Volume 1 The Vanishing Lands Chapter 9
The sky was slightly bright, the battalion horn in the outpost had already sounded, and the loud horn woke up Taylor, who had not yet fallen asleep, and he had never experienced a military career at this time, and his mental state was also very poor, and he obviously could not adapt to this high-intensity living state, but he did not dare to slack off, he did not want to slow down the march of the entire army because of himself, so he had to hold his sleepy eyes and began to tidy up his outfits, and when he put on the blue and white sacrificial robe again and opened the curtain, he found that all the personnel were ready to go, just waiting for him alone。
"Lord Taylor, well rested. Seeing Taylor's appearance, Kule couldn't help but ask.
"The chief priest is tired of care, and he is well rested. "I know he's laughing at himself, but he's now representing the entire Brett Sacrificial Church, so of course he can't lose his manners.
"Well, Chief Priest of Kule, Your Excellency Taylor, I will explain the next route, out of the Ptoledo garrison outpost, in front of the Santo Tomar Mountains, according to the early morning exploration team, the current activities on the path into the mountains are very frequent, especially the Goma tribe, which was slaughtered by Blatt not long ago, and the smell of blood there attracted a large number of Blats and wild beasts, so we have to take a detour to cross the peak of Saldo from the Strange Plank Road, which is expected to take two days, cross Saldo, and enter the Kur Observation Point in the Santo Tomar Mountains from the southwest Daqi Mountain, which is our final destination and the closest observation point to the Fourth CorpsFurther, our soldiers would not be able to penetrate deeper, because there was a camphor forest there, and we would not be able to cross it without a high-level breather. Monte gave Culle and Taylor a map of the march.
After explaining, Monte had a few of the faster soldiers go through the passage to attract Blatter's attention near the outpost, and then Taylor and the Cullet pedestrians stepped into the portal and headed in the opposite direction where the soldiers had left.
Monte has been accompanying them to the vicinity of the strange plank road, and then they will not go together, he also has to garrison the station, Red's order did not require him to go with him, Taylor is full of gravel and weeds as far as he can see, and he can't tell the direction at all, and occasionally he will encounter a few stragglers on the road, and they will quickly leave after dealing with them as quickly as possible, the main purpose of this trip is to explore, not to kill these annoying Blat, so there is no need to spend energy on these miscellaneous soldiers, and finally go around for most of the day, they saw the strange plank road, which is a heavenly roadThe winding blue-white plank road spirals up along the cliff wall, looking up, this plank road can only accommodate one person to pass by, except for a rope attached to a guard nail in the cliff every few tens of meters, there is no longer any protective device, and this plank road is repaired by the people of Red themselves, and the plank road that has achieved amazing results in a sneak attack on the Fourth Legion has achieved amazing results, so it was named the strange plank road by the Bishop of Red at that time.
Taylor sighed, began to worry about whether his physical fitness could keep up, he thought that the plank road Monte said was just a longer distance, and he might be able to support it, but now they have to step on the edge of the cliff and hike up the mountain, he doesn't know if he can hold it, but no matter what, it's all here, the task still has to be completed, Taylor gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and followed the army on this strange road.
The leading soldier and Kule were at the front, Taylor was between a priest and a soldier, and the rest of the people were behind, walking up the plank road, Taylor found that this slender road was made of the most famous local bamboo in Santomar, which is the toughest tree on the southern continent of Tremir, and the main production area is in Santomar, it has a fine texture, good stretchability, and is very strong. The plank road is not built straight and completely along the mountain, but every short section, there will be a connection point, forming a certain angle with the cliff, and then staggered arrangement, so as to ensure the stability of the plank road to the greatest extent.
The spikes nailed to the stone wall Taylor found that they were materials he had never seen before, and they were very rough to the touch, and when he looked closely, he found that there were rows of barbs tightly hooked to the stone wall where the spikes connected to the stone wall, and on each stud he could faintly feel a small enchantment condensed by a trace of white breath.
The group walked in the deserted deep mountains, and from time to time there was a creaking sound of bamboo sticks under pressure, and occasionally the sound of one or two pieces of gravel falling and hitting the rock wall could be heard, and the sound had been echoing in the valley, which showed how deep this cliff was underneath. Taylor clung to the only rope that could save his life, and at first he could keep up with the footsteps of the head team, but as he went deeper, the plank road became steeper and steeper, the road became narrower and narrower, and he still carried equipment on his back, and gradually the black robe of the high priest of Kule disappeared into the fog of the deep mountains, and Taylor also began to pant heavily, at this time he had to release his breath to ensure that his physical strength was restored, and his two guards in front of him and behind him also protected him tightly, for fear that he would accidentally fall down. After holding on for another distance, the soldiers behind Taylor had already carried the equipment on his back, and the priest in front of him was also using the breath shield to drag Taylor forward, his physical strength was almost to the limit, and he didn't know how far he had walked, Taylor only felt that his feet were as heavy as if someone had applied a mud shield, and finally passed through a corner, Taylor saw Kule, where there was a boulder embedded in the stone wall, and this place became a temporary repair place, Kule sat on the boulder and waited for him to arrive.
"Your Excellency Taylor, I didn't expect to walk this plank road for the first time, and it can be completed in one go, it's not easy. Instead of the sneering he had before, Cooler got up and pulled him up as he was approaching the ground, and Taylor was completely out of strength and collapsed on the cold stones.
"High Priest Kule, I really can't imagine that this plank road was built step by step by the people of Red. Taylor, who had recovered a little, sat up again and said to Cooler.
"Yes, I don't know how much blood was shed before the predecessors opened up this plank road, Lord Taylor, hurry up and recover your breath, we will wait for the troops behind to repair for a while and have to continue, we are less than halfway through. Kule looked at the winding plank road and said to Taylor.
I don't know how long it took, the fog in the mountains showed no signs of dissipation, the deeper into the hinterland, the more the fog became, the greater the humidity in the air, wearing a thick sacrificial robe, the whole person felt uncomfortable, after the follow-up troops were repaired, they began to get back on the road again, with the previous lesson, Taylor handed over all the heavy objects on his body to the soldiers, and walked forward lightly, the condensation bead in his hand had already consumed one, there was not much left, he had to save some use, this time Kule blessed Taylor with a light breath, which allowed him to walk a little easier, but it could only reduce the burden, and the problem of physical fitness Kule couldn't do it, after all, he had not received relevant training。
After leaving the manifold ground, the only road left was to lead to the top of the peak of Sardo, and the plank road became more difficult to walk, and the vanguard troops, who had been relatively easy before, also slowed down this time, because they were already in the detection range of the Fourth Legion, and if they accidentally encountered Blatter, this road condition would not only be difficult to fight, but would also greatly delay their march.
"Captain Kule, the weather ahead is so bad that we have to shrink our ranks and get up to Saldo before dark, or we won't even have a place to fix it. In the face of the thickening fog, Kule agreed with the soldiers, the vision ahead was limited, they could no longer stretch the line too long, and vaguely, Kule could already feel the breath of Blatter.
The forerunner took out the searchlight, but the visibility was limited, and Taylor could only faintly see a dim light flickering in the fog in the two figures behind him, Taylor was also vigilant at any time, and followed Kule step by step to move forward, why is there such a big fog? Taylor is very puzzled, unless it is a miasma, the miasma is heavier, it will be deposited in one place, the fog is light, it should be easy to dissipate.
"Alert!" said Kule as he suddenly motioned for them to stop and suppressed his voice. Everyone was motionless against the stone wall, Taylor looked around, and saw nothing unusual, but he still had to listen to Kule's words, after all, he was the chief priest, and the range of breath that he could perceive was hundreds of times larger than his own, just when everyone was holding their breath and staring at the gray-white thick mist, a loud cry passed over their heads, and when they looked up, above the dense fog above their heads, a huge shadow appeared above them, looking like a giant ray, this creature only appears in the mountains with abundant breath, usually feeding on the breath creatures in the clouds and the wild beasts in the valley, it is said that it eats once a year, and a single breath can swallow up the living creatures of the entire mountain。 Taylor watched as his huge pectoral fins swayed overhead, with a slender tail behind him.
"Hold on to the rope and don't let go!" Kule whispered to them again, as soon as the words fell, Taylor felt a light above his head, and then a huge breath roared from the top of his head to the bottom of the cliff, this gust of wind made everyone start to stagger around, Taylor clung to the rope, his whole body was tightly attached to the stone wall, and released his breath to fix himself, at this time he didn't care about the consumption of breath, if one accidentally fell under the cliff, there was no chance of survival.
This kind of giant ray is rare, but it is also the focus of hunters, because there is a very rare aura phantom stone in its body, which contains a very pure origin breath, which is a treasure that many high-level breathers dream of.
In Bret, the ray is almost invisible due to large-scale hunting, so the sacrificial church and the royal family strictly prohibit the hunting of wild rays, and instead breed artificial rays to meet the market demand, but there are still many people who go to the ridges to hunt for the rays every year, and seeing such a huge giant ray here is an eye-opener.
After a gust of wind, the ray overhead has disappeared, and the previous thick fog seems to have begun to dissipate, the vision in front of it slowly becomes wider, especially the light in the hands of the advance soldier has become much brighter, but the appearance of this giant ray has solved their problem.
"Hurry up, everyone, it's getting dark, Lord Taylor, please keep going. After a short break, everyone threw themselves into the climb again.