Chapter 279 129. The family guards who quietly entered
the Hell Calamity family waved their mercer knives and cut down a few vines blocking them.
Soon after, the heavy rain stopped, or the rain could no longer wet the Druchs for the time being, and they entered a passage leading to darkness.
The surroundings were overgrown with overwhelming vegetation, and the huge boulders were weakened by bushes. Although traces of the boulders still appeared from time to time, countless mosses, lichens and climbing vines had dyed the boulders the same green as the surroundings.
The trees straddling the towering boulders stretched upward like temple pillars, their trunks like arched fingers locked high overhead. The trees are covered with vines, leaves and creepers, and countless shades of green sweep up in a combination of light and dark with a complexity that would put any tapestry to shame.
In the huge dark passage, it was as quiet as a church. After the din of life in the jungle faded away, the passage became eerily quiet, with only the plop of a frog tumbling into the water occasionally breaking the deathly silence.
"Is it a canal?"
"A canal, yes, I think you're right. But why would the Lizardmen build a canal in a place like this? Why isn't the jungle covering it?" "
To transport gold, perhaps?" Darkus interjected, interrupting the chat between the two sons of Hylsis. This section of the river was built into a canal, and its history dates back to before the Great Invasion. Even Chupa Coco knew for the first time that there was such a place south of Pahuasco.
Although the pliosaur was a huge apex predator, it was not as violent as the tyrannosaurs on land, at least not the one under Darkus' feet. This pliosaur responded to Darkus's call after eating, and its huge body emerged from the water.
After dispelling and bidding farewell to the Ankylosaurus and Triceratops, Darkus took the Druchs to the back of the Pliosaur to continue this cheating adventure, so that they did not have to go in the opposite direction to the Ashes to the north. Walk through the city and Pahuasike to find a suitable fording point, or perform acrobatics on a rope tied to the unknown waterlogged river to cross it.
"No matter what, it looks abandoned." Maranur said without words. The heavy and oppressive silence surrounding him was disturbing. In this world full of life, there is nothing but death. Other things.
There were no flies here, no whine of mosquitoes, no buzz of black flies or the constant tingling of their bites.
After a long time, in addition to the voices of the Drukis looking for something to say, other sounds gradually appeared, including the chopping sound of the mercer knife, the whining and buzzing of insects, the sound of trees swaying with the heavy rain, and Distant howls of apes.
Selire felt sweat trickling down his skin and flies descending hungrily on him. He breathed in and out. In and out, out and in. He found that he really didn't adapt to this kind of place, and he also understood why his nephew set up the main altar of Edreze's sect in Lustria. The jungle environment alone can make the sect's believers Got plenty of exercise. He also knew that this journey went so smoothly because his nephew was there. He had listened to Ren's stories about entering the Lustria jungle in the past few days. Without his nephew, his reverie would soon be interrupted. Because he has to replace the family's guards to cut down the vines in front.
Although insect repellent lotions and potions are effective, they can't stop the large number of mosquitoes. Renn still likes to march in the jungle under the illumination of Hethiota's Sun Battle Flag and the Eternal Glory Orbiter, which really avoids mosquitoes. .
Maybe it was because Renn was the next protagonist. He stood in front, but did not participate in opening the road. He held up Darkus's single-channel telescope and looked ahead. The voice in his head vaguely told him that he was right in front. I also caught a hint of light through the gaps in the vines.
"There seems to be a ship! I saw those ships that only monkeys can equip! There seems to be more than one!?" Ren gasped, and his Kaitan was wet and stuck to his body, covered with sweat. and dirt, and his hands and face were covered in a dot-like rash caused by insect bites and poor circulation.
Darkus nodded calmly to show that he understood. He squatted down and patted the dragon on the back to signal it to stop. When he communicated with Pliosaurus, he knew what he would face next. The entire river including the mouth of the sea was the territory of Pliosaurus. Of course, Pliosaurus knew what was happening in its territory. As for other issues, the dragon just couldn't figure it out, such as how many ships, what configuration, what kind of forces, etc. This was too difficult for this dragon, and he didn't show off like a stickman.
After Ren finished speaking, the Drukis stopped talking nonsense. Adventures will be accompanied by battles. They already knew what would happen next. They began to draw out their weapons and make the final move. For maintenance, spare strings for the repeating crossbow and harpoon crossbow were also taken out from the waterproof bags.
Darkus looked at Ren who turned his head, smiled at Ren and raised his head, then turned to look at Malekith who was standing there without saying a word.
"Ren! You are the protagonist tonight!" Malekith understood what Darkus meant. He stretched out his right hand forcefully, then clenched it tightly into a fist and said.
Malekith's words defined the rest of tonight's development. Under the jealous and envious eyes of the Druchi, Ren knelt on the ground and saluted, and then nodded at the man who had come to Lustria with him before. The Hell Calamity family guards and Colonia brought along Cowell and Genevieve who were a little eager to try.
The fleet was dispersed at the mouth of the river bend, keeping enough distance from each other to enable the ships to proceed in an orderly manner without risking collision. The two large Imperial warships bore ancient, broad-bore brass cannon barrels prow and stern, gaping like the jaws of a dragon.
Renn kept checking with Darkus' monocular. He wanted to know whether the fleet that had appeared inexplicably on the west coast of the Lustria Isthmus still had black powder for those huge cannons, and whether it could still fire. Will not explode. If it could be done, the damage caused by artillery would be appalling.
The hooded figure kept moving on the main deck of the battleship, staggering to the railing of the deck. There was an eerie shriek from the horns of the nearest ship, and the other ships in the bend soon heard the sound, and then responded like a pack of wolves howling.
In an instant, the crew boiled like ants, shouts and gibberish cries echoed in the river bend, and many crew members carried lanterns that flickered with pale light.
In the sickly light of the lantern, Wren saw that the crew members were not only skinless, but horribly swollen and riddled with gangrene, their bodies seemingly twisted by the corrupting power of an evil god. Although it was still raining heavily, swarms of insects raged in the air above the crew's rotting bodies, circling madly stirred by the crew's pain.
The officer-like crew yelled at the plague-like crew, ordering them to get back to work. Figures with long limbs and swollen bodies climbed like spindly spiders onto the masts and rigging of the ship, scrambling for the stays to hold the tattered sails.
Ren thought he could hear frightened shouts coming from the deck of the towering battleship, and it seemed like some sort of seagoing ceremony was being held somewhere he couldn't see.
"Six ships are anchored at the anchorage, each of them is an ocean predator, and one is cruising on the sea to be on guard." Ren looked at it for a while. He knew that his target was here, but he didn't know exactly where it was. No, he shook his head and handed the monocular to Cowell beside him, pointing at the ships in the river bend and saying.
Cowell nodded and took the monocular and looked at it. He could see the crew swarming in, obviously preparing to go to sea. Small boats plied back and forth between the boats and the riverbank, carrying supplies to the waiting ships. He looked along the shoreline until he found the spot where supplies were being loaded into the stranded dinghy.
From there, Colvin peered deeper inland, following the ant-like procession of laborers until he spotted a low tower, barely visible against the jungle background about five hundred meters from the river bank.
A three-story wooden tower stands amid a row of wooden buildings surrounded by a wooden fence, which together resemble a small fortress.
The druchis crouched at the edge of the jungle, watching a steady stream of laborers pushing carts past the open gates of the fence. Tall torches were thrust into the ground at intervals along the route, providing ample lighting for the laborers and the guards who stood guard at the entrances.
"Obviously they were planning an attack or voyage. Maybe we came at the right time. If it was later, they would have run away." Cowell said jokingly.
"There is another building in the distance." Genevieve said, pointing to a place further away.
"It seems to be a building left by the lizard people?" Cowell said uncertainly, and he handed the monocular to Renn again.
Through the dim light, Ren discovered that there was indeed a lizard-man building standing on the hillside in the distance, or on the cliff, but it was not a pyramid, but more like the lizard-men he had seen in the southern part of the Lustria Kaochen Plain. Remaining observation post.
"Although I don't know what that building is for, their highest command should be there, in that case..." Cowell said softly. He paused and pointed to the tower in the distance. Continuing, "The hustle and bustle is good for us all. The interior of that fort is probably busier than a beehive. An additional group of laborers is unlikely to attract unnecessary attention. The guards give all their attention to the traffic at the gate. Come on."
Although Kewell didn't say the last sentence, everyone is smart Druch, and they have been dealing with each other for more than a day or two. Renne knew what Kewell meant, just as Malekith said to him before departure. He said that tonight you are the protagonist, and everything is decided by him.
The Drukhi moved forward silently, sneaking into the jungle like shadows and circling around the perimeter of the camp until they stood in a shelter directly opposite the gate. They remained there for a moment, then waded through the sparse brush and ferns until they had a clear view of the wall and the wooden tower within.
Genevieve went out for a walk and then came back and explained what was going on inside.
Renn and Cowell exchanged a look. There were no guards. The appalling lack of defense gave Renn a creepy feeling. There must be something here that he didn't see, but he couldn't imagine what it was, and he had no time to waste. Go figure it out, he shrugged, waving the druchi on their way.
The Drukhi stood up from their hiding places and ran quickly across the open space leading to the wall. Soon they disappeared into the shadow of the wall, as if they had never been there.
The wood of the wall was made of the great trees of Lustria, broad and strong, and nailed together with thick iron nails. White mold grew in the cracks between the logs, and swarms of insects crawled along the wood's numerous cracks.
"The wall is not too high. We can lift one person up and pass him over." Ren tried to ignore the squirming carpet of life covering the wall. He looked at Cowell and said seriously.
"Sir, I'll come first!" said a family guard. If he doesn't show off at this time, he will wait until later. With a faint grunt, the family guard was pushed up by the Druchi, and he immediately found a good handholding point on the wall. He sandwiched his armored body between the tips of two logs, then bent down and tried to reach for a man.
Genevieve climbed up again without assistance, then straddled herself on top of the wall, and together they began to pull up the other druchi as fast as they could.
The last one to climb up was Ren. Two family guards took his hands and pulled him to the top of the wall, as if he was a straw kid. He didn't stop, crossed the fence with his legs, and then landed on the other side. After landing, he immediately drew the hand crossbow.
Wren could see from his vantage point that the wooden tower was built at the end of a long ballroom similar to the longhouses favored by Norscan Yankees during his previous raid on Skogi. Saw it.
Lights were burning outside the narrow arrow-shaped gaps in the longhouse walls, and smoke was rising from the two chimneys of the longhouse. Close to the longhouse are two square wooden houses. The windows are closed and it is dark and nothing can be seen. The Drukis hid in the shadows of these buildings, and Wren and the two family guards who jumped from the walls ran over to join them.
The Drukhi watched for a few minutes and listened for a few more minutes. There was no sign of activity around. Then the team walked around the corner of the square house and came to the wooden tower.
The closer he got to the wooden tower, the more Ren felt a tense atmosphere in the air, like the prelude before a storm.
Near the wooden tower, it looks like there are plenty of footholds for skilled climbers. The wooden walls were made of the same logs as the fence and were covered with some kind of shiny film. Ren tried to reach out a hand and touch the wooden wall. The wooden wall immediately separated like rotten parchment, emitting a terrible stench like ruptured intestines. Wriggling insects emerged from the holes and scurried across the ground.
"I can feel the flow of magical wind and the power of chaos in the wooden tower!" Colonia said suddenly.
"No wonder they don't rely on guards, who would want to occupy such a place?" Ren hissed, and after speaking he raised his head to estimate the length of the climb. Finally he sighed, reached out to grab it, and further tore the film open. The air was filled with more toxic gases. Although the gases were toxic, it was a pity that he couldn't smell them.
The nimble druchi climbed easily to the outside of the tower, which had a narrow window frame on each floor, taking special care to avoid the windows by passing sideways.
When Cowell was almost climbing to the second floor, a figure suddenly leaned out of the open frame and looked left and right along the wall. His body froze and he leaned against the worm-eaten wood, silently praying that the sickly creature wouldn't look directly down. Although he had the repeating crossbow cocked, he carried it on his back for ease of climbing.
Wren climbed slightly higher than Cowell, trying to identify the strange noise he heard. After a moment, the sickly creature stepped back, then suddenly popped its head back to look to the right. He suddenly found himself staring into a pair of sickly gray eyes, less than two meters away from him.
Genevieve pulled out the serrated dagger and quickly descended from the height, preparing to hit the sick creature looking at Renne hard on the head, but Colonia was faster than her.
A rustling sound appeared out of thin air, and then Ren felt a wind whistling past his ears. A black and ferocious claw appeared in the air, tightly wrapped around the throat of the sick creature.
The sickly creature barely had time to catch his breath before he was yanked forward and pulled straight out of the window. The body flew past Cowell's head silently and slammed onto the muddy ground!
Lane glanced down at Cowell, nodded to each other, and continued climbing.
The top of the tower overlooks the entire small fortress, where the family guards lie down to hide out of sight. When Renn and Cowell climbed up, a family guard pointed to a corner. Renn looked in the direction pointed and found a trap door inlaid with a black iron ring.
Ren ignored it for the time being, instead looking over the top line at the activity below. Behind the main entrance of the small fort is a wide open space filled with crates and barrels, many of which are protected by tarps. The open space is crowded with busy crews who are constantly loading, unloading and moving.
Movement near the main entrance caught Ren's attention. A guy who looked like an officer ran to the door and said something to the guard. After a while, the captain of the guard seemed to have made some kind of decision and pointed at the wooden building. The officer ran over without hesitation, obviously he had a message to convey.
Ren shook his head and crawled to the trap door. He first glanced at Colonia. When Colonia nodded to indicate that there was no magic device, he then motioned for the Druchi to join him. He pointed at a person. The family guard pointed to the black iron ring again, crouched down and aimed his repeating crossbow at the door. Cowell also moved to the position next to him, setting up his repeating crossbow on the left and right.
The family guard took a deep breath, carefully picked up the black iron ring, and then slowly opened it. The stench of decay and refining corpses rose from the space below, forming a cloud of smoke.
Cowell, who was on guard, took a deep breath without warning, inhaling the smell into his nose. His expression changed drastically, as if he was about to retching and scream in anger the next second, but he It was through his will that he suppressed his emotional and physical reactions.
Genevieve, who was about to be the first to go in, took a step back when she saw the smoke cloud and Cowell's expression. Oddly enough, except for Cowell, the Druchi chosen by Ren lost his sense of taste and smell when he came to Lustria, but Genevieve had it!
Although vampires in the medieval world did not need to breathe, they had five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Moreover, some vampires would suffer from mental illnesses such as depression due to long periods of boredom.
After Genevieve waited for the smoke to clear, she took the lead and jumped down. She saw the top of a curved staircase and a wide landing, lit by sconces mounted on the wall. Although many of the passages were in shadow, she could almost clearly see a wooden door, and she waved to Druch above to indicate it.
Entering the tower is like falling into a steam bath. The air is smelly and humid, as if the wooden tower was born with life. It pressed against Ren's exposed skin like oil, slipping greasy into every crevice and dip and making his flesh tingle at the touch. He quietly walked to the door and drew his serrated dagger.
There was a vague rumble from the stairwell downstairs, and although he didn't know what happened, Ren tried to imagine the long hall filled with sickly creatures preparing for the voyage.
Cowell was the last one to go downstairs. He didn't want to come down, but he did it anyway. He had no intention of not coming if he had known this, but he came anyway.
The remaining family guards were scattered around the stairs, expecting Wren to give his order.
Ren ordered two family guards with repeating crossbows to guard the stairs and motioned for the others to follow him. Then he turned around, put his hand on the iron ring of the door and carefully pushed it open, peering into the room through the narrow gap.
The room was dimly lit, with the light from two tilted braziers casting a faint glow across what looked like some kind of table. A figure struggled feebly on the table, apparently bound there by ropes. The room was filled with the strong smell of blood and the familiar smell of decay.
The moment the door was pushed open, Genevieve peeked inside, and then rushed into the room first. She knew that the purpose of her coming was not to watch the fun from behind. Since she chose to come, she had to do her job well. , besides, she also likes this kind of secret infiltration adventure. She turned around and stared at the dim corners around her, but there was no ambusher in the corner. She raised her head and looked at the roof, which was also empty.
The only thing in the room was the twitching wretch on the central table, to Genevieve's relief and consternation. The room was full of weirdness, like a rural temple dedicated to evil gods in the old world. The wooden table was dilapidated and stained with layers of dried blood stains. The wooden floor was stained with old blood stains and hair.
Although his mouth could still move, only painful whispers could come out from the man's tortured throat.
The niches on three walls of the room are covered with leather curtains, and in the middle of the wall opposite the door is a two-meter-sized statue of what appears to be a broad-shouldered Skinner, with a hood decorated with a pair of large, downward-curving corner.
The skeleton of the statue is covered with thick leather robes, giving the statue an unsettling vitality. The folds of the leather robe are slightly blown by the air current generated by the open door.
"What is this place?" Cowell asked, standing at the door, surveying the room with a disgusted expression.
There was an undercurrent of tension in the air of the room, ebbing and flowing like the slow beating of an invisible heart.
"Maybe it's a certain temple. No matter what it is, we should search it first." Ren shrugged and pointed at the statue with a serrated dagger.
"Be careful. If you don't want to die or get amputated, try to avoid direct contact with these things." Colonia looked around after coming in, and then stood there and felt the magical wind flowing in the wooden tower. She He added after hearing that Ren was about to search the room.
The druchis began searching with weapons in hand, some opening the curtains and others inspecting the piled items.
Among the items are dusty books and scrolls, jeweled skulls and gilded weapons, jars of liquid and sealed boxes carved with strange runes and tied with silver thread.
"It looks like a treasure room. Is this what you need?" Cowell said with a greedy grin, while pointing at a scimitar that was obviously in the Lustrian decorative style. He knew this The scimitar was not an ordinary thing, but he was not stupid enough to reach out and touch it with joy.
(End of chapter)