such a cave." The witch retracted her surprised look at the cave and told Thorne her guess:

"I think the reason why the aura of negative energy overflows in the valley is most likely because the cliff collapsed and the hidden cave was unintentionally revealed to the world."

After listening to the witch's analysis, Thorne nodded slightly.

Because he did find that the birch trees growing around the cave were very young, and there were no traces of the vicissitudes of time in other places. Most of the plants seemed to have grown in recent years.

"There's a wolf there..." Suddenly, the elf banshee Kevra, who was standing beside Thorne, tugged at his sleeve and said softly.

Thorne clearly felt the little banshee's nervousness, but she didn't expect that she was still afraid of this beast.

So he reached out and patted the back of her hand, his eyes signaled that she should not be nervous, and then he followed her gaze.

He found that only a hundred meters away from the five of them, a pair of yellow eyes were staring at him tightly.

A wolf face like a dog stared at him emotionlessly. The wolf had a slit in its nose and a pink tongue between its long white fangs.

At this time, it was squatting on a stone, bowing its back slightly, as if it was ready to attack everyone at any time.

Thorne subconsciously touched the hilt.

However, when he was about to do these things, he found that this rather spiritual wolf was still staring at him calmly, as if his eyes could penetrate everything.

Thorne withdrew his hand from the hilt of the sword, for he had realized that there was no hostility to the wolf who had wandered here unintentionally.

"It looks hungry." The paladin Avar was also watching the wolf.

He also saw that the wolf's flank was only a speckled fur, with ribs clearly visible, more like starvation.

Its ears were pulled to one side, and there was a scarred red wound on it, which looked a little ugly.

Hearing the paladin's slightly muffled voice, the wolf turned his attention from Thorne to him, and stretched his other intact ear forward alertly.

"Give it something to eat," the paladin Avar whispered to Thorne.

"Hey, here!" Thorne glanced at the paladin unexpectedly, and while speaking, took out a large piece of bacon from the dimension bag and threw it on the grass not far from the wolf.

The wolf glanced at the piece of flesh, and then turned his gaze back to Thorne, his yellow eyes somewhat cramped and uneasy.

There was a stalemate like this for a while, and Thorne thought that hunger had triumphed over the wolf's sanity, and he sniffed tentatively, then jumped off the rock.

Glancing up at Thorne again, and making sure he wasn't doing anything, he bent down and started tearing at pieces of meat with his long, pointed white teeth.

Staring at the figure of the wolf eating away, Thorne always felt that something was not right, but he couldn't tell why.

"Among the Mara believers who attacked your village, was there really only one Tier 4 hunter?" Thorne couldn't help but ask the witch again his doubts.

The witch looked a little helpless and nodded to the ranger.

The other party had repeatedly confirmed this question to her many times yesterday, but she did not expect to ask the same question again today.

Seeing that Thorne couldn't ask anything, he could only secretly explain to Taring to help him pay more attention to the situation around him. He led the little banshee, followed the footsteps of the paladin, and walked directly to the cave.

The cave was pitch black, and there was not even a trace of fire.

Thorne and the paladin walked carefully to the cave.

The paladin Avar took off the holy emblem he wore on his chest, whispered a word in his mouth, and a bright light shot into the deep cave.

Thorne looked at it immediately, and he found that the cave was empty, and there seemed to be nothing alive.

Of course, even if there is, it will definitely be hidden in the deepest part, and it will not be so stupidly exposed.

The two walked in carefully, and a disgusting stench and a strong **** smell hit their nostrils.

At the same time, Thorne, who has cold resistance and flame blood, still feels the coldness of the negative energy aura.

This rich negative energy aura, if ordinary people walk in, there is even a danger of suffocation.

Fortunately, the paladin's ring he wore helped him resist this gloomy aura.

Seeing that there was nothing in this spacious and cold cave except for the skeletons of various creatures, Thorne waved to the outside of the cave, and the witch led the little banshee in, followed by the elf swordsman.

These two have the characteristics of undead creatures, and the negative energy aura pervading the cave is not only harmless to them, but more like a duck in water.

As for the elf swordsman Lance, who was in the last place, he put on his own protection against evil spells in advance.

Except for the daily sacrificial objects of the hunters, nothing was found in the cave.

The only threat is that a few undead creatures that awakened into skeletons on their own due to the excessive negative energy aura were kicked by Thorne and fell apart.

In this way, under the guidance of Thorne, Ava, a paladin, walked at the forefront of the team and walked towards the deepest part of the cave together.

About ten minutes later, when they were about to reach the end of the cave, everyone made an unexpected discovery.

On the icy rocky ground, rows of ferocious fang-shaped stones curved inward formed a large circle, forming a simple temple of Mara.

In the circle of stones, a black-furred, antler-like, cat-like beast stands at the very center.

Although this is just a sculpture, the fangs and claws of this terrifying beast are dripping blood constantly, and the rich smell of blood and cold negative energy fills it.

"Let me do it." After sensing the anger of the paladin looking at the statue of Mara, the **** of hunting, Thorne chuckled and stretched out his hand to stop him.

The paladin Avar hesitated for a while, and quickly figured out the reason, and immediately stepped back to make room for Thorne.

The sorceress Cecil also took the little hand of the elf banshee away from Thorne.

Only the elf swordsman was still touching the hilt, watching the surrounding situation vigilantly, guarding against those enemies who suddenly appeared from the dark.

- "Spell-like ability: Fireball!"

Thorne flipped the palm of his hand, and a large fireball that made everyone's faces flushed gradually condensed and formed, suspended in mid-air, and under his guidance, mercilessly smashed on the statue of Mara.

"Boom!"

With a deafening loud noise, this ferocious and cruel statue collapsed and turned into a pile of ruins.

Seeing the statue collapsed, Thorne waved his hand, and a scorching wind dispelled the permeating smoke.

Just as he was about to move on, he unexpectedly found a prompt from the system:

"You have acquired the title of Blasphemer. "

[The Blasphemer (Background Specialty): You are a mortal who dares to ignore and challenge the majesty of the gods. This kind of person requires more will and courage than fighting against dragon power and fear, and is called: Blasphemer. As a blasphemer who can look directly at the majesty of the true God, you have a blasphemous heart without fear when facing threats from the gods and attacks from believers. 】

1. After acquiring this feat, the blasphemer has a +2 modifier for any mind-affecting divine spell.

2. Will save +3

3. Divine Power Obstruction (11 times per day): Blasphemers can grant themselves a temporary divine power resistance shield to block damage from divine magic.

Note: If this ability does not function within 24 hours, it will dissipate on its own.

...

Seeing this background expertise, Thorne couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised.

After all, now he is always threatened by the spirit of the demon lord, and will immunity is undoubtedly one of the attributes he needs most.

This gave him a little more confidence when he planned to raise the level of demon power in the future.

As for "Divine Power Obstruction", it even gave him a magical shield that was immune to magical damage once a day.

Seeing this newly acquired background feat, Thorne instantly figured out the reason for acquiring this feat.

This made him realize that his efforts in hunting Mara believers and destroying the temple in the Great Sword Mark Mountains in recent years were not in vain.

Of course, it wasn't all due to the destruction of the Temple of Mara.

He also destroyed Orbis the Undead Lord of the Twin Towers, the Temple of the Mighty in the Serene Forest, and the Temple of the Gnoll King in the Great Swordscar Mountains.

This is more like a cumulative process, but he does not know at least how many temples need to be destroyed in order to obtain this feat.

After destroying the sculpture of Mara, the group did not waste time and continued to explore the depths.

Soon, they came to the end of the depths of the cave.

"It seems that the negative energy aura is overflowing from this secret door." The paladin Avar stretched out his hand and stroked a dark black door on the wall, whispering.

Thorne looked at it carefully and found that in addition to the traces left by the years, there were many scratches left by sharp blades and blunt objects on this three- or four-meter-high gate.

But the cold negative energy aura did not overflow from these scratches, but seeped out from the gaps in the door leaf, and the strands seemed to be real.

As for the scratches left by the weapon, Thorne guessed that it is likely that the hunters living here are trying to open it.

It's a pity that this unfortunate hunter failed to open the door to his death.

"Is there a way to open it?" Thorne and the paladin Avar stared at the door for a long time, both of which said there was no way, and finally turned their eyes to Cecil, the brooding witch.

After all, it was Cecil who invited her to come here, so she must have a way to open the secret door, or she wouldn't be so confident that Insight Winster had something for her.

"Let me try it." The witch felt the gazes from the crowd, reached out and took out a pure black amulet exuding magic aura from the dark pocket of the robe, and walked slowly to the door.

Seeing the shape of the magic talisman in the opponent's hand, Thorne's expression moved, and he had a secret in his heart.

Because the appearance of this amulet is exactly the same as the token that Malvasa gave him when he asked him to go to the demi-plane to get something, the only difference is that the color is different.

"Boom!"

The whole process was completely in Thorne's expectation, just when the witch Cecil stuck the magic amulet on the groove of the gate, there was a dull sound, and the dark gate was automatically separated.

Immediately afterwards, a strong negative energy aura came onward like a tide.

Fortunately, the paladin around him responded very quickly, and he instantly propped up a divine barrier, which gave Thorne time to gradually adapt.

The moment the group stepped out of the secret door, Thorne clearly felt the darkness in front of him, and a feeling of spinning around, as if stepping into some kind of teleportation circle.

However, when he saw that the four of them were by his side unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately began to carefully examine the surrounding environment.

At this time, the free negative energy aura was obviously not as strong as before, and there was a faint natural aura in the air.

Thorne found their group in a dark forest.

They were surrounded by stout trees, thick branches that met together, thick trees that shaded the sky, and moss, fallen leaves, and pine needles that seemed to form a soft blanket on the ground.

Just as everyone was looking at the environment, the paladin Avar found a piece of armor half-covered under rotten leaves under a sturdy tree.

He crouched down immediately and carefully cleaned the rotten leaves from the surface of the rusted armor.

When he saw the vague patterns on the armor, he couldn't help but whisper to himself: "For some reason, seeing this armor reminds me of the former name of Twin Towers Town: Dawning Town."

Hearing the paladin mention Dawn Town, Thorne immediately became interested.

He came to the paladin, his eyes locked on the armor that could hardly be seen in any shape.

Vaguely, he also found a very weathered corpse wrapped inside the armor.

Obviously, this should be a corpse, but due to the precipitation of the years, it has already become unrecognizable.

Seeing Thorne here, I always feel that he has seen this style of armor somewhere.

When he thought of the town of Dawn in the mouth of the paladin again, he suddenly woke up. In his mind, he recalled a death knight whom he once met in the underground space of Twin Towers with the dragonborn paladin Peo.

Could it be a member of the Knights of Dawn, Thorne thought to himself as he remembered the death knight's message.

"Do you know Dawning Town?" At this time, he saw the paladin Avar bowing down to the corpse solemnly and using divine magic to purify it, so he asked curiously.

The paladin Avar sighed slightly and said slowly: "Dawn Town, which is today's Twin Towers Town. Before the most chaotic and turbulent year came, Dawn Town was a very important border town, and it was also a battle against the Desolate Skull Mountains. Evil's first line of defense.

But one day, this border town with a population of 5,000 or 6,000 suddenly turned into a dead ruin, and all the residents disappeared strangely, leaving only the deep darkness and a tower of the dead that was shrouded in shadows all the year round.

There is still a research report in the Temple of Thom, when the court mages who went to Dawning Town to investigate, submitted a research report to the Wizarding Union, which stated that Dawning Town was likely to have suffered an attack from the shadowy underworld. "