"Is this it?" Arthur looked at the small glowing thing in the crack of the wall and planned to reach out and touch it.
"Be careful, it might be another trap with poisonous spikes hidden inside." Bedivere reminded.
"Hmm... It doesn't look like a trap." Arthur said. The gap in the wall was actually very small. Adults or people with thicker arms couldn't reach in and touch the mechanism. Only women and children had slender arms.
Only people can touch that mechanism.
Arthur is borrowing the body of a young man, so he can touch it. He guesses that the witch hiding in the cave is also a slender person, and this mechanism is prepared for her, almost tailor-made.
thing.
Intruders cannot touch it, and it is even difficult to find it. Only the witch herself can touch and know its location. The probability of a trap hidden inside is extremely small.
Arthur boldly reached out and touched it, and sure enough, it was a ring-shaped switch that could be pulled, and it was full of rust. It was probably that it had not been used in this damp cave for many years, and it was all rusty.
Instead of worrying that this is a trap, it is better to worry that the mechanism is too rusty and cannot be pulled, and the shortcut cannot be opened.
But Arthur's worries at that moment were unnecessary. The witch who arranged this cave dwelling was very meticulous and meticulous. As expected, this kind of emergency escape exit was often maintained. So although the ring was rusty,
But it did not affect the smooth operation of the internal structure of the mechanism. With Arthur's strong pull, the pull ring flipped the iron chain, and the iron chain drove the entire mechanism hidden inside the cave. Amidst a rumbling sound, something opened.
Arthur thought there was another hidden secret passage. Half of his ideas were right, and the other half was wrong. In fact, the cave he was going down was still there, but due to the influence of the mechanism, there was a sudden change on the rock wall of the cave.
Countless stone platforms stretched out for one person to stand on. The entire cave immediately turned into a giant spiral staircase, and people could go down immediately by walking on those stone platforms.
"I see. If the witch disappears in an instant, the pursuers will know that this cave is not the correct passage, but there is another hidden secret passage. That's why I use this method to let myself walk upright."
"But the pursuers will see the witch fleeing up the stone stairs, right?" Bedivere asked, "The pursuers will also catch up along the stone stairs. Does this make sense?"
"This mechanism probably creates a one-way traffic condition that only a witch can have, and the shortcut that opens will soon be closed behind her." Arthur said: "Look, it's starting to close."
The first stone steps, the ones closest to Arthur and the others, have slowly retracted and are hidden in the stone wall again. On the way forward, more stone steps have also retracted into the wall one by one.
This trend continues downward until everything returns to its original position. When all the stone stairs disappear, what is left in this dangerous cave are the suspension bridges and narrow stairs filled with traps.
"Are you going to run up this stone staircase in one breath after the engine is turned off? The witch is quite confident in her physical strength." Bedivere couldn't help complaining: "What if I don't have enough physical strength? What if I get injured and can't run fast?"
?"
"Let the witch think about that kind of thing." Arthur reached out to pull the hoop again: "It's starting, follow me, hurry up and get down!"
"Oh!" The human wolf has already transformed back into the form of the big white wolf. In this state, Bedivere can move more quickly and conveniently.
The mechanism was activated again, and countless stone steps protruded from the wall. These were delayed stone steps, and they would retract into the wall after a while. Arthur and the others knew that this would happen, so they did not continue to delay and went directly to the stone steps.
Ran everywhere.
Snap. Arthur landed on the first stone staircase. The platform was quite large, enough to securely catch a petite boy like Arthur. Moreover, the surface of the stone staircase was obviously processed, with a grid-like pattern on it.
The non-slip texture makes it almost impossible for people walking on it to slip. This was supposed to be part of the emergency escape route specially used by the witch. The witch maintained everything very well, and she was so thoughtful and scary. Walking on stones
The ladder should not encounter traps. Arthur and Bedivere ran all the way, moving down the slightly spiral ladder, and soon reached the bottom of the cave.
Here, it is exactly as Arthur imagined. There are countless spikes in the center of the cave, and there are also several corpses that have long been turned into bones. Adventurers did come in through the back door of the Witch's Cave before, but these people obviously did not discover the hidden
If you just advance along those dangerous suspension bridges and narrow ladders, you will eventually fall from a high place and die tragically on these spikes at the bottom of the cave. It is not enough for people to fall to death, but this kind of arrangement must also be arranged.
Falling into a spike trap that would inevitably prove fatal, the witch was not only ruthless, but also impeccable in her actions. She would not give her opponent a chance to survive and threaten her - not even a tiny bit.
Only then did Arthur realize that he had been praising the power of this witch since just now. From the layout of every place in the cave, it seemed that the witch had put a lot of thought into his residence and was extremely thoughtful.
Every detail has really been taken into consideration. In this era, in this different world with extremely low photon civilization, there is such a powerful character, and it is natural for Arthur to admire him.
Even though she is a witch, maybe she is also an admirable enemy...?
So Arthur looked forward to meeting this witch even more. He wanted to see with his own eyes what a powerful character this witch was.
After reaching the bottom of the cave, there is a wide corridor leading straight to the deepest part of the cave. From the looks of it, the witch is waiting in the room behind the iron door at the end of the corridor.
"Let's go." The King of Knights said to Bedivere: "This witch is very cunning and she must not let down her guard."
"Hmm." The big white wolf replied vaguely. He also tried to pretend to be an ordinary beast, hoping to deceive the witch he was about to face. Although he also knew that his series of actions just now should have exposed his identity.
The witch was most likely monitoring the deep cave just now and saw every move of the two of them.
The wide and deep corridor has no traps. This kind of environment is not suitable for setting up traps. The witch probably gave up on doing so.
In any case, Arthur and Bedivere walked to the iron door without incident. They looked at the iron door that seemed too heavy to push, and were stunned for a moment.
Arthur tried to find a mechanism next to the door, because he knew that it was impossible for him to open such a heavy iron door with his own strength, and it was impossible for the witch to open the door with her own strength, which meant that there was another mechanism to open the door.
And the mechanism was not hidden deliberately. An ancient pull ring connected to an iron chain lay quietly on the wall to the right of the iron door.
Arthur pulled the iron ring without thinking, and the mechanism was successfully triggered. With the sound of gears turning, the iron door slowly opened.
The moment the door opened, a strong herbal smell hit your face. It was hard to describe whether it was a pleasant aroma or an unpleasant odor. The smell was quite complex, and it should be composed of at least twenty kinds of scent.
The smell of fragrant medicinal herbs mixed together, and Arthur's research on herbs was not deep, he could only tell that there was a hint of lavender in the smell.
If the previous section of the road was full of traps to guard against intruders, like a cellar maze, this can be said to be the real residence of the witch, the place where she lives. There are many wonderful wooden objects in this large room.
The cabinet is probably used to store dried medicinal materials; and there are countless medicinal materials being dried hanging on some hooks next to it, among which there is indeed lavender (Arthur can't recognize any of the other medicinal materials!).
The witch does not seem to be in this warehouse where medicinal materials are stored. Where has she gone?
There is a door in front that connects another room to this one. Is it over there?
"I feel a little hot..." Bedivere suddenly whispered.
"Yes." Arthur also replied. Although it is not extremely hot, the heat here is completely different from the coldness of the cave they just walked through. And the heat seems to be coming from the floor. Arthur just uses two legs
Walking on the ground and wearing boots, the feeling of geothermal heat is far less than that of Bediwell walking on four legs. Originally, the cave became colder and unsuitable for habitation as it went down to the lower levels, but due to the influence of geothermal heat, the situation was completely reversed.
Maybe it would be more comfortable to live on the ground floor than in the humid cave above?
No wonder there are so many medicinal materials hanging here, and they are hung on hooks to wait for drying. The cave at the bottom should be very dry and comfortable due to the influence of geothermal heat, giving the medicinal materials an ideal drying condition.
There can be this kind of heat underground, either because there are hot spring water veins underneath, or because there is lava below (although it should be far away). Britain is originally located near the Mediterranean-Himalayas volcanic and seismic zone.
It's normal to have some geothermal resources occasionally. The interesting thing is that the witch actually found such a cave with geothermal resources to live in. This is the witch's fortress and her comfort zone. If there are no outsiders to disturb her, she can probably stay here.
You can stay here until the end of time and don't have to worry about external affairs at all.
But such a witch actually spread the Black Death, killing countless people in England and France. Arthur's coming to attack the witch is naturally justified...right? Of course, Arthur is not the kind to listen to rumors.
He decided to wait until he saw the witch and confirmed it with his own eyes before judging whether it was true that the witch spread the Black Death.
He walked through the storage room and opened the door. In a hall that was very brightly lit by torches but empty, there was only a woman in a black cloak, waiting for Arthur and Bedivere.
"You're finally here." The witch turned around and looked at Arthur.
At that moment, the King of Knights suddenly froze.
What appeared in front of him was his mother, Igraine.
------Or at least, a woman who looks exactly like Igraine. (To be continued)