Fort Erimao is actually the deserted castle that Sylvade mentioned earlier.

There are many legends about this castle, and there are many theories about why it fell into disuse. Some say that the people in the castle disappeared overnight, leaving behind an empty castle – but there is also another theory that for some reason, the original owner abandoned the castle on their own initiative. As time passed by its gray ridges, the vines crawled all over the bricks and stones, and finally became part of the mountain forest.

But no matter which legend it is, it is full of bizarre stories. The story is full of riches and legendary treasures, and there are some hidden secrets buried in the castle.

Most of these rumors, which are difficult to distinguish between true and false, are actually false. In the early years, there were still people who went to the castle to find out, but after so many years, the castle has long been left with an empty shell and rubble buried under the heavy snow.

However, since Fang Yu had decided to agree to Ms. Quesu's request, it didn't matter if the rumors were true or not. He only let the team rest at the Masunk Creek station for one day, and set off late at night on the third day.

The snow had stopped the previous evening.

But the temperature was even lower, and after nightfall, the air seemed to freeze into powder, fluttering down and kicking up snow and dust. Among the group were Fang Yuan, Alyssa, Shesta, Luo Yu, Kita, Box, and Mr. Big Cat, and Miss Tata naturally joined him, while the others were left behind to guard Mr. Limestone.

Sylvid had wanted to go with them, too. But there is still a lot of work to be done on the ship, including the arrangement and planning of the next route, and the collection and sorting of some relevant information. The paperwork and intelligence work of the entire team is almost all on her alone.

Only when Alyssa and Kita are free in the team can they help Miss Shipmaster. But Alyssa also has her own airbag maintenance work, and she also has to be Attila's deputy, so she doesn't have much time.

So Sylvid was inseparable.

However, she was so relieved that she would not let the plover go down, so she let Shesta join the team, and told her maid to do her best to protect the captain.

The latter just glanced at Fang Yu and nodded.

The group wore thick warm clothes, and turned on the magic furnace to maintain the lowest power, using residual heat to maintain body temperature. Fang felt that winters in Aitaria were much harsher than in the region, at least in the north of Kaolin—he had heard that winters in Tarun were colder, and that when the snow fell, everything was desolate in the forest.

But the Tibia Forest is actually about the same. When night fell, they walked through the snow one foot deep and one foot shallow, and there seemed to be only a mist of snow around them, breathing in their mouths, cold and biting.

As the captain, Fang Yu looked back from time to time to see how others were doing. Kita's little face was white from the cold, and she stumbled through the snow, spitting out white mist without breath, holding her hands tightly and holding her magic book tightly.

When he turned around, the little girl also looked up at him, her eyes black as ink, and she only blinked slowly. "Are you alright?" Fang Yu reached out and pulled her and asked at the same time. Kita shook her head slightly.

Luo Yu and Alyssa are also in good shape. The girl's rhino leather magic guide armor has a built-in insulation insert, so that only a thin layer is worn, so that a nightingale like her can move flexibly in the snow.

She also wore a long scarf that blocked her face in half, draped behind it like a blue-gray cloak, and walked quite chicly.

In the back, Shesta was still dressed as a maid as usual, with only a fur shawl, and she walked without hindrance, which made one wonder if the young lady was human or not.

Then there are the chests.

He was originally tightly wrapped, leaving almost only a pair of eyes outside, and he was not afraid of the wind and snow, only as if it did not exist. From time to time, he drew his sword and tossed the snow on the branches, so that the snow fluttered and fell, making the only sound in the snowy night.

The big cat man is responsible for the break. It dragged a long, thick cloak and removed its shield and hung it on its hand, occasionally glancing around. Felines have good dark vision, and Red is no exception.

Coupled with his tall stature, the snow only covered his ankles, so walking in the snow was much easier than others.

Fang Yu turned around at this time.

The team made their way through the valley and waited at a mountain pass to join the two teams brought by Lady Quesu. About a quarter of an hour later, the latter's team arrived as promised, and this team was basically made up of lumberjacks, who looked round and strong, but in fact had no fighting power, and mainly came to find people.

However, the fact that these people were willing to help together was enough to show that they were loyal to the leader of Ms. Sukui. After all, this is not a logging into the mountains, the area around the Blood Thistle Glade is gloomy, and due to its proximity to Aimao Fort, its danger is not low.

In addition, there are two Tesov drakemons in the team, carrying tents and dry rations. This medium-sized pack animal is very good at navigating mountains and forests, and the plover was familiar with them when they were at the Dawn Star.

"Are you all here?" Fang Yu asked the lady.

Su Kui nodded: "That's it, but if you go to the south, there are more people who are willing to go together." Mainly, there are some people who are either the only child in the family, or the starlight has dimmed, and I don't want them to come and risk with me-"

"It's okay," Fang Yu glanced at the team behind Su Kui. "Since we've all arrived, let's leave early."

"So is there anything to be aware of?" Su Kui asked. Although she has led a team to travel north and south and traveled many places over the years, the work of the adventure group is different from that of a lumberjack, and she understands that sometimes it is a life-and-death job.

Fang Yu took out something from his arms. "Don't make too much noise, follow me." He looked at the others and added, "If there is a fight, tell the others not to panic too much and hide behind us." ”

Then he let go of his hand. Only then did Su Kui see that it was a golden copper ball, and it spread its wings in Fang Yuan's hand with a 'click', and then flew into the darkness at once.

She was a little surprised, and glanced back at Red.

Su Kui had been a little worried before. The big boy always gave her the impression that he was too young to be reliable, but the big cat didn't tell her that their captain was an alchemist.

In the face of her gaze, the lionman only showed a look of course and shrugged his shoulders. Trust is mutual, as is the employer-employee relationship – and risk-takers are different from other jobs and sometimes need some extra trust.

The process of negotiation between the two parties is also a process of building trust.

If the other party is not willing to trust them to have this strength, then it is in vain to say more. It's better to let the employer see with their own eyes, which in turn builds a stronger relationship of trust.

And just as he thought.

Su Kui really felt a little relieved at this moment. "To be the leader of an adventure group at such a young age, there are still two brushes." She thought to herself.

The deserted castle is located on the south side of the Masonke Creek station, and after six or seven hours of walking along the valley into the forest, you can see the Emao Fort standing on a lonely peak under the first rays of light before dawn.

It is made of gray masonry, with black spires, and a gap in the western wall that is clearly visible for miles. Below was a valley of fir and cypress trees, not unlike the forest plants of the Tibia Creek area, except that the forest was now covered with silver-gray snow, and it looked white from a distance.

The lonely castle stands on a gray cliff, looking out at the mountains and thin clouds around the valley, and the leaden gray sky looks even more cold and lonely in this bare winter.

This area has entered the confines of the Blood Thistle Glade. The woodland gets its name from the fact that the mountain forest is home to a shrub that is as red as blood, and even when covered with snow, it looks a dull red from a distance.

In addition, the trunks of the trees in the forest also have a faint dark red color, like dried blood, which the locals believe is the blood of demons, so they are more and more reluctant to approach this place.

When entering the forest, the lumberjacks were also a little nervous, and whispered for a while. But as we went deeper, people quieted down.

Because the forest is still quiet, it seems to be no different from before-

Along the way, they were much luckier than the one they had rescued in Tibia Creek two days earlier, and they barely encountered any trouble. Only a dire bear that had not yet had time to hibernate was seen in the distance, and the latter was wandering on the frozen surface of the river, avoiding them from afar.

There was only one accident, when a few skeletons crawled out of the snow.

However, these things were so common in Tibia Creek that even the lumberjacks could not be frightened, and everyone picked up their sticks and divided them by two, and the lowest-level undead creatures were put to the ground.

After this battle, the lumberjacks gradually relaxed.

But while the others relaxed, Fang Yu keenly felt some changes around him.

In fact, he had always felt this way since he entered the Blood Thistle Glade. The surroundings became quiet, the snow fell silently, and the snow seemed to absorb the footsteps, making the forest quiet.

There seemed to be something special in the air.

But it was Tata who first discovered this. "There's something odd here, Mr. Knight." Miss Leprechaun hid in the collar of his coat and said to him in her mind.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something strange about the distribution of mana here."

"Mana distribution?"

Tata nodded calmly.

She seemed to be looking for something in her knowledge, and then she spoke, "Do you know the Gray Trace, Mr. Knight?" ”

Fang Yu nodded, that place was on the gray plains in the south of the Orsian Empire, where there had been a great battle between the Empire and Hanruina. Both sides of the war used campaign-level spells at the time.

The terrifying spell left an irreparable scar on the plains, a large canyon that cracked open with an unpredictable turbulence of magical power—a place that later generations called the Gray Trace.

It means the scars of the earth.

Tata blinked slowly, his emerald green eyes. "That place is described in some of the books of the Silver Tower, and there are some similarities between this and that place."

"Here and the Grey Stain?"

"It's all an irreversible thing, and it changes the distribution of magic."

Tata replied, "There must have been a dramatic change in the history of this place to make it what it is today." The dark red color of the trees in the forest is not a natural occurrence, but a manifestation of the enrichment of magic on plants. ”

"Mr. Knight can go and check them to see if there is any crystal bloom inside them."

Fang Yu did as he said, cut open a branch with a dagger, and sure enough, he found that there was crystallization in the branch. He placed the red powder in the palm of his hand, which was actually crystal dust, and their essence was no different from those magic crystals.

And the failure of Luo Yu's magic furnace afterwards illustrates this point.

The latter, when he inadvertently checked his magic furnace, found that the pressure gauge had been raised, and although there was only a slight difference between the two readings, it still caught Fang Yuan's attention.

After some inspection, he found that it was not the manometer that was wrong, but the convergence of the surrounding mana that was affecting the readings of the magic furnace. The concentration of mana in the Blood Thistle Woodland was obviously higher than outside. And after his testing, he found that the closer he got to Fort Worm, the more obvious this phenomenon of mana convergence became.

This reminded Fang Yu of the legend about this ancient castle - what happened to it in the past?

However, the drastic change in mana is often not invisible, and just like the collision of campaign-level spells, it often brings about a huge change in the external form. But he looked at the gray-white castle in the distance - in addition to being in disrepair, there didn't seem to be any traces left by the strong ** technique.

But he didn't tell anyone else about it.

After all, except for Luo Yu, everyone else probably didn't understand what this meant, especially those lumberjacks. And there are always some places in this world where the magic is abnormal, which does not necessarily represent danger, at best, it represents what has happened in history.

What's more, this anomaly in the Blood Thistle Woodland was not formed day by day, this mountain forest was like this long before they came to this place, and many people have come to this place to explore since then.

The crowd continued to march through the mountains and forests.

Not long after, Alyssa, who had been exploring the front, brought back news that she had found traces of a camping camp in the woodland.

When the group arrived at the place, they found that the camp had been abandoned in the wilderness for at least a few days, and that the clearing had been re-covered with snow and shrubs, and that they would not have noticed it unless they looked closely.

Alyssa waited for him to arrive, and gently brushed away the blood-soaked bushes, revealing a few improvised wooden wedges below. "At least five tents, Mr. Ed." She whispered to him, "Judging from the shape of the tent, it is a standard medium-sized tent that can be bought on the market, and it is produced by Xingmen Port - each can accommodate four to five people. ”

She pulled out one of the wooden wedges, handed it to Fang Yuan, and added: "The aborigines generally like to make their own tents to save money, and this kind of tent is only used more by the electors; Alice and I used to use this small standard tent when we were listening to the rain. ”

That's the benefit of having a nightingale on the team.

Not to mention that when he flew over from here before, he didn't notice that there was a camp under this bush, and the clockwork elf had a magic limit, so it was not a big problem to monitor the battlefield in a battle, but it was impossible to be vigilant around the clock.

Moreover, analyzing the previous clues from these clues is something that the half-'scout' of the combat craftsman cannot do.

On the other side of the snow were buried the ashes of a campfire already soaked with snow, and the girl only probed it with her hands and told him that the owner of the camp had been away for at least three days.

However, three days is not quite the same as the time it took for Sukwe's son to leave the Masunke Creek station.

He called the lady and asked who the people who had gone with her son were who they were, but the latter couldn't tell for sure. "I wasn't in town at the time, and I didn't find out about it until I came back." Su Kui replied with a somewhat sad face.

"I heard that it was a group of people from outside, looking for a guide in the town, and my son happened to take a fancy to them."

Fang Yu glanced at each other with Alyssa and the big cat man, and this information was indeed too little. However, he asked about the number of people on the other side, and learned that there were only seven or eight people in that group, which obviously did not match the owner of this camp.

The owner of this camp should be an adventuring group that has recently arrived in this place, and it should be mainly the Elect.

He was still a little strange: "Is the Blood Thistle Woodland so lively, Ms. Sukui, didn't you say that not many people are willing to come to this place?" ”

Su Kui was obviously just as strange, she was also an old man, and when she picked up the charcoal in the bonfire, she knew that what Fang Yu and Alyssa said was true. "That's true, I've been looking for people to go to this mountain forest lately, but I've never heard of a team of this size entering the Blood Thistle Glade." She said as she looked up at the front, and couldn't help but frown.

However, there was only one clue in the camp, and everyone could not find anything more, so they could only continue to move over this place.

Although the castle of Aymger could already be seen from this place, it would take at least two or three hours to reach the valley nearby. They came to this place by starry night, and it would take them most of the day on the road—

Fang Plover hoped to arrive at the deserted castle before noon, and then spend the day looking for someone, and at night he could only find a safer place to camp. Then continue looking for someone the next day and try to get out of the place by the evening of the next day.

In this case, they only need to spend one night in this place to minimize the potential risk factors as much as possible.

He also agreed with Su Kui for two days, and whether they found anyone or not, they had to leave. Two days can be regarded as an explanation of this lady's promise, and after two days, not only the supplies brought are exhausted, but also the night of the full moon.

Although the wind and snow may have fallen at that time, they may not have seen the moon in the castle.

……