The torch was blown by the air current at the castle door, and the flickering light of the fire made everyone's faces and the door in front of them flicker. The tame horses were not frightened by all this, they seemed quite quiet, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
Horses will become restless when they feel the scent of beasts. They showed such emotions when they first entered the castle, but everyone including Henry just wanted to find a place to spend the night, so they didn't care. It was probably a good sign that the horses became quiet when they got to this side. "Neighing" Henry sniffed hard a few times and nodded after confirming that there was no rather annoying smell of rat dragon in the air.
"Bjorn, Till" Bernie waved to the back. The bearded mercenary and another mercenary with short blond hair who were called by their names immediately walked over with a torch in one hand and a weapon in the other.
Henry noticed the name of the bearded mercenary who was similar to him in height. Combined with his dark hair color and the style of weapons he used, the sage judged that he was probably from the Danlasso area of the four northern islands of the North Rica Sea - change In other words, this is a northerner who is often called "Nos" among the people of Avenella and Sivalier.
One of the four hometowns of the Sijing pirates was the Danlasso area, and until now, this broad-bladed ax is still one of their most representative weapons.
The Danlasso people have a reputation as strong warriors on the entire west coast and even on the Rigal continent. According to common knowledge, the only people who can match them in terms of individual and team combat capabilities are the Luo people to whom our white-haired lolita belongs. It's settled.
But the ultimate fate of the warlike race is also obvious. In addition to what ordinary people know, Henry and other people with a wider world know that there is actually a more powerful force that many people believe. They are not humans but a race of demigods.
Living in the absolute north of the Rigal continent, they can only be seen after crossing the territory of the Otolo Empire and going deep into the uninhabited snow-capped mountains. They are the independent Camisians.
In fact, based on their appearance alone, they do have some inhuman characteristics. They have extremely transparent lavender hair and blood-colored pupils, as well as a nature that will go crazy when they enter a fighting state. These seem to only exist in legends. Characteristics that make Camicians sound unreal in any way—we’re digressing.
In short, it seems well-deserved that one of the three most famous fighting races in the world, the Danlasso Ax Warrior, is leading the way. The torch in Bjorn's hand illuminates most of the passage - this side looks different from the other side. There is no difference in the passage, except that the road spiraling downward looks wider.
"Safety!" The Danlasso warrior seemed to prefer roaring rather than speaking, so the name next to him sounded like an Avenera man, the weapon he used was an Avenera-style weapon, and his hair color was also very Asian. Tire, the one-handed swordsman of Venella, answered.
"..." The group of people said nothing more. Several people, including the short and fat mercenary, held the reins and controlled the horses to prevent them from rushing down the slope too fast.
No one spoke, only the sound of horseshoes hitting the white stone ground echoed clearly.
In the darkness it sounded like Death knocking on the door with his bare knuckles.
"Da da"
Once, twice, the footsteps of the probing horse echoed alone. Mira moved closer to Henry. Although she was surrounded by others, she could only feel safe with the Sage.
The passage here is not long. Although the twists and turns add some length, the group of people completed the entire journey in a short time.
Henry roughly estimated that the passages here are about five to six meters high, which is equivalent to two floors of an ordinary hotel or private house. This is the standard height of a castle's outer wall - from this he can also roughly judge these passages. Why should it be made flat instead of with steps?
"Oh! Bed Crossbow" The short and fat mercenary who once again ran to the forefront with his heart focused on the lost treasure of the imaginary Princess Onya first discovered the rotten items piled in the corner at the end of the road, and he The words just proved Henry's inference.
Obviously, the reason why these spiral passages were built so wide was to facilitate pushing crossbows and crossbows equipped with wooden wheels up the city wall for city defense during wartime. The passage on the front side is probably a little narrower than this side. It was probably to prevent the influx of enemies - in that case, that was the main entrance of the castle, and the group of people were heading towards the depths of the castle at the moment.
The firelight illuminated the pile of only a few shapes of city defense weapons. When they were created in the past, they had a power that surpassed any individual. However, in the face of time, only dark black, rotten, moss-covered wood remained. Telling about the glory of that year.
Some short spears about 150 centimeters long that were leaning against the wall and used as ammunition for crossbows and crossbows were probably made of moth-proof wood or had some special treatment. After so many years, they have only become dull. It was black but not completely rotten, but the spear tip used for killing was obviously no longer reusable.
"Why is it all a pile of junk! Where's the treasure!" The short, fat mercenary swung his one-handed sword angrily and smashed the rotten weapon rack to pieces. Bernie behind him finally couldn't bear his behavior and spoke loudly. call.
"Rodney! Shut up!" the team leader had to shout to stop him. His voice passed through what looked like a place where weapons were stored, and then echoed in the empty passage.
"Oh, it looks very big here." Till and Bjorn walked towards the place where the echo came from with torches. The crossbows and ballistae are quite large, so the place where these weapons are stored here is actually not bigger than The previous hall was much smaller, and when the two of them walked towards it, they discovered that there was a wide, flat and huge corridor.
But Henry noticed something else. He frowned, and the only ones who noticed the change in the sage's expression were the lively young lady and the little Luo An Loli.
"What's wrong?" the blond lady asked Henry. Mira seemed a little hostile to her approach for some reason, but Henry just shook his head: "I just thought I heard something."
He didn't continue talking, and the other party didn't ask. There is only one road in front of them, and everyone can obviously only move in this direction.
Without stopping too much, everyone started walking slowly forward again after checking the general environment and confirming that no other people or creatures had been there. The road is very spacious, and both sides seem to have been used to store weapons in the past, but now the spears and axes on it are in a state of decay.
This made Henry pay a little attention, because according to his previous analysis, this castle may have experienced a battle, but what he saw in front of him, both the defensive weapons and the weapons of the soldiers, were all neat and orderly, as if Their owners seemed to have died in battle before they had a chance to take hold of them.
'Did he really get attacked by a dragon? 'The sage immediately rejected his idea. There are dragons on the west coast, but most dragons prefer to live in mountainous environments rather than plains. Although dragons may also live in the sea, those huge sea dragons have long since faded away in centuries of evolution. The claws used for running have become fins, and they can occasionally climb onto the beach. If they go deep into the plains, they will even become a meal for despicable coyotes.
Henry shook his head to get rid of these unrealistic thoughts. What should be focused on now is how to find a place where he can spend a safe night. He has already noted the location of this castle, and it will not be too late to come back here to investigate if necessary.
The firelight flickered, and the footsteps of men and horses echoed together. The wide roads on both sides made it difficult for the torches in the hands of those standing in the middle to illuminate the nearby walls. Fortunately, everyone adopted a square array, which gave them enough light.
"Oh! Plate armor!" The short and fat mercenary whom Bernie called Rodney once again shouted in a fuss. He left his companions beside him and ran forward. The flickering metal surface still existed. Reflecting the light of the torch in Rodney's hand, others also walked over.
In front of this section of wall are several pairs of rusty but still undamaged plate armor. The cold metal constructs a human shape, except for the helmet's viewing port, which is dark. The former occupants of the castle no longer know where they are, but they still stand here as if they are still guarding their now empty home.
"Well, these look like they can still be used." Bernie touched his chin with some stubble to judge. A good pair of plate armor is usually expensive. They are not just some iron blocks that can be beaten and beaten. It can be formed that if the blacksmiths use uneven force when hammering, it will easily cause the thickness of the plate armor to vary. And the first thing to bear the brunt of this is the breastplate that is hammered into a curved shape from a whole piece of metal. If it is an inexperienced blacksmith, in the process of hammering out the shape, it is likely that the entire breastplate will be made thin in the middle and thick on both sides, so that Naturally, no one will want what comes out.
The technical requirements are high and a lot of metal is consumed. Even in modern times, only knights and famous mercenaries can afford a set of plate armor.
In that era of this castle, it was probably owned by nobles such as high-ranking military officers, generals, and city lords.
The fact that the other weapons had decayed and rusted over the years, and that they seemed to still be roughly intact was testament to their value, and four complete sets of plate armor - and perhaps the historical value of them - was already a considerable sum. Even Bernie, the leader of the team, was a little moved by the wealth.
But his heart was beating. Unlike Rodney who was keen on getting rich, Bernie thought about it for a while.
They were still in the process of escaping, and one set of plate armor weighed at least 35 kilograms. The four sets added to the burden on the horses was not a small amount.
If it is worn on the body, it is also a burden. Secondly, these plate armors may not necessarily fit their body shapes - just as the team leader was thinking this, as if he noticed his thoughts, the short and fat Rodney immediately ran up and took apart a pair of plate armors. I want to put it on myself.
It's okay if he doesn't move, but if he moves like this, he'll be in trouble. Although the plate armor itself was not too damaged, the wooden frames used to hang it inside were already crumbling.
then--
“Ding!—Clang!—Clang!—Clang!—Clang!—Clang!—Pah! Clang!!”
A series of piercing noises made several people couldn't help but cover their ears, "娨-娨-哨." Bernie stepped on the helmet rolling on the ground, and then looked at Luo with an evil expression. Deni.
"No, boss, I didn't mean it..." The short and fat mercenary's legs subconsciously weakened. He raised his hands as if to protect his head, but he forgot that he was still holding a hand in one hand. The torch immediately burned his hair.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Bastard!" The short and fat mercenary shouted again immediately and danced away the torch. The torch, which exuded bright orange light, drew a wonderful parabola towards the rear passage and then fell down——
"Damn it, I'm sorry, boss -" Rodney, grinning and covering his forehead, looked at Bernie and Henry, but found that no one was looking at him.
"Merciful gods..." Bernie closed his eyes and nodded his forehead and chest in a prayer gesture. Others were also quiet. No one looked at Rodney. The short and fat mercenary turned back. He turned his head and realized that his torch illuminated something.
Skeletons.
Countless bones.
He was leaning against the wall, crawling on the ground, and seemed to have stretched out his hand this way before dying.
"Tap, step" Henry walked up with Mira, Bernie, Till, and Bjorn.
"They are soldiers. I think they were attacked in their sleep. This explains why they did not have time to hold weapons." Henry said while looking at the skeletons that fell on their backs. Only a few of them were A small number of them wore black and rusty mail armor, while most of the others wore loose clothes made of linen.
The clothes had become tattered over the years. Others also came over, leaving Rodney standing next to the pile of broken plate armor. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he squatted down and fiddled with those things again. .
"...were they attacked by a sneak attack?" Mira said in a not too high voice. She was still frightened by the rat dragon before, but now she still had some shadows. The girl was cautious as if her louder voice would attract those monsters. Henry nodded, which made Mira even more confused.
"But, but, isn't a sneak attack considered an undeclared war? You said before that the people who attacked here should be people from the Kingdom of Knights..." The white-haired Luo An Loli seemed a little incoherent. Henry could probably understand her at this moment. Inner confusion, after the Luoan people destroyed the country, people of her generation felt unfair and indifferent in society. Under such circumstances, people often heard that in a neighboring country not far away, the people followed the spirit of chivalry and respected others. Helping the weak will become a bit of comfort in sleepless nights.
He comforted himself by saying that there was still a place in this world where people like him could be treated with tenderness by others - but this was just a dream after all.
"Little girl, this is war, not a jousting contest." The person who answered him was not Henry but Bernie. The leader of the team shook his head and sighed, then reached out to touch Mira's head, but the girl just avoided it. he.
This made Bernie stunned for a moment and not knowing what to do, but the lively young lady on the side took a step forward at this time, and this time Mira did not resist her approach.
The girl and the big loli stood together holding hands, but Henry, who squatted down to inspect the corpses, turned gloomy at this moment.
There seemed to be a trace of cold sweat on his forehead, and then he suddenly stood up with a "swish" sound and looked around quickly.
"Mel, what's wrong with you?" Bernie was startled by Henry's sudden move, but the sage didn't bother to answer. He quickly ran from the left to the right to check carefully, looking around and finally His eyes were fixed on the low ceiling.
"Huh-huh-" The held-up torch was swayed by the breath blowing in from the ventilation duct, and the huge paw prints all over the duct made everyone who saw it break out in cold sweat.
"..." Henry turned his head with twitching eyes, and then said slowly.
"Sorry... Those rat dragons just seemed to be teenagers, so they were near the entrance. Because rat dragons are very territorial creatures, they will be driven away from their homes when they grow up."
"Then we seemed to...break into the adult body's nest."
As he said this, there was a clang sound behind him, and everyone quickly turned their heads.
"Squeak--squeak--"
Half of the breastplate swayed slightly face down, and Bernie frowned.
"Where's Rodney?"
He asked, and the next second there was a dense noise from the direction behind Henry.
It's like hundreds of mice running around.
