Green Monster Epic

Chapter 269: Ruins in the Depths of the Desert (Two Chapters)

It turns out that the depths of the desert are not just yellow sand, but also countless oases with lush vegetation and flowing streams.

After Allen and the others had been traveling in the desert for almost a month, they finally saw a large oasis covering at least a hundred miles after crossing a huge sand dune, which made people marvel at the magic of nature.

The location of the oasis is very special. On both sides are majestic gray-white mountains extending into the depths. The raging desert winds are blocked by the mountains like a barrier, allowing the long and narrow oasis to exist luckily forever. Lush shrubs and grasslands cover the oasis, with occasional tall palm trees rising from the ground, their slender, sword-like green leaves gently caressing in the breeze. A winding stream slowly extends from the distant valley to the edge of the oasis, eventually disappearing into the loose desert. It is unknown whether it evaporated due to the scorching climate or directly seeped into the underground river at the bottom of the desert.

"The valley deep in this oasis is where the ruins are located!"

Bonecrusher was a little emotional. Over the years, he couldn't remember how many times he had dreamed about this place. Every time, he could think of the tragic encounter that had caused heavy losses to their team of more than a dozen people, with only a few survivors.

"In this oasis, I suppose there will be no shortage of traces of snake people and lizard people!"

Allen watched from the top of the sand dune, looking at the lush oasis below. He felt that behind the seemingly peaceful oasis, there were probably hidden countless dangers.

"That's natural. When we rushed into the ruins, we encountered several waves of snake people and lizard people ambushes. Such a good living environment must have natives living in it."

Snake people and lizard people are, after all, animals. Animal survival is inseparable from water and food. In such a barren desert, if you want to gather a small and medium-sized native tribe, there must be a prosperous oasis.

Bonecrusher knew that Allen didn't trust him, so he generously told about his experience entering and leaving this place back then, without hiding anything.

"However, the native tribes here are very primitive and ignorant. Even if the tribal leader is strong, they are very limited. Back then, our team only had one high-level war warrior, and we could easily break in. With our current team strength, it shouldn't be difficult to break in."

"That's best."

Allen replied perfunctorily, his eyes fixed on the distant green field, not looking back, trying to find any moving, suspicious creatures.

Entering the jungle felt completely different. The shrubs that didn't look very tall from a distance were actually tall enough to submerge the six people present. After drilling into the shrubs, it was almost impossible to see the outside situation. After going deeper for a few hundred meters, the heat of the desert seemed to disappear, and the surroundings of Allen and the others suddenly became cool. However, the countless mosquitoes that appeared at the same time made the humans and dwarves very troubled, and they kept cursing and driving away these annoying things.

On the ground, in addition to weeds, the most common were fallen leaves left after the decay of leaves, with a faint musty smell and a moist atmosphere. At the same time, traces of other animals could be seen from time to time on the soft layer of fallen leaves. Among them, a path that was almost trampled out often indicated that there were masters belonging to them in this oasis.

"Pfft!!"

A slender arrow brushed past Allen's shoulder, almost piercing his python leather armor. By the time Allen looked up to find the attacker, he could only see the back of a snake person dragging a long tail and holding a slender tube, slinking away.

"We've been discovered, we have to speed up!"

Bonecrusher also discovered the enemy and said to the people around him.

"I'll clear the way!!"

Two dwarves held their heavy shields high, one closely guarding Bonecrusher, and the other rushed to the front of the team, acting as the team's guard. According to Bonecrusher's instructions, they buried their heads and mustered their strength to move forward towards the depths of the valley. All the trees and rubble that blocked them along the way were smashed away by Thorin's heavy shield, fully demonstrating the dwarves' great strength and skillful shield techniques.

Rustling sounds came from behind and on both sides. Countless lithe figures began to appear around the team, followed by a continuous stream of javelins, flying stones, and other medium- and long-range attacks, smashing towards the direction the team was moving, forcing the members of the team to use their respective methods to resist the attacks of the falling rocks and javelins, while still being able to continue moving forward quickly.

After running for more than an hour while enduring countless attacks from flying stones and javelins, there were more and more figures around them. Allen roughly estimated that there were at least a hundred snake people. A haze gradually appeared in his heart: "We can't keep running like this. There are more and more enemies. We will be blocked to death in the valley!"

Allen was a little hesitant. He didn't know how far the valley extended inward. The further they went in, the more difficult it would be to go back. With his strength, it wouldn't be a problem to deal with a hundred or so unadvanced beginner warriors, but if there were too many enemies and a few intermediate war professionals restraining him, it would be very difficult for him to escape alone.

Allen's words expressed the feelings of the other three adventurers. Although they were hired by Night to take risks, when it came to life and death, no amount of benefits could replace their precious lives.

"Don't worry, if we run forward for another ten miles or so, we will see the location of the ruins. That place seems to be a forbidden area for these natives. No natives dare to chase us into the ruins!!"

Since Bonecrusher asked everyone to ignore the snake people's attacks and keep running forward, he naturally had a complete plan. Back then, their team also got rid of this snake people natives living in the oasis in this way.

"Sorson, hold me, I'll release a few skills to delay these guys' steps."

The spell to protect against arrows was cast a little too frequently today. Seeing that they were about to reach the ruins, Bonecrusher also felt the trouble of the natives behind him, and finally prepared to take action to teach these guys a lesson.

Originally, the height of the kobold was only a head taller than that of the goblin. Now that he was old, Bonecrusher, who was even more hunched over, was actually about the same height as Sorson and the other dwarves. After receiving Bonecrusher's instructions, Sorson switched the heavy shield to his left hand, gently wrapped his right hand around Bonecrusher's waist, and easily lifted Bonecrusher up, carrying him to continue running.

Bonecrusher held his breath and calmed his breath. After adjusting his breathing, a long magical syllable began to sound. As the oak staff in his hand drew complex patterns, the rotten and humid layer of fallen leaves behind them suddenly began to emit white smoke. Immediately, walls of fire about 4-5 meters wide suddenly appeared in the road behind them. Several snake people natives who couldn't dodge in time directly passed through the wall of fire and then fell to the ground as charred corpses.

More pursuers hesitated in their pursuit after Bonecrusher's magical spell was ignited, but soon returned to normal, shuttling between Bonecrusher's spells, chasing all the way to the vicinity of the stone building ruins deep in the oasis, before stopping with curses and anger.

How many survivors of the fallen Goddess Mansa once lived in the Mansa wilderness, no one knows. But what is certain is that these survivors once left countless traces of their existence in every corner of the Mansa wilderness.

The stone building ruins in front of him are very similar in style to the maze ruins that Allen had entered. The stone pillars that several people could hug, the towering walls of the ruins, and even the sculptural style that could be seen in the buildings, all showed its former glory.

Where the original owner of the ruins went is impossible to verify, but even without anyone to manage or repair the ruins, none of the almost ubiquitous plants in the oasis could grow within this first-level area, as if some mysterious force was restraining them. This allowed the original appearance of the ruins to be seen at a glance by everyone present.

The ruins were surrounded by a ring of stone bricks laid out in a circle, with the grayish-white bricks arching around the ruins' buildings in the center. Around the plaza, 12 enormous circular stone pillars were evenly distributed along the edge, like 12 giants guarding the structure.

In the very center of the structure, a stone platform still stood, with a pure white human-shaped sculpture spreading its arms as if embracing the world. It was a pity that time had worn away the contours of the sculpture's face, but the vaguely remaining sculpture itself still allowed people to conjure up images, as if the owner of the statue was a woman with divine light within, full of compassion, using Her bright eyes to gaze at the intruding outsiders, causing Allen and the others to hesitate to act rashly for a moment.

"This is the ruin we discovered back then. Behind this statue, there is a passage leading deep underground, and beyond the passage is an even more magnificent complex of buildings."

The Bonecrusher looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar environment and said with great emotion.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go down and see what good things are inside!"

Night was participating in such an adventure for the first time, and his experience was still lacking. Although the vigilance in his eyes remained, his eager actions and excited words had already betrayed his inner thoughts.

"I think it's better to send someone down to scout first!"

When Allen said this, his eyes kept drifting to the three adventurers who had seemed distant from him since they met.

The solitary Allen naturally didn't trust the words of the two kobolds. When it came to matters of life and death, these three adventurers were more trustworthy to Allen than the two kobolds. After all, life only comes once, and adventurers are no exception.

"No need to scout. At the end of this passage, there is an Abyss Thorns guarding the entrance. Back then, the adventurers in our team inadvertently entered its territory and were活活绞死(literally: strangled to death) by its countless thorny vines and roots!!"

"The native snake people outside must have suffered from this Abyss Thorns, so they treat this place as a forbidden area."

Only now did the Bonecrusher finally reveal the true situation in the underground palace, causing Allen to frown involuntarily.

Allen didn't know what Abyss Thorns were, but anything related to the abyss was naturally not simple. When Allen saw that the three adventurers next to him were somewhat moved, he knew that their opponent ahead was definitely very棘手(literally: thorny, meaning troublesome).

"But don't worry, based on my encounter with it back then, its strength is definitely only at the level of a high-level combatant. And I am a fire-type dragon vein warlock, which gives me a natural offensive advantage against it. Even if plants from the abyss have high magic resistance, it will definitely not feel good trying to resist my fire magic!!"

"Everyone, please wait for me a moment. After I recover some of my mana, we will set off to explore downwards."

After saying this, the Bonecrusher began to close his eyes and meditate, recovering the mana and spirit he had consumed on the road.

Allen and the others didn't keep them waiting for too long. After meditating for more than one magic hour, the Bonecrusher reopened his eyes, and the previous fatigue had been mostly restored by this deep meditation. Allen and the others were not idle during the Bonecrusher's meditation, and had already used their own methods to recover. Only Night had been guarding the Bonecrusher's side, until the other party woke up.

Allen had not had much contact with this kobold, Night, in the past ten years, only meeting a few times. However, looking at the other party's calm temperament and capable manner along the way, although he didn't say much, one could feel that his talent was not bad. At least Allen felt that he was not weaker than Flower Snake in his village. The impulsive young man of ten years ago had now turned into a local talent who could stand alone. It seemed that not only his tribe was growing, but the Bonecrusher tribe was also developing.

"Night, you can become invisible. Go one step ahead and see what's going on inside. If there is any danger, warn everyone in advance."

Behind the statue, there was indeed a dark passage, a square passage with a length and width of 3-4 meters, with a long stone staircase extending downwards until it was swallowed by darkness. When he reached the vicinity of the passage entrance, the Bonecrusher suddenly reversed his previous behavior and directly ordered Night, an assassin with stealth abilities, to walk in front. This surprised Allen somewhat, but he quickly understood.

When he and Salu explored the maze, Salu was also in the lead, with Allen following slightly behind, so that they could react in time if they discovered any danger.

Night had been down for a while, and his figure had disappeared into the darkness. Just as Thorin, the shield warrior, was about to continue down, the Bonecrusher suddenly seemed to have discovered something and shouted with a frown, "Wait!"

"What's wrong?"

The human Joey rarely spoke, asking in a rough voice.

"It's not safe after all if no one is outside to keep watch for us. I'll set up a few magic traps around here. If someone takes advantage of our exploration to do something bad behind our backs, it would be inappropriate."

After all, the Bonecrusher was still an experienced person, and his words not only convinced the three adventurers, but also made Allen nod in agreement, feeling that it made sense.

It seemed that the Bonecrusher had prepared very well for this expedition. He took out some small objects from his arms and quickly formed an alchemy item that Allen didn't recognize, and then buried it around the passage. Then, the Bonecrusher's magic incantation sounded, and several spells were cast one by one at the location where the traps had been buried earlier.

The last spell took a long time to cast. It took 3-4 minutes just to recite the incantation and coordinate the waving of the staff to construct the spell model. During this period, Allen was even a little impatient, but when he saw the Bonecrusher with his eyes closed and a focused look, Allen forcibly endured it.

Although Allen could not be considered a magical idiot now, none of the spells and staff-waving patterns that the Bonecrusher was chanting and waving were recognized by Allen, so he was embarrassed to interrupt him.

The Bonecrusher's spellcasting seemed very complicated, but the effect after the spell was cast was surprisingly simple. However, a spark suddenly jumped from the top of the Bonecrusher's staff, and then slowly rose towards the sky, until it disappeared into the cloudless, blue sky.

"Okay, let's go in. The Night brat has been in there for so long without any news. I'm afraid he's in danger inside."

After casting the spell, the Bonecrusher suddenly became a little anxious, as if he really was worried about Night's safety as he said.

"This spell of yours..."

Allen became more careful and pretended to ask curiously.

"Oh, this spell is a series of traps made in conjunction with the spells and alchemy props I cast earlier. As long as someone triggers the traps buried in the stone bricks, then the spark in the sky will turn into a fireball with a power exceeding Tier 5, and it will directly smash into the outsider who triggered the trap."

The Bonecrusher didn't hide anything and explained his arrangement as it was.

Allen's suspicion was slightly relieved. Looking at the faces of the three adventurers next to him, there didn't seem to be anything unusual, so he didn't ask any further questions. Under the Bonecrusher's urging, the group drilled into the dark and deep passage.