Since it is a tribe that entered the deep mountains to the Zaku natives, there is no need to bring too many people.
On this trip, Xi Ya left Hawke and Russell, and only brought Shalbadoro and ten of the best mercenaries. He also borrowed a few bows like the Lantis people of the Gallens caravan, and immediately Hit the road with Azuo and other Zaku natives.
The tribe of the Zaku people is in the east of the red wilderness. Crossing the long river all the way to the east, they enter a vast mountain. The mountain is as huge as the sea, and the tribe of the Zaku people is in the deepest part of the forest. .
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These Zaku natives finally came up with some real skills. The summoned mounts made many mercenaries murmur in their hearts, but under the strict order of Xia Ya, they rode the summoned giant wolves one after another. The speed of everyone's progress was several times faster.
After Xia Ya's warning, the attitude of the Zaku natives such as Azuo has also restrained. At least when the mercenaries are tortured by the dangerous conditions in the mountains and forests and they are helpless, they are no longer the kind of holding their arms to watch the fun. attitude.
Some Zaku natives took out the medicines they carried with them. These medicines have the effect of repelling mosquitoes and insects, and the Zaku natives took the initiative to take the responsibility of opening the way.
As for Xia Ya, this local turtle has become very interested in A Zuo's mount!
damn it! ! This is a screeching lizard! A monster! ! A real monster! It was actually taken by this Zaku native as a mount! This kind of thing, riding is much more magical than horses! If this uncle also gets one and takes it back, and rides it on the battlefield during the war, how arrogant and arrogant it will be!
Moreover, the lizard that A Zuo rides is obviously the leader of all the mounts in the team. As long as this giant lizard roars, the other giant wolves cower and surrender. This giant lizard can run very fast, and can move and jump. Xia watched for a long time and saw a lot of benefits. He also became a lot more affectionate with A Zuo. He deliberately talked from time to time, but the topic could not be separated from this. The lizard mount thing.
Azuo is not a fool either, he quickly understood what Xia's intention was, the Zaku native said simply: "Lord Xia, if it's something else, we Zaku people are the most generous and generous to our friends, as long as you I like it, what does it matter if I give it to you…”
Hearing this, Xi Ya smiled and said, "Thank you very much." As soon as he was about to say it, A Zuo continued: "But, this mount can't be given to you."
"... uh?" Turtle blinked his eyes.
"It's not that I'm stingy." Azuo shook his head and said, "Our Zaku tribe is best at expelling beasts. The skill of expelling beasts is passed down from generation to generation in the clan, but outsiders can't. And these mounts, They are also captured by our Zakus and then slowly tamed before they can be used. The mount only obeys the command of the master who tamed it. If it changes to another owner, it will not obey. The tradition of the Ku tribe is gone. Therefore, even if I give this lizard to you, you will not be able to drive it.”
After Xia Ya heard this, he was dubious in his heart. He glanced at A Zuo, A Zuo smiled and said, "You come to our tribe this time, so, if you have time, I will take you to hunt in the mountains and find a way to hunt a cub. I will teach you a little more tame method, you can take it back to train for two years, and then you can use it. A mount that has been tamed since childhood has the most affection for its master, and it is incomparable with others."
It was only then that Xia Ya was overjoyed. The native Zaku people's ability to tame animals really made the turtles very enthusiastic, and for this A Zuo, it became more and more pleasing to the eye.
The group marched forward in the forest, and the natives and the mercenaries gradually became harmonious. The mercenaries accepted the mosquito repellent medicine presented by the natives, and took off the skins they carried with them. These mercenaries carry two skins with them, one for water, and the other for spirits. As long as a mercenary is a mercenary, there is no one who is not good at drinking. There is even a saying in the mercenary circle: a mercenary who can't drink is not a good mercenary.
Mercenaries love to drink. On the one hand, they live in hardships and dangers all year round, so they naturally need to relieve the pressure and irritability in their hearts. On the other hand, wine has a very good effect on mercenaries. Mercenaries carry wine when they travel, not only to satisfy their appetites, but also to carry wine when they encounter battles. When you are injured, treating the wound and drinking a few sips can relieve the pain, or wash the wound with those spirits and shochu, and it can also greatly reduce the possibility of infection and decay of the wound.
The mercenaries are all spirits, and after the throat is cut like a knife, the stronger the wine, the more popular it is for the mercenaries. These Zaku natives are good warriors, and naturally they all like to drink. Unfortunately, the winemaking skills of the Zaku natives are far worse than that of the Byzantine. The Kutu people got drunk one by one, and suddenly cheered, and then many Zaku people pulled the mercenaries back and forth and shouted, wanting to exchange the things on their bodies with the mercenaries for wine.
The Zaku tribe is rich in gold. These Zaku native warriors also wear a lot of gold ornaments on their bodies. Many warriors even have an awl hanging around their necks, which are all red gold. The two sides made a gesture for a while, and many mercenaries replaced the gold ornaments on the Zaku natives with wine bags. Naturally, both parties were happy and wanted to do their best.
The mountains are rugged and difficult, and there are hidden dangers everywhere. Along the way, fortunately, the relationship with these Zaku natives has improved. With the help of these veterans in the mountains and forests, Xia’s pressure has been greatly reduced. Otherwise, no matter how powerful he is, in this dangerous mountain forest, it is really difficult to take care of all these men.
Xia Ya has become more and more familiar with these Zaku natives, and has learned a sentence or two of the Zaku native language. By the way, he also caught some words in the conversation with A Zuo. Seeing that these Zaku natives are everywhere. Wearing gold, and it seems that they don't seem to pay much attention to these golds, they use it to exchange drinks with human mercenaries. How can this kind of pie make the turtle not get excited
The idea of making a deal with the Zaku tribe naturally reborn in his heart. After asking Azuo for a while, it became clear that the transactions between the Zaku natives and the human caravans have not been too many. Only a very limited number of human chambers of commerce can gain the trust of the Zaku natives and conduct some business with the Zaku tribe. Limited deal.
More importantly, in the Zaku tribe, there seems to be some resistance to trading with humans, and most Zaku people have the same mind: they always think that the humans outside the mountains have few good things, and all of them are cunning. greedy.
Therefore, even those chambers of commerce cannot exchange much gold from the Zaku natives every year.
Moreover, there is another commercial road in Tongshang, which is a small road located in the south of the mountains and forests. The road there is slightly flatter and easier to walk, and cars and horses can barely pass through.
Xia Ya is not surprised to hear it. After all, there must be other business routes for such things as trade. Otherwise, it will be difficult to walk in the mountains and forests that I have walked this time. It is so difficult for these dozens of people to walk. If the caravans were chariots and horses, it was impossible for them to come over.
"It's not that I didn't take you along that trade route." A Zuo was afraid of Xia's misunderstanding, so he took the initiative to explain: "The trade route is in the south, and I heard from those businessmen that they set out from the town south of Wildfire Plain. Through the red wilderness of the goblin, walk directly to the northeast and go around the south of the long river. That place is too far away from us. If we want to go that way, we have to go south for many days after leaving the goblin tribe, and then go around to the wildfire. From the south of the original to the east, it is possible to go back and forth for an extra month or two."
Xia Ya didn't mind too much, just carefully inquired about the direction of the secret trade road in the mountains and forests leading to the Zaku tribe, and took out the clothes to draw down, and then carefully put them away.
These Zaku natives are all superb hunters in the mountains and forests. With the help of these people, the meals of the mercenaries have been greatly improved.
That night, a few Zaku natives rode wolves into the depths of the woods. After less than half an hour, they brought out a hunted porcupine. This porcupine is a kind of low-level porcupine. The monster's bristles are sharp as thorns. When angry, the roots stand up and can shoot out to injure the enemy, so they are called porcupines. Other than that, their appearance is similar to that of ordinary wild boars in the mountains. too much.
This pig weighed more than 100 kilograms. Those natives skillfully cut open its belly, removed its internal organs, chopped off its limbs and divided its bones. Even the old hunter, Xia Ya, couldn't help sighing when he saw it. As for the good pig skin, they were carefully folded and wrapped. Xiaya noticed that the hunting skills of these Zaku natives were very shrewd, and there was no scar on the intact pig skin! When these natives hunted porcupines, they used the method of throwing spears. The way these guys threw short spears was amazing. There was no wound on the porcupine's body, but a big hole was stabbed in the eyeball. , Deep into the brain, I think that it was killed by the Zaku native warrior stabbed in the eye with a spear and penetrated the brain.
This skill of throwing a spear also made Xiaya a little moved. When he saw the collective ability of the Fire Rhino mercenary group to throw a hatchet, he was moved, but after all, the fire rhino mercenary tactic of throwing a hatchet, The cost is too great! It takes a lot of iron to build a short axe, but to hit a short axe and throw it out at one time, such a consumption is too big, and Xiaya can't afford to equip it with his current wealth. .
The short spear throwing of the Zaku natives seems to be more suitable. Short spears are much simpler and easier to make than hatchets, and short spears don't use much iron, even sharp wood can be used as a substitute - those iron trees around goblin tribes, the wood is as hard as iron, is a good material.
The Turtle then put down the air, and carefully asked these natives for advice on the technique and skill of throwing a short spear along the way. A Zuo saw it in his eyes and quickly understood Xia Ya's intentions, but he didn't say anything.
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This journey was smooth at first, but on the sixth day, these Zaku natives, who were still walking leisurely, suddenly changed a bit.
The beginning of the matter is like this: these Zaku natives have a favorite. Every day they hunt, they will bring back one more prey, perhaps a deer, or a pig or something. If you don't kill it, you will be left far away from the campsite. Early the next morning, some natives ran to see the beast, and Xiaya knew very well that it was a warning.
In the early morning of the sixth day, a native who ran to check a deer that was thrown outside last night came back, his face was a little ugly, and he was murmuring with A Zuo for a while, A Zuo's brows also twitched, Xia Yahao. He walked over without hesitation: "What's going on?"
A Zuo glanced at Xia Ya and hesitated for a while: "You and me go and see."
The deer that was thrown outside last night is no longer there, there is only a pool of blood on the ground, and a few pieces of torn flesh and limbs. The blood marks on the ground formed long trails, and the blood stains went all the way to the grass next to them.
A Zuo looked at the grass around him, checked some marks on the ground, looked back at Xia Ya, looked serious, and said only: "We are being watched."
From the seriousness in Ah Zuo's expression, Xia Ya saw an unusual fear.
"Let's turn around and head south first." A Zuo quickly made a decision: "It may be necessary to take a detour."
For this decision, Xia Ya did not make any objection. He is essentially a hunter who is familiar with the rules in the mountains. He knows that when something happens in a place like this, it is best to listen to the arrangements of these natives. Outside is the outside world, and inside the mountain is the world inside the mountain. In this kind of place, if you don't listen to these natives, you are afraid that you will encounter a poisonous spring, which is enough to explain the life of a group of mercenaries here.
Even if the turtle is half a mountain person, after all, this is not his territory, and he is not familiar with many things here.
But it is still necessary to ask.
"What is it?"
A Zuo hesitated a little, then shook his head: "The old opponent. When I came out of the tribe this time, I was attacked by this old opponent on the way. I lost two men at that time, but it also caused the opponent to suffer a lot. .I didn't expect to be caught by them on the way home this time."
After a pause, Ah Zuo added: "It's a group of lizards, highly poisonous lizards."
Xia Ya is very clear that the "lizard" that A Zuo said is not a small gecko in the usual sense. It must be a big guy similar to A Zuo's screaming lizard mount!
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The team soon turned around and headed south.
After confirming that their group was being targeted, the Zaku natives were very serious, while the mercenaries who didn't know much about it didn't seem too nervous because they didn't know the horror of the poisonous lizard.
Even Xia Ya didn't worry too much. In the eyes of the turtle, it was just a huge lizard. Even if there was a group, so what
But soon, everyone tasted great.
The first difficulty encountered was that there was a shortage of food.
After walking south for two days, the Zaku natives have not been able to hit even a single prey! A Zuo's expression was serious: "Those guys are very cunning, they are staring at us, but they will not attack immediately, but lurking around us, there is such a group of things, the surrounding animals have long been scared away by them, Where's the catch. These things are cunning, they just want to starve us first!"
If there is no prey, and there is no meat, everyone can only eat dry food.
The second difficulty that followed was drinking water!
Traveling in the mountains and forests, it is naturally impossible to rush a cart with a dozen buckets of water. In the past few days, when I encounter a water source on the road, I temporarily replenish it. Anyway, there are these indigenous Zaku people, so there is no need to worry about where to find water in the mountains.
But after walking south for two days, I encountered two water pools on the way, and Ah Zuo strictly prohibited everyone from taking water!
"Those things are very cunning, they know how to starve us, and naturally know how to play ghosts in the water. Don't forget their name: venomous lizards."
Ah Zuo's words are very effective. The two water pools encountered on the road looked very clear. However, one mercenary did not believe in evil and took a sip. As a result, after a while, his face was black and his mouth and nose were black. Bleeding, convulsed for a while and then died.
Xia Ya was extremely annoyed by this, and gathered the mercenaries together and fired fiercely. After all, these mercenaries haven't been with him for too long, and they have brought a lot of unruly wildness, but seeing that some people have been poisoned by drinking water, the rest are naturally a lot more honest.
The water on the body wouldn't last long. At Zuo's request, everyone saved the water for the mounts. After all, if the mounts fell, everyone could only walk on the soles of their feet.
As for people... these natives also have a way. A few Zaku natives searched around some bushes and grasses for a while with short knives, and dug out some plump and plump-looking plant roots from the soil. like potatoes. Take a bite of this thing in your mouth, it's well-hydrated and full of juice. It's enough to quench your thirst. And this kind of rhizome is very abundant in the mountains and forests, and it is not difficult to find.
The only drawback is that the juice of this rhizome is a little sour, and everyone can bear the taste at first, but after eating too much, when I go to bed at night, my stomach is sour and twitches and hurts. I lost my appetite the next day.
After two days, many mercenaries have obviously lost weight.
The Zaku natives also made a move: when they were resting at night, they let out some wolves. After these wolves were released, they naturally wandered around the camp. In Ah Zuo's words: No matter how careful a person is, whether it is sight, hearing or feeling, they are not as sensitive as these beasts, and these wolves are far more effective than people.
But even so, the situation is getting worse.
The immediate response was Azuo's mount. The screeching lizard became more and more irritable. When it stopped, its two claws were scratching on the ground. Once someone accidentally approached it, it would cause it to flutter its teeth and dance its claws.
Xia's eyes were very clear: those things were getting closer and closer.
After walking like this for a few days, even the Zaku natives in the team clearly showed some fatigue. After eating the dry food for a few days, they were tortured by the sour juice and had a stomachache. Everyone could not bear it. Every day when they were walking, the mercenaries were listless. After eating the dry food for a few days, everyone felt weak in their hands and feet.
Every day, Ah Zuo carefully dispatched people to search everywhere in groups of threes and fives, but found nothing. Those poisonous lizards are much more difficult than imagined.
On the fourth night, the night watchman was alarmed by the roaring sound from the forest, and soon everyone was woken up. When the Zaku natives immediately summoned the giant wolf back, they counted the number, and there were two less. Only.
And the people sent out found the bodies of two wolves.
Both wolves were torn to pieces, and the huge and sharp tooth marks left on the flesh and bones made people feel a little chilled when they saw it. Obviously, the two wolves were bitten off their necks directly: According to A Zuo's explanation, when the highly poisonous lizards attacked the target, they would bite the target and not let go, and then inject the venom into the target's body along the teeth. Soon the target is poisoned and paralyzed, losing the ability to resist.
"We're going to speed up."
A Zuo took Char to the side and whispered: "These guys are in a hurry than I thought, we must lead them to the south as soon as possible, there is a forest in the south, lead these things there, and I will be able to deal with them. they."
A Zuo's feeling is very accurate.
The next day when they were on their way during the day, a group of people were walking quietly when suddenly a green shadow appeared from the bushes next to them without warning!
The attack came so suddenly, even the wolves who acted as mounts didn't notice it at all!
A mercenary was sitting on the wolf's back, and was thrown directly to the ground by the green shadow that sprang out! Immediately, two green shadows came out, and one of them directly bit the neck of the giant wolf! Under such circumstances, the other wolves were actually not aggressive. After being attacked, the same kind of wolves let out a terrified howl, and each one shrank back with their tails between their backs and tails.
The mercenary who was thrown to the ground was quickly bitten by two lizards and dragged into the nearby bushes.
Xia Ya's reaction was the fastest. He leaped over, grabbed a short spear cut with a tree stick just last night, and threw it out. Accurately shot in the eyes of a lizard and penetrated the head!
The other mercenaries also reacted and pulled out their swords to grab them. Those green lizards quickly ran into the bushes and disappeared. A Zuo shouted anxiously and stopped the mercenaries from chasing after them. intention of. Xia Ya also sternly stopped the mercenaries under him.
Just looking at the bitten mercenary again, one leg was bitten off, the sharp zigzag teeth marks were very obvious, and after a while, the skin turned black, and he died after a while.
Xia Ya looked in his eyes, his face was ashen, his face was black and scary, and the light like flames kept flashing in his eyes.
That dead poisonous lizard finally made Chara see what this kind of thing looked like.
This venomous lizard is about the same size as the screaming lizard, but the skin of the whole body is a green color, which is very difficult to distinguish in this green bush. There were two rows of sharp, serrated teeth on the side of the mouth, which were extremely sharp. With a fire fork in his own hands, Char cut open the head of this highly poisonous lizard, and dug out two poison sacs in the upper jaw of the lizard's mouth. A cloud of green venom, Xia carefully filled it with the bottle she carried with her, silently.
That night, when everyone stopped to rest, Xiaya didn't say hello to anyone, and he got into the woods with a fire fork and disappeared. It wasn't until the morning that Xia Ya came back. He was covered in grass and dust, but he carried a highly poisonous lizard on his back. The lizard was caught alive by him, but it didn't die.
Xia Ya directly knocked off the lizard's legs and feet, and used a fire fork to pry off the beast's teeth one by one. When walking all day, Xia Ya took this thing with him, and waved his hand here every time he walked. The guy had a slash on his body. Every time he made a move, he was very measured, and the cuts were neither light nor heavy. Poor this lizard. He suffered at least a dozen knives throughout the day, and at night he was still alive.
It's just that along the way, he opened his mouth and kept making a sharp and shrill howl. The sound of this kind of thing is very strange, somewhat like the sound of a frog in a summer pond.
However, with this thing's constant howling along the way, this day, it did not encounter an attack again.
"Screams of the same kind are the most deterrent." Xia Ya said coldly when faced with A Zuo's doubtful eyes: "This principle is applicable to any race."
After hearing this sentence, A Zuo stared at Xia Ya for a long time, and when he faced this human again, A Zuo's eyes had a different meaning than before.
"This kind of poisonous lizard is a group of monsters. There are at least twenty of them in a group. This thing is the most vengeful. When I went out to the red wilderness last time, I fought with this group of things and killed two of them. They stared at me all the way until I walked out of the woods. When I come back this time, they will not give up."
A Zuo looked at Xia Ya's gloomy face and said: "Tomorrow at the latest, we will walk through a stream, that water is living water, we are not afraid of poisoning by those things, it is just enough to replenish our drinking water, but after crossing that stream, we will We will enter the territory of a magical beast. There is a powerful thing living there. We don’t have to go too deep into its territory and walk around the edge. That monster is the natural enemy of these lizards. Most of these lizards are afraid to enter, so we will It's time to get rid of these things."
"What is it?" Xia asked bluntly.
Ah Zuo hesitated for a moment, then gave the answer with a wry smile:
"To use the name your Byzantines gave it, the Tooth Lurker."