In fact, the ancient ruins or ruins in Gawain's memory were not far from where the team had camped - it was located on the north side of the Dark Mountain Range, most of which was hidden in the mountain, and some of the structure was exposed between the mountain walls.

It's just that the passage of time has wiped out the traces of civilization, a large number of spreading vines and mountain vegetation cover the rock wall, covering those monuments layer by layer, coupled with the collapse of the ruins themselves and the accumulation of soil and rocks in the mountains, those structures exposed to the mountains are now difficult to observe, standing in the place where the team is camped and looking at the mountain, I am afraid that even the best eyesight of the hunter will be difficult to find the anomalies between those rocks and vines at the first time.

After arranging the things in the camp, Gao Wen and his party set off for the mountain, and the ten years of scenery will not change the terrain of nature, with the help of the satellite view of ten years ago in his mind, plus the route into the mountain in his memory, Gao Wen and his party found the way up the mountain very smoothly.

Amber looked a little worried, "I said...... You're going to dig treasures in the Dark Mountains, there are only four of us, don't you think this team is a bit hanging? ”

Gawain glanced at the half-elf: "What do you mean?" ”

Amber gestured: "No matter what, it has to be guarded by a team of hundreds of people along the way, a dozen master rangers and druids press the formation, the knight in front opens the way, the mage sits in the back, and a powerful grandmaster-level thief like me is responsible for sliding the door and picking the lock—isn't this the standard configuration for treasure hunting in the mountains?" ”

"Standard your size!" Gawain originally thought that this product had some high opinions, but it turned out to be all this nonsense, "Which treasure hunting team is configured according to the standard of the regular army!" And it's easy for you to say - you organize a wave of such a team for me to come out? ”

"Okay, I'm exaggerating, but this is the Dark Mountains! Dark Mountains! Amber waved her arms exaggeratedly, "Legend has it that there is a place where a demon lord lives every eight hundred meters!" You're going to take three of them into the mountain - and one of them will only set off fireballs......"

"Believe it or not, I don't need a fireball to knock you down!" Rebecca suddenly burst into flames, picked up her staff and pointed at Amber, "Let you see how powerful the women of the Cecil family are!" ”

Gawain stopped his great-granddaughter on the N+1 floor and glanced at Amber helplessly: "You will die on this mouth sooner or later." And where did you hear that there are demon lords living every eight hundred meters in the dark mountains? Is this all ignorant villagers scaring children? If there were really so many demon lords, they would have swept Ansu a long time ago. ”

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the winding mountain road ahead.

"The Dark Mountains are indeed a dangerous place, but the average person magnates the danger here. In fact, during the period of the Gondor Empire, this mountain range was just one of the ordinary northern mountains, and the high mountains in the south of the continent were called the north and south mountains of Loren, and the dark mountains at that time were not dark at all, but because of the abundance of products and the production of a variety of minerals, it had the reputation of 'gold-inlaid mountains', but unfortunately later the magic tide broke out, and the dark mountains were right in front of the place where the impact of the elemental storm was most intense - the entire southern foot of the mountain range was eroded by the elements, forming a terrifying black forest, This mountain range is gradually becoming known as the Dark Mountains. ”

Gawain talks about what he knows—some of it from memories in his head, and some of it from his recent mistakes.

"The Black Forest on the other side of the mountain is dangerous, but it is on the south side of the mountain range, which is a natural barrier that almost blocks the scent of the Gondor wasteland that permeates through the Great Wall. Most of the mutant monsters living in the Black Forest rely on chaotic magic to survive, so they don't leave the Black Forest at all, let alone cross the ridge to the north of the mountain, which is enough for them to suffocate, so the northern side of the Dark Mountain is actually quite safe. ”

Gawain's chosen route didn't have much vegetation cover, but there were still some trees and vines that spread from the side of the road from time to time, and the plants that grew tenaciously in the Dark Mountains were more or less affected by the smell of the wasteland - a small amount of "elemental wind" (or Viscount Andrew's unclean wind) that drifted from the south every year, and under the influence of those chaotic elemental forces, the plants appeared twisted and unusually thick, quite hideous and terrifying.

But Gawain knew very well that these things were not a threat at all, except that they looked a little scary on the outside, they were just "strong" plants, and the children of the nobility who wandered around the forests north of the Dark Mountains and then went back to boast that they had been trained in the Black Forest were all exaggerating the dangers of the land—they had no idea what the real Black Forest looked like.

He was able to confirm that the pollution on the northern side of the Dark Mountains had receded, not because of memories or information from his mind, but because of the satellite view from ten years ago.

If you compare the satellite view with the information in your memory, it's easy to tell that it's actually a safe zone.

"People's fear of this place actually stems from two points, the first is the fear of the Gondor wasteland, although the Sentinel Tower and the magnificent wall built by the elves seal most of the area of the Gondor wasteland, but that layer of magic barrier can only isolate seventy or eighty percent of the chaotic magical energy, the corrupt power that seeps out of the Gondor wasteland every year is the biggest threat to the border areas of the four countries, even if the aftermath of the demon tide has subsided now, the fear and pressure accumulated by the border people for generations will not dissipate so quickly- The horrors and strange tales of these border areas have been circulating for seven hundred years, and they have long since become part of almost traditional culture," Gawain said casually as he chopped down the plants that stood in the way along the way, "Second ...... It's the fear of the unknown. ”

"Unknown?" Amber asked, frowning.

"That's right, unknown. How many years has it been since the Kingdom of Ansu stopped expanding in the south? ”

Rebecca replied: "If you start from the signing of the order to stop the development, more than two hundred years, if you count from the abolition of all the development settlements, a hundred years." ”

"That's right, a hundred years to say the least. For a hundred years, it was a forbidden place, except for those who bragged about it when they went back. Except for the 'adventurers', no one dares to approach this place, and no one knows what this place is like. How could they not be afraid of this place from the horror stories that had been passed down for generations and the adventures that adventurers had blown up? ”

Listening to Gao Wen's large string of popular science, Amber finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Whew...... So the horror stories of the Dark Mountains are blown out, but we're safe here, right? ”

Gawain thought for a moment, and suddenly approached Miss Half-Elf with a very frightening expression: "Actually, I lied to you - this place is eerie, dangerous, chaotic and terrifying, and there is a demon lord living every eight hundred meters. ”

Amber: "...... Babble!! ”

"Grandmaster-level thieves, shame on you," Gawain laughed with satisfaction, raising his hand to pat Rebecca's head next to him, and pointing to a tree trunk that fell to the ground not far away, "Your fireball technique has a place to use - blow that thing up." If I'm not mistaken, the front is it. ”

Rebecca had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and immediately nodded happily, and when she raised her staff, a head-sized fireball flew straight ahead.

I always felt that this girl summoned fireballs faster than before......

"Bang-"

After a loud bang, the fireball exploded, and the rotten and fragile trunk of the tree was blown off, turning into two unbalanced pieces and rolling down the hillside, and the road ahead suddenly opened up.

An open field hidden in the mountains is presented to everyone.

The open field seems to have been deliberately leveled, and the rocks have been cut into an incredible order, and between the rocks, you can see ancient arches and collapsed walls, which seem to be "inlaid in" between the huge rocky cliffs as if they were fused with the mountain, and even give the illusion that there was once a magnificent fortress that was swallowed up by the surrounding stones.

But in reality, the ancient ruins themselves were built inside the mountain, and about two-thirds of the structure is hidden behind the stone walls.

Whether it was Amber, who kept coercing all the way, Rebecca, who had been listening carefully to the admonitions of his ancestors, or the Byron's knights, who were on full alert, couldn't help but widen their eyes when they saw this ancient ruin hidden in the mountain.

They looked in amazement at this incredible ancient ruin.

Gawain's gaze wandered around, and suddenly stopped beside a piece of collapsed rubble.

He came to the gravel pile, and there was a black thing that could barely be seen in its original appearance, and after carefully distinguishing it for a long time, he saw that it was a broken sword that had been badly rusted and rotted.

And on the ground next to the stone pile, a line of notches can be seen, which are so deep that they are still clearly recognizable after seven hundred years of weathering: 16 Squadron, where Cole is resting.

Rebecca's voice came from behind her: "This is ...... What the? ”

"When the team crossed the Baishui River, they encountered pursuers, and the 16th Squadron was in charge of the rear of the palace, and no one survived," Gawain said slowly, "It should be the last surviving soldiers to retreat to this place when there was no hope of breaking through." It's a pity...... At that time, the demon tide was raging, and the entire territory of the Dark Mountains was shrouded in corrupting power, and in my lifetime, we were unable to retake this area, and when the demon tide naturally subsided, no one remembered this place......"

The Byron knight unsheathed his sword, pressed it to his chest, and bowed to the humble tomb.

There is still a tomb of the soldier buried here, but the soldier who built the tomb and left a mark is difficult to find even the slightest trace.

Gawain was silent in front of the grave for a while, and then picked up a piece of gravel from the side and pressed it to the top of the pile: "Don't worry, everyone has survived." ”

At this moment, he wished he had said it in the voice of Gawain Cecil, not Gawain the Traveler.

Then he walked to the arch not far away: "Come with me, and I will show you what your ancestors left here." ”