Chapter 31: The Troll's Claw
Dragging Mastaxia to the shore, Qin Lun only felt exhausted. Although this swamp did not have the water binding spirits to entangle them, the lake seemed to have a magic power to absorb their energy, and the distance of only a few hundred meters was like a hundred kilometers of trekking.
"Sand?" Qin Lun lay on the shore head-on, adjusted his breathing, and inadvertently grabbed a handful of soil under him, only to find that the land here was not wet soil, but a dripping fine sand in one hand.
"Let's go!" Mastasia rested for a while, but recovered before him, and stretched out his hand to pull him to his feet.
"What is this?" The two of them looked up at the front, a hint of joy on their faces, the Highland elves were right, they had indeed reached the entrance to the southern canyon where the Troll's Claw was deep in the Land of Death.
A steep wall stood in front of them like a wall, and long-lost bryophytes crawled all over the mountain wall. Although the barb-like black rocks on the mountain wall are shocking, compared to the sound of the paddling that seems to be urging after getting up, it seems so amiable at this moment.
"Where's the entrance?" Qin Lun and Mastasya hurried two steps and caught up with the people in front.
"Isn't that the entrance to the canyon, I look so infiltrating!" Winnie tugged at Rick's arm, frowning and muttering.
Qin Lun fixed his eyes and immediately hesitated, because this entrance in front of them was not like a good place. It is said to be an entrance, but in fact it is a cone-shaped crack in the mountain wall that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. It is no more than one and a half meters high and less than half a meter wide, which can only accommodate one person in and out, and the black rumbling inside is not visible with five fingers.
"Maybe it's some kind of monster's lair, and it has nothing to do with the entrance to the canyon. Why don't we look for the real entrance along the two ends of the mountain wall? Lago hesitated.
Listening to the sound of paddling getting closer and closer, Qin Lun couldn't help but glance back, his face suddenly froze, and he shouted loudly: "It's too late, hurry up and go in, the ghost-faced squid is coming." β
Everyone looked at each other and smiled bitterly, this sea monster was really amazingly persevering, they all swam ashore, and they persevered. There was no way, even if there was a beast's den in front of them, they could only go in first to hide, hoping that the space inside was large enough to accommodate so many of them.
At least judging from the size of the entrance, even if there is a demonic beast inside, it should be easier to deal with than the giant beast behind it.
Rick took the lead, stooping with his broadsword into the crack in the mountain wall. Rand followed the second, a tiny flame rising from his fingers, and he needed to light the knight ahead. Winnie couldn't maintain her illumination anymore, so she had to hold on like this for him.
After entering the crack, everyone found that although the inside was relatively narrow, it was very deep. Although the ground is rough and full of sharp rocks, it really zigzags into the mountains.
"Whew~" Everyone walked out of the crack in the cliff not far away, and there was a faint roar of unwillingness behind them, obviously the ghost-faced squid finally arrived.
"To hell with it, haha!" Largo turned and shouted loudly, a sense of relief that had narrowly escaped death permeated the group, and everyone burst into laughter.
"It's a pity that we've lost all our baggage!" Winnie touched her shriveled belly, a wave of exhaustion came over her, and when she relaxed, she felt extremely hungry.
In fact, it wasn't just her, when they saw Vinnie's action, everyone suddenly couldn't support it, and they all sat down on the ground and rested.
"Hehe, I still have some food here!" Qin Lun flipped his hands, and a thick piece of flesh like a gasoline barrel appeared in his arms, which was actually the ghost-faced squid tentacle that Rick had cut off at the beginning.
"Haha, it can't eat us, and now it's going to be eaten by us!" Lago laughed, stood up, and cleared the floor, intending to build a grill out of stones.
"It's a pity that there is no firewood here, do you want to eat it raw?" Winnie looked around, with a look of regret, the female mage's body was exhausted, and if she was normal, she wouldn't eat this kind of thing, and now she had to eat meat and vegetables.
"Let me do it!" Qin Lun handed the tentacles of the ghost-faced squid to Rand to hold, and took out a brown plant seed from his arms. He looked around, pulled a pile of fine soil from the rock peak, and buried the seed in it.
As Qin Lun's palm glowed with a layer of green light, the plant seed began to sprout and grow, and soon turned into a vine about a meter high.
"Rand, it's your place!" Qin Lun smiled and pointed to the plant.
With a flip of the palm of the firework, the fireworks manipulated a blazing flame and roasted the plants into a ball of charcoal. Everyone helped to put the charcoal into the stone grill built by Lago, and soon the crack in the cliff filled the smell of meat.
Even after a long time of shedding itself, the tentacles of the Ghostface Squid are still very resistant to flames. Fortunately, it is already half-cooked, and after another half an hour of roasting, it is finally ready to eat.
"It's unpalatable!" Winnie frowned, struggling to tear at the cut of meat. The tentacles of the ghost-faced squid taste like rubber, and they are full of toughness, and the flesh of a legendary creature is not delicious at all.
However, when it was eaten, everyone felt a wave of heat rise from their abdomen, and the exhaustion gradually disappeared. This thing really contains a lot of biological energy, and it is not poisonous, and if you eat a little bit, everyone will be full.
The tentacles the size of a gasoline barrel were still about half left in the end. Qin Lun took it back into the storage space with satisfaction and smiled at Hill and Rand.
"Hint: Apostle 70053, you've collected an unincluded legendary creature with less than 0.001% of the additional Exploration, which will be accumulated upon return. Included item rewards will be temporarily settled, and the remaining Ghostface Squid Tentacles will be classified as Apostle Recovery items. β
Ghostface Squid's Tentacles (Quality Legendary): This is a legendary creature roasted with the finest Restoration Treasure, which can restore 50% HP and 70% Energy at the same time, with an onset time of five minutes (currently seven copies remaining). Consume this legendary food for the first time, permanently increasing the Apostle's three Constitution, one Strength, and One Agility.
"I knew I should have picked up some too!" Rand touched his belly and said with some regret.
It was the first time they had seen such a high percentage of Restore FΓΉ Food, and they were able to increase their stat value by five points at once. The remaining seven portions of food were placed in the trading market, which was obviously able to make up for the loss of the "Meteor Fall" magic scroll.
"Hehe, forget it, I saw it at the time, except for the one Qin Lun picked up, the other broken limbs are too big to fit into the storage space." Hill patted Rand on the shoulder and comforted.
After eating and drinking, everyone regained a little spirit, but no one planned to go any further. Largo responsibly walked around and placed some small traps around it, using it as a makeshift camp.
The crack in this cliff looks very deep, and although it may be the entrance to the canyon, no one can guarantee that there is any danger inside, and this state is obviously not suitable for further travel, and it is better to rest for the night and make plans.
As the crowd fell asleep tiredly, peace was restored in the cracks. A faint glimmer of moonlight reflected in the distant lake made the surroundings seem peaceful and tranquil, and the previous journey to death seemed to have never happened, but now it feels like a dream.
There was nothing to say all night, and when Qin Lun opened his eyes again, a bright ray of light made him squint his eyes. It was only after dawn that he realized that they had not been too far away from the crack last night, and he could still hear the waves of the lake in the distance.
"Are you awake?" A pair of women's leather boots appeared in front of Qin Lun, but they were covered with mud, and they couldn't see their original color anymore.
Qin Lun looked up and found that the person in front of him was the highland spirit Mastaxia, and immediately asked with a smile, "Is your body a little better?" β
"It's okay, the ghost noodles and squid pieces I ate last night seem to have a detoxification effect!" Mastasha happily replied, gesturing to the top of their heads, "Look at it! β
Qin Lun squinted his eyes and looked up, except for the hideous and abrupt rocks, he couldn't see anything, and couldn't help but spread his hands towards Mastaxia.
"Forget it, I already knew you were a rookie!" The Highland Elf pursed his lips and explained to himself, "I've looked around just now, and it doesn't seem to be a cave, but a canyon crack between two cliffs. β
"So, we're in the right place?" Qin Lun's eyes lit up, in fact, everyone was in a hurry last night, and they just used this place as a refuge to avoid the pursuit of the ghost-faced squid, but they didn't expect that it was actually the entrance to the canyon of the troll's claw.
"Well, I've only heard of a troll's claw canyon entrance inside the Land of Death before, but I didn't expect it to be such terrain." Mastasha muttered, "I really don't know how the troll tribe in the mountains got in and out of the Land of Death through GuΓ². β
"Maybe there's a bigger entrance around the beach!" Qin Lun said uncertainly, "By the way, you just said that the troll tribe will often enter and leave the Land of the Dead...... Then they are not afraid of the hunting of ghost-faced squid? β
"I don't know about this, the ghost-faced squid has a high level of intelligence, if the troll can often provide some sacrifices to it, it is estimated that the two sides can reach a certain agreement!" Mastasha tilted his head and thought about it, giving an ambiguous reason.
While the two were talking, everyone also woke up, wiped their hazy eyes, and looked at them.
"Shall we move on, or go back to the beach and find another entrance!" Rick stretched his muscles and asked the two of them.
"Go ahead, Mastasia said this is a crack between two cliffs, and maybe you can get into the interior of the mountains." Qin Lun pondered for a while, then said, "If you go out and look for it again, it's too dangerous." That ghost-faced squid suffered such a big loss, and it was hard to stay nearby. β
"Okay!" Rick shrugged his shoulders, and he just asked, remembering the thrill of last night, even with his courage, he didn't want to face that behemoth again.
After recovering some energy, everyone set off towards the crack. Mastasha was right, this crack was indeed not a cave, it was too deep inside, and it was extremely narrow outside, and after walking for a while, everyone found that the road ahead had widened.
Best of all, Vinnie no longer had to maintain her illumination, and as the road widened, there were no rocks above everyone's heads. For the first time in so many days, a ray of warm sunlight fell on their shoulders.