Chapter 233 Ancient Ruins

The further east we travel, the thinner the fog becomes, but the sky is still gloomy, as if the sun cannot penetrate this sea area. )]>〕〉]>??}]

The surrounding reefs are also getting higher and higher, gradually turning into thick stone pillars. For some reason, the water level is obviously dropping, but the boat is still very stable. Even the waves on the sea surface have decreased, and it is as calm as a windless lake.

"Why didn't you wait for the sea water to subside completely before entering the Shadow Sea?" Tilly asked puzzled, "After the reefs are all exposed, you don't have to be afraid of hitting the reefs, right?"

"Because when the sea tide ebbs, we won't see the ghostly Red River, and it is the only way to guide explorers to the ruins," Lei Ting explained, "These pillar-like islands are not fixed, every time the tide rises and falls , the position between the islands will change. In addition, most of the marks will be swallowed by sea water, so they cannot be used to locate the direction.”

"Ghost... Red River?" she repeated.

"That's right. Look, this is it—" Thunder whistled and pointed towards the bow of the ship.

The witches looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a few red figures appearing in the dark green water—they passed by like phantoms. But soon, two or three red shadows floated past again, this time Ashes saw the target clearly, it was actually an orange-red fish.

"This is... fish?"

"The red scale fish unique to the Shadow Islands," Lei Ting said with a smile while rubbing his chin, "you will see later, the true face of the Ghost Shadow Red River."

Gradually, there were more and more fish, and they no longer appeared in twos and threes, but gathered together and swam towards the stern of the ship collectively—looking forward from a distance, Ash Ash was shocked by what he saw. More and more fish merged into this torrent, and a dark red thick line appeared in the sea water. The sailboat is obviously following this red line, and the fish pass through the bottom of the boat, and the sound of ping-pong-pong can be heard from time to time.

So, she suddenly realized that this is the Ghost Shadow Red River—a strange river that doesn't exist! As the boats continue to move forward, the dense fish school has expanded into a channel that can accommodate several ships in parallel. The dark green sea water seems to disappear, and the sailboat seems to be driving on top of the fish school. If the two directions are not exactly opposite, she There is even an illusion that the boat is being carried by fish.

"Why is this?" Tilly asked in surprise.

Ashes also wanted to ask this question. In Graycastle or other kingdoms, it was absolutely impossible to see such a scene—the mist covering the periphery, the gloomy sky, the strangely shaped boulders, and the "river" made up of red scale fish. For the first time, she was overwhelmed by the wonders of the sea.

"Because of the main island," Lei Ting said, "it's like a triangular spire, with a huge hole running through the tower. These red scale fish like to lay eggs in the hole and reproduce. When the tide falls, the hole It will surface, and the resident fish will always be the first to feel the change in the water level and swarm out. So as long as we follow the Ghost Shadow Red River, we can reach the Shadow Main Island."

"Lord Thunder, there is a huge obstacle ahead! It looks like a big mountain!" the lookout shouted.

"Looks like we're almost there," he shook out his pipe. "Welcome to the Shadow Isles, ladies."

After a while, Ashes also saw the appearance of the main island. Just as Lei Ting said, it was like a piece of triangles, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, and the surface looked very flat at first glance, not like a natural creation at all. But to say that the entire tower was cut out by the population, that would be too amazing. The exposed tower body is almost half the size of a city, and the gap in the middle is enough to accommodate a Babel Tower of the Hermes Church.

The sea water is still receding, the accumulated water at the top of the huge cave is like a waterfall, and the submerged part below is completely covered by fish schools, dyeing the sea area within the range of vision red, Ashes can't help but think to himself, the people living in the cave There are probably tens of millions of red scale fish.

It was not until the sky darkened that the sea water completely retreated to the bottom of the cave. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lei Ting ordered the sailors to stop the ship and connect it to the copper stake at the entrance of the cave with a thick hemp rope. Standing on the edge of the giant hole, you can see the opening on the opposite side from a distance - the light incident from both ends can only illuminate a small area, and the center of the hole is almost completely dark, which makes people feel inexplicably depressed.

"Are these piles left by you last time?" Ashes asked.

"No," Lei Ting shook his head. "When I first came here, the copper piles already existed. They should all be built by the owner of the ruins."

"Where are the ruins...?"

He smiled and pointed upwards, "Just above our heads, we are already standing at the entrance of the ruins."

...

The next journey can only be described as unbelievable. The witches followed Lei Ting and his party, entered through a stone gate at the bottom of the huge cave, and circled up step by step along the stone steps with gurgling water. Although everyone was holding torches, the dancing flames were weak and insignificant compared to the endless stairs.

Walking forward in the abyss-like darkness, Tilly held onto Ashes' arm tightly, completely losing her usual composure.

This is Her Royal Highness that she knows well, Hui Hui thought. When she was in the palace, the biggest weakness of this fifth princess who always had her own ideas and was confident in the face of any difficulty was her fear of the dark. Even when going to bed at night, candles are lit in the room. When escaping from the palace, if there was no condition to do so, he would fall asleep by her side.

Walking in the damp and dark steeple, Ashes' mood became much happier.

I didn't encounter any evil beasts along the way, and there were no mechanisms to hinder the intruders—even if there were, they would probably have lost their effectiveness after being soaked in seawater for a long time. The only problem was that the long climb exhausted most of the group's physical strength, and everyone's movements became slower and slower. When the stone steps finally reached the end, there was a burst of cheers in the group.

The last level of the ruins is not a stone gate, but made of metal, which reflects brightly under the torchlight. Lei Ting pushed the door forcefully with both hands, and the thick door panel made an ear-piercing friction sound, and slowly opened it.

Ashes held a sword in one hand and entered the room first. After looking around to confirm that there was no danger, she let Tilly and the other witches enter the room.

As the torches hung all over the walls, a wide hall appeared in front of everyone—although it was wide, it seemed empty, and it could be swept away at a glance, and there was nothing worth thinking about.

"This is the relic?" She stroked the green stone table top soaked in water, "Except for some stone tables and stools, there is nothing here."

"Indeed there are very few left," Lei Ting nodded. "It has been sleeping on the bottom of the sea for too long, and it is difficult to preserve anything except stones. I also told Her Highness Tilly, but she insisted on coming to see it herself."

"Where are those red stones?" Tilly asked, "Where did you find them?"

"It was on the ground, scattered all over the place at that time, probably dozens of them."

However, there was nothing now. Ashes looked down at the slippery ground where seaweed had grown. The explorers who arrived here were not only Lei Ting.

But Tilly was still full of interest. She held up the torch and looked carefully at every corner of the hall, especially the dark places. She would ask the sailors to add a few more torches. Molly summoned her magic servants, spread them out on the ground, and used them as cushions for everyone to rest. Ashes followed Tilly, watching her groping around on the wall.

"Hey." Suddenly, the fifth princess stopped, "What is this?"

Ashes followed her gaze, and saw a faint reflection of fire on the wall covered with a piece of green moss.

Tilly reached out and tore off the green moss, only to see a gemstone half buried in the stone wall exposed—it was also bright red, as crystal clear as a magic stone, in the shape of a prism, about the thickness of an arm, but surrounded by There are gold filaments like a card slot holding it in. Even after being submerged in seawater for such a long time, the gold thread wrapped around the stone is still as clean as new.

Tilly tried to pull it out, but the gem didn't budge.

"Let me do it," Ashes said.

The fifth princess shook her head, as if she was thinking about something, then she put her hands on the prism and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, a ray of light flashed in the center of the prism—— Ashes thought he was dazzled, but soon there was a rumbling echo from behind the wall, as if some mechanism had been touched, and it spread to the entire hall in a short while. There were creaking and rubbing sounds everywhere on the stone wall, and groups of soft white light suddenly appeared from the wall, and even the ceiling above the head was lit up.

The sailors stood up in panic and drew their weapons one after another, but they didn't know which side to defend. In the end, they could only stick together back to back, forming a group around Morill's magic servants.

However, no monster rushed out.

When the sound returned to calm, the hall was already brightly lit. (To be continued.)