This isn't a souls-like game at all.

"Are you... a magician from the Zhige Palace?"

There was a moment of silence, and the Highlander seemed to have finished his inspection. The huge sword in his hand slowly dropped, and then a low questioning voice came out of his mouth.

His voice was like a slightly vibrating giant bell, low yet rich, hoarse yet clear. Rather than sounding wild and arrogant, it instead sounded cautious and wise.

This doesn't look like a bloodthirsty man.

This idea suddenly popped up in Ye Yiyi's mind.

Then he spoke loudly:

"I am indeed a magician, but I am not from the Hall of Stopping War."

Upon hearing this, the Highlander's orange-red eyes narrowed, and the steel-like muscles on the arm holding the giant sword bulged slightly.

"Not from the Zhige Palace?"

He asked in a low voice, but his voice sounded like he was stating something factual.

"So, are you a magician hunter?"

"What a coincidence! I just killed a hunting magician on my way here."

Ye Yiyi said casually, took out a waist lamp, lit it up and hung it around his waist.

The cold white light illuminated the surroundings, including Ye Yiyi's face.

He raised his hand slightly to support the brim of his hat and smiled friendly at the Highlander who looked quiet and silent.

"My name is Michaela, and this is Scarab. We are here to explore the ruins in the Forest of Crystallized Stones."

Upon hearing the introduction, the dung beetle immediately flapped its wings and flew up, waving its forelimbs towards the Highlander.

"…Mikaela?"

A hint of doubt appeared in the Highlander's voice.

"And the scarab?"

He looked at the man and the insect again, and the vigilance in the orange-red animal's eyes finally disappeared, but it was replaced by a hint of doubt.

"Of course it is me."

Ye Yiyi smiled and spread out her hands.

"Why, have you heard of this name?"

"I heard someone mention it in the tavern, but I don't know the details."

The Highlander seemed to have let down his guard. He put the giant sword in his hand behind his back, looked in the direction of the dung beetle, and nodded slightly to the little guy.

"I don't know if you're actually Michaela, but I can see you have no ill intentions... and are very powerful, especially this one."

"it?"

Ye Yiyi raised his eyebrows and turned to look at the dung beetle.

"You mean the scarab?"

"I can sense the amazing wisdom and spirituality it possesses, as well as the power that is inherent in the Highlanders."

The Highlander saluted the dung beetle and then introduced himself.

"My name is Timothy. I'm from the Shuoye Highland Tribe on the Longshuo Plateau. I'm currently a freelance mercenary."

"Longshuo Plateau?"

Ye Yiyi was suddenly stunned.

"Aren't you from Xiaochiyuan Highlands?"

"No."

Timothy shook his head.

"Although this place is close to the Xiaochiyuan Plateau, I'm not from there."

"Where is the Longshuo Plateau?"

"Longshuo Plateau is located in the southwest of the northern border. It is a land soaked in dragon blood."

Strange, this is actually a Highland mercenary from the northern border!

Hearing this, Ye Yiyi couldn't help but be stunned.

"You're from the northern border, but how did you come all the way here, crossing mountains and seas?"

He couldn't help but ask.

“I’m traveling.”

It seemed that this wasn't the first time Timothy had answered this kind of question, and he replied calmly:

"I can do some mercenary work and earn some money for my journey."

"Is it?"

Ye Yiyi tilted her head.

He could sense that Timothy was hiding something, but that was normal.

No one would open up to a stranger they just met.

But since the other party is also a free mercenary, then he came here because he had taken some job, right?

"so……"

Ye Yiyi pointed at the ruins beside him and asked, "Are you here to investigate?"

"Yes, a Knight Master from the Knight Kingdom hired me."

Timothy was very straightforward about this and did not hide anything.

"Iron Gray City has lost contact with the Butterfly Knights' base in the Ten Thousand Stone Crystal Forest. I'm here to investigate on their behalf."

"You are the only one employed?"

Ye Yiyi frowned slightly, "Isn't Tiehui City able to spare any extra manpower right now?"

"Not really. The Knight Master hired several freelance mercenaries, including me, to form a temporary mercenary team to investigate."

"In addition, there are two butterfly knights who are leading the way for us."

Timothy said this and suddenly sighed slightly.

"But on the way, we were attacked by a demon-devouring monster..."

"Demon Devourer?"

"Yes, it was a strange, cloud-like monster without a body shape. It was as inconspicuous as the mist in the forest."

"It appeared out of nowhere, like a vengeful spirit, and in a split second it devoured the mercenary accompanying me, killing him."

As he spoke, a hint of horror appeared in Timothy's orange-red animal eyes.

He is not afraid of tangible beasts. The super-large sword on Timothy's back is not just for decoration.

Relying on his fighting skills, he is capable of killing even the resentful spirits.

But even the Highlander fighting skills that he was proud of could not harm the invisible monster that emerged from the jungle.

"...After killing several mercenaries, the Butterfly Knight who had been leading us finally reacted. He shouted "Demon Devourer" and charged forward, but his fate was no better than those mercenaries..."

Timothy said in a low voice with a hint of dejection:

"Another Butterfly Knight performed the Hymn of Oath, blocking the Demon Devourer. He then instructed the surviving mercenaries to quickly flee and return to Iron Ash City to inform the Knight Master of the Demon Devourer's appearance."

"But without a guide, it's easy to get lost in this forest."

Ye Yiyi frowned and shook her head slightly.

Getting lost in this situation is no different from death.

"you're right."

Timothy lowered his head and spoke in a low voice.

"Without the knight's guidance, I wandered in the forest for a whole day and finally found this place by accident."

"Looks like you're lucky."

It's really lucky to have found this place by accident without a map and not encountered any crystallized beasts on the way.

Of course, strictly speaking, both this relic and the burial place of the mountain-climbing giant beast are located on the outskirts of the forest and not deep inside.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for Ye Yiyi to come all the way here and only encounter a giant tiger, and even not find a gem beast.

"So what are your plans now?"

Ye Yiyi said as he walked towards the camp outside the ruins.

"I'm a mercenary. Since I've been paid, I have to at least complete the tasks assigned by my employer."

Timothy followed Ye Yiyi and spoke.

You wouldn't have guessed it, but this big guy is not only trustworthy but also very courageous.

If someone else were to come, they would probably have been scared out of their wits by the threat of that soul-eating monster.

But he was fine, and even wanted to finish the tasks assigned by his employer.

What kind of natural mercenary holy body is this?

"So, have you found anything?"

Ye Yiyi stepped into the camp that had turned into hell, startling several dark birds.

"Some terrible beast has attacked this camp."

Timothy replied in a low voice, "I looked around and found no one alive."

"A beast?"

Ye Yiyi thought about it and squatted down in front of a knight's corpse. He waved his hands to drive away the flies flying around, rolled up his sleeves, and pulled the knight's head over.

"It's pretty much what I imagined."

Looking at the severely decayed cheek, Ye Yiyi saw at first glance the eyeball that had popped out of the eye socket and had now turned into a cluster of crystals.

The Butterfly Knight died in a very tragic way. The one at the door was only cut in half, but this one had his entire upper body and armor evenly divided into three parts: head, chest, and waist.

It was as if it was cut into three pieces by the claws of some giant beast.

As for the missing lower body, Ye Yiyi has not found it yet. Of course, it may also be in the large pool of semi-crystallized minced meat mixed with broken bones not far away.

I looked at the other relatively intact corpses and found that there was no exception.

Its eyeballs have completely turned into crystal clusters, growing out of its eye sockets like flowers growing out of its eye sockets.

"So what kind of beast did this?"

Ye Yiyi frowned and thought.

There were no signs of gnawing on the corpses, which showed that the purpose was not to eat.

But what does it mean when the eyeball turns into a crystal flower?

This is what Ye Yiyi found incredible.

"Go look somewhere else."

After taking out the hilt of the holy sword and casting a spell to purify the filth, Ye Yiyi stood up and led the silent Timothy towards the ruins.

The ruins here are not much different from the previous one, with the same building materials and the same degree of dilapidation.

Looking around, there are almost no intact walls to be seen.

But the difference is that after the Butterfly Knights settled here, the ruins here are filled with various facilities, such as crystal columns used as scarecrows, boilers for cooking, and even places specifically for storing supplies.

But unfortunately, these facilities are in a mess at the moment, as if they had been ravaged by a tornado, with some flesh and blood mixed in, creating a scene of hell on earth.

Ye looked around one by one, but found nothing valuable except two ordinary iron swords with no combat skills and no more than four lines of light curtain description.

"It's completely destroyed..."

He shook his head and, based on his experience from last exploration, found the stairs leading underground.

"There's no phantom wall this time. It seems the magicians haven't been here before."