The Collection of The End

My name is Akatosh,

I'm sobering up Sgrammer.

— 4E, 201, Hearthfire, 11th, 00:09 —

At midnight, a thick fog rose from the snowfields facing the sea in the northwest of Winterhold.

Although it was a normal natural phenomenon, Arthur, who was on vigil, still raised his vigilance.

Logically speaking, after a battle with a ghost dragon, he shouldn't be in charge of night vigil, but considering that the three Farkas brothers first fought continuously with numerous snow elves and dwarf machines in a certain Dwemer ruins, and then were mysteriously The person fell into the underground river, finally climbed out and lit a fire to dry his clothes, and then he was chased and killed by the ghost dragon that appeared for a long time...

Hmm... let them rest in Lydia's "position", Arthur looked at the giant ebony shield leaning on the mountain wall not far away, Lydia was sitting next to it with her knees hugged, as if She was asleep, and Babas was at her feet.

At this time, the members of the comrades-in-arms group were only in an ordinary depression at the foot of the snow mountain, but neither the snowflakes blown up by the wind nor the thick fog that gradually dispersed could approach a circular area centered on Lydia's shield.

What caused this result was the magical effect inspired by Lydia's giant shield "Fragile Snowflake Wall", but just like its name, it can't block anything except snowflakes, and basically can only be used to When the weather is not bad, a temporary camp is established at night.

According to Arthur's memory, in a certain event that no longer existed, she even held up this shield to resist the direct attack of the demon god Hircine's real body, which is not what the "Snowflake Wall" can do.

Every time Lydia showed different traits, it made him feel that Lord Balgruuf was underserved.

"What are you looking at?" Ella suddenly appeared in front of Arthur, blocking his gaze towards the giant shield and Lydia.

"I was thinking, I have to take good care of her for her father." Arthur blurted out subconsciously, "Oh, no, I mean..."

"Hey, you think so too?" Ayla, who was a little confused at first, suddenly woke up: "Let me tell you, I have seen Lord Balgruf's wife, she is a very gentle and beautiful lady, and she is now in Longxiao all day long. Those brats running around in the palace are not at all similar, but they have a lot of similarities with Lydia. I guess she must be a mistake made by the lord when he was young, and that Eliris—— "

Oops, Arthur raised his forehead, why did he gossip with Ella? If it continues, there is no need to change shifts, and you can just watch the whole night.

Arthur braced himself to listen to Ira's story of the lord's romance, and at the same time tried to pay attention to the movement outside the "position".

——00:27——

Snap, snap.

"Hush! There are enemies approaching!"

When Ella deduced that Balgruf and Tirma the Wild Eagle also knew each other, and that there might be some grievances between him and Kraco, Arthur finally heard the slight sound of footsteps stepping on the snow, so he quickly interrupted Ella. gossip and took up arms.

"Hmm." Ella snorted dissatisfiedly, showed Arthur the sharp claws protruding from the back of her hand, and then walked around quietly to the side where the sound came from.

Regardless of whether it is a snow leopard or a snow bear, if they show up at this time, they are considered unlucky.

"Hmm..." A tall and thin figure gradually appeared from the dense fog, and stopped outside the range of the "position", and a slightly hoarse old man's voice sounded: "'Advanced enchantment'? Then there may be high elves here , yes, possibly."

"Wait, Ella! That's a human being!" Arthur hurriedly reminded Ella, who had sneaked behind the man, not to kill her.

"I saw it!" When the huntress jumped out, the sharp claws in her hand had already been retracted, and she pointed at the knife as if intending to stun the man.

After all, it appeared near the adventurer's camp in the middle of the night, even if it was a human,

The necessary vigilance is also——

Boom!

The loud noise and air waves produced by the collision of Ella's fist against something instantly blew away the nearby mist, revealing the appearance of the visitor—a man wearing a pitch-black mage robe, with gray hair and hollow eyes. A tall, thin old man with a blue beard.

... blue beard?

"Enemy attack!" If they can still sleep with such a big commotion, they are not a circle. During the period from Ayla's attack to the fog clearing, the three Farkas brothers have jumped up and surrounded the old man in all directions. And Lydia also picked up the shield and stood beside Arthur, Babas... still sleeping.

The companions always protect the strongest self, and Arthur also feels very helpless.

"It's the 'Ebony Armor Technique'!" Ayla reminded loudly after the attack was directly bounced off.

"Tut." Arthur heard Wilkas smack his lips.

Armor in transformation magic is almost useless at low levels. "Wooden Armor" and "Stone Armor" are basically layers of parchment, which can be broken with one poke. The more advanced "Iron Armor" is generally used by mages. ", it will allow the caster to gain defense as if wearing an additional piece of iron armor. As for the "Ebony Armor" that can only be cast by masters of the transformation system, it has never been heard that it has been broken before the duration expires.

Therefore, what appeared in front of them was a powerful magician who had at least reached the master level in the transformation magic, and it was basically impossible to subdue the opponent by force.

"Master, what's your business here?" Seeing that his companions seemed a little embarrassed, they didn't take out their weapons, and there was still room for negotiation, Arthur took two steps forward and said, "I'm very sorry for treating you like a monster before. "

Not long ago, he had a conversation with Tovdil, who is also a master of the transformation department, at the Mage Academy. Although the master was a little nervous, he could basically communicate... maybe.

From the current point of view, if the blue beard mage really has malicious intentions, I am afraid they will have to challenge the hard demolition of the "Ebony Armor".

"I'm looking for the 'Elf'." The blue bearded mage glanced at the members of the comrades in arms in front of him with a dull gaze: "A seal of a demon god needs to be opened with the blood of an elf, all kinds of things."

It feels like he said some serious things lightly, the seal of the Demon God?

"Then how many kinds did you find?" Arthur bit the bullet and continued to talk.

"Only the snow elves who ran out from the ground, and the lost abandoned elves." The old man glanced at Babas, who was finally awakened and was still a little dazed, and then said, "But it's hard to meet the high elves, wood elves, and elves." Becoming an elf, this place is too remote.”

"Abandoning the elves?" "Changing elves?" Farkas and Wells asked suspiciously.

"In the Nord language, orcs and dark elves," Wilkas explained to his two brothers.

"Nords and dogs are useless." Bluebeard turned around and planned to leave with some disappointment. It seemed that although he had some problems with his head, at least he didn't plan to be an enemy of them—it might not be so if there were elves in the team this time.

"Wait a minute, please! Are you Master Septim's Revelation Sigris?" Arthur suddenly called out to the old magician.

Although it's just a guess, due to the battle with Duneville and the heavy wind and snow, it's not certain what location it is at this time. It is also possible if you accidentally approach the mage's "advance base" .

"That's right, but it's just a 'scholar' rather than a 'master'." The old man with the blue beard looked at Arthur: "What's the matter, Dragonborn?"

Sure enough, it was seen. It seems that powerful people can directly see the blood vessels?

"I hope... I can take a look at that 'seal', maybe we have a way to break it," Arthur quickly thought of an excuse: "Even if it doesn't work, we can help you collect blood."

The seal that requires the blood of elves to break is undoubtedly due to the evil taste of the demon god, maybe he hates elves extremely?

If you ask Mr. Septim to help find the ancient scrolls when Mr. Septim is concentrating on this matter, he will undoubtedly be rejected, and at this time they have more important things to do-recast Uthrad .

Since the two places are not far apart, you can consider helping the old man solve this matter first, then ask him to help deal with Silver Hand, and finally look for the ancient scrolls. Just judging from the encounter that lasted for one or two rounds just now, this team The shortcomings of the team's lack of magical means are already obvious.

"Okay," Septim looked at Arthur tacitly, thinking for a moment, "I haven't tried the blood of the dragonborn, after all, they are hard to catch, the imperial family, the royal family."

Does this count as digging a hole and burying yourself? But you old man, don't try to catch the royal family of the empire, the current Skyrim Province is already chaotic enough.

——01:42——

After nearly an hour of trekking, the dense fog in the middle of the night dissipated a lot, and when the old man with the blue beard said "arrived", a huge iceberg suddenly appeared in front of the members of the comrades-in-arms group.

With the faint reflection of the snow, it can be seen that a metal sphere the size of a mare's banner is inlaid inside the iceberg. Its weird brass shell and mechanism prove its identity as a dwarf.

"Why is there an iceberg on the snowfield?" Ella's eyes widened, and she looked towards the coastline which was still some distance away to the north.

"It was originally floating on the sea, but I dragged it up for the convenience of research," the old man paused: "Using magic."

No matter how you think about it, it can't be human, okay?

"This thing seems to be..." Arthur looked up for a while, frowning.

This perfectly round dwarf has no connection to the outside world at all. It is not so much a part of a certain relic as it was deliberately abandoned after being sealed. So what is sealed inside?

"Follow me." Septim hinted to lead Arthur and the others to the back of the iceberg. There was a staircase carved out of the iceberg leading directly to the inside of the sphere, and several residences dug to the side of the road for the convenience of research. With an igloo, of course, the furnishings are extremely poor.

Above the giant metal sphere is an entrance that looks like an entrance, surrounded by circular organs with some ancient characters. It is facing the "living room" of the igloo. It can be seen that Bluebeard has studied it a lot, but he can't find the door. enter.

"The general idea of ​​those words is: After a stupid Dwemer read the 'Grimoire', he used the content to ask Azura, but Azura couldn't answer, so he angrily annihilated the Dwemer clan and sent The Grimoire is completely sealed, and anyone who finds it please do not open and read the 'Grimoire'." Septim said tacitly.

"Then you still want to open it?" Farkas asked in a daze.

"Since the Dwemer has been exterminated, who wrote this text? Demon God?" Ayla gave him a sidelong glance.

"Other witnesses... eh?" Farkas froze.

"Wow! It smells like [Hermaeus Mora]!" Babas barked wildly around the "entrance".

"That makes sense." Septim said he had no reaction to the dog's ability to talk, and fell into deep thought: "Then that grimoire should be..."

"Anyway, let's try it." Arthur cut his finger with the blade of a sword, and dripped blood into the device next to the circular mechanism, which was obviously used to hold liquid.

Rumble——

The huge sphere roared as if something was rotating inside, and from time to time, there were bangs and clicks of certain mechanisms matching each other. Finally, the circular mechanism in front of it slowly backed away, and moved aside, revealing a strange path. It is too long, reaching the metal tunnel at the center of the sphere.

It can be clearly seen from the outside that at the end of the tunnel is an empty sealed metal space, and the only thing inside is a square altar with a huge book in a dark green cover.