The scorching mountains in the middle of the Dacata mountain range have long been a forbidden place for adventurers, and the desolate ridges are barren with not even a trace of vegetation, and they are as barren as a terracotta desert. Morse Quake and his companions walked along the trail leading to Blackstone Peak, the highest point in the Blazing Mountains, and all they saw was jagged rocks and steam spewing from crevices in the mountains.

"This place is so hot!" Werner wiped the sweat from his forehead, and the burning mountain was like a burning mountain as its name suggested, and it seemed that under the rocks under his feet, there was hot magma, which was always scorching all the rocks.

"Bear with me, Werner. Morse also wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, unlike Werner, an academic mage, Morse was a warrior with ten years of adventure experience, and for him, this level of scorching was still bearable.

But having said that, in such a hot environment, it is still a very uncomfortable thing to walk on the Black Rock Peak wearing a suit of chain mail. Morse turned his gaze to the middle-aged man at the front of the group, who was the lord of the county of Fortagen, Earl Nefarian Rubot, and the employer of their adventure.

Nefarian looked up at the towering peak, then nodded to the team, indicating that they could rest.

The whole team immediately relaxed, and almost all of them immediately took their luggage under their buttocks and sat down on the ground. Although the scorching heat of Blackstone Peak is unbearable, compared to the scorching temperature, the fatigue of the journey is the biggest problem that the group is currently facing.

Seeing that his team members were so lax, Morse couldn't help frowning, he had heard about the danger of Blackstone Peak a long time ago, it was said that there were monsters everywhere here, and what was worse was that the legendary Lord of the Four Elemental Lords, Lagres, was sleeping in the depths of this mountain, which is why the temperature of this peak and even the entire Burning Mountain Range was so high.

"Be careful, watch out for monsters that may appear nearby!" Morse reminded the team loudly, and at the captain's insistence, the gang barely stood up with their weapons in their hands and an unhappy expression.

Morse sighed, taking risks was a like-minded thing, and he couldn't restrain these team members too harshly.

Lord Nefarian walked over and patted Morse on the shoulder while handing him a bag of water.

"Alright, lad, relax. The black-clothed entourage who had been following Nefarian moved two Maza, and Nefarian pulled Morse to sit down with him, "Blackstone Peak is very dangerous, but these dangers are also easy to dodge, the entire mountain is bare, even if there are monsters coming to attack us, we can detect it early, so, instead of worrying about those monsters, it is better for you to worry more about your own teammates, walking in such a high temperature is a very test of physical strength and willpower." ”

Morse nodded silently, he also understood what Nefarian said, but he hoped that his team would not be so lax.

Taking a sip of water, he asked Nefarian, "You seem to have a lot of experience, not just about this mountain, but also about adventure?"

Nefarian also took a sip of water to quench his thirst, and when he heard Morse's words, he put down his water bag with a slight look of remembrance on his face.

"Ah, yes, the Vortagan Territory is at the foot of Blackstone Peak, and of course I know this peak, after all, this is where our family has lived for generations. But what about the adventurous experience...... Actually, I think it's the experience of war. ”

"War experience?" Morse raised his eyebrows and stared at Nefarian, this lord's skin was very fair, I don't know if it was because he was used to the climate here in Black Rock Peak, and when everyone else was sweating, he and his entourage did not have a drop of sweat on them.

"Yes, that's right, the experience of war. Noticing Morse's gaze, Nefarian laughed, "You wonder why I don't sweat on my body? Everyone here is like this, because the temperature is too high, so the sweat evaporates immediately after it comes out, which can make people feel more comfortable, after all, sweat is all sticking to the body, it is not a very pleasant thing." ”

Nefarian's explanation made Morse a little embarrassed, and he withdrew his gaze in embarrassment, while apologizing to Lord Nefarian for his rude look.

"It's nothing. The open-minded and generous lord smiled and patted Morse on the shoulder, "It's normal for you to be surprised, although I am now an earl, but more than twenty years ago, I was just a stunned young knight in the army. ”

"You say the army ......" Morse continued to ask because of Nefarion's cheerfulness, "but I heard that the Vortagan Territory seems to have not been at war for half a century, and the last time the Vortagan Territory fought was in the Third Empire's War of Conquest against the Askar Alliance, so what ......is the war more than twenty years ago?"

"Oh-" Nefarian looked at Morse with interest in his playful eyes, "I don't know, you still know a lot about history—what academy did you study, or did you once be a nobleman?" ”

“...... It's just that because I've traveled a lot, I've listened to some poets' stories. Morse smiled slightly, his eyes daring to meet Nefarion's gaze again.

Nefarian didn't care too much, or he was very considerate and didn't pay attention to Morse's small gesture of looking away, and instead explained to the other party.

"Although the empire has not expanded eastward since losing three wars to conquer the Askar Alliance, the Northway family, the Duke of the Eastern Territory, has never given up their plan to annex the lands of the Askar Alliance. More than twenty years ago, before they had obtained the Eastern Territory, they used the small county of the Eastern Horse River to provoke the infighting of the Askar Alliance, and in 337, Eren Northvi did a shocking thing - he took the city of Vodahara, which had blocked the Imperial conquering army three times, with almost no soldiers. It was earth-shattering news at the time, the Ascar Alliance immediately organized an army to retake the fortress, and the Empire tried to find reinforcements for the Northvilles, and it was at that time that I went to the battlefield for the first time. ”

"Ellen Northway, the first Duke of the East......," Morse muttered thoughtfully.

When Morse and Nefarian were talking, his team members next to him were also listening to the conversation between the two, and when they heard Nefarian mention the war more than twenty years ago, Werner, the most knowledgeable of these people, immediately opened his mouth: "But, Lord Earl, since the signing of the Charter of Fog Castle, hasn't the relationship between the royal family and the lords been very tense, why did they help the Norsway family find reinforcements at that time?"

"That's because the war at that time was not a confrontation between the princes and the emperor within the empire, but a confrontation with the Empire's old enemy, the Askar Alliance, although this will greatly enhance the power of the local lords, but it will also enhance the strength of the empire itself, especially the fortress of Vodahara, which has blocked the imperial army three times, even if it is just to vent this bad breath, the Storor family will help the Norsvie family. ”

Nefarian smiled at Werner, who was more of a knowledgeable scholar than a lord now.

"Alas, war, when will the war end?" Miranda suddenly sighed, the only woman in the team, "There was another war in Lengshan Ling a while ago, and it was not easy to settle down there, but I had to come out to avoid the war again." ”

Miranda's words silenced everyone for a moment, indeed, since the authority of the royal family began to weaken, the wars in the empire have become more and more intense.

"I heard that this war was started by the Earl of Gloomy Castle to fight against the Duke of Cold Mountain Lord, that is, his father?" Morse remembered what he had seen and heard in Cold Mountain Territory in the north more than a month ago, when the war had not yet started, but the atmosphere of war had already filled the air of Cold Mountain Territory.

"But isn't the Earl of Gloomy Castle only seventeen years old, and is he really capable of waging war? Moreover, the enemy he wants to defeat is his own father, which ...... Isn't that unbelievable?" questioned Werner, who was about the same age as the Earl of Gloomy Castle, so he could best imagine the Earl's situation.

"Who knows, who can figure out what is going on among the nobles?" those nobles are all ......," Miranda said with a look of disgust, but she suddenly remembered that there was a veritable noble lord here, so she quickly stopped the topic and looked cautiously at Nefarian.

Nefarian still smiled, as if he didn't care at all about the criticism and sarcasm of the aristocracy in Miranda's unfinished words.

"Alright, that's the end of the chatter, it's time for us to get down to business. Morse quickly coughed and changed the subject, "Lord Earl, we should not be far from the goal, right?"

"Yes, keep going up, take the road to the right at the fork in the road ahead, and you will find the dwarves who believe in the Lord of the Fire Demons. Speaking of business, Nefarian's expression suddenly became serious, "Those evil dwarves have been entrenched in the depths of Blackstone Peak, and I have repeatedly sent troops to try to exterminate them, but they have all been detected by these dwarves, so this time I hope to be able to sneak into the dwarf settlement with your help and destroy these dwarves in one go!"

Morse nodded heavily, to be honest, he admired Nefarian a lot, not only because of the other party's willingness to eliminate harm for his people, but also because of the other party's courage - to be able to risk his life with his own adventurers to go deep into the hinterland of Blackstone Peak, this alone is worthy of Morse's admiration.

"Then, it's time for us to get ready to go, it's the highest temperature in the afternoon, the dwarves must be hiding in their cool tunnels, and the reconnaissance will be much lax, take this opportunity, let's sneak into their tunnels and wipe out these dwarves in one go!"

Most of the team members nodded solemnly, indicating their approval of Morse's plan.

Except for one person. Morse frowned, and looked at the paladin Riano in the team with great dissatisfaction.

"Did you hear what I just said, Riano?"

"What?" Ryanor, who was nibbling on the chicken legs, looked up suddenly, he was the paladin of the god of justice, Tyre, but although these paladins had great strength, it seemed that the gods had given them power and taken something from them - such as intelligence.

Morse stroked his forehead helplessly, he really had nothing to do with this companion. "I mean, we'll sneak into the tunnels of those evil dwarves in a minute, and then destroy them in one fell swoop. ”

"Destroy the evil!" As soon as he heard the word "evil", Riainor, as a paladin, suddenly threw away the chicken leg and stood up from the ground, "For the sake of Tyre, for the sake of justice, rush-"

Everyone watched in amazement as Riano drew his sword and ran forward.

"No, wait, do you know which way to go?" Morse hurriedly tried to stop him, but the paladin had a seizure, even a few cows couldn't stop him, and after a while, Riaino had already run to a place where Morse's voice could not be heard at all.

"Damn!" Morse scolded, then beckoned to the team, "Quick, keep up with him, this reckless fellow will alarm the dwarves!"

The group hurriedly ran up, trying to catch up with Riaino, but the paladin's physique was not comparable to ordinary people, especially a weak academic mage like Werner, who could only stare dryly at the figure that Riano was farther away.

"Oh no, he's gone the wrong way!" Nefarian's eyes were sharper than the adventurers, and from a distance, he saw Riano rushing into the road to the left at the fork, "Quick, find a way to call him back!"

Morris didn't think about it, and the other team members who still had more energy sped up and rushed into the road to the left of the fork, and Nefarian could only watch with a grim face as these people ran in the wrong direction, and the open-mindedness just now disappeared from him in a blink of an eye.

Werner, who stayed behind because of his lack of physical strength, looked at Nefarian strangely, because this lord has always behaved well and spoken, so Werner didn't think much about it, and asked directly: "Isn't it a good thing to run in the wrong direction, so that you won't alarm those dwarves, just wait for Maurice and them to chase back Riano ." ”

Nefarian glanced at Werner, and for a moment, there was no open-mindedness, no kindness, only a piercing chill in his eyes.

"No, there's something even more terrible out there. ”

Werner was stunned by Nefarian's eyes, but before he could ask, he heard a terrible shout from the other side of the ridge. Werner's face changed, the shouts were clearly from Ryan and Morris, and it was clear that something had happened to his teammates.

He hurried to his heavy steps, trying to help his companion, but as soon as he took the first step, he felt a blow to the back of his head, and then his consciousness dissipated.

Behind Werner, Nefarian withdrew his palm, still with red blood on his hand.

"It's self-defeating. He stared coldly at the other side of the ridge, and the expression on his face was as if he were a different person.

"What's on the road on that side?" The black-clad retinue who had been following Nefarian stepped forward and stood side by side with Nefarian, but from his expression, it seemed that he was not in awe of Nefarian, but rather a little arrogant, as if he was the master.

And in fact, it is.

"It's a baby dragon I raised. Nefarian frowned, as if he was very distressed, "I finally used the Fonta Collar to occupy a part of the Blackstone Peak in order to raise young dragons here, but I was destroyed by these fools - God knows how many dragon eggs they trampled on me, these humans, obediently listen to me, just go and fight the dwarves of Lagres, but they want to ruin my good deeds!"

Nefarian gritted his teeth, his fists rattling.

"So, where did you arrange for the guard?" the black-clad attendant shifted his gaze to Nefarion's face, "Otherwise, these people would not have been dealt with so quickly." ”

"Yes, it's my most trusted subordinate. Speaking of his subordinates, Nefarian smiled again, "I'm really sorry, Your Highness Bell, I originally wanted to please you with these ignorant humans, but I didn't expect it to become a farce. ”

The man known as Belle stared at Nefarion, still without any expression on his face.

"If you want to please me, don't use this means, Lubigand, the life of any living being, should be cherished. ”

Nefarian, or Lubigon sighed, and then pouted helplessly, he really couldn't understand the thoughts of this highness sometimes, obviously one of the nine dukes of hell, but always with inexplicable kindness.

Suddenly, though, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if something had happened to make him happy.

"I see, then, please allow me to present you another scene......"

Lubignd bent down and raised his hand in an exaggerated gesture as a portal suddenly rose behind him.

"Heavy tragedy!"