After passing through the ruins of El Tanford, Arthur's team entered a dark and damp underground cave.
Unlike the wasteful practice of magic stone lamps scattered all over the dwarf ruins, which illuminate the dark underground space as if it were daytime, in the deeper and deeper underground caves, there are only some weird plants in the shape of clusters with a faint red light emitting from the top to provide illumination.
, barely enough to see the ground beneath my feet.
Everyone tried to ask Septim to silently cast a light spell on everyone, but they had to give up because of the state of "only themselves glowing" and "everything except themselves is still dark" and unable to walk.
Although Septim hinted that the problem could be solved by throwing a magic light spell at the cave wall from a certain distance, they could not ask a senior old mage to do this kind of pure repetitive work.
"Ji-" Sophie's rabbit seemed to be very afraid of the dark and kept struggling to escape, but how could it possibly escape a dragon?
"Why are you bringing Rabbit?" Arthur asked doubtfully: "We are going to fight this time, such as the centurions last time. If there are one or two more of them, we will have to take them out."
You’re so talented, you don’t have time to take care of rabbits.”
The so-called "real ability" is naturally the release of the [Sword of Oath and Victory], werewolf transformation, and various powerful spells hinted by Septine. If it doesn't work, there are still two dragons, but if all means are used from the beginning.
, what should I do if I encounter a more powerful enemy later?
"No, Rabbit is a hare. Last time my father and I went to find the harpy and left him in Xueman. After we came back, he didn't even recognize me." Sophie raised her hand to hold down the rabbit's struggling head.
"Hmm...Okay." Arthur didn't have time to sympathize with a rabbit now. He had to be ready to deal with the lurking snow elves and the giant insects they raised at any time.
The three Wilkas brothers once strayed into a dwarf ruins and had a fierce battle with this kind of monster group with a good name but extremely ugly. Therefore, they explained to Arthur in great detail afterwards, about their weaknesses or characteristics.
.
However, this information seems to be inaccurate. For example, "Because he has no vision, his hearing is very developed, and he often hides in the dark and attacks adventurers who accidentally make noises." After entering the underground cave, they did not deliberately lower their voices.
There was no expected snow elf assassin jumping out of the surrounding darkness.
"Sophie, grandpa is going to do a trick, do you want to see it?" Septine suddenly asked the girl holding the rabbit silently.
"Yes! Yes!" Sophie nodded repeatedly.
Here it comes again, Arthur sighed, Septim said that he hit it off with the prophet Krako Whitemane of the Comrades, and they had a great conversation. By the way, he also regarded himself as the grandfather of Sophie and Leah. Counting this relationship, Arthur
I became a son inexplicably, and I have absolutely nothing to say about it.
Septin silently clicked his fingers, and a small fireball flew towards a clump of "lighting plants" that grew irregularly.
Boom - crackle - squeak -
After the fireball came into contact with the red light at the top of those weird plants, it suddenly ignited the entire plant. They immediately emitted a dazzling light upwards. Most of the colors were bright white, and occasionally bright red and bright yellow appeared. The overall look was like a complete tree.
A giant tree made of light and fire.
"Wow...that's incredible." Sophie held the rabbit in one hand and her face in the other.
"Woof! My eyes!" Babas covered his eyes with his front paws, thought for a while, then fell to the ground and started rolling.
Naturally, Arthur would not admire those fiery trees and silver flowers. He noticed that as the light erupted, the plants at the bottom gradually became shorter, so he began to observe the surrounding environment before they disappeared.
This is not an underground cave at all. The top of the cave is not made of rocks, but a layer of blue to black ice. It is not that there are no ambushes from snow elves along the way, but all the mechanisms and traps have been triggered.
Many black leather huts in the corners looked as if they had been completely destroyed and collapsed by huge force. Strange weapons used by the snow elves were scattered around, but no corpses were seen.
The strange plant had finished erupting, leaving only short roots, but no one moved, waiting for their eyes to recover to the darkness.
"Hey, let me tell you how come there was such a big pool in the ruins before. Was it connected to an underground lake?" Ella spoke first.
"Since the ruins guards will replenish themselves, nothing can be seen in the ruins. As for this place," Lydia continued: "The original snow elf lair should have been cleared by Master Septim. It doesn't seem to be new.
It looks like the residents are moving in.”
"Hmm... It seems that there were some survivors," Septim said without denying, "I found other ethnic groups and asked them to clean up the place, and then they never came back, probably."
Back then? Arthur recalled the traces of the battle he had just seen, and sketched in his mind a scene of "The much younger Septim silently faced the eyes in the shadows alone, then calmly lit the strange plants and began to wash them with magic.
Although he is not unable to achieve the gorgeous scene of "Earth", it will probably be very ugly, and he may even have to transform into a giant dragon or something.
"It will take a long time for the grass to grow back. If it is not necessary, it will not be lit again." The old mage threw a magic light spell and stuck it on the cave wall in front of him. "Let's go, Heijiang."
——22:47——
Although Septim's tone of acquiescence was loud, as if the entrance to the Black Fall was ahead, in fact the group of people arrived at a dwarf ruins after passing through that dark cave.
As always, various mechanical guards poured out from different mechanisms.
"What seems to be different here?" Arthur chopped down a metal spider that rushed over and asked his companions with some doubts.
"Is there any?" Ella looked around with her bow and arrow, then shook her head and loosened the bow string, and "nailed" a spherical guard that was about to jump out of the mechanism directly inside.
"Yes." For the time being, no more threatening guards who needed shields appeared. Lydia observed for a moment and concluded: "Those snow elves' leather tents and suitcases should not appear here."
"That's right." Ella fired another arrow and penetrated a metal spider: "They are not found in the ruins close to the surface."
Judging from the information obtained from a maid in a Red Guard Tavern.
All the lairs, containers, and even weapons and armor of the Snow Elves are made of the skin of a giant insect called "Zerrus" that can spray venom to attack. The relationship between Zerus and the Snow Elves is probably similar to
Hunters and hounds, so it is impossible for them to kill insects and skin them. Those skins are all the "slough" left by Zerus during his "evolution".
The reasons and conditions for this evolution are unknown. According to the descriptions of adventurers who have seen it, Zerus will wrap himself in a bag made of the same material as the outer shell when "evolving". After the evolution is successful, it will become a "flying"
"Zerus", except for an extra pair of leather wings, there is almost no difference, and those "sloughs" will be processed into various items by the snow elves.
The most peculiar thing is that this kind of flying Zerus will wrap itself in a horny sac when its life span is about to end or it is seriously injured. Finally, the ordinary Zerus that cannot fly will break out of the shell.
So how much money does this insect owe the snow elves? - Satya P.S.
"It's not surprising. When I came here, those snow elves attacked me together with the Dwemer guards," Septim said silently: "The snow elves here are slaves of the dwarves, so the ruins center is in
When the guards were produced, the instruction 'Do not attack the snow elves' was attached, maybe."
"Slave?" Sophie tilted her head and thought for a moment, then raised Rabbit in front of her face and stared at him.
That rabbit is your slave, yes, that's right. Arthur thought as he knocked over the mechanical guards whose number was beginning to decrease.
"According to the historical records of the Comrades, Skyrim was first ruled by the snow elves on the surface and the dwarves underground. The Nords who landed from the north established a city 'Satar' near today's Winterfort, but it was destroyed by the snow.
The elves mobilized heavy troops and drove out, which is known as the 'Night of Tears' in history." Ella continued to use her bow and arrows to clean up the remaining machinery, and explained at the same time.
"Then, Lord Sgramer led five hundred heroes, the original group of comrades, to fight back and almost wiped out all the elves in the sky. In the end, these elves had no choice but to ask their distant relatives underground for help, and those dwarves very arrogantly asked each other to become
Slave." Lydia slapped a spherical guard that rolled over secretly, and then continued: "This kind of arrogance made them angered [Ms. Azula] soon after, and the entire family disappeared. After these elves lost their masters,
Still afraid to return to the surface, he eventually became the ugly appearance he is today after living underground for many years."
"How ugly?" Sophie shook Rabbit.
"Uglier than me, woof!" Babas said casually to himself.
"Isn't that delicious?" The girl showed a bit of disgust.
"You are not allowed to eat!" Arthur belatedly wanted to understand why Sophie had to come with him. The rest were all excuses. The real thing was that he wanted to taste the snow elves that he could not find on the surface!
"Obviously, the owner of this dwarf city is more 'kind'," Septim, who did not participate in this simple encounter, said silently with quotation marks: "He allowed the snow elves to participate in the city's defense, so he specifically changed the guard instructions, and
They are not just treated as slaves like most other relics, and they are prohibited from leaving their workplace or entering the core area of the city. Otherwise, they will be killed without mercy."
So, to sum up, there used to be snow elves here, but they were wiped out by Septim's revelation a few years ago, and no one dares to come back to live there until now.
"Now that we have cleared the dwarf guards, should we take a short break?" Arthur subconsciously looked up: "It should be late at night now, right?"
Although it is not easy to judge the time underground, judging from the time it takes to fight all the way down, it is almost midnight. After all, you will be underground for a long time. If you mess up your routine, your combat effectiveness will be very high.
It is easy to fall down and make unexpected mistakes in battle.
Moreover, compared to a dark cave, it is safer to rest in the bright Dwemer ruins.
"You are the captain," Ella nodded in response: "I only have one request, stay away from those disgusting leather tents."
"Then, let's go to the place where I stayed last time," Septim answered silently: "The temple where these dwarves worship their so-called 'God of Steam' should be very clean, at most there is some dust."
"I will deploy the barrier and keep vigil for the first half of the journey," Lydia said to Arthur: "Please have a good rest, Baron."
"I'll keep watch for the rest of the night——" Sophie raised her hand high.
