rune hunter

Chapter 192 Brown Earth Hills
Legend has it that before the Kingdom of Auckland was established, the north was still a barren land.It wasn't until humans broke through the barriers of the Black Forest and settled on this land that the fire of civilization began to slowly spread.

A pioneering knight whose name cannot be verified, led his like-minded comrades to this land, found a place suitable for human habitation, and established the original town. A rich and prosperous city-state.

However, the good times don't last long. The sudden wealth breeds evil thoughts hidden in human nature, and the leaders of the city-state soon fall into endless internal friction due to the uneven distribution of benefits.Huge interests have blinded the inner rationality of human beings, which in turn gave birth to insane behaviors.

In order to monopolize all the wealth, an ambitious man unscrupulously resorted to the power of the devil, but he was the first to be devoured.The gate of hell opened in the center of the city, and an endless army of demons swarmed out, slaughtering all life in sight.

The history of the founding of the first king of Auckland and the development of the northern border is closely related to this.It took a heavy price for human beings to finally wipe out the demons, but the scars left by those demons are always hidden in the shadow of history and cannot be dissipated.

For example, the rumor of the Kemal family's demon blood was almost a semi-open secret among the upper aristocratic class, but it involved historical reasons that everyone knew, so they tacitly kept silent.

Another problem left by the devil is that the city-state area was too heavily infected by the devil's power, which turned the land into a chaotic area that humans cannot set foot in. Even with the power of the church of the gods, it is difficult to To completely purify the chaotic forces on that piece of land, we can only give up in the end. This is the present brown earth hilly area.

After thousands of years of baptism, the chaotic forces in the brown soil hills have stabilized, but the natural environment is still harsh and unsuitable for ordinary humans to survive for a long time. Therefore, this is the only land in the Kingdom of Auckland that is not ruled by a lord.But from another point of view, it is not without life.For monsters that tend to be chaotic, this place is their paradise.

According to the stories circulating in the tavern, the public enemy of human civilized society - the demonic order once regarded this land as its holy land.Although they have been destroyed under the joint encirclement and suppression of the Church of the Gods, it is rumored that there is still a remnant hiding deep underground in the brown earth hills. It is said that there is also a secret path to hell hidden there.

Except for those unreliable legends, humanoid creatures such as ogres and goblins are the aboriginals of the brown earth hills. living environment.They thrived in the land and allied with the human bandits, making this area a place of true chaos.

After entering the brown earth hills from the border of Sand Forest Province, the wind and sand all over the sky came oncoming.Looking around, there are layers of undulating hills, which are said to be the traces of war left by the ancient crusade against demons.The gust of wind whizzed across the valley, making a breathtaking and strange noise.Most of the land here is crimson and dark brown in color. It is said that during that war, it was soaked in the blood of humans and demons, and every inch of the land was full of curses.

"It's just the reverse infiltration of the metal veins into the surface soil. Just like the Red Stone Ridge, the mineral veins here are very rich, and it was a famous iron ore production place in ancient times."

A well-informed alchemist said so after observing the terrain.

"Since it is such an important strategic resource, why did the Kingdom of Auckland abandon it?" The magician girl humbly asked for advice. She knew almost nothing about the history and current situation of this area. Staying at the level of "rumors" will obviously pose a hidden danger to the future journey of the exiles.

"Objectively speaking, the natural environment in this area is indeed not suitable for human survival and development. If you want to mine here, the labor cost cannot be ignored. But subjectively speaking, this should be an asset of the Kingdom of Auckland. , the royal family themselves are unable to control this area, and they are unwilling to hand it over to others to develop it... No one can explain the specific entanglement, but that's probably what happened."

Laurana hugged the teacup, gently blowing away the tea leaves floating on the water, seeing Tiana's dignified expression, couldn't help showing a meaningful smile, and whispered: "Miss Ranstadt, I think What you should be worried about now is not the political disputes far away in the sky, but the current situation faced by the exile team. According to the records in the books, the living environment in this area is not so friendly to humans."

"So, do you have any advice on this?" Tiana asked, frowning.

"If I had changed it, I would not have taken this path...Although Earl Kemal has some prejudices against us, he is at least a good person who abides by the rules of the noble game." Laurana shook her head and smiled: "But now These are meaningless, I can help you find a feasible path, but whether those children can persevere depends on their own will."

"Tell me what you think." Tiana said noncommittally.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid there may be mistakes in my thinking due to the lack of current information." Laurana turned her head to look at the gloomy sky outside the tent, and the expression on her face became subtle: "If you are in a hurry, you can Discuss with others first, and I will have to wait for that guy to come back before I can make an accurate judgment."

"That guy... Didn't you quarrel with him?" Tiana's mouth under the veil twitched slightly. Of course, she knew who Laurana was talking about.

"It's only by having a temper tantrum once in a while that a girl looks cuter." Laurana raised her eyebrows provocatively at Tiana, resting her cheek on her hand.

The felt cloth of the tent blocked the wind and sand outside, and at the same time blocked the shouts of fighting outside.

From the day the group of exiles entered the brown earth hills, it had attracted the attention of the aborigines in this land.The composition of the so-called aborigines is extremely complex, including all kinds of scum, monsters, and beasts. The only thing they have in common is that they are ferocious and cruel, they do not do production, and they live by plundering.

The harsh living environment of the brown earth hills has created a cruel and tyrannical character of the aborigines. They only believe in the weapons in their hands, and they will fight with their lives for a little bit of survival resources.The aborigines who grew up tenaciously in this environment have never had the slightest sympathy for foreign travelers.

Few caravans would choose the business road through the brown earth hills. Even if they had to take this road, they would spend a lot of money to hire three times as many mercenary guards.But even so, it is often difficult to escape the harassment and attacks of the aborigines day and night, and eventually lose their lives deep in the hills, and even a whole body may not be able to be preserved.

The huge population of exiles really shocked some young people at the beginning.When they found that the piece of fat was too big, they immediately gave up the idea of ​​testing, and lurked low-key, waiting for the opportunity to get leftovers.

The size of this team quickly attracted the attention of the big forces on the brown earth hills.On the third day when the team entered the hilly area, a team of horse bandits who did not fear death rushed out from the fork in the canyon and launched a tentative attack on the team.If it turns out that the defense force of this refugee team is limited, the hungry wolves lurking in the surrounding darkness will swarm up and tear up all the fat.

Their wishes did not come true, what awaited them was a head-on blow.

El struck the horse thief leader's shoulder with an axe, and the whole person also jumped on it.The horse thief leader's strength is not very strong, but he is full of fearlessness, clamping El's ax tightly with his blades, and rolling off the horse with him.

If it were an ordinary soldier, he might be able to turn defeat into victory by relying on this ruthlessness.But now he is facing a more ferocious beast.El tugged hard, but didn't pull the ax back. Seeing the horse thief leader's other hand touch the dagger at his waist, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

With a loud roar, he held the handle of the ax tightly, and lifted up together with the horse thief leader's body, raised his knees and fell down, and there was a clear and crisp spine fracture sound from the horse thief leader's back.

Amid the screams of the horse thief leader, El pulled out his axe, stepped on his shoulder, swung the ax round and struck again, chopping off one of his arms.

"Ahhhh—you bastard! Master Bloodhoof will not let you go!" the horse thief screamed while clutching his broken arm.

"Master Bloodhoof? What is that?" Al stepped on the horse thief leader's chest and asked curiously.

"Bah!" The head of the horse thief was covered in cold sweat with pain, but he still did not change his mind. He spat in El's face and shouted with a strange smile, "Lord Bloodhoof will avenge me! He will kill you!" Cut it into minced meat piece by piece!"

"Thank you for reminding me, this is really a good idea." El slowly exerted force on his feet, crushing the horse thief leader's sternum little by little.He picked up the ax and chopped off the other arm of the horse thief leader, and then chopped his body into a meat paste one by one.The fighting around him was over, so he had plenty of time to appreciate the hapless creature's pain.

"My lord, we have captured some prisoners." After he had thoroughly chopped up the horse thief leader, Timmy dared to lean over and report in a low voice.

"No, in this way, torture and torture." El pointed to the inhuman pieces of meat under his feet and said, "No matter what they say, we don't want to live."

(End of this chapter)