Chapter 342 Hammerfall Fortress (Two Chapters in One)

After more than four hours of flight, the blood-feathered hippogryph also began to feel tired.

A few minutes later.

In an open space by a forest lake, Ren and Anna gathered around a campfire, grilling bacon and pickled salmon for dinner. By the way, they also gave Blood Feather a good rest.

"Ren. If I were in danger this time, you would have come so far away." At this point, Anna couldn't help but blush and stopped talking.

"Of course." Ren nodded firmly and said with a smile.

"Um!"

Considering that the mithril carved plate armor was too conspicuous, Renn put on a gray-white wizard robe, which could just cover up the silvery white color of mithril.

At the same time, he did not wear any weapons behind his back or waist. He only held a dark cane in his hand, which was transformed from hardened fine gold. He put the remaining metal on Xue Yu's body.

Anna is dressed in the same outfit, so from the appearance, he and Anna look like two wizard lovers.

A few hours later.

"Look, Renn, what a majestic mountain range!" Anna pointed with her white fingers at the gray-black peaks standing in front of her like a blade, and couldn't help but exclaimed.

Renn looked along Anna's direction and couldn't help but let out a sigh.

He didn't expect that there would be such strangely shaped mountains in this world.

The bare gray-black mountain has sparse vegetation, but there is a large black fog shrouded in it. The top of the mountain is covered in gray, and the mountains stretch into the distance.

As the blood-feathered hippogryph approached, Ren's keen sense could faintly detect the danger contained in the huge black air mass. The air mass flickered and darkened, and the mist surged.

"Is this the black mist cyclone?"

"It is said that there are a large number of black mist monsters inside. This is a strange elemental creature that cannot be completely eliminated and will continue to regenerate. But fortunately, the opponent's range of activities is around the peak of the Hammerfell Mountains."

"No wonder Olena suggested that she choose to travel through the Hammerfall Tunnel." Renn thought to himself as he looked at the above scene.

"Ana, there should be Hammerfell Fortress below. Let's look for it."

"Yeah." Anna nodded.

Anna had already learned about the rough itinerary from Ren during the previous campfire.

She can also feel that there are unknown risks hidden in the large and small black mist in front of her, so she naturally has no objection.

"It should be over there."

I saw Ren controlling the blood feather and landing towards the lower left.

In the sky, he could clearly see the winding road behind him, leading to somewhere on the lower left. Obviously, that should be the road leading to Hammerfell Fortress.

"Huh? Why are there so many people?" Still hovering in the air, Renn saw the entrance of the magnificent Hammerfell Fortress at a glance, and it seemed that there were many people blocking it.

If you look closely, it looks like caravans and travelers coming and going.

This gave Ren a vague premonition.

Could it be that something happened to Hammerfell Fortress?

The landing of the blood-feathered Hippogryphus naturally attracted the attention of almost everyone present.

After all, those who can ride flying mounts are obviously not ordinary people.

Just when Ren stopped and was about to find someone to ask, suddenly, a fat middle-aged man with a big belly and a silk robe walked up quickly, bowed respectfully and said :

"Hello, sir, my name is Giannis, the person in charge of the Cameron Caravan. Are you two also going to the Moselle Province through the Hammerfell Tunnel?"

Ren looked at the other person and determined that the other person was just an ordinary person.

The other party just came from the caravan. It seemed that he should be the person in charge of a certain caravan.

Renn had looked at the map and knew that after passing through the Hammerfell Tunnel, the opposite side would be the border of the Moselle Province.

In addition, when he and Anna arrived at Hammerfell Fortress, any normal person could tell that they planned to pass through the tunnel. There was nothing to hide.

"That's right. Excuse me, what happened here?"

"It's unfortunate that you came here. Two days ago, the tunnel was closed due to the outbreak of underground lava snakes. It will not be opened until the empire sends a special team to clear it out."

"The Hammerfell Tunnel is closed?" Renn couldn't help but frown.

This is troublesome, because it only takes two or three hours to reach the other side through the tunnel through the Hammerfell Mountains.

But if it is a detour, even if Ren is riding a flying mount, it will take nearly two days more.

"By the way, is the lava snake very powerful?" Renn couldn't help but ask.

"Well, the lava snake is a lava-type creature with a strength similar to that of a ferocious species. A formal knight can basically defeat one one-on-one."

"But the problem is that every time the lava snakes appear, they are always in large numbers. It is estimated that there are piles of at least hundreds of lava snakes entrenched in the tunnel." Fatty Giannis introduced happily.

"Oh? In that case, it should be difficult to pass. Why are so many of you gathered here?"

"Is it about to open?"

"No, we don't know how long it will take for the empire's suppression team to arrive. They don't have flying mounts like you, sir. It will take nearly half a month for our caravan to go around."

"So, we plan to organize our own team to travel through the past. I wonder if you have any intention to join? On behalf of the Cameron Family Caravan, I am willing to pay both of you."

"By the way, we already have three official wizards here, plus a very powerful Cones mercenary group."

"I think, if you two are included, we should be ready to go." Fatty Giannis said with a smile on his face, and finally explained his purpose.

Ryan nodded, and at the same time, he looked at the group of people behind Fatty Giannis from the corner of his eye.

I saw that the dozen men dressed as mercenaries looked quite tough, and they should be the Cones mercenary group mentioned by Fatty Giannis.

And the three wizards, two men and one woman, seemed to be unfamiliar with each other, and they all stood in their own place, but the female wizard was wearing a white robe, with a good figure and fair face.

As for strength, the three seemed to deliberately conceal the fluctuations of their mental power. For a moment, Ryan could not tell the strength.

After a little thought, Ryan shook his head and said, "Thank you, but no thanks."

"Sir, do you want to take your flying mount to bypass?"

"But in this case, you will have to spend at least two more days, and if we go directly through, we can reach the other end of the tunnel in four hours at most." Fatty Yannis still persuaded unwillingly.

Ryan knew this of course.

The map that Olena gave him also specifically marked why he had to go through the Hammerfall Tunnel. If he wanted to bypass it, he really had to fly a big turn and bypass the towering Hammerfall Mountains.

But the problem is that Ryan did not intend to bypass it.

Because if the lava snakes were only at the level of formal knights, then even if there were more of them, they would not pose any threat to him. He could just pass through directly, and there would be no need to join the other team.

Seeing that Ryan disagreed, Fatty Yannis returned to the crowd quite frustrated.

"Alas~ This lord seems to despise the reward I offered, Lord Melita, it seems we have to wait a little longer."

"It's normal. If I had a flying mount, I wouldn't accept your invitation." The white-robed female wizard looked at Ryan's blood-feathered horned eagle with envy and said.

"This flying mount looks like some kind of horned eagle, it's really beautiful."

"Huh? The other party didn't leave, what's this?" Suddenly, the female wizard's eyes paused.

"Huh?" Fatty Yannis followed Melita's line of sight and found that the two people just now did not leave on the horned eagle, but turned to the direction of the fortress gate.

"It seems that the other party also has urgent matters, otherwise, they would have flown away like the previous ones." Seeing this scene, the female wizard laughed.

"Sir, our caravan is familiar with the garrison of the Stone Hammer Fortress. Although you are powerful, the other party will not open the door for you." Fatty Yannis seemed a little unwilling and shouted loudly behind.

But Ryan seemed to have not heard it and still walked towards the Stone Hammer Fortress.

"Don't worry, Giannis. After the other party hits a wall, he should be back soon."

"By the way, you can also bargain, isn't that a good thing?" The witch named Melita teased.

"Uh"

As Ryan approached the Stone Hammer Fortress, the whole picture of the fortress came into his sight.

The Stone Hammer Fortress is located above the tunnel gate that is more than ten meters high. It seems that a small part of the mountain has been hollowed out, revealing a bulge similar to a second-floor balcony.

And dozens of elite guards wearing chain mail and holding bows and arrows are stationed at this traffic artery from a high position.

"Please stop, the Stone Hammer Tunnel is closed and it will take a few days to open." A guard wearing chain mail and holding a bow and arrow shouted.

It seems that because of seeing the blood feather, the guard knew that the two people in front of him should have a high status, so the words used by the guard were still relatively polite.

"I have an official letter and need to pass it." Ryan said calmly.

This is the benefit of having an official letter.

As long as the official power of the empire can reach, Ryan can get convenience.

As for the sword bearer emblem, it is more known within the sword bearer system. In other departments or lower-level official organizations, many people are not familiar with the sword bearer.

"Official letter?" The guard's face was slightly moved.

He quickly said something to his companion beside him, and at the same time, he shouted to Ryan: "Please wait for a moment, both adults, please show me the official letter."

Soon, a hanging basket was lowered, and Ryan put the official letter in the hanging basket.

A minute later, a middle-aged man dressed like a knight came out and checked Ryan's official letter.

"Hey, it's really an official letter. Diamond-star swordsman Ryan. The issuer is Imperial Admiral Edward."

"Hiss~"

Soon, the knight captain, along with two guards, quickly left the fortress and came to Ryan's side, saying:

"Hello, Lord Ryan, I am Lehman, the garrison captain of Hammerfall Fortress."

"We naturally dare not stop you from passing through the Hammerfall Tunnel. But the problem is that there is a riot of lava creatures inside, so your safety is at stake." After hesitating, the knight captain still reminded.

"Don't worry, Captain Lehman, it shouldn't be a big problem."

"Okay, then wait a moment, I'll open the door. If you feel something is wrong, you can come back at any time and knock on the door three times."

"Thank you." Ryan smiled.

"Boom!"

As the ten-meter-high stone door was pushed open a gap, Ryan immediately took Anna and Xueyu and walked in.

In the caravan not far away, the fat man Yannis's eyes suddenly widened and he said in a lost voice: "Huh? How is this possible? The defenders of Stone Hammer Fortress actually opened the gate for him?"

"Interesting, it seems that the other party is an official member of the empire, and his status is not low." The wizard smiled and expressed his judgment.

"Giannis, let's follow up in a few minutes. Now that we have this person leading the way, it will be much easier for us."

"Why don't you follow right away?" Fat Giannis couldn't help but ask.

"Haha, if you get too close and offend this adult, don't blame me for not warning you." Melita couldn't help but smile.

Five minutes later.

As Fatty Giannis and others and the caravan entered, it didn't take long for them to look at the scene in front of them in shock.

They saw that the tall and spacious tunnel was exuding a fiery atmosphere at this moment. Under the light of two rows of torches on the rock wall several meters high, in front of them, there were dozens of lava snake corpses scattered all the way. Stretching deeper into the tunnel.

"This, this..." Fatty Giannis made everyone numb!

They came in less than five minutes late, and the other party had already killed so many lava snakes?

You can't kill a chicken that fast, right? !

Sorceress Melita looked at this scene with a solemn face, and was stunned for a few seconds before she came back to her senses.

The other two male wizards were also obviously shocked.

At this time, the two leather-armored men in front of the caravan quickly stepped forward and each looked over the lava snake's body and examined it carefully.

These lava snakes are about three to four meters long and look like pythons, but are thicker. Their bodies are covered with pieces of red rock and soil armor the size of a palm, and their defense power is quite high.

But at this moment, these lava snakes were lying motionless on the tunnel floor one by one, and, from the outside, there were no obvious injuries.

"My lord, they were all killed in one blow. The sharp weapon probably penetrated the lava snake's hardest skull."

"To be precise, it's penetration. It penetrates into the front of the skull and pokes out from the back. This level of attack power."

Soon, the three wizards looked at each other, and they all saw shock in each other's eyes.

Although they can easily kill the lava snake, they rely on witchcraft.

But mental power is limited. If you want to kill so many lava snakes, I am afraid that the mental power of any one of them will be almost exhausted, and there will be no way to go further.

Therefore, this is also the reason why they want to enter as a team.

"At least an attack power above 25 degrees is required to achieve this effect. This is almost close to the power of first-level witchcraft." A male wizard said with a solemn face.

"Performing zero-level witchcraft dozens of times in a row? Impossible." Another male wizard shook his head and said.

"But the killing of dozens of lava snakes obviously does not look like the effect of group witchcraft, but it feels like they are wiped out casually with one sword." Melita said.

Suddenly, the three of them were silent for a while.

"Could the other party be a second-level liquefaction wizard?" The male wizard said solemnly.

The second-level liquefaction wizard is already a big shot. No matter where he is, in the empire or the major wizard schools, he is a middle-level and high-level person.

"It's possible." Melita nodded and said.

When she saw the faces of Ren and Anna just now, they both looked young. They couldn't possibly be level two liquefaction wizards.

But now it seems that it is not necessarily true.

At this time, hundreds of meters ahead, the long sword in Ren's hand flashed with a silver light, and with a "puff", it penetrated the forehead of a charging lava snake as easily as piercing through tofu.

Then, he pulled it out with a "swish" sound.

The whole figure flashed and came to another lava snake and stabbed it again.

The speed was so fast that Anna on the side felt as if Ren had split into three or four clones in an instant and killed several lava snakes at the same time.

"Has Ren's strength reached this level?"

"It's really amazing."

The girl's beautiful eyes stared at Ren without blinking, not worrying at all that she would be attacked by the surrounding lava snakes.

Because as long as there is a lava snake nearby within ten meters, it will be headshot by Ren's sword in the next second.

"Chirp~chirp~"

Xueyu chirped a few times happily, then used his iron beak to peck open a part of the lava snake's body, and swallowed something red and elliptical.

Ren was killing in front, and it was eating in the back, so happy.

But at this time, Renn paused slightly, stopped, and looked back behind him.

Just now, he heard the door opening again.

"Ren, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, someone should be coming later." Ren said, shaking his head.

"Is it that caravan?" Anna immediately thought of the fat guy Giannis who had just invited Renne and her.

"Probably."

Renn didn't mind if others took the opportunity to follow him through the tunnel.

Although it was called a tunnel, Ren discovered as soon as he entered that this tunnel could best be described as a hall.

At this moment, what he and Anna were walking through could be regarded as the central aisle of the underground hall.

There are towering circular columns on both sides. Between the columns, there are circular vault walls, and torches are installed at the intersection of the vault walls and columns.

Being able to dig out such an open space underground is obviously not something that can be completed in a short time.

Moreover, Ren also saw the primitive patterns on the vault walls, which looked extremely old and did not resemble the architectural style of the Dragon Empire.

"When we go back, we can learn more about the history of Hammerfell Fortress." Renn said to himself.

This time, he came in a bit of a hurry and did not understand the dangerous places along the way very carefully.

"Ren, this seems to be the architectural style of the ancient dwarves." Anna said.

"Ancient dwarf?"

"Well, I once saw an introduction to the ancient race in the Druid Circle, and there were similar patterns in it." Anna nodded firmly.

Ren nodded.

Elves have a long lifespan. Even ordinary elves have a lifespan similar to that of human wizards, let alone those high elves. Therefore, the classics that have been handed down are the most complete.

"I wonder if I will have the opportunity to visit in the future. If I can take a look at the elves' collection of books, I will definitely gain something."

"Maybe we can also find rare metal witchcraft." Renn thought to himself.

Ren opened the way a few meters ahead, with Xueyu and Anna behind him.

Facing the incoming lava snake, Renn quickly killed it like chopping melons and vegetables.

Soon, the two of them had walked about one-third of the way through the Hammerfell Tunnel.

At this time, the air became hotter and hotter, and the front of Renn suddenly became clear, and he saw a lot of dark red light appearing on the ground in front of him.

Renn took a few more steps forward and discovered that there was a long stone bridge in front of him. Hundreds of meters below the stone bridge, there were jagged rock buildings of high and low heights. Most of them were abandoned, and the lowest ones were Part of it has fallen into the magma.

However, it can still be vaguely distinguished that this seems to be a fully functional city from ancient times.

I just don’t know why, but it was abandoned here.

"Anna, you are right, this should be the original city of the ancient dwarves."

"Huh?"

At this time, Ren raised his hand to signal Anna to stop. At the same time, he looked at the darkness on the left side of the bridge seriously.

"roar!"

I saw a vicious dog with a body as big as a calf and a ferocious face. Its whole body was burning with blazing flames. It suddenly burst out from the ground and rushed towards Ren.

"Whoosh!"

At the same time, a fireball the size of a washbasin suddenly shot out from the opponent's open mouth.

"boom!"

A demonized thorium kite-shaped shield suddenly appeared in front of Ren, which resisted the damage of the fireball, and then, a silver arc flashed across.

"Pfft!"

A big sword penetrated the vicious dog's head.

The other party twitched twice and immediately fell to the ground softly.

"Hey, why is there such a thing?" Renn couldn't help but look at the lava creature he killed with some confusion.

Obviously, the other party is not a lava snake.

Moreover, in terms of strength, it is much stronger than the Lava Snake. Not only does it have the innate ability, that is, the ability to spit fireballs from its mouth, but it also has both speed and strength.

At the same time, the witch Melita suddenly shouted: "Stop!"

"Did you hear anything just now?"

"Huh?" Fatty Giannis immediately waved his hand, and the entire caravan slowly began to stop.

"The voice just now seems to be" Melita looked ahead seriously.

Immediately afterwards, another sound similar to a beast's roar came, and Melita immediately turned her head and said to a few people behind her:

"No! This is the voice of a lava dog!"

"Lava dog?"

"An elemental creature whose strength is comparable to that of a formal wizard?" the other two male wizards couldn't help but change their expressions and asked.

"That's right!"

"Then shall we withdraw now?" a male wizard asked slightly anxiously.

"It's too late! Lava dogs are social animals. If one appears, it means a group will appear immediately! And this is not the most troublesome." Melita muttered to herself.

"What should we do?" asked another male wizard.

"There is only one choice now, hurry up and follow!" Melita pointed to the front and said.

"Ah? Lady Melita, didn't you just tell me not to get too close?" Fatty Giannis said, not quite understanding.

"The situation is different. Hurry up and let the caravan people speed up."

"As you command, my lord."

"Come on, everyone, speed up!"

I saw the grooms whipping their whips and controlling the horses to pull the goods forward quickly.