The northeastern border of Dawn, the Cage Mountain area.
The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes. There are intertwined vines and giant trees everywhere. The thick canopies are stacked on top of each other, and only a little gray sky can be seen from the gaps.
The only thing that comforted Akima was that at least they didn't have to fight the knee-deep snow. It was less affected by the Devil's Moon, and there would be no snow-covered mountains. They could have waited until the turn of spring and summer to come again.
But that doesn't mean that traveling through the mountains is an easy job.
When standing at the foot of the mountain, Cage Mountain is nothing but a gentle high slope, not even steep. But after really entering, I found that there is not even a path inside, which is not suitable for large troops to climb over. The group climbed less than two miles on the first day of the climb, and three people were injured. In desperation, the king's personal guard Sean had to have the army stationed in the small town at the foot of the mountain, and only picked out a few elites to follow her. Forward.
A local guide Naf, a god's punishment witch Rosser, a liaison from the Tokat family, Marr, plus her and Sean and others, constitute the whole of this strange exploration team.
No wonder there are ghosts!
The witch of God's Punishment said that she was entrusted by His Majesty to take care of her life. After all, working with men all day long, there would be many things that would be inconvenient. But Akima was sure that as long as she tried to escape, the other party would break her legs immediately.
Although Mal Tokat was a liaison envoy sent by King Dawn, what did he need to contact in the deep mountains and forests? Instead of staying in the town honestly, he insisted on asking to go up the mountain together, obviously with a purpose. If it wasn't under the name of Tokat's family, and he really helped a lot along the way, I'm afraid Sean would have thrown it back with a sackcloth bag.
Not to mention the prospecting team, this "non-hostile" prospecting team can be said to be armed to the teeth, and even shovels can be used to slash people. When facing the knights of individual lords, they will wipe out the opponents with a single order. The posture is not like a group of ordinary miners at the bottom of life.
And none of this group of people knew what they were looking for, including Akima, it was neither gold, silver nor copper and iron, and the only guide was this small coin of unknown material in her hand.
"Wait...wait," the guide walking in front suddenly raised his hand to stop, "Be careful, there are traps here!"
When Akima heard a clicking sound behind her, she knew that it was a preparation for the firearm to be loaded. In the past month or so, Sean talked to her a lot about His Majesty's legendary achievements, and she also had a basic understanding of the combat capability of this unit. In fact, she found herself more comfortable with ordinary people than Rosser, who was a former witch.
Rosser's reaction was much calmer. She didn't even draw her sword, and walked to the guide unhurriedly, "Oh? This is... a spear throwing tripwire?"
"That's right," Nuff pointed to the top of a tree trunk. "See, the spear is hiding there. If we accidentally hit the trap, those things will shoot us into a sieve!"
Akima looked down his fingertips, and saw a few sharpened wooden sticks exposed between the branches and leaves, as if she was looking down at them coldly from a high place. important parts such as the neck. This is by no means a trap set by the hunters, but more like a trap set against people.
"Where is the organ?" Sean asked in a deep voice.
"You can't find them," Nave shook his head, "every vine, every branch under our feet may be part of a tripwire, and unless a torch burns here, it's hard to destroy it completely. ."
"Then what?" Mal muttered.
"Only a detour, my lord."
"No, you all stand back." Rosser said suddenly, "Let me try."
"What did you say... What?" Naf looked at the God's Punishment Witch in surprise, "Hey, this is no joke."
However, before he could finish speaking, the latter had slowly walked into the danger zone.
This field of weeds is so dense that if you don't cut it down, you won't be able to see what's under your feet at all. Before walking far, Akima heard a thud, as if something had been pulled off, and then there was a rustling sound on the canopy, like a poisonous snake spitting out a letter!
The twisted rope that was hidden somewhere suddenly straightened, and the wooden stick on the top of the tree popped out in one go! At the same time, Rosser also drew his long sword!
"It's over..." The guide closed his eyes immediately, as if he couldn't bear to watch the woman die on the spot.
But Akima saw what happened next
I saw the God's Punishment Witch holding the hilt of the sword with both hands, slapping the wooden sticks back one by one like she was slapping flies! Under the impact of the huge force, most of the sticks shattered in response, but she acted with ease, as if it didn't take much effort at all!
When the movement subsided, the grass around her was a mess.
"This way the trap is lifted," Rosser retracted his sword and shrugged to everyone, "Let's continue on our way."
Realizing what happened, Nuff sat down on the ground in fright.
…
"Aha... I knew that all of you adults have superb skills and extraordinary skills. You are worthy of being a big man from the capital!" After the guide finally recovered from the shock, he immediately changed his rhetoric, "Especially this samurai, the swordsmanship is simply amazing. It can be described as superb!"
"No more nonsense," Rosser interrupted. "You'd better explain why there are such traps in the mountains? Those wooden sticks and spears are very difficult for beasts to do, right?"
This is also the question that Akima wants to ask.
"It's really used to deal with people," Naf replied honestly. "The more you go up the mountain, the more traps there are. Therefore, the cage mountain has another name, called the trap mountain. These things are all left by the lords of the past dynasties. , the only purpose is to guard against the Kingdom of Wolfheart."
"Wolfheart?" Sean repeated.
"Yes, this mountain range almost extends from the seaside to the old holy city. It is the natural dividing line between the two countries. Because the terrain of Dawn is lower, it is like being surrounded by it in a cage, and the Cage Mountain is also named after it." Naf explained, "But the problem is the shape of the mountain. You should have noticed when you are at the foot of the mountain. The south of the cage is like a gentle slope. It looks very high, but it is very easy to walk down. This leads to robbers from neighboring countries. , hunters and refugees often invade the border territory of Chenxi through the cage mountain. At first, they just searched for resources in the mountains, and then they simply ran into the village to steal and loot, causing the local residents to be uneasy. The lord also had a headache, so he simply thought about it. A once and for all solution is to give up the cage mountain.”
"So it is..." Mal Tokat said suddenly, "This kind of thing actually happened on the border."
"The lord naturally doesn't want to attract the attention of the king," Nave continued, "Besides, we are not the poor people on the opposite side. They can't live without relying on the mountains to eat the mountains. We just need to change the way of living. , The lord sent people to plant fast-growing weeds and vines in it, and set up a lot of traps. This custom has been passed down from generation to generation, and the cage has become what it is today."
So you've turned it into a real cage, blocking each other, but also imprisoning yourself, Akima thought. If it was His Majesty Roland Wimbledon, he would definitely not choose to do this. The guy's eyes were always looking into the distance, and even when he explained the task to her, the focus did not always fall on her.
No, why should I think of him at such a time
Akima shook her head again and again.
Your Majesty is just an employer.
Hurry up to complete the task and try to return to Doris and the others as soon as possible.
…
Sure enough, as the guide said, the group encountered several traps after that, but they basically had no effect on the God's Punishment Witch. Just as night was approaching, Akima suddenly saw the green light on the coin suddenly exuberant!
After a dense forest, a dazzling light source also appeared, and there seemed to be countless light spots running back and forth between the two, forming a bright bridge of light.
This is a source-level response!
She finally found another source!
However, when the exploration team followed Akima's instructions and walked through the jungle, everyone couldn't help but froze in place.
It was actually an abandoned building half hidden in the mountainside. The dilapidated stone gate was bottomless, and the columns engraved with strange symbols on both sides obviously proved that it was not a natural thing.
Akima also widened her eyes in surprise.
Didn't His Majesty say that what she was looking for was a strange ore
Why does the source appear in a ruin that seems to have been abandoned for a long time