When they first entered the underground passage, Gordon and the others were still making some little jokes, such as "It's useless to just block the opening of a mouse hole."
But when they truly penetrated into the huge underground cave, the hunters and even the Eluga Hounds entered a state of silence and were on full alert.
The last time I came here was nearly two years ago. Fortunately, the terrain in the underground cave was not complicated, so it was not easy to get lost.
Their first target was the cave with the largest space, which was the place where they fought the Mantis the last time they came here.
There are a large number of metal devices, relics and ruins from different regions and different periods scattered there. These things are combined under the control of Ge Mantis' silk thread to form a super giant mechanical behemoth, which is the "Queen's Market City".
Gordon's ideas are also very direct.
If the mechanical behemoth "Xucheng" is regarded as a set of armor, then the parts collected by Mantis from all over the place are the components of the armor.
Just like hunters' wrist armor, greaves, helmets and so on.
No matter how sloppy a hunter is, he wouldn't throw away the parts of a suit of armor one by one until he can't find them, right?
The same should be true for Ge Mantis. That huge underground cave is probably the "equipment box" where Ge Mantis stores the parts of the mechanical behemoth.
If some of the metal devices lost in the Dondoruma Arsenal or the Georis Stronghold can be found, it can be used as direct evidence that Pavilion Mantis participated in the attack on the fortress.
At that time, they can choose the time to hunt the mantis according to the situation.
"Kaka..."
There were two slight noises like rolling stones from the front. Gordon immediately stopped and raised his fist to signal his friends behind him to stay alert.
In order to avoid premature exposure, they adjusted the brightness of the oil lamps around their waists very low. They could not see clearly anything more than ten or twenty meters away. They could only rely on the Elu who had night vision to explore the way.
The sound just now was made by Pig Chop and the others, and it represented a "dangerous situation".
After waiting quietly for a moment, Xianglan ran back softly, "There is a male praying mantis meowing at the entrance of the corridor ahead. Do you want to kill it?"
The individual strength of the male Mantis Mantis is very average, barely reaching the level of a two-star monster. With their strength, they can kill them quickly.
But this is in the opponent's lair. Who knows whether it will release some warning pheromones before dying, which will cause a lot of trouble.
Gordon made a "deny" gesture and whispered: "Lead away."
Pandan's fluorescent cat boy blinked twice, nodded, and ran away.
After waiting for a moment, a sound similar to rolling stones came from the front again, which meant "the alarm has been lifted."
The hunters took steps again and moved forward cautiously.
They didn't know whether it was pork chop or pandan that lured the male mantis away, but they weren't too worried. With the strength of the two Ellu, it was easy to escape a monster of this level.
Similar situations occurred twice more.
Under the lure of pork chop and pandan in turn, the hunters arrived at the huge cave at the target location without any danger, without disturbing more male mantises.
They waited for a moment at the entrance to the cave, waiting for the cats and dogs with dark vision abilities to quickly check the environment in the cave and confirm that there was no danger for the time being before they entered with confidence.
Gordon took off the kerosene lamp from his waist, turned it on, and placed it on the ground. The orange light illuminated a large area.
He said: "Use the oil lamp as a gathering point, conduct separate investigations and search, and send a signal if you find anything. If there is danger, gather at the lamp to meet the enemy."
"Understood." Hayata Ansir nodded.
The hunters were about to disperse when they suddenly heard Xianglan's meow, "I found you by chance, meow!"
"?"
The hunters, including Pork Chop, are full of question marks.
We haven't even started looking, and you've already discovered it?
Xianglan said nothing, sniffed carefully from left to right, and ran in a certain direction.
The hunters quickly followed.
Soon, they came to a metal object that seemed to weigh at least two or three tons. It looked like a part of some large machinery.
Pork Chop and An Xil looked around the parts for a while, exchanged a few words in a low voice, and quickly reached a consensus.
"What is this?" Gordon asked.
"It looks like a bearing connection that connects the dragon gun head and the steam propulsion assembly." Ancier replied.
"Hey!" Gordon was stunned and looked at Xianglan, "There are so many messes around, how did you find this all at once? Aren't you and Hayata both mechanical idiots?"
Hayata: "?"
Aren’t you the same? ! I'll take care of you later...
Pandan proudly pointed to the gaps in the metal parts, which were stained with some black grease.
This doesn't mean anything. The grease used to lubricate metal parts will become dark and sticky after being used for a period of time.
But Pandan was very sure that this was either black engine oil or the smell of "black oil".
Pork Chop and Liefeng also came over and smelled it carefully.
"How's it going?" Gordon asked Pork Chop.
Zhupa scratched his ears, "It's true, meow. Pandan's sense of smell is much sharper than ours, meow. I didn't notice any smell here just now, meow."
"Meow~" Xianglan put her hands on her hips and puffed out her belly, "There are some things around that smell of black oil, meow!"
The hunters followed Xianglan and looked around, and found something that looked like a cannon base, something that looked like broken pieces of a city gate... The material was not limited to metal, it was made of everything.
"The hobbies are quite broad." An Xil chuckled.
"Sketch records the shape of those things." Gordon said to Hayata, who is good at painting.
The number was a bit too much. Hayata gritted his teeth, took out a pen and paper, and quickly copied and sketched.
Gordon returned to the dragon gun parts and inspected the surface of the parts and the marks on the ground.
He quickly came to some conclusions, "This thing was brought here not long ago, probably only one to two days."
"How do you say that?" Anhil asked.
"The drag marks on the ground are very clear and very new. Also, the scratches on the surface of the parts are so new and shiny. Although the desert here is relatively dry, there is some moisture in the underground caves.
If metal parts are left here for a period of time, these scratches will darken and rust to some extent. "
As he spoke, Gordon followed the drag marks on the ground and searched for the formation, and soon found a huge depression.
That was obviously the hole left by the mantis when it burrowed into the ground and left.
Squatting down and stroking the marks left on the edge of the dent, Gordon looked back at the drag marks. Gordon's face darkened.
He patted the dust on his hands and stood up, "We are in big trouble."
"Is it because Pavilion Mantis has left?" Anhil asked looking at the traces.
Although he is not as proficient as Gordon in trace analysis, he is still considered proficient.
"It's not just that simple, look here." Gordon pointed to the drag marks extending from the dent to the metal bearing, "Look at these, very sharp and deep scratches, right?
There is no such sharp part on the metal bearing. It should be the head of the dragon gun. "
Gordon circled around the pit and soon found some deep scratches, which were entered into the pit.
"Imagining the picture in my mind, Pavilion Mantis has harvested a lot, dragging a lot of 'harvest' back here, among which is the dragon-killing gun connected to the bearing.
Not long after that, Ge Mantis left with the dragon-killing gun again. Because it thought the bearing was heavy and in the way, it disassembled the bearing and took away the head of the dragon-killing gun alone. "
"With the head of a dragon gun?" Ancier quickly reacted, "As a weapon?"
"Well, I should."
Gordon stared at the pit, "The worst-case scenario we considered before should be right.
The attacker of Dongdoruma's arsenal was probably not the Mantis, but another powerful monster, and the black oil was left behind by that monster.
It destroyed the arsenal, taking away gunpowder and many metal items, including the original Dragonlance.
There is a high probability that Pavilion Mantis was not involved that time. After all, we searched so many times and found no relevant clues.
Some time after the initial attack, the monster attacked Georis Village again.
This time the Pavilion Mantis was involved. What role it played in the attack is uncertain. Is it an accomplice? Thief? Anyway, after the attack, it made off with a large amount of loot and brought it back to its lair.
And then......"
At this point, Gordon changed the topic, "Scholars have said that the Mantis must have a very high IQ and be very good at learning to imitate, otherwise it would be impossible to control such a mechanical behemoth."
Anhil twitched the corner of his mouth, "It didn't catch up the first time, maybe it was observing in secret.
The second time it followed the black oil monster and watched the black oil monster destroy the fortress, it tasted the sweetness.
So for the third time, it was armed and ready to rob it personally? "
"Probably, he learns bad things quickly..."
