People who have never seen the grassland will never be able to answer this question, and they will never understand the true meaning of the word grassland. Just like Lina, just like Vivian, even if she has read the description of the grassland a thousand times and ten thousand times in various books, when the two of them really stand on the grassland, their first reaction can only be shock.

Because of its location in the north, spring in the orc steppes comes earlier than in neutral lands, and even at the end of March, the steppes are already green. This is the edge of the grassland, and it is verdant as far as the eye can see. Because the orc grassland is a large plain, the place as far as the eye can see is flat and open, and there is no shelter, so that the people in it have the illusion that everything no longer exists, and there is only this piece of emerald green in front of them. Thankfully, there was a hazy black shadow at the end of the day, reminding visitors that there was something other than grass. It was an unknown mountain on the plains, and it was the destination of the four of them.

Looking from the roof of the carriage on three sides, except for the grass and grass, the half-human-high grass covered the earth, and only the man-made stone road under his feet meandered into the distance, like a sharp blade, dividing the complete grassland into two parts.

The sky is as blue as washing, there is no haze, even the white clouds are far away in the sky, a few goshawks soar and hover in the sky, far away, high, falling in the eyes of people only a small black dot. But they will never be overlooked, and in any case, a few moving black dots in a blue sky like a picture scroll are hard to ignore. There was an eagle cry in the sky, and a goshawk fell from the sky like a falling star, with a fierce momentum straight to the ground, and when it approached the ground, it suddenly regained its height, almost grazing against the grass, and clasped tightly between its claws A small beast returned to the sky, leaving only a falling feather, floating in the air with the wind.

Stand under the blue sky, stand above the grassland. It seems that only one person is left in the world, and the huge sense of loneliness accompanied by the boundless pride brought by the vast world fills people's chests, and people can't help but raise a kind of expectation of singing loudly. There is also an urge to gallop on this land, listening to the wind whistling in my ears, as if the yearning for speed in the blood and soul has finally awakened, and I can no longer resist the temptation of galloping.

"This is the grassland, it turns out that this is the grassland. Lina's eyes widened. Greedily looking at everything around him, he wants to engrave all the scenery into the deepest part of his memory, and he remains motionless for a long time, as if his soul has left his body. In fact, everyone vaguely speculates that she is not the only one who observes the world through her pupils, and perhaps every friend in her heart, as long as she is interested in the grassland, is observing and exclaiming: "I didn't expect everything here to be like this...... Such...... No way. I don't know how to describe it. ”

"Welcome to the prairie, friends from afar. The chariot was Selassis, the liaison of an adventurer's guild branch on the grassland, and he was taking off the felt hat on his head to block the sunlight in the sky, grinning: "This charming land will not disappoint you, if you stay here for a long time, you will fall in love with this place deeply, and you will not want to leave a single step." ”

"I wasn't expecting that to happen, but I must say that it didn't disappoint me. Lina stood on top of the carport and suddenly threw her head up and let out a loud wolf howl. In a wild and animalistic tone, she said aloud: "Diana really did not lie to me, her hometown is indeed beyond my imagination. ”

The sudden wolf howl startled Selassis, and when he reacted to the fact that this howl was enough to be chaotic and came from Lina's mouth, he couldn't help but smile bitterly: "This young lady." Please don't bark like that, now on the outskirts of the grassland, everything is fine, if you bark like this again after you get to the inside of the grassland, it will be easy to attract wolves. ”

"The last thing we fear is wolves. Catherine said, "But thank you for your kindness." ”

"Don't underestimate the wolves. Catherine's reaction made Selassis a little uneasy, and she continued, "I know you are all strong. Everyone can destroy a lot of grassland monsters, but the wolves on the grassland are completely different from the wolves you have seen, if you encounter wolves here, there will be at least a few hundred, and the larger ones are often thousands, and some people have even seen more than 10,000 giant wolves from afar. ”

"Mr. Selassis, you misunderstood, we just have some special dependence, that's why we ......" Catherine had just explained halfway, but she couldn't bear to continue to disobey Selassis's kindness, but still smiled and nodded: "Okay, we try to control our behavior and won't cause you trouble, thank you." ”

"It's okay, it's okay. During his three days in the City of Knowledge, Selassis had heard many legends of Nelly's adventures from the mouths of various people at the headquarters, and had also learned about the image of the Knight Leader, noble, upright, fearless, kind, self-disciplined, and just. Even adventurers who have had friction with Nelly's adventure party for some reason, when it comes to this team and Catherine, the leader, they have to praise a few words in an exclamatory tone, as for the comments about the only male member of the adventure group, well, maybe it's better to forget. Because of this, when Catherine thanked and promised solemnly with a smile, Selassis waved his hand nervously: "Captain, you are too polite, this is what I should do as a temporary guide, you don't need to thank you at all." ”

"Now that we've entered the grassland, is it still far from our destination?" Catherine didn't dwell on the issue, and changed the subject: "How long will it take?"

"Do you see the mountains ahead?" Selassis pointed to the hazy black shadow in the distance, "The mountains that the tribes spoke of are there." At the current pace, two more days northeast along the trail will lead to the end of the trail, where a stronghold of trade in and out of the steppe would be greeted by a few of the tigermen Palch who had seen it before. Once there were no roads, and it was difficult for horse-drawn carriages to walk for long periods of time in such meadows, so it was necessary to change to horses there. Turning from the commercial stronghold to the northwest, the fast horse runs for two more days, and it will almost be there. ”

"It's far away. Lina, who came back to her senses, could only make this comment: "Doesn't that mean that their tribe has to go hundreds of kilometers deep into the grassland?"

"Two hundred kilometers. Selassis calculated and said: "After all, if you run for a long distance, you can't use your horsepower, you have to let the horse rest for a while every time you run, plus you need to avoid some dangerous areas and dangerous monsters in the grassland and take a detour, and you can get there in two days." ”

"Dangerous areas and dangerous monsters?" Catherine was stunned. I have been to the grassland once before, why haven't I heard of it?"

"You used to come to the grassland, I'm afraid you were only in the outermost part. Selassis asked, "I guess I haven't even been to the surrounding trading bases." ”

"Yes, that's true. Catherine honestly admitted, "Only on this side of the prairie near Neville's territory. Twenty or thirty kilometers deep. ”

"Then you really don't know that. Selassis nodded: "In the area outside the trade base, it is not even the outer part of the grassland, it can only be regarded as a buffer zone around the periphery, and only by crossing the stronghold can it be regarded as truly entering the interior of the orc grassland." There are a lot of dangerous areas in the grasslands. But everyone lives here all year round and is familiar with the terrain, so it's okay to travel or graze as long as you avoid those areas. I'm afraid of the wolves roaming the grassland, they don't have a fixed territory, and they often lose most of their livestock when they encounter them, and if they don't get it, they can be regarded as the most terrifying creatures on the grassland, so I was so nervous just now. But fortunately, wolves tend to operate in the depths of the grassland, and the tribe we are going to belongs to the outer tribes. You don't usually encounter wolves. In fact, you don't have to worry too much about it, you should have a horse by then, you can run on a horse, the wolves are not hungry in this season, so they will not stare at the prey that escapes and chase it all the time, and you should be able to get rid of it after a few hours. ”

"Thank you for the experience. Catherine nodded in acknowledgment and continued, "What about the other danger areas and monsters?"

"Uh...... The most dangerous places are some shell areas. Selassis thought for a moment and said, "There are many gophers in the grassland, and there are too many gophers in some areas, and they have hollowed out the ground to form a special kind of empty shell ground. It doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, and the person in front of you may not have a problem running over, but no one knows when riding on a horse will cause the ground to collapse. This kind of collapse is often tens of meters deep, and ordinary people and even low-level professionals are likely to fall to their deaths if they fall. Even high-level professionals can be injured by falling, and no matter what happens to people, horses must have fallen to their deaths. On the grassland, a person who was injured by a fall and was inconvenient to move, if there was no horse, basically would not be far from death, and in many places there were tens of kilometers or hundreds of kilometers without seeing anyone inhabited. If you want to find someone to ask for help, you can't do it, so you can only wait for death. ”

"Is there a way to prevent it?" asked Catherine.

"Go around. Selassis smiled wryly, "The only way, or to gamble on luck, to see if you will be so unlucky." ”

"Forget it, then. Catherine shook her head and said, "What about the rest of the dangers?"

"In terms of terrain, there are not many deadly dangers for you high-level professionals, and the key is Tsushima. "Swamps, for example, are the most dangerous to horses. Then there are Warcraft, there are tens of thousands of Gold-level strength Warcraft or Warcraft groups distributed on the grassland, and there are many Legend-level ones, and most of them are good at high-speed movement and long-distance running. Although the adventurer's guild and the mercenary guild regularly encircle and suppress, and some big chambers of commerce will also send people to hunt regularly, the grassland is too big, and these tens of thousands of high-speed monsters or herds are too inconspicuous in the grassland of millions of square kilometers, and it is difficult to see results in hunting. Even if some of them are successfully hunted, with the reproduction rate of the Demonic Beasts, there will soon be new high-level Demonic Beasts to fill this vacancy, so those dangerous places often require groups of people to dare to enter. When encountering dozens of people passing in a group, dangerous monsters will generally take the initiative to avoid it, which is the only way to be safe. ”

"Good work. Catherine looked up at the sky: "Thank you for your explanation, but let's hurry up, hurry up today, and strive to get to the trading base early tomorrow." ”

"Okay. Selassis flicked his whip, and the two horses neighed as they picked up. (To be continued.) )