Chapter 387: Monsters in the Mining Area

On the wide road, a cavalry team was marching forward.

"This is the capital of the Kingdom of Steel Castle."

Soon, the cavalry team arrived outside a city, with the words "Steel City" hanging high above it. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Steel Castle.

The Kingdom of Steel Castle is a small border country. Although it belongs to the kingdom in name, its actual territory is pitifully small. If it were not for the several mining areas in the territory, it would not even be qualified to pay tribute to the academy.

"Please follow me, two wizards."

Knight Dylan rode his mount and walked in front, welcoming Caroline and Enzo into the Steel City. After passing through an urban area, they arrived at a castle.

"Your Highness Buquet, the wizard master of the Crow Phantom has arrived in the Kingdom of Steel Castle. These two are him."

Knight Dylan ordered his cavalry to stop, and then took Enzo and Caroline into the castle. In the hall, he saw a young man with a sad face and dressed in gorgeous clothes.

"What? The wizard is here?"

Hearing Knight Dylan's words, the young man in gorgeous clothes raised his head suddenly, and when he saw the two people in robes, he stood up and saluted.

"Good day, two wizards."

The young man in gorgeous clothes introduced himself with the etiquette of the wizard world, "I am the third-level apprentice Bukai, and also the new king of the Steel Castle Kingdom."

Enzo looked at Bukai and sized him up.

From the magical aura emanating from his body, the other party was indeed a third-level apprentice, but his strength was average, and it seemed that he relied on too much external forces to be promoted to a third-level apprentice.

"Is it you who asked for help from the academy?"

Caroline looked indifferent, glanced at Bukai who was respectful, and asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Master Wizard."

Buke said nervously, "My father died too suddenly. I didn't expect those untouchables to rebel and occupy the mining area so quickly!"

The opportunity for the rebellion in the Kingdom of Steel Castle was the death of the old king, Budina. Even though the founder was a formal wizard, he was finally unable to resist the erosion of time.

Therefore, after the death of the old king, a rebellion broke out in the mining area. Perhaps it was because of the previous two hundred years of rule that the kingdom brought too much oppression to the people. The rebels quickly formed an uprising army and let the situation get out of control.

In the early stage of the rebellion in the mining area, Bouquet did not intend to ask the academy for help, because it was difficult for this weak kingdom to pay the remuneration. It was not until the situation got out of control that Bouquet had to send a signal for help.

"I hope the Crow Phantom will not hold me responsible..." Bouquet looked at Caroline nervously and prayed silently in his heart.

As the territory of the Crow Phantom, the king of the Kingdom of Steel Castle must maintain his rule while enjoying his rights. In any case, the rebellion in the mining area formed an uprising army, and Bouquet had an unshirkable responsibility.

"You just succeeded to the throne, and such a serious rebellion broke out in the territory. How did you manage to be a king?" Caroline said faintly, looking at Bukai with cold eyes.

Bukai's heart skipped a beat, and his thoughts flashed quickly.

"I do have an unshirkable responsibility for the rebellion in the mining area." Under Caroline's gaze, Bukai's forehead oozed a few drops of cold sweat. He quickly took out a metal ring and begged, "However, please, Master Wizard, for my father's sake, say a few good words for me when writing the mission report!"

Caroline raised her eyebrows and took the metal ring.

After a casual look, Caroline saw that this was a high-level magic item of very poor quality, and its value would not exceed one thousand magic stones at most, but it should be extremely precious to Bukai.

"It's okay." Caroline said lightly, and then put the metal ring away.

Beside him, Bukai breathed a sigh of relief.

Since Caroline has accepted her bribe, she will show mercy and reduce her responsibility when writing the mission report after everything is over.

"A magic item, are you going to let us share it?" At this time, Caroline spoke again.

Bukai's face turned pale, and then he remembered that there was a wizard next to him, but he only prepared one gift.

"What should I do?" Bukai was anxious.

Enzo didn't care about these things. He seemed to have noticed something, frowned slightly, and looked around the castle hall.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped at one place.

"What's wrong, Enzo?" Caroline was a little surprised.

Enzo's eyes condensed, and then his mind moved.

A shadow like a tide appeared under his feet, twisted and turned into a palm, and grabbed forward as fast as lightning, catching a black beetle.

"This is..." Caroline frowned.

Beside him, Buquet's face also changed slightly. The black beetle made him feel somewhat familiar. A certain thought flashed through his mind, and he shook his head quickly.

"Eavesdropping bugs have been monitoring the palace."

Enzo's face was calm. He pinched the black beetle in his hand, recorded the breath of the eavesdropping bug in his heart, and crushed it with two fingers with a little force.

"How could this happen?" Caroline frowned. Eavesdropping bugs are creatures that are usually only cultivated by wizards to monitor or steal intelligence.

"It seems that the rebellion in the Steel Castle Kingdom is not as simple as a civilian uprising." Enzo shook his head slightly.

Caroline's eyes flickered, and her thoughts changed in her heart.

"Where is the mining area occupied by the rebels? Take us there now." Turning around, Enzo ordered Buquet next to him.

"Now...now?"

Buquet was slightly stunned, but soon reacted and bowed and said, "I will obey your orders, Master Wizard!"

...

Located in the south of Steel City, there is a large mountain range. The environment here is harsh and there are large rocks everywhere, but it is the largest mining area in the kingdom.

About half a year ago, the old king Budina suddenly passed away. One night, a riot broke out in the mining area, and a large number of mining slaves killed the guards here.

At that time, Bouquet had just succeeded to the throne.

He was busy stabilizing all the forces in the Steel Castle Kingdom, but he ignored the rebellion in the mining area, causing the situation to quickly get out of control. After the rebels captured two small towns in succession, they formed a powerful force.

At this time, Bukai came back to his senses.

But it was too late. The rebel army, which occupied the mining area and two small towns as its base, became more powerful and defeated the kingdom's army three times.

As a last resort, Bukai had no choice but to ask for help from the academy.

"This is the largest mining area in the Steel Castle Kingdom, and it is also the base of those untouchables!" Not far from the mine, Bukai pointed forward.

Enzo looked around and saw the entrance to a valley in front of him.

Mountains like dragon's spines sit on both sides, forming a long and narrow road. In this environment that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it does not seem to be a strange thing that the kingdom's army was defeated three times.

Suddenly, Enzo frowned and the tip of his nose moved.

"It seems like a smell of sulfur?" At this time, Caroline also smelled a faint pungent smell in the air and said hesitantly.

Enzo nodded, it was indeed the smell of sulfur.

Turning on the scanning function of the chip, he discovered that there was a large amount of sulfur and the like buried in this valley. It seemed that just lighting a fire would create a huge explosion and destroy the entire mining area.

"It seems that the rebels here are very smart." Caroline raised her eyebrows.

Burying a large amount of sulfur in the valley will make the royal army afraid to enter it in large numbers. Coupled with the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack environment, as long as the rebel army has sufficient supplies, they can stay here for a long time.

"In this case, there is no need for others to go in."

Enzo's tone was indifferent. There was a large amount of sulfur buried under the valley. If a mortal soldier from the kingdom's army stepped into it, it would be like dying. Therefore, the army could only stay outside the mining area.

Caroline nodded slightly and waved to Buquet.

The third-level apprentice understood immediately and ordered his troops to retreat, but left Knight Dylan alone.

"The environment inside the mining area is complicated, and the two adults need a guide."

Buquet explained that Enzo had no objection. Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, he did not intend to waste time and called Caroline and Dylan Knight to enter the valley together.

"Chip, turn on the scanning function!" Enzo ordered in his mind.

The rebels in the Steel Castle Kingdom sounded like they were just mortals, but the discovery of eavesdropping bugs in the palace made Enzo feel that the matter was not as simple as he thought, so he decided to be more cautious.

The three of them rode their respective mounts and gradually went deeper into the valley.

The surrounding environment began to become complicated. Abandoned mines appeared near the mountains on both sides. The atmosphere was strangely quiet. After walking forward for ten minutes, the three of them did not see a single person.

At this moment, Enzo suddenly stopped.

Even without the prompt from the chip, he could still feel the abnormality around him. Caroline's eyes narrowed, and with a burst of chaotic shouts, many figures appeared in the mountains on both sides, holding long bows and crossbows.

Whoosh!

The rebels in the mining area seemed to have been ambushing here for a long time. They aimed at the three people below and fired a hail of arrows. Knight Dylan suddenly felt like he was facing a formidable enemy and nervously pulled out his cross sword.

However, Enzo and Caroline didn't care.

"The Dance of the Wind!"

Caroline's face was expressionless, and she raised her hand casually, and a strong wind was summoned immediately, blowing down the arrows in mid-air. At the same time, she controlled the strong wind to knock off the rebels who were ambushing here.

"What a ridiculous bunch of mortals."

Caroline had a sneer on her face. After being promoted to an official wizard, she had a natural sense of superiority towards mortals, just like higher beings treating lower creatures, full of indifference.

"Be careful, something's not right."

At this time, Enzo suddenly spoke. He looked to the right. There seemed to be an unusual aura among the ambushing rebels. Under the scanning of the chip, several special humans were discovered.

The next moment, a terrifying roar came from the rebel army.

Several mortal rebels had black energy gushing out of their bodies, their muscles swelled and burst their clothes, and their faces became twisted and hideous, as ugly as demons crawling out of the abyss.

"Kill them all!"

Those deformed mortals were on all fours, swooping down from above like wild beasts, their scarlet eyes filled with bloodthirsty luster, exuding an extremely chaotic aura.

"Wind Blade Attack!"

Caroline frowned, waved her hand and summoned a series of wind blades, shooting at the aberrant mortals. The wind blades cut on their bodies, but only scratched their skin and shed a trace of black blood, without causing fatal injuries.

"What's going on?" Caroline was surprised.

Although the spell she released just now was only zero-ring witchcraft, as a formal wizard, that level of spell was enough to kill extraordinary knights, but it failed to cause substantial damage to those monsters.

At this time, several monsters were already rushing toward the three of them.

Enzo's eyes were calm, and with a thought, the shadow field suddenly spread, covering several monsters, and then shadow tentacles came out, binding and entangling all the monsters.

"Eat them!"

"Go! Kill!!"

Even though they were restrained by the shadow tentacles, the monsters still roared manically, and the chaotic atmosphere continued to spread, seeming to have a certain impact on the surroundings.

Next to him, Dylan Knight looked ugly and was in a daze.

"Is it the breath of the abyss?" Feeling the chaotic breath emanating from several monsters, Caroline's eyes became solemn.

Enzo also stroked it, with a flash of thought in his eyes.

The chaotic aura that filled the monsters was very similar to the power of the abyss, as if these people were invaded by the abyss and thus became deformed.

At this time, the mutation occurred again!

Several monsters that were originally restrained by the shadow tentacles suddenly let out painful wails, their mouths opened to an exaggerated degree, and balls of black energy surged out of their bodies and flew in one direction.

The next moment, several monsters returned to human form.

However, after losing the black mist, they all seemed to have lost their souls, their expressions on their faces were extremely dull, and their bodies were limp, like bodies.

Enzo raised his hand, and the shadow realm dissipated.

Several mortals fell to the ground and gradually lost their breath. At the same time, the surrounding rebels who were ambushing also fled one after another. They seemed to be very familiar with the surrounding environment and soon disappeared deep into the mountains.

Enzo rolled over and jumped off the magic horse, and walked forward to check.

Several corpses on the ground have become stiff, and their skin is extremely pale. They sink deeply when touched lightly with fingers, as if they have been dead for a long time.

"How's it going?" Caroline also walked over.

"There is no soul. He should have been dead for a long time." Enzo shook his head and said solemnly, "The black mist just now should come from the abyss and is the energy source that drives them."

Caroline frowned and looked a little ugly.

She originally thought it was just a simple mission, but now it was the wizard and the abyss, and things suddenly became complicated, which made her want to quit. As a member of the Kendi family, Caroline would not be punished too much even if the mission failed.

"How about forget it?"

Caroline hesitated and tentatively said, "This mission is beyond control. How about reporting it to the academy and sending a few more wizards to handle it?"

"That's not necessary."

Enzo shook his head and said, "Although it is more complicated than expected, it has not reached the level where it needs to be reported to the academy. Since mortals infected by the power of the abyss have appeared here, it means that the mastermind behind everything is here."

"Next, as long as we find him, we can find out the reason behind this mission!"