Black mist descends, and I and the witches take refuge in the dungeon.

The group continued eastward through the thick fog.

Thanks to Mir's abilities, the group moved forward very quickly.

The black mist churned on both sides of the group, trying to engulf them.

But the light from the Soul Lamp was very strong, always keeping the gray-black mist at the edge of the halo.

The frozen ground crunched underfoot, occasionally punctuated by the crack of snapping branches, and faint sounds drifted from the distant fog, like a child's shrill cry, or something else entirely.

The overall atmosphere was oppressive, but perhaps because there were many people, the sense of horror wasn't particularly high.

The group's morale was high enough that there was no collective disturbance.

The team's formation remained relatively intact, with Mil at the rear, constantly watching the black mist slowly rising from the direction of the Norton Town church.

Although the surrounding area was shrouded in black fog, the thick fog rushing in from the direction of Norton Town was clearly more threatening.

However, due to the old priest, the thick fog couldn't catch up with Mir and the others for the time being.

After walking for about half an hour, Mir's magic energy was almost completely depleted.

"Miss Renee, please let everyone rest here for a bit while I replenish my magic power."

As Renee approached, Mir offered her a suggestion.

Upon hearing this, Renee's eyes were still a little red. She asked softly:

"In this emergency, should we still stop to rest? Won't we be overtaken by the black fog behind us? That's time Father Ores bought with his life."

Hearing Renee's words, Mil gently raised his hand and explained to her:

"Everyone is already exhausted. Even with my speed boost, the physical exertion is real. Without my boost and with everyone tired, pushing forward is actually slower than staying put to rest and regroup before moving on."

Hearing Mil's words, Renee took a deep breath, nodded, and said to Mil:

"Okay, I'll go and inform them now. I'm not tired. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and scout out the way to avoid any unexpected situations."

"No need, don't do anything unnecessary. You're all alone in the black fog, it's easy for you to run into danger. This is the best place for you."

Renee wanted to say something more, but after meeting Mil's uncompromisingly stern gaze, she bit her lip and nodded.

Seeing this, Mil still tried to comfort her:

"I understand how you feel right now, but that's precisely why we need to make good use of the resources that Father Ores sacrificed. There will naturally be places where we need your help in the future, so please calm down first."

Hearing Mil's words, Renee did not refute them, but nodded silently.

After Renee relayed the message, the entire team stopped for a short rest.

But Mir did not sit down. He held up the spirit lamp and walked around the entire procession.

The reason is simple: Mir is worried that someone might have a mental breakdown under such high pressure and do something outrageous.

His appearance will improve the order here a little.

After the apocalypse, besides the things inside the black fog, the release of human nature is also a headache.

Meanwhile, Mir took the opportunity to glance at the system panel.

The mission countdown is still ticking, showing that there are about ten hours left.

At the current pace, we should be able to get back to our cabin in half an hour.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that no accidents happen on the road.

But accidents always happen when you don't want them to.

Just as the team was about to set off again, Mir suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.

Then, Anderbel suddenly appeared beside Mil.

She tugged at Mir's sleeve, pointed to the thick fog in the distance, and whispered:

"There are things over there, a lot of strange things that looked like the ones we saw near our house earlier."

As Mir listened to Andrebel's words, she looked in the direction Andrebel was pointing and saw something moving vaguely in the black mist.

In Mil's view, the direction Andrebel was pointing to was a large ball of flesh and blood.

"Miss Renee, can you see anything over there?"

As Renee listened to Mil's words, she subconsciously looked in the direction Mil was pointing.

"I can't see anything. There doesn't seem to be anything there except for the black mist."

Upon hearing this, Mil knew that this thing was something only he and Andrebel could see.

Although the two saw different things, Mil was certain that now was definitely not the time to stay put.

"Everyone, speed things up! We need to get going! Something's wrong over there!"

Hearing Mil's words, although Renee didn't know what had happened, she trusted Mil and gave orders to the other Papal Knights without hesitation.

With the neighing of hooves, the group's pace quickened instantly.

"Wind's Blessing - Swift Breath!"

Mir once again activated the magic energy within his body. Now was not the time to conserve magic energy; he had to speed things up at all costs.

The group moved forward, but something inside the black fog began to surge forward continuously.

How can one describe that thing? It was like a wave of flesh and blood pieced together from fragments of human bodies.

"Wait a minute."

Mir came to the front of the group and grabbed Oren, who was leading the group.

At the same time, he asked Renee, who was standing next to him:

"Miss Renee, have you seen anything over there?"

Renee followed his gaze and saw the miniature horse snort lightly beneath her, its ears turning in that direction as if it had sensed something.

Renee stared for a moment before speaking, somewhat taken aback:

"It looks like a moving mound of earth? No, it also looks like a large tree, but there's no forest in that direction."

Mir didn't say anything more; he simply raised the soul lamp a little higher.

"Hawk Eye's Blessing!"

Mir's eyes emitted a faint golden light.

The moment he saw what was there, Mil felt a chill run down his spine.

Those "moving trees" were not trees at all, but rather several thin, elongated limbs that looked like skinned limbs.

All the limbs were connected together, forming a hideous mass of flesh and blood.

Upon closer inspection, those limbs are none other than those of the trolls south of Norton.

Those trolls didn't have soul lamps, so they were probably swallowed up by the black mist immediately.

And that strange posture now is what it looks like after being swallowed by the black mist.

Clearly, these things are not virtual entities, but physical entities.

Once they are caught up, given their monstrous form, they will definitely cause huge casualties to our side!

"Quickly, everyone rush forward!"