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The existence of caves has been closely associated with all kinds of adventure legends throughout the ages, both in Rigal and in Crescent Island. In the biographies of heroes, they are inhabited by evil dragons and monsters, and various major events in mythology are often inseparable from this landform.

The complex combination of the longing for the unknown and the fear of the danger that follows makes such a place inherently mystical – but that is only for those who know nothing about it in the city.

The cave is a nasty place, and if you ask the adventurers who actually have a lot of dealings with it, about eleven out of ten will answer you.

Even on high mountains, most of the caves are not related to dryness. When it's hot, the steaming water vapor and the water seeping in from the surface of the ground are all condensed on the roof of the cave, and the slightest touch of the hand is a layer of rich damp vapor. The droplets of water that fall on the ground condense into puddles of water, even if they are not deep, and if you step on them, your shoes and socks that were dry before will be soaked.

Because of its narrowness, a detour is basically not feasible. In bad weather, the Rigaris put their raised wooden shoes over their leather shoes and wait to break their hands and feet if they dare to use them in slippery caves - and the moisture does not only attack the soles of the feet, but also the trousers and clothing. Your hair becomes salty and damp, clinging to your scalp as if someone had poured a bucket of glue on top of your head. The discomfort is even worse in the summer, because there is no lighting in the cave.

Henry and his party went back and quickly re-prepared and lit lanterns instead of torches, though the latter burned brighter and flared brighter. But in the middle of summer, holding such a burning thing at your side, you will keep repeating the painful process of sweating from the stuffiness and then the sweat being dried and turned into a layer of slimy stuff covering the surface of the body.

Torches are a no-brainer to use on the windswept wooded floor, but lanterns are more practical to enter narrow caverns. Although the light is not as strong, it is sufficient. And the relatively weak candlelight can also be used as a warning measure - not all caves have enough air, especially in Zhangzhou at the moment, if the candlelight is unstable or discolored, it proves that the air inside is turbid and poisonous, and it can also make the group aware of this to avoid death.

Of course, no one knew exactly what kind of space it was, and there might be a big scene, so they didn't light it but they still brought some torches.

In addition to replacing the light with candles, the group also brought ropes and some auxiliary items such as the Forge Hook to prevent accidents. The thick hemp rope has many uses, whether it is rescue or escape,

The other young Pingxian samurai who traveled with Torotaro stayed at the foot of the mountain, and Narumi followed him this time, except for the great god and Ayu, who was still in a state of illness. And despite Torotaro's best pleadings, Ryunosuke is still the only outsider on Ryunosuke's side who is willing to help.

The vision inside the cave is not as important as hearing, and the old knowledge of Henry and Mira, who are blind and superior in hearing, may play a higher role than those with bright eyes in such an environment.

In addition, it was surprising that the old medicine master also decided to go with him. However, his actions were not purely helpful, Torotaro was obviously a wealthy Chinese child, and he cared about the behavior of his missing retinue, especially the maid named Ah Hui, and it was clear that the medicine man intended to earn a fortune by curing the sick and saving people.

For the sage who has subtly become the commander of the search and rescue team, this kind of lucrative helper is his most trusted role.

There is a saying in Rigal that "there is nothing more expensive in the world than free", and Crescent Island has a similar concept of "nothing to do, or to be a thief".

People who work hard for the sake of obvious interests are often belittled by the so-called "righteous gentlemen", but such people are pure, straightforward, and predictable. On the contrary, it is the kind of guy who is full of benevolence and morality as if he was born to dedicate himself to a great goal, and you can't guess when he will betray for what reason, Fang is the most dangerous existence.

The old country medicine man was one of the non-combatants in the group, and the other was Miss Doctor, whom we insisted on keeping up with no matter what.

It wasn't surprising that if she had been someone who would give up her quest for knowledge, the group wouldn't have met Aya in a distant domain in the first place.

When they returned to the mountain, the lighting magic that Mira had cast before had disappeared, and what was even more disturbing was that the corpses of the monsters they had killed on the ground had also disappeared, and from the trails of drag and the footprints on the ground, it seemed that some kind of carnivorous mammal had done it, but they didn't pay much attention to it due to the lack of time.

The inner walls of the cave are mostly hard rock, and the stalactites at the top are not particularly large, so it is obvious that the reason for the formation of this cave is related to water. This type of cave is generally more common along the coast, and considering the slow seepage of the ground and cave walls, it is most likely caused by dark springs in the mountains.

The cave, which took thousands of years to slowly form, may have been like this before the founding of the Wajin country.

As soon as they entered a short distance, the group realized that they were not the first to visit, and the strong rancid smell was fueled by the hot and humid environment, filling the mouth and nose and making people dizzy. Fortunately, in this season, the refreshing medicine that applies to the mouth, nose and temples is one of the common items in the Japanese society, and it is barely acceptable to cover it with a scarf.

It was clearly inhabited by some kind of creature, and even if there were no bones or excrement visible to the naked eye, the rich smell alone was enough to perceive the fact that it was not alone.

Our Mr. Sage, the Maiden of Luo'an, and the hunter-turned-Lulu walked ahead, and it was difficult to leave any traces on the hard rocky surface, but fortunately they had good eyesight and could still see something even in the dim light.

Lulu crouched down and picked up something in the small puddle in front of her, and when she got closer to the lantern lighting, the group saw that it was a slender black hair.

"It's human. This, combined with the luggage abandoned outside in front of you, finally confirmed the guess that the entourage was dragged into the cave.

"It seems that the fainting has passed. "There was only one hair with no other traces, indicating that Torotaro's retinue must have been dragged in unconscious. Otherwise, on such a narrow, rocky ground, and wearing light clothing in summer, their struggle would probably leave behind fragments of clothing or a little splash of blood and broken human skin.

"Really, it's not going to be dead. Torotaro looked quite flustered, he fell into a state of hysteria, fearful and care, urging forward.

"Don't be afraid, it's only been so short since it's gone, and if it's eaten, the blood won't have time to coagulate, but we can't smell blood. Mira looked back and comforted her, not mentioning the fact that death was not necessarily accompanied by a lot of blood loss, because it was clear that the young Chinese child was on the verge of a breakdown, and it was only right to report good news rather than bad news.

"Ah-hui, you must be fine!!" Torotaro was so anxious that he shouted at the empty cave for no apparent reason.

But what made everyone feel frightened was that in the next second, there was really a faint woman's voice in the darkness that replied to him.

"Torataro-sama—"

The voice seemed to come directly into his head, making people stand upside down, but the almost deranged Torotaro heard it and pushed the Miss Doctor in front of him and ran wildly.

Aya, who almost hit the stone, was held up by Kaleva on one side, who looked angrily at Torotaro, who quickly disappeared from the edge of the candlelight, while Henry and Joshua, the two fastest, rushed forward in an instant, one drawing a sword and the other reaching out to grab the young samurai's collar.

"Ahui, Ahui!" the wide-eyed Torotaro threw his hands and feet in front of him in an attempt to break away from Henry's powerful hand, while Joshua, whose eyes were closed and only his hearing, pulled out the sword at his waist in the dim and flickering firelight of the running, and slashed something in the darkness with one slash.

The sound of "——!" air flow came from the incision, followed by a "snap", and something soft fell into the puddle at the bottom ——!of the cave.

"What are you doing, Mee is calling me!" Torotaro still struggled, and the Sage lifted him up like a chicken, and then gave him a loud slap with the lantern under his arm.

"Smack!" The burning pain in his cheek caused Torotaro to stop struggling, and as the others followed, Henry lifted the lantern again and shone on something that was still trembling slightly on the ground.

"Is this your Ah Hui, see clearly. "The skin of something on the ground was smooth and white, like the tentacles of a squid, but it had a crack. Mira crouched down and used a short knife to pick open the cracked lip flap, revealing rows of fangs that were bent inward without gums and driven by muscles.

"Woo evil. In disgust, Miss Loan wiped the tip of her knife and sheathed it back, while Miss Doctor behind her caught up and was attracted by a peculiar structure where Joshua had cut it in two.

"It's the vocal cords. She used the lantern to illuminate the past and saw the detail: "It looks like a human being, and this is probably the one who just made the sound." ”

"Where is this from—" "This way." Joshua, who had the sharpest sense of hearing, stood on the right side of the cavern, and where Aya had illuminated the place, it was a small hole with a thick human head and a bottomless depth.

"It came out of it like a tree trunk, and I cut it off and then retracted it. ”

"What the hell is this? Torotaro, who finally woke up, turned pale, a monster he had never heard of.

"Changshan Tiger. The old medicine man behind him suddenly spoke, and everyone turned to look at him, and the old man realized that the words he blurted out attracted attention, so he briefly explained: "It is a local monster that is said to live in the mountains, and will imitate the sound of people to lead people to eat." ”

"There are many legends of gods and monsters in this place, and it is said that the huge canyon and ravine outside were caused by the war between the god of the moon and the lord of the great power, the god of heaven and the god of the earth. ”

"At the bottom of the abyss, there are still the corpses of the gods who died back then, although the immortal gods have turned into miasma, so that there are so many poisonous insects, beasts, demons and monsters in Zhangzhou. ”

"Of course, of course, it's just legend. Our land is peaceful most of the time!" After realizing Torotaro's identity and the worries he might have, the old medicine man hurriedly added.

"Does it remind you of something. Henry noticed that Miss Doctor was staring at the severed tentacle section in a daze, and said so.

"The skin texture and some characteristics of this thing ......"

"You say, if you hadn't killed that thing in the north. Aya hadn't finished speaking, but Henry and Mira next to her had understood what she was trying to say.

"Anyway, be careful, there's so much more we don't understand. Having concluded so, the group ignored the severed tentacle. And Yajiro, Lao Qiao, Narumi and others, who had gone to explore the path with Lulu earlier, also happened to open their mouths at this time to call the people here to follow.

"I didn't expect the space to be so big. Narumi said this, and they had already extinguished the lantern and replaced it with a torch with a larger lighting range, but even this could not illuminate the large space in front of them.

It was a cliff, and in the light of the fire, it was a sharp section as sharp as the edge of a guillotine.

"The wind is so loud that I can't hear the direction clearly, sorry. Joshua shook his head helplessly, and Mira looked at the straight marks on the wall of the cave and called out to Henry, "Teacher, look at this." ”

"Traces of artificial carving. The sage nodded, then picked up a torch and lit it and threw it forward.

The swirling torch flew a considerable distance, illuminating a drawbridge that had rotted to the point of only stakes and two planks, before falling to the ground on the other side, and finally falling into a puddle of water and extinguishing.

"The distance seems to be 8 meters at least, but the worse thing is that there is no anchor point that can hold the hook in place. ”

"It's all bare rock, and it's too risky to go straight to the rope. The sage analyzed the possibilities of the past, and Torataro, who had seen something in the moment of the firelight, shouted again.

"Clogs! It's Ahui's clogs. He shouted loudly.

"Let's go down and go up again, it's a bit of a hassle, but it's better than falling. Fortunately, he brought the rope with him, and Henry took out a stone, and then looked at Joshua next to him: "Can you help with the distance measurement?" He lifted it to about the height of his own, then let go of his hand as Joshua nodded.

"Click-" The stone fell to the ground, and Joshua nodded again, "Two meters away is this time, understood." ”

"Okay, then I'll lose it. The sage then threw the stone down the ravine, and the red-haired blind swordsman began to catch the falling stone with superior hearing.

"Knock-click-" "Ten meters." A moment later the sound of the stone falling to the ground was heard, and at the same time Joshua said the distance to the bottom.

"Ready. According to the distance he had quoted, Mira skillfully prepared ropes of corresponding lengths, and as they came they had already tied knots at intervals on the thick hemp rope, so that the edge of the raised shoe could be stepped on, and it was the simplest of rope ladders.

She prepared a length of about 15 meters, while the sage took an axe and a quenched iron chisel from Kaleva, tilted the tip outward against his head, and chiseled the chisel into the stone with a clink.

Then they tied a strong knot, and they threw it into the ravine.

"Do you really want to go down? At this point, Totaro became frightened again, and Henry glanced at him: "You can also wait here, and I will climb up from the opposite side and hit a chisel and climb the rope from the air." ”

"But in that case, if you miss and fall, there will be no rock wall for you to pick up, and you will fall directly to the bottom. The sage said this, and at the same time Mira put the unwanted garment on the thick hemp rope near the edge of the cliff to prevent it from being worn by the sharp edges, and then spoke to Galeva, and lowered the lantern from the belt of arms around her waist.

"Okay, okay. The thin-skinned and tender-fleshed samurai youth finally mustered up his courage, and what the group slowly descended did not notice was that the tentacle tips that had been severed in the darkness were dragged back by something sticking out of the cavern with a thick human head after no one was around.

As if it were a precious resource that could not be lost, it was carefully recycled.