The ground exploration work of the vanguard of the cliff highlands was relatively smooth. It was several hundred meters high from the ground. Only from a high place could we take in the wonders of Thousand Needles Stone Forest. Those unique stone pillar mountains are almost as tall as the cliffs.
From a distance, dozens of stone pillar mountains with thick upper and lower sides are evenly arranged in the canyon. They really look like "needles". No wonder it is named Thousand Needles Stone Forest.
However, in the eyes of Van Cleef and others, these stone pillar mountains are more like wedges nailed into the Grand Canyon. If cableways can be used to connect these stone pillar mountains, then it will be
A safe aerial city can be built above the Thousand Needles Stone Forest.
Of course, these are all things for later. For the expedition team, there is an urgent need to build a camp on the high cliff.
As the expedition progressed, they were getting further and further away from Zul'Farrak at the rear. Material supply became a big problem, and a fixed camp was urgently needed for transit.
Van Cleef and his companions originally planned to build their camp in the middle of the cliff highlands, but when they arrived at the middle of the highlands, they found that the place had already been occupied.
It is actually somewhat inaccurate to say that they are humans, because in the opinion of many scholars, these creatures may not be as intelligent as fish-men.
Occupying that place is a group of harpies. They are a race with the ability to fly at low altitudes. They have a human body, but their hands are wings and their feet are bird claws.
After discovering that the harpies were occupying this place, Van Cleef and the others were frightened. They quickly evacuated the place before they were discovered. You must know that they are more dangerous to men than elemental creatures.
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The reason why "them" is used to refer to these harpies is because the harpies are a race without males. The eggs they lay during the breeding season will only hatch out females, which are complete copies of the mother's body.
It is worth mentioning that it is said that harpies will kidnap male humanoids of other races as mates. As for whether they will have sexual relations with them, it is unknown.
Don't make any bold ideas after hearing the above description. Harpies are extremely dirty creatures, and they will even sleep on their own feces.
And don’t expect them to be very friendly to the kidnapped males. Legend has it that after being drained of all their energy, those poor creatures will become the harpies’ meal.
It is precisely because they are familiar with all this that Van Cleef, Tavish Stormpike and the others will leave there as quickly as possible. Although they are from the Eastern Kingdom, they are well-informed and well-informed examples, even if they have not seen them before.
But I have also heard of the name Harpy.
They had no choice but to choose a flat area as a camp far away from the harpies and closer to the direction of Zul'Farrak. During the process of setting up the camp, Van Cleef repeatedly ordered that no one should move alone. At the same time, in the camp
Arrow towers for air power were set up at the four corners.
After completing this, Van Cleef began to write a report with some depression. Maybe he didn't find this group of harpies because he was not careful during the high-altitude survey before, or maybe he mistook them for ordinary birds.
In addition to guarding against those harpies, the newly built camp is also mainly guarded against poisonous insects that can be seen everywhere on the cliffs.
There is no need for anyone else to worry about this, as Tavish Stormpike is the master of survival in the wild. In addition to being the captain of the dwarf miners, Tavish Stormpike is also a very good hunter.
He carefully sprinkled sulfur powder around the camp and kept talking.
"Be careful of snakes at night. Although they look cute, they are poisonous."
After setting these up, Tavish Stormpike patted his chest and assured Van Cleef and the others. However, at night, something terrible happened!
Just in the middle of the night, thousands of thick venomous snakes suddenly appeared near the camp! They seemed to be organized and moved forward in an orderly manner!
Perhaps the sulfur powder around the camp really played a role. When the venomous snakes passed by outside the camp, although the human smell made them a little tempted, they still passed by the camp without any trouble in the end.
The expedition team in the camp were frightened to death. Thousands of venomous snakes thicker than thighs gathered together like a tide. Everyone had no doubt that their small camp could be flooded by them in an instant.
"Did the sulfur powder work?"
After the sea of snakes disappeared, everyone dared to leave the camp to check. Van Cleef murmured with a complicated mood.
"no."
Tavish denied himself without hesitation and pointed at the messy sulfur powder rubbed by the snake's belly.
"Let us go, just because we are not their target. Is their goal the habitat of the harpies?"
Everyone followed bravely and found that Tavish's guess was correct. These poisonous snakes seemed to be following some instructions and launched an attack on the harpy's habitat.
The harpies, who have the ability to fly at low altitudes, are not afraid of venomous snakes, but these poisonous snakes are targeting the eggs that the harpies have just laid. In order to protect those eggs, the harpies are forced to fight against the overwhelming venomous snakes.
In a sense, harpies are the natural enemies of venomous snakes. Their sharp claws can kill a venomous snake with just a few strokes, so even if they are at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, harpies can still protect their eggs.
The battle between hundreds of harpies and thousands of venomous snakes was not something that dozens of people from the expedition team could intervene in. Everyone only dared to watch from a safe distance using binoculars.
This bizarre battle lasted until dawn. The Viper army suffered more than 20% losses, and the Harpies also suffered some damage.
The harpies looked on coldly at the meandering army of poisonous snakes retreating. Rather than chasing these poisonous snakes, they might as well save some energy to lick each other's wounds, and they would never leave their eggs until they were sure it was absolutely safe.
The harpies did not pursue those poisonous snakes, but that did not mean that others did not pursue them. Tavish showed great interest in the abnormal behavior of these poisonous snakes.
"Snakes do not have such high intelligence. Even the most mature hunters will not try to tame snakes. Thousands of venomous snakes can attack harpies in an orderly manner. This is incredible!
What's even more incredible is that you have all seen that even with more than 20% losses, those poisonous snakes still insist on fighting the harpies! This is simply what a well-trained army can do! It is hard to imagine a group of people without intelligence.
A snake can do this!"
Tavish couldn't hold back his excitement and said that he himself is also a registered explorer in the Explorers Association, and he is more interested in magical animals than archeology.
Ascertaining the situation of the cliffs and highlands is related to the road safety of Hanhai Protector in the future. Such a strange phenomenon naturally attracted Van Cleef's attention.
In the end, the expedition team unanimously decided to follow the venomous snake army and find out what was behind the venomous snakes controlling them.
There are actually countless mountain cols, large and small, on the inside of the cliff plateau. Just like Zul'Farrak, there are many unknowns hidden behind these cols.
After marching eastward for a long time, the venomous snake army finally turned into a mountain col. After much hesitation, the leading expedition team entered the mountain col.
In the mountain col, they saw a huge cave that led underground. All the poisonous snakes got into the cave and disappeared into the faint shadows.
Everyone bravely approached the entrance of the cave, which was more than ten meters in diameter. They could faintly hear the sound of wind in the cave.
"What's in this?"
Tavira, who had always been very courageous, couldn't help but feel a little timid at this time.
Van Cleef also noticed the ominousness here, and he whispered to the people around him.
"How about we leave...be careful!!!"
Just in the middle of speaking, Van Cleef suddenly felt a great sense of crisis coming from the hole. He immediately shouted a warning and pulled out a pair of cruel barbs.
However, just as Van Cleef issued a warning, a snake head as big as a bucket poked out of the cave! The snake head was completely purple, with fine scales on its surface, and each scale was the size of a coin!
"Qiang!"
Van Cleef's dagger was as fast as electricity, and he blocked the attack of the giant snake in one fell swoop. However, at this moment, another snake head with the exact same appearance was poked out from the cave!
"Qiang!"
Another dagger once again pressed against the long fang of the second snake head. He withstood the attack of the strange snake twice in a row and had exceeded Van Cleef's limit.
But just in response to Van Cleef's ominous premonition, a third snake head appeared from the cave!
"ah!!!"
The entire attack actually took less than half a second. Before anyone could react, Van Cleef was dragged into the cave by the strange snake!