Chapter 172: The Stone is Up
Toom's smile stiffened a little, the only thing he could never give.
"I'm sure there's something more valuable here......"
"I'm sure that's the most valuable thing here. Iss interrupted him, "I'm not blind, I'm not a fool, I know the mirror, and I know what it can do, and Silver Fang died for it, but it's with you—give it to me, and you don't know how to use it." ”
Ed behind him was probably staring at him in amazement, but he didn't have time to explain right now.
He knew the magical objects so well that he recognized the mirror almost immediately, and after a moment of astonishment, it dawned on him that it was something the dwarves had lost, and that all the doubts had been explained. He knew that the mirror had fallen into Silverfang's hands, and that he had apparently lost it when the dwarves had driven it away from the Silvertooth Mountains. That would explain Kogan's unusually long life, and why the injured Silver Fang ventured into the dwarven mines.
"I can give you more...... Except for this mirror. The old mage spoke slowly. It was something he had been looking for decades to get his hands on.
Is's eyes were cold and disdainful: "I don't need your permission. ”
"I have no intention of denying your power, but this is my territory. Tum's face was gloomy, "You can't get out of here without my permission." ”
"Do you want to try?" said Is, proud and fearless, "at least I can guarantee that you're the first to die here." ”
Ed in the shadows began to sweat - he was worried about this! The dragon would not control his temper at all! Wasn't this what they had agreed to avoid?!
The muscles on Toom's face twitched slightly, but he finally suppressed his anger, facing a young, arrogant, but also undoubtedly powerful ice dragon, it would definitely not end well, not to mention that he was still stuck here.
"I'm not the only necromancer here, and even if I'm dead, it's hard for you to leave...... But I believe it doesn't have to be that way. His tone softened, "If my message is not wrong." You're still young—very young, and there's little that can hurt you, especially since you've become our ally. You don't need this mirror, and there's really no need to turn against the necromancer because of it. You know we're getting stronger than you ever imagined......"
The ice dragon glanced at him, and then at the mirror, with a faint expression, as if he was thinking about it.
"I can give it to you...... After I'm done experimenting, or before I die, either case will be just a blink of an eye for your long life. "And you know how to use it...... That makes us all have to wait for less. ”
He really didn't know much about the mirror, if the ice dragon knew more. Maybe it will allow him to succeed faster.
“...... You want me to help you?" the ice dragon raised an eyebrow, not as if he was completely uninterested.
"You have the strength and knowledge, and I have the experience and the patience. "Think about it, we can create ...... It's like a miracle of God's creation!"
That seems to have finally struck a dragon.
"Sounds like a lot of fun. He said.
"It's really interesting. I promise you. Toom breathed a sigh of relief.
The ice dragon snorted a little reluctantly, his gaze still resting on the mirror.
"Of course, we won't let you leave empty-handed. "Necromancers don't treat their friends like that. ”
"Really?" the ice dragon looked at him with a smirk, "how did you all get rid of your silver teeth?"
"Silver Tooth ......," Toom remembered the greedy and irritable old ice dragon, "it likes...... Some of the easier foods to eat, and we happen to have some. ”
The ice dragon frowned in disgust, "You mean those rough-skinned savages? ”
"We do have some ...... Something that can be eaten. Toom said a little stiffly. Even for a necromancer, discussing people as food made him feel a little awkward. In the eyes of the ice dragon, it is very likely that he is just a "meatless" food.
"Really?" said the ice dragon nonchalantly, "take me to see it." ”
Even if he was full of resentment, Toom had no choice but to agree.
As he left, he noticed Ed, who was still standing in the shadows.
"Keep up. He said.
This necromancer already knew too much for him to stay.
"He looks good. Is's tone was almost brisk. There was even a slight smile on his face, "You probably wouldn't mind if I took this, would you?"
“...... Of course. Tum replied reluctantly.
Mock sat there, banging the ground with the iron cuffs in his hands. He did this a lot, and the sound was irregular, as if it was just some kind of passing the time. Subconscious behavior.
His guards were indifferent to this. Mork had tried to hit his shackles with a stone right under their noses, but they didn't respond, and only when he tried to get out of the corner of the cavern did they surround him.
He broke the chain and overthrew the guards to escape once, and the failure cost him dearly. He didn't know what Tum had done to his right leg - he probably fainted at that point. It didn't break, but it hurt to walk like a saw was cutting back and forth inside.
The chains on his body also became thicker.
"You can smash it again. The necromancer said mockingly.
He stubbornly did smash it again—not trying to escape, just telling the necromancers that they couldn't scare a dwarf.
This time Toom didn't hurt him again. The old mage slowly killed a barbarian in front of him—it was still a child, and his screams would forever echo in the ears of the dwarves.
Like Toben's dying roar, blood spurting from Nadal's neck......
He was the one who killed them.
They found the necromancer's trail on the way to Balach. In retrospect, it was too easy, and if he hadn't been so impatient and cautious, he might have seen that it was a trap, but at that time he was full of thoughts about finding something and getting back to the pit as soon as possible. The dwarves were always a little uneasy when the big hole in the pit hadn't been fully filled, and Kogan was becoming more and more suspicious and irritable......
They were surrounded in the Kasdan Forest, near the mouth of the Kuz River. He could barely believe his eyes when the barbarians came around, he had wandered the ice fields for years, knowing that there were necromancers there, but he had never heard of them turning barbarians into undead.
Time seems to stand still in the mines, and the world is changing incredibly fast. The dwarves have always felt that the world outside the pit has nothing to do with them, but that may be a big mistake.
The world is one. Forests, rivers, mountains...... The sky and the earth, the dwarves have never been the rulers of this world, and they never have to, but they are still part of this world after all.
If the shadow of darkness and death looms over the world, the dwarves will never be left alone.
Mock stayed. Teach the barbarians how to get what the necromancers want out of the stone in its entirety. The rock here is not hard granite or basalt, but schist, which is not difficult to crush, the problem is, it is also easy to knock down. The barbarians lost many of their companions as a result, but they simply ignored the dwarves' advice.
At first, the dwarves thought they didn't understand, but then he read their desperate resistance in the eyes of a man who was gloomy but calm as death—their bodies could not escape, all of them were chained to a long chain, their souls had been marked, and they would eventually become sacrifices to demons, and the spirits of the dead who guarded them behind them were none other than their relatives and friends.
Realizing that the barbarians intended to collapse the entire cavern and bury everything, it took a lot of effort for Mork to get them to abandon their plan to die together.
He had better plans, and his plans were all on stone. Just as the undead don't betray necromancers, stones don't betray dwarves. But the savage was so impatient that he paid a higher price for it, and the faint roar among the rocks told the dwarves that they had little time left, but he hesitated, feeling that the plan was not perfect enough, and put it off day after day—in fact, the plan could never be perfect, and he just didn't want to give up the chance to find the mirror.
It had been used, and the dwarves had learned how dangerous an item with its magical powers was. He saw with his own eyes the results that were enough to throw the whole world into chaos. Luckily, Toom's experiment was only successful once, and he hadn't been able to grasp the rules yet, but the longer the mirror was in his hands, the worse it got - and he was still lucky enough to get it back to the Silvertooth Mine intact.
Kogan didn't want to lose the mirror, he could see it in the old dwarf's eyes.
If he trusts his friend enough, he should tell Ed what the lost treasure is...... But now that he's missed the opportunity, he's not going to let Ed take any more risks.
And that mirror, it may be doomed to destruction, to be buried, along with this damn place, with those necromancers.
The sound of iron shackles hitting the ground could be heard far enough that he knew someone could hear it, someone could understand it. The barbarians who had once been suspicious and even hated him now believed in him, which he had bought with the scars on his body, his rock-solid will, and the wisdom and experience he had accumulated over three hundred years.
The stone is on top and he will never let them down.