Due to unknown reasons, Sogou suddenly failed to search this site today. Please keep in mind the domain name of this site (the full spelling of Shuhaige) to find your way home!
Because the total amount of lighting equipment we carried was limited, our Luoan girl and hunter-born Lulu, who were in better physical condition and had more outdoor experience, hung lanterns and descended to the bottom of the valley first, carrying light sources and staying there to facilitate the descent of others. You can see the bottom clearly.
Although it is just the light of a candle, hanging a burning light source on your waist in the hot summer is still quite a test of endurance. Even our Luoan girl lowered it as quickly as possible and untied it immediately. Change to carrying.
After she spoke to Lulu next to her who also came down and was also holding a lantern, the latter stood there waiting for the people above to come down, while Mira turned around and used the lantern to illuminate the surroundings.
In complete darkness, the area that candlelight can illuminate is larger than most people think. However, in a 10-meter-deep canyon, even if they lift the light source as high as possible, they can barely illuminate an area of about 4 meters. Beyond that it was all pitch black.
The firelight and swaying figures can only be seen when the sage and others above are holding torches and approaching the edge of the cliff to let the next person descend along the rope. However, when other people without lanterns are climbing down holding on to the rope There is even a large section that has no lighting and is completely dark.
Henry may be able to hold the torch with one hand and hold the rope with the other hand like an adventure hero. However, for other people who lack such experience, they can not hold the rope tightly tightly and be willing to loosen it a little bit. Driving down to land already requires a lot of courage.
Even if the hemp rope they prepared was as thick as an adult man's wrist, it was still not as strong and reliable as a ladder when bearing a person's weight. Some people are frightened when climbing an inclined ladder, not to mention the soft hemp rope that will sway left and right with a little effort.
The vision is deprived and nothing can be seen clearly. There was a thin stream of water flowing over the wet cliff, which wetted the rope and made it slippery. The moving water overflows your skin in the darkness. You can't see clearly what's going on, and combined with the previous encounters, it's easy to imagine that it's an insect or a tentacle, and you'll be frightened.
The feeling of fear makes people want to let go of their hands, but because they are afraid of falling, they not only hold on tightly with both hands, but also clamp the rope tightly with their legs. But the more you stay in this stalemate, the more energy you consume and the more dangerous it becomes, so you need to muster up the courage to climb down as soon as possible.
This is why our experienced Luoan girls and Lulu became the vanguard.
Men are very stupid and innocent creatures, especially those who are still in their teens like Torataro and Yajiro.
Young girls can do things, so how can I show cowardice? This kind of jealous male chauvinism is even more severe in a traditional country like the Moon Country, so it once even overshadowed the fear of darkness and heights, causing the young samurai to rush to express themselves.
Mira herself was not aware of this, she just habitually regarded herself as an adventurer, and she would do this kind of thing first before letting her guardians do it. However, the Luoan girl's unexpected behavior dispelled the tension in the team, so that the group could not waste too much precious time on this kind of thing.
Because of the presence of Torataro, a young man with tender skin and tender flesh, even the old pharmacist and Aya, who was a frail old pharmacist and a scholar, were not the last laggards in the team.
The 10-meter hemp rope took the longest to climb up Torataro, and after the Luoan girls investigated their surroundings, they also confirmed that climbing down was actually the easiest.
One side of the canyon in the cave is a stone wall, which goes directly up to the top of the cave. On the other side is a waterfall, going down into a deeper cave.
There is no convenient way, so we can only climb the wet cliff directly.
There are obvious traces of civilization here. After everyone comes down one after another, the larger the illuminated area, the more they will be able to detect this.
The Rigal people have a somewhat blasphemous saying called "God cannot draw straight lines" - this sentence refers to the uncanny workmanship of all things in nature. Lines are often complex and changeable, while straight creations are usually made by human hands.
This section of the canyon is 10 meters deep and several meters wide. The water flowing from both sides and above the cliff wall only reaches the level of the feet where everyone stops. The farther forward, the closer to the cliff on the other side, the deeper it becomes. Eventually a waterfall falls deeper into an invisible place.
After everyone came down and illuminated the two sides, it could be seen from the side that they were almost straight. This was most likely the result of artificial excavation, widening and deepening of the naturally formed rift valley in the past.
They don't know how long ago this happened, but the marks carved on the stone wall are still fresh as if they were formed yesterday even if they are washed by the water day and night. It takes only a few hundred years for the traces left by human beings to be completely erased.
But the bridge above is decaying.
Wooden objects will crack if they are too dry and will warp and rot if they are too moist. However, if the wood used in bridges is properly treated and maintained, it can surprisingly last for more than decades.
There is only a small section of the decayed bridge left, and no wreckage can be found on the ground, which means it has been washed away by the water and fell down the waterfall. Judging from this series of traces, it can be inferred that this place has been uninhabited for more than a century.
After combining these details, Aya, who was born as Dr. Xingyong, believed that these were the relics of the legendary ethnic minority in the Moon Country in the past - the "Earth Spider" clan who had left painful memories for the He clan.
Nowadays, even the Great Academy has very few records about them. The war between the He people and the people to unify the Crescent Continent was bloody and cruel. After the end, most of the past ethnic groups were forcibly accepted as the He people and their history and history were erased. culture.
The Earth Spider clan is one of them, but because this clan is good at digging holes and hiding, it is said that they still remain in the underground mountains and forests outside of mainstream society.
The name of this nation simply and crudely reveals their relationship with the giant monster earth spider. Scholars among the people have two opinions. One is to deny the existence of earth spiders as monsters, and think that this is a rumor left by this nation that they are good at digging holes to hide and used tunnels to abduct ghosts and terrorize people during the war.
But now that the group has seen this huge monster with their own eyes, this argument is self-defeating. Therefore, Miss Doctor is more inclined to agree with the second theory - this nation was good at using monsters like earth spiders in the past, living with them and using this monster on the battlefield.
The truth has been buried in the thick dust of history. Now a group of people judge that this cave may be the hiding place of the Earth Spider Clan in the past. The really important information only confirms that there are "human factors" involved.
They are not here to study history, but are entrusted by others to save people. But knowing that there is a high possibility that this place is the ruins of the Earth Spider Clan, the group must be more cautious - because this nation that is good at stealth warfare does not just dig holes, in order to resist the attack of the Kazuto warriors, they will also Set up various mechanisms in your hiding place.
As if the big bugs alone weren't troublesome enough, now they had to be careful where they stepped to avoid stepping on the wrong places and triggering traps.
And this is the worry later. First, they have to try to climb the 10-meter cliff, which is enough to knock you to death no matter how high or low it is.
Henry took advantage of his height and night vision to see something on the right side of the bridge near the waterfall that was also fixed on the cliff. It was made of a thick wooden base and bulged outwards.
Upon closer inspection, the sage discovered that this was an auxiliary device for fetching water. In the past, hemp ropes and buckets might have been hung underneath to facilitate the people living in the cave to fetch water from near the waterfall.
The existence of this thing became a prop they could use. Henry immediately took off the remaining hemp rope and tied a slip knot to make a lasso. He spun it a few times and threw it up to catch him. However, he pulled slightly to try to make the lasso tighten. The support that still seemed to be very solid immediately broke into two pieces with a muffled "click" sound and fell into the waterfall. Thanks to the sage's strength, he was not carried down by the rope.
After recovering the water-soaked hemp rope, Henry shrugged at Mira, while the Luoan girl rolled her eyes, and the group had no choice but to try to climb.
Before going up the wall, they taught some basics to the inexperienced people - keep at least three points of contact, that is, your hands and feet should be in contact with the rock wall at least three times at the same time, and do not let go of both hands at once. Or two feet. And you should pay more attention to the footing points than the starting and landing points, because a person's feet can support one's own weight far better than the hands.
Although she didn't know how much these people could listen to while sharpening their guns in battle, the Luoan girl still answered as much as possible.
In addition, our Mr. Sage also brought some of the remaining nails with him. He started climbing immediately and drove in a huge nail at a downward angle along the wall at a distance. nails, and then tied the hemp rope to it, and finally created a stable rope that can be held by hand as insurance.
It's just that the nails that were just for emergencies were almost used up after this trip - because they didn't come for rock climbing, these nails that were big enough were basically used when they went back to move reinforcements. Torataro paid Henry to get them from Ryunosuke. Bought on the side, they used nails for repairing boxes and carriages.
Since Ryunosuke and his party only bought them from a village blacksmith, the quality of these nails varied. Some are carburized hard enough to drill into rock, while others can only be used to nail softer items such as wood. It was only thanks to the sage that he was strong enough and skilled enough that he could forcefully smash these nails into the rock wall that bent when the tip was struck.
Two lengths of hemp rope have already been used before we get very far into the cave entrance. Although there are still two lengths left, who knows if they will be enough. What's more troublesome is that the number of iron nails has been exhausted. If there is a place with a large height difference behind, they will not be able to use the safety rope like this again.
It is a safer approach to make use of the pre-existing man-made objects here as much as possible to save the materials and tools you bring. But it is obvious that the things here have lasted much longer than the group expected. Almost all the decayed structures will break with the slightest effort. If you rely on them, you will die faster.
But this is not a bad thing after climbing to the other end.
The people who lived here in the past - whether they were from the Earth Spider Tribe or not - did indeed arrange traps, including traps such as crossbows triggered by wires and falling logs with spikes. It’s just that it’s been too long and there’s been a lack of maintenance and these things have completely decayed.
The weight-bearing hemp ropes of the spiked fallen logs hanging high up have been broken, and the fallen logs that hit the ground have also been broken by the erosion of moisture. If it weren't for the lack of light here, there would probably be a lot of mushrooms growing from them.
The crossbow machine next to it was originally hidden, but now it was broken and fell out. The mechanism that was triggered was filled with dust and was rusty and stuck. The copper part was full of rusty green, and the ironware was even more pitted and disfigured.
The part soaked in water showed a glossy oxidized black color, while the part exposed to the air was a more common brownish-red rust powder, with some signs of peeling off on the surface.
"Be careful not to step on it, rusty iron is highly poisonous." The old pharmacist who accompanied him warned after noticing all this, and Henry and others first explored the path and conducted a general inspection to confirm that all defense agencies had been thoroughly inspected. Decay swept aside these still sharp instruments.
Disarm the crossbow, remove the arrows, break off the spikes, and set them all aside.
"It should be more than three hundred years ago." Among the pile of decayed utensils, a tachi with a rusty scabbard caught the attention of the group. After a brief observation, they speculated from the still vivid mother-of-pearl Maki-e pattern on the scabbard. The approximate age is given - the warriors of the previous dynasty more than 300 years ago were very fond of this lacquer scabbard craft. Gold powder, silver powder and the colorful parts inside the polished shells were used to create patterns of flowers, birds, wind and moon on the scabbard. It was a favorite of people in that era.
This kind of craftsmanship that puts a lot of effort into sheaths and swords still exists today, but it is relatively rare due to the large population of the samurai class. The mainstream nowadays is plain clothing that is simply painted with buffalo horns on the sheath. The maki-e technique is only chosen by the Chinese who pursue a "retro style".
Moreover, today's maki-e is different from the flower, bird, wind and moon patterns of the past, and tends to use landscape patterns. Considering that no one has been here for a long time, it is a relatively reasonable guess that it has been abandoned for more than 300 years.
The former samurai sword abandoned on the spot was not the only item belonging to Kazuto. Going further, the group also saw a set of armor scattered on the ground, the paint of which had peeled off and turned brown. Judging from the fact that there were no bones nearby, the group thought it was just stolen property from the Earth Spider Clan—after all, samurai armor and swords were quite valuable—but after a closer look, they found a lot of scars on the armor.
"Cage hand's armor." Narumi, who was born as a samurai, immediately noticed the strangeness on this armor. After Henry came over with a torch to illuminate it, the group also clearly saw the strangeness of this armor. at.
"It looks like it was pinched flat by something." The "cage hand" of Kazuto's hand armor composed of long iron bars was obviously dented in the middle of the forearm by external force, which made the two ends of the iron bars so It was raised like a flower on the other side and chopped open. In addition, the calf armor that protected the lower limbs also had the same traces and was thrown far away, along with a broken long arm that had rotted away. Naginata put together.
"Sure enough, he is a safe samurai. The naginata is no longer the mainstream." Narumi nodded, and the weapon and armor confirmed their previous speculation.
"Why does this look like this?" The Luoan girl next to us frowned. These weird details made the armor and weapons look less like plundered property, but rather been left forever in an uninhabited place like a cave. Remains of the battlefield remain.
"He was grabbed by something, holding his hands and feet and tearing them into two pieces." Henry also came to a similar conclusion to Mira. The death of this warrior from three hundred years ago was really tragic, but it was even more weird. Yes - where is his body.
The armor seemed to have been hollowed out from the inside, retaining the position where the samurai died in battle, but the flesh, flesh and bones inside were gone.
"The wind has become clear, and the front is going all the way down." Joshua, who has good hearing, said to Henry.
"Yeah, I can hear it too." The sage stared at the scenery below that was so dark that he couldn't see through it, and frowned slightly.
The faint sound of wind welcomes the guests who may be visiting for the first time in more than three hundred years.
This tense atmosphere made Torataro, who was holding Ahui's clogs tightly, no longer dare to urge him. Although he was very worried in his heart, the deeper the cave went, the more strange it felt to the group.
"It feels a bit weird." Pressing the magic pool near her heart, the Luoan girl also noticed something strange like difficulty breathing.
"Because there is no magic in front." Henry rarely gave a direct answer. His night vision ability based on enhanced magic rarely worked here.
The invisible magical light that filled the space between heaven and earth disappeared in front, and the darkness here was real darkness.
The sunlight cannot penetrate, and even the magic lighting that can be seen through special magic cannot work. The only thing that can be relied on is the lantern and torch in the hand.
"Let's go." The sage looked straight ahead.
