Chapter 583 434 Secret Passage

The Dust Staff is made of a dark shabele wood, with faintly visible black runes on the surface, emitting a faint glow. At the top of the staff, there is a purple gem covered with black crystals. The appearance of the entire staff incorporates the mysterious elements of Araby, with intricate lines, exuding a sacred and ancient atmosphere while giving people a sense of foreign lands.

"It's real, the Dust Staff."

The Dust Staff comes from Araby and is a very rare item. It is a legacy studied by a group of benevolent necromancers who can be called heretics. The staff cannot summon the undead, but can exile the undead. Due to its rarity, there is no second Dust Staff in the world. If it is mastered by a spellcaster who is proficient in the wind of Shaxu, it can burst out with impressive power. The most important thing is that the staff can be modified in the hands of an elf spellcaster, bursting out with even stronger power.

Now is not the time to roll points to distribute the spoils, but Daxus is not going to come to these two rooms again, and the staff is temporarily held by Kolonia. When the team pulled out of the passage, a handful of red beans were scattered in the corridor.

Opposite the Book of Flesh and Blood, there are two rooms. One of the rooms looks like it only has rows of dry compost beds on the floor and many half-rotten wooden troughs hanging on metal frames. Some of the wooden troughs have collapsed, and plants and molds cover most of the walls and floors. There is no doubt that this is the place where Drake Fels makes poison.

However, these plants and molds have not been taken care of for decades and have changed considerably under the magic of the castle. They are eager to get nutrients from anything that can get nutrients, including elves entering the room. There are no valuable items in the room, and just when the plants and molds are about to spit out poisonous clouds, the door is closed.

The other room looks similar to the previous alchemy room, but there are no valuable items in it, just some worthless bits and pieces, covered with dust and cobwebs.

The door of the room next to the Book of Flesh and Blood is open, and the messy monsters rushed out from here. The room was filled with all kinds of torture equipment, arranged very carefully, almost excessively, all kept clean, polished and sharp.

In a magical brazier in the northwest corner were several hot irons, next to a marble-inlaid iron stand to which the body could be tied, and a tray of gleaming metal scalpels, thumb clamps, bone crushers, tweezers and similar tools. On the other side were torture racks, handcuffs hanging from the ceiling, many sticks and belts, iron maidens, and so on.

After Cowell entered the room, he picked up a branding iron and checked it after getting confirmation from the casters, and then threw it into the brazier like throwing away garbage.

"There should have been a prison boss here before, but..."

Darkius nodded. He knew what Cowell was talking about in the second half of his sentence. Maybe if he looked carefully, he could find the remains of the prison boss in the corridor? But the probability was not high. The force of the metal jet just now was so strong that it evaporated directly.

One cell was converted into a living room, which was used for rest and to display the various collections of the prison boss. In addition to the ears of humans, dwarves and halflings hanging on the wall like dried bacon, there were 14 bell-shaped bottles filled with eyeballs, which looked like jars filled with pickled quail eggs... It was as curious as it could be. The dragonborn had never seen this before, and they crowded in the room to watch.

"14 bottles, each bottle contains 50 to 150 eyes..."

Cowell was halfway through his words when he was glared back fiercely and raised his hand to hit him. He knew that his brother didn't like these things.

In addition to the ears and eyeballs, the team also found a coin box hidden under the supporting wooden board, which contained more than 300 human coins of various types. There was no doubt that these coins belonged to the victims.

The other cells were empty and almost uncomfortably clean. The prison boss was like a mysophobe and was committed to keeping the place clean. But the team still found something. In the gap of one of the cells, a silver ring was found with the symbol of the goddess of wisdom engraved on it, indicating that a follower of Verena was imprisoned here.

Daxus did not enter the room on the right outer side of the square plane. He lit his pipe and leaned against the corridor to restore his SAN value. In his opinion, this place is not for people to stay. Compared with the dark dungeon, it is just a child's play. How twisted must Drakefels be to do such a mess.

Daxus's decision was correct. The elves and dragonborn who entered suffered a strong mental shock. They shouted and cursed, but strangely, even though the cursing was unbearable, there was still a force that pushed them to look on invisibly.

Like the previous room, this room also focuses on torture, but the intensity is a bit higher than the previous room. There is an iron fence on the door of each cell, and there are burning torches maintained by magic in the cell, which allows people to see the situation inside the cell. Each cell contained only one prisoner, locked with rustless chains and heavy shackles, unable to move, and kept alive and conscious by magic, forever being subjected to a specific torture.

The cell on the far left of the entrance held a starving ogre, desperately pulling at a piece of meat that seemed to be pressed against the opposite wall of the cell. What was maddening was that there was a human face on the piece of meat, hiding in obvious fear and anxiety.

The second room held a naked greenskin, who was chained to a bed of nails. The nails tore the boil-covered flesh on his back, and he kept moaning.

"This is...orc war general?"

"The orc warlord who disobeyed Drakfels?"

The third room held a handsome young man, wearing a suit of clothing that had long been out of fashion in Tyrell. He was eternally damned. He is cursed to stare into a mirror, straighten himself out, and as his reflection in the mirror suddenly changes, so does his appearance. Boils and scabs broke out on his flesh, his body became stooped and arthritic, and his skin became old and withered.

Could it be that Drake Fells was jealous of the young man's handsomeness?

The next rooms are empty, but the fifth room contains a disturbing prisoner. Here, Drakfels imprisoned a woman who had offended him and placed a terrible curse on her. The woman is reduced to a skeleton, but she believes she is still alive and very charming. She also wore some revealing clothing to enhance the effect. Upon seeing her visitor, she desperately tried to use her seductive charm to lure the elves into rescuing her, telling the harrowing story of her long imprisonment.

Most of the rooms were empty, and just when the elves thought it was over, they discovered a robed man wearing the symbol of Sigmar in one of the cells. His torture was to force him to face the carvings on the wall, carvings of demonic faces. There was a long moving tongue on it, tearing at his neck and chest. He could only moan in pain as blood oozed from the purple-flecked wounds and flowed down his body.

"They have gone mad and will die immediately when released from their cells. They have been here so long that the magic within the cells is keeping them alive."

After some research, the elves took action, and with the removal of magic and the appearance of the metal jet, the suffering of the beings imprisoned in the cell was ended.

The next room is relatively normal. After the door is opened, there are four large locked boxes in the room. Each box is covered by a locked iron fence. They could get through the gaps between the iron fences, but the team did not. Instead, they used a rough method. The Dragonborn performed a show of crushing boulders with their chests and breaking steel bars with their bare hands. The iron fences were beyond recognition under their destruction, like The dragon's mouth seemed to take a bite.

Each box was made of black lacquered wood with iron hoops, copper fittings, and intricate, sinister locks.

It's Genevieve's time to shine.

The first box was equipped with a spring-popped dart trap. As Genevieve turned, the trap was released and the box was opened. The second box was much the same as the first, except that it contained a delicate glass ball filled with yellow mold spores that acted as a balancing ball.

The third chest has a slightly rotted but permanent magic lock on it that cannot be opened from the sides as it has a full iron inlay, the only way to force it open is to use a crowbar to open the lid, but there is a particularly vicious trap here , a set of extremely sharp blades pop inward, causing the entire top of the box to suddenly be filled with blades.

If you put your hand in rashly, there is a high probability that your hand will remain in the box. But these mechanisms were nothing to Genevieve. She directly used physical means to pick the lock.

The fourth box is somewhat special. There is a demon imprisoned in the box. But this was not a problem either. When the box was opened, Carlion, who was shooting at close range, pressed the crossbow. The devil was happily sent away before he could react.

Money, money, money, all money.

Eight large bags were filled with brass pennies. They were so heavy that the elves could not lift them without the blessing of magic. In the end, it was the dragonborn who worked together to lift them out. Darkus went up and kicked him, but found that he couldn't do it at all. He estimated that the pennies in the eight big bags must have exceeded 10,000. It was like going to a bank to rob and steal 1 yuan of steel.

The four smaller bags were filled with silver shillings, conservatively estimated to be less than ten thousand, but there were still several thousand, but they were not valuable. The value of 2-300 imperial crowns would be sky-high.

One bag beneath the silver shillings contained nearly a thousand imperial crowns, and another bag contained nearly a thousand Bretonnian crowns, bearing the image of King Louis. However, the quality of this batch of Eju is not good. It is mixed with a large amount of red gold and does not contain much gold. It is obviously a counterfeit currency of the private sector and is not worth as much as a bag of pennies. The third bag contains nearly two thousand Kislev ducats, but the gold content is also not good, and the exchange ratio with the imperial crown is three to one.

The currency systems of Kislev and the Empire are very different, except for the name, exchange ratio and gold content. The gold coin is called "Dukat". Whenever a new tsar ascends the throne, the Dukat will be recast, with the stamp on the front There was a new Tsar or Tsarina's head, the only thing that didn't change was the back. The silver coin is called "Danga", which is more common than the Dukat in Kislev. The copper coin is called "Puluo". There is a roaring bear head on the front and back, which represents the bear god and symbolizes Kislev. The Srivi nation has a long and enduring courage.

One of the boxes is filled with nearly a thousand ancient collection coins and limited-edition coins, with the portraits of former imperial emperors printed on them. For collectors, these coins can achieve an exchange ratio of one to ten, but they have to be sold out slowly. , the collection coins are like this, they will be worthless if they are all released.

The third box had no bag, only a small, gorgeous box made of mahogany and teak, inlaid with silver threads and lined with red velvet. The box itself was worth a fortune, worth 250 imperial crowns. After opening it, there were compartments of different sizes, with 24 peridots, rubies, pearls, and spinels of different sizes placed in them, conservatively estimated to be worth more than ten thousand.

There was nothing in the fourth box, only the demon that was sent away.

Daquus felt that his trip was not in vain. After counting the spoils, each elf, including the Dragonborn, could get 200 imperial crowns. There was no way, he had more than 500 people to take care of, and as the leader, he had to ensure that everyone did not come in vain. How to spend money or not being interested in money was one thing, but whether there was money or not was another.

According to the price of the empire, the breastplate is worth about 10 imperial crowns, the open helmet is worth 2, the closed helmet is worth 3, the arm guard is worth 8, and the leg guard is worth 10. A full set of plate armor costs about 30, and this is the factory price. In the empire, a four-wheeled passenger carriage with a roof is worth 70, but the military horse is a bit expensive, fluctuating between about 250. What kind of purchasing power is this?

After coming out of the treasure room, the team continued to move deeper into the castle. At this time, the corridor began to change, just like what the team encountered on the first floor, but this did not stop the team from moving forward.

As the team continued to go deeper, a flame ghost appeared and blocked the front of the team. The ghost appeared as a middle-aged man as thin as a scarecrow, with a hunchback, often mumbling and giggling. Strangely, there are tiny elemental effects around the ghost, tiny phosphorescent sparks will appear on its hands, the stones under its feet will produce tiny ripples, there will be a slight breeze around its head, and the stones on the wall will suddenly become wet and drip.

"What is this?"

"Elementalist?"

"Strange existence."

Academic time has begun again. The spellcasters believe that the ghost was a mage in his lifetime, but not an eight-wind mage, but an elementalist. After all, the ghost has wind, fire, and water. A typical elementalist, an elementalist ghost who was forced to help Drakefels conduct centuries of research?

The ghost standing there had no intention of attacking, but kept muttering to himself, obviously his mind was completely insane. Under normal circumstances, it is a very dangerous opponent, but its luck is obviously not very good... Maybe it's because of the confrontation for too long, the explosion appeared in its hand, and then it was surrounded by a huge flame halo around its body, and then the unreliability of the elementalist was manifested, and its form was ignited. The spellcaster used the loading method to guide the Aksha Wind, but it couldn't control the excessive Aksha Wind at all. It was ignited by the Aksha Wind, a typical case of playing with fire and peeing on the kang.

"Just behind..."

This is undoubtedly nonsense. Most of the elves present can already sense that there is something behind the wall opposite the corridor, which is likely to be Drakefers, but the space behind the wall seems to be independent, with no door, let alone a secret door. No physical or magical means can force the wall, and the wall has a barrier that isolates magic from passing through.

"Do we need to turn into dragons?"

"No! Something terrible will happen, which is more terrible than you being crushed by the masonry of the castle." When Springtwin finished speaking, Colonia denied it in a hurry.

The other spellcasters either looked gloomy or shook their heads in denial.

Darkus leaned against the wall on the other side and did not participate in the topic. He knew that the wall opposite him should be the core of the entire Dragon Rock Castle, but the problem was... Dragon Rock Castle was alive, which was why he chose to pass normally instead of doing some fancy tricks, because this might kill him, such as going to the Chaos Demon Realm to report to the Four Gods.

Turning into a dragon might be a solution, but it's not a good solution. It's full of unknowns and dangers. If it goes wrong, it might kill the whole group. Another trip to the Chaos Realm would be hilarious. It would make people laugh to death if they told others about it. Besides, it's still a question whether they can come back.

"Think about it. If it were you, where would you place the most core place?" Just as Daxus was thinking, Maranul called some Duruchi to his side and asked. The Duruchi he called had one thing in common.

"Basement." Aspern answered without hesitation. Just as he said, his family's wealth and important items were placed in the basement by his father.

"Basement." Several other Duruchi answered in unison.

These Duruchi are all children of the rich and powerful, and their families all have castles. The structure outside the castle is a typical elf and Duruchi style, but the internal structure is similar to Dragon Rock Castle.

"Bedroom?" Ryan kept giving advice, and his words attracted the surprised gazes of the Druki around him. He shrugged and continued, "Is there a problem with placing a secret door in the bedroom?"

"No problem, it could also be a study."

"Or the throne room?"

"Is there a possibility that the objects or mirrors in the throne room? Or...what's wrong with the mirror in the summoning room? That mirror is too abrupt when placed there." After listening to the conversation, Alatar thought of something and asked Colonia beside him.

"Is it possible?" Colonia did not deny or agree. Although she was a polymath, polymaths also have their upsides. Her arms reminded her all the time.

"Throne room?" Daxus thought. If his memory was correct, in history, Genevieve met Drakefers in the throne room when she first came here. The second time was a little special. It was in the hall where the team danced before.

It is known that Drakefers participated in the Battle of Altdorf not long ago. There is a high probability that he was affected by the tactical nuclear bomb. No matter how powerful an individual is, he cannot resist when facing such a great force. Just kidding, that is the energy gathered by Elsin Alvin for thousands of years. Those messy troops were also thrown in Altdorf. Only a few or the remaining troops survived. When the team came to the dungeon, the remaining troops launched the final attack.

Drakefers was either unscathed and hiding in a corner of Dragon Rock Castle, or too weak to fight back effectively. Dacus thought the former was unlikely. If it were him, he would have fought back long ago instead of whispering in a ridiculous way. There were too many places and too many opportunities for him to attack along the way, but in the end there was nothing. Except for the checkpoints, the team was unimpeded.

"Other places on the first floor?" After thinking for a moment, Dacus looked at Asanok and asked.

"Guest rooms, 14 normal guest rooms, in addition to the guest rooms, there are master bedrooms and bathrooms." Asanok answered with a gloomy face. He thought carefully while speaking, because he thought what Ryan said was possible.

The bathroom had a marble bathtub, surrounded by several copper jugs, liquid soap bottles and an ivory comb on the washstand, and decorations such as towels. A black-trimmed silk jacket hanging on a hook was cast with protective magic, which was considered as soft armor worn inside the armor. There was nothing else.

The master bedroom was beautifully decorated, with wooden floors made from mahogany from Lustria, walls hung with black and red silk and satin, and a comfortable armchair, table, and other fine furniture creating a luxurious atmosphere.

Dominating the room was the bed, a four-poster bed that was endowed with magic to move and attack, with bedposts made of hundreds of fused bones, and a bed frame made of fused ribs and skulls. Black curtains hung from the crossbars of the bed, with four strange creatures embroidered on each of the side curtains, and an angel image embroidered on each of the curtains at both ends of the bed, holding a golden horn, which looked out of place.

A strange battle, the bed was collapsed by Kladin and his team. The team found a pile of black opals, a pink coral stick, four bloodstones, and a pair of concave golden goblets, but no secret room or secret compartment was found in the room.

"Turn around! Go look at the mirror." It was not a good idea to stay here, Dacus made a decision, and he decided to start from the nearest suspicious place.

The team turned around and moved along the corridor. Soon, they came to the room that could summon the Tzeentch.

Darkius thought that there was something wrong with this room, but it was not the room that had the problem, but the magic circle. He was puzzled as to why Tzeentch did not make a move? Waiting? Or was it unnecessary? Or...

"There is indeed something wrong with the mirror, and the magic pattern has been tampered with."

"Can the magic circle be destroyed?" Darkius asked a key question.

"Yes! The magic circle must be destroyed!"

What a trick. Darkius understood. Everything made sense, but it didn't make sense. Why didn't those messy troops stay in the summoning room? Cooperate with the demon to launch an attack, but appeared in the passage all at once.

Darkius couldn't figure out this problem even if he racked his brains, because the root of the problem was Mhava. This female warrior and female chieftain, as the king who once ruled the entire Wobergland, never chose to succumb to Chaos during her lifetime. Naturally, she was unwilling to be inferior to others after becoming the queen of corpse demons.

After the Battle of Altdorf, Mhava's chance came, the chance to break free from bondage and slavery. She chose to obey Drakefers' orders, and when Drakefers entered the mirror and hid, she chose not to listen or changed her way, messing up Drakefers' plan.

However, the problem is that Daxus didn't know the existence of such a person as Mhava from beginning to end... His information chain lacked a key puzzle.

The core is the mirror, but the premise of entering the mirror requires activating or destroying the magic circle, and the magic circle is Drakefers' killer move. Drakefers hid in the mirror, and the skeleton room behind was a bait and disguise. Before the magic circle was destroyed or activated, it was impossible to enter the mirror. Fortunately, the team's lineup is very luxurious, and there is no need to face the Lord of Change. Even if facing the Lord of Change, the team can easily win. The problem is... the team is here for excitement, not for excitement.

More importantly, Daxus's connection with Tzeentch was too close. He didn't want to talk to the Lord of Change in public, discuss fate or philosophy, or let the Lord of Change attack unilaterally. Who knows what will come out of that bird's mouth. This is not good... It is not conducive to unity.

When the tobacco in the pipe burned out again, the staff was destroyed by the casters, and the magic pattern on the mirror was reactivated.

The scene in the room is chilling and full of eerie atmosphere. The temperature of the room is very cold and filled with icy mist. Soul chrysalis floats towards the team and surrounds them. These soul chrysalis that look like twisted human heads are pupating like giant maggots. Their remaining hands are groping around, and their blind faces are twisting forward. The whole effect looks like ordinary It's like a human face being stretched on a latex film, indescribably weird and distorted.

The Soul Chrysalis are physically unable to cause any damage, but fortunately the team is not the Chopper Team, with various weapons activated by various oils and magic. The elves chopped apart the soul chrysalis that tried to press against them on the ground and in mid-air. The battle lasted for a very long time, as if the essence of the entire Dragon Rock Castle was here, endless.

"It turns out you have eyes. I thought you were blind." Darkus, who killed a soul chrysalis, joked.

The soul chrysalis has eyes, and before death the pupils dilate with fear, the skull becomes translucent, and white tangled ropes begin to form spirals within it. These ropes extend into the distance, like dolls with silk threads, and the essence of the soul is continuously extracted.

Images, feelings, and emotions flow along the rope into Drakfels' hands, compressing the chrysalis of the soul into a fragile stream of dust that is all that is the soul. Their heads were suddenly thrown back, their lower jaws were dislocated, their eyes suddenly turned black and hollow, and in an instant, they disappeared into a pool of gray mucus.

There was a steady stream of soul chrysalises after all, and the floor of the room was covered with gray mucus.

"There's a door there."

Even the members present noticed that a door stood in the distance. The door was an ordinary door with a lock, without any restrictions or magic. Genevieve, who was proficient in unlocking, fiddled with it twice and the door opened.

Behind the door is a downward passage that looks like a giant trachea, pulsing with a gentle rhythm. The structure looks like cartilage covered by a membrane, and slender blood vessels can be seen under the membrane. There are many tough cilia and small polyps along the tubes, as well as some small sections of scar tissue. The whole thing feels like entering after being shrunk. The same as in the heart of a certain creature.

Drusala slashed at the passage with her blade, and as she judged, the passage did not bleed, repairing itself immediately after taking damage.

There are no steps in the passage, but it keeps going downwards. If you can, you can slide down directly with a shovel. The ground is soft enough, just like a real organ. There was no climbing, no slipping, and no flying. Darkus used conventional methods, using a rope to go down slowly. He didn't want to climb up like a rock climber when he came back.

Darkus's judgment was correct. There were many twisted loops that were misleading on the way down. Only the intersection of one channel could lead to the core correctly.

"Use the hammer, it's time to end this, and it's your time." After landing, Darkus said to Genevieve, who was looking at him.

In the central hall, there is a luxurious coffin that exudes a dark, twisted and evil atmosphere. Its surface is painted with dark black paint, and metal rivets are dotted on the four corners of the coffin, like the claws of a devil. Those who gaze cannot help but feel A chill came over me. The carvings on the coffin are full of twisted patterns and evil symbols, like the roar of demons echoing in the air.

Surrounding the coffin were a bunch of powerful magic items scattered around in a strange oval pattern, as if they were attracted to the coffin by a spiral motion and suddenly stopped and fell to the ground.

The laughter returned to Genevieve's ears, the same laughter she had heard as a child, amplified from behind the metal mask. Through laughter she heard the screams of the damned and the dying, the ripples of rivers of blood, the snapping of a million vertebrae, the fall of a dozen cities, the pleas of murdered babies, the bleating of slaughtered animals. scream.

"I am Drake Fels, and I welcome you to my home. Come in good health, go in safety, and leave behind some of the happiness you bring..."

After arriving at Longyan Castle, laughter kept echoing in Genevieve's ears...it was her father! Her father who had died long ago!

"You know, I have it all, all my soul, and it remains in this state. It makes me no longer feel lonely in this simple palace..."

The sliding cover of the coffin slid open, and Drakefels stood up from the coffin. Something behind his mask was working, and his spirit swarmed around him like mosquitoes. He stretched out his hand in the direction of Genevieve. .

The wave engulfed Genevieve, pushing her against invisible walls, suffocating her, crushing her, sweeping across her face. She felt powerless, invisible creatures surged through her, she couldn't breathe and could barely move her limbs. Her whole body was cold and her teeth were chattering. She was tired, more tired than she should have been.

Genevieve felt like she was bathed in stinging sunlight, wrapped in silver ribbons, suffocated by a sea of ​​garlic. The branches of the hawthorn tree pierced her heart, her thoughts were confused, she tasted dust in her throat, and her senses became dull.

The evil god's laughter filled the hall... (End of this chapter)