In fact, the original snow elf is really handsome.
——4E, 201, Hearth Moon, 9th, 22:15——
"According to the instructions of [Demon Hand], that 'Mercer Frey' should be at--"
"...Dugu City."
"It's under our feet!"
Late at night, the heavy snow had stopped, but the wind passing through the mountains became more and more violent. The large snow particles that were carried up into the sky looked like huge waves composed of white mist.
But among these huge waves, there are two slender figures who are completely unaffected. When the flying snow particles approach them, they will slide to both sides as if they hit some invisible wall. The impact of the snowstorm on them
The problem is simply that I am not tall enough and my legs are not long enough, so my boots will get stuck in the snow and it will be difficult to walk.
Xiaofan was still wearing the blue-grey leather armor of the Guild Master, but she added a fur coat with a hood on it. At this moment, she was holding a hand with pointed nails, and her whole body was dark and shiny, as if it were carved from obsidian.
There are also large hands with many lines on it, and its index finger is pointing straight towards the ground.
"The state of [Demon Hand] proves that [Azura's Star] is in the cave below. What we need to do now is to find the entrance." She said to Emil.
Emil is still wearing the plush white dress, but she also puts on thick fleece pants, cotton boots and gloves, plus a black scarf that covers her mouth tightly and only exposes her eyes, which makes people feel...
very warm.
"...Sister Joan of Arc said he is in Dugu City." The girl shook her head.
"She arranged this thing for us. Why do you think her casual words are more reliable than the instructions of magic items?" Xiaofan walked around in a circle for a few steps, and also changed the [Demon Hand] in several positions.
, but the statue's finger still points firmly to the ground.
"...Because she is pretty." Emil thought for a moment and then replied.
"My self-esteem has been seriously hurt -" Xiao Fan took off his hand and tugged on his hood, then held the [Demon Hand] and walked down the hillside: "Anyway, you have to follow me!"
"……oh."
[Demon Hand] is the chief mage assistant of the Mage Academy. Mirabelle Ewen sold it to them at a friendly price of 518 gold coins. It is said that a high-level demon left it with the mage for some purpose.
In the "shell mound" in the underground space of the academy, each finger and the ring on it corresponds to a kind of magic. Their arrangement and combination caused trouble to some apprentices who discovered it. In the end, all the magic effects were lost.
The annoying "Duluan the Diviner" was directly wiped out, and now it is just a beacon that can indicate a specific magic weapon.
As for the demon's revenge...it had better dare to take revenge. The summoning instructors are short of test materials.
"Hmm... maybe this is the lair he used to take away his belongings on the way to escape?" When Xiaofan walked down the hillside and looked for the entrance to the underground, the [Demon Hand] kept pointing steadily at the slope of the mountain wall.
Below, it has basically not moved.
"Or maybe he was taking a break from using two magic artifacts at the same time? After all, the combined teleportation magic cannot reach the level of free teleportation throughout the sky." Since Emil basically had no constructive suggestions, Xiao Xiao
Fan didn't wait for her answer and continued to guess.
In fact, there has never been any precedent for using the demonic artifacts of two demon gods at the same time, and I don't know how that guy was not punished by the demon gods.
"...Found it." Emil's voice came from not far away.
"Really? Let me see - hiss!" Xiaofan hurried over while observing the direction of the [Demon Hand], and then took a breath of cold air.
It was a group of stone buildings with yellow roofs and white walls. Although most of them were buried in snow, you could tell what was underneath just from the brass-colored fences and heavy doors - in the "Thieves least want to explore"
Among the "Top Ten Places", the "Dwemer Ruins" ranks first.
First of all, since the elves of the Dwemer, or dwarves, and the snow elves who were driven by them as slaves were driven underground by Tiber Septim, they naturally would not use the currently common Septim gold coins. In fact
Until they angered Azula and were exterminated, they used copper coins made by themselves. At present, they are just scrap copper.
Secondly, the steam engine they used cannot be closed and opened by current thieves' methods, and the various mechanical servants used for defense, whether they are spider workers, orb guards, or even powerful centurions, all have no fatal parts.
This makes thieves who basically rely on a dagger very helpless.
Finally, there are those Snow Elf slaves whose vision has been degraded due to living underground for a long time. Any visual stealth method is meaningless. As long as the kung fu is not good enough and the armor friction can still make sounds when moving, they will be discovered and fall into a hard fight.
The important thing is that they are very poor. Their armor and weapons are basically provided by a kind of crustacean creature called "Zeros", which has no oil or water at all.
"Crack! Click!" "...Do you want to come in?"
While Xiaofan was still hesitating, Emil had already approached the brass door and easily killed the two spider workers that rushed towards her - she accurately used her dagger to destroy the miniature soul stones embedded in their backs.
"Well, since he chose this place as his hiding place, he must have thought in advance that no one would come in and disturb him - except for those scholars who like to explore the history of Dwemer." Xiaofan muttered and walked towards the main entrance of the ruins.
.
——22:34——
"It seems...another group of people entered before us, but why didn't we see any sign of them passing by at the main entrance?" Xiaofan said to himself in confusion.
The huge copper doors and stone houses, the rough pipes and mechanisms, the dwarf guards who still loyally try to eliminate all intruders after losing their owners for many years, as well as the constant sound of steam and the blind snow elves wandering in the ruins are all Dwemer.
Characteristics of the ruins.
In order to track Mercer Frey, Xiaofan and Emil basically walked around the guards and snow elves after entering the ruins. It was fine at first, but after passing a corner where a landslide seemed to have occurred, something unexpected happened.
——The road that goes deep into the ruins is full of destroyed mechanisms, damaged dwarf machinery, and dead snow elves. Judging from the traces of the battle, this group of pioneers consists of about three to five people, and it seems that they also brought dogs.
"...Very rude." Emil commented.
"Perhaps they are adventurers who accidentally broke in from somewhere," Xiaofan looked at the instructions of [Demon Hand]: "It just so happens that the direction they are heading towards is Mercer's position, and they may be able to find out for us."
If Mercer saw her and Emil, he would probably teleport away directly, but it would not be possible if a group of adventurers who were completely unaware of the existence of [Azura Star] killed them. Then there might be a chance to seize the soul.
gem.
"Hey! Damn it! Farkas! Don't do it! I can't hold it anymore!" "Bang——!"
After easily walking deep into the ruins for a while, Xiaofan and Emil arrived at a huge cave square. At the same time, they heard a man's shout and the sound of swords and weapons hitting metal from the front.
Bang - click steam - followed by the sound of some kind of mechanism turning and blowing air - this is not unusual.
"Boom!!" "Idiot! Don't resist forcefully, it's too big, we'll suffer a loss if we confront it forcefully!"
From the direction of the sound, you can see a giant humanoid machine - the dwarf centurion, and three men fighting with it. They are all wearing bright silver armor, and their weapons are long swords, shields and hands.
sword.
This giant guard is said to be made in the shape of a dwarf, but how could it possibly be a branch of elves with such a rough face and strong body?
"...Help?" Emil asked.
"No, it's not necessary. Although they were making an exaggerated noise, there were just some problems with their tactical coordination, and they were strong enough to defeat it." Xiaofan immediately spoke to stop her in case she really rushed out.
Crack...! Just as Xiaofan expected, a few minutes later, the centurion, who was huge but riddled with holes, fell to the ground and lost his fighting power, while the adventurers were still in the mood to make jokes.
"When I go back, I must tell the young men who are training not to take on the mission of going deep into the Dwemer ruins."
"It's just that we worked harder. That thing has no ability to resist magic. If we had brought a mage with us today, this cave would have been cleared long ago."
"Ha! A mage who stays in the library all day would not come to a place like this."
While they were chatting casually and picking up the loot, Xiaofan noticed that their faces were very similar to each other.
If the three brothers are from the comrades-in-arms group, why are they here?
Even if their identities are guessed, there will be no change to the current plan. They must wait until Mercer takes action first.
"This guy has absolutely nothing of value on him. Maybe he is actually guarding the final treasure room?"
"We can only go behind the gate it guards and take a look."
After a brief discussion, the three brothers, who were suspected to be members of the comrades-in-arms group, entered the only door at the back of the hall one after another. Almost at the same time, the entire ruins trembled, and numerous collapse and falling sounds were heard from behind the door.
When Xiaofan and Emil hurried to the door and looked inside, they found that the huge room had plummeted down several meters. The only intact thing was a huge elf sculpture with its back against the mountain wall.
The head is connected to the roof of the cave, and the hands naturally hang on the knees.
The members of the Comrades fell into a heap at the foot of the statue, and on the huge head that was as tall as a person stood Mercer Frey, who had met them once.
"It's too rude, your method of exploring the ruins is too rude," Mercer made the same judgment that Emil had made not long ago: "Are you adventurers? It's a pity that the most valuable treasure in this ruins is already in my hands.
.”
He drew his sword and stabbed it with his backhand, hitting the eye of the elf sculpture. Then, a huge lavender crystal popped out of the eye socket of the statue.
"Goodbye, greedy adventurer." Mercer hugged the "Elven Eye", jumped up suddenly, kicked through the seemingly solid ceiling, and disappeared in the surging ice water after leaving a word.
"Confirmed, he just likes to show off what he does in front of others. It doesn't matter who he is. Maybe we can take advantage of this." Xiaofan looked at the three brothers below who were swimming and shouting "It's so cold"
