#722 - Amulet (asking for monthly ticket recommendation ticket)

“Flame Charm!”

Seeing Ron in such a critical situation, Hermione didn't dare delay and quickly cast a Flame Charm, but fearing she might hurt Ron, she aimed the spell directly at the trunk of the dead tree. Google search reading

“Aww!!”

Hermione, in her fury, cast a fiercely powerful flame that instantly enveloped the ghost tree. The ghostly faces on the trunk let out a series of screams as they were scorched by the flames. The piercing cries made the eardrums of those nearby ache.

But Hermione, seeing this, relentlessly maintained the spell. After struggling for a moment, Neville and Harry also decisively took action, each firing a Petrification Charm and a Shattering Charm, respectively, hitting the dead tree.

“Bang!”

After writhing in pain for a moment, the dead tree finally couldn't hold on any longer, but before it completely died, it didn't forget to throw Ron out of its grasp, slamming him heavily onto the nearby muddy ground. Then, it gradually lost its voice and turned into a charred, dead tree.

“Ron!”

Seeing that the danger was finally over, Hermione rushed to Ron's side with a worried expression. In this unfinished, high-risk instance, no one knew what would happen. If anything happened to Ron, Hermione couldn't forgive herself.

“Cough cough! That hurt…”

Ron, supported by Hermione, sat up with a look of lingering fear on his face, but his complexion seemed relatively good, although he was covered in dust from head to toe.

However, after a simple examination, everyone found that although his body was covered in cuts from the dead branches, he hadn't suffered any major injuries.

“Thank goodness!” Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, hugging Ron's head.

“Let me catch my breath!” Ron struggled, feeling uncomfortable from Hermione's grip around his neck, and then stood up with Hermione's help.

“Luckily, there weren't many stones on the ground, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable. This ghost tree suddenly appearing almost scared me to death!” Ron complained after examining himself again to make sure he was alright.

“This strange tree had been normal before, it was only just now that it was suddenly possessed!” Harry glanced at the charred dead tree, with lingering fear in his heart. “This ghost town is really strange. That so-called demon is simply omnipresent. I suspect that besides the trees, other things can also be possessed by the demon.”

“What exactly is that so-called demon? There's no one else around, how did it get close to us? Does it have invisibility?” Ron couldn't help but guess after catching his breath.

“No, I'm afraid it's not that simple.” Hermione shook her head slightly. “If it just concealed its form, it should have reappeared after possessing the dead tree. I don't believe that demon has been dealt with.”

“Could this demon be formless? Otherwise, there's no way to explain what we've encountered!” Neville's idea was simple: if you can't see a form, then it's formless.

“How could something like that exist?” Ron curled his lip with disbelief.

“No!” Harry interrupted Ron's rebuttal at this moment. “Perhaps Neville's guess is correct, I have a similar premonition.”

“Wouldn't that be the end of us? How could we possibly defeat an intangible enemy?” Ron desperately hugged his head. He was already regretting entering this instance. Everything here had overturned his previous understanding.

Seeing Ron turn into that cowardly state again, Hermione smacked him on the back of the head in dissatisfaction. “The professor couldn't possibly create an unbeatable enemy! It must have some weakness, or some kind of limitation.”

“Can you stop hitting people from behind all the time?” Ron grumbled to Hermione unhappily, then asked puzzled, “Then what do you think the demon's weakness and limitations are?”

“I don't know, but our biggest problem now is to find the Revelation Document and reduce the Fear Value!” Neville pointed to his goggles.

After being reminded by him, everyone checked their respective Fear Values, and then they discovered that after the previous ghost tree attack, their Fear Values had increased significantly.

Neville's value was already high, and now it had risen to 38%, while Harry and Hermione had risen to 24% and 26% respectively.

Ron was in a miserable state. He had just been frightened by Hermione's experiment, and then encountered the ghost-faced tree attack. Now his Fear Value had exceeded half, reaching 57%.

“Damn it, this Fear Value really increases according to the degree of fright. I'm afraid the greater the fright, the more the Fear Value increases.” Hermione stared at the status bar with an ugly expression.

Then Hermione glared at Ron unhappily. “Can't you be a little braver? If this continues, you'll probably be the first one to reach the maximum value.”

“This isn't something I can control.” Ron rolled his eyes speechlessly, then couldn't help but frown. “Everyone better be careful. After the Fear Value exceeds 50 points, I'll experience a strange palpitation. That feeling is very real, not like a psychological effect.”

“That's right, I have a similar feeling.” Neville nodded in agreement. “It's like constantly feeling someone staring at you from behind, very uncomfortable.”

“In other words, besides 70%, there will also be side effects if the Fear Value exceeds 30% and 50%?” Harry summarized simply and couldn't help but worry. “And the trouble is, the situation you mentioned might lead to a faster increase in the Fear Value. We have to find a way to clear these Fear Values first.”

“But we're already outside the quarry!” Ron said somewhat unwillingly. “I'm still able to fight in my current state. I think we should find the first Revelation Document first, otherwise it would be too procrastinating.”

“Ron is right, I suggest we go in and explore first.” Hermione also agreed at this time. “We already have information about the behavior patterns of that monster called [Demon Minion], it will be much easier to deal with when we encounter it again.”

“Okay!” Harry also knew that if they turned around now to run to the bonfire to eliminate the Fear Value, it would definitely waste a lot of time. The best choice now was to go into the quarry to explore first. If there weren't too many enemies, they might be able to make a quick decision.

After making up their minds, the group of people packed up and readjusted their formation before sneaking in.

The quarry in front of them was actually equivalent to a small residential area, including 1 office building, 3 employee dormitories, 1 store, 1 workshop, and 1 bar. These buildings were all distributed on one side of a stone mountain, and there was also a mine pit on the side of the stone mountain, but it was already sealed off by an iron gate.

After reaching the edge of this residential area, the quartet didn't rush in, but very carefully scouted the surrounding situation.

After investigation, the group found that there were a total of 6 of those [Demon Minions] they had encountered distributed in this quarry camp, 3 of which were relatively far from the other monsters, and 3 were relatively grouped together.

After a brief discussion, the group decided to prioritize eliminating the three isolated [Demon Minions], and also scavenge the bar and workshop they were guarding.

After confirming the plan, the four headed towards the nearest monster.

However, with the previous combat experience, the group had learned a lot this time. They didn't choose to fire all at once, nor did they arrange for teammates to engage in close combat entanglement, so as not to be affected by the monster's self-destruction.

The four used a segmented attack method, firing spells at the enemy intermittently in pairs. Neville and Harry prioritized shooting to wake up the enemy. After the enemy used Flash to rush towards them, Hermione and Ron then launched an attack.

Without much effort, the group successfully eliminated the three [Demon Minions], and at the same time, they controlled their Fear Values very well. Even Ron was currently keeping it below 60%.

The quartet had also discovered at this time that the Fear Value was most affected by unknown frights, and the greater the emotional fluctuations, the greater the increase.

Like the first time they encountered the [Demon Minion] and the ghost-faced tree, even if they weren't attacked by the other party, they would still increase a lot of Fear Value.

But since the group had already seen the [Demon Minion], their emotions wouldn't change much when they encountered similar enemies again.

After solving the 3 Demon Minions, the quartet slipped into the two-story workshop non-stop and looted it wantonly. Before long, they found another box of matches and some usable odds and ends, especially Hermione also found some wound medicine, which could be used for Ron.

Just as the group was resting, Neville's voice suddenly came from under his feet, “Come here quickly, look what I found!”

The group looked for the sound and found that there was a trapdoor on the side of the ground. It turned out that there was a basement in this room.

After the three followed the stairs down, they found Neville excitedly pointing to a parchment on the table, “It seems that our luck is good today, the Revelation Document was found so easily!”

Upon hearing this, the others gathered around and saw that this parchment was indeed their target Revelation Document, but in their goggles, the Revelation Document only showed the task item and had no other introduction. It seemed that this thing had no other use.

“Well done! Neville!” Harry patted Neville on the shoulder excitedly, and then carefully put away the page.

“There's more than just this good thing here, look there!”

Neville smiled and pointed his hand. The group looked in the direction of his finger and found that there was a treasure chest emitting a faint blue light in the corner of the room!

“It's a treasure chest!” Ron raised his eyebrows, but soon he was distressed again. “But we don't have a key!”

“The treasure chests in this instance don't seem to require a key. I've just checked it. You can open it directly with an unlocking spell.” Neville led the group to the treasure chest with a chuckle.

Sure enough, after he cast a simple spell, the treasure chest was easily opened, and then the group saw several props placed inside.

[Blessed Fire Axe]

Quality: Green

Attack Power: 25-30

Durability: 50/50

Equipment Requirements: Strength attribute ★★ or above

Additional Features: This item has been blessed, so it doubles damage when facing contaminated enemies.

[Amulet]

Quality: Green

Durability: 100/100

Expel Evil: Passive skill, manifests a shield with a strength of 100 on the wearer's body, protecting the wearer from the erosion of demon claws, including direct damage and fear effects.

[Nourishing Potion]

Uncontaminated potion, can slowly restore the user's stamina and magic power.

After seeing these props clearly, everyone's eyes lit up, especially the weapon called [Blessed Fire Axe] and the [Amulet], which were obviously two pieces of equipment specifically for Despair Town.

However, soon, facing the distribution of equipment, the four hesitated again.

It wasn't that someone in them was greedy. For melee equipment like [Blessed Fire Axe], everyone unanimously agreed to hand it over to Neville to use.

What made them hesitate more was the amulet. Should they give it directly to Neville to protect himself in close combat, or should they give it to Ron, after all, the amulet could prevent the Fear Value from increasing.

Although it only avoided the direct fear influence from the enemy and couldn't eliminate the fright they suffered, it might save Ron at a critical moment. You must know that his current Fear Value was already hovering around 60%.

“Let Neville use it.” Ron suggested very frankly. “Next, Neville is our main combat power. Prioritizing ensuring that he can output stably is the most important thing. As for things like being possessed by a demon after the Fear Value is full, it may be too early for us to consider it now.”

“If Ron you insist on not using the amulet, for safety reasons, I suggest giving up the search for the remaining rooms next, after all, we have already obtained the Revelation Document.” Seeing Ron insist, Neville didn't force it anymore, but put forward his own opinion.

“I think it's okay.” Hermione nodded. “We don't need to stay here any longer. Before we develop, our best choice is to make fewer mistakes.”

Seeing that the group had unified their opinions, Harry didn't raise any objections, and then after a simple rest, they withdrew from the house and headed in the opposite direction of the quarry.

But this place is not a place where you can come and go as you please. The four of them have not thought about it until now, why are there so few monsters stationed here, and they are distributed so scattered?

“Swish!!”

Just as the group was about to move to the edge of this residential area, a scarlet space crack suddenly opened in the void in front of them, and then they saw three [Demon Minions] jumping out of it. It can be said that they directly ran into the quartet head-on.

Facing such a change, Harry and the others all changed their faces drastically. This sudden appearance of the enemy can be said to have caught them off guard.

What's even more fatal is that due to the fright caused by these monsters, Ron's Fear Value finally broke through to more than 70%.

And at this moment, several high-pitched evil howls came from the quarry behind the group. Obviously, the [Demon Minions] in the camp were attracted by Ron.