"We've reached the safety line." Reed, the team's scout, used a spear to push aside some rocks on the roadside. He looked at some inconspicuous signs on the corner and said in a deep voice, "If we go further, no one is sure what we will encounter. To what."
The so-called safety line refers to the boundary line that soldiers explore and clear. For this cave, it is the dividing line between "safety" and "danger".
The cave they explored was located on the west side of the Desolate Mountains, adjacent to the town of Rye. In order to prevent dangerous things from breeding in the cave, soldiers from Rye Town will come here to explore and clean up every three months to prevent monsters such as goblins from multiplying in large numbers and to avoid the entry of some dangerous creatures.
The safety line is the sign they leave behind every time they explore and clean up before leaving.
Adventurers with experience in caving know that the main enemy before reaching safety is getting lost. After crossing the safety line, the main enemy becomes various monsters that may appear underground at any time.
After all, adventurers all operate in small teams, with a team ranging from three to five people to more than ten people. Compared with an army of fifty people acting collectively, their combat effectiveness is much inferior. When encountering monsters that only the army can deal with, they often have no choice but to flee, or even be unable to escape.
Among the four towns in the northwest, Rye Town is the only town with "elite troops." Because it is rich in food and is the main trading port between the four northwest towns and the Gold Coin Federation, commerce is also very developed. Therefore, the various organizations that jointly rule this town can have enough income to support the fifty-man elite army.
Every soldier in this army possesses a force comparable to that of a regular adventurer, and can skillfully use at least two of the common weapons such as spears, swords, shields, crossbows, and axes, and can gallop on horseback when necessary. . They usually train intensively, or patrol the town. Whenever dangerous monsters appear near the town, or when they need to go on an expedition to clean up the surrounding area, they will be fully armed, each wearing strong armor, and accompany the priests and mages. With the help of the police, all surrounding threats to Rye Town will be eliminated.
They often come to this cave called the "Big Black Cave" to explore and clean up, and have killed the monsters living here more than once. The most intense battle was the one where they brought back nearly 300 goblin left ears, and more than 20 others. The parts of the monster, as well as the bodies of the two companions.
It was caused by a terrifying monster. It had the head of a cow and the body of a human. It was taller when sitting than a normal person standing. Its hard body was like a dried ancient wood. An arrow shot into it could only penetrate shallowly. A little bit shallow. It has four arms, each of which is thicker than an ordinary person's thigh. When fighting, it wields four battle axes, which is simply a terrifying storm!
If the spellcasters hadn't handled it properly, the battle would have resulted in heavy casualties. But even with the cooperation of the spellcasters, the soldiers lost a scout and a warrior.
Not only that, after that battle, at least ten soldiers chose to retire. Some of them used the money they saved during their service years to start a small business, and some of them bought land and became homesteaders in places with better security in the central and southern part of the Gold Coin Federation. The shadow left by that terrifying monster made most of them put down their weapons forever and never dare to step into the battlefield again.
Some of them later broke through the shadows in their hearts, such as "Earth Bear" Divol, the leader of Palin's expedition team.
Divol is a very strong warrior, at least 1.9 meters tall, with a strong back and a big waist. He made a great contribution in that battle. He chopped off the left ankle of the terrifying monster with an axe, causing it to fall to the ground. This was the key to deciding the outcome. But he himself was seriously injured in the monster's counterattack. Four ribs were broken and he almost died.
After retiring, he was depressed for a while, but finally stood up again and re-entered the battlefield with the trophy he received - one of the monster's four battle axes. But instead of being a soldier, he became an adventurer.
His nickname at that time was "Tomahawk", but later as he gained experience in adventures, he changed it to "Earth Bear".
This nickname is proof of his qualifications, because he especially likes to go on adventures in underground caves. Among the adventurers in Rye Town, he can also be regarded as a banner figure. So when Palin was recruiting people, the adventure guild's waiter recommended him.
Among the other companions, the ranger and priest were all recommended by him, and they were all experienced cave explorers.
Rhett, an experienced ranger, is nicknamed "Three Arrows" because ordinary rangers can only shoot two arrows in a row, but he can shoot one more arrow.
"Fire Hammer" Morton is a believer of the Lord of Glory, the main god of the human race. He is a priest with strong martial arts and good at magic. He is the second best expert in this team after Divol.
The thief in this team is called Raphael, and he is a man recommended by Rhodes. He is a very powerful thief, especially good at fighting. Compared with his colleagues who like to take something from other people's pockets, or sneak into other people's homes to rummage through boxes and cabinets, what he is good at is sneaking up on the monsters' backs and stabbing them in with his favorite long dagger. This earned him the title of "Backstab". For a combat thief, being able to turn a thief's special skills into his own nickname shows how powerful he is.
But relatively speaking, Raphael is not that proficient in pickpocketing, reconnaissance and dismantling traps that ordinary thieves are good at. So he was not doing well, and worked part-time as a warrior most of the time - he believed deeply in the God of Thieves and insisted that thieves were not killers, and was unwilling to sell his hard-earned skills for money. A backstabbing expert who refused to be a killer was obviously " The future of money will not be too bright.
Rhodes recommended him to Palin. On the one hand, he felt that this acquaintance was very reliable, and on the other hand, he also hoped to guide him a little bit. If he can use this incident to establish a good relationship with the Church of the Mask of the Void, no matter how depressed he is in the future, he will at least have a place to stay.
Raphael is certainly not an unscrupulous person, and it goes without saying that he can see Rhode's caring intentions. So he has been very active in the past two days, standing firmly on Palin's side if anything happens, as if he is loyal.
So at this moment, without waiting for Palin to speak, he hurriedly expressed his position: "I have received a deposit. Boss, if you want to move on, I will definitely accompany you to the end!"
Rhett rolled his eyes helplessly, feeling quite resentful.
To be honest, although the mage named Palin was happy to pay, if he had the choice, he really didn't want to go deeper into the cave.
This cave is so deep that no one has fully explored its conditions until now. It's better here. If you go deeper, God knows what you will encounter!
He remembered that an adventurer who once escaped from the cave claimed to have seen a giant dragon deep in the cave!
Of course, he absolutely did not believe that there was a dragon in this cave - Rye Town had been established for hundreds of years, but no one had seen any trace of a dragon. Could it be that the dragon slept deep in this cave hundreds of years ago and still hasn't woken up
However, that terrifying four-armed minotaur corpse was seen by many people in the town. He asked himself, if they encounter such a monster, their team will definitely not be able to defeat it. In the panic, no one can guarantee whether they will encounter an accident and lose their lives.
Divol was much more straightforward than him. This veteran adventurer didn't take going deeper underground seriously at all. He looked sideways at Palin and gave his own advice: "There is no danger in going further. At the rate we are traveling, it will take at least two more days before we exceed the furthest distance I have ever explored.”
Palin turned to Morton again, asking for the pastor's opinion. The taciturn Morton did not speak, but looked at Divol and smiled.
Obviously, he chose to believe in the captain's vision.
"In that case, let's move on." So Palin made up his mind.
Although His Majesty also said that this trip mainly depends on the situation of Shuang and Xie, and he is only a support. But even if it is an assistant, if you don't do your best, how can you be worthy of His Majesty's care!
He casually took out a lollipop and stuffed it into his mouth, gave Red, who was scouting at the front, a spell that could protect him from long-range attacks, and then the team moved on.
"Why do you always like to eat candies?" Divol asked curiously, "In the past two days, I have seen you eat two or three candies almost every day - is this candy delicious?"
Palin smiled, took out another one and handed it to him. After thinking about it, he gave another one to the others.
Very few people hate sweets. Although the dignified adventurer had a strange-shaped candy in his mouth, which slightly detracted from his majesty, there were no outsiders here anyway, and Palin took the lead, so everyone did not refuse and connected this to a thin piece of wood. The round candy on the rod was put into the mouth.
"Hmm!" Morton was the first to notice the mystery behind the candy. He couldn't help but exclaimed, took the candy out of his mouth and looked at it carefully.
"What's wrong with this candy?" Divol was a little puzzled, "It tastes pretty good, it's sweet, and it makes your body feel warm all of a sudden."
"Vitality!" Morton said solemnly, "It can replenish vitality."
Rhett, who was still savoring it carefully, quickly took out the candy from his mouth, wrapped it in oil paper again, and put it into the package.
What is the concept of "replenishing vitality"? This means it can treat injuries, weakness and fatigue, which can be life-saving in a pinch!
He even couldn't help but regret a little, feeling sorry for the part of the candy he had just eaten.
Raphael turned his head and looked at Palin: "Boss, isn't this a bit wasteful?"
Palin smiled: "I'm not in good health. I have to eat this often, otherwise I will get tired and dizzy easily."
"This is not as simple as 'poor health'!" Divol looked at him worriedly, "You need to eat this regularly to replenish your vitality. Do you really not need to practice for a while?"
"No need, no need." Palin laughed a few times and walked forward again.
He had no soul. Sui Xiong did not hide this from him, but he would never tell anyone else.
The teammates were all veterans. Seeing that he didn't want to say more, they stopped asking. They just quietly collected their candies and protected him in the middle.
This poor young man is so weak that he relies on this drug to maintain his strength, but he is still working hard...