Elmau Castle is actually the abandoned castle that Sylvide mentioned before.
There are many legends about this ancient castle, and there are also different opinions on the reasons for its abandonment. Some people say that the people in the castle disappeared overnight, leaving only an empty castle - but there is another theory that the original owner voluntarily abandoned the castle for some reason. As time passes by its gray wall ridges, vines cover the bricks and stones, eventually becoming part of the mountain forest.
But no matter which legend, they are full of bizarre stories. In the story, there is unparalleled wealth, legendary secret treasures, and some ulterior secrets buried in the castle.
Most of these rumors, which are difficult to tell whether they are true or false, are actually false rumors. In the early years, some people went to the castle to find out what was going on, but after so many years, there was only an empty shell left in the castle, with rubble buried under the heavy snow.
However, since Fang Yu has decided to agree to Ms. Kuisu's request, it doesn't matter whether the rumors are true or false. He only allowed the team to rest at the Masonk Creek station for one day, and set off late at night on the third day.
The snow stopped the night before.
But the temperature was even lower. After nightfall, the air was so cold that it seemed to freeze into powder, whizzing down and raising snow dust. Among the group of people were Fang Plover, Alyssa, Shesta, Luo Yu, Ji Ta, Box and Mr. Big Cat. Miss Tata was naturally with him, and the others were left to guard Mr. Gray Rock.
Sylvide originally wanted to go with them. But there is still too much work waiting for her to complete on the ship - including the arrangement and planning of the next route, as well as the collection and sorting of relevant intelligence. Almost all the paperwork and intelligence work of the entire team rested on her alone.
Only Alyssa and Jita in the team can help Miss Ship Officer when they are free. But Alyssa also has her own airbag maintenance work, and she also has to be Aitila's deputy, so she doesn't actually have much time.
So Sylvide is indeed inseparable.
However, she really couldn't worry about the plover, so she asked Siesta to join the team, and told her maid to protect the captain with all her strength.
The latter just glanced at Fang Yu and nodded.
The group of people all wore thick warm clothes, and turned on the magic furnace to maintain the lowest power operation, using the remaining heat to maintain body temperature. Fang Plover felt that the winter in Aitaria was much harsher than in other regions, at least in the north of Kaolin - he heard that the winter in Talon was even colder, and everything in the forest became desolate after snowfall.
But Shinbone Forest is actually pretty much the same. After night fell, they walked one foot deep and one foot shallow in the snow. There seemed to be only diffuse snow mist all around, breathing in their mouths, it was bone-chilling cold.
As the captain, Fang Plover looked back from time to time to see how others were doing. Jita's little face turned pale from the cold, and she stumbled around in the snow. She breathed out white mist at one point, held her hands, and held her magic book tightly.
When he turned back, the little girl also raised her head and looked at him, her eyes as dark as ink, and she only blinked slowly. "Are you okay?" Fang Yu reached out and gave her a hand, and asked at the same time. Jita shook her head slightly.
Luo Yu and Alyssa are also in good condition. The girl's rhinoceros leather magic armor has a built-in thermal insulation plug, so she only wears a thin layer, making it easier for a nightingale like her to move flexibly in the snowy wilderness.
She also wore a long scarf to cover half of her face, draped behind it like a blue-gray cloak, and she looked quite chic when walking.
Behind her, Siesta is still dressed as a maid as always, with only a fur shawl added. She walks without any hindrance, making people wonder whether this lady is actually a human being.
Then there are the boxes.
He was already wrapped up tightly, leaving almost only a pair of eyes outside. He was not afraid of the wind and snow, just pretending it didn't exist. From time to time, he would pull out his rapier and fiddle with the snow on the branches, letting it fall rustlingly, making the only sound in the snowy night.
The big cat person is responsible for cutting off the rear. It dragged a long thick cloak, took off the shield and hung it on its hand, occasionally glancing around. All cats have good dark vision, and Rhett is no exception.
Coupled with his tall stature, the snow only covered his ankles, so walking in the snow was much easier than others.
Only then did Fang Plover turn around.
The team passed through the valley and waited at a mountain pass to join the two teams brought by Ms. Kuisu. About a quarter of an hour later, the latter's team arrived as promised. This team was basically composed of lumberjacks. They looked round and strong, but in fact they had little fighting ability. They were mainly looking for people together.
However, these people's willingness to come together to help is enough to show that they are loyal to the leader, Ms. Su Kui. After all, this is not logging into the mountains. The Blood Thistle Grove area is gloomy, and because it is close to Elmau Castle, the level of danger is not low.
In addition, there are two Tesov dragon lizards in the team, carrying tents and dry food on their backs. This medium-sized beast of burden is very good at walking through the mountains and forests. Fang Plover has been familiar with them since he was at Dawn Star.
"Is everyone here?" Fang Yu asked the lady.
Su Kui nodded: "These are the people, but if we go to the south, there are more people who are willing to come with us. Mainly because some people are either the only children in the family, or the stars have dimmed, and I don't want them to come and join us." Let me take risks together——"
"It doesn't matter," Fang Plover glanced at the team behind Su Kui. "Now that we're all here, let's leave early."
"So is there anything we need to pay attention to?" Su Kui asked. Although she also led a team to travel around the country and visited many places over the years, the work of an adventure group was different from that of lumberjacks. She understood that sometimes this was a job that faced life and death.
Fang Plover took out something from his arms. "Don't make too much noise and follow me closely." He looked at the others and added: "If there is a battle, let others not panic too much and hide behind us."
Then he let go. Only then did Su Kui see that it was a golden copper ball. It opened its four wings in Fang Plover's hands with a click, and then flew into the darkness.
She was a little surprised and looked back at Red.
Su Kui had been worried before. And this big boy always gave her the feeling that he was too young and unreliable, but the big cat didn't tell her that their captain was an alchemist.
Facing her gaze, the lion-man only showed a hint of normalcy and shrugged. Trust is mutual, and so is the relationship between employer and employee—and risk-taking, unlike other jobs, sometimes requires a little extra trust.
The process of negotiation between the two parties is actually a process of building trust.
If the other party is not willing to trust that they have this strength, then no matter how hard they talk, it will be in vain. It is better to let the employer see with his own eyes, which can build a stronger trust relationship.
Just as he thought.
Su Kui felt a little relieved at this moment. "To be the leader of an adventure group at such a young age, you really have a lot of skills." She thought to herself.
The abandoned castle is located south of the Masonk Creek Station. Follow the valley and enter the mountain forest. After walking for six or seven hours, you can see the moxa standing on the solitary peak under the first ray of light before dawn. fort.
It is built of gray bricks and stones, with a black spire. The west wall has a gap that can be clearly seen from miles away. Below is a valley with fir and cypress trees growing there. It is no different from the forest plants in the Tibia Creek area, except that at this time the forest is covered with silver-gray snow, and it looks completely white from a distance.
The lonely castle stands on the gray cliff, overlooking the mountains in the valley and the thin clouds in the sky. The lead-gray sky looks even more cold and desolate in this bare winter.
This area has entered the range of blood thistle woodland. This woodland got its name because of a shrub that is as red as blood and grows in the mountain forest. Even under the cover of snow, it looks dark red from a distance.
Moreover, the trunks of the trees in the forest also have a faint dark red color, like dried blood. The locals believe that this is the blood of demons, so they are increasingly reluctant to approach this place.
When entering the forest, the lumberjacks were a little nervous and whispered for a while. However, as we continued deeper, people gradually became quieter.
Because the forest is quite peaceful, and it seems to be no different from before——
Along the way, they were much luckier than the adventure group they rescued at Tibia Creek two days ago, and encountered almost no trouble. They only saw a dire bear from a distance that had not yet had time to hibernate. The latter was wandering on a frozen river and avoided them all the way.
There was only one accident, that is, several skeletons crawled out from under the snow.
However, these things were so common in Tibia Creek that even the lumberjacks couldn't scare them away. They swung their sticks three times and knocked these lowest-level undead creatures to the ground.
After this battle, the lumberjacks gradually relaxed.
But while the others relaxed, Fang Plover keenly felt some changes in his surroundings.
In fact, he had been feeling this way since entering the Blood Thistle Grove. The surroundings became quiet, the falling snow was silent, and the snow seemed to absorb the sound of footsteps, making everything in the forest silent.
There seems to be something special in the air.
But it was Tata who discovered this first. "There is something weird here, Mr. Knight." Miss Goblin hid in the collar of his coat and said to him in her heart.
"What's wrong?"
"There is something strange about the distribution of magic power here."
"Magic distribution?"
Tata nodded calmly.
She seemed to be looking for something in her knowledge, and then said: "Do you know about the Gray Mark, Mr. Knight?"
Fang Plover nodded. That place was on the gray plains in the south of the Oshur Empire, where a great battle took place between the empire and Han Ruina. Both warring parties used battle-level spells at that time.
The terrifying spell left an irreparable scar on the plain, a gaping canyon filled with unpredictable turbulence of magic power - later generations called that place the Gray Scar.
It means scars on the earth.
Tata slowly blinked his emerald green eyes. "Some of the books on the Silver Tower describe that place, and there are some similarities between this place and that place."
"Here and the Gray Trace?"
"It's all an irreversible event that changed the distribution of magic power."
Tata replied: "There must have been a huge change in the magic power here in history, leaving the scene like today. The dark red color of the trees in the forest is not naturally formed, but the magic power is concentrated on the plants. Performance."
"Mr. Knight, you can go check and see if there are any crystals inside them."
Fang Plover did as he was told and used a dagger to cut open a branch, and sure enough he found crystallization in the branch. He placed these red powders in the palm of his hand. These powders were actually crystal dust, and their essence was no different from those magic crystals.
The subsequent failure of Luo Yu's magic furnace further illustrates this point.
When the latter accidentally checked his magic furnace, he found that the pressure gauge had increased. Although there was only a slight difference between the two readings, it still attracted Fang Plover's attention.
After some inspection, he found that it was not the pressure gauge that had a problem, but the concentration of magic power around it that affected the reading of the magic furnace. The concentration of magic power in the Blood Thistle Grove is obviously higher than outside. And after his testing, he found that the closer he got to Elmao Castle, the more obvious this phenomenon of magic concentration became.
This reminded Fang Yu of the legend about this castle - what happened to it in the past?
However, huge changes in magic power are often not invisible. Just like the collision of battle-level spells, it often brings about huge changes in external form. But he looked at the gray-white castle in the distance - apart from being in disrepair, there seemed to be no traces of powerful spells.
But he didn't tell anyone else about it.
After all, except for Luo Yu, others probably don't understand what this means, especially the lumberjacks. Moreover, there are always places with abnormal magical power in this world, which do not necessarily represent danger, but at best represent what has happened in history.
What's more, this abnormality in the Blood Thistle Woodland was not formed in a day. This mountain forest was like this long before they came to this place, and many people came to this place to explore after that.
Everyone continued to move forward in the mountains and forests.
Not long after, Alyssa, who was scouting ahead, brought back news that she found traces of a camping trip in the woodland.
When a group of people rushed to that place, they discovered that the campsite had been abandoned in the wilderness for at least several days. The originally cleared open space had been re-covered with snow and shrubs, and you wouldn't even notice it if you didn't look carefully.
After Alyssa waited for him to arrive, she gently pushed aside the bloody bushes, revealing several makeshift wooden wedges underneath. "At least five tents, Mr. Ed." She whispered to him: "Judging from the shape of the tents, they are standard medium-sized tents available on the market, produced by Stargate Port - each can accommodate four to five people. wait."
She pulled out one of the wooden wedges, handed it to Fang Plover, and added: "Aboriginal people generally like to make their own tents to save money. This type of tent is only used more often by the chosen ones; Alice and I used to work in the Rain Listener When traveling, I often use small standard tents like this.”
This is the benefit of having a Nightingale in the team.
Not to mention that when the Clockwork Goblin flew over here earlier, he didn't even notice that there was a camp under the bushes. Moreover, the Clockwork Goblin has magic power restrictions. It is not a big problem to monitor the battlefield during a battle, but it cannot Be on alert around the clock.
And analyzing the previous clues from these clues is something that a half-hearted 'scout' like a battle craftsman cannot do.
Buried in the snow on the other side were campfire ashes that had already been soaked in snow. The girl only used her hand to explore and told him that the owner of the camp had been away from here for at least three days.
But three days didn't quite match the time it took Su Kui's son to leave the Masonk Creek station.
He found the lady and asked who the people who went to this place with her son were, but the latter actually couldn't tell. "I wasn't in town at the time, and I didn't learn about it until I came back." Su Kui replied with a sad look on his face.
"I heard that it was a group of people from outside who were looking for a guide in the town, and my son happened to fall in love with them."
Fang Plover, Alyssa, and the big cat man looked at each other. This information was indeed too little. However, after he asked about the number of people on the other side, he learned that there were only seven or eight people in that group, and they were obviously not up to par with the owner of the camp.
The owner of this camp should be an adventure group that came to this place recently, and it should be mainly the chosen ones.
He was still a little surprised: "Is the Blood Thistle Grove so lively? Ms. Su Kui, didn't you say that not many people are willing to come to this place?"
Su Kui was obviously equally surprised. She was also an old Jianghu. When she picked up the charcoal in the bonfire, she knew that what Fang Plover and Alyssa said was true. "Indeed, I have been looking for people to go to this mountain forest recently, but I have never heard that a team of this size has entered the blood thistle forest." As she said this, she raised her head and looked forward, unable to bear it. Zhu frowned.
However, there were only this few clues in the camp, and everyone could not find anything more, so they could only move forward past this place.
Although Elmau Castle can be seen from this place, it will take at least two or three hours to actually reach the nearby valley. They traveled to this place at night and night, and the journey would take most of the day——
Fang Plover hoped to arrive at the abandoned castle before noon, and then spend the whole day looking for people. He could only find a safer place to camp at night. Then continue to look for people the next day and try to leave this place before the evening of the next day.
In this case, they only need to stay in this place for one night to minimize various potential risk factors as much as possible.
He also agreed with Su Kui that within two days, they would have to leave regardless of whether they found anyone or not. Two days can be regarded as an explanation of this lady's promise, and two days later not only will the supplies brought by him be exhausted, but it will also be the night of the full moon.
Although there may be snow and wind at that time, they may not be able to see the moon in the castle.
…
