Shadow Covenant

Chapter 137 "Underground Pursuit"

Black Tower Forest is the same as most gray dwarf cities. Behind the city are endless densely packed mine entrances. However, today, when the owner has long been replaced, there has been no one to take care of it for a long time, and the sun and the moon have accumulated. A thick layer of lichen formed.The curtain woven by vines, and at the same time, the eye-catching collapse marks in the abandoned mine can also be vaguely seen.

Drow's spellcaster is not good at dealing with the traces left by him, or he has never thought about dealing with the traces at all. Woody easily analyzed the abnormal production of ferns on the ground and the direction of bending. The heading of the vanished drow mage.

It is the northernmost high cliff of the mine behind the Black Tower Forest. Standing there, you can overlook the entire Black Tower Forest. However, there is serious water accumulation and the ground is slippery. Several gray dwarves fell from it, and the back was abandoned. No one has been up there for a long time, and the road to the high cliff is surrounded by clumps of luxuriant underground bitter vines. The bitter vines covered with thorns are like a barbed wire fence that is firmly guarded, blocking Woody in front of him.

Woody looked up at the high cliff where he could not see the condition of the top, and when he looked at the uncharacteristically green bitter vine that had just grown up to his neck, the leaves had not been affected by long-term photosynthesis and turned gray. Chances are you've come to the right place.

This vine should be a roadblock set by the drow spellcaster.

Of course, it is also possible that it was another maze crossroad that he used to confuse himself. Woody did not choose to rush over directly, but carefully chose to use the Thor stone ring that had not been fully exhausted and had two spells left. Melt into the stone.

However, when his feet were not completely immersed in the soil, the ultra-high perception combined with the static state gave him a sensitive detection of the surrounding environment, so he immediately noticed that something was slightly wriggling in the ground, and there were more than one places in front of him. There are positions behind them, densely packed, no less than ten places.

The first time he felt something strange, he immediately stopped using the stone ring spell.

Thoughts in his head were spinning, and he understood instantly that there was movement in the ground, and he guessed how he entered. Obviously, the shape-shifting spider told the drow elf his ability to melt into stone, otherwise, normally speaking , who would have thought of setting such a sinister trap underground.

If you change to someone with a slightly lower perception, you will really be recruited.

After all, in the face of the blocking method blocked by the bitter vine, I am afraid that everyone will subconsciously think of using means to bypass it, and he will naturally choose to melt into the stone.

And if he goes a little deeper into the soil and encounters this thing, then his ability to resist is almost non-existent.

After all, his weapons are scattered all over the soil, but he can't use them at all, and facing the siege of many underground creatures is a dead end.

This is also the reason why Logan Lutov was extremely flustered when he met Woody underground. It was precisely because most of the spellcasters were underground and could only fight with bare hands.

And underground creatures with physical advantages will often become the final winners of the battle.

It seems to be another way!
Since the infiltration was unsuccessful, it is reasonable to say that it is a forced intrusion, but if there is no accident, if he wants to directly intrude into this piece of bitter vines, there should be many dangers and traps waiting for him.

And there is no guarantee that the drow mage is waiting for his entry in the dark.

Theoretically speaking, it is the most correct choice for him to leave now. Even if he has to cut the roots, but facing the situation where the other party has already made preparations and even has a clear understanding of his abilities, it is not brave but stupid But at this time, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw all kinds of corpses floating on the water in the city, and he chose to return without hesitation.

He suddenly remembered that if he remembered correctly, all drow priests would drop a very useless boon.

——"Spider Affinity"

But it is very suitable to use at this moment.

In 5 minutes, he came back here again. If someone can check Woody's personal panel, he will find that his list of natural blessings at this time has undergone earth-shaking changes.

Gone are Sea Visions, Dancing with Sharks, and even telepathy, replaced by a replacement Sinister, and a new boon from a shapeshifter corpse and a drow priest, respectively.

——"Outstanding "Enze": Although you have been in the group since you were young, you are also far away from the group, so you are particularly good at fighting alone. In addition to being improved, your designated skills can get a bonus of +1 extra level... "Damage +1, Reflection +1".

——"In southern folklore, some hydras bite off their other heads to become more deadly, and in the Underdark, there is a group of creatures called shapeshifting spiders that are similar. When they are dispatched, there will always be only one person. They firmly believe that only the weak will go in groups, and the truly strong will always walk alone——"Encyclopedia of the Material Plane-Underdark" (Translator's Note: The former can be determined to be a rumor, and it should just be that a hydra with only one head has fallen into a state of madness and attacked the village, thus appearing angry and deadly.)”

——"Spider Affinity" Grace": In the Underdark, the most pets kept by all drow families are spiders. Your love and reverence for spiders even exceeds your own life, and even some drow Nobles will hire servants to take care of spider pets, and you are the same since you were a child, especially after becoming a priest of Kosuster, how to please your future masters and understanding their habits has become a compulsory course for every priest , you can even soothe the spider with some quirky noises, giving you a +3 bonus on friendliness checks to identify and approach a spider.

——"In the spider web, only those who worship and fear the spider can get out of the web, Adam, don't say I didn't warn you. ——A drow priest's admonition to his companions."

……

Woody, who had replaced his favor once again, faced the oppression from the black bitter vine and thorns again, his mentality was completely different from before. He has a spider affinity, and now he exudes a cold aura like a drow priest from all over his body. , with a faint spider-like fragrance, which smells very sensual, but having said that, he really never thought that the body of the metamorphic spider would actually fall from the grace that can only appear on the body of the dragon.

—— "Outstanding"

In "Holy One", there is a genre called the "lone wolf" genre, which intends to enter the multiverse alone as a lone ranger, and the core specialty they rely on is this talent called "outstanding". It is a rare growth-type talent, which can effectively obtain higher gain, output, and resistance when there are no other teammates. It is an insignificant one for a skill to gain +1 level for a short time on the data panel. Woody once saw a "out of the box" talent that even elevated the feat to a metamagic feat.

This is difficult to exercise naturally. Generally speaking, it appears in the specialties bestowed by the Dragon Blood Ritual. Like what Woody has seen in the latter, it is said that the ritual is performed with the blood of an old golden dragon.

At that time, the lone wolf genre was popular among social horror players, and it has lasted for a long time, but the proportion of players has not been able to increase the share. It is difficult for one person to survive, but if you want to become stronger, you can only continue to be alone, so it becomes an endless loop. Only a small number of players understand the meaning of it, complete the journey of destiny and become a legend amidst all kinds of difficulties .

However, that was only in the game. Woody never thought of playing the lone wolf genre in reality, and it was fine for playing the game, but in reality, it would be better to kill himself on the spot and save the struggle on the road.

As someone who has experienced it, he knows that lone wolf players are far inferior to an adventurous team with both offensive and defensive capabilities and guarantees in all aspects, no matter whether they are in the early, middle or late stages, pre-legendary or post-legendary.

After all, the level of being outstanding is only to allow you to be slightly stronger than the same level in terms of individual strength, rather than directly throwing off five people.

However, to a certain extent, the demon hunter who can appear as a boss template in the later stage is actually the specialty that is most suitable for "outstanding".

He remembered that there was a long article in the forum that deeply analyzed demon hunters, and it was theoretically the strongest demon hunter, and the core talent was also "outstanding". But then again, the best of all professions in the forum In the strong version, it is all related to being outstanding. After all, no one will let go of the ability to greatly increase their own damage as long as they are alone.

Anyway, this is indeed a very good favor for the current Woody. It can even be said that he will accompany me for a long time in future adventures, and he has a growing talent.

But now is not the time to be complacent here, nor is it the time to look left and right with satisfaction, the time for illusions in his heart, he put away his jumping mood, and put all his heart on the things in front of him.

With the grace gifted by the drow elves who believe in spiders, this time Woody used the effect of the Thor Stone Ring without hesitation. This time his whole body was immersed in the soil, although his perception was slightly reduced due to the lack of telepathy. A few, but he couldn't help grinning when he felt that the spider riots buried around and watching the surroundings stopped again.

It succeeded. The group of IQs are not high. The spider monsters who only know how to distinguish between enemies and companions regard him as their master and companion. The innocence engraved in the blood allows Woody to successfully pass the lurking place of the three underground spiders. , and they remained motionless as Woody passed by.

Soon, relying on tremor perception, Woody passed the group of undergrounds that were heavily guarded by spiders, and in the huge rocky veins, he slowly moved towards the direction of the high cliff. The position blocked by the vines was about one kilometer away, so Woody moved forward at a difficult speed of 50 meters per minute in the leylines. Finally, 10 minutes later, he heard the familiar but unfamiliar underground language.

Come on!Sure enough, the nasty drow mage was hiding here, with unique chants and arias in his voice.

It seems that not going is the right thing to do!

Although he didn't master the underground language, but he had experience in the previous life, he still heard that these languages ​​seemed to be used for some kind of ceremony.

Woody didn't know how far the drow mage had held it, but he knew that this was his best opportunity. If he interrupted the ceremony in the middle, the battle would end directly.

The power brought by the backlash is enough to cause a spellcaster to die on the spot and lose the ability to cast spells, or it can reduce a spellcaster's experience and level.

Naturally, Woody would not miss this opportunity. He cautiously swam to the edge of the high cliff, revealing an inconspicuous face on a protruding rock wall on the side. This position just happened to be able to see the picture of the top of the high cliff.

On the high cliff, in a space of less than [-] square meters, a drow man wearing a spider robe was holding a round-headed staff, singing something loudly, and there was a statue placed under his feet. The miniature magic circles of various unknown objects, judging from the pattern of the ritual magic circle, seem to be a summoning magic circle. A woman with a scorched body is leaning on a stone at the top of the high cliff, looking worried. Looking at the drow, no one noticed the face emerging from a rock wall at all.

What does he want to summon?
Woody alone can't guess it, but from the above sacrificial materials, it includes a dragon heart and the eye stem of the beholder. Although the size of the two is not large, Woody knows that this If the first monster is summoned, then he is definitely not an opponent.

And seeing the man with the scar on his face working so hard, how could he not be willing to help him?

……

"Cureya, he seems to have left. The trap of the bitter vine has not been triggered, and the soil spider underground has not moved. It is too late to stop now."

"The appearance of the Soul-eating Spider will definitely kill you. Even if you can take revenge, what's the point if you die?"

Elise, who was lying on the rock, rarely showed the sadness that could not appear on the women of the drow tribe. After all, the reputation of the soul-eating spider was well-known even in the church of Cusust. The soul-eating spider bears the life of the drow, and the soul-eating spider carries the death of the drow. In the dark region of Asenland, all the drow who obeyed Kosuster will enter his "Boundless Cave" after death. "Among them, not only can you look up like the starry scenery of the surface world at night, but you don't have to worry about life and death. You only need to pray for a moment every day, and you can do everything you want, whether it's recalling the past or looking forward to the future, you You can do whatever you want, as long as the Kingdom of God exists, you will live with Him forever.

After the death of the disobedient, the fate will belong to the king of the soul-eating spider "Karakos". The emissary sent was an illusory and terrifying spider monster, which was twisted from the souls of thousands of underground life forms, and the name Soul Devourer came from it.

Hearing Elise's words, Cureya took advantage of the relaxation stage of the ceremony, turned his head, showed that slightly tired face, and squeezed out a smile.

"How can it be meaningless, dear Elise."

"But the enemy has already retreated! Curea, come here first, I have something to tell you." Elise emphasized.

"Okay, but it can't be too long, the next stage of the ceremony is about to begin." Although Kurea looked helpless, he still obediently stepped forward and listened carefully to what his lover in front of him wanted to say.

However, as soon as he got close, he felt that Elise stretched out her arms to hug him as if she couldn't wait.

"Elise, don't use such force, be careful to touch the burnt skin, it will hurt you later."

Currea comforted them patiently, hugging them hadn't been around for a long time, around the time she became a priest of Korsust, her body was somehow separated from men, at least not in public.

But now on the high cliff, although the bottom is full of stagnant water and there is no audience, being hugged by the one he loves is enough to make Kurea full of joy.

"Don't worry, just leave it to me. After the Soul-eating Spider appears, you will be able to avenge your revenge! And I have other methods to prevent the Soul-eating Spider from attacking me!"

The gentle and mellow tone was like a ripple in the dark water. After he finished speaking, Elise hugged her tightly.

"Why...why...you treat me so..."

Elise's voice choked with sobs.

"Because I like you, everything about you, including your future."

Still as gentle as before, neither fast nor slow, in his mind, these are what he should do.

"Okay, the time is almost up, I'm going to continue the ceremony, please be safe for the next four weeks..."

Curea's words stuck in his throat, and a sharp pain from the left side of his chest made his voice stop abruptly——

A black spider dagger was stuck in his chest. The pain caused by the tense internal muscles made Cureia's thinking sluggish. He raised his head slowly, and a tearful woman's face was reflected in his pupils, carbonized. The eyebrows and eyes that have lost the facial features, and the lips that have been split into four petals.

"Elise...you..." He couldn't believe it, subconsciously took her hand holding the dagger, leaned forward, and leaned on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to, it's all her fault, she has been bewitching me in her mind, saying that as long as I kill you, I can recover my strength, Cureia, I don't want to either..." Elise trembled in fear , Wanting to push it away, I have no strength, so I can only cry bitterly, but immediately followed by surprise and joy, crying and laughing.

"Ah! I feel like I'm back again. My magic...my power...is really back...Kurea...she didn't lie to me? Goddess Rose...he didn't lie to me..."

But no one answered her next words, only the wind on the high cliff combined with the torrent rushing down in the distance, bringing a little bleakness.

In her arms, the man with spider scars could only murmur in the end, and let go of her hand with unwilling eyes, and the log staff in his right hand rolled to the ground...

　If you can’t write the taste, forget it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)