"The labyrinth..." Gilliam didn't show much surprise when he heard the thief's report, and didn't even question it. He just frowned and murmured, "Maybe what we encountered was a nest of higher creatures!"
"Biological lair?" The apostle and the others looked at each other in blank dismay. There was such a biological lair. What kind of creature would specially build a labyrinth fortress in the Underdark.
"It's the minotaur's lair!" Gilliam quickly replied with a wry smile without confusing the apostles for too long.
"The Minotaur? Orcs from the Northern Plains?" Mustaxia asked curiously.
"No, it's not the kind of tauren from Beiyuan..." The old dwarf's eyes were a little blurred, as if he was caught in some kind of memory, and he murmured, "The origin of the minotaur basically dates back to more than 30,000 years ago. Prehistoric... elves have not yet come to Toril's lizardman age!"
More than 30,000 years ago, Faerun was a primitive continent covered with forests.
In the world of Toril at that time, even the laws of the world were not stable enough, and the space barriers between it and other planes were very weak, and creatures from other planes often broke into Toril. Of course, the largest group here is the elves who will replace the lizardmen to rule Faerun in the future.
Except for the elves, creatures such as giant dragons, giant titans, flaming dwarfs, gas dwarves, Barlow demons, beholder lords, minotaurs and other creatures that appeared in prehistoric times all came from other planes, not Toril. A race native to the world.
The elves come from the plane of Fairier; the dragons come from the dragon world; the titans come from the god world. In legend, the dwarves are stone spirits created by the titans with their own blood combined with rocks. The Flame Djinn and Air Djinn come from the Elemental World; the Beholder Maharaja comes from the Nightmare Plane; the Balor Demon and the Minotaur come from the Abyss Plane.
Later, the Titans did not know why they left Toril. However, in addition to creating the dwarves, the legendary hill giants and trolls also had part of their blood.
The number of giant dragons that entered Toril was not large. Later, they fought with giants many times, and some of them were wiped out by elves and dwarves, and slowly disappeared on the mainland.
The Flame Djinn and the Air Djinn established a short-lived civilized country, but not long after, a war broke out between the two in present-day Calimshan, and finally disappeared in the long river of history.
The trace left by that war, which has not been eliminated until now, is the Great Karin Desert north of Karin Port.
As for the even rarer races of the evil camps such as Barlow Demon, Beholder Maharaja and Minotaur, they were driven into the Underdark by the elves and dwarves, and never again affected the surface world.
With the passage of time, the world laws of the Toril world gradually stabilized, and the abyssal creatures like the Minotaur gradually lost most of their abyssal talents, and were assimilated by the Toril world. Even so, they still retain a strong fighting ability, and to a certain extent, their physical talents have become more perverted.
"The minotaur of pure blood can reach high-level strength as long as they are adults. Their strength is very strong, and their physical defense is very high. Even if they don't wear any armor, they are equivalent to plate armor knights." Gilliam said with a wry smile.
"The Minotaur is born with racial talents such as bloodthirsty, berserk, and self-healing. After being taught by his ancestors, he can basically master several combat skills such as battle cry, charge, trample, and block. He is a born berserker."
The old dwarf became more and more depressed as he talked, rubbed his temples, and continued, "Of course, this is not the most perverted part of them. The most troublesome ability of the Minotaur is their magic immunity. This savage abyss monster is After becoming an adult, you will be immune to all spiritual magic that is not forbidden, immune to most shadow and corrosion damage, and immune to elemental damage below the fifth ring!"
"The northern plains tauren mentioned by the harpist is actually just a bastard left over after the mating of the minotaur and the orc." Gilliam spread his hands and said helplessly, "If it is a real minotaur... Frankly speaking, with my Combat ability, you can only deal with two of them head-on!"
The people around Gilliam looked at each other. Gilliam, a legendary powerhouse, actually admitted that he could only deal with two adult Minotaurs... The expressions of the apostles suddenly changed, and they didn't know what to think.
Berserkers are immune to mind control, which they can understand, but what does it mean to be immune to elemental damage below the fifth ring? ?
According to the rules of the magic net in the world of Toril, zero-level magic corresponds to apprentice spells, first-level and second-level magic correspond to low-level spells, and third-level and fourth-level magic are almost at the middle level. Although the five-ring magic can enter the high-level, if it is converted into apostle skills, it is a B-level magic skill!
Only B-level skills can affect the Minotaur? If you want to hit them directly, don't you need A-level skills? Throwing an A-level skill to destroy a monster? The black-robed mage Romon of Weiss's team immediately became brilliant!
Powerful, the defense is equivalent to that of a plate armor knight, with a bloodthirsty and violent template, the warrior's battle cry, charge, block and other combat skills are also proficient, and the magic is immune to elemental damage...
No wonder the legendary dwarves thought they could only face two of them head-on!
"Cough, that... Gilliam, in your opinion, how many minotaurs are there in this labyrinth fortress?" Qin Lun observed that his companions were not in a good mood, coughed and asked Gilliam.
Following Qin Lun's question, the apostles suddenly realized that it doesn't matter whether the Minotaur is strong or not, the key is how many there are. Under normal circumstances, high-level creatures have a territorial concept, and the number in a certain area will not be concentrated too much.
"According to our family's historical records, the Minotaur who were driven into the Underdark generally took the family as the unit, but there are also records of several families forming a tribe." Gilliam said with a frown, "Based on the maze in front of us. From the perspective of the occupied area, the number will be at least ten, and the upper limit will not exceed thirty."
"Ten to thirty minotaurs..." All the apostles just felt bitter in their mouths. Judging from the old dwarf's description, let alone thirty, even if there were only ten minotaurs, they would be worse than the ratmen they met before. Horde is much stronger.
Rat people are timid and cowardly by nature, and they will run away if they are defeated. The Minotaur obviously wouldn't. This is a berserker with a bloodthirsty and violent temper. He will never turn back until he touches the south wall. The so-called bull temper refers to this kind of monster.
"However, you don't have to worry too much, the Minotaur is not without weaknesses!" Seeing the ugly faces of Qin Lun and others, Gilliam smiled comfortingly, "It is also recorded in the historical materials of our family that the Minotaur is a rare creature in the abyss plane. Creatures with a strong sense of honor. When the number and size are not much different, they generally fight to the death without calling for their companions!"
Hearing this good news, Qin Lun and the others finally opened their eyes. If this is the case, this battle can be given a try. If you can cut off a part of the quantity before the Minotaurs are aware of the crisis, it will be much easier later.
"Gilliam, what should we do?" Qin Lun asked modestly.
"Choose those who are capable enough, and divide them into teams of three to enter the Minotaur's labyrinth." The old dwarf murmured, "Their labyrinth is both a lair and a hunting ground. The traps and terrain of the labyrinth are enough to trap the prey that enters it, Then the adult Minotaur will come alone to harvest.
This time will also be our best chance to kill it. And with our size, three people are not enough for an adult Minotaur to call for companions. Once half of the adult Minotaurs are eliminated in the early stage, the remaining old, weak, sick and disabled will be easier to deal with. "
"Three people against a Minotaur?" Qin Lun and Weiss each thought about it in their hearts, and found that the exploration team can form up to four three-person teams.
Apart from Gilliam, among the dwarves, there are several middle and high-level powerhouses, who can probably form two teams. The apostles were more unlucky. The black-robed mage's combat power was basically crippled. If Hill and Rand didn't use their hole cards, their combat power would not be much left.
Although the female priests and thieves are useful, each team only has three positions. If they are allocated one, the pressure on the other two will be greater, so they can only be used as a backup team outside the maze.
In this way, only Qin Lun, Weiss, and shield guard Newton were left, plus Elistine, Mustasha, and Idriya, and they could only form two teams.
Everyone formed a team based on their mutual combat expertise. Weiss, shield guard Newton, and Mustasia formed a team, so that they had both meat shields and long-range attacks. On Qin Lun's side, Elisteen was used as a meat shield. If the elf druid turned into a giant bear, his defense power would be very high. Besides, there was Cerberus, the hellfire dog.
After making a decision, the exploration team began to return to the original karst cave. They planned to rest and adjust, and then divided into four directions and entered the maze at the same time.
"Filar, these days with you are really wonderful!" Squatting in front of the bonfire, Mustasia's face was unpredictable, and she smiled to herself, "I didn't expect that one day I would Seeing the legendary Minotaur, those companions of the Harper Alliance will definitely not believe it when they go back!"
"Master, I'm also very happy to be with you!" Qin Lun smiled and raised his glass to the highland elves. Even though the dwarves were exploring the Underdark, they did not forget to bring their spirits.
"And I and Idriya!" Elistin shook her pink fist at the two of them, pretending to be dissatisfied, and her face under the bonfire looked more charming, which made Qin Lun slightly absent-minded. Just looking at the appearance, no one would have guessed that this elf beauty would sometimes turn into such a violent creature as a giant bear.
After resting for a full twelve hours, until Qin Lun and the others confirmed that their bodies and spirits were back to their best condition, they finally regrouped in front of the maze.
"Take care!" The four teams said to each other, and entered the maze from different entrances. The other dwarves and apostles were guarding the entrance respectively. If the battle situation is unfavorable, they will immediately enter the maze and rescue the three-person team in distress as soon as possible.
If it goes well, then after one or two groups of Minotaurs are eliminated, they will all enter it, and then it will be the final decisive battle.