He pulled his backpack from under the corpse of a goblin and slung it over his shoulder.

"My name is Iban Schatterstone. I'm from Gatwe. You may have heard of my family," he said, "and we have the most majestic mansion—"

"That's right!" shouted Aven. "I remember!"

In an instant, the entire sky was covered with sticky cobwebs.

The group arrived at a plain surrounded by high mountains, just as the sun was setting.

In the mountains in front of you lies the majestic fortress of New Grande, guarding the passage through the mountains. The crowd was heartily amazed.

Lena looked at the two towering minarets in front of her in amazement. "I've never seen this huge building! Who built it? They must be very strong people. ”

"Not human. Hubble said sadly. The dwarves' beards swayed in the wind, "the result of a collaboration between elves and dwarves." Once upon a time, when it was still quiet. ”

"The dwarf is right. Gircenas said. "Once upon a time, Kes-Kanan left her heartbroken father and ancient homeland of Sivanasti.

He and his countrymen came to the beautiful forest promised to them by Julius Caesar in the Covenant of the Scabbard that he had concluded after the War of the Wall. Kess – After Kanan's death, the elves lived in Wellington for countless years.

One of his greatest achievements was the construction of the New Grand Fortress. Towering between the realm of dwarves and elves, this is a friendly cooperation that is no longer seen in today's Claes.

Now that this fortress has become a giant war machine, I am really emotional. “

Just as Gilcenas spoke, the group saw the huge front door of the New Grande open with a bang.

A whole team of dragonmen, goblins, and goblins emerged from within.

The mournful sound of the horn echoed among the mountains. A red dragon soared above them. They were hiding in the trees, and although the dragons couldn't detect them from this distance, they couldn't help but feel the chills of such terrifying courage.

"They're sending troops to Wellington," said Gilsenas eagerly. "We need to go in and get rid of the prisoners. In this way, Meng Minna will be forced to withdraw his army. ”

"You're going to enter the New Grande!" Iban gasped.

"Yes," said Gircenas reluctantly, apparently regretting that he had spoken too much.

"Whew!" Iban exhaled deeply. "I dare say, you guys are kind.

How, then, are we going to get in? Wait until the army leaves? There will be only a few guards left at the gate.

We can easily deal with them, don't you say?" he pushed Karamon with his elbow.

"Of course," Callamon said with a smile.

"That's not our plan," Gireenas said coldly.

The elf pointed to a narrow path that led to the mountain, unrecognizable in the fading daylight. "We're going to take this road, we're going to take advantage of the cover of night. ”

He stood up and walked away. Robert caught up with him. "How much do you know about this Yiban?"

The half-elf looked back at the man who was chatting with Lena and asked in Elven language.

Gircenas shrugged. "He was fighting with us in the canyon with the humans. The living all died in Verlo.

I guess he escaped, just like me. Gilthenas said, squinting at Robert.

"He's from Gatwe, where his father and grandfather were big businessmen. As he left, others told me that his family had since fallen and that he had to make money with the sword in his hand. ”

"I guess that's the same," Robert said. "His clothes are all high-end, but I'm afraid I've been wearing them for a while.

You made the right choice to bring him here. “

"Because I dare not keep him," said Girsenas in a low voice. "We've got to have someone watch him. ”

"Okay," Robert shut.

"You're probably thinking that even I need to be careful, right?" said Gilsenas, barely controlling his emotions. "I know what other people say – especially the knight.

But I swear to you, Robert, I won't betray anyone! I only want one thing!" The elf's eyes twinkled in the night light. ”

I'm going to kill this Fernana. If you've seen how he and his dragons treat my fellow man! I'd rather sacrifice my life—" Gilsenas stopped suddenly.

"Do you not hesitate to sacrifice us?" Robert asked.

Gilthenas turned, his eyes looking at Robert mercilessly. "If you insist on knowing, Tancyrus, your life is nothing more than—" He flicked his fingers.

"But my countrymen are my everything. That's all I care about now. He continued to walk forward, and Stone caught up.

"Robert," he said. The old man was right. Someone is following us. ”

The narrow trail climbs slowly up to a wooded area at the foot of the mountain. They traced the stream, and the shadows of the night began to cover the land.

They had only walked a short distance before Gircenus abruptly left the trail and burrowed into the nearby bushes. Everyone stopped, looking at each other suspiciously.

"It's crazy," Iban whispered to Robert. "This valley is inhabited by ogres...... How else do you think this trail came from?"

The black-haired man grabbed Robert's arm like an old friend, much to Robert's annoyance.

"I'll admit, I'm a newcomer, and you have no reason to believe me, but what do you know about Gilsenas?"

"I'm to him—" Robert began, but Iban continued on his own.

"Some of us don't believe that the encounter with the dragon army was an accident, you know what I mean. My compatriots and I have been hiding in the mountains since we were ambushed at Gatwe.

These elves popped up out of nowhere last week. They told us about the plans to raid the Dragoon's stronghold and asked if we wanted to join?

We said, "Absolutely, if we can give the dragoon a little color." ”

"But the more we went, the more nervous we became. The elves didn't seem to care much about that, and Gilsenas said it had been a while.

That night we set up camp and set up sentries. But it didn't work at all, it only bought us about twenty seconds before the dragonmen attacked.

And—" Iban looked and stood closer, "and when we awoke, as we grabbed our weapons and fought, I heard the elves shouting as if someone was missing.

Who do you think they're shouting?"

Iban looked at Robert carefully. The half-elf frowned and shook his head, unacceptable to such a dramatic change.

"Gilsenas!" said Iban, in a low voice. "He's missing! They called out to him again and again, their chief!" the man shrugged.

"I don't know if he showed up later. Then I was taken captive. They took me to Verlo, from where I escaped. Either way, I'm going to have to think twice about following this elf.

He might have a good reason to explain why he happened to disappear when the dragonmen appeared, but—"I've known Gilsenas for a long time," Robert interrupted wryly, but was really troubled in his heart.

"Of course. It's just that I feel the need for you to know about it," Iban said, smiling sympathetically. He patted Robert on the back and went back to stand next to Lena.

Robert didn't have to look back to know that Stone and Calamon had listened to every word.

But no one spoke, and just as Robert was looking for an opportunity to talk to them, Gilcenas suddenly burst out of the bushes in front of him.

"Not far off," said the elf. "The trees in front of us are sparse, so it's much easier to walk. ”

"I think we'll go straight through the gate," Iban said.

"I agree," Calamon said. Dahan looked at his younger brother, who was limp under the tree. Scarlet Moon turned pale from exhaustion.

Even Wade's head hung limply.

"We can set up camp tonight and enter through the main entrance early tomorrow morning. Stone suggested.

"We're going to go with the plan," Robert said suddenly. "We arrived at Slamouri and set up camp again. ”

Hubble continued. "You might as well just knock on the door of Fierce Minna, Stone.

Breit, I think he'll let you in. Less coming, Robert, let's go. The dwarf staggered down the path.

"At least," Robert said to Stone in a low voice, "that might get rid of our stalkers." ”

"It doesn't matter if it's a person or something," Stone replied. "He clearly knows the nature of the forest, I can be sure of that.

Whenever I noticed a shadow behind me and was about to look back, he would suddenly disappear. I thought about setting up an ambush, but time didn't allow it. ”

Thankfully, they walked out of the woods and into a steep rock face. Gilsenas walked a few hundred feet along the rock wall, his hands on the rock wall and feeling around.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"We're here," he whispered. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a gemstone with a pale yellow glow.

Feeling the rock wall inch by inch, the elf found what he had been looking for: it was a small groove in the granite rock wall.

He set the gem in, chanted ancient incantations, and made strange gestures.

"It's amazing," Evan whispered. "I didn't expect him to be a fellow believer. ”

He said to Rodlis.

"Just an imitator," replied the mage. Although he leaned weakly against the staff of Marzis, he watched intently.

A boulder suddenly moved aside from the rock wall without a sound. Everyone felt a damp, cold air rushing out of it, and they couldn't help but be forced to take a step back.

"What's in there?" asked Calamon suspiciously.

"I don't know what's in there now," replied Giresenas. "I've never been in. I learned about it from the legends of my people. ”

"All right," Callamon frowned. "What was in there before?"

Girsenas was silent for a moment, then said, "This was once the mausoleum of Kies, Kanan. ”

"It's even more eerie now," Hubble muttered as he peered inside. "Let the mage in first, so he can warn the people inside that we're coming. ”

"Throw the dwarves in," Rodrith replied. "They're used to living in dark, damp caves anyway. ”

"You're talking about the mountain dwarves!" said Hubble, his beard trembling with rage.

"It's been a long time since the Hill Dwarves have inhabited the Underworld of Sobadin. ”

"That's because you've been kicked out!" said Rodrith in a hoarse voice.

"Shut up, both of you!" said Robert, frustratedly. "Rodlis, do you feel anything special about this place?"

"Evil, a very powerful evil force," the mage replied.

"But at the same time, I also felt a powerful divine force within," Evan said unexpectedly. "The elves inside have not been completely forgotten, though a new evil force has invaded their territory. ”

"This is outrageous!" shouted Iban. The noise echoed through the valley, and everyone looked back at him alertly.

"I'm sorry," he said, lowering his voice. "But I can't believe you guys are really trying to go in!

Even if you don't have to be a mage, you can see that there is an unimaginable danger lurking in the cave. I can feel it! I'd better go in through the front door," he demanded.

"Of course, there will still be one or two guards there, but it's nothing more than the evil in the dark!"

"He has a point, Robert," Callamon said. "We can't fight the necromancy.

We learned this lesson from the time of the Dark Forest. "This is the only way!" said Gireenas angrily. "If you're such cowards—"

"There's a difference between caution and cowardice, Gilthenus," said Robert, his voice steady and calm.

The half-elf thought for a moment. "We have a chance to take out the guards at the front door first, but they can warn the others in advance.

I think we should at least go first, Hubble, you lead the way, and Rodrith, we need your lighting. ”

"Schrak!" the mage whispered, the crystal ball on his staff began to glow. He walked into the cave with Hubble, followed by the others.

The tunnel they entered was clearly old, but it was impossible to tell whether it had been excavated by hand or by nature.

"Where's our stalker?" Stone asked in a low voice. "Do you want to keep the population open?"

"Set a trap," Robert agreed in a low voice. "Gilsenas, leave a small crack enough for the person who is following him to keep going, not so obvious that he will see that this is a trap. ”

Gireenas took out the gem, inserted it into the groove on the side of the gate, and said a few words.

The boulder quietly moved back into place, and when there were only a few inches left in the opening, he pulled out the gem, and the boulder came to an abrupt halt. Knights, elves, and half-elves entered Slamory with the crowd.

"There's a lot of ash on the ground here," Rodrith coughed, "but at least there's no footprints on the cavern floor here." ”

"After about another hundred and twenty feet, there is a fork in the road," Hubble said. "We found some footprints over there, but we couldn't see the footprints of anything.

It seems that neither dragonmen nor goblins, nor is it going in this direction. The mage said that there was an evil smell on the road on the right. ”