Blackfathom Deeps

Andy pondered for a moment, during which Larsen kept cursing the Tauren, while the other team members dug a pit together to bury the dead Elf.

"I think we should look for clues in the surrounding area. It's not right to jump to the conclusion that the Tauren did this," Andy frowned. Even though the Tauren looked like beasts, he had learned from the other team members that they were actually quite honest and law-abiding.

Larsen glanced at Andy and said with disdain, "What do you know! Only the Tauren could have reached this place, and to put it bluntly, they are cut from the same cloth as those Orcs!"

"And the motive?" Andy asked. "What would they gain by attacking an Elf outpost? They wouldn't get anything out of it, only our wrath and retaliation!"

Larsen's eyes widened. He rushed up to Andy and roared, "Who exactly are you? Are you even an Elf? Why do you always speak for others! If you keep this up, I won't be polite to you anymore!"

"Do you think I'm afraid of you?" Andy didn't back down. "You've been targeting me this whole time; what exactly did I do to offend you? Besides, what do you want to do? Go argue with the Tauren? Can you even understand what they're saying? Or are you going to take us few people straight to Thunder Bluff to challenge a whole group of Tauren?"

"This..." Larsen's expression faltered, and he was left speechless. What Andy said was the truth; he didn't understand the Tauren language, and he certainly couldn't just march into Thunder Bluff, as that would only lead to disaster.

At this moment, the few Elf warriors walked over and smoothed things over at the right time: "Lord Larsen, everyone, please calm down. We are only here to investigate. It's better to search the surroundings first to see if there are any other traces. If it really has to do with the Tauren, it won't be too late to report it then."

Andy rolled his eyes at Larsen and turned to walk away. Larsen felt extremely stifled; he angrily whipped the ground before turning to the side as well.

The Elves scattered, searching the ruined outpost carefully for any suspicious signs.

Andy was among those searching, but there was almost nothing around, only waist-high weeds and thick woods.

An hour later, they had searched a large area. Andy was getting further and further away from Maestra, and further away from the other Elf warriors.

Another half hour passed. On a patch of weeds, there was a trace of blood. Andy leaned down to inspect it; the blood had dried completely, clearly left several days ago.

The bloodstains weren't just in this one spot; they extended forward. Andy followed the trail for about fifty meters without seeing an end to it, thinking to himself that something was definitely going on.

"There's something here!" Andy walked back a distance and shouted to the distant Elf warriors.

Hearing Andy's cry, the Elf warriors all ran toward him, even Larsen, who had been in a foul mood, came over.

"Here!" Andy led the group to where he had found the blood and said, "The blood trail extends forward. I followed it for a while and could still find it."

"This isn't Elf blood!" Larsen squatted down to look for a moment before suddenly saying, "Although I don't know what kind of blood this is, it's definitely not from an Elf!"

"Regardless of what it is, its presence here isn't normal, is it!" Andy said. "We don't have any other leads right now, so we might as well follow it and see."

Larsen didn't want to heed Andy's suggestion, but seeing the others nodding secretly, he stood up and nodded as well.

The group, with Andy and Larsen in the lead, carefully identified the bloodstains on the weeds, while the others followed behind, keeping a lookout on their surroundings.

"It's gone?" Larsen clapped his hands and said, "Looks like we wasted our time!"

Andy's eyes showed confusion. He stood up, looked around, and suddenly asked, "What's further ahead?"

"Further ahead is the Endless Sea. You don't even know that?" Larsen looked at him with disdain.

"The blood trail can't just end here!" Andy said with a frown.

"I'm not going to follow you on this wild goose chase anymore!" Larsen said. "It was probably just the blood of some animal that got injured and passed through here, that's all!"

"Captain, you'd better come take a look!" One of the Elf warriors, who had walked a distance to the side while they were bickering, called out.

Larsen glanced at Andy and turned to walk toward the warrior.

In a patch of flattened grass, a corpse was curled up. The body had already begun to rot, emitting a nauseating stench, and maggots crawled in and out of it from time to time, making Larsen cover his nose and frown.

"Naga?" Andy walked over and said, covering his nose.

"You even know about the Naga?" Larsen looked at Andy in surprise.

Andy snorted in response; he didn't want to tell him that he had once been killed by a Naga!

"Why would there be a Naga corpse here?" Andy asked suspiciously. "This is still some distance from the sea!"

"This isn't a sea-dwelling Naga!" Larsen said proudly. "This is a Naga that has lived on land for a long time! But how did it get here? They never leave their habitat!"

"Is that so? Then this might break their precedent. The mere existence of this Naga corpse is already very abnormal!" Andy said, squatting down to poke the corpse with a wooden stick.

There was a long gash on the corpse's abdomen. While it might not have been instantly fatal, it would have caused rapid blood loss. At this point, the Naga's entrails were spilled all over the ground, reeking of decay.

Andy poked the Naga's shoulder and flipped its head up. Its face was already rotting, with eyeballs hanging from the sockets and corpse worms crawling in its mouth. Andy felt a wave of nausea and thought about pulling the stick back. A pale green gas suddenly emerged from the Naga's mouth, accompanied by a faint fluorescence.

"How could there be such a thing!" Andy's face turned pale with shock, and he threw the stick in his hand far away.

Larsen and the others were also startled by the sudden appearance of the gas and asked in amazement, "What is this?"

"Fel! This is Fel!" Andy looked at the corpse with disgust and stepped back two paces. "It is this evil magical power that caused the Orcs to invade this world! Where is the habitat of this Naga?"

Larsen also stepped back, looking at the corpse. At this moment, all the weeds surrounding the body that had been enveloped by the green gas withered instantly.

"They inhabit..." One of the warriors hesitated for a moment, preparing to speak.

"Mata, have you forgotten the taboo!" Larsen suddenly interrupted the Elf warrior, glaring and shouting.

"What taboo?" Andy asked in surprise.

"This is an Elf taboo: we must not have any further contact with those Naga!" Larsen said.

"What taboo could be more important than the current crisis?" Andy almost jumped up, wanting to slap Larsen. At a time like this, he was still talking about taboos.

"You'd better think clearly, Larsen!" Andy stepped forward two paces and said, "This is the heartland of the Elf Race. Now that the presence of Fel has been discovered here, what could be more important than life and death?"

Larsen looked up at Andy, his face showing a struggle; the racial taboos of thousands of years were deeply ingrained in his heart.

"The place they inhabit is what we call the Blackfathom Deeps!" Larsen finally sighed and said. "It was once an underground altar they built. I don't know if it's still in use, but this group of Naga has always lived there."

"Blackfathom Deeps!" Andy frowned. From his understanding of this world, there was more than just Naga in the Blackfathom Deeps!

"You know their location, don't you!" Andy asked.

Larsen nodded.

"We are going there to take a look!" Andy declared; he would not allow such an unstable factor to exist.

"What!" Larsen exclaimed, startled. "No! Elves are not permitted to go there!"

Andy scanned the group; every face wore an expression of shock, and they were deeply resistant to the idea.

"Fine." Andy sighed inwardly. "You all wait here for me. Give me the location of the Blackfathom Deeps, and I will go myself!"

Larsen stared sharply at Andy, grabbed him by the collar, and roared: "You can't go either! This matter must be reported; no one is allowed to go there on their own!"