The deep and silent darkness enveloped an unknown huge space. Some flickering cold light scattered among the swirling gray mist, becoming increasingly dimmer. Only an extremely weak part could penetrate into the air. Silence enveloped
In this place, there was a faint rumbling vibration sound coming from the depths. In the blink of an eye, it spread to the deeper layers.
"Hiss... uh... damn... cough cough... bah bah..."
With a long inhale, Edward, who was lying in the rubble, let out a groan-like sound. But soon the sound turned into a slight curse, and then into a spit mixed with choking...
The bitter smell of thick dust around his mouth made him regain consciousness quickly, and also caused more pain to hit his nerves...
My throat was dry and painful, as if some kind of creature with sharp teeth and claws was trying to dig out my throat. My limbs were also stiff and numb. I could only barely perceive an existence.
The only thing he was thankful for was that he was still alive - the hunter moved slowly and tried to sit up, but the next moment he had to reach out to hold his head - a series of subtle pains spread from there, causing large piercing pains in various parts of the body.
nervous spasm.
Even if it's just fine pieces of stone rolling off the body.
As he gradually regained his consciousness, he suppressed the urge to scream in pain, and only after breathing heavily for a few times did he gather his strength again... This time he carefully mobilized all his strength slowly, and gently moved toward him.
After rubbing it, he raised his upper body. The dim light submerged in the darkness around him calmed his mind for a while, but then he felt the cold and sticky hand on his forehead that he was subconsciously wiping... He brought his hand close to that faint
In the pale light, he saw that his hands were all dark in color... it should be like dried blood.
There seemed to be a lot of wounds on his body, but all the bones in his body seemed to be intact. After confirming that there were no obvious bleeding holes on his body, he finally pulled himself out of the mess of rocks. With this movement,
He heard a series of bone noises coming from various joints. The choking smell of dust made his nostrils itchy, but before that, he had already begun to shiver.
The temperature change in the Whispering Forest is not obvious. Even in the cave just now, there is not much temperature change. However, the surrounding temperature is bone-chilling at this moment. The surrounding temperature does not seem to be very low. The coat on my body
A big hole has been opened on the back, and there are a few scratches of varying depths on the pants, but they are far from being completely naked... so this can only be a drop in body temperature caused by blood loss.
That's obviously a terrible thing.
"Damn, the backpack...damn it!"
He groped around on his body for a while, and then cursed secretly - the memory became blurred due to the continuous collision and tumbling, only some pain of impact remained, and there seemed to be friction. He vaguely seemed to still remember the beginning of everything.
, the collapsed cave, the hand that grabbed him, but then the collapse behind him caused the shadow to fall down with him, and then there was the heavy impact behind him that almost made him feel like he had vomited out his internal organs.
, the memory after that was almost completely lost.
The pulley bow in his hand had disappeared. Fortunately, although the scabbard of the long sword had been worn through, it still seemed to be hanging on his waist reluctantly. Edward couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief... Fortunately, the quiver was still there.
After unzipping the buckle, the old leather quiver shone with light in the darkness.
This quiver was obtained by Edward from an unfortunate explorer when he entered the jungle for the third time. It was one of his few magic items. It seemed that it could only hold the size of a short bow, but in fact
The space inside is disproportionately large. In addition to the crossbow, it can also hold two bundles of arrows and more than a dozen sticks. That space may have been used to place short javelins, but Edward is not good at that kind of things.
, so I replaced it with some other equipment.
He pulled out a simple lighting staff and tapped the tip to open it. The cold halo of the simple alchemy object stretched like water across the uneven rocks, outlining the blurry but flat space. Let him pay attention.
At this moment, he was lying in a tunnel, with rubble and soil forming a slope behind him. It seemed that this place should have been a section of a long corridor.
He must have slipped down from the gap in the ceiling behind him. Otherwise, a fall from such a height would have been enough to kill him.
The hunter came to this conclusion in his mind as his eyes barely swept across the zenith, which was dozens of feet high.
Unfortunately, the original route seems to have been blocked, with large stones blocking the gap layer by layer. Of course, there are still some cracks around, but if magic is excluded, only creatures such as rats can enter here.
Fortunately, the collapse did not completely seal the surrounding area, at least leaving him with a way out - although it was not much better.
He was about to raise his lighting stick to shine in that direction, but suddenly he heard a slight noise from behind.
So Edward pulled himself completely out of the soil with difficulty, and first poured out the soil and rocks in his boots. After being slightly surprised, he could already see the scene in that direction clearly. At the corner of the slope made of piles of soil and rocks, he was lying quietly.
A faint light, like the white light of a ghost.
Of course, it's not the scary ghosts, but the sheen of magic items.
Limping to the man's side, Edward couldn't help but despise some big dogs in his heart... Although he also fell into a pile of rocks, the appearance of the paladin did not look embarrassing at all.
, not even a speck of dust was stained on the shimmering armor - the quality of magic items is far superior to ordinary items, not to mention that this piece of his must have a force field protection attached to it.
And it's frustrating... no, fortunately, he seems to be in better condition than himself - at least the footsteps of the hunter walking to his side have woken him up from his coma.
"This is where?"
"Underground." The unceremonious tone made Edward grin, suppressing the words he was about to thank the other party for lending him a helping hand at the critical moment - although that performance was indeed great. But he soon discovered that he had to
After thanking him again, the paladin stood up and recited a prayer casually, and the white light in his palms reduced the pain in his body to a tolerable level.
Although he is stupid and lacks experience, the combat effectiveness of the paladin is indeed not comparable to that of ordinary mercenaries.
"What should I do? Can I still find a way to go back?" The paladin did not observe the surroundings carefully. After all, he did not have as good vision as Edward. What's more, he was always shrouded in a layer of light, and the darkness had a particularly strong impact on his eyes.
.
"The collapse was much more serious than expected. We seemed to have been sliding down along a channel, but it was quickly blocked." With a sigh, Edward looked back: "Do you still remember that we slid down?
How long?"
"At least about the size of an hourglass... and then I hit my head too."
"It's really terrible..."
This answer made Edward groan like a sigh.
The time calculation in this world also follows the twelve-decimal standard, and the time it takes for a standard magic hourglass to turn over once is about twenty-fourths of a day, and one scale is almost five minutes - which does not sound like a very long period.
time, but the distance is not walking, but sliding. Even if the speed is slower, it is at least three to five meters per second. Five minutes is enough to cover a mile or two. If you are unlucky, it may be doubled!
What's more, underground tunnels are often intricate. Although this is not the legendary Underdark, it looks similar now. Edward looked around and noticed that, in addition to the blocked passage behind them, there were at least two more like
The place of exit.
"How many levels of spells can that Asha... mage be able to cast?" After thinking about it, he asked again.
"The power mastered by mages has always been one of their biggest secrets. Although Master Asali and I are partners, we are not familiar enough to know her abilities." The paladin said with a little ridicule in his tone.
, but after a pause, he added: "I heard that she already has a real name."
Edward's heart sank slightly again.
Having a true name makes him a veritable high-level mage. And it stands to reason that as long as a high-level mage is prepared, there are many ways to find his lost companions. Even if they are thousands of miles away, it is not difficult, let alone just one.
A few miles away, at least something like a message can be sent to communicate. However, since the two of them have been unconscious here for a while, and the mage has not made any movement, then there may be some special disadvantages here.
conditions, hindering communication therein.
——In fact, this is an optimistic view. After all, if an unlucky thing like an earthquake occurs underground, even a mage will be in a hurry. If there is insufficient preparation, even a mage may not be able to protect himself. Especially
In Edward's view, among the three people, only the priest of the God of Dawn could be considered to have some adventure experience. The other two were just novices who had never seen much of the world.
But anyway, staying where you are is not a very good idea.
It may inevitably increase the risk, but first we must check to see if we are in an area that cannot be reached by magic transmissions. In addition, we must try our best to find air. The atmosphere in this dark tunnel will not always take care of all travelers.
As for the enemies... In fact, there is nothing wrong with meeting a few enemies now. At least it is possible to determine the direction to go. If you are lucky enough, you can coerce them to lead the way, that would be even better.
Of course, that assumes those guys have the intelligence to communicate.
The sound of tiny footsteps and the scraping of metal bounced back from the rock wall, echoing repeatedly in the silent space, which seemed a bit hollow and creepy. But Edward had to carefully distinguish other sounds that might be mixed in, and raised his hand at the same time.
With the lighting stick in his hand, he carefully used the dim light to observe the road ahead.
This place does not seem to belong to a part of the legendary city - it is surrounded by uneven ground, there are some puddles in the distance, and there are countless stalactites hanging above the head that are only found in caves.
There are also some tooth-like protrusions on both sides of the ground. Water droplets dripped from the rocks, making the lichen-covered surface wet and slippery. There were no traces of any living things on the ground and the walls on both sides.
At most, there are some small friction marks - they should be left by small rodents such as mice.
Edward frowned
He had no experience in adventuring in the Underdark, but he had heard some rumors that kept popping up in his mind at this time - the crisscrossing underground caves are connected to each other by countless winding rock caves. Some places are even passable.
Go in more than ten directions, and when you are in it, you will find that those so-called mazes are simply children's games in front of this naturally formed terrain. The completely similar terrain and countless forks make all records become one.
This is all in vain. Without special means, such as the help of natives who are familiar with the route or the help of magic, it is not new at all to be trapped to death.
And for the two of them, not to mention the help of magic, even the most basic food has become a problem - the backpack containing food is not on him, and the paladin does not seem to have any food reserves, which means that after one day at most,
They will become weak due to hunger. So now he has to pay attention to whether there are some underground fungi when exploring the road. During the period when there is no food, these things can also fill the stomach. As for the poisonous ones, they only need to be cast
A detect poison can eliminate them.
What's gratifying is that this narrow passage is not too long. Soon a few lights appeared in the darkness in the distance, and the space gradually became wider.
Finally, when his footsteps rounded a stone that was halfway on the passage, Edward was shocked by the scenery in front of him.
The vision suddenly opened up. After a few scattered stones, it was no longer such a long and narrow underground passage, but a vast space that far exceeded the large square - a huge underground cave, and the two people were in this hollow.
corner of.
There is still deep darkness in the distance, but close to the sight, on the damp rock wall more than ten feet away, there are clusters of rugged stalactites; mushrooms grow in dense layers, some of which are gray-white and hairy.
Fluorescent, the faint brilliance breaks through the deep darkness and outlines the outline of an underground cave. It also makes these strange-shaped sharp stones reflect colorful brilliance, like glazed porcelain. Water droplets hang from the stalactites,
The ethereal tinkling sound was heard, and a layer of light mist filled the cave, giving birth to a different kind of loneliness.
Edward shuddered.
The flowing air is certainly surprising, but the temperature seems to be constantly dropping - as we advance, the flow of air becomes a breeze, and the air sprayed from the innermost part of the mouth condenses into clouds of white mist in the dim light. Because
Before, we were marching in the warm woodland, and the hunter didn't wear too many things. Although the clothes were even decorated with some sheepskin to prevent dampness, coldness and wear resistance, it was not so good to withstand the cold.
grasp.
But what worries him more than these is the surrounding scenery - the cave becomes messy in half, and then becomes flat. It seems to be like after some earthquakes, but it doesn't look like the one just now, but a long time ago
The traces of the past and the surrounding fractured stalagmites have been covered up by fluorescent moss and phylloxera.
But the hunter can distinguish some more unusual traces from them... Those are some stone slabs. Although a layer of debris has accumulated on the overly flat surface, you can still see the traces of artificial carvings on it, even after advancing a step.
After a few miles, some of the pieces had clear scratches on them.
Although I don't know what it means, it seems to be related to magic - very close to my memory, the ancient magic characters are recorded in those wizards' books.
Edward couldn't help but quicken his pace. And the answer to the mystery was at the end of this huge space - it was a flat and cold black-gray stone slab that was different from the surroundings. They suddenly appeared and were embedded in the second half of the cave, forming a
huge walls.
Tan's light suddenly became much stronger.
No, to be precise, it is the gray wall itself that is emitting a hazy light. The strongest part of it is a pair of huge metal creations, standing at the end of the two people's sight.
The shock in his heart made Edward widen his eyes.
This was the first time he saw such a creation after arriving in this world - so huge, exquisite, and magnificent...
It seems difficult to describe such a thing with ordinary vocabulary - even a rough estimate is that it is more than fifteen feet high and more than twenty feet wide. The ancient metal shines with blue-green light. It is quite exquisite and grand.
The reliefs are cast on top without any decay or rust caused by the passage of time.
These are two huge doors.
Edward tilted his head slightly, and his eyes fell on a stone slab in front of him. The rows of characters on the base were shimmering...twisted and thick, elegant or peaceful, and seemed to have different meanings. However,
However, he could only barely make out the elegant characters written on the bottom row. It was an ancient and deformed script that looked like it had been written at least hundreds of years ago.
No entry allowed
"Infernal language, dwarven language, dragon language, elven language... among them, elven language and dragon language all have the same meaning as common language, and I think the others are the same." The paladin spoke in a low voice, as if talking to himself, but also like
He wanted to consult: "And the patterns on the door are the battle of the intersection of turbulence, the punishment of the dead, the judgment of the Plains of Mammon... Each scene comes from an allusion to a battlefield, which happened two thousand years ago, four thousand years ago, or even
It happened five thousand years ago... Obviously, this is the most formal warning, and we'd better... heed this advice.";
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