This feeling—
A hint of gravity appeared in Nolan's gaze as he stared into the valley; he sensed the curse power within his body becoming restless.
"Finally here, I'm finally here!"
Duo Gan stood on the edge of the cliff, one hand gripping the branches extending from the lush trees, looking down into the bottomless valley with eyes full of complexity and excitement.
"Is this your first time?" Nolan asked, surprised by Duo Gan's words.
Duo Gan shook his head, his voice tinged with fear: "I couldn't get close to this place. Once I approach, the curse power inside me goes out of control, and I lose my mind."
"Every time I wake up, I find myself back at the outskirts of the forest."
At this point.
Duo Gan looked at Nolan excitedly: "Great Strong One, while staying by your side, the influence of this curse power has been suppressed."
"I didn't expect to have such an ability."
Nolan was indeed a bit surprised this time.
"Great Strong One, please ride on my back." Duo Gan was clearly impatient and took a few steps back.
"!"
In the next moment, a low growl escaped Duo Gan's mouth.
His petite body expanded rapidly, transforming into a giant Basilisk in the blink of an eye.
"Roar!"
The Basilisk shook its head and nodded toward Nolan, signaling for him to sit on its back.
His size has decreased?
Nolan looked at Duo Gan, who had turned back into a Basilisk; his original staggering size of nearly ten meters had clearly shrunk quite a bit.
Including the tail, he was only about eight meters long.
After all, a Basilisk's tail is nearly half its body length, so this change was quite conspicuous.
The reason for the shrinkage was likely related to Nolan breaking his transformation once before.
"No need."
Nolan reached out and crushed a scroll.
Whoosh!
With a flash of white light, a Flame Archangel appeared, and Nolan easily leaped onto its back.
"!"
The Basilisk let out a low growl at the sight, moved its eight legs simultaneously, crawled out of the woods to the edge of the cliff, and then unhesitatingly began to climb down.
The rough cliff face provided excellent grip for the Basilisk, which was naturally skilled at climbing, and it descended rapidly like a gecko.
Nolan followed closely behind, descending through the air with the help of the Flame Archangel.
Inside the deep valley.
Aside from the piercing sound of the wind blowing against the rock walls, there were no cries of wild beasts or magic beasts; it was eerily quiet.
The two descended faster and faster, and the light within the valley began to grow dimmer, with a faint white haze even starting to appear.
Nolan had the Flame Archangel stay close to Duo Gan in his Basilisk form to prevent the haze from causing them to drift apart.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two explored downward at extreme speed.
After about half an hour.
"Roar!"
The Basilisk let out a roar and suddenly jumped down from the cliff wall, followed by the sound of a heavy landing.
They reached the bottom!
Nolan's expression turned serious as the Flame Archangel's speed decreased, and it slowly descended to the ground.
They were now at the deepest part of the valley, where sunlight could not reach, and the surroundings were pitch black.
Only the light radiating from the Flame Archangel allowed Nolan to barely see the environment!
Crack!
A slight crisp sound came from beneath his feet, immediately echoing through the valley.
Nolan found he was stepping on a long, slender bone of some unknown beast.
Raising his sleeve, he took out a monocle purchased in E-Rantel from his Item Box and placed it over his left eye.
The dark vision suddenly became clear!
What came into view was a long, narrow, and deep passage, with various white bones scattered haphazardly around.
Duo Gan, in his Basilisk form, came to Nolan's side, his body shaking as he quickly shrank back to his original appearance.
"Great Strong One, the source must be here."
Duo Gan let out a painful groan, but his voice was exceptionally excited.
At this moment, the thumb-sized black corrosion marks on Duo Gan's bark-like skin showed a clear tendency to expand.
Even without Duo Gan saying anything.
Nolan also sensed the curse power within his body becoming active.
"This is getting more and more interesting."
Nolan looked up, his eyes shining.
He hadn't expected this casual speculation to lead to such a discovery; this world truly still hid many secrets.
As for danger?
He didn't believe that if some powerful creature truly lived in this valley, the Forest Gnome tribe living here would be completely unaware.
Moreover.
The entire Forest Gnome tribe seemed to have been destroyed by their own kind.
Nolan and Duo Gan moved deeper into the valley along the narrow path, their footsteps and the sound of bones being crushed on the ground echoing continuously in the overly quiet valley.
Too quiet?
Nolan frowned slightly; it seemed only the two of them existed in the depths of this valley, but the number of animal bones on the ground was clearly abnormally high.
A massive dark figure suddenly pounced from behind the rock wall on the left, accompanied by a foul, rotten stench.
Boom!
The brightly glowing Flame Archangel was the first to be attacked, the staggering impact clashing with the flame sword in its hand.
"Roar!!"
A deafening roar instantly echoed through the valley.
The flame sword cut into the opponent's skin, making a "sizzle" like grilled meat, but at the same time, the massive figure pinned the Flame Archangel to the ground.
Flash!
A new light appeared.
Another Flame Archangel pounced directly toward this magic beast, knocking it off the first Flame Archangel.
The opponent's massive body rolled on the ground, and under the light of the two Flame Archangels, the magic beast's form was fully revealed.
Its entire skin was in a state of decay, making its original appearance unrecognizable; drops of disgusting pus continuously seeped from the rotting skin, dripping onto the ground.
"Is this... a Basilisk?"
Nolan saw the long tail that took up most of its body and its eight legs; these were clearly the features of a Basilisk.
However, its current appearance was like a rotting monster!
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
Roars echoed densely throughout the valley.
Over a dozen Basilisks, all rotting and of various sizes, crawled out from the rock walls on both sides, rapidly approaching Nolan and Duo Gan.
"They're actually not dead yet!"
"This is a Basilisk nest!"
"Kill them!"
"Curse, it's all because of you! All because of you!"
"Heart..."
"The ritual, I shouldn't have eaten the heart, I shouldn't have held the ritual, everyone—————ah!!"
Large areas of Duo Gan's skin began to rot, and his mind seemed to be affected again, his emotions becoming frantic.
!
Nolan appeared behind Duo Gan expressionlessly, swinging his arm to deliver a heavy hand-chop to the back of the other's neck.
Duo Gan's eyes rolled back, his frantic voice stopped abruptly, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Is the entire body being corrupted by the curse?"
"Aside from being a bit disgusting, their aura isn't very strong."
Nolan scanned the surroundings, where the rotting Basilisks were staring fiercely at him; he raised his arm, and an iron sword appeared.
"Fine, I'll slaughter them all."
"Dark Wave!"
A surge of dark energy, which appeared dense even in the darkness, spread from Nolan's body; seemingly influenced by the environment, the range of the spread suddenly reached dozens of meters.
The numerous Basilisks, already suffering from the curse's influence, all froze in place!