The flickering light of burning wood danced faintly in the night.
Duogan woke up with a start, seeing the bonfire in front of him, his eyes filled with a momentary blankness.
Then, he reacted, quickly looking up at Nolan, who was sitting not far away, smiling and looking at him.
"H-human."
Duogan's voice was a little shaky, and the pain in the back of his neck made him realize that everything in front of him was real, his green pupils contracting.
Subconsciously.
Duogan curled his legs, looking at the human in front of him with full vigilance and nervousness.
During the day, when his consciousness wasn't very clear, Duogan didn't feel anything wrong when fighting this human; he just wanted to kill him.
But now, with his consciousness clear.
Duogan immediately realized the incredible aspects: this human could not only summon summonable beings like angels, which existed in the human world.
He also possessed terrifying combat power himself, and could even use abilities like "Shrink," which only their race could learn.
Most terrifyingly!
This human had the power of a curse on him, but it didn't seem to affect him.
"It looks like you've sobered up."
Nolan noticed that the bloodshot in the forest gnome's pupils had faded, and the somewhat neurotic, crazed emotions had also stabilized. "Don't be so nervous, I don't have any ill intentions."
"In any case, let's fill our stomachs first, then we can talk slowly."
Nolan picked up a piece of wild boar meat, roasted golden and sizzling with oil, from the bonfire and handed it to the nervous Duogan.
While Duogan was unconscious, Nolan wasn't idle.
[Experience Slot: 9632 / 10000]
First, his experience value had already increased to over 9000. If it weren't for the time limit on the angels' existence, he probably could have maxed out his experience today.
Although the area of this forest was far smaller than the Tob Great Forest, its scope was not small. Ten Fire Archangels could only clear out the demonic beasts in this area within a limited time.
He still had 15 Fire Archangel Summoning Scrolls on hand. To prevent any accidents, he didn't continue summoning angels.
Besides the experience gain, the curse power within Nolan's body had become a bit denser again, but the overall increase in the concentration of curse power was not high.
At first.
Nolan wondered if it was because the angels were too far away, and the curse power emanating from the demonic beasts' bodies after death couldn't be absorbed.
So, Nolan went into the forest himself and killed a few demonic beasts, finding that the energy of the curse power he obtained was indeed not much.
The only thing that could be confirmed was that the amount of curse power within different demonic beasts varied greatly, especially stronger demonic beasts, which contained more curse power energy.
"Can't eat!" Duogan's face changed when he saw the wild boar meat being handed over, and he recoiled.
Nolan paused, looking at him in confusion.
"This forest has been cursed, and all living creatures in it are poisonous!"
Duogan's eyes held a hint of fear, then he seemed to remember something and looked at Nolan:
"That's right, that's right, you control this curse, you're not afraid of this forest."
"Where is Pasha? Is he alright?"
Duogan's emotions became a little agitated again, but this time he didn't lose control.
Poisonous?
Nolan's hand, holding the wild boar meat, paused. He had already eaten quite a bit before Duogan woke up.
His body hadn't felt any discomfort.
"Cough."
Nolan cleared his throat and put the wild boar meat back on the bonfire.
The "poison" Duogan mentioned should be the curse power within the wild beasts and demonic creatures. He himself wielded this power, which was why he wasn't affected.
"The Pasha you speak of, if he's the forest gnome who left a few years ago, he's living very well in our human empire."
"After all, races like yours are very rare. Currently, the most famous in the empire is an ogre known as the 'Martial King,' who is quite popular."
Nolan spoke softly, smiling, with a mix of truth and falsehood.
Duogan was silent for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh of relief, raising his arm to wipe his eyes, and muttered in a hoarse voice: "As long as he's alive, as long as he's alive."
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"
Nolan saw that his emotions had stabilized again and asked, "A friend of mine is currently suffering from the curse just like you. I want to understand this matter; perhaps I can find a way to resolve this curse."
Duogan looked up, his fur-covered face faintly showing a look of surprise.
"Even you, who controls this power, have no solution?"
Duogan's green pupils widened.
Nolan shook his head, "Sorry, I haven't fully understood this power myself."
"By the way, do you want me to send you back to your tribe first?"
He felt that the current mental state of this forest gnome, Duogan, still had some issues. If he could go to their tribe and communicate with other forest gnomes, it would naturally be for the best.
"Tribe—the tribe is already destroyed."
"They're all dead."
Duogan's shoulders trembled uncontrollably, his hoarse voice filled with deep remorse and despair, as he murmured, "I am a person burdened with heavy sins."
Before Nolan could speak.
Duogan suddenly looked up, his green pupils fixed on Nolan: "It's the Abyss!"
"Something went wrong in the Abyss!"
Then, Duogan scrambled to his feet and knelt before Nolan: "Take me to the Abyss! Only an adult who wields the power of the curse can approach such a place!"
"Okay." Nolan nodded.
The next day.
Just as dawn was breaking.
Nolan and Duogan had already set off, heading towards the deepest part of the jungle.
The "Abyss" he mentioned was not a mythical place, but a bottomless canyon located at the junction of the deep forest and this mountain range.
This place had always been called the "Abyss" by the people of the Forest Gnome tribe.
Duogan didn't elaborate on the full story.
But Nolan, through indirect questioning, was able to piece together a general outline of the events.
The timeline of this incident traced back much further than when Renas obtained the power of the curse.
Duogan's tribe had, for a long time, been dealing with poisonous demonic beasts that occasionally crawled up from the valley's abyss, with black corrosive marks on their bodies and toxins within them.
Their tribe would kill these demonic beasts and then burn them, but there weren't too many of them.
However, a few years ago, an accident occurred, seemingly involving a magical ritual passed down through the tribe, which Duogan mentioned.
Empty sky.
Branches and leaves in the forest swayed, and leaves rustled softly.
The two moved quickly through the forest. Nolan had the "Forest Traverse" magic item, and Duogan, as a forest gnome, was also skilled at moving through the jungle.
Along the way.
Perhaps because of Duogan, no demonic beasts attacked them. Even so, it still took the two of them most of the day to reach the edge of the deepest part of the forest.
The deep valley looked as if it had been cut in half with a single stroke.
One moment, it was a dense jungle, and the next, a single step led to a bottomless valley, as if the forest had been cut in half and a section had disappeared.