On the sixth day of leaving Mapei, he was in a large rift valley four hundred miles to the southeast. 「」

An ice crevasse runs across the valley floor, and the wind mixed with ice particles blows all day long, and even the colorless wind seems to turn grayish-white.

Dozens of snow wolves were ridden or towed, trudging at the valley floor.

Lin An and several other mages were caught in the back of the team, and the cloaks on their bodies were tightly wrapped, and they couldn't see their faces at all.

There was a sound of running at the front of the team, and a bearded outpost rode back on a snow wolf, and before he reached the team, he shouted, "There is a volcanic crater ahead, I see animal activity, there may be hot springs......"

His voice was not high, for fear of causing an avalanche, but the excitement in his voice could not be hidden.

Volcanic craters with animal activity are generally safe, and wild animals are most sensitive to natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. In ice fields, there are usually hot springs or underground undercurrents near volcanoes, and the more you look for places where there are many small animals, the more likely you are to find them.

The storage of hot springs means food and water sources, in the ice field, this is the most important thing, even if Lin An's space equipment is stuffed with water, but the big bellies of dozens of snow wolves are enough to drag people to death.

The guide who led the way was not a knight chief, but a cavalryman who was more familiar with the geography of the ice fields. 「」

He thought about it for a moment, nodded and said:

"On the map of the fortress, the location of this rift valley is indeed marked with a volcano, this volcano is very small, called Hughes Volcano, it has been dormant for a long time, and the last record of a volcanic eruption in the rift valley seems to be two or three hundred years ago."

The ice field is vast, not inferior to the dense human settlement area in the south, and the terrain changes drastically, often a heavy snow or ice wind can bury some ditches on the surface of the earth one night, so not to mention the terrain within a radius of 400 miles of the fortress, it is the terrain within a radius of 100 miles. Not every fortress can be discovered.

It's just that there are huge reserves and types of mineral deposits buried under the ice sheet that cannot be ignored, otherwise Merlin may not be willing to invest a lot of manpower and resources in the ice field every year, and treat the ice field as his own backyard, holding it tightly, and not giving the other two empires a chance to get their hands on it.

Overall. If the investment and development of the ice field is regarded as a business, the income of Merlin's business is greater than the return. Merlin is located in the northern part of the continent. The land was nowhere near richer than south of the Rocky Mountains, and the First Empire had built its roots almost entirely on the backyard of the ice fields.

The leader of the team, Knight Captain Nadal, was at the front of the group, mounted on the snow wolf, nodded, asked the cavalry guide beside him, and then said to the bearded outpost:

"If you can't find a hot spring, you should be able to find a cave." 」”

It is common knowledge that there are many mineral deposits near the volcano. However, the surface of the crater is fragile, and the mining risk is very great, and generally the army will not lightly mine the crater unless very precious and rare mineral deposits are discovered.

But in order to confirm the type of minerals underground, there will definitely be surface pits near the crater. More than enough to accommodate this group for the time being, it is the best second choice if you can't find a hot spring.

Looking at the meaning of Knight Nadal, today is planning to slow down the trip for a while. Stock up on some fat for the mount near the hot springs.

The knights in the team were excited.

The Snow Wolf is a natural mount on the ice field and their closest companion, and although they can travel long distances for half a month without changing horses and maintaining a minimum food supply, it is also a rare opportunity to take a break to recuperate.

As for whether stopping halfway will delay the mission, this is something that the knight commander needs to consider, the knights are in the army, and they have long been accustomed to the orders and prohibitions in the army, and they are only responsible for thinking about the execution of the tasks above. 「」

Half a magic hour later.

In an abandoned mine cave near the crater, the cave wall is wet, the empty cave is wafting with pale white warm water vapor, the ice wind outside the cave is howling, but the cave is warm like spring, there is a hot spring in the cave that covers an area of one-fifth, and the slightly turbid spring water is gurgling and boiling.

Suddenly entering here from the harsh winter, everyone has a sense of relaxation.

Dozens of snow wolves were tethered to the outside of the cave, snorting and snorting, and most of the cavalry had already entered the inner cave, muttering things like "The one who digs this mine will really enjoy" as they explored and inspected.

Lin An didn't feel the same way, maybe it was because the hot spring cave in the ice field had left her with very bad memories, so when others couldn't wait to collect the fungi and water on the walls of the cave, she was observing whether there were any magic traps or something left in the cave.

- It would have been a joke of fate if Samuel had just happened to have taken refuge in one of his secret locations and was then found and caught.

"My lord, we've found another hole!" There are soldiers who report back to Knight Captain Nadal. 「」

"Check the security situation, and if it suits, give the mages a rest." Knight Captain Nadal said.

The soldier took the order and went down, and soon came back again:

"The inner hole is slightly smaller and safe for the time being, but there is an ice gap deeper down."

“…… Well? Ice crevices? ”

Nadal frowned.

Ice crevasses are cracks, and the presence of cracks indicates that the structure of the mine is unstable and may be dangerous.

Nadal remembered that no more caves had been found nearby, perhaps because the surface structure here was too weak, so it was abandoned.

But when they entered the second inner hole, Nadal, Lin An and others found that the so-called ice gap was actually a bit far away, and it was connected to a section of artificially dug mine road in the inner cave, and even if the ice gap collapsed, it would not immediately threaten the inner hole, and there was no time to escape.

"However, the ice crevasse is a bit deep, and it is completely unsurfaced...... According to common sense, it shouldn't! ”

Standing in the opening of the ice gap two or three feet long and wide, and the cold wind was blowing, Nadal Knight Chief threw a piece of hard ice into it, listened to the distant echo inside, and said a little strangely. 「」

"If there is any beast coming out of it, it happens that the whole family will serve it in a pot, give our snow wolf a supplement!" Nadal's cavalry thought he was worried about this, and couldn't help but laugh.

"Get out, you kid thinks so beautiful!" Nadal laughed and scolded, "I'm afraid that it won't be a beast, but a monster, and it will kill us at that time!" ”

Nadal's words are not unfounded.

It is not uncommon to say that some special monsters are produced near the special environment of the crater of the ice field, and the smell of sulfur in the hot springs in the mine covers up the breath left by the monsters, even Nadal, a knight who has been fighting and has survived on the ice field for a long time, cannot distinguish the strength and weakness of the monster and the habit of haunting, if the monster is too strong or enough, and it is on the territory where the monster lives, how can it be encountered, and the winning side cannot say that it must be the human side.

“…… Your Excellency Nadal, let me find out. ”

Among the five mages, one of the extremely low-key mages suddenly said.

He barely felt a sense of zài, and if it weren't for his sudden voice, almost no one would have paid attention to his zài, and at this time people looked at him, only to feel that there was an unexpectedly young and nice sound coming from under the low-hanging hood, and the intonation had a sense of rhythm with a foreign accent.

"You're going, Master Sidney?" No one else paid attention to the mage, but Knight Chief Nadal knew who was on his team, and the name Sidney was indeed a common name in the Pere Empire, which was relatively rare in Merlin.

People seem to have noticed that there is also an exotic mage in the team, but they haven't paid much attention to it, because this Sidney mage, like Lin An, was randomly selected by Knight Nadal in the ordinary apprentices before, and there is only one Babel participant in the team who really cares.

"It's not a joke to encounter a monster in such a small space as an ice crevasse," Knight Captain Nadal, although his status and strength are higher than Sidney's, his attitude is unexpectedly gentle, "Let my soldiers go." ”

"All the way to the journey, Your Excellency and the knights under your command have contributed to the effort, and I should do what I can," the voice under the hood insisted calmly, "I happen to have some experience in dealing with demonic beasts, if there is an accident, I don't have to worry about self-protection." ”

The other mages moved slightly, but before the others could say anything, Sidney continued, "But my method still needs a mage's assistance. ”

I don't know if it's a coincidence, Sidney happened to turn in Lin An's direction when he spoke, and his gaze under the hood seemed to be directly facing Lin An.

Lin An's blocked face couldn't see clearly, the corners of his mouth hooked slightly meaningfully, and he responded, "Then I'll go with Master Sidney." ”

- This Sidney's previous method of eliminating the feeling of zài did not attract the attention of others, but how could he hide it from Lin An, who has strong mental power?

Moreover, the signs of life on this Sidney mage are extremely low, dead and gloomy, giving people the feeling of a walking dead man, but it may have been concealed by something on his body, coupled with some kind of hidden secret method of his, no one has been able to find it.

At the beginning, when there were many people on the way, Lin An was distracted by the letter because of his identity, but later the number of people became smaller and smaller, and Lin An quickly noticed the strangeness of this Sidney mage.

However, Titi hidden in his sleeve still has a great appetite for him, indicating that although he has almost no signs of life, he is still alive, and his soul is unusually strong, and it is not an undead who has sneaked into the team, so Lin An does not pay attention to him in the spirit of having more than less.

But judging from the polite attitude of Knight Commander Nadal who did not look unusual just now, but fell in the eyes of a person with a heart like Lin An, Knight Captain Nadal knew the existence of this Sidney mage in the team.

Lin An knew why she had been hit by such a coincidence, because she remembered that this Sidney mage also happened to be standing next to her at that time, wearing a hood and not showing up like her.

"It's been a long time, it turns out that I'm really piggybacked, I don't know what identity this is, what's the point of hiding myself in like this?"

Lin An couldn't cry or laugh at his caution along the way,

"-Looks like he's eyeing me too...... It's okay to go with him and see what he wants to do with a knight chief who hides his head and tail. ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )