（263...... 084...... 458...... Book friend skirt, if you want to come, join the group. P.S. Friends who have passed by ask for collections and recommendations, and your support is my biggest motivation. In addition, it is good for everyone to give more opinions, thank you. PS2: For the title change, please see the work. PS3: Thank you for the book friend Hanhai Youya for rewarding 100 starting coins again. ）

Leaving the campsite, following the forest at the edge of the canyon and bypassing the Sea of Death Mist, and then advancing by the light of the glittering vine for no more than half an hour, you entered the range of the Crushed Skull Hills.

As the name suggests, it is a hilly terrain that covers an area of about 300 square kilometers. The rolling hills are tall or low, the hills are covered with vegetation, and although the ground does not have a very thick layer of leaf litter as before, the complexity of the terrain and the abundance of dense vines make it more difficult to move forward.

There are more than 2,000 species of animals and insects living in the Cranial Hills, which together form a complex ecological structure that can be self-consistent, and at the top of the ecological structure in the whole area is a social ape called the mountain ape, which has simple intelligence, but is not enough to be considered intelligent beings, so it is still classified as a monster. They have a lot of strength, very low magic resistance, and will use simple weapons, which are actually just heavy wooden sticks made of simple processing of huge tree trunks, wielding hundreds of kilograms of giant trees in battle, and most fond of smashing enemy skulls, and the name Crushed Hills is also named because of their existence.

Mountain apes usually live in the trees of the cranial hills, and hide in several shallow caves in the hills in case of bad weather. The total number of them is about a thousand, and the strength is not even, but in general, it is above the bronze rank, about half of the members belong to the silver level of demonic beasts, about thirty of them are of the gold rank, and the ape king as the leader has the strength of the golden high level, and can even use simple and primitive fighting energy, which is one of the most unique and strongest races among the group-type demonic beasts in the flash forest.

Mountain apes are omnivorous, picking plants and hunting at the same time, and are not very aggressive, and even if they are encountered through the hills, they are likely not to be attacked if they are not attacked by a hunting force, or if they are not in a very hungry state even if they are encountered.

Stepping onto the realm of the Skullshatter Hills, the group of ten changed their way forward. The team was led by Dora and Catherine in turn, using the physical fitness of the Golden Knight far beyond others to clear the vines and open the way, and the guide Elard still followed the leader, constantly pointing the way forward, preventing getting lost and avoiding some unnecessary trouble. As the lookout of the team, the night owl has been following the team from the canopy for a long time, and he has a wealth of experience in the wilderness, so he can fully adapt to this job, condescending to observe the surroundings and help the team provide vigilance. The gopher from Couran is the most accustomed to the environment, and is accustomed to mountain life, and he moves quickly and peacefully in the hills, so he is responsible for supporting the team from one team to another. The Shadow Wolf lurks in the shadows behind Catherine or Dora, ready to defend against enemies. Originally, the Shadow Wolf wanted to lurk in the shadows of the plants on either side to follow the team, but was stopped by Pannis. In Pannis's words, the detection ability of many Warcraft in the forest is much higher than that of human professionals, and the stealth of thieves can hide from professionals, but it is difficult to hide from Warcraft, but because they are separated from the large army, they will be attacked by Warcraft alone. The remaining three spellcasters, Phantom Fox, Vivien, and Lina, have been walking in the middle of the team as usual, and they only need to maintain their own condition, and they don't need to bear any work at all. As for the team's broken back, it was obviously Pannis's responsibility to make sure that no one was left behind or deviated, and that no monster was tracking and attacking the entire team from behind.

"Bang bang bang

"Senior sister, be careful. Dora's voice of concern followed.

At the front of the group, Catherine climbed up the steep slope with a bush machete in one hand and a branch growing on the side in the other, chopping vines and weeds and branches that stood in her way. The soil on the slope is very loose, and if you are not careful, you will slip down the steep slope. Just now, Catherine stepped on the floating soil and slipped in the process of opening the road, and she had to hold on to the branch with her left hand to stabilize her body.

"I'm fine. Catherine climbed a few steps upwards and regained her footing before she said, "It's really hard to walk here, it's been so long since I've been here." ”

"Professionals who are not familiar with the forest often walk seven or eight kilometers a day at full strength. Pannis's voice came from the end of the line: "Even the most familiar hunter walks only about fifteen kilometers a day. Elard, you're pretty much the same. ”

"I'm the fastest at this speed, and if I'm stronger, I should be able to go a little faster. Elad also began to pant a little now: "But our current speed is acceptable, I won't go that fast unless I have to, just control the speed to ten kilometers a day." ”

"Senior sister, take a break. Dora walked past Catherine: "I'll open the way." ”

The one who leads the way is the hardest working in the whole team, in every way. In terms of physical strength, the person who opens the way must not only provide a path that can allow the entire team to pass normally at a minimum, but also reserve physical strength at any time to prevent various demonic beasts from attacking head-on, and the burden is several times heavier than that of the person behind him. Psychologically, the leader faces the unknown at every step, terrain, plants, monsters, events, everything is unknown and needs to be explored step by step, while others just need to follow along, and the psychological pressure caused by the difference between the two cannot be underestimated.

And the most critical danger does not come from the terrain or the monsters, but from the act of opening the road itself. Many plants themselves are passively aggressive, covered with burrs, and the burrs are mostly highly toxic, and many insects and snakes are even more camouflaged, and while opening up the road, they often step into the traps they lay if they are not careful. For example, half an hour ago, Catherine reached out and grabbed a branch that looked strong during the climb of the slope, but in fact this branch was disguised as a gray-brown poisonous snake, if it wasn't for Catherine's sharp reaction to throw the snake out in time, it would inevitably be bitten by the snake, and it would be a waste of time to detoxify at that time.

In this way, the small group made a difficult way through the hilly terrain with the two female knights taking turns to lead the way, and the purpose of the team was to cross the Skull-Crushing Hill and reach the banks of the Naramia River. The journey was winding and about thirty kilometers long, and it was expected to take five days to reach it in the hills, which made the team fed up with the hills somewhat painful.

"Whew, it's finally up. Dora sat on a rock at the top of the mountain, not bothering to move, just sitting and gasping. At the top of the hill is a gravel clearing, with only a little more than a hundred square meters of space, and there are no plants growing in the range, and when you look up, you can see the night sky before dawn overhead. Although there are no glitter vines here, the sparse jungle forest beyond the gravel clearing, the sparkling vines cover the area and give the impression of sitting in a brightly lit open-air room.

"It's almost dawn. The whole team walked into the gravel clearing, and Pannis looked up at the dark night sky: "In about fifteen minutes, the lights will go out in the forest." Counting that today's journey is more than halfway, everyone eats something to replenish their strength, rests for an hour and fifteen minutes, and when the sight in the forest is better, we will set off. ”

"It's more than half?" Vivien sat on the stone, rubbing her forehead with an unnatural expression, and when she saw Pannis, she forced herself to smile: "How long will it take to walk? ”

"Of course not. Pannis sighed secretly in his heart, but did not say anything: "We will leave on time at seven o'clock in the morning, and after walking for six hours, we should be able to reach the top of the next mountain, and we will camp in the open space at the top of the mountain." ”

"I think you're more familiar with this place than the previous places in the Forest of Mist. Catherine said, "Been here before?"

"Yes. Pannis didn't hide anything: "I've been here a few times many years ago, and I've passed through this place on the way, so I'm familiar with it." ”

"And you're familiar with the plants. Lina also asked curiously, "If you hadn't reminded Dora just now, I'm afraid she would have been hurt by that plant." Who would have thought that a plant would only show burrs if it was held, and that it could pierce through the cracks in the chain mail. ”

"No way, I'm actually familiar with most of the plants in the Yara Continent. Pannis shrugged: "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a botanical researcher. ”

Although Pannis said it with a smile, there was a bit of bitterness in his smile, as if he remembered some bad memories. It is true that the memories of that childhood are not very good, but without the experience of that time, it is impossible to be as familiar with the characteristics of each plant as it is now, and everything is always so difficult to choose.

Seeing that everyone began to devour the food they had prepared when they had set up camp, Pannis deftly climbed up the canopy of a tree outside the clearing, and soon disappeared from view. The mercenaries now fully understood Pannis's abilities in the wild, and no one was surprised to see him disappear, just watched silently. After a short time, Pannis slowly climbed up the slope of the hill, walked back to the clearing, took out some thumb-sized wild fruits from his backpack, and threw them to everyone.

"What is this?" Dora said, playing with the lilac fruit, "It doesn't smell good." ”

"This fruit is called a water source. Pannis pointed to Erad, who was very happy to pick up the fruit and eat it first: "Eating two can reduce the thirst in your mouth, and the time can last for about four or five hours." Although it is not a substitute for drinking water, it can make your throat much more comfortable after a lot of exercise. ”

"It's rare that you can find so many. Elad exclaimed: "This fruit grows at the top of trees tens of meters high, and the yield is not high, I usually go into the forest and rarely have the energy to find this kind of thing, you can find more than twenty at once, it's really not easy." ”

"Chirp, tweet. The night owl, who had been lying on the tree while eating and guarding, suddenly sounded an alarm and quickly climbed down from the tree while everyone was on guard: "There is a situation, mountain ape." ”