Everything within a radius of thirty miles disappeared, and all that remained in the eyes of the fugitives was the endless horizon, the wind covered in dust, and the huge basin with an incomparably smooth surface. As a top-level mage, Mortidal had always been very interested in the mysterious prayer technique, but when he witnessed this deathly silence, everything in his heart was also completely burned.
Except fear.
"Next... the next thing..." The elf mage turned around and looked at his colleagues, his eyes were like a pool of stagnant water.
"I don't know. This level of casualties should be regarded as annihilated." Jack Weir also replied at a loss, "What's more..." At this point, the King of Shadow Dragons suddenly paused.
Can the man who vowed to destroy the gods survive this power? If he is really destroyed, where should we go? Both of them held the same uneasiness in their hearts, but no one dared to speak out, as if doing so would make the fear in their hearts become part of the cruel reality.
However, Motidal's blank eyes lit up in an instant.
"Hey, look~!" he roared, pulling the former bandit leader past him. When that scene was reflected in Jack Weir's pupils, the dragon king couldn't help trembling all over.
On the mirror surface that was so harsh that it could not contain any life, a small black spot suddenly appeared, just like a canopy of flames lit on the ice, scorching and bright. Survivors with blank expressions all stood up immediately, stretching their necks and looking out. As time passed, the black spot finally became clear—Mobadi strode into the camp, holding the sleeping Zephyris in his arms, the girl's chest rose and fell gently, and her expression was serene.
However, there was no joy of survival in the expression of the leader, only the coldness and pain after failure on his slashed face—less than 20% of the nearly 2,000 elite troops were left, even though the shadow dragons with wings He was able to escape Richesill's final attack, but suffered heavy casualties as well.
"The battle failed, and the other party knew my identity, but I didn't know that the one waiting in the tower was the most powerful prayer man ever." Mobadi lowered his head and said with a wry smile, "Even if we win, there will be no hope." Meaning, because death is a powerful weapon for her, and this is a determination beyond my expectations."
"But that enemy has been cleared~!" The elf mage retorted eagerly, "The death knights must have suffered heavy losses now, but we can still drive the legions of various forces to encircle and suppress them, and the winner will be determined in the present world~ !"
"That's right." The Shadow Dragon King replied in agreement, completely losing the decadence just now.
The proud vampire raised his head again, his eyes swept across the ready-to-go warriors. In their expressions was the sadness of losing their companions, as well as unconcealed uneasiness and fear, but what also couldn't be ignored was the firmness and the blazing flames in their pupils.
Even after witnessing and experiencing such power, even knowing that mortals may never be able to withstand the power of prayer, no one intends to quit.
"Hey, it seems that I have become the recruit who can't stand the blow." As if there was some kind of subtle resonance, Mobadi's jewel pupils began to light up gradually, and the corners of the blood clan's mouth slightly raised, "Then , get ready to return to the present world. At that time, we will need to use the army blockade to find the whereabouts of the end. In addition, the tactics must be further adjusted. Even if the opponent is the strongest prayer man, the scene just now must not be repeated. gone."
"Then..." He subconsciously clenched the Holy Cross sword, "We'll end everything~!"
"A total of 374 high-level death knights have received eternal rest, and the death toll of the undead dragon is 25..." The supreme commander of the undead army lowered his head and sighed after receiving the preliminary statistics, " It’s a terrible loss rate. But we’re lucky enough that we didn’t usher in the end of total annihilation.” The Lich said, looking at the infinite mirror reflecting the light of death with lingering fear - left behind by Lycesil’s prayer. traces, concise and cold.
The power of the seven-color flower is enough to decompose any matter into the most primitive particles, but the gorgeous light also makes the battlefield a domain where the spirit world, the world and the ghost world overlap. It may only be for a short while, but it is enough for Ishutoli in the God's Domain to intervene. At the last moment, the power of the Goddess protected her knights, deflecting the light stream that turned everything into dust before it touched the undead, and the Knights of the Ice Crown escaped the catastrophe.
But even so, the losses caused by the battle still greatly exceeded expectations.
Alsace beside him just stroked the blade without saying a word. As a comrade-in-arms who has worked together for hundreds of years, Richard thought that the other party would grit his teeth and say something like "If that woman is still alive, I must kill her", but the only response from the death knight was silence.
"What's the matter, you keep keeping a poker face." Lich asked slowly, "Didn't you kill the two shadow dragons, what else are you dissatisfied with?"
"Damn it, are you going to coax the child?" The other party finally broke out uncontrollably, Alsace grabbed the other party's collar and pulled him in front of his eyes, "Perhaps for us stupid mortals. Saying that slaying a dragon is an incredible feat, but do you think this kind of 'record' is still meaningful? Ah~!?"
"Whether it's Meljidek, consciousness distortion, or the light that destroyed everything just now... the sword is just a display in front of that kind of power." The death knight suddenly let go of his hand and smiled self-deprecatingly, "Look now Come on, the reason why Yajiaxi was able to severely injure Yanlong, I am afraid that Richer is the real key, right? Yun Yao's skills can only be used to deal with ordinary opponents... "
"In my opinion, the guy who simply interprets the word 'strength' as destructive power is the real fool." Richard bluntly interrupted the hysterical growl of the other party, "How can an obsession that can defeat death be defeated because of It's disappointing to see a Destroy spell collapse after just one attempt."
"You are not qualified to teach me." Alsace glared at him fiercely. "The knights have no ability to fight back against the flame dragon. This is the reality. Neither lightning weapons nor undead dragons can harm him , what are you going to do next time we meet? Continue to let that coward who even gave up on the past take the lead? Ah, right, now we don’t even know where Momo escaped~!"
"There will be a way." After a long silence, the Lich replied seriously, "As long as you still believe in your sword, then I will definitely have a way to make it hit Melikidike's body."
"Of course~!" The death knight's eyes suddenly ignited with scorching flames.
"But at the same time, the tactics of the Ice Crown Knights must also change," Richard nodded, "Our enemies have gone beyond common sense and experience."
"I will ask for your opinion when necessary. In short, besides returning to the present world to find the end, the most important thing is to make our weapons sharper." The leader of the Knights snorted, let go of his hands and did not look back. Walking towards the camp, his last words came from afar, "Sharp enough to cut through the scales of the Flame Dragon~!"
However, the first thing the Lich did was not to gather his academic colleagues, but to find the two survivors who fought side by side with the undead—Aurha, who knew the meaning of prayer, and Faluoshidai, who had the long-lasting light. .
Like other top mages, Richard had inquired deeply about prayer techniques, but that was only at the level of principles and theories. This wise scholar understands that the problem must now be approached from the perspective of actual combat. At this moment, the key to what he was looking for must be hidden in the knowledge of the elf prayer man and the power of the "long-lasting light".
"We must find the Doom that escapes to the present world as soon as possible, and we must obtain enough power to protect the Doom as soon as possible." The Lich whispered to himself, with unshakable firmness in his tone.
Here is the vast Ocean of Storms. Dazzling thunder and lightning tore through the sky, silver snakes occasionally appeared scaled teeth in the dark clouds, heavy rain kept falling, and waves came one after another. The sailboat is like a light fallen leaf at the head of the surging tide, it can only rise and fall with the violent Nu River below.
The figure with scorching eyes was standing at the bow of the boat, with long fluttering hair like a silver flag.
"For mortals, fate is a river that can never turn back." The Dark Eagle turned around, his voice was like broken ice mixed with the waves, "but in front of you, it has become an ocean."
"Look, countless routes are waiting for you to choose." The reflection that still retains the memory slowly walked towards Roland, with footsteps as heavy as mountains, causing the deck to groan, "But no matter which route you choose, in the end... "
"Still in the same vortex."
The next moment, the swarming tide finally crossed the broken strings of the ship, dragging the helpless prey and the young man who drove it into the unfathomable bottom of the sea.
Another... dream? Roland thought, subconsciously wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and then sat up slowly.
"Finally woke up." The exact same emotion as last time came again, this time the young man was not surprised. As he casually agreed, he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a faint halo at the tip of the stalactite, and then the slender figure of a black-haired girl holding a book.
It seemed that when she woke up last time, she was also reading. Roland vaguely recalled the situation on Moonlight Continent. But this lacks a sense of crisis too much. Now that I don't even know where I am, I still have leisure time to read
"This is... an underground cave?" After looking around, the young man asked in surprise. The stalactites and stalagmites make up the uneven terrain. From time to time, clear water seeps through the loose rock formation above and drips down, hitting the bottom of the cave with a "pop" sound, making a hollow sound.
"En." The girl nodded, "It seems that I was attracted by the spirit world on the way, so the route deviated. We flew in overlapping areas for too long, so that we passed through the place that could have been a landing point in this world. Still, at least it wasn't stuck in a rock."
"In other words, we have no way out now." Roland concluded briefly and mercilessly, but then there was a hint of hesitation and worry in his voice, "Then the condition of the others... Can you feel it?"
"Rise used her last strength to send us away from the overlapping domain of the spirit world and the present world, but she never opened her eyes again, and Fereldo couldn't hear my call." Shi Fan lowered her head, faintly replied, "As for the others, I don't know..."
The two stopped talking. Feeling that he had said something wrong, Roland hid his expression in the shadows and carefully observed the girl opposite.
The young man thought that the other party would cry, but in fact nothing happened. Shi Fan still turned the pages of the book with his head down, his eyes flickering with the jumping of the paper. The dark eagle who lost his memory could not understand everything contained in those thin green eyes—maybe there was nothing there, or maybe the girl hid them in a place that she couldn't even notice. In this way, silence quickly dominated the surrounding time and space, only the cold radiance brought by the prayer technique shone on the rocks, creating an illusion of nightfall in this starless land.
"Let's go. Get out of here and find a passage that can return to the surface." After checking his equipment, Roland finally broke the silence.
"But how do I go? Where should I go?" The girl closed the book on her lap, but she didn't intend to get up. "I wanted to use the sand table to take a look, but it's useless here."
She put her hands together in front of her chest, and then slowly pulled them away. This time, nothing happened.
"Is it invalid?"
"No, actually everything has been shown. It's just," Shifan explained quietly, "there is no light..."
"Then we can only go to find the way in person." Roland shrugged nonchalantly, "Although the underground world is similar to a maze, the hidden laws in it will guide us in the right direction. Come, add light to this. "The young man drew out the dagger from his waist and held it up high like a lantern.
"Won't it attract enemies?" the girl asked back.
"Don't worry, although the light is indeed eye-catching in the dark, the premise is that the opponent has vision. Here, most dangerous predators use thermal vision." The blond swordsman shook Frost "If we can isolate the body temperature, at most we will only attract a few sporadic monsters during the journey. This can be used to solve it easily. Besides, for us, falling into the darkness itself is the greatest danger."
"It's not enough to rely on theory alone." The initiative was controlled by the other party, and Shi Fan couldn't help frowning slightly.
"This is not theory, it's practice and actual combat experience." Roland corrected the other party, "The Dark Eagle before reincarnation was very familiar with the underground kingdom of the Northern Continent, and he also knew very well how to operate in the dark area and how to fight with spider monsters and other underground creatures. .As a reincarnated Roland Strife, I know this as a matter of course."
"A pretty high starting point." The girl commented.
"Yeah, just woke up from the beach and inherited all the knowledge of a top fighter... except for my own part." Speaking of this, the young man couldn't help showing a silent smile. He shook his head, placed the dagger emitting cold light across his chest, and then slowly walked towards the dark horizon.
The mysterious starlight praised by poets has never illuminated this land, and the sunshine that radiates warm vitality has also been rejected. The cold rock is the sky and the horizon here, and dark tunnels zigzag through it, cutting through large and small caves, connecting high and low caves, and finally forming a huge and vast labyrinth.
Compared with the spider kingdom covered in ice and snow in the north, this world that breeds under the warm continent is more dangerous. Nordson's cave has been completely ruled by spider warriors, so most of the time the invaders have to face only this single enemy, but here it is different—the hunters who hide in the dark and are good at silent actions Each has a different attack method.
Of course, for Roland, who has already seen the profound meaning of Yunyao, even in a one-to-ten match, he can still win. However, due to the extremely limited vision and hearing in the underground environment, the adventurers are always passive at the beginning of each battle, which makes their nerves more and more tense every time.
What is terrible is not the enemy in front of him, but the battle that will break out at an unknown time.
Compared with those strange carnivorous creatures, the only advantage of Roland and Shifan is that they don't need to look for food - the girl's power can directly transform hard rocks into edible wheat cakes - but, the taste of this wheat cake is really It's frighteningly dull.
Sitting in a small alcove inside a stone wall, staring blankly at the faint glow emanating from the stalagmites, Roland suddenly felt that becoming a death knight was much better than he had imagined. At least he doesn't need to worry about food anymore... The young man took a bite of the wheat cake slowly and sighed in his heart.
"Is it really that bad?" Shi Fan asked coldly.
"It's a little weaker, but the taste is not bad." Roland lied a lot.
"Why? It doesn't feel bland at all. Although Li Se's cooking is also delicious, but before I met her, I almost only ate this kind of cake." The girl's thin eyebrows frowned, obviously not Satisfied with the other party's answer, "Don't pick and choose, or do you want to catch mice and eat them?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing." The young man smiled guiltily, and then quickly changed the subject, "This underground world is bigger than I imagined, and I'm afraid I won't be able to find the exit after walking for a few days. There is no other way to advance through a wider corridor."
"Actually..." Shifan paused, "Even if you can't go out, it doesn't matter, right?"
"What are you thinking?" Roland almost choked on these words. The young man stared at the girl in disbelief, as if he was judging whether the other party was joking, "You can't even see the sun here, it's no different from a dark prison, plus monsters that may appear at any time... you actually want to live in this place go down?"
"At least it's easy to survive here, there is no such powerful existence as Melukidike." The expression revealed from those emerald eyes is quite serious, "Those who want to destroy the end of Ishutori are also impossible Follow it down."
"But the death knight must also be looking for you." The young man retorted, "Don't you plan to see Ishutoli?"
"It doesn't matter if you see it or not." The girl turned her head away, and cast her gaze into the endless darkness deep in the corridor, "I said it at the beginning, the idea of changing the world is too vague, it's really hard to believe."
Similar to me, I have neither dreams nor goals, nor do I know how to prove the value and meaning of existence. Looking at Shifan's slender back, Roland's eyes flashed a sympathetic gleam. It's just that now I seem to understand a little bit, it's not okay to just wander around blindly like this.
At least "finding" itself can prove its existence. It is precisely because of this that I can withstand Yanlong's attack, right
And you, who gave me strength, should never disappear silently in the darkness without sunlight.
"Perhaps, it doesn't matter if you see Ishutori or not." Roland shrugged, "But you still want to summon Fereldo, right?" Although they only got along for a few days, the young man already knew what to do. How to get someone's attention.
As the speaker expected, this sentence made Shifan turn around.
"I think." The girl nodded, subconsciously putting her hand on her heart.
"I think that bird is more suitable to fly in the vast sky. Don't you want it to spread its wings in this kind of place? It's impossible." Looking at the serious expression of the black-haired girl, Roland's voice couldn't help but soften, " Besides, the Underdark is too shabby for a fifteen-year-old girl..."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Shi Fan interrupted quickly, "Let me ask you, how will Melodyk and the chasing soldiers be resolved?"
"That..." The young man was at a loss for words. For Roland, who was still far from the peak of swordsmanship, this blow was quite cruel. Just as the person being questioned was thinking about how to answer with a gloomy face, a clear echo of metal collision suddenly came from the depths of the distant tunnel. The sound was like the heartbeat of a beast, beating against silent rocks, falling into the cold silence of the Underdark.
Roland and Shifan glanced at each other, then immediately stopped chatting. The young man held the girl's hand carefully, and then, the faint blue light produced by the prayer technique quickly faded from the stalagmite, and the cave where the two lived returned to the darkness that could not be seen. The tacit travelers traveled through the maze of rocks relying on the memory of when they came, and soon approached the source of the sound.
In order to adapt to the environment of the Underdark, both predators and prey have developed the nature of silent action. But the current uninvited guest is obviously an exception, the sound it makes is abnormally loud, but it is strange that it has not caused any fatal disaster, which makes the young man feel very confused.
Maybe it's because the relationship is too strong, so other creatures won't attack? But how should this guy prey in this way? While speculating, Roland led the girl to approach quickly, and finally came to a place only a few meters away from the sound source.
The unknown enemy is still just advancing on its own, and the adventurers who have been attacked for a long time finally got a chance to take the lead. The next moment, dozens of stalactites around were lit up by the prayer technique at the same instant. Roland drew out the giant sword he was carrying and jumped forward, pointing at the target with a cold breath.
But then, the scene that came into his pupils instantly froze the attacker's expression—the one standing opposite was not an underground creature at all, but a small steel golem less than two meters tall.
an artifact.
The golem seemed to have experienced quite a fierce battle. At the place where the left arm used to be, there was only a greyish-black fracture. There were many high-temperature burn marks all over the body, and there was a wide cut mark on the chest. However, the magic contained in its metal heart does not seem to disappear because of this, on the contrary, it still persists in maintaining the operation of the main body.
"Intruder...report..." Several seconds after Roland blocked the way, the golem finally spoke slowly, obviously its functions had aged a lot.
This is a scouting golem. Judging from the opponent's behavior pattern, the young man stared intently at the slow-moving steel puppet, and a long-lost excitement surged in his heart—the existence of artificial objects indicates that there must be human beings around, and this place is not as desolate as imagined. place.
"We may be able to find our companions through it." Roland lowered the blade, changed his posture from offense to defense, and at the same time signaled the girl to get out of the shadow of the stalactite.
"But it may also be the enemy." Shi Fan said another possibility mercilessly.
"That's okay~!" The young man said, slowly approaching the puppet.
"Intruder...report..." Judging the power gap between the two sides, the golem took a few steps back, and then fled in a panic along the way it came. The young swordsman was about to go forward to give chase, but was blocked by the girl. Following the will of the praying man, a faint halo suddenly radiated from the golem's body.
"You don't need to go after it." Shi Fan said, pulling away the sand table between his hands again. The world reflected in the sand table appeared pitch black due to lack of light, but at this moment, the steel puppet shrouded in halo seemed to be a striking sign, shining in this invisible curtain.
The corner of the iceberg beauty's mouth slightly raised: "Look, there is light now."
Although it is only a little bit, it is enough for the lost adventurers to get the direction of the way forward.
Although the road ahead is equally difficult and dangerous, it is less confusing. Under the guidance of the sand table, the two began to move towards the position of the light spot, and the surrounding space gradually opened up. In addition to the rock folds formed by the mutual extrusion of natural forces, the traces of artificial axes are gradually increasing and becoming more and more more obvious. When Roland finally stepped onto a path with a flat ground, something in the corner reflected a faint ray of light under the light of the prayer spell.
"The pickaxe." The young man leaned down, with a triumphant smile on his lips, "We should have entered the mine tunnel of the dwarves by now, and that golem is the patroller of this mining area."
"But it seems that there is no one alive." With the girl's words, the light attached to the dagger suddenly increased several times, filling the entire mine tunnel, and completely illuminating the bones everywhere. The remains of the dwarves lay in the same positions where they had been killed, their broken armor covered with dust and rust, crumbling to ashes at the slightest touch.
"Maybe it was a war hundreds of years ago. It's nothing to be afraid of. This place is already deserted." Roland shrugged, "For us, as long as there is a road, that's enough." Dagger, striding over the corpse.
Even with the light points in the sand table to guide the way, the intricate tunnels still waste a lot of time for adventurers. The dwarven miners did not intentionally construct a maze, but it is almost impossible to always choose the right path among the countless forks, intersections, and double tunnels. Roland can be sure that he chose the wrong road more times than the right one. It was not until he fully understood the logic of the original construction of the dwarf miners that the journey finally became smooth.
Turning around a wide corridor, the space suddenly opens up. What unfolded before the eyes of ordinary people was a huge cave hundreds of meters high. Even though the light of the dagger had been strengthened several times, it still couldn't illuminate the vault above Roland's head. And in the center of the cave, on the two 30-meter-high fine gold gates, the eye-catching badges made the young man take a deep breath.
It was a huge iron hammer with flames tattooed around it and a roaring lion engraved in the center.
This is the coat of arms of the dwarves of Whitestone Hall.