"F**K, what the hell is that thing?"
"Sh*t!!! There are monsters! There are monsters here!!"
"Tom, save me, take me out…"
Within the thick fog, screams and roars echoed as monstrous sounds filled the air.
Leo and Mark had high mental attributes and excellent hearing. They were relatively close to the city gate, so they could hear the noises very clearly.
Mark then remembered that two teams had chosen to stay outside earlier and had not entered the city. It seemed that the thick fog was full of monsters, and these two teams had suffered a devastating disaster…
In other words, Leo's previous analysis was correct: staying in the thick fog meant certain death!!
Mark frowned.
The monsters in the thick fog seemed endless, and just the sound of their roars was full of oppression. This indicated that those monsters were very powerful! With his current strength, even if he ventured into such thick fog, he might not be able to come out safely.
"There are terrifying monsters in the thick fog!" Leo said in a low voice, her pretty face full of solemnity.
"Could it be that the 'horror' is in the thick fog?" Mark frowned and couldn't help but complain. "Didn't they say that the early stages of the Energies of Human Realm are relatively simple? I don't see it that way!"
If the monsters in the thick fog were the mission target, the "horror," then every single one of their batch of new transcendents would be going to their deaths if they went in!!
Hearing Mark's complaint, Leo slightly furrowed her brow and fell into deep thought.
"That's not right… The difficulty of the first layer of the Energies of Human Realm shouldn't be this high."
As she spoke, Leo went to the window and looked outside through the crack. After observing for a moment, she suddenly said, "Mark, look, those thick fogs don't seem to be able to enter the city, including the monsters in the thick fog."
Mark had already noticed this.
"So, Leo, what you mean is…"
"The 'horror' shouldn't refer to the monsters in the thick fog!!"
Although Leo used the word "should," her tone was exceptionally certain.
At this moment, the landlady's corpse lying on the ground suddenly twitched a few times, instantly attracting the attention of the two. In the next moment, a bizarre scene appeared.
The landlady, who had clearly stopped breathing before, actually stood up again, swaying. Even the bones that Mark had kicked apart reconnected with a series of "crack crack" sounds. When the landlady stood up completely, her appearance had become extremely terrifying!
Countless black lines spread across her face and neck, like dense spider webs. Her pair of scarlet eyes emitted a captivating light, ferocious and terrifying.
Mark frowned upon seeing this. If someone were timid, they would probably be scared to the point of their legs going weak. Fortunately, Mark was confident in his strength, and the strength of his mental attributes made his willpower extremely astonishing, so he was not frightened.
"Roar!"
The landlady let out a beast-like roar from her throat. Then, she pounced on the two again.
At this moment, the landlady could no longer be called a human; she was completely a monster! Moreover, this monster exuded a pungent, fishy stench…
"Whoosh!"
A fierce flame suddenly appeared, directly hitting the monster's ferocious, terrifying face.
Leo had made her move. The monster was sent flying, its head severely damaged, and it let out a miserable howl, finally ceasing to move. It was instantly killed!
And Leo, who had done all of this, was very calm, with no discomfort on her pretty face. This was not only because her high mental attributes strengthened her will, but it also showed that the girl's psychological quality was strong enough to remain calm in the face of danger.
"Its weakness seems to be in the head…"
Just as Leo said this, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on her pretty face.
"Mark, I just received a reminder of the change in the mission progress. In the 'Kill the Horror' line, the quantity is displayed as 1."
"Oh?" Mark was very surprised.
"In that case, the real horror is the humans in the town?"
His gaze turned towards the previous lewd man. That lewd man had been blasted into a pile of mud by his angry kick, dying beyond any possibility of revival, and there was no way he could stand up.
"I didn't get a mission progress reminder when I killed that person before… Could it be that we have to wait for them to mutate?" Mark frowned and guessed.
Leo suddenly said, "They cannot be called humans; they are just monsters in human skin! This city is full of these monsters, which are also our mission target: the horror!"
The girl seemed to understand everything and continued to analyze, "They disguise themselves as humans during the day, and their various behaviors are completely consistent with humans. Even their bodies are the same as human body structures."
"Perhaps, even they themselves think they are humans?"
"Killing them while they are in human form is not recognized by the Energies of Human Realm."
"Only when they reveal their true monster form can they be considered the real horror!"
"And the scarlet moonlight outside should be the key to turning them into monsters…"
After a pause, Leo guessed again, "When they came in before, they said the words 'tribute.' The true meaning of these two words is religious and faith offerings!"
"For these monsters, we transcendents should be sacrifices used to please some kind of existence!!"
"Every year, new transcendents enter this Energies of Human Realm. Presumably, those unlucky ones who are treated as sacrifices are the foundation for these monsters to survive!"
"Perhaps, they use sacrifices to exchange enough supplies with some kind of existence?"
"This can also explain why this isolated city has no agriculture or animal husbandry, yet it has been able to prosper…"
Mark nodded upon hearing this. He very much agreed with Leo's analysis. This was the only relatively reasonable explanation.
Leo added, "Actually, the mission in this Energies of Human Realm is not very difficult. The powerful monsters in the thick fog outside cannot enter the city, and these horrors in the city look terrifying, but their strength is not strong. Even ordinary transcendents can kill them as long as they are fearless."
"What we really need to watch out for are some traps!"
"For example, these foods on the ground. We'll be fine as long as we don't fall for it…"
Mark nodded again. According to Leo's analysis, this mission was indeed not very difficult.
Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something.
"Leo, according to what you said, that Earl's Mansion is probably a big trap!"
"Yes!" Leo said, "Even without the coaxing of that sheriff, the answer that transcendents who enter the city would get from asking other residents about finding free accommodation would probably only be the Earl's Mansion. Unless they use other means to obtain other accommodation."
Just like them, they spent money to stay in the tavern. Even so, there were still traps waiting!
"It seems that the Earl's Mansion should be the place where these monsters have prepared the most…" Mark concluded. "Those fools who enter the Earl's Mansion are going to be in big trouble!"
As soon as he finished speaking, movement suddenly came from the street outside.
The climax of the first layer of the Energies of Human Realm is coming soon, asking for votes! Any kind of vote will do!! Begging!!!