The breeze blew through Horn's hair, dropping a few cool droplets onto his neck, slowly sliding along the raised scar.
In the eerie silence, the metallic sound of Horn drawing half of his sword was exceptionally loud.
Looking back at Jeanne, she covered her mouth, not daring to move, but her eyes remained clear.
Thankfully, Jeanne wasn't affected. If anything happened, she could directly "assist me."
After waiting for a second, seeing that the group was still swaying in the mist, Horn went forward immediately, approaching Jeska. Ignoring the saying that sleepwalkers shouldn't be awakened, he shouted loudly.
"Jeska!"
Jeska, who was swaying as if sleepwalking, shuddered all over, the confusion in her eyes disappeared, only then she realized and widened her eyes, cold sweat visibly pooling on her forehead.
It seemed like a chain reaction occurred, and several young men nearby woke up following suit.
But they weren't as calm as Jeska, scared enough to scream frantically.
"Gaa, it's the Green-clothed Flute Player, retreat quickly!"
"Gaa, it must be that Flute Player who played us into a coma, maybe trying to force us to become his slaves!"
Horn had barely said anything when Priest Kosse jumped out, slapping each of the screaming ones hard: "What's the use of such imagination? Didn't you see Master Saint Grandson Pope and Saintess are here? Fear nothing!"
Horn looked at Priest Kosse maintaining order and sighed softly.
Pity the parents everywhere, even the slightly uncooperative Priest Kosse, who suspected Horn was a fake Holy Grandson, showed extraordinary enthusiasm in this matter.
But it's all been over ten years, hope seems dim.
Wait, Horn suddenly realized, villagers thought it was natural for him not to be controlled because he was the Holy Grandson, but he knew the truth — he was just pretending to be the Saint's Grandson, faking divinity.
Jeanne wasn't affected by the Flute Player because she was the Queen of demons and monsters, and a true devil. Being immune to a mere Flute Player was quite normal.
But how did he escape? Was it because he held Jeanne's hand?
Before Horn could figure it out, he heard someone shouting again: "Hey, what are you doing? Where are you going?"
A skinny boy about fourteen or fifteen, unknowingly walked into the stream, walking forward indifferently.
Amid earlier screams, almost everyone awoke from their stupor, but this boy showed no reaction and even ignored everything while continuing forward.
One of his companions bypassed others, trying to grab him, but Horn stopped him with one hand: "Don't call him, find a rope and tie it around his waist, see where he's headed."
Once again holding Jeanne's hand, Horn whispered: "Jeanne, be attentive. If anything unusual happens, don't hesitate, act directly, don't fear accidental harm, you're purging demons, Mother will forgive you."
With the rope leading him, the boy advanced in the stream, while Horn and others followed along the shore.
They walked for a distance, the trees on both sides thinning out, the terrain gradually rising, and Horn and the others finally arrived at a cliff.
The open area before the cliff showed obvious signs of man-made felling, nearby trees were uprooted, leaving small mounds and pits, only a few gray-black rocks remained.
On the cliff, vines hung like curtains, but through the gaps, one could see the dark entrance of a cave.
The melodious flute sound emanated from within the cave.
Compared to before, due to proximity, the flute sound was much clearer.
It seems, the Flute Player is within the cave.
Tying the enchanted villagers to trees, the young men gathered before the cave.
"Jeska boss, look, rabbits!" a young man pointed ahead, shouting, in front of the cliff, three fluffy little white rabbits were leisurely munching on grass.
The closest one was just seven or eight steps away.
This was rare, they'd searched the forest for half a day without finding even rabbit droppings, and now there's one.
Unable to restrain his joy, the young man drew a longbow and shot an arrow at the rabbit without waiting for the others to respond.
Seize the moment, before they run or burrow away, who knows when they'll be caught again.
"Thung—" The sound of the bowstring vibrating still echoed in the ears, the arrow sliced through the air, heading straight for the white rabbit.
The arrow tip flashed with cold light, on the verge of piercing the rabbit's soft fur, entering its blood vessels and heart, but in the blink of Horn's eye, the rabbit leaped up, its strong hind legs kicked the wooden arrow shaft, deflecting the arrow directly.
Before everyone could lament, as soon as the rabbit landed, it jumped again, and everyone realized something was off.
Too fast, the rabbit jumped too quickly, it seemed to fly at low altitude, transforming into a white flash, lunging at the archer's face.
"Ah—" A sharp scream escaped from the archer's mouth, he reached to grab the rabbit's ears, but couldn't budge it.
The curved long claw extended from the delicate fluff, piercing the archer's skin and flesh, gripping his collarbone.
The three-petaled mouth opened, and serrated sharp teeth quickly bit into the archer's throat, greedily sucking his blood.
Jeska swiftly drew her bow and shot an arrow, but the white rabbit elegantly kicked off the archer's chest.
This motion assisted a backflip, not only dodging the arrow but also slashing the archer's head entirely.
The overwhelming scent of blood exploded instantly, with rising blood columns, fountain-like, spraying in arcs that dyed the mist red.
The snow-white rabbit fur became stained with scarlet blood, gathering into small spikes at the tips of the fluff.
At this moment, the red eyes were firmly fixed on this group of unexpected guests.
"Gwa, it's a magical creature, retreat quickly!"
"Gwa, the creature will kill us, maybe it's forcing our souls to become his slaves!"
"Why is it you two again!?"
Staring at the white rabbit in front of him, Horn was unperturbed, leisurely drawing the longsword from his waist, raising his chin, pointing the sword tip at it.
Seeing Horn's provocation, the beast face of the rabbit showed no expression.
Its hind legs suddenly tightened, leaping once more, in the blink of an eye, white light lunged forward.
"Master Saint Grandson Pope, be careful!"
"Quickly protect the Master Saint Grandson Pope!"
Horn's body remained motionless, he smiled arrogantly: "Electricity, come!"
Behind Horn, a lightning bolt exploded instantly.
The electric light tore through the sky, ferociously striking the rabbit's body, the dazzling white light flashed incessantly, illuminating the previously dark forest.
When everything returned to normal, the enticing aroma of meat emanated from the fallen rabbit, its hind legs still twitching.
Gracefully sheathing his sword, Horn didn't look at the fallen creature, he adjusted his wind-blown hair with his hand: "Mere creature... Jeanne, assist me!"
Two arcs of electricity again pierced the sky, striking down two more magical rabbits that leapt and sprinted.
Patting the grass and dirt off his knees, Horn awkwardly climbed up from the ground.
With a couple of soft coughs, he adopted a serious demeanor: "Jeanne, my Saintess and Knight, I command you to immediately clear out these rabbit creatures, slay the servants of these devils!"
"At your command, my lord."
"And you all, clean up the body of this brave archer."
"At your command, Master Saint Grandson Pope."
For roughly three minutes, lightning flashed and roared across the clearing in front of the mountain wall, the air filled with the faint stench and scent of meat following the lightning strikes.
While Jeanne swept away the magical rabbits, Horn was still pondering about the villager initially lured away by the flute sound.
If the magical rabbits blocked the cave entrance, his body should be on the ground by now, yet the footprints extended all the way to the entrance.
Why wasn't the person led away by the flute sound attacked? Where did these magical rabbits come from? Is the flute player raising these rabbits?
Putting aside these doubts for the moment, Horn arrived at the eight electrocuted magical rabbits.
A total of four big and four small, neatly creating a faint scent of meat, making many stomachs start to growl.
The meat of such creatures is extremely expensive, even equating to the value of gold.
Knights can use this creature's flesh to accelerate the progress of the knight breathing method, Wizards need this flesh for ceremonial magic, even Priests require this flesh to refine holy salve ingredients.
Stepping over these deadly magical rabbits, Horn arrived at the mountain wall, looking up at the cave in front.
He originally wanted to use Jeanne's electric light to lure out the possible "flute player," however, the cave had been silent until now.
Indeed capable of patience.
While the flute player remains patient, Priest Kosse is unable to sit still.
Acting as if fearful of someone running away, Kosse volunteered to jump out, and after obtaining Horn's approval, carried the butcher's knife and boldly charged in.
The bright gap in the butcher's knife swung among the vines, clearing the doorway, and the interior scene finally exposed to everyone.
"This, this is..."