"Damn!"
Muttering a curse, Sharba reluctantly pulled his left foot back.
In this damned mountain forest, wherever you go, the ground is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves. These leaves have been covered layer by layer for years and months. Except for the top layer, the bottom has already rotted. If you step on it, When the rotten leaves and the mud below your feet are already mixed into a ball, you will feel a disgusting pulpy and soft feeling in your heart when you step on it.
Sharba struggled to pull out his leg, not wiping the mud off his boots, but just looked up.
Not far in front of him, Xia Ya stepped on the smashed ground with a calm look on his face, but his steps were much lighter.
If you haven't really walked into this deep mountain and old forest world, you can't imagine what kind of place this is - when you get here, the first thing you have to do is to say goodbye to the civilized world outside!
Walking in the woods, looking up, the tall canopies of trees, like a densely connected umbrella, block the sky tightly. In the middle, it can only barely reveal a little bit of light. The silence in the woods was a little scary, except for a few bird calls. Other than that, it seemed like a silent world.
The air was uncomfortably humid, and after walking for a while, my chest felt stuffy, and the sweat was sticky, as if it had been stained with the skin. a feeling of. The unpleasant smell of rotten leaves filled the air, even if a damp cloth was covered on the nose and mouth, it couldn't stop it, and the strong rotten smell seemed to penetrate through the damp cloth In your mouth and nose, and then penetrate into your body, corroding your body little by little...
Yes, this is this vast mountain forest. It is like an ancient giant. It seems mighty and silent, and it does not show the mountains and dew, but as long as you take the first step into this world, then this mountain forest will use everything all the time, to you declare its "existence".
Smell, humidity, sight, hearing, touch… everything will remind you every moment that you are in an isolated world.
It's not that Shaerba has never been in the mountains, but he didn't seem to have too many special feelings in the first two days of walking into this forest. He was still the same as before. Chop with an axe as you go...
But when we got to the back, not only Sharba, but all the humans in the team, except for the turtle, everyone felt as if they were lost in this mountain - no, to be precise, as if they were given by this mountain and forest. devoured.
The surrounding plants are getting more and more unfamiliar. Looking around, most of the flowers and plants look like they have never seen before: those flowers with bright and beautiful colors that people can't help but touch with their hands, and those that are connected together. , the branches are covered with sharp and thorny bushes: the spines on those bushes are extremely hard, and if you dare to run in hard, you can guarantee that at most three or four steps can pull off a large piece of flesh from your body. !
For the mercenaries, this is obviously a completely unfamiliar world.
Along the way, those Zaku natives looked at this group of obviously lame human mercenaries with almost gloating eyes, as if waiting for them to suffer: in fact, these mercenaries did suffer a lot.
The insects in the woods are many times bigger than what you usually see outside. The mosquitoes at night are really scary. The mosquitoes are flying and circling, just like a flock of hummingbirds! The sharp long mouth looks very scary. When they first saw such a large mosquito, the mercenaries even suspected that if they were bitten by this kind of thing - with just one bite, they could suck one of their arms into flesh. Dry.
In fact, this guess was wrong, and it was quickly confirmed: a mercenary rolled out of a thick leather sleeping bag to sleep at night, and was bitten by a mosquito in a scream and almost broke his throat. One arm was directly swollen like a pig's trotter, and each finger became like a radish.
The danger is not just about these pesky mosquitoes: in this mountain forest, there are things that can kill people almost everywhere: the tree trunks next to it are covered with some old green vines, tangled gently, layer by layer, but Occasionally, when people walk by, hidden among the vines, a green snake may suddenly appear everywhere! The size of this kind of snake is not large, only about the thickness of an egg, but its strength is not small. It's deformed! If it wasn't for Xia Ya's immediate rescue, I'm afraid that the mercenary's bones would have been broken.
Compared with those clumsy mercenaries, walking in this forest, Xi Ya's performance is more like a native than those Zaku natives.
A huge and sturdy body, walking in the forest with light footsteps like a civet cat, carrying an axe to undertake the task of opening the road - at this time, the turtle seems to be no longer a human being, but incarnate into this forest. part of him, he acts more like a native, or a lynx or something. Walking at the front of the mercenary team, occasionally bending over and probing your hand at will, you can catch a snake from the bushes. Those snakes naturally have the skin color of cover, and they mix with the bushes and trees. Like a branch and vine, I can't see it at all, and I don't know why this turtle's eyes are so poisonous. When I catch it, I just grab the one lurking in the dark, and then squeeze the snake's tail and shake it, the movement is neat, He shook the snake's bones, stretched out two fingers, swiped the nails on the snake's belly, and cut the flesh and blood. The two fingers lightly pulled out a snake gall from the inside, opened his mouth and swallowed it bloody, and then He was still talking, as if he was enjoying the taste.
Other mercenaries have tasted the taste of swallowing snake gallbladder. In the past few days, Xi Ya has been catching snakes all the way, and almost every mercenary has eaten a snake gall. The taste is like a nightmare, the bitter taste seems to be It sticks to the tongue and can't go away for a few days - but the amazing thing is that since swallowing the snake gall, and sleeping at night, there are very few mosquitoes around to bite.
Going deep in the woods, Xiaya also ordered that everyone should not be allowed to regenerate the fire. He only eats some cold and hard dry food every day, but he doesn't know which bush he pulled out from a bunch of strangely shaped plants with fat leaves. Come, squeeze and grind it in your hand, and then squeeze out a cloud of green juice. The pungent taste is several times stronger than that of an onion. Xia ordered every mercenary to smear this juice on the On the face, neck, arms, legs and feet: All skin exposed on the outside of the clothes must be fully coated. As a result, the irritating smell of the mercenaries made each of the mercenaries' eyes turn red and tears streaked on their faces. Although it was uncomfortable, after applying these weird juices, let alone mosquitoes, there were no examples of being attacked by snakes.
Just last night, Xi Ya stopped a human mercenary who was going in a deviated direction. The guy was probably coveting the flatness of the terrain, and ran more than ten steps to the side of the forward direction: there was a flat and hard-looking area. some land. As a result, Xia Adam immediately jumped over and pulled the man back.
Then Xia Ya had a dark face, and in front of everyone, snatched the mercenary's sword and threw it on the dry land. As a result, after the long sword that Xi Ya threw smashed a lump of dirt, amidst the exclamations of the surrounding mercenaries, a large group of ants gushed out from the lump like a tide! Those ants were glowing red, crawling on the sword, but it was only a moment's effort, the sword's edge was corroded and rusted, and it was full of incomplete gaps!
"If you accidentally walked there just now, you would have been corroded into a skeleton by those ants." Xia Ya coldly warned the mercenary: "If you don't want to die, just do as I say, and don't disobey at all! Live, everything here is far more dangerous than you see."
The warning had an immediate effect. The mercenaries were shocked and became a lot more honest. They almost followed behind Xia Ya. They wished they would follow Xia Ya's footprints every step of the way. The most obvious one was Dodo Luo, who Almost sticking to Xia Ya's back all the way forward.
All of Xia Ya's actions were seen by the Zaku natives. Gradually, in the eyes of these natives, the schadenfreude that had been waiting for the liveliness of the past disappeared little by little, and gradually swept away from time to time. There was some recognition in Guo Xia's eyes.
The leader of this human being, I heard, is still a high-ranking official in the army, but it is different from the human caravans that the natives have seen - how does this guy look like a human high-ranking official? He is more refined than those old hunters who have lived in the mountains all their lives among the natives.
"You really don't look like a human." When the native Zaku named Azuo stopped to rest, he once again sighed with Xia: "I'll put on a beast skin suit for you and put some dots on your face. Ericai, you are a living Zaku."
For this kind of words of approval, Xiaya just had a dark face and looked at this A Zuo coldly, the aura in his eyes made A Zuo's scalp tingle, and Xi Ya stared at him with the kind of eyes , reminded Azuo of the first time he was hunting alone when he was young, and accidentally fell into the big web of a poisonous giant spider. The air inside is almost the same as that of this human named Char!
He still clearly remembers the fierce light that the poisonous creature the size of a human stared at him. At that time, he struggled desperately and finally broke through the strong cobweb, but the monster's huge fangs still pierced through it. He lost his body and left a scar on his stomach that has never disappeared. That time, I had to lie down for two months before recovering.
At this moment, the look in this Xia Ya's eyes was clearly filled with undisguised evil spirits.
Being stared at by these sharp eyes, A Zuo couldn't say what he said, as if he had been pierced through his mind.
"I'm not a fool." Xia Ya suddenly said this abruptly: "But I am willing to show the sincerity of cooperation, so I have endured it until today."
The turtle's eyes were stern: "I know, just before we entered the mountain, you quietly sent two of your subordinates to leave first and go back to your tribe to report the news, and in order to ensure that the news is sent to your tribe first, so these few Although we are on our way every day, but in the direction of progress, you played a little trick, I calculated it myself, we walked for four days, but at least one and a half of them were deliberately detouring."
Ah Zuo was speechless and looked at Xia with an embarrassed expression.
However, Xia Ya suddenly sneered: "I'm not angry. After all, you have to be careful. You have to despise the leaders of the clan first. If you change me, you will also want to keep a hand. But... two days." Xia Ya stood up. Two fingers: "I have endured for two days, it is already my limit, if you want to continue to take me around, I tell you, no need. Two days is enough time for the person you sent back to arrive ahead of schedule. "
A Zuo is still speechless.
"Also... Since everyone is in a cooperative relationship now, then, as we walk along the way, please, you and your people, don't look at me with the attitude of waiting to see our jokes." Xia said with a stern face, Slowly shaking his head: "I don't like being looked at by this kind of eyes, I don't like it very much! If all of you just stand by and wait to see that my people are unlucky in this forest, then I can tell you that I will take me immediately. People turn around and go back! Our cooperation ends here. If you are really sincere, then show it to me!"
Xia Ya sneered: "Stop hiding your armpits! Humph!"
"Hiding... what are you hiding..." A Zuo smiled reluctantly.
"You really take me for a fool." Xi Ya shook his head: "From the red wilderness to your tribe, you have to walk through such a huge wilderness, and through such a hellishly big mountain and old forest, you thought I would believe it, you guys Do these natives walk on their own legs? If you only walk on your legs, then it will take at least two months to walk back and forth! You think I would believe that every time you go to the goblin tribe to trade, you will spend I've been on the road for the past two months! You must have some other way to make the journey faster, so my warning is that my patience has reached the limit today, if you don't show any sincerity... "
A Zuo looked at Xia Ya for a while, and saw a determination in Xia Ya's eyes. He finally sighed and nodded: "Okay, I promise."
The Zaku natives were quick to act.
A Zuo said something to the natives, and each of these natives took off a small trumpet that was worn on the waist. The sound spread out in the forest and spread far and wide.
Almost a moment ago, there was a sound of howling in the distance. Hearing the sound, Xia Ya's heart moved. The sound of howling was sharp and long, like some kind of animal...
In the woods, there was a bark from a distance. Everyone waited for a while, and a gray-black shadow quickly ran out of the woods. When they got close, they saw that they were actually a group of wolves. !
A pack of gray-black giant wolves! The bodies of these wolves are more than twice the size of ordinary wolves, and they are strong and strong to drive away. These beasts were obviously tamed by the Zaku natives. When a group of wolves came over, they made the mercenaries nervous for a while, but they soon discovered the difference between these beasts. These wolves ran over and immediately went their separate ways. He flew to the side of each Zaku native, shaking his head and wagging his tail, looking very intimate.
"These are our mounts." When A Zuo introduced, his tone was very proud: "These men of mine are the outstanding wolf riders in the Zaku tribe!"
Xia Ya looked at the giant wolves attentively, and sure enough, he saw that the manes on each wolf's back had obvious flat marks, which were obviously traces left by being ridden by people for a long time. But he raised his head to look at this Azuo, this Zaku native master but there is no wolf mount that belongs to him: "What about you?"
"My mount is not a wolf." A Zuo smiled mysteriously, and he blew his trumpet.
Soon, his mount was summoned! In a moment, the bushes in the woods swayed, and amidst the exclamations of the mercenaries, a huge crawling thing bigger than a lynx ran out!
This thing has a slender body, and when it crawls on the ground, it is as fast as flying. Its leather looks very hard, and on its stubby neck, there is a group of airbags bulging high, and it keeps rising and falling as it breathes.
This thing... is a... lizard!
A giant screaming lizard! !
Xia Ya has heard of this kind of thing. This is a kind of magical beast. In addition to its relatively large body and amazing strength, it also has a screaming skill. The sharp whistling has a certain damage ability, which can cause the enemy to stun or confuse .
The lizard jumped out, looking at the skin that was as hard as cowhide covered with horny, and there were many sharp thorns protruding from it, but Ah Zuo looked very relaxed and quickly touched the lizard head, he rolled over and sat up.
"In the woods, excluding those things that can fly with wings, my mount is the fastest running." A Zuo said, pointing to the group of wolves, and some wolves that were not mounted by natives. Feared around, I don't know how these Zaku natives tame this beast.
"Xia Ya, each of your people should pick a wolf to ride. Although the first time you ride it will feel a little strange and a little bumpy, believe me, it won't be much more difficult than learning to ride a horse."
As he said that, Ah Zuo shouted and patted the screaming lizard under him. The lizard suddenly jumped up, and its body quickly jumped to the branch of a tree, and then jumped forward and landed on the A few meters away!
※※※
Well, now let's go back in time to that conversation a few days ago in that tulou in the goblin tribe.
The shocking feeling that that conversation brought to Xi Ya did not fade away until a few days later!
That snake girl said some unbelievable things to Xia Ya in some creepy "snake language". When Xia Ya heard these things for the first time, she really couldn't believe her ears!
The conversation at the time went like this:
"I don't understand what exactly you asked me to do."
The snake girl's eyes were a little frightened and a little nervous, but she still said it in the end. Naturally, she still speaks snake language—it's not that she doesn't know anything else, she also speaks the words of Zaku natives, but she seems to speak snake language deliberately, probably to hide the content of the conversation from the man named A Zuo beside her. native.
There is also a special reason for the Snake Girl's concealment!
I remember at that time, in the face of Xia Ya's question, the snake girl's eyes turned red, and then she whispered in a weak voice: "Please help us to get rid of this scourge of our whole family!"
scourge? remove? Xia Ya didn't understand for a while, and misunderstood the meaning of this snake girl. Unfortunately, he could only listen to but not speak the snake language, so he couldn't help but look at A Zuo with doubts in his heart.
"No, it's not A Zuo, it's not him." Snake Girl's next sentence almost made Xia Ya petrified there!
The snake girl pointed to the yellow-colored giant snake Damandras beside her...
"It's it! Please help us to get rid of this scourge!"
Get rid of... Damandras! Get rid of... their own holy serpent? !
Xia Ya was really dumbfounded.
※※※
"You don't understand." The snake girl's voice was a little anxious, with a desolate smell that was hard to shake off: "Although this big snake is a sacred object of our tribe, in fact, it has always been one of the scourges of our tribe. Huge shackles! Almost all of our tribes serve its slaves! Slaves!"
The little snake girl's expression was very miserable, but she thought she didn't dare to be too excited and alerted the big snake beside her, so she could only tell Xia Ya slowly in a restrained and slow voice.
"You may not understand... how these holy snakes 'bless' our tribe!!"
Immediately, the snake girl told Xia several things.
First of all, how did something like Damandras that Char knew appear in the Zaku tribe. It is said that a long, long time ago, I don't know how many ages... In short, it was a certain era a long time ago. At that time, the Zaku tribe already existed, but there was no so-called tribal saint. Things like sacred snakes, but at that time, the place where the Zaku tribe lived, it is said that in the south, there was a group of extremely powerful and terrifying monsters, and in order to resist the attacks of those monsters, the Zaku people had suffered losses. and suffering.
Later, I don't know when, a Damandras snake appeared in the territory of the Zaku natives. This powerful snake quickly won the awe of the Zaku natives, and finally this Damandras helped The Zaku natives resisted the powerful monsters in the south of the tribe, and after driving those monsters away completely, Damandras became the patron saint of the Zaku native tribe.
But the excitement of the year quickly turned into a nightmare for the Zaku natives.
After driving away the monsters in the south, the Zaku tribe soon felt that this Damandras snake was more harmful to itself than the previous monsters.
"I am a snake girl who was selected to serve the holy snake." When the girl said this, her tone was miserable: "But do you know how a snake girl like me was selected!"
"???" Xia Ya made a puzzled expression.
"Every once in a while, a group of young girls will be selected from the tribe, ranging from dozens to one hundred each time. Then, these selected girls will all be taken away. Go to the holy snake and let the holy snake choose the right girl... But the process of choosing... groups of young girls are driven into the cave where the holy snake lives, and the holy snake will use a strange way Communicate with us spiritually... Only qualified girls can hear the spiritual communication of the holy snake to us. If you cannot hear the spiritual call of the holy snake, then you are eliminated! The young girl who was eliminated, It will be eaten by the holy snake in the cave!! However, you know that with this kind of selection, every time there are dozens or hundreds of people, the most poisonous can be three or four qualified, and sometimes there will even be dozens of people in groups. be eaten, and no snake woman chooses to satisfy the holy snake."
Hearing this, Xiaya's face couldn't help but be moved, and Dora's cold voice was heard in his mind: "Obviously, Damandras is using this kind of spiritual communication magic to select children with spiritual talents. , only girls with excellent spiritual talent can learn snake language through spiritual communication. As for every once in a while... we have to choose a batch..." Dora said here, after thinking for a while, suddenly in the summer Ya shouted in his mind: "I see! Damandras in these Zaku tribes, is a female snake!! She must be laying eggs every once in a while! Every time she lays eggs When the time comes, you need to choose some snake girls to take care of the eggs she gave birth to, and then slowly hatch into baby snakes!!"
Sure enough, Snake Girl's later words proved Dora's guess right.
"... Every time after the holy snake picks the snake girl, it will need to lay eggs, and then it needs to go into a period of dormancy. During the dormancy period, the snake girl is responsible for taking care of the snake eggs... to ensure the hatching of the snake eggs, becoming a Small holy snakes one by one... For example, the one next to me was hatched by myself."
"It's just, for some reason, the little snake that hatches every time it grows, it can't become as powerful as the mother snake..." Snake girl said here, her body trembled. : "However, as our snake girl, our tragic fate is doomed! Because these snakes hatched by our own hands will eat us as soon as they become adults. It seems... They regard us as the best tonic. "
"It is indeed a good supplement." Doraxia sighed in her mind: "These selected snake girls are all human beings with strong spiritual power. With Damandras' natural ability, they can devour these strong natural spiritual powers by devouring them. biological tonic…”
After a pause, Dora continued: "I probably understand... There is a real Damandras female snake in their tribe! It is a real complete Damandras, but Damandras Every time he spawns, it consumes a huge amount of magic power, so it needs to replenish magic power... It needs the magic flame grass produced here by the goblin tribe!!"
The snake girl's voice was trembling with fear: "And the most terrifying thing is that the holy snake will bite all the little snakes it gave birth to after reaching adulthood! It seems that she is dissatisfied with these little ones. None of the snake's abilities can reach its level... Let's put it this way, none of these little snakes that we Snake take care of can have the wisdom of the holy snake... They are closer to ordinary snakes without wisdom. It is only bigger in size, stronger in strength, and also has some special abilities, but there has never been a holy snake with real wisdom, so the holy snake can only lay eggs and select every once in a while. Snake came to help it hatch... And this monster, it has been entrenched in our tribe, enslaving our Zaku people, for it to drive, for it to eat! And help it find those poisonous mushrooms... The food we worked hard to produce , will be exchanged for these goblins... My clan, generations, and I don't know how many girls like me are buried under Shekou! This monster, it is not our Zaku tribe at all The guardian of , it is a demon, a monster that enslaves us and sucks our flesh!"
Saying that, the Snake Girl wept and sobbed softly. The big snake next to her really didn't have any wisdom, but she kept rolling around irritably with her body, as if she was very impatient with the voice of the Snake Girl who served her.
Xia Ya frowned, pointed to himself, full of doubts, meaning: Why did you ask me for help
Then he pointed to the Azuo, meaning: there should be powerful warriors in your clan, for example, this Azuo, his strength is not weak, gather the warriors in your clan, and kill that holy snake.
"It's no match for it." The snake girl's pale face was full of fear, and her eyes were dodging: "It's not that my ancestors didn't think of a way, but they angered the holy snake twice and was eaten by it a few times. A warrior. The power of the holy serpent is infinite, we are not its opponent at all, we have thought of other ways, but... it is too powerful! The only weakness we know is that it needs every time it spawns It slept for a while. But... even when it was dormant, it was extremely alert. As long as any of my clansmen approached its cave, it would wake up immediately! And the only one who could approach the holy snake without being attacked by it, There are only us snake girls, but we snake girls are too weak, even if we can get close to it while it is sleeping, there is no way to cause it a little bit of damage. And our warchief, although getting The treasures given by the holy snake can not be attacked by them, but as long as you are close to the holy snake, you will be discovered at any time! As long as it is awake, we will never be able to fight. The only way is... sneak attack."
The Snake Girl looked at Xia Ya with hope, her eyes showing a pleading look: "You actually know the snake language, and what's even more rare is that you are actually considered to be of the same kind by the big snake! Then I think, this may be an opportunity... When the holy snake is sleeping, people like you may not be noticed by it if you approach it, so…”
"Understood."
Xia sighed and smiled bitterly, thinking to herself: This poor girl thought I was someone who could escape the other party's alert, so she wanted to ask me to help you, while the beast was sleeping, sneak attack and assassinate that thing...
A Zuo on the side obviously did not understand what the two of them were talking about. The communication between the two was basically told by the snake girl in snake language, while Xia Ya just gestured and pointed, and A Zuo couldn't understand it at all. Snake language, only to see Xia Ya gesturing to and fro, his face became more and more puzzled.
"Dear sir, I can't tell other clansmen about this, because the holy snake is very powerful. Over the years, my clansmen have had deep-rooted fear and surrender to it. I have failed to challenge it several times before. It attracted some bloody revenge, and gradually no one dared to resist now. Therefore, I cannot let the clansmen know about this matter. Once they know about it, it may cause panic and infighting. The only one who wants to get rid of this scourge is our great chief... So, my dear sir, I beg you to go to our tribe and meet our chief face to face..."
Xia Ya frowned, and then suddenly said, "The devil kisses the taro."
He spoke Byzantine, and then looked at Azuo: "Translate for her."
A Zuo was bewildered by the side, so he could only repeat it in Zaku language.
Snake heard it and nodded immediately: "If this is the reward you need, there is no problem at all! If you can help us... Our Zaku tribe will repay you with the greatest gratitude!"
Immediately, the snake girl added: "I know that you humans like gold, and we have a lot of gold there. If... the Great Chief must be willing to exchange all our gold for the freedom of our tribe!"
gold! "All" gold? !
It was this last sentence that made Xia Ya, who was still a little hesitant, immediately settled down!
"To challenge an adult full-body Damandras?" In her mind, Dora's tone was very annoyed: "You are committing suicide! Stupid! I don't care about your life or death, but you haven't completed what you promised me. Thing! I need you to send me back to the Dragon Clan's cemetery... You can't go to die now!!"
Xia Ya snorted: "Please! Didn't I run to slaughter you back then? What happened? It's up to people, if you don't try it, who says there will be no chance?"
After a pause, the cunning nature of the turtle was exposed: "Besides... if it really doesn't work, I won't be able to beat him, so won't he escape? Besides, even if I don't kill that Damandras, for the sake of the magic kiss. Taro, I have to make this trip all the time."