Chapter 42, Alpine Fortress (Part 2)

PS. The book group of this book is 725051233, there are still very few people now, everyone is welcome to exchange ideas.

The underground tunnels are the masterpieces of the dwarves, which can be traced back thousands of years ago. During the heyday of the dwarves, Charlemagne, the emperor of the human empire, and Kazadni, the supreme king of the dwarves, agreed that the plains and hills on the mainland belong to humans, and the mountains, wasteland, There are also many terrains on the plateau that are not suitable for human habitation, which belong to the dwarves. Humans and dwarves have a close relationship. Any human who comes to a dwarf country will receive a warm reception, and the dwarves will also receive hospitality from the local nobles when they come to the human empire.

So the dwarves, who were in their heyday at that time, built a huge project. They connected most of the mountains in the world by building numerous underground tunnels. Thanks to the huge underground tunnels, the footsteps of the dwarves spread all over the world. , created a splendid civilization.

Until the green skin appears.

The appearance of the green skins brought a heavy disaster to the dwarves. As a result of the hundreds of years of war, the dwarves collectively retreated to the roof of the world. Even the eternal peak of the dwarf king's court fell in the hands of the green skins. It used to be used to facilitate passage On the contrary, the underground tunnels were used by greenskins, which brought countless bitter fruits to both dwarves and humans. Now the underground tunnels are filled with a large number of greenskins, some of them are hiding in them and expanding them into cities. Tunnels and reuse their Dwarf Crusades.

God knows whether it will be a warm-hearted dwarf friend, a nasty black pointy ear, or a damn green skin that will emerge from this big hole? Lane couldn't take that risk.

"I will notify the Royal Court of Nord later and ask them to send someone to use gunpowder to blow up the hole. Now let's go upstairs and have a look." Ryan left the bloody basement.

When the two of them were walking up the stone stairs, Ryan suddenly asked with great interest: "Estelle, don't you all like close combat?"

"Because close combat is inherently evil and a symbol of barbarism and violence. A true duel full of honor should be one person with a bow and a bag of arrows, showing off his skills and speed to his heart's content, isn't it?" Estelle complained. Said: "Using melee weapons is really rude and barbaric, and it is easy to cause casualties."

"Hey, hey, the one in front of you is the White Wolf Knight..." A black line appeared on Ryan's head. The White Wolf God of War Yurik hates long-range weapons and advocates that pure men should fight in close combat, so the White Wolf Knights always Try to avoid using long-range weapons to upset Ulrich, even Ryan throws a throwing knife occasionally.

If you say that in our White Wolf Knights, you will be regarded as heresy.

"So you don't have melee units in the forest? They are all long-range? Impossible? Are all the woodland guards composed of archers?" Ryan was a little puzzled. Estelle was born in the territory of the wood elves, and the wood elves were very Mysterious, but you know with your knees that the army cannot only have long-range soldiers, which is courting death in war.

"Of course the woodland guards are all made up of archers. As for the melee soldiers you mentioned, Ryan, they are called eternal guards. They hold giant shields and use spears and scimitars to fight. But everyone is also a good player with bows and arrows." Estelle shrugged and followed Ryan closely. The gray-white stone wall beside him was damaged in many places due to disrepair. The cold wind blowing from the shooting hole made the half-elf shrink his neck: "The rest I can't tell you more, you just need to know that although the Eternal Guards fight in close quarters, their bows and arrows are not inferior to the Woodland Guards."

"But the Eternal Guard takes longer to train, right? For example, if the Woodland Guard takes ten years to train, then the Eternal Guard may take thirty years? Thirty years is enough for two beasts to live Twenty warbands of beastmen have been sent out, and now I understand why the army of the wood elves is far superior to those warbands of beastmen in terms of quantity and quality, but they are still plagued by those beastmen.

Because you can't support the long-term consumption of war at all, am I right? Ryan said step by step, casually.

"...As you said, although the forest has always been victorious in the war against filth for decades, our population and army numbers are declining, and...the tree people have been corrupted in recent years It's getting worse, and it's hard for me to imagine that those violent tree elders are the amiable and wise elders in fairy tales." Estelle shook his head full of disappointment: "We have to form more patrol teams and The Eternal Guard, to make up for the loss of combat power."

Ryan nodded silently. Treants are a very, very important combat force among wood elves. Ordinary treants are several meters high, and the tall ancient treants are even tens of meters high. They can make several people move with a slight wave of their arms. Human soldiers fly into the sky, and their bodies strengthened by magic and runes are not so afraid of all kinds of firearms and bows. They are the mainstay of the Wood Elf army.

The two of them didn't continue the conversation because they had reached their destination.

In other words, it was not because the destination was reached, but because there was no road ahead, the stairs of the tower were severely damaged, and the distance between the broken stairs was seven or eight steps away. On the opposite side, a lonely wooden door appeared in front of the two people.

After a short discussion, the two decided to divide the work. Ryan asked Estelle to go back and inform the caravan that the fortress was not a suitable resting place. After seeing the half-elf leave, Ryan refocused on the lonely wooden door opposite the broken staircase. .

The distance of seven or eight steps is a distance that is difficult for mortals to cross, even the dexterity of a half-elf cannot cross it.

But I'm different, I'm my father's son.

Just do what he wants, Ryan started to step back slowly, he retreated seven or eight steps away, then took his own steps, kicked his right leg hard, and jumped forward, powerful spiritual energy gathered around him, just like the spring in early spring. The breeze lifted his heavy chain armor and body, and with the sound of landing, the White Wolf Knight successfully landed on the other side.

The heavy and decayed wooden door was pushed open by the White Wolf Knight with brute force, and the wooden bolt shattered under Ryan's powerful force. The moment the door was pushed open, Ryan took a step back, raised the hammer, and was done. Ready for battle.

There was no movement, as if the enemy attack he had imagined did not happen, and he entered the interior of the house. The furnishings inside were very simple, with only a table, a simple wooden bed, a window that was sealed from the inside, and A... skeleton sitting on a chair.

Judging from the spider silk and dust on the skeleton, this skeleton should have been in this place for at least two years. The corpse has been completely decomposed, and its palm is placed on the book.

"The skull is intact, which means that he is still a human being." Ryan murmured.

Sometimes it is difficult to explain the empire's obsession with skulls. The emblems of all the knights of the empire include skull patterns. The shape of the skull is in the center of the sacred crown that symbolizes the identity of the emperor of the empire, whether it is the emperor himself or a symbol of human power. The hardcore electors like to decorate themselves with skull patterns.

When Ryan first came to this world, he thought that there was some kind of Monkey D. Luffy created the era of great pirates. Everyone wanted to be the king of pirates, so everyone loved to use this.

Later he learned that the skull symbolizes purity.

The temptation of chaos is always threatening human beings. Anyone who succumbs to chaos will have terrible mutations. As long as they fall, they can no longer change back to their original appearance. Only the pure and flawless skulls prove that they have never surrendered to chaos. yield.

Likewise, skulls are prized trophies of Chaos Warriors and Chaos Champions, and even Daemon Princes.

With doubts and curiosity, Ryan gently picked up the book.

The book is very old, the handwriting is blurred in some places, and the ink in some places has faded because it has not been well preserved. This person's Low Gothic is quite bad, and there are many typos and even forced spelling in many places Strange characters, but the general meaning can still be read through.

Low Gothic is the language used by ordinary peasants, bourgeoisie and even low-class nobles. This language is easy to understand and easier to master, but it is not so standardized in terms of writing and accent. If you speak High Gothic If the great nobles on both sides of the mainland can also talk easily and fluently, then the Low Gothic language of the Nord Kingdom and the Tuscan Electorate in the south of the empire is almost two languages ​​from writing to pronunciation.

"Imperial calendar 1469, the third year I came to Scarville Hill."

Ryan frowned, this was more than ten years ago.

"A big incident happened today. A brother said that when he entered the mountain, he saw a person washing clothes at the source of the river. Ha, it really amused us. How can people be seen in such a ghostly place? No one knows how to spend money. I came to this place to wash clothes in two days, I think we can laugh at this joke for a day, hahahahaha~"

"Well, I think my brothers are all possessed. Today, two loyal soldiers told me that they saw a man washing clothes at the source of the river, but if they were asked to describe in detail what this man looked like, they couldn't help it. I don’t know, or I can’t speak, I can only say that he feels very tall, very tall, and has long bright golden hair.”

"These big soldiers are really crazy! Today they told me that they saw someone washing clothes when they were patrolling. What the hell? Did their years of military life teach them to see people washing clothes?"

"It feels like something is wrong. More and more soldiers have seen this situation. It seems that there is really a family in the deep mountains."

"Maybe I should take someone to see it."

Then there was a long blank passage, in which several pages had been torn out, and a different script had been changed.

"In 1472 Imperial Calendar, our fortress ushered in an annoying mission knight. These knights from Brittania seemed to be out of their minds. I don't know if it was the boy who told him that there was a seal in the deep mountain. Rumors of monsters?"

"Something is wrong. The mission knight has been away for more than a week, but there is still no news."

The next few pages were filled with scribbles, mixed with dust and dirt, and some inexplicable words.

"Thank goodness! That mysterious hermit saved us! God damned knight of Brittany! He actually brought in fearsome Beastman warbands in order to show his lady's prowess! We fought hard and were outnumbered , at the critical moment, our friends came to rescue us, God, I have never seen such a tall and powerful person, my head is only on his arm!"

"Our friend was wearing a very large full-body plate armor, wearing a black wolf fur cloak, and holding a huge one-handed sword. He swung the sword at the waist and chopped off the invincible shrieking shaman, causing the beast king to flee. Finally defeated."

"We brought out the best food and fine wines to entertain this guest. Our friend was not polite, but he didn't want to tell us his name and title. He said he was a sinner, so it's not convenient to disclose it. Name and title, he asked us about the World Tree, but unfortunately none of us knew about it, so we could only tell him that there were many elves in the Southern Knight Kingdom, disappointed, he said goodbye to us."

What followed were some journals, and Ryan turned back vigorously. He noticed that the notes and handwriting had changed by another person, obviously another captain of the guard.

Turning to the last few pages, the handwriting became hurried: "The Beastmen are coming again. There are thousands of them, and they have besieged the fortress. We can't hold on anymore. At most tomorrow, tomorrow morning, if the reinforcements don't come... …we will fight to the last man.”

"We couldn't escape. The fierce battle attracted green skins. They appeared from the basement. The green skins attacked us and the beastmen directly regardless of their targets. This gave us a chance to breathe. In desperation, I used a mechanism to smash the stairs, and I retreated here."

"We can't escape."

This is the end of the diary, or military record.

Full body plate armor? Wolf fur cloak? tall and big? Ryan frowned. Most of the knights who would decorate themselves with wolf skins were the knights of the White Wolf Knights. He was thinking about whether there was anyone worthy of the title.

Hmm~ The person who wears the crime, one person fights back the Beastman gang, and asks about the World Tree...

Ryan's eyes gradually lit up.

Yes, it must be him, there will be no one else but him.

The former head wolf, the former head of the White Wolf Knights who was once canonized as the "Wolf Lord" by the White Wolf God of War, the strong man in the sanctuary, Logan Frings, known as "Iron Claw".

It was just that in the great holy war one hundred and fifty years ago, Logan tasted a shameful defeat. The White Wolf Knights suffered heavy losses in the war against the Chaos army, and the White Wolf Archbishop also died gloriously in battle. After the war, he was held accountable for his faults, but the great white wolf paladin still chose to exile himself. He put down the knight badge that symbolized glory, and left White Wolf City alone. He has not been heard from since then.

Just why did he look for the World Tree?

Ryan instinctively felt that there must be a story in it, and it must be related to Urick's arrival.

What exactly is Logan looking for? Why did Ulric lower his avatar for the head of a Beastman?

More and more doubts filled Ryan's thoughts.

Until the savage horn outside brought his thoughts back to reality, Ryan immediately realized that something was going on outside.

correct! Why hasn't Estelle come back yet! ?

Damn, something went wrong!