Chapter Twenty-Three: The Gate
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The silence and deep darkness shrouded the vast space, and a little flickering cold light scattered in the swirling gray mist, getting darker and darker, and only an extremely faint part of it could penetrate into the air. biquge.infoSilence enveloped the place, and a rumbling sound came from the depths. In the blink of an eye, it spread to the deeper bottom.
"Shhh...... Belch...... Hell ...... Ahem...... Phew......"
With a long inhale, Edward, lying in the rubble, let out a moaning sound. But soon the sound turned into a subtle curse, and then into a choking spitting .......
The bitter smell of the heavy dust around his mouth quickly regained his consciousness and caused more pain to hit his nerves......
The throat was dry and painful, as if some creature with sharp teeth and claws was about to gouge it out. The limbs are also stiff and numb. I can only barely perceive a storage zài.
The only thing to be thankful for was that he was still alive—the hunter moved slowly, trying to sit up, but the next moment he had to reach out to hold his head—and from there a cascade of subtle pain spread out in various parts of the body, stirring up large, piercing nerve spasms.
Even if it was nothing more than a fine stone rolling off the body.
Gradually waking consciousness, suppressing the urge to almost scream in pain, until a few heavy gasps regained his strength...... This time he carefully mobilized all his strength slowly, and gently rubbed his back and lifted his upper body. The glimmer of darkness around him calmed his mind for a moment, but then he felt the cold stickiness on his hands that subconsciously wiped his forehead...... Approaching the faint pale light, he saw that his hands were all black colors...... It should be dried blood.
There seemed to be a lot of wounds on his body, but the bones all over his body seemed to be in good condition, and after making sure that there was no obvious bleeding on his body, he finally pulled himself out of the mess. With this activity, a series of bone sounds were heard coming from various joints. The choking smell of dust tickled his nostrils, but before that he was shivering.
The temperature change in the Whispering Forest is not obvious, even in the cave just now, there is not much temperature change, but at this moment, the temperature around is cold to the bone, the surrounding temperature does not seem to be very low, the back of the coat on the body has been wiped with a big hole, and there are several scratches of different shades on the pants, but it is far from the unclothed Cheng Dù...... So it can only be a drop in body temperature due to blood loss.
That's obviously a terrible thing to do.
", backpack...... Damn it!"
groped around his body, and then cursed secretly - the memory became blurred because of the continuous collision and tumbling, only some of the pain of the impact remained, as if there was friction, vaguely seemed to remember the beginning, the collapsed cave, the hand that grabbed him, but then the collapse behind made the shadow fall with him, and then there was the heavy impact behind him that almost made him feel like he had spit out his internal organs, and the memory after that was almost lost.
The pulley bow in his hand was gone, but fortunately, although the scabbard of the long sword had been worn through, it seemed to be barely hanging on his waist, and Edward couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief...... Luckily, the quiver is still there.
Pull the buckle open, and the old leather quiver shimmers in the darkness.
This quiver was one of the few magical items Edward had obtained from an unfortunate explorer during his third entry into the jungle. It seemed to be only about the size of a short bow, but in fact the space inside was disproportionately large, and in addition to the bow and crossbow, it could hold two bundles of arrows, and a dozen clubs—that space might have been used for short javelins, but Edward wasn't good at that, so he switched to something else.
Pulling out a simple light rod from it, he smacked the tip to open it, and the cold halo of the improvised alchemy stretched like water over the uneven rocks, outlining the vague but flat space. He noticed that he was lying in a tunnel, with gravel and clods of earth pulling a slope behind him. It seems that this was supposed to be a section of a long corridor.
I guess I slipped down from behind me, through the crack in the zenith. Otherwise, it would be enough to fall to death if it was so high.
Reluctantly sweeping his gaze across the zenith, which was dozens of feet high, the hunter came to this conclusion in his mind.
Unfortunately, the original path seems to have been sealed, and large blocks of stone are cascading through the gap, and of course, there are still some cracks around, but if you don't have magic, you can probably only enter this place for creatures like rats.
Luckily, the collapse didn't completely seal off the surroundings, at least it left him with a way out - though not much better.
He was about to raise the rod of light to shine that way, when he suddenly heard a slight noise behind him.
So Edward pulled himself out of the dirt completely, and poured out the dirt and stones in his boots first—after a little surprise, he could see the scene in that direction, and in the corner of the slope of the earth and stones, a faint light lay silently, like the white light of a ghost.
Of course, it's not those frightening ghosts, but the sheen of magical items.
Liping over to the man, Edward couldn't help but feel a little scorn in his heart...... Although he also fell in a mess of rocks, the paladin's appearance did not look like a wolf in the slightest, and even the shimmering armor was not even a little dusty - the quality of the magic item was far beyond that of ordinary objects, not to mention that he must have attached force field protection to this one.
And frustrating...... No, thankfully, he seemed to be in better shape than he was - at least the sound of the hunter's footsteps walking up to him had woken him up from his stupor.
"Where is this?"
"Underground. The unceremonious tone made Edward grin, and suppressed the words of gratitude for the help he had reached out to him at a critical moment—though that was great. However, he soon found that he had to thank him again, and the paladin who stood up casually recited a prayer, and the white light of his palm reduced the pain in his body to a bearable degree.
Although Mu Ryu is not experienced at all, the combat power of the holy warrior is indeed not comparable to that of ordinary mercenaries.
"What should I do, can I find a way to go back?" The paladin didn't look around carefully, after all, he didn't have the same good vision as Edward, not to mention that he was always shrouded in a layer of light, and the effect of darkness on his eyes was particularly strong.
"The collapse was much worse than expected, and we seemed to have slid all the way down a passage, but it was quickly blocked. With a sigh, Edward withdrew his gaze, "Do you remember how long we've been down?"
"At least about the scale of an hourglass...... I also hit my head after that. ”
"It's damn ......"
This answer caused Edward to groan with a sigh.
The calculation of time in this world also follows the decimal standard, and the standard time for a magic hourglass to be reversed is about twenty-four times a day, and a scale is about five minutes—it doesn't sound like a very long time, but the distance is not walking, but falling, even if the speed is a little slower, it is at least three or five meters per second, and five minutes is enough time to be a mile or two away. If you're unlucky, you might even have to double it!
Not to mention, the underground tunnels were often intricate, and although this was not the legendary dark area, it looked similar now, and Edward looked around and noticed that in addition to the blocked passage behind them, there were at least two other places that looked like exits.
"That Asha...... Mage, how many rings of spells can you cast?" thought for a moment. He asked again.
"The power that mages wield has always been one of their greatest secrets, and although I am partners with Master Asari, I am not familiar enough to know her abilities. There was a hint of sarcasm in the paladin's tone, but after a pause, he added, "I heard that she already has her real name. ”
Edward's heart sank slightly.
With his real name, he is a veritable high-level mage. It stands to reason that as long as a high-level mage is prepared, there are many ways to find a lost companion, even if it is thousands of miles away, it is not difficult, let alone only a few miles. At least they can send a message or something to make contact, but since the two of them have been unconscious here for a while, and the mage has not moved in the slightest, then it is likely that there are some special disadvantages in this place, hindering the communication.
- In fact, this is already an optimistic view, after all, if you encounter an unlucky thing like an earthquake underground, even a ** master will inevitably have to be in a hurry, and if you are not prepared, even a mage may not be able to protect yourself. Especially in Edward's opinion, among the three, the only one who can be regarded as having some adventure experience is the priest of the God of Dawn. The other two are just novices who have never seen much of the world.
But either way, it's not a good idea to stay where you are.
It may inevitably increase the danger, but first you must find out if you are in an area that cannot be reached by magic communication, and in addition to looking for air as much as possible, the atmosphere in this dark tunnel will not always take care of all travelers, as for the enemy...... Actually, it's not bad to run into a few enemies now, at least it's possible to determine the direction you should go, and if you're lucky enough to coerce them into leading the way, it's even better.
Provided, of course, that those guys have the intelligence to be able to communicate.
The sound of shredded footsteps and the grinding sound of metal bounced off the rock wall, echoing repeatedly in a silent space, making it seem hollow and creepy. But Edward had to carefully distinguish the other sounds that might be mixed in, and at the same time hold the lighting rod in his hand, carefully observing the way ahead with the help of the dim light.
It didn't seem to be part of the fabled city—it was surrounded by uneven ground, puddles of water in the distance, and countless stalactites of the kind that belonged to the caves hanging overhead, with tooth-like protrusions on either side of the ground. Water droplets drip from among the rocks, making the lichen-covered surface – wet – slippery. There were no signs of life on the floor or on the walls on either side, at most there were some small traces of friction - presumably from small rodents like mice.
Edward frowned
He hadn't ventured into the Shadows, but he had heard rumors that kept popping up in his mind at this time—underground caverns crisscrossing the ground, connected by countless twists and turns of rocky caverns. In some places, there are even more than a dozen directions, and in the middle of it, you will find that the so-called labyrinths are simply a child's game in the face of this naturally formed terrain, and the exact similarity of the terrain and the countless forks in the road make all the records in vain, and it is not new to be trapped in them without special means, such as the help of natives who are familiar with the route or magic.
And now the two of them don't have the help of magic, even the most basic food has become a problem - the backpack with the food is not on him, and the paladin does not seem to have any food reserves, which means that after a day at most, they will be weakened by hunger. So now he had to be distracted while exploring the road, to see if there were some underground fungi here. In times when there is no food, these things can also fill the stomach. As for the poisonous ones, it only takes one Detection Poison to get rid of them.
Or, happily, the narrow passage was not too long, and soon a few lights appeared in the darkness in the distance, and the space gradually became wider.
Finally, as he walked around a stone half-reclined in the passageway, Edward was shocked by the view in front of him.
The view suddenly opened up, and after a few scattered stones, it was no longer such a narrow underground passage, but a vast space far beyond the large plaza - a huge underground cavern, and the position of the two men was in this hollow corner.
In the distance, there was still deep darkness, but up close, a dozen feet away, on the damp rock wall, there were clumps of craggy stalactites, and the mushrooms were densely layered, some of them grayish-white and fluorescent, and a faint light broke through the deep darkness to outline the outline of an underground cavern. It also makes these strange-shaped sharp stones reflect colorful brilliance, like glazed porcelain. Water droplets drooped from the stalactites, making an ethereal sound of tinkling dong, and a faint layer of mist permeated the cave, giving birth to a different kind of loneliness.
Edward fought a cold war.
The moving air was pleasantly surprising, but the temperature seemed to be dropping as it progressed—the air flowed like a breeze, and the air that came out of the innermost part of the mouth condensed into a white mist in the shimmer. Because he had been walking through the woodlands that had begun to warm up, the hunters did not wear much on their bodies, and although they wore some sheepskins on their clothes to prevent the cold and wear them, it was not so certain that they would be able to withstand the cold.
But what worries him more than that is the scenery around him - the cave becomes messy halfway and then leveled. It seems to be after some earthquake, but it doesn't look like it was just now, but traces from a long time ago, and the stalagmites around it have been covered by fluorescent mosses and insects.
The hunter was able to discern some of the more unusual traces from it...... It was a number of stone slabs, and although a layer of debris had accumulated on the overly flat surface, traces of artificial carving could still be seen on them, and even after a mile of advancement, several of them were clearly notched.
I don't know what it means, but it seems to have something to do with magic - close to what I remember, the mage's books have characters in ancient languages for magic.
Edward couldn't help but quicken his pace. And the mystery lies at the end of this vast space—the flat, cold, black-gray slabs that are different from the surroundings, and they suddenly appear, embedded in the back half of this cavern, forming a huge wall.
Qin's light suddenly became much stronger.
No, to be precise, it was the gray wall itself that was emitting a dim light, the most intense of which was a pair of huge metal objects that stood at the end of their line of sight.
The shock in his heart made Edward's eyes widen.
It was the first time he had seen something like this since he arrived in this world—so huge, so exquisite, so magnificent......
In ordinary words, it seems difficult to describe such a thing—even a rough estimate of how tall it is fifteen feet tall and more than twenty feet wide. Ancient metal sparkles with a blue-green glow. Rather delicate and grand reliefs, cast on them, without the slightest decay or rust brought by the passage of time.
These are two huge doors.
Edward tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on a stone slab in front of him, the rows of characters on the pedestal shimmering...... Distorted and heavy, ethereal or peaceful, he seemed to feel different meanings, but he could barely make out the elegant characters written on the bottom row, an ancient and distorted text that looked like it had been at least a few hundred years ago.
No entry
"Purgatory, Dwarf, Dragon, Elf...... The Elven and Dragon languages both have the same meaning as the lingua franca, and I think the others are the same. The holy warrior spoke in a low voice, as if he was talking to himself, as if he wanted to ask: "And the pattern on the door is the battle of the turbulent confluence, the heavenly punishment of the undead, and the judgment of the Mammon Plains...... Each scene comes from an allusion to a battlefield, which happened 2,000 years, 4,000 years, or even 5,000 years ago...... Obviously, this is the most formal warning, and we had better ...... Heed this advice. ”
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