Ustengera, verse 16

The path to the lower forest was long and far, and the ancient passage built by the Nords was like a swirling snake, rotating to lead to the lower end of the Great Hollow.

The road is very narrow, and even if two people walk side by side, it is a little too crowded. In particular, the side close to the cliff is covered with dark green moss. It was wet and slippery, and sometimes a low wind flowed down from the hollow in the dome, bringing a long whistling to the great underground cavern. The voice whimpered, unsettling like a wraith's wail.

In the air, there is moist water vapor.

"Even if you take into account the influence of the underground river, the air here is too humid. Sure enough, this is the Yar Frontier, which has the title of Lord of the Frosty Mist. Just the rising sun moon already has such humidity. There will be heavy rainstorms in a few days. ”

Minnie Mouse gently rubbed the thumb and middle finger of her left hand, and sighed as she felt the humidity on her fingertips. She was walking on the inside of the Spiral Mountain Road at the moment, and occasionally, she would involuntarily touch the smooth stone wall beside her.

"Oh, will it rain?" replied Alice, beside her, nonchalantly, as if she had no interest in the subject. The forge-sword in the girl's palm hung down slightly, and the sharp part of the sword was tilted down and pointed down somewhere in the distance.

The next moment, there was a soft 'buzzing' sound in the air. A small black dot rose from afar, and struck at a rapid pace towards the direction where the two of them were!

It was an arrow.

To be precise, it is a long arrow made of mercury alloy, made of paulownia wood, and embedded with an unknown feather at the end. Combined with the bronze longbow used during the Worship Dragon Cult, it is enough to penetrate the iron armor 300 feet away and still retain its lethality.

The arrow, however, was not three hundred feet away from where it had been projected—just two hundred feet above a protruding cyan rock, less than two hundred feet from Alice, where a gray-and-white skeletal archer had just shot an arrow was holding his longbow aloft.

Just three seconds ago, the rock was empty, clean as if it had been a freshly boiled clay pot, and even the insects couldn't rest on it. However, just as the two girls walked somewhere on the ancient road, the skeleton archer appeared as if out of nothing.

It could be some unknown ancient trigger, or it could be some hidden door to annihilation. But in any case, the issue is no longer important at this point.

The important thing is the arrow.

If you are hit, you will definitely be injured. Serious or minor injuries are aside. But even a small scratch is a sign of bloodshed, a symbol of more ancient undead being summoned from their dreams that should last forever. At that time, the two people who are still on this narrow mountain road will be in trouble.

Therefore, it cannot be hit.

…… Nor will it be hit.

"Thirty-five. ”

Alice raised her head slightly, and incorporated the arrow's trajectory into her lock. The girl's wrist danced deftly, and the golden-gray furnace sword drew an elegant trajectory in the air. In the blink of an eye, a swirling wind vortex rolled up at the end of the sword light!

Court Sword Style: Wind Scarre.

It means - to cut through the flowing wind with a sword, leaving scars in the atmosphere.

And at this moment, the powerful wind vortex cut by the long sword in Alice's palm was undoubtedly the embodiment of the atmospheric scar. It spun rapidly, emitting a shrill howl, and at the same time firmly incorporated the incoming arrow into the grasp of the spiral vortex—the trajectory of the arrow was deflected, and the strong kinetic energy exerted by the bowstring to the arrow changed dramatically under the torsion of the wind vortex.

And then......

'——!Boom'

The arrows in front of the Imperial Maiden's eyes suddenly shattered into dozens of pieces of various sizes! Sharp strips of wood and metal shards were immediately carried in all directions by the wind vortex that had broken apart. Some fly to the outside and fall into cliffs. Others slammed in the direction where Alice and Minnie were located. Then, all the colorless ripples on the wall of the invisible force field that suddenly appeared around Alice's body fell to the ground.

"Failed again. Alice pursed her lower lip slightly, and a slight taste of frustration came from the tip of her tongue to her heart.

Alice's goal is to use the Wind Scar to bounce back the arrows she fired, not just destroy them. However, since the time she walked down the trail, she had failed thirty-four times.

Counting this time, it's thirty-five.

After failing so many times, the girl's heart finally ignited a wisp of anger. Her free left hand was in the air, and an orange ball of flame was neatly thrown, blasting the skeletal archer in the distance into a miserable hodgepodge of rocks and bones.

"Are you pushing too hard, are you too nervous?" It wasn't until the roar of the flames that stopped that Minnie Mouse at her side lowered the sleeve that had subconsciously blocked her in front of her when the arrow struck, and she tilted her head to give a pertinent advice.

"Why don't you try to relax yourself a little more?"

Alice shook her head slightly, and the expression on her face was slightly downcast. She replied softly, each word as if it contained an inscrutable sigh.

"I knew I had to relax, but I couldn't. The pale golden ends of the hair that covered the back of Alice's neck swayed slightly, swaying gently like a curtain blown by the wind. Her gaze seemed to wander over Minnie Mouse as if inadvertently, lingering for a moment on her swan-white neck. Then it staggered slightly and deliberately and stopped on a protruding rock not far away.

"I have to be focused all the time. ”

"Not really. Minnie Mouse shook her head, looking incredulous. "Miss Alice, you look more nervous, what are you nervous about?

She said, leaning forward. In just two small steps, the distance between her and Alice was less than a palm.

"Can you tell me, Miss Alice, are you nervous about something?" she stared at her, her gaze pure and sticky. It can be seen that she is serious.

Alice leaned away.

"That's just your delusion. Alice replied with a blank face. Then she walked past Minnie Mouse and towards the deeper part of the mountain.

As a result, it was not until they reached the bottom of the trail that the bare stone crevices were gradually replaced by weeds and shrubs. Alice was also unable to fully grasp the use of Wind Scars.

……………………………………

The woods in the valley are not very large, but there is a lot of bush. Especially in the middle of the woods, the pool that connects to the underground river, where the shrubs and weeds grow particularly well.

And in the midst of these messy plants, there is a huge stone wall that stands silently.

[This is...... Dragon Language?】

Alice frowned slightly, in her memory, there seemed to be a similar stone wall in the deepest part of the Frostfall Temple, but that stone wall was much larger and wider than this one, and the number of dragon language seals recorded on it was not on the same order of magnitude at all.

The bigger difference was that when she split through the weeds and came to the dragon wall, she didn't hear the sound in the wall like she did when the cold fell. It was supposed to be the sound of soldiers in ancient times shouting and fighting......

[Something is wrong...... I should...... ...... to be able to hear something]

"This kind of writing is strange. ”

Minnie Mouse said suddenly, beside Alice, holding a bulging water bladder that she had filled on the edge of a nearby waterhole just now when Alice's attention was drawn to the stone wall.

"It doesn't look like the writing of the Gunnods, not even the writing of humans. Minnie Mouse reached out and gently stroked the grooves carved out of the words on the stone wall—as if drawn by the claws of some beast, and every stroke in the font was hard and sharp, without even a bit of sleek structure.

"Abandon the elves, perhaps...... Some kind of text variant of the Demon Annihilation Clan?" Minnie tilted her head slightly, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "This kind of writing can only evolve if it is a race that has the blood of battle in its veins. ”

"This is the language of the dragon. ”

"Huh?"

Alice took two steps forward and walked over to Minnie. She raised her head, her pale blue eyes quietly staring at every rune on the dragon wall, but the standard imperial Chinese was recited in her mouth.

"All the bloodlines of Van Nord must remember the proverbs of the Pale Father. ”

"—The cowardly who forgets courage and turns away from glory will sink into the dark and gloomy stream, forgotten by the years. ”

She exhaled lightly and said, "That's what it says. It's just an ordinary proverb, and there's nothing special about it. ”

She looked at Minnie and asked hesitantly, "Lady Alices, ...... you Did you hear any strange noises?"

"Not really. Minnie replied decisively. Her tone was firm, without hesitation.

"Yes...... Alice exhaled softly, shaking her head hard. It's like trying to get rid of a nightmare.

"Maybe I'm mistaken, there's really no sound here. She nodded, and walked toward a dwarf bush beside her. "We've got to clean it up and camp here for the night. ”

As she spoke, the light above the dome seemed to dim suddenly. This may just be an illusion in the mind, but as long as you calculate the time, you can easily come to the conclusion that it is going to be night.

At night, it is not suitable for travel. Even underground, undead creatures become more active and ...... as night sets on Offensive.

She raised her sword and was about to cut down the pile of bushes in front of her.

She was not able to cut it down.

In the moment before she swung her sword, Minnie's voice came from behind her. A faint, yet affirmative voice.

"Miss Alice, you ...... It's a Dragonborn. ”