After the army came out of the poison swamp, Surdak rested the large army in place and prepared to march towards the Dark Worm Valley.

This is already the sphere of influence of the ghost red ants.

At this time, with each step forward, Surdak asked the scouts to go ahead and explore the way.

The scouts who had just been sent out didn't take long to bring Surdak not very good news.

The scout led Surdak over the dirt slope at the edge of the poisonous swamp, and what caught his eye was a large lake with no edge in sight, Surdak turned over and rode to the lake, the lake was only a thin layer of ice at this time, and it would take at least a month for the lake to be completely frozen.

There are several giant arched stone bridges above the lake, which are very exaggerated.

It looked like the dead rhizome of a giant tree was coming out of the ground, but the bridge deck was round.

The thickness of these stone bridges is also very uneven, some stone bridges are tens of meters wide, and only two or three meters are narrow, so that Surdak is most entangled is that the bridge deck of these stone bridges is arc-shaped, high in the middle, low on both sides, and the steeper the slope is the more you get to the edge.

Only by standing in the middle of the stone bridge can you pass safely......

Once you stand too close to the edge, it is easy to lose your balance and fall headlong into the lake.

At this time, the lake water has formed a layer of ice, the water temperature should be close to zero, ordinary warriors will quickly lose temperature if they fall into the lake, and it is not easy to swim out of the lake, and I don't know what kind of water monsters are in this big lake.

The steep deck is a challenge for humans, horses, and armed thunder rhinos, but it is not too difficult for these ghostly red ants, who have six powerful legs that can climb 360 degrees on the stone bridge.

Moreover, this kind of stone bridge across the lake actually stretches from the north, and it is not clear how many meters of span these stone bridges are for the time being.

Ghost-patterned red ants could be seen everywhere on the stone bridge, and Surdak didn't expect that these ghost-patterned red ants would even know how to retreat to the stone bridge.

Surdak only took a turn around the lake and rode back.

This is the territory of the ghostly red ants, and it is blocked by poisonous fog all year round, and it is usually inaccessible.

In a meadow and shrub forest by the lake, there were some rudimentary magical herbs such as silver leaf grass and kudzu root grass and ground pool grass, Surdak immediately realized the value of this meadow, and hurriedly beckoned to the cavalry following behind him, asking him to call some men over.

The cavalry hurriedly turned their horses and left, and soon called a large crowd of people.

Surdak selected those with gathering experience from among these cavalry, and asked them to take advantage of the gap when those ghost-patterned red ants retreated to the stone bridge, and quickly collected all the magic herbs here, and then the adventure group and mercenary group came out of the swamp to follow, I am afraid that this is the place where all parties are fighting.

The cavalry came on horseback, much faster than Samira and the archers, and when Samira arrived at the lake, he saw the magic herbs everywhere in the meadow in front of him, and hurriedly beckoned his archers to seize the bush with the most herbs.

Now the magic herbs of the Grimm Empire are worth more than gold, and at this time, any kind of magic herbs are hard currency in the market.

It's just that the magic herbs eat the resources of the land very much, probably because they have to constantly absorb the surrounding elements during the growth period, they can't grow in patches, there are only one or two trees in an area, and the cavalry immediately search farther along the river, giving these resources to the archers in the vicinity.

This kind of muffled fortune only lasted until before dark, and Andrew's cavalry outpost encountered a large swarm of ghost-patterned soldiers in the distance, and then quickly retreated.

At this moment, the adventuring group and the mercenary group coalition that followed behind have also come out of the poisonous swamp, they are almost stepping on muddy water, digging millipede poisonous insects all the way over, this group of people risked coming here, just to make a fortune, these millipede poisonous insects are a lot of wealth for them.

As soon as they walked out of the poison swamp and came to the side of the large lake with thin ice on the surface of the lake, they immediately found traces of collection on the grass.

These groups went into a complete frenzy, like a bunch of gadflies that smelled blood, and rushed into the meadow with a bang, even ignoring the darkness of the day, and walked along the riverside meadow farther away in search of magic herbs.

He didn't even pay attention to the kind reminder of the cavalry sent by Surdak.

It may also be that they don't have the same panic about these ghost-patterned red ants as before, so they are so unscrupulous.

Who let the magic herbs in the nearby meadows be emptied by the warriors under the Surdak Lord, what else can they say except to go to the lakeside meadows farther away to find the magic herbs?

The makeshift camp had been set up, and the marching tents were tightly linked, and groups of soldiers walked around the camp.

These patrolling soldiers stared at the arched stone bridge not far away, for fear that a group of ghost-patterned soldiers would suddenly rush out from the stone bridge and attack the camp.

In the past, when fighting with the ghost-patterned red ants, everyone relied on the northern city wall to block them and occupy this advantageous position.

Now Andrew and his cavalry can fight these ghostly red ants in the wilderness.

But ordinary warriors still can't resist the impact in the face of ghost-patterned red ants.

The armed Thunderrhino also brought the ordered bed crossbows and catapults with the catapults, and Aung San's younger brother Tula is now the captain of the ordnance maintenance team, and after the bed crossbows and catapults were transported through the poison swamp, Ratu did nothing and took his men to assemble the bed crossbows.

Underneath this bed crossbow is the chassis of a four-wheeled carriage, a four-wheeled base with a magic axle, the structure is additionally reinforced, and it looks very bulky.

If there were no horses to pull it, it would take at least six people to push it, and the road surface should not be too bad.

The bed crossbows that had just been assembled were now all pushed up the dirt slope, pointing to the stone bridge by the lake a few hundred meters away.

……

Surdak's dinner was rich, in addition to the baked wheat cake and broth, there were also half roasted millipedes, and the meat of this roast was very, very tender, but the poor appearance made Surdak lose any appetite.

A circle of light lit up inside the marching tent, and Aphrodite stepped out of the Void Gate.

"You've just arrived, I've got something for you......" Surdak sat down in his chair and wiped his mouth, and then left the tent with Aphrodite.

The two walked directly up the dirt slope, where a group of bed crossbow repairmen, led by Latour, were assembling the bed crossbows overnight.

Surdak pointed to the stone bridge hidden in the night in the distance and asked Aphrodite, "Do you know what those are?" It can't really be some naturally formed stone arch bridge, right? ”

Aphrodite turned her head to look at Surdak speechlessly, but then took a serious look.

The large lake under the stars is like a bright mirror, but also like a huge gem, and the glimmer of light reflected from the surface of the lake just makes these stone arch bridges completely exposed.

Behind Aphrodite, a phantom of transparent insect wings appeared, and her body rose into the air.

Surdak thought she would fly over to investigate, but after waiting for a while, she fell on the spot, and after thinking for a while, she said to Surdak:

"I've read a similar account in the Maga Plane Goblin City Library, and the goblins believe that these stone bridges are likely to have the roots of the Upper World Tree left behind after the death of the World Tree exposed to the surface, and then turned stone after countless years of weathering...... Dark, do you think the mountain in front of you was originally a World Tree? ”

"Look at the fractures at the top of this mountain......"

She pointed to the pillar-like peaks in the northern night sky, which were only dark shadows in the night.

"If you think of it as the stumps left behind after a large tree has died, these stone bridges are likely to be its roots that have been petrified over the years."

"You say that mountain peak is a stump of a dead World Tree? The Valley of the Dark Worm is at the root of the World Tree......"

"If that's the case, these ghost-patterned red ants really occupy a treasure of feng shui, even if it's a dead World Tree, I'm afraid it's all full of treasures...... But...... After all these years, it is likely that there is nothing left! ”

"If you can build a city inside the stump of this World Tree, at least you can save digging a moat."

"I guess this mountain must be hollow, such a high mountain wall can be a city wall, the disadvantage is that the city is built in it, the lighting must be very bad, I heard that the elves like to build a city on the top of the world tree."

Aphrodite squinted, not afraid of the cold wind blowing from the north, and sat on the dirt slope, looking at the distant mountain peak and unleashing a series of reveries.

Surdak then expressed his distress: "Now our army is going to pass over the stone bridge, but it is full of ghost-patterned red ants, and if you want to cross this stone bridge, I am afraid that you will have to fight hard, and in the battle on the stone bridge, the advantage of ghost-patterned red ants is too great." ”

"And what are you going to do?" Aphrodite asked.

Surdak pointed to the bed crossbow and catapult being assembled not far away, and said to Aphrodite: "I am going to blast all the way with the catapult and the bed crossbow......