The sound came from outside the fence of the tower's iron gates. [Full text reading. 】

Everyone became alert, and their eyes focused on the place where the voice came from, and suddenly they saw that the little head poking out from the corner of the doorway belonged to a male dwarf.

But it was clearly not a dwarf of the same race as Bellelis, but a "Svirfneblin" - even though the so-called underground gnomes had a leaner physique and rocky skin than traditional surface gnomes, in addition to mastering the dwarf language and lingua franca, they also spoke the same underground lingua franca as most of the underground intelligent creatures.

And the little guy who was poking out his head at this time to look at everyone, and who was also discovered by everyone, asked what he had just said in a lingua franca that Urs could understand.

Urs was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart that the inverted hanging tower, the road from the surface world to the dark region, was not too impressive, but he didn't expect that there were still people guarding the exit door of the tower? Or did he just happen to pass by, and was a strange underground dwarf who would subconsciously speak the lingua franca as his mother tongue when he was frightened?

But in either case, the young man immediately came back to his senses, and his brown eyes stared solemnly-

"Abel, control him."

When the mechanical mage heard the captain's instructions, he immediately raised his hand, and the tempered fingers took less than a second to complete the spell casting action, and the spell was silently issued to eliminate the verbal component of the spell casting process.

The underground dwarf who poked out a little head to look at everyone was then pointed by Abel's hand, and an irresistible tiredness instantly crept up his brain, causing him to roll his eyes, and his whole body fell out of the side with a bang, and fell sideways on the ground in front of the door.

Thoros stretched out his pitch-black cat's claws and lifted the helmet blindfold on Abel's head, and his agile figure jumped from the body of the mechanical mage and fell to the ground, passing through the iron fence door here in the upside-down tower, and it didn't take long to pull out an iron key with a little rust from the waist of the underground dwarf and hold it to his mouth, and then back into the tower.

"Pretty, Soros."

Able bent on one knee, crouched down on one knee, leaned down and spread out his big steel hand in front of the black cat demon pet.

It calmly praised its pet, and Soros then loosened the key in his grip and put it into the palm of his hand, and his golden and green eyes raised to stare at his mage master with a sense of pride, pouting: "Don't get me wrong, iron-headed nerd, benevolent Lord Soros just can't bear to see you trapped here." ”

"We're not going to be stuck in this." Bellinglith immediately retorted, "I'll pick the lock." ”

"Unlocking? Are you sure it's on? Not fried? ”

"It doesn't matter if it's open or blown, the way to get the lock open is the best way!"

The little girl argued unconvinced. Don't say it, her words may be a little subjective, but it seems to be quite reasonable and convincing, if it weren't for her black technology prop called the universal lock picker, it would be a bit scary to use......

After getting the key, Soros climbed back into Abel's helmet head and pulled down the blindfold lid again as if he were closing the door, making him feel fully safe as a cat.

The adventurers of the Thorn Squad then use the key to open the door, proving that the underground gnome who had been hypnotized by Able just now seemed to be the guardian of the tower, and strangely enough, they did not see any of his other accomplices when they walked out of the upside-down tower.

In fact, it seems that he is the only one at the door of the tower?

They looked at each other and discussed briefly, leaving Koto, Stonefist, Bellingis, Abel, and Dorothy to watch the movements, while Urs, Thea, and Dorothy came to the underground gnome, and the young man reached out and patted the latter's face with all his strength, trying to wake him up from his sleep.

The little fellow, who was being woken up by the young man, had brown and gray skin, tattered clothes, a somewhat smelly cloth cloak wrapped around his clothes, fluffy curly hair growing on his dirty head, and several scratches and scars on his face, which was called ugly and not excessive, and the first instinct in the eyes of the eyes was that he had been abused, and an iron collar shrunk around his neck seemed to confirm this.

Yes, he looks like a-

"Slaves." Raven Bird spoke the word for the young men and girls who thought of it, and her hoarse guttural voice carried a hint of disdain under the hood of the black robe.

Urs and Thea glanced sideways at Miss Poet, and then noticed that the ugly, dirty underground dwarf had finally opened his eyes. The black eyes, the color of the pupils were like two round coals covered with a layer of dust, and he sat up with a strong uneasiness after gasping, and his eyes looked back and forth at the three people who surrounded it at the moment.

"Don't be afraid, we don't want to hurt you." Thea stared at him and whispered to soothe his seemingly overly frightened emotions, "If you don't have any ill will towards us...... We just want to ask you something, okay? ”

As she spoke, she glanced to the side as well, and the look in her eyes consulted Urs' opinion. This underground gnome who had just been hypnotized by Abel and then woke up by Urs didn't seem to be aggressive, but the silver-haired wolf-eared girl had also heard a lot of rumors about the underground world.

She had heard of the dark lands, the dark dwellings of the inhabitants of the underground, the cruel environment that vividly interpreted the natural laws of survival of the fittest, and the deformed and twisted evil thoughts were planted everywhere like weeds in the forest, and it was almost as difficult to find a good soul in that haunted place as it was to find a good demon in the bottomless abyss who had volunteered to embark on the path of redemption.

So even though the ground beneath her feet still belongs to the middle world called the Hive Labyrinth, the kind girl still doesn't dare to take the underground dwarf in front of her lightly.

Urs and Thea share the same concerns, the only difference is that the young people have determined that the underground gnome race is generally not evil, but they are not good, and the faction's view of good and evil tends to be close to neutrality - but the creatures of the neutral camp can be enslaved by evil powers, such as the iron collar around the neck of this little guy.

From this, he guessed that the slave owner on the other side was a gray dwarf? Or the Dark Elves? Or maybe it's a little more exaggerated Psionic or Beholder? Or even the benthic devilfish?

But no matter who he was, the young man was stunned when he saw the underground dwarf who had been woken up by himself, came back to his senses, looked at the three of them, and then tilted his gaze to look at the other five team members who were a little farther away at this time, and seemed to take a few seconds to confirm that everyone really didn't seem to want to hurt themselves......

Or at least not yet.

So the ugly and dirty underground dwarf swallowed his throat, cautiously looked at the wolf-eared girl who had taken the initiative to communicate with him just now and nodded.

Seeing that he had made a statement, Urs motioned for the raven to take over the negotiation.

Miss Drow glanced at the young man with a slight surprise, and then whispered with a subtle approving tone in her tone: "Wise decision, our leader, it seems that you know a little more about the rules of the game beneath the surface. ”

As the words fell, she raised her hand and lifted the hood of her black robe, revealing her long pale hair under the hat, her dark skin and the pointed ears of the elves, and her beautiful countenance exuded a hint of vague wildness, which made the look on her face fundamentally different from the subtle beauty of Dorothy, and if the red-haired Miss Warlock was lovely, she was like an elegant and deadly snake.

The Temptation of the Snake - Some say that the snake is a degenerate dragon, representing greed and **, luring the ignorant to fall in love with her and then be patiently eaten by her.

The beauty of the crow fully showed the arrogance in her bones, the dark purple eyes condescendingly looked at the underground dwarf sitting in front of her, and the contemptuous gaze fell on the latter's eyes without the slightest temptation, the only thing left was the fear of conditional launch, after all, the dark elves were very authoritative in the dark depths of the earth.

"Name." Two seconds later, after a greeting threat, Miss Drow asked the first question in her hoarse voice on behalf of her team

"Mo, Moredi."

"Momoredi?"

"Mo ...... Reddy! The underground gnome bit his tongue and struggled to separate the stuttering places.

"It's sad that your parents can't even give you a good tongue." Raven looked at him, sneered, then shook his head with a sneer, "So are you the guard of this tower, pathetic little gnome?" ”

"Yes, yes." The underground gnome named Moretti nodded in acknowledgement, not daring to show the slightest disobedience, "I'm in charge of guarding... The tower's... Door, surveillance is there is no ... The people on the surface... Come to the Hive Labyrinth. ”

"Just you?"

"Just me... One person. ”

"Lying comes at a price." Miss Poet raised her hand, stretched out her fingertips and tapped the scimitar at her waist, her hoarse voice and the breath flowing from her words were strange and terrifying.

Her move immediately scared Moretti again. The poor little dwarf shrunk his neck, mustered up the courage to continue looking at the crow, and replied, "I didn't... Lie! I'm waiting here... The high priest's prophecy... The surface people arrived. ”

"Who is the High Priest?" Raven stopped his fingertips on the hilt of the scimitar, "He ordered you to guard this place alone?" ”

"The High Priest is... Our city's... Good. He guides us... Faith in Gain... The god of good gnomes. Moretti hurriedly explained, slurring, crappy in very clumsy words, "As for ordering me... The people who guard this place... It's Barend... A gray dwarf officer... Occupy our city... Intruders. ”

"You mean the Grey Dwarves have taken over your city?" Hearing him say this, Urs's brow furrowed slightly, and he began to wonder if he had a gray dwarf named Barend in his memory, but unfortunately the result of a quick search of his memory was not.

He didn't remember the name Barende, which meant that he hadn't met the gray dwarf before, or that the gray dwarf was just a nameless junior - and it certainly didn't rule out the possibility that the underground dwarf named Moredi had lied.

When Moretti heard Urs's interjection, he nodded with an honest expression, and then continued: "Behind Barend's... It's the Dark Elves. The Dark Elves are the masters of the Grey Dwarves... The grey dwarves follow the orders of the dark elves... Attacking our city... They have enslaved us. ”

"The disease of the aristocracy that would die if there were no slaves, and the consistent style of Drow that makes people sick." The ravenfinch still smiled coldly, but the contempt in her eyes turned the sarcasm to her own kind this time, and such a statement made Moretti a little confused.

The underground gnome with an iron collar around his neck couldn't help but wonder how the dark elves could speak ill of their own race? So arrogant of them?

Is Gaine on top, or is this Drow lady different? Just as it is rumored that a very small number of Dark Elves do not believe in Lady Spider, and instead follow in the footsteps of the Dark Maiden to the surface - otherwise how could she come out of the Hanging Tower with these surface people?

So she's from the surface...... To be sure, that's the way it should be.

Moretti told himself with confidence that the High Priest's prophecy had come true, and then he could not help but reveal the joy in his dirty face, which was immediately seen by Urs, Thea, and Raven at the same time.

"What are you happy about, little stammer?" Miss Poet immediately stared into his eyes and asked again.

"The High Priest prophesied... Heroes of the surface... will save our city. The humble dwarf quickly suppressed the joy that leaked from under his face, and cautiously looked at the seemingly special Drow lady in front of him, "To welcome the hero... On behalf of my people, I curry favor with Barend... Earn his trust... So he sent him to guard the abandoned tower... Until I met you. ”

"So, we are the heroes of the high priest you spoke of in his prophecy?" Urs was skeptical of this part of the little guy's words.

Prophecy is a panaceous excuse, but there are very few people who really have the ability to predict the future, even the specialized mages of the prophecy school have to stay up until they enter the ranks of high-level mages before they can gradually begin to have a little power to observe the future - and note that "a little" means that the kind of prophecy mages can observe the future is very limited, and cannot extend too far in the length of the timeline, and the feedback information is also one-sided.

Unless it's a gift from the soul talent of Castano's laws of the world, a variety of natural abilities will gradually awaken after the individual creature is strong enough, such as the Elven swordsman Draco Barton's "Time Stop", the dragon mage Victor Tyktor's "Double Cast", Tieflin's Sword Entropy's "Whetstone Blood", the Doomsday Priestess Sana's "Psionic Barrier", and so on.

And a very small number of the talents that can make the Awakened predict the future can be said to be abilities that almost touch the forbidden realm, such as the "Time Incarnation Body" of the Sage of the Gray Court, when the materiality of ** became conceptualized like the way of existence of the Time Dragon, the respected Sage Lady also had to hide from the original main material plane into the subplane cage called the Gray Courtyard.

Even if she's a powerful legendary mage—she'll have to throw in the towel and compromise with the price she has to pay to spy on the future.