The area around Furnace Castle used to be an obsidian avenue extending in all directions, with bustling suburban towns. As time goes by, it has now been submerged by vast stretches of dark forest. A single stone thrown can startle countless birds.
"This is the dwarf imperial capital known as the City of Steel?"
Sissi sat on the flying dragon and used a monocular telescope worth millions of gold coins to admire the Furnace Castle located dozens of miles away.
Because there are dwarves and dragons living in this city, the city is not completely dark. There are some dim sparks dotting it. The towering sentry tower on the city tower is even hung with a large crystal lantern. The light emitted can be seen from a long distance.
It represents the territory of the Red Dragon King, and those who trespass will die.
The forging and construction skills of the dwarves are worthy of being ranked among the top three races in the Western Continent. The Furnace Castle was directly hollowed out and built in a large mountain with a height of three thousand meters. The exquisite craftsmanship cannot be seen at all.
The traces make the city and nature appear as if they were formed naturally.
"found it!"
A mercenary shouted, breaking the silence. Everyone showed excited expressions and gathered towards him.
There were felled trees piled next to it, and the torches were crackling and burning, illuminating the holes in the ground. A group of mercenaries had just dug a large entrance, but before the soil had been cleared away, five scouts were already holding crossbows under the orders of the deputy regiment.
Picked it in.
There are spiderweb-like tunnels underground in Furnace Castle, covering an area of fifty kilometers outside the city.
This is the defense facility of the dwarves. Any invading legion will be attacked by constant sneak attacks before approaching the imperial capital. Regardless of whether they are pursued or not, their marching speed will be delayed.
For dwarves who are good at digging mines and tunnels, this amount of work is simply unbearable. They are natural experts in tunnel warfare.
In their defense plan, even if the empire fell, they could hide underground and attack the enemy. However, after so many years, no empire could capture the royal capital. Instead, they were driven out by Smaug.
"The idea of tunnel warfare is good, why did you let Smaug stay?"
Palin was surprised. If he had encountered this kind of tactics, he would have had a huge headache.
"At that time, the dwarves were defeated in the war with the dark elves, and more than 50% of the men were lost. Smaug also killed the king of the dwarves at that time. As a result, several princes had no intention of dealing with foreign enemies and were all vying for the throne of the king. In short, the situation at that time was
It’s a mess.”
Dupont shrugged his shoulders.
"The dwarves did not want to give up the Forge. In the final battle, the eldest prince won miserably and occupied this place. However, facing Smaug, he was gradually weakened until he died."
Valentine's loud voice rose, wanting to show off in front of Sissi.
"Strictly speaking, the dwarf king of the second-level continent is not orthodox. He is just an unlucky man who lost the battle. He must have never thought that he would go to the second-level continent, but instead let him secure the throne. By the way, he went
The two princes on the fourth level were defeated by the drow and turned into dark mummies."
Alonzo intervened to prevent his opponent from getting ahead of him.
"mummy?"
Sissi exclaimed.
"Yes, the high-level priests of the drow elves can use dark magic and a large number of magic potions to mummify those strong people and fight for them."
Valentine deliberately lowered his tone to increase the atmosphere of terror.
"A living person?"
Sissi was a little scared.
"Yes, a corpse will do, but it won't be as powerful as one made from a living person." Dupont sighed, "If it falls into the hands of the drow, you won't be able to die even if you want to."
"It should be said that there is no peace even after death. The soul will be used by them, whether it is sacrificed to the Rose Spider Queen, or used to awaken the puppets and feed the beasts."
Alonzo has been underground for a long time and is most familiar with the deeds of these drow.
"What if I get lost in there?"
Sissi looked at the entrance of the tunnel and was a little worried. As for the familiar beasts, she knew that they were artificially domesticated and raised monsters. However, almost all of them have been lost by now. Only races like the drow that retain a trace of their ancient heritage will be lucky.
There is a secret method of feeding.
"If you get lost, you'll have to wait for death, but that won't happen under normal circumstances."
At first glance, these words were spoken by an adventurous novice. If it had been anyone else, Valentine would have spat it out, but if it had been Sissi, he explained patiently.
The mercenaries have at least five ways to determine the route. What they should worry about are problems such as collapse, flooding, and gas. If they encounter a sneak attack, it will be even more troublesome.
The atmosphere gradually solidified as time passed. Half an hour later, according to regulations, the advance scout should come back to report the preliminary situation, but so far not even a single figure has been seen.
"They won't be dead, right?" Sissi tugged on Downton's sleeve and asked quietly, "What should we do next?"
"The whole group should be heading out."
Downton frowned slightly. Looking at the situation, sending more people would end in death. It would be better to set off with the whole group.
The two regiment leaders and Dupont found Muller together, and after repeatedly confirming that the map was OK, they issued the order for the entire regiment to move forward.
"you are right."
Sissi was both excited and uneasy.
Downton was silent. There was no need to guess. If he were the leader, he would not stop because a few people died. Otherwise, all the manpower and material resources consumed before would be in vain. Besides, there is a country's treasury waiting in front.
, enough to inspire the team members.
"Bad luck!" Valentine failed to draw lots, tore up the note and left, "The vanguard group is ready and will set off in ten minutes."
On the surface, the two teams can easily recruit more than 10,000 mercenaries, but here, limited by the geographical relationship, they each only have more than 600 mercenaries available. Even if they are all magic users, they dare not have them.
Not careless at all.
Downton and his party took advantage of Sissi and could stay in the middle and rear of the team. This was the safest position. Even if there was a sneak attack from the rear of the team, they did not have to take the lead. Moreover, when retreating, they could leave the tunnel as soon as possible.
"Princess!"
Palin jumped down from the tunnel, raised his arms, and went to pick up Sissy.
"I can!"
Sissi rolled her eyes at Perin and jumped down. With so many people watching, she didn't want to be regarded as a squeamish burden.
"His Highness has a good attitude. It can boost morale."
Dupont paid a timely compliment.
Palin's mouth twitched. He felt that Dupont was a greater threat than Downton. After all, this guy was from the Dupont family and his status was very prominent.
Sissi entered the tunnel and immediately felt a damp and cold breath rushing towards her face. It was like a cold-blooded grass snake scratching her skin, making her shiver uncontrollably.
After walking less than thirty meters, Sissi glanced back and wanted to exit. It was so depressing here, as if she was imprisoned in a cage, making her whole body uncomfortable.
The tunnel is only two meters high and three meters wide. There is a lot of space for a dwarf. But the same cannot be said for humans, especially a naturally tall alien like Su Ya and a mixed race like Valentine. It is simply uncomfortable.
Damn it, if you encounter an enemy here, it will be inconvenient to move around, and your combat effectiveness will be reduced by at least half.
Listening to the warm greetings from the people next to her, Sissi bit her lip and gritted her teeth as she didn't want to be looked down upon.
"Go ahead of me!"
Downton kept Juliet and Twilight within his field of vision, and left Su Ya and Tanan behind.
Lao Bu and Cindy couldn't bear the temptation of the vault and also came.
The tunnel is complicated, dark and damp, the light of the lantern is imprinted on the cave wall, and the figures are swaying like minions of monsters.
"No, I can't hear anything."
Hu Tao gave up. The tunnel was filled with the echoes of footsteps and the collision of armor. No other sounds could be heard at all, and it was impossible to be alert.
"Leave it to the vanguard, just pay attention to the forks on both sides."
Downton warned Hutao not to run around, otherwise he would lose it and not find it.
Fifteen minutes later, a battle suddenly broke out in the front, and the sound of fighting almost tore the eardrums.
Valentine had anticipated this situation, so he arranged for Yishui's elite Judgment-level troops, so the enemy's steps were blocked.
"not bad!"
Perrin breathed a sigh of relief. If there was a collapse and crowding in the tunnel, he would be trampled to death if not killed.
The cry of killing lasted for twenty minutes before it stopped. The enemy's tactics were obviously to use a ferocious attack to frighten the invaders and make them retreat, but it failed.
"It's a garbage kobold, don't worry, just move on!"
The messenger's loud shouts rang out in the tunnel.
When the smell of blood became stronger, Sissi also saw the corpses of the kobolds, all in tatters and piled up in the tunnel. The ground was soaked in blood and minced meat, up to their ankles.
After walking for more than a hundred meters, this corridor of flesh and blood was not over yet. Sissi finally couldn't bear it anymore and vomited while holding on to the cave wall.
"Rinse your mouth!"
Dupont handed over the water bag.
"Don't worry about me, go and command the team!"
Sissi felt useless. She was the only one to vomit among so many people. However, she was a little lucky that she was wearing over-the-knee boots. Otherwise, she would have been sick to death if the flesh and blood had been poured into the boots.
.
Kobolds have relatively low IQs and are naturally possessive of gold sand. They are also natural mining experts. They can always find gold mines by smell and then dig holes to live there.
It is the wish of every kobold to cover the cave with gold. Those in the tunnel are obviously a group that has been forcibly relocated, because they only want to live in gold mines.
After all, there are only a few dwarves loyal to Smaug. They cannot set up defenses in all areas, so they can only use kobolds. However, the combat effectiveness of these guys is really worrying. They left hundreds of corpses and even two tribal shamans died.
Not a single mercenary was killed.
"so boring!"
Hutao looked around on her toes, but couldn't see anything but her back, so she looked left and right toward the tunnel passing by.
"kill!"
A burst of shouting suddenly sounded, and kobolds carrying machetes rushed out from the forks on both sides of the tunnel. They were silhouettes, with scarlet eyes open, and they pounced fearlessly.
"No retreat, defend on the spot!"
The commanders yelled immediately, but the tunnel was too noisy and they couldn't hear anything. Fortunately, the mercenaries' tactical skills were not bad. Those who were near the fork went straight up, and those behind quickly loaded their crossbows. (
To be continued...)
ps: I have a bit of a cold, but keep working hard to update!