Encyclopedia of Feanor Continent

The so-called dwarves usually refer to the white or light-skinned dwarves who live in caves close to the surface, but they also have a close relative who lives completely underground in a dark environment. Humanoids have iron-gray skin and red eyes that can see in total darkness.They are sworn enemies with the common dwarves on the surface. Generations of generations have fought endlessly for survival resources. Since they live completely underground, they usually have no intersection with humans. However, after the great earthquake in 3521, some The gray dwarves who lost their homes were forced to come closer to the surface to make a living, and for the first time entered the field of vision of humans. ——"Feino Continental Encyclopedia·Humanoid Creatures"

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From the day when this group bid farewell to the sunshine and stepped into the underground labyrinth, the life of indistinguishable day and night has lasted for about half a month, maybe even longer. It's the same as you can't see your fingers, making it difficult to keep the concept of time.

"It's time for us to rest," said Evandel.

The young Templar named Basil complained, "But we've only just set off."

"Do you really know how long you've been walking? And I'm tired, you know I don't have as much physical strength as you guys."

Although compared to the surrounding mercenaries and Templars wearing armor, holding shields and weapons, and carrying luggage, Avondel's entire load is only a small bag that never leaves his body, but this does not prevent him from being more powerful than others. Call tired first: "You know that mages can't be tired. Tiredness will make me unable to keep my head clear, think about problems well, and cast spells well. If there is any danger next time, I will help you with anything. No more."

The mercenary captain Herris deeply believed that in the previous few battles, although the mage didn't seem to have done much, he played a vital role every time. For example, the last time, if the mage hadn't discovered the ambush in advance, and The assassins' eyes were blinded by the shot. It is definitely a bad luck for them to be attacked by the dark elves in the underground environment.

At any rate, he remembered that the Templars were the employers of their group, and said to the Templar Commander Kent in a tone that didn't sound like a discussion: "What should I do? Mr. Mage said he was tired."

Kent frowned. It was not the first time that Avondel had been procrastinating like this on the way. He would even stay in place because of bad weather, bad food in the morning, bad mood after having a nightmare last night, etc. After a whole day, although Kent was eager to complete this mission earlier, he had to compromise with the mage again and again, and this time was no exception.

Because the dominance of the team has already unknowingly fallen into the hands of the mage.

In the beginning, the seven Templars shouldered the sacred mission and escorted the only mage who knew the ancient language from the holy city of Mikalan. The old and prudent Templar Commander Kent was their leader. At that time, what he said was what he said , and no one will dispute it.But after he actually set out on the road, Kent realized that he had seriously underestimated the danger of the trip. Before entering the underground labyrinth, the team had already lost more than half of the team under repeated blows from bandits, rebels, bad weather and falling rocks. There are only three Templar Knights left.

In order to continue to complete the mission, Kent had to hire a team of mercenaries that had nothing to do with the church. After he ignored the mage's advice last time and rushed forward and caused some casualties, the mercenaries were less willing to listen to him, after all No matter how important the mission of the Templars is, it has nothing to do with the mercenaries. Their goal is to make money rather than kill them.

Now facing the waywardness of the mage, he can only sigh helplessly: "Get ready to camp."

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The unlucky captive, Phils, was dragged along behind the camel with his hands bound by leather ropes. When the team stopped, he sat down beside the camel, exhausted, and almost passed out as soon as he touched the ground. .

In a daze, he heard the sound of someone approaching, and immediately struggled to wake up, and found that Evandel was standing in front of him and looking down at him: "You seem to be seriously injured."

With the style of the dark elves, captives with limited mobility will definitely be killed. Fiers didn't know what would happen to these people, and he didn't want to gamble with his own life, so he quickly forced himself to use a method that was as easy as possible Sitting up in a calm posture: "Fortunately, I'm just a little tired. I haven't slept for two days to ambush you."

"It must be because I was too procrastinating to make you wait so long. I'm really sorry." Evandel took out a roll of maps and handed them to Phils without apology, "Since you are going to be our guide, you can Get up and look at this map, this is the route we planned to take."

"Wow, my God, which antique dealer did you get this map from?" Fiers exaggeratedly picked up the tattered sheepskin map with two fingers, as if he was afraid that he would lose it if he exerted force. It seemed to be broken, "Since the big earthquake more than ten years ago, this passage has been completely blocked. If you want to go to the big fissure, you have to go to a small road in the lower right corner from the Mushroom Rock three-fork. Liguai, by the way, why are you going to the Great Rift?"

Residents of the underground labyrinth know that after the great earthquake more than ten years ago, a large crack thousands of kilometers long, hundreds of kilometers high, and over [-] meters wide at its widest point opened in the ground. Phils didn't know that there was What is worth the risk of these people traveling thousands of miles underground? I can only guess secretly that it may have something to do with the White Tower City that was buried underground thousands of years ago.

"This is not something a prisoner should ask." Evandel asked him some more detailed questions on the road and stood up to leave. Phils seized the opportunity to lie down on the ground and planned to rest for a while, but saw Evandel Wendell folded back again: "Ah, I suddenly remembered something."

Before Phils could sit up, Avandell had already pressed his hand on his chest, and a faint blue light burst out from the mage's fingers, and Phils could almost hear the gurgling sound of his ribs shifting in his chest cavity , he almost died of pain.

Evandel clapped his hands and stood up, explaining kindly: "If the broken ribs are not restored as soon as possible, if you continue walking like this, you will be pierced by the broken bones sooner or later. Lung and heart. Don't thank me too much, I just I hope you will live to show us the way."

Phils felt that he had just personally experienced what hell is called: "I thought...healing spells...wouldn't hurt so much..."

"Normally not." Evandel turned around and said with a "gentle" smile, "However, why did you ever shoot a poisoned arrow at me?"

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Regarding the diversion, the Templar Commander Kent wanted to refuse in his heart. After all, it meant that they had changed from the unfavorable situation of "only knowing a general route" to the worse situation of "knowing nothing", but The mage sent his bat Natalie out to explore the way before bed, and came to a depressing conclusion - the original passage had indeed collapsed for many years.

Kent has heard that mages can communicate with their magic pets, and observe some areas that humans cannot see through the eyes of magic pets. Avondel used this special ability to discover the ambush ahead. Since he said that the front If it collapsed, the front must have really collapsed.

So the team had to embark on a completely unknown path.

Shortly after passing the fork in Mushroom Rock, they came to a very wide space, and the light from the torch could not even illuminate the top of the cave.

Walking in the narrow underground passage for a long time can easily make the humans from the surface feel depressed and bored, but suddenly coming to a place that is too wide makes them feel strongly uneasy. Just when everyone wanted to speed up to pass, Evan Del suddenly stopped the marching team.

"Put out all the torches," he said gravely.

Everyone didn't know why, but they still obeyed habitually.

After everyone's eyes got used to the darkness, they saw a large starry sky above their heads.

Confused, Kent said, "What's going on, did we go outside?"

"It's so beautiful..." a mercenary sighed.

Another mercenary said, "No, why is the starry sky moving?"

The last gray dwarf yelled: "By the stone, it's the starback spider! Ready to fight!"

The torch is too bright, but it will make people unable to see the danger in the distance. A few small balls of light floated out from Evandel's fingertips. The soft and weak light makes people just see those big spiders as tall as a person hang themselves. With spider silk falling from the sky.

Their bodies are pitch black, and there are only dots of fluorescent light on the back of their abdomen, which makes them as beautiful as the starry sky when they lie on the roof of the cave in groups, but behind this beauty is a deadly danger.

The two frightened rock lizards broke free from the mercenaries who were pulling the reins, and desperately ran to and from the aisle, but because they wanted to squeeze into the aisle at the same time, the bundled luggage got stuck together, blocking the aisle tightly.

The mercenaries and templars who originally wanted to retreat into the passage for defense had no choice but to fight the spider in an open environment.

Phils, who was tied to the camel saddle, was also dragged away. He was pulled so violently that he fell to the ground, but he was reset. His unhealed rib hit the hard stone, and he almost fainted from the pain. past.

When the camel was still struggling at the entrance, Phils took the opportunity to crawl to pick up an ax dropped by a mercenary on the ground, but a spider locked its target on the defenseless elf, and it fell from the top of the cave. , threw Phils who had just got up to the ground, and bit down on his neck with his huge fangs.

Phils quickly picked up a stone with his bound hands and stuffed it forward, it happened to be stuck between the two big fangs. The spider's mouthparts have a unique structure to prevent the prey from escaping, which makes it difficult for it to spit out the stone stuck in its mouth. There was only a creaking sound as he retreated while trying to get the stone out with his appendages.

Phils finally reached the ax. He cut the rope with the ax stuck in his legs, picked up the ax and climbed to the corner of a rock wall. The injuries on his body and the chaotic scene prevented him from escaping. But if he doesn't escape, no matter which side survives in the end, his situation will be very bad.

The spider's big fangs couldn't bite through steel plates and shields, but it could easily bite through the leather armor worn by the mercenary. The mercenary captain Herris saw two of his subordinates being bitten by the spider's fangs, and then he was powerless to resist. The ground was dragged away, his eyes were red with anxiety, he stabbed the sword into a spider's stomach, and shouted loudly: "Where is the mage? Quickly think of a way!"

Only then did Knight Templar Commander Kent realize that Evandel had disappeared in the chaos just now. He was surrounded by several spiders. He could only resist the siege of the spiders while shouting for another Templar. Name: "Palos! Go find the mage, quick!"

The Templar Palos had just stabbed the sword into the mouth of a spider. He kicked the spider's head and pulled the sword out vigorously. He searched for the mage in the chaos, but he could only see The magical ball of light created by the mage floated around the cave, emitting a cool blue light.

A black shadow passed quickly in the distance, and Palos recognized that it was the mage's bat, and he quickly chased after it.

As a familiar with the master, Natalie knew what the mage wanted her to find. After she successfully found the target, she brought Evandel to a corner that was not easy to be noticed.

The mage climbed up a high platform with both hands and feet, and he saw a large piece of dense spider silk. Countless round spider eggs were wrapped by these spider silk, lying on the ground in nests here and there.

Generally speaking, the starback spiders would only spin webs on the cave wall and wait to ambush the prey attracted by the twilight, and would not take the initiative to attack a team of this size. They were so abnormal because of their nest-protecting nature.

A female spider with an abdomen several times larger than other spiders and without fluorescent spots was staying in the spawning area. When the Templar Palos chased it, what he saw was a picture of a giant female spider pounced on the mage.

Palos' heart was in his throat. Obviously, no matter what he did now, it was too late to save the mage.

But at the critical moment, Avondel jumped back from the edge of the platform, avoiding the spider's bite.

Then, the mage didn't fall down and break his arms and legs as Palos expected, but floated in the air. The power of the flame gathered in his hands and turned into a washbasin-sized fireball that exploded among the spider eggs. The high temperature ignited the spider silk, and soon the entire spawning area was burned into a sea of ​​flames. The female spider struggled in pain and curled up into a ball, her abdomen burst open, and immature spider eggs flowed all over the ground.

The spider queen was dead, and the spawning area was burned down. The remaining spiders finally gave up resistance, climbed up the cave roof and fled in all directions.

However, the mage's movement was too big just now. Palos saw a book fall out of the small bag he was carrying, and rolled down the edge of the high platform.

Everyone in the team knows that this book is the most precious thing for a mage. Evandel never took any luggage because of his poor physical strength. Even the water bag was handed over to others to help him carry it. The backpack never leaves the body.

The cover of the book is made of black leather with engraved patterns, wrapped with brass trim and lining. It is so thick that you can hear the crisp sound of metal colliding when it is knocked on the stone. It was knocked open, the book opened in mid-air, and the unbound pages scattered.