Bu Nigu seemed a little hesitant, but Fang Pliance would not go back on what he had promised, so he took out the ring and nodded to him.
The ring was dark and inconspicuous in the night, and even over the years, the pattern on the surface was almost worn away. However, he does know the material of this ring - rings made of materials removed from the same magnet are sensitive to each other. The Istanian business travelers use magnet rings to locate each other in the desert to prevent them from getting lost.
This ring seems to belong to a family of desert merchants who make a living on the silver sand sea. It may be a legacy from his grandfather's generation.
At this time, Rhett came over, took the ring from his hand, looked at Bunicu with his silver eyes and asked: "This ring seems ordinary, would the Blood Shark Pirates be interested in it?"
Bunigou immediately replied: "They took almost everything away, including my grandfather's ring."
"Then why did you keep this ring?"
"D-Maybe I hid better...because they had to take us here to do hard labor anyway, so they didn't search us at that time."
"Good answer."
Rhett threw the ring to Parker aside and patted Fang Plover on the shoulder: "Let's go, find the secret passage first."
Fang Plover raised his head and glanced at Red. He felt that the big cat man's behavior was strange, but he still nodded silently.
Everyone moved deeper into the valley and finally stopped in front of a weathered cliff. At this time, the ridge on the other side just blocked the rising moonlight, and the silver moonlight fell on the bare mountain top, giving it a desolate look. This direction was just shrouded in a dense shadow. At this time, Fang Plover saw Bunigu in front of him duck and suddenly disappear.
He was surprised when he saw the other party reveal half of his body again and waved to them:
"found it!"
After his pupils dilated in the dark conditions, Fang Plover gradually adapted to the environment where he couldn't see his fingers. Only then did he see clearly that Bunigu didn't disappear before, but there was a huge rock there that was at least twenty or thirty feet high. Close to the cliff, the other party began to walk into the gap between the huge rock and the cliff. Looking at it in the darkness, he thought he had suddenly disappeared.
Only then did Fang Plover remember that he had seen this huge rock in the afternoon, but it was integrated with the surrounding environment, and there was no mystery at all from a distance. He and the big cat man walked into the gap first. The big cat man needed a short head to enter. The others followed, and Alyssa touched the rock curiously.
After entering the gap, Fang Plover could clearly see that between the angle between the giant rock and the cliff, there was a long crack on one side of the rock wall. The volume of the huge rock itself completely covered this crack, making it impossible to see any clues from the outside.
The crack is completely natural, without any trace of artificial carving.
But Bunigu looked around and said to them firmly: "This is it."
At this time, Aitila lit the rosin torch. Amidst the smoke, the bright firelight outlined the outline of the crack - it was about four meters high and shaped into a long and narrow triangle from top to bottom. No light could penetrate inside, and it was pitch black. .
Fang Yu looked inside, turned around and asked, "How are you sure this is here?"
"There are no other entrances nearby. The location here is similar to the one in the records." Bunigou was afraid that they would not trust him, so he added: "But after so many years, I am not sure if it is still accessible inside, but it should be relatively It’s safe, unless the Blood Shark Pirates also discover this secret passage.”
"So do you think they can find out?"
"this……"
Sylvide suddenly intervened and asked calmly: "What's the situation on the other side of the exit?"
"This secret passage has more than one exit."
"Then which exit does your grandfather usually use? He should have mentioned it in the record, right?"
"As far as I know there is an exit in a well, another in a wall, and a tunnel."
"Are the air pirates guarding these exits?"
"There are so many exits, it's impossible for them to find every one of them, right?"
"So is it possible for them to enter the tunnel?"
"This is indeed a possibility..."
"Okay," Sylvide turned around and smiled at everyone: "I'm done asking."
Fang Yu nodded. He also realized that this tunnel was not as safe as he thought. It was normal for the Blood Shark Pirates to dig wildly in the city and discover the tunnel. However, if he was prepared in advance and he had the Clockwork Fairy with him, even if the air pirates really entered the tunnel, he would actually be confident of avoiding it in advance.
He asked Bunigou to stay, and then left Baggins in this place. Firstly, it was to protect the unarmed former, and secondly, it was also for surveillance. Finally, if there was any situation outside, Baggins could also use Luo Yu's communication crystal. contact them.
The boatswain understood his order completely, walked aside with his gun in hand, and sat down near the entrance.
Only then did everyone enter the gap.
The crack is very long, and some places are quite narrow, allowing only one person to pass sideways. If he hadn't known that there was something mysterious inside, Fang Plover might have given up and turned back several times. But everyone else was fine, except Miss Elf, who was in some trouble.
Alyssa looked at Aitila who was stuck in a dilemma between the rock walls, and couldn't help but joked: "Sometimes I really envy Miss Aitila..."
Sylvester was also smiling at the side.
Miss Elf glared at the two of them angrily, then turned into a bird of paradise and landed on Fang Plover's shoulder. Tata raised her head and looked at her, then reached out and gently touched her gorgeous feathers.
The deeper you go into the crack, the space opens up, and traces of artificial carving begin to appear around it. Soon, the Papalar people in front suddenly stopped and groped for something on the surrounding walls with their hands. When Alyssa approached from behind with a torch, Fang Plover saw that there was a dead end ahead.
To be precise, a wall appeared there.
The gray-yellow stone bricks, each one the size of Papalar's head, were laid neatly, and in the center of the wall was a closed stone door.
This was exactly the same as Buniguk's description. The big cat man took a step forward and supported it with his hand. The stone door immediately creaked back, and then opened a gap. The light of the torch flickered, and the smell of dust immediately filled the air.
The big cat man coughed and fanned in front of his face with his paw. After the dust settled, everyone could see clearly that there was a downward staircase behind, which led directly into the dark and deep corridor below, like a dark, open mouth.
Fang Plover took the torch from Alyssa's hand and was about to be the first to enter, but the big cat man held down his shoulders:
"Bunigu didn't tell the truth."
Fang Yu turned around and said without surprise: "I know."
He has suffered so much and been deceived a lot. He would be a fool if he couldn't even see this. But he replied: "But it's not entirely a lie. This secret passage is of some use to us. Rather than listening to what he says, it's better to come and see for yourself what it's like down there."
The big cat man let go of his shoulders in surprise, and looked at Sylvester beside him: "Ed, it seems that you have learned a lot from our ship officer, and I am going to remind you, It seems like it’s unnecessary.”
Fang Yu coughed lightly: "I thought of it myself."
Sylvester just smiled and said nothing.
"But the ring?"
"If I have the chance, I will go and have a look," Fang Plover replied: "I promised him, and I'm not lying. But I will consider everyone's safety first. Don't forget, I have the Clockwork Fairy , some things don’t necessarily have to be seen ‘with one’s own eyes’, and one is at risk.”
Seeing that his thoughts were clear, Rhett felt relieved and stopped asking further questions.
However, the Papalar man suddenly reacted, holding the ring and asked: "Wait a minute, since you two know that there is something wrong with this ring, why did you throw it to me?"
Rhett glanced at him: "You should solve the problem yourself."
"What did you do to yourself?"
"Aetila——"
Parker quickly raised his hands in surrender and said loudly: "Okay, okay, as a night thief in the team, it is necessary to take some risks for everyone. Needless to say, I will shoulder this responsibility."
Alyssa laughed so hard that she didn't forget to hit her again: "You stay away from me later, Parker."
The Papalar rolled his eyes and nodded quickly.
After this small interlude, the team continued on the road.
The history of the construction of the underground passages in Idos even precedes the prosperity of this city - Idos, which stands on the border of the kingdom, first existed as a fortress. The Istanians, also known as the people of the desert, had been at odds with the kingdom for hundreds of years before they belonged to Corin-Ithurion.
The earliest Idos was established to manage the borders of this kingdom and prevent the invasion of the people of the sand. His tunnel system mainly consisted of the original Tibetan Army Cave and underground grain and weapons warehouses. Later, with the expansion of the city, it was expanded several times and gradually formed its future scale.
In the prosperous era of Idos, this criss-crossing underground passage once became a shelter for smugglers, brotherhoods of thieves, various black markets, and slave traders, and became a shadow side of the city where the sunlight on the surface of Idos cannot shine.
But both light and shadow were reduced to ashes and collapsed in the raging fire more than a hundred years ago. After the city was reduced to ruins, the place was completely plunged into darkness that had not seen the light of day for a long time.
After a hundred years of decline, what was once a prosperous underground black market and smuggling corridors, now only remains a network of dusty underground tunnels and a dead world immersed in pitch darkness.
As the crowd advanced in the passage, the light of the torches extended forward along the steps of the group - due to the cover of the broken pillars, a few deep shadows were occasionally carved on one side of the wall, dragging long, like are the creepy minions of monsters.
But apart from the rustling footsteps and the psychological effect of scaring themselves, their journey was actually quite peaceful and they encountered nothing.
Only occasionally due to vibrations, a layer of sand seeped down from the ceiling, causing false alarm.
There seems to be no danger in the underground world. Idos is a dead city. The disaster a hundred years ago destroyed everything, and even the undead rarely remained. In addition, adventurers and scholars have been visiting this place over the years, and the few monsters wandering in the ruins have also been cleared away.
Speaking of which, Idos can be regarded as a famous ruin in Corrin-Ithurion, but compared with other similar places, its adventure popularity is much lower.
On the one hand, it is because it is too remote, and on the other hand, people believe that there seems to be nothing valuable here anymore. The Blood Shark Air Pirates were able to excavate here for nearly two months without anyone being able to detect their identity, and it was precisely because of this.
Parker held the ring and walked ahead cautiously, determined to run to Alyssa as soon as he encountered something.
But along the way, he didn't encounter anything. The Papalar man yawned out of boredom, and at the same time, he gradually felt a little restless in his heart. He thought to himself that this place seemed to be nothing more than that. This underground passage looked strange, but there were no undead creatures or blood shark pirates.
Moreover, the underground ruins were not even as exquisite as those he had seen in Traveler's Swamp. This was just an underground grain storehouse in Idos and had no religious purpose. Naturally, the Idos people would not bother to do anything on the corridors. What exquisite carvings.
The team headed north - of course, it was difficult to tell the direction underground, and everyone could only rely on the reliable sense of direction of Attila, a druid and ranger; in Fang Plover's memory, there was the number one leader of the Dragon Fire Guild in the north. An excavation point, they set out from the underground, just in time to avoid the detection of the magicians on the ground.
The Papalar yawned again.
Of course, he would still occasionally see some skeletons lying on the road, scattered on the ground, covered with thick dust, and he knew at a glance that they had nothing to do with undead creatures.
At this time, the Papalar man saw one of the headless skeletons by the light of the torch. This skeleton was very different from what he had seen before, because it was actually wearing a wide robe. After more than a hundred years of glory, the robe was only dusty and showed no signs of decay.
Parker was stunned for a moment, vaguely feeling that the robe might have an extraordinary origin. He was about to pull it up with his short, chubby hands, but suddenly something was mentioned under his feet.
The thing rolled out in a skeletal motion. There were just a few steps in front of it. It made a series of hollow noises and rolled into the deep darkness under the steps.
In this silent underground, this series of hollow sounds was really harsh, and everyone couldn't help but stop and turn their attention to the Papalar people in front. Parker raised his short hand helplessly and said, "Listen to me, this is none of my business. Who knows there is something under the dust..."
"What's that?" Fang Plover looked at him and asked.
"I think it's its head," Parker replied, looking at the skeleton at his feet.
"No, I'm talking about behind you."
Parker was startled and looked back subconsciously.
There was just a sound of wind in the darkness, and a long black shadow was striking straight down at him. "Ah——!" He screamed in fright, flew forward, and rolled to everyone's feet like a ball.
But at this time, no one paid attention to the little man. The big cat man was the first to take off the big shield from behind and faced the black figure in front. "Brilliance!" He shouted in a low voice. On the large silver shield in his hand, on top of the embossed lion's head, his eyes opened, and two bright lights suddenly emitted, piercing into the black shadow in front of him.
But the light passed through the dense black smoke without any impact on it. The black smoke flickered slightly and rushed towards the lion paladin again.
"That's not an undead creature!" Fang Plover shouted.
There is no undead creature that is not afraid of the radiant spell of the Paladin. This thing completely ignores the attack of the big cat man, so it may not be undead.
Only then did everyone see clearly that it was actually a vague humanoid creature - it was lunging in this direction with open arms. There were a pair of huge claws on its palms, and there seemed to be a long tail behind it. , and the position of the head is a ball of billowing smoke, with a pair of red eyes inside.
Parker almost cried out in fright when he saw this thing. "What the hell is this!?"
But Fang Yu could see clearly that it was the dragon's claws.
But it was different from the dragon minions they had seen before.
First of all, this thing looked more human and ghostly. Its body shape was not as solid as the dragon minions they had seen before at Traveler's Rest, Fenris and Vanric, but almost collapsed. But it is this kind of disintegration that makes it look windy when walking, which makes people feel a little chilling.
However, since the opponent is not an undead creature, it makes sense that he is not afraid of the big cat man's radiance technique.
But Fang Plover had his own way of dealing with the dragon's minions - he saw the black shadow hit the shield of the lion-man paladin, and seemed to disperse automatically, but in fact it was bypassing the left and right, outflanking the big cat man behind. . At this time, Fang Plover took a step forward and grabbed the black smoke with his right hand.
A piece of azure light radiated from the back of his hand, and the black smoke shrieked, as if it had been touched by boiling water, and it shrank back suddenly as it was so hot. But how could Fang Plover give it this opportunity? He continued to take a step forward and stretched his hand towards the center of the black mist.
After a shrill scream, the dragon's claws disappeared into ashes and turned into a fluttering black powder that fell to the ground.
Fang Yu walked over and wiped it with his hand, and the dust disappeared immediately.
"Dragon's claws?" Only then did the others react.
"Why are there dragon minions here?" Alisa couldn't help but ask, "Is Nicol Bolas really here?"
But Fang Yu straightened up and shook his head slightly.
While he did feel a hint of Nicol Bolas from the monster, it wasn't quite the same - at least he had encountered it from Dorifin, Travelers' Rest, and not long ago, from Elfendor Tower. The aura of Nicol Bolas felt by those dragon minions was completely different from it.
But it is different from the dragon minions underground in Fenris. It does have some of Nicol Bolas's power left in it, but it is very weak, as if it has been around for a long time.
A strange illusion arose in his heart. These dragon minions might be left behind by the dragon witch a hundred years ago.
…
