Soul of Burning Steel

Man is a life longing for warmth and greedy for flames.

The mountains in the south of the Northland are covered with snow all day long, and today is no exception.

Between the whistling of the cold wind, the cold wave from the distant Blind Sea froze the earth, the white snow, the gray cloud and the black forest are all the colors that people can see here - monotonous and dull. The scenery wears on the spirit, but the cold and harsh weather wears on the body.

For human beings, this vast and desolate land of ice sheets can be regarded as an absolute forbidden zone. If you step here without adequate preparation, you will undoubtedly only be turned into a pile of bones under the erosion of wind and snow, even if it is recently The temperature here has eased a little, but it can't change the essence of this place.

Of course, not everyone is afraid of this kind of weather.

In Starfall 832, at noon on February 26th, in the snow-capped mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles in the south of the Great Ajax Mountains, a small group of knights was galloping in the wind and snow with flying banners.

The snow-capped mountains in the Northland are the source of all the surrounding rivers. A series of winding glaciers hang down from the tops of the mountains. They flow through the cliffs and rocks, pass through the dense black forest, and then flow along the valley towards the distance. At that time, the team of knights was galloping along the slightly flatter path by the river towards their goal—a place of black smoke that was obviously incomparable and went straight into the sky.

The horseshoes undulate up and down, crushing the long-precipitated ice and snow. The horses with dragon blood have terrible endurance, which makes them have strong strength and stamina, and will not be hindered by the frost. Not long after, the leader riding the black horse Under the leadership, the team of knights came to a high slope on the top of a certain hill.

They could already see the source of the black smoke.

"It's spectacular..."

On the high slope, looking into the distance, a voice of admiration from unknown origin resounded in the queue of knights, and this sigh got everyone's approval and sympathy.

Right in front of their eyes, in the basin behind the mountains, the vast land changed from its previous whiteness to a scorched black like carbon. The high temperature distorted the air, and it rose towards the sky wrapped in waves of black smoke. And right in the center of this piece of scorched earth, there is a red-gold lake, a huge lava lake churning, releasing almost endless heat.

Everyone can already smell the smell of burning sulfur in the air, and even those who are more sensitive can detect that there is a majestic tide of fire elements condensing in this ice and snow field, falling in mid-air under the high temperature of lava The flying snow was vaporized into high-heat water vapor, and this gas rose up with the rolling heat waves, and even poked a big hole in the dark clouds covering the sky.

The most famous landmark on the south side of the Great Ajax Mountains - the surface lava lake.

Here is the residence of the rune dwarves in the North. On the black scorched earth around it, various buildings made of gray rocks are scattered here and there, including houses, shops, and even paved buildings. The rocky streets and street lamps all look like a small town.

Dwarves are not a race in stories or legends. These short but strong guys with long beards and strong wills live next to humans and exist as members of human society. , dwarves enjoy the same power as humans, and are citizens in the true sense, and dwarves also nominally submit to the local lord and belong to his leadership-of course, it is not a difficult task to make them obey the leader sincerely. simple thing.

"The town ahead is our goal."

Controlling the black, Joshua walked slowly, and said to the knights behind him in a deep voice: "Be careful, the lava area occasionally emits high-heat steam from the cracks on the surface, so don't frighten and injure the horses."

"yes!"

After a loud answer, the team started to set off again.

Walking cautiously, avoiding several steam eruptions, after a while, they came to the residential area of ​​the dwarves on the surface.

On both sides of the street, the buildings are not tall. Of course, the dwarves will not build their home buildings like building wonders. What's more, the rune dwarves in the north are not famous for magnificent buildings. The mountain dwarves in the west They are good at building castles and fortresses, and even the leyline dwarves who are good at changing terrain are better than rune dwarves in this respect.

After all, what they are best at is forging weapons and making all kinds of magic equipment. In this respect, even dwarf goblins are not as good as them.

"Is there no one?"

Looking around, Rin, who was riding a gray horse, said to himself strangely: "Although I know that dwarves live underground, since there are buildings built on the surface, how can there be no one there?"

"Not nothing."

Joshua, who was in front of him, shook his head, turned sideways, and explained to the boy: "We have already sent a magic communication notice before we came, and they should all be waiting for us in the small square ahead."

And indeed it is.

Not long after turning around a street, everyone saw dozens of dwarves gathered in the small square in front of them. After they saw the team led by the warriors and the flying flag of the hand holding the sword, they all waved their hands to express their welcome. .

And there was a person who seemed to be the leader, leading several dwarves in armor or uniforms, walking towards Joshua and the others, and the warrior and his knight naturally got off their horses to greet them.

"Respected Lord Joshua, welcome to Black Steel Town."

First of all, the dwarf bowed respectfully, and the dwarf took the lead in expressing welcome and apology: "My name is Iron Body Tania, Lord Lord, please forgive me, there are not many people to welcome, this is because most of the residents live in underground."

He is about 1.4 meters tall, his tough skin is slightly black, and he has a long dark yellow beard on his chin. There are rings made of various metals hanging on it, and each ring has a very obvious text inscription—— — This is the custom of the dwarves. When a dwarf becomes an adult, after every amazing achievement, he can put a ring on his beard to show his glory.

If you want to distinguish between two strange dwarves, you don’t need to think about other things, you just need to look at the number of rings on their beards. The dwarf in front of you has at least thirteen upward rings on his beard. Not counting those who may be hidden in the beard, judging from Joshua's experience, they are already considered noble.

"It's nothing. In fact, I was surprised enough to see such a large group of dwarves on the surface."

Naturally, Joshua would not have any thoughts on such insignificant matters. Soldiers never cared about ostentation, as long as someone led the way for him was enough, but after hearing the other party's name, Joshua couldn't help but feel a little bit interested , he said directly: "Mr. Tania, let me call you like this. Your name seems to be the same as Master Moria."

"That's right."

Putting her hand on the center of her chest, Tania bowed slightly to the side, as if paying tribute to someone who was not here: "Iron Body Moria is my father... Lord Lord, if you don't mind, you can send Hand over the horses to my assistants, and I will take you underground, father is waiting for you in the underground forging area."

After handing over the horses to the dwarves in the square, the warrior and his knights followed Tania onward.

Behind an arch at the back of the square is the passage leading to the underground. Under the leadership of Joshua, everyone followed Tania and several young dwarves into it. After walking through a few aisles illuminated by pyroxene lamps, what everyone saw was a huge underground world.

One bright corridor after another leads to all directions. They are like spider webs, linking various important regions in a complicated and regular manner. The walls of the corridors are made of some kind of alchemy product specially made by the dwarves. In the previous life, Joshua He and other players habitually call it dwarf cement, but no one remembers his real name.

On both sides of the passage, you can see some exquisite statues and heroic murals from time to time, and even some stone pillars that seem to be made of metal ore stand in the center of the passage. This is also the custom of the dwarves. When digging the underground passage , It means luck to meet the raw metal ore, they will not destroy these stone pillars.

Joshua is well-informed and has seen a lot. He has been to the underground fortress of the dwarves countless times in his previous life, and he is very familiar with their architectural style and customs, but the knights following him are completely different. .

Passing through another corridor, they came to a huge naturally formed cavity. On the dome, countless red crystals condensed with fire elements shone brightly like a forest. Not to mention Claire, who has been silent from the beginning until now, Rin, who followed the warrior on one side, opened his eyes wide, held his breath, and looked at everything around him quietly, while the other knights couldn't help but Slowed down his pace and fell into the shock of this huge underground world.

And Tania, who was leading the way ahead, naturally sensed the secret exclamation and admiration of the crowd. While he was secretly proud in his heart, he couldn't help feeling a little admiration for the soldiers' calmness.

"It's really worthy of being our nominal lord."

The dwarf thought in his heart: "This calm temperament is different from other people."

The time was spent observing the underground world. After a period of time, Joshua and the others had gradually penetrated deep underground. Under the deep rock formations, the heat of the earth rose again, and everyone could even hear the pulse of the magma. The sound, but unexpectedly, no one felt very hot, all the heat seemed to be sucked away by the light gray dwarven cement.

Joshua mentally modeled the passage he walked through and the cave he saw. He squinted his eyes and made a rough estimate. He found that he had passed through at least three layers of underground defense lines and made four turns around. The corridors are densely packed and extend in all directions, just like a maze. Ordinary intruders don't need them to do it themselves, and they will probably die in the complicated corridors due to hunger and confusion.

"It's quite cautious. Even if you call me the lord, you actually don't want me to know the correct path."

The soldier thought of this in his heart, but he didn't take it seriously. This kind of thinking is human nature, he can understand it, and he doesn't think it's a big deal.

Anyway, I can't hide it from him.

But even with many detours, it is almost at the destination now. Joshua and his party stopped when Tania, the leader, said, "Here we are."

They finally came to the underground living quarters of the rune dwarves.

**** Can the automatic update of the starting point be improved, **** X's garbage background!

there is another chapter soon