Lightning was silent.
She knew that Edith was right. If the pit is really that deep, the fate of falling can be imagined; if the answer is the latter, and the magic is disturbed by something, the situation is even more complicated. The Stone of Retribution was fine, but if it was a trap set up by the enemy, it would be too dangerous for the rescuers.
Those strange beasts with scythes that come and go, and the worm carriers that devoured the Devil's Stone Pagoda are all likely to hide in this snowy mountain. Without the warning of Nightingale and Sylvie, as well as the cover of the First Army, even the Witch of God's Punishment might not be able to bring Fran back smoothly.
The little girl took a deep breath.
But the adventure itself is fraught with danger.
A qualified explorer should not wait for his companions to die.
"Let me go down and have a look," she walked up to the disputing parties. "No matter what we do next, we must first find out what's going on at the bottom of the cave."
"Your ability is..." the blond man turned his head and asked. Lightning remembered that the name of the other party seemed to be Elena, and although the body was male, the soul was an out-and-out Taquila ancient witch.
"Flying," she tapped on the goggles above her head, "in this case, I have an advantage over you to investigate."
"It's not a matter of inconvenience," Agatha frowned. "If you can't use your abilities at the bottom of the cave, how will you come back? Your Majesty said that this search is never allowed to act alone, whether it's the Witch League or Taqi. All of them must advance steadily with the cooperation of the First Army."
"Just hang a rope around my waist," Lightning threw out his thoughts, "If it's really a forbidden area made by the Stone of God's Punishment, I won't be a big problem. As long as you find the rope Hanging down the wall of the cave, just pull me up."
An explorer who does not give up his companions does not mean acting recklessly. When she was a child, she heard her father say many thrilling emergencies. As long as they are handled properly, most accidents can be avoided.
Even without magic, she's still the best explorer!
"Let me follow," Nightingale interjected. "There is no upper or lower in the misty world. I can easily walk on the cliff, and even if an enemy appears, I can cover her back as soon as possible."
"What's the difference between this and acting alone?" Wendy shook her head again and again, "If there is a trap below, the two of you won't be able to care about it. Don't forget that there are powerful enemies like high-level devils in this world!"
"We will never leave Fran, if you don't go, we will go by ourselves!" Elena said solemnly.
"Did the four hundred years make you forget the importance of obeying orders?" Agatha's voice also became serious, "In the name of the high-ranking witch of Taquila, I ask you not to act without authorization!"
"..." Hearing this sentence, all the witches of God's Punishment fell silent, Elena bit her lip, and finally took two steps back and pressed her chest to salute.
"There's no need for you to quarrel over this kind of thing," Edith said suddenly. "According to His Majesty's instructions, the exploration must be carried out by three parties, so just send the First Army down, right?"
"Have you found your way down?" Brian, the head of the First Army, asked in surprise.
"I didn't find the way, but I found this," she pointed to a cliff beside the entrance of the cave. Under the light of the torches, there were flickering points of light on the rock wall, which were the sparkling light reflected by the running water. "The cement boat that was used to cook the porridge had a lift, and I often saw them hoisting food directly from other supply boats instead of carrying it by hand."
"Ah... you're talking about the gondola system," Brian nodded. "It can indeed carry a lot of cargo at one time, but it has to be powered by a steam engine..."
"So, as long as we move the machines on the ship here, we can transport two machine gun teams at the same time, and enter this deep pit together with the witch." Edith said word by word, "The length of the rope can be extended through the connection. , the heavy machinery should not be a problem for the God's Punishment Witch. If there is water here, it can be guaranteed to run all the time, and the retreat channel required by His Majesty can also be satisfied. The only problem is how to remove it, the First Army Someone should be able to do that, right?"
Brian hesitated, "It's fine if you just remove it, but if you want to put it back on..."
"That's just the loss of a ship and a steam engine," Edith raised her eyebrows. "It only adds up to five or six hundred golden dragons. How do you think Your Majesty will choose?"
Five or six hundred... Lightning couldn't help but twitched the corners of his mouth. Is this not a small sum
Brian didn't think for too long, and quickly nodded, "I understand, you can get a steam engine right away."
…
After half an hour, there was a roaring machine next to the pothole. The cantilever of the hanging basket system was moved over and found that it was difficult to fix it in the rock. This part of the equipment was simply abandoned and only the winch was used as a retractable tool. The flywheel of the steam engine turned the heavy winch back and forth, sending sections of hemp rope straight into the pit. In order to prevent the rock wall from grinding the hemp rope, Agatha summoned the ice to wrap around the hole, allowing the rope to move up and down smoothly.
A huge iron basket is attached to the end of the hemp rope, which is enough to carry six to eight people and two Mark 1 heavy machine guns. Even if the witch is incapacitated, the machine gun group can provide powerful fire cover.
The first group of people to ride the gondola were Agatha, Elena and six soldiers of the First Army, with Lightning and Nightingale accompanying the action.
When the lifting device was debugged, everyone slowly sank into the deep pit, and the fire above their heads became more and more dim.
Lightning was tied to a rope and flew in the lower part of the center of the cave, leading the way for those behind. Not being around made her a little uncomfortable, but she had to be guarded outside the snow-capped mountains. Rather than monitoring the movements of the evil beast, she still wanted to unravel the mystery of the underground ruins.
Every time she dropped more than ten meters, she would look behind her.
The fire at the checkpoint was almost covered by darkness. The only thing that was lit was that the soft and steady light of the two luminous magic stones in the hanging basket reflected a pale golden "ribbon", which was Agatha on the rock wall. Ice layers left behind along the way. The solid ice fills the rough rocks, making it a flat mirror. Only in this way can the group fall smoothly.
After flying for nearly 100 meters, Lightning's heart sank little by little.
Ordinary people's chances of surviving a fall from this height are very small, and the only hope is that the life force of the worm-devouring worm carrier is particularly tenacious.
Just then, she noticed a strange reflection under her feet.
The light was very dim, as if the darkness had opened its eyes, like a flickering slit. Lightning used the luminous magic stone to signal two upwards, held his breath to accelerate the fall, and then stepped on a hard and smooth rock.
She bent down and touched the "ground" lightly. The surface of the dark stone was as smooth as a crystal, and the dark back light was mixed with a touch of indissoluble crimson...
She has seen this thing.
That's the huge Blackrock Spire in the Devil's Camp.