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As we walked along the old passage, an unusual pungent smell gradually began to fill the air.

That is the smell that can often be smelled in the Demon Fortress area.

It is something unique to lava.

The surroundings began to become dry. Contrary to the coldness in Duriel's lair, the temperature continued to rise. It was hard to imagine that even though there was only a passage between them, the temperature difference between the two sides was so extreme.

"What... what, is this the Demon Fortress? Does this road lead directly to the Demon Fortress?" After wiping the sweat from his forehead, the restless Beja began to mutter and complain again.

"Oh, have you been to the Demon Fortress?" I looked at Beja curiously.

The environment there is even more cruel than in the Western Kingdom. Can this little girl endure the hardship?

"Yes...yes, I went there once..." The little girl raised her head and glanced at me. In the form of the Demon Moon Wolf Witch, I could clearly catch her subtle expressions.

Originally, when I raised my head, my eyes moved slightly and opened, probably because I wanted to glare at me as usual, and then say something like "Stop looking down on me, you idiot Wu, my highness, balabala...".

But when the eyes just touched me, the eyes that were constantly opening and widening stopped, and were replaced by soft eyes, and shy, close, and coquettish eyes.

Just like when he was with Artoria.

Please spare me and go back to that tough-tongued and arrogant little girl and princess.

I held my head helplessly and screamed. Beiya now gave me goosebumps all over the place.

If I had known at the beginning, I would transform into a Hell Fighting Bear. If I changed it now, it would look like I was afraid of Beja's enthusiasm, and my manly dignity was not so acceptable, so I had to bite the bullet.

Gradually, in the deepest part of the straight cave, we saw a faint red light.

"We're almost there." We cheered up.

The red dots in front are getting bigger and brighter, and are accompanied by a heat wave that is stronger than the previous one. The air seems to be cooked. Ordinary people must not be able to bear it when they come here.

Getting closer and closer. Finally, after turning a right-angled corner, the red light in the sky covered our eyes. We continued forward for tens of meters and stepped out of the passage. What greeted us was a dark fire-colored world.

What I saw when I came here eight years ago was no different.

Coming out of the cave, there is a semicircular platform protruding from the rock wall. The foot of the platform is suspended in the air. Deep in the depths is the terrifying lava, which is constantly rolling and emitting sticky flame bubbles.

Black and dark red are mixed together, and the pungent smoke emitted pours out from the underground magma, making the entire underground world full of such pungent and toxic gases, making it look gray.

Eyes are dry and uncomfortable.

Come out of the passage and go straight forward along the platform. There is also a small piece of feldspar protruding from the circular platform. This piece of feldspar is connected to a suspension bridge. The other side of the suspension bridge is connected to a natural

The center of the magma rises, connected by circular stone pillar platforms that exist like isolated islands.

This suspension bridge has not been broken yet.

I was quite surprised. When I came here, I thought that if I stepped on this thing, it would definitely be like what was shown on TV. In order to reflect the extreme thrills and the protagonist's luck, decisiveness and agility, it would suddenly break after walking halfway.

It was simply built to deceive people.

More than eight years have passed, and in such a harsh environment, the suspension bridge is still surviving tenaciously. This thing may be more reliable than I thought.

Of course, even so, I am not prepared to cross the suspension bridge. The quasi-tragic emperor nature that comes with it may make this suspension bridge "a once-in-eight-year wait".

Seeing that the familiar scene had not changed much, I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was still vigilant at all times, especially the lava under my feet.

It's okay to say it's a gaming disease, but after just one glance, you'll feel that something strange might emerge from the lava.

"You two, wait here for now, be careful, I'll go explore the way." Looking back, I ordered the two little girls very cautiously.

"Yeah." Beya, who suddenly became extremely well-behaved, nodded.

Although Tia had been here alone before, she also knew that now was not the time to show her "experience", so she nodded along.

The two princesses both stepped back a certain distance and came to the exit of the passage, assuming that if something happened, we would turn around and run away, with Fanfan standing on top and saying goodbye.

Although I know they are right, I am still a little sad, don't be so dedicated.

I nodded my head towards the two girls and slowly floated up.

I have just said that I will not walk on the suspension bridge even if I am killed. That guy is here just to deceive people like me. If you don’t believe it, I will take Feini to test it next time and I will know that what he said is true.

"Yawn!" In the distant seaport of Kurast, Fini, who returned to the Greenwood Bar, suddenly sneezed and her whole body trembled.

Thinking of the possibility of an alarm defense magic circle in the sky above the underground world, I didn't fly too high. My toes were less than a foot above the ground. Then I walked slowly along the suspension bridge, looking around from time to time.

Looking at the rolling lava lake hundreds of meters high below, I was afraid that a weird big mouth would suddenly burst out of it and swallow me whole.

Fortunately, none of these situations happened. I reached the other side smoothly and my toes landed on the cylindrical platform in the center of the lava lake.

This is a new place to explore. Last time I stopped across the suspension bridge. I only knew that there was an altar here.

While always paying attention to the movements of Tia and Beja, I started to circle around the cylindrical platform. The first thing that caught my sight was the altar in the center of the platform. I was looking at it on the other side and came to

In front of my eyes, I realized that the actual area of ​​the altar was a bit large. The main body was actually not large, but with the main body as the center, the mysterious patterns and magic circles carved on the ground covered almost one-third of the area of ​​the platform.

Going around to the other side, I found the [door] that Tia mentioned. Compared with the giant doors I had seen before, it was not very big. It was only about five meters high, arched, and had two doors that opened in the middle.

The leaves were tightly closed, leaving no gaps. The gray-black, steel-colored stone looked much heavier than an ordinary door.

I didn't find this door that time eight years ago because it was blocked by the altar. The door, altar, suspension bridge, and the exit of the passage on the opposite side just formed a straight line.

As Dia said, this stone door is engraved with patterns similar to those on the altar floor. It is said to be the style of the Horadric tribe. I don't understand it either, so I simply ignore it.

What surprised me was that this door was alone, with no village in front and no shop in the back.

To put it simply, it is just a door, standing there. It is unclear what is in front and behind, and it is not connected to any object. It is just a single stone door standing there.

It exuded a sense of danger. Could it be that it was leading to some strange space? This thought popped up instantly.

After making a full circle and finding nothing unusual, I returned along the original path. Then I picked up the two little girls, one on the left and the other on the right, and took them to the cylindrical platform along the same path.

"Be calm and don't touch around, you know?" I said this to Beya. This curious elf princess might not be able to help but reach out and touch those patterns at some point.

, if something is triggered, it will be great fun.

If I had spoken to her in a commanding tone before, even if she agreed in her heart, Beiya would definitely have looked at me angrily and arrogantly, but now, she is looking at me, her beautiful eyes glowing with a slightly hazy and alluring look.

Shui Guang hummed obediently.

Goosebumps fell all over the floor again, my elf princess can't be so docile!

On the other side, Girl Tia cheered as if she had returned home, and walked up to the altar, looking around. Although she had been here before, she didn't have enough time to observe it carefully like now.

"Can you tell from these patterns what your ancestors meant? What is the thing inside the gate? Is it protecting treasures or sealing demons?"

Seeing Tia squatting down and studying for a long time, I couldn't help but ask aloud.

"I don't understand." Tia shook her head without raising her head.

"Ancestors... like to make things mysterious so that future generations can't figure it out."

To put it simply, it’s true that it hurts to be idle.

I rolled my eyes wildly behind my back and gave Tia's words another, more correct interpretation.

"However, judging from the overall style of the altar, it doesn't seem like there is any huge risk, such as sealing a powerful demon or something. Maybe... it really may be related to the Horadric Cube." After a while,

Tia said again.

"That's good. If the altar is opened and a demon king or god is thrown out from the door, then we will have sinned." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fanfan is an idiot, he wouldn't seal something so dangerous." Tia turned around and made a cute face at me.

"Okay, you can continue your research. There is still time. Don't rush to open the altar and see if you can find any useful clues." I simply took out a folding chair (by the way, Velas, you even prepared this for me) and sat down.

Although it is not a good place, the air is filled with pungent and poisonous gas similar to sulfur, but in fact it is not much worse than the caves and tombs and prisons I have been to before.

Well……

It feels like Beiya behind me is studying my dangling tail. Is it an illusion? Damn it, I really want to wrap it around my waist. Beiya is so scary now. She is not the tsundere she usually is.

Loli.

Simpledia didn't keep me waiting for long. After about half an hour, she patted her butt and stood up.

"nailed it?"

"It should be said that I gave up. My ancestors are really amazing. It's completely incomprehensible. Hehehe~~" The little girl hit her head and smiled.

Until now, even the Horadrics themselves admitted that their ancestors were too ungrateful, and only Dia was still saying good things to those miserable guys.

At this moment, I was deeply moved by Tia's kindness and gentleness.

"In that case, let's open the altar. Anyway, it's a blessing, not a disaster. We can't avoid disasters. What's supposed to come will come sooner or later." I stretched myself and said this nonchalantly, but my eyes were already tight.

He stared at the main body of the altar without moving away.

"Give me the key and let me open it." I stretched out my hand towards Tia and decided to blow up the [bridge]!

"No, you can't just put the key in, let me do it." Dia shook her head, jumped a few steps, and came to the main body of the altar. I couldn't refute, so I could only follow closely to protect it.

In the center of the main body of the altar, a stone-like object like a torch protrudes, the center is depressed, and on the edge of the depression, there are three convex objects similar to bayonet evenly distributed.

This concave mouth is very similar to the size of the Thousand-Year-Old Key... ahem, Thousand-Year-Old Key in Dia's hand.
To be continued...