，

Chapter 188

"Damn it!"

Muttering a curse, Sharpa barely pulled his left foot back.

In this damn mountain forest, everywhere you go, the ground is covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves, these leaves are covered layer by layer for many years, except for the top layer, the bottom has already rotted, if you step on it, the rotten leaves under your feet and the mud below have already mixed together, trampling on it will feel a disgusting feeling of sparse and soft feeling, often a foot into it, the rotten mud can not reach the ankles.

Sharpa struggled to pull out his legs, not bothering to wipe the mud off his boots, but just glanced up.

Not far in front of him, Char looked calm, stepping on the sparse ground, but his steps were much lighter.

If you haven't really walked into this kind of deep mountain and old forest world, you will never be able to imagine what kind of place this is - when you get here, then the first thing you should do well is to say goodbye to the civilized world outside!

Walking in the forest, looking up, the tall canopy, like a densely connected umbrella, blocked the sky tightly, even if it was a sunny day, but in the dense branches and leaves, it could only barely reveal a little light. The silence in the forest was a little frightening, except for a few bird chirps, but other than that, it seemed like a silent world.

The air was uncomfortably wet, and after walking for a while, my chest felt a little stuffy, and I was covered in sticky sweat, as if it had been contaminated with my skin, and I couldn't wipe off that sticky and wet feeling. The unpleasant smell of rotten leaves in the air can't be stopped even if there is a damp cloth covering your mouth and nose, and the strong rotten smell seems to be able to penetrate your mouth and nose through the damp cloth, and then penetrate into your body, corroding your body little by little...... Yes, this is the vast mountain forest. It is like an ancient giant, seemingly mighty and silent, not inconspicuous, but as long as you take the first step into this world, then, this mountain and forest, all the time, with everything, declare its "existence" to you.

Smell, humidity, vision, hearing, touch...... All of this reminds you at every moment that you are in a world of isolation.

It's not that Sharpa hasn't been in the mountains, but in the first two days of walking into this mountain forest, he doesn't seem to have too many special feelings, he is still the same as before, collecting firewood to make a fire when he is resting, carefully maintaining the fire, and chopping with an axe to open the way when he walks forward...... But at the back, not only Shalpa, but all the humans in the team, except for the turtle, all felt as if they were lost in this mountain - no, to be precise, as if they had been swallowed by this mountain forest.

The surrounding plants are becoming more and more unfamiliar, and most of the flowers and plants are like they have never seen before: those flowers that are so bright and beautiful that people can't help but touch them, and the shrubs that are connected together, and the branches are covered with sharp thorns: the spikes on those shrubs are extremely hard, and if you dare to run hard, you are guaranteed to pull a large piece of flesh from you in three or four steps at most!

For the mercenaries, this is obviously a completely strange world.

Along the way, the Zakutus gazed at the apparently lame group of human mercenaries with almost gloating eyes, as if waiting for them to suffer: and in fact, they did suffer a lot.

The insects in the forest were many times larger than those seen outside, and the mosquitoes at night were really terrifying, and the mosquitoes flew and circled one by one, like a flock of hummingbirds! The sharp beak looked very scary, and when they saw such a large mosquito at first sight, the mercenaries even suspected that if they were bitten by such a thing, they could suck one of their arms into jerky.

In fact, this speculation was wrong, and it was soon confirmed: a mercenary rolled out of a thick leather sleeping bag at night, only to be bitten by a mosquito in a scream that almost broke his throat, one arm was swollen like a pig's trotter, and every finger became like a turnip.

The danger is not only in these pesky mosquitoes: in this mountain forest, almost everywhere is something that can kill people: the trunk of the tree next to it is hung with some green old vines, tactfully entangled, layer by layer, but occasionally when people walk by, hidden in the vines, maybe a green snake will suddenly burst out of the ground! This kind of snake is not very large, only about the thickness of an egg, but its strength is not small, and a mercenary was accidentally entangled in a snake, and the snake body was tightly strangled on his body, and a piece of cowhide armor was deformed! If it wasn't for Char's immediate rescue, I am afraid that the mercenary's bones have been broken.

Compared to those clumsy mercenaries, Char behaved more like natives than those Zaku natives when walking in this forest.

A huge sturdy body, walking in the woods, with steps as light as a tanuki, carrying an axe and undertaking the task of opening the way - at this time, the turtle seemed to be no longer a man, but a part of the forest, and he behaved more like a native man, or a bobcat or something. Walking at the front of the mercenary team, occasionally bending down at will, you can catch a snake from the bushes, those snakes naturally have a covering skin, mixed with the bushes, when they don't move, they are like a branch and vine, they can't see it at all, and they don't know how the eyes of this turtle are so poisonous, catch it casually, and gently and skillfully catch one lurking in the dark, and then pinch the snake's tail and shake it, the action is neat, and the snake bone is shaken away, stretching out two fingers, the nail is scratched on the snake's belly, and the flesh is cut, and the two fingers lightly pull out a snake gall from it, open the mouth and swallow it bloodily, and then babbleIt's as if I enjoyed the taste.

In the past few days, Char has caught snakes all the way, and almost every mercenary has eaten a snake gall, the taste is like a nightmare, and the bitter taste seems to stick to the tongue, and it can't be eliminated for a few days - but the miraculous thing is that since swallowing snake gall, when I sleep at night, the mosquitoes around me rarely come to bite.

Walking deep in the forest, Char also ordered that everyone should not be allowed to regain fire, and only ate some cold and hard dry food every day, but he didn't know which bush he pulled out a bunch of strangely shaped plants with fat leaves, squeezed and crushed them in his hands, and squeezed out a ball of green sè juice, the taste was pungent, several times stronger than onions, Char ordered each mercenary to apply these juices to his face, neck, arms, legs and feet: all the skin exposed outside his clothes must be coated with all of it. As a result, each of the mercenaries had red eyes and tears on their faces due to the pungent smell. It's uncomfortable, but since I applied these strange juices, let alone mosquitoes, I haven't even been attacked by snakes.

Just last night, Char stopped a human mercenary who had gone in the wrong direction, and the fellow, probably greedy for the flatness of the terrain, ran more than ten steps to the side of the direction: there was a flat and hard-looking land. As a result, Char immediately jumped over and pulled the man back.

Then Char, with a black face, snatched the mercenary's sword and threw it far away on the dry land - the land was covered with some small lumps that didn't look deep and strange, but after Char threw the long sword and smashed a lump, in the exclamations of the surrounding mercenaries, a large swarm of ants suddenly gushed out of the lump like cháo water! Those ants were flushed red, crawling on that sword, but it was only a moment's effort, and the sword that was originally quite sharp, the blade of the sword was corroded to rust, and it was also full of broken chips!

"If you had accidentally walked there just now, you would have been corroded into a skeleton by those ants. Char coldly told the mercenary: "If you don't want to die, do as I say, and don't disobey at all! ”

This jǐng lawsuit immediately had an effect, and the mercenaries were shocked and much more honest, almost following Char's back, eager to step on the footprints left by Char at every step, the most obvious being Tadora, who almost followed Char's back all the way.

All of Char's actions, those Zaku natives saw in their eyes, and gradually, in the eyes of these natives, the previous schadenfreude waiting to see the lively spirit disappeared little by little, and gradually occasionally swept into Char's eyes, and there was some recognition.

This human leader is still a great officer in some kind of army, but he is different from the human caravans that the natives have seen - this fellow, where does this guy look like a human official? He is even better than the old hunters who have lived in the mountains and forests all their lives.

"You really don't look like a human being. When the Zaku native named Azuo stopped to rest, Char sighed again: "Put on a beast skin coat for you, put some oil paint on your face, and you will be a living Zaku." ”

For this kind of words that seem to be approving of it, Char just blackened his face and looked at this Ah Zuo coldly, the aura in his eyes made Ah Zuo can't help but feel numb, the kind of eyes that Char stared at himself made Ah Zuo think of the first time he hunted alone when he was young, and accidentally fell into the web of a highly poisonous giant tooth spider, when the behemoth spider slowly crawled towards him on the web, the look in his eyes was almost the same as obviously this human named Char!

He still vividly remembered the fierce light of the poisonous object the size of a human being staring at him, and he struggled desperately at that time, and finally luckily broke through the solid cobweb, but the monster's huge fangs still pierced his body, leaving a scar on his stomach that has not disappeared to this day. That time, I lay down for two months before recovering.

At this moment, this Char looked at him with an undisguised evil spirit.

Stared at by this sharp eye, Ah Zuo's words couldn't be spoken, and he seemed to have a feeling of being spied on.

"I'm not a fool. Char suddenly said abruptly: "But I am willing to show the sincerity of cooperation, so I endured it until today." ”

The turtle's eyes were fierce: "I know, just before we entered the mountain, you quietly sent two of your men to leave first and go back to your tribe to report the news, and in order to ensure that the news is delivered to your tribe first, so although we are in a hurry every day in the past few days, but in the direction of progress, you have played a little trick, I calculated it myself, we walked for four days, but at least one and a half of them were deliberately walking around the wrong road." ”

Ah Zuo was speechless for a while, and looked at Char with an embarrassed face.

Char suddenly sneered: "I'm not angry, after all, you have to be on guard, you have to despise the leader of the clan first, if you change me, you will also think of keeping a hand." But...... Two days. Char raised two fingers: "I've endured it for two days, it's already my limit, if you still want to continue to take me around in circles, I tell you, there's no need." Two days is enough time for the people you sent back to arrive early. ”

Ah Zuo was still speechless.

"And ...... Since we are now in a cooperative relationship, then, as we go all the way, please you and your people, don't look at me with the attitude of waiting to see our jokes. Char grimaced and shook his head slowly: "I don't like to be looked at like this, I don't like it very much! If you just sit idly by and wait to see my people are unlucky in this mountain forest, then I can tell you that I will immediately take my people back and turn around! This is the end of our cooperation." If you're really sincere, then show it to me!"

Char snorted and sneered: "Stop hiding your armpits!"

"Zang...... What are you hiding ......?" Ah Zuo smiled reluctantly.

"You're taking me for a fool. Char shook his head: "From the Red Sè Wilderness to your tribe, you have to walk through such a large wilderness, and through such a big hellish deep mountain and old forest, do you think I will believe that you natives yourself walk on your legs? If you only walk on your legs, then it will take at least two months to walk back and forth! Do you think I will believe that every time you go to the Dijīng tribe to trade, it will take you two months on the road!" There must be some other way for you to make your journey faster, so my jǐng statement is that my patience has reached the limit to this day, if you don't show a little sincerity......"

Ah Zuo looked at Char for a while, and saw a resoluteness in Char's eyes, he finally sighed and nodded: "Okay, I promise." ”

The indigenous people of Zaku were soon in action.

Ah Zuo said something to those natives, and each of these natives took off a small trumpet on their waists, and soon, dozens of trumpets sounded, and a sharp whistling sound suddenly spread out in the mountains and forests.

Almost an instant ago, there was a sound of a howl in response, and hearing the sound, Char's heart moved, and the howling sound was sharp and long, like that of some kind of animal...... In the woods, soon there was a barking sound in the distance, everyone waited in place for a while, and a gray and black shadow ran out of the forest quickly, and when they ran closer, they saw that it was actually a pack of wolves!

A pack of giant wolves with gray fur, all of which are more than twice as large as ordinary wolves, and are strong and powerful in their drive. These brutes were obviously tamed by the Zaku Tu, and when a group of wolves ran over, they made the mercenaries nervous for a while, but soon discovered the difference between the brutes, and these wolves ran over, and immediately rushed to the side of each Zaku Tu, shaking their heads and tails, looking very intimate.

"These are our mounts. When Ah Zuo introduced, his tone was very proud: "These subordinates of mine are the wolf riders from the Zaku tribe!"

Char looked at the giant wolves intently, and sure enough, he saw that the mane on the back of each wolf obviously had flattened marks, obviously left by being ridden for a long time. But he looked up at this Ah Zuo, this Zaku native master did not have his wolf mount beside him: "What about you?"

"My mount is not a wolf. Ah Zuo smiled mysteriously, and he blew his trumpet.

Soon, his mount was summoned! In a moment, the bushes in the woods shook, and to the exclamations of the mercenaries, a huge creeper larger than a bobcat escaped!

This thing has a slender body, and when it crawls on the ground, its leather looks very hard, and on its stubby neck, there is a ball of air sacs that bulge high, and as it breathes, it keeps undulating.

This thing...... It's a ...... Lizard!

A giant screaming lizard!!

Char had heard of this kind of thing, this is a kind of magical beast, in addition to its relatively large body and amazing strength, it also has a skill of screaming, and the sharp whistling has a certain damage ability, which can cause the enemy to be stunned or confused.

The lizard pounced out, looking at the skin as hard as cowhide covered with, and there were many sharp spines protruding from it, but Ah Zuo was very relaxed, quickly touched the lizard's head, and turned over and sat down.

"In the woods, not counting the winged things, my mount is one of the fastest runners. Ah Zuo said, pointing to the group of wolves, and some wolves that were not ridden by natives, and he didn't know how these Zaku natives had tamed this beast.

"Char, each of your people will pick a wolf to ride, although the first time you ride it will feel a little strange and a little bumpy, but believe me, it will not be much more difficult than learning to ride a horse. ”

As he spoke, Ah Zuo shouted, and slapped the screaming lizard under him, and the lizard suddenly jumped up, and its body quickly jumped to the branch of a tree, and then pounced forward, and fell a few meters away!

※※※※※Okay, now let's rewind the time to that conversation a few days ago on that tulou in the Dijīng tribe.

The shocking feeling that that conversation brought to Char did not fade until a few days later!

The snake girl said some unbelievable things to Char in that somewhat creepy "snake language", which Char really couldn't believe her ears when she heard it for the first time!

The conversation at the time went like this:

"I don't understand what the hell you're asking me to do. ”

The snake girl's eyes were a little frightened and a little nervous, but in the end she still spoke up. Naturally, she still spoke snake language - it wasn't that she couldn't speak anything else, she could also speak the words of the Zaku native, but she seemed to say snake language on purpose, probably to hide the content of the conversation from the native named Azuo next to her.

There is also a special reason for the snake girl's concealment!

I remember that at that time, in the face of Char's question, the snake girl's eyes were red, and then she whispered in a weak voice: "Please help us get rid of this scourge of our whole clan!"

Char didn't understand it for a while, and misunderstood the meaning of this snake girl, but unfortunately he mastered the snake language, and he could only listen to it but couldn't speak, and he was puzzled, so he couldn't help but look at Ah Zuo.

"No, it's not Ah Zuo, it's not him. The snake girl's next sentence almost made Char petrified there on the spot!

The snake girl pointed to the yellow and colorful serpent Damandras beside her...... "It's it!

Remove...... Damandras!Get rid of ...... Their own holy serpent?!

Char was really dumbfounded.

※※※※※※ "You don't understand. The snake girl's voice was a little anxious, and there was a desolate taste that could not be dissipated: "This big snake, although it is a sacred relic of our tribe, but in fact, it has always been a huge shackle that plagues our tribe!

The god of this little snake girl was very miserable, but she thought that she didn't dare to be too excited and alarmed the big snake next to her, so she could only use a restrained and slow voice to tell Char slowly.

"You may not understand...... How do these holy snakes 'bless' our tribe!!"

Immediately, the snake girl told Char several things.

First of all, Char knew how such a thing as Damandera appeared in the tribe of the Zaku natives. It is said that a long, long time ago, I don't know how many years it was...... In short, it was a certain era a long time ago, at that time, the Zaku tribe already existed, but there was no such thing as the so-called tribal holy relic, the holy snake, but at that time, the place where the Zaku tribe lived, legend has it that in the south, there was a group of extremely powerful and terrifying monsters, and in order to resist the attacks of those monsters, the Zaku people had suffered losses and suffering.

Later, I don't know when, a large snake of Damandras appeared in the territory of the Zakurs, this powerful snake quickly won the awe of the Zakulturs, and finally this Damanderas helped the Zakuras to resist the powerful monsters in the south of the tribe, and after driving those monsters away completely, Damanderas became the guardian god of the Zakuras tribe.

But the excitement of that year soon turned into a nightmare for the Zaku people.

After driving away the monsters in the south, the Zaku tribe soon felt that this Damandera snake was more harmful to them than the monsters before them.

"I am a snake girl who has been selected to serve the Holy Serpent. When the girl said this, her tone was miserable: "But do you know how a snake girl like me is selected!"

"???," Char made a puzzled expression.

"Every once in a while, a group of young girls would be selected from the tribe, ranging from a few dozen to a hundred at a time. Then, these selected girls will all be brought to the Holy Snake, and the Holy Snake will choose the right girl...... But the selection process ...... Hordes of young girls are driven into the cave where the Holy Snake lives, and the Holy Snake communicates with us in a strange way...... Only qualified girls can hear the Holy Snake's spiritual communication, and if we can't hear the Holy Snake's call in our hearts, then they will be eliminated! The young girls who are eliminated will be eaten by the Holy Snake in the cave! ”

Hearing this, Char's face couldn't help but be moved, and she heard Dora's cold voice in her mind:

"Obviously, Damanderas is using this magic of psychic communication to select children with jīng divine talents, and only girls with sè's jīng divine talents can learn snake language through psychic communication. As for every once in a while...... You have to pick a batch out......" Dora said this, thinking for a while, before suddenly exclaiming in Char's mind: "I see! Damandras in these Zaku tribes is a female snake!! She must lay eggs every once in a while! Every time she lays eggs, she needs to choose some snake girls to take care of the eggs she lays, and then slowly hatch into young snakes!!"

Sure enough, the snake girl's later words proved Dora's guess right.

“...... Every time the snake chooses the snake girl, it needs to lay eggs, and then it needs to go into a period of dormancy, during which the snake girl is responsible for taking care of the snake eggs...... Ensure that the eggs of the snake hatch and become small holy snakes one by one...... For example, the one next to me was hatched by me with my own hands. ”

"It's just that I don't know for what reason, every time the baby snake hatches, in the process of growing up, it can't become a powerful existence like the female snake in the end......" The snake girl said this, and her body trembled: "However, as our snake girl, the tragic fate is already doomed! Because we take care of these hatched snakes with our own hands, they will eat us as soon as they become adults." Seem...... They treat us like the best tonic. ”

"It's a good tonic indeed. Dorazia sighed in her mind: "These selected snake girls are all human beings with strong divine power, and with the innate ability of Damandras, they can make up for the ...... by devouring these creatures with strong natural spiritual power."

After a pause, Dora continued, "I probably get it...... There is a real Damandras female snake in their tribe! it is a true full-fledged Damandras, but every time Damandras lays eggs, it consumes a huge amount of mana, so it needs to replenish its mana...... You need the Demon Flame Grass produced here in the Jīng tribe!!"

The snake girl's voice trembled with fear: "And the most terrible thing is that the holy snake will bite all the little snakes it gives birth to when they reach adult......hood! Let's put it this way, none of these little snakes that we snake girls are responsible for taking care of can have the wisdom of the holy snake...... They are closer to ordinary snakes with no intelligence, but they are larger and stronger, and they also have some special skills, but there has never been a holy snake with real wisdom, so the holy snake can only lay eggs every once in a while and select snake girls to help it hatch...... And this monster, it has always been entrenched in our tribe, enslaved us Zaku, driven by it, fed by it, and helped it find those poisonous mushrooms...... The grain we have worked so hard to produce will be exchanged for these lands...... My people, generations, I don't know how many girls like me have been buried under the mouth of the She! This monster, it is not the guardian of our Zaku tribe at all, it is a demon that enslaves us and sucks our flesh and blood, monster!"

As she spoke, the snake girl wept and sobbed quietly, and the big snake next to her really didn't have any wisdom, but kept rolling around with her body irritably, and seemed to be very impatient with the voice of the snake girl who served her.

Char frowned and pointed at himself, his face full of doubt, meaning: Why are you asking me for help?

Then he pointed to that Ah Zuo, which means: There should be powerful warriors in your clan, such as this Ah Zuo, his strength is not weak, gather the warriors in your clan and kill the holy snake.

"It's no match for it. The snake girl's pale face was full of fear, and her eyes dodged: "It's not that my ancestors didn't think of a way, but they angered the holy snake twice, and it ate several warriors." The Holy Serpent is infinitely powerful, we are no match for it at all, and we have thought of other ways, but ...... It's so powerful! The only weakness we know is that it sleeps for a while after each spawn. But...... Even when it is dormant, it is extremely clever, and any one of my people will wake up immediately as long as it comes close to its cave! And the only one who can get close to the holy snake without being attacked by it is us snake girls, but we snake women are too weak to even if we can get close to it while it is sleeping, there is no way to cause it the slightest damage. And our Great Chief, although he has obtained the treasure given by the Holy Serpent, can not be attacked by them, but as long as he is close to the Holy Serpent, no matter when, he will be discovered! As long as it is awake, we will never be able to fight, and the only way is to ...... Sneak attack. ”

The snake girl looked at Char expectantly, and her eyes showed a pleading look: "You actually know snake language, and what is even more rare is that you will be considered the same kind by the big snake!" Then I think this may be an opportunity...... When the serpent is sleeping, people like you may not be aware of it if they are close to it, then ......"

"Understood. ”

Char smiled bitterly and sighed bitterly, thinking to herself: This poor girl, thinking that I am the one who can avoid the other party's jǐng sense, wants to ask me to help you, and while the beast is sleeping, sneak attack and assassinate that thing...... Ah Zuo on the side obviously didn't understand what was said between the two, the communication between the two was basically the snake girl telling in snake language, and Char just used gestures and pointing, Ah Zuo didn't understand snake language at all, only saw Char gesturing back and forth, and his face became more and more confused.

"Dear sir, I can't tell other clansmen about this matter, because the holy snake is very powerful, over the years, my clansmen have developed a deep-rooted fear and submission to it, and the previous few failed to challenge it have attracted a bloody revenge, and gradually now no one dares to resist anymore, so, I can't let the clansmen know about this matter, once they know, it may cause panic and infighting. And the only one who still wants to rid of this scourge is our Great Chief...... Therefore, I beg you, dear sir, to go to our tribe and meet our chief in person......"

Char's brows tightened, and then he suddenly spoke: "Demon Kiss Taro." ”

He spoke Byzantine and then looked at Azuo: "Translate it to her." ”

Ah Zuo was confused, so he could only say it in Zaku language.

Hearing this, the snake girl immediately nodded: "If this is the reward you need, there is no problem at all!If you can help us...... We, the whole clan of the Zaku tribe, will repay you with the greatest gratitude!"

Immediately, the snake girl added: "I know, you humans like gold, and we have a lot of gold there, what if...... The Great Chief must be willing to trade all our gold for our clan's zìyóu!"

Gold!"All "gold?!!!

It was this last sentence that made Char's original hesitant mind immediately settled!

"To challenge a full-fledged Damandras?" Dora said in a very annoyed tone, "You're killing yourself! Fool! I don't care if you live or die, but you haven't done what you promised me! I need you to send me back to the dragon's graveyard...... You can't go to death now!!"

Char snorted: "Please, didn't I also run to kill you in the first place? What happened? It's man-made, if you don't try it, who says there will be no chance?"

After a pause, the cunning of the turtle was revealed: "Besides...... Besides, even if you don't kill that damandras, you will have to make this trip for the sake of the magic kiss taro. ”