Northeast border of Dawn, Cage Mountain area.

The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes, with intertwined vines and giant trees everywhere, and the thick canopies of the trees are layered on top of each other, and only a little gray sky can be seen through the gaps.

The only consolation for Azima was that they didn't have to contend with knee-deep snow at least - it was less affected by the Demon Moon, and there would be no heavy snow covering the mountains, and if they were like the Desperate Mountains, they would have to wait until the turn of spring and summer.

But that doesn't mean navigating the mountains is easy.

When standing at the bottom of the mountain, the cage mountain is nothing more than a gentle high slope, not even steep. But when I really went in, I found that there was not even a small road inside, which was not suitable for large troops to climb at all. Three of the people were injured after climbing less than two miles on the first day of the mountain, and in desperation, Sean, the king's personal guard, had to station the army in the town at the foot of the mountain, and only selected a few elites to follow her on.

A local guide, Naf, a witch of divine punishment, and Mar, a liaison from the Tokat family, plus she, Sean, and the others, make up the whole of this weird exploration team.

- It's no wonder that there are ghosts!

The divine punishment witch said that she was entrusted by His Majesty to take care of her life, after all, there will be many things that are not convenient to act with men all day long. But Aqima is sure that if she tries to escape, the other party will break her legs as soon as possible.

Although Mar Tokat was a liaison envoy sent by the King of Dawn, what did he need to contact in the deep mountains and old forests? If it weren't for the name of Tokat's family, and he did help a lot along the way, I am afraid that he would have been covered by Sean in a burlap bag and thrown back.

Not to mention the exploration team, this "non-hostile" prospecting team can be said to be armed to the teeth, even the shovel can be used to cut people, when facing the knights of individual lords, they will completely annihilate the opponent's posture when they give an order, not at all like a group of ordinary miners at the bottom of life.

And none of the men knew what they were looking for, not including Azima—not gold, silver, copper, and iron, and the only guide was a small coin of unknown material in her hand.

"Wait...... Wait," the guide who was walking ahead suddenly raised his hand to stop, "Be careful, there are traps here!"

Azima heard a clicking sound behind her—she knew it was a firearm ready to be fired. In the past month or so, Sean has talked to her about His Majesty's legendary achievements, and she also has a basic understanding of the combat ability of this army. In fact, she finds herself preferring to be around ordinary people rather than Rosser, who was once a witch.

Rose's reaction was much calmer, and she didn't even draw her sword, but walked unhurriedly to the guide, "Oh......? Throwing spears and tripwires?"

"That's right," Naf pointed to the top of a tree trunk, "See, the spear is hiding there—if we accidentally touch the trap, those things will shoot us into a sieve!"

Aqima looked along his fingertips, and saw a few sharpened wooden sticks peeking out between the branches and leaves, as if they were looking down coldly from a high place, as long as they fell on his body, he would inevitably hurt his head, neck and other important parts. Far from being a trap laid by Orion, it was more like it was set for people.

"Where's the mechanism?" asked Sean in a deep voice.

"You can't find them," Naf shook his head, "every vine and branch under our feet could be part of a tripline, and it would be difficult to destroy it completely unless a fire burned here." ”

"What then?" muttered Marl.

"It's a detour, sir. ”

"No, you all stand back. Rodher suddenly said, "Let me try." ”

"You say...... What?" Nav looked at the Witch of Divine Punishment in surprise, "Hey, that's no joke—"

However, before he could finish speaking, the latter had slowly walked into the danger zone.

The weeds are so dense that you can't see what you're doing without cutting them down. Before he could get far, Aqima heard a thud, as if something had been broken, and then there was a rustling sound in the canopy of the tree, like a poisonous snake spitting letters!

The noose straightened out of nowhere, and the stick at the top of the tree popped out in one go!

"It's over......" The guide suddenly closed his eyes, as if he couldn't bear to watch the woman die on the spot.

But Aqima witnessed what followed -

The Witch of Divine Punishment grasped the hilt of her sword with both hands, and slapped back the wooden sticks she shot one by one like a fly!

By the time the movement had subsided, the grass around her was a mess.

"Then the trap is lifted," said Rosser, sheathing his sword and shrugging his shoulders to the crowd, "let's continue on our way." ”

Realizing what had happened, Naf sat down on the ground in fright.

......

"Aha...... I know that all of you are highly skilled and extraordinary, and you deserve to be the big people in the royal capital!" After the guide finally recovered from the shock, he immediately changed his rhetoric, "Especially this samurai, swordsmanship can be described as superb!"

"Needless to say," interrupted Rosser, "you'd better explain why there are such traps in the mountains, and how hard do those sticks and spears do to wild beasts?"

That's the question Azima wants to ask.

"It is indeed used against people," Nav replied honestly, "and the further you go up the mountain, the more traps there become, so Cage Mountain has another nickname, called Trap Mountain—these things have been left by the lords of the past dynasties, and the only purpose is to guard against the Wolfheart Kingdom." ”

"Wolf heart?" Sean repeated.

"That's right, this mountain range stretches almost from the sea to the old holy city, which is a natural dividing line between the two countries, and because of the lower terrain of the morning sun, it is like being enclosed in a cage, hence the name of the cage mountain. "But the problem is in the shape of the mountain—as you should have noticed when you are at the foot of the mountain, the southern side of the mountain is like a gentle slope, which looks very high, but it is very easy to walk down." As a result, bandits, hunters, and refugees from neighboring countries often invaded Dawn's frontier territory through the cage mountain, initially scavenging for resources in the mountains, and then simply running into the village to steal and rob, causing panic among the local people. The lord also had a headache, so he simply thought of a way to do it once and for all, that is, to give up Cage Mountain. ”

"I see," said Mar Tokat suddenly, "......that has happened on the border. ”

"Your Excellency, of course, does not want to attract the king's attention," Nav continued, "and besides, we are not the poor people on the other side, who cannot survive without relying on the mountains, we just need to change our way of life." After the mountain was closed, the lord sent people to plant fast-growing weeds and vines in it, and also set a lot of traps, this custom has been passed down from generation to generation, and the cage mountain has become what it is today. ”

So you turn it into a real cage, blocking each other, but also imprisoning yourself, Aqima thought to herself. If it were His Majesty Roland Wimbledon, he would not have chosen to do so. The guy's eyes were always looking into the distance, and even when he was explaining his mission to her, the focus didn't always fall on her.

No, why do you think of him at such a time?

Aqima shook her head repeatedly.

His Majesty is just an employer.

Hurry up and complete the task and try to get back to Doris and the others as soon as possible.

......

Sure enough, as the guide said, the group encountered several more traps after that, but it basically did little to punish the witch. Just as night was approaching, Aqima suddenly saw the green light on the coin suddenly flourish!

Behind a dense forest, a dazzling light source also appeared, and there seemed to be countless points of light rushing back and forth between the two, forming a bright bridge of light.

It's a source-level reaction!

She's finally found another source!

However, when the exploration team followed Aqima's instructions through the dense forest, everyone couldn't help but freeze in place.

It was an abandoned building half-hidden in the mountainside, with a ruined stone gate that was bottomless, and the columns lined with eerie symbols clearly proved that it was not natural.

Azima's eyes widened in surprise.

Didn't Your Majesty say that what she was looking for was a peculiar ore?

Why is the source in a ruin that seems to have been abandoned for a long time?