The Death Knell

How should I put it, the underground creatures in this dungeon have a unique attitude towards humans.

In the past, when underground creatures saw humans, they thought they were food, and their attitude was needless to say. However, although the monsters here were surprised and wary when they saw humans, they showed no particularly obvious signs of hostility.

I don't know whether the name Supreme Mage is more useful, or whether the goblin didn't understand what this word meant at all. He walked around the two of them a few times on his short legs, as if he didn't see any threat, and then gave it to them. The two lead the way.

"I can only take you outside the city lord's palace, but I can't say whether the city lord will see you or not."

The goblin's legs are too short and he looks awkward when walking. The roads in this underground city are very flat and seem to be able to pass vehicles.

Su Ming was noncommittal about this, and winked at Xiao Ka to follow the goblin. The other person would take four or five steps, while a human would only need to take one step, so the two of them had plenty of time to observe their surroundings.

Whether it was farmland or houses on the roadside, there were always underground creatures casting curious glances at the two of them, just out of pure curiosity, as if they didn't know humans could eat them.

Moreover, the two of them saw a small number of hell creatures here. However, the Balrog, who belongs to the elite warrior class in hell, was selling roasted mushrooms on the roadside at this time. The snake demon with six hands and tail was also considered a powerful demon. Here But they are picking manure and farming.

How to put it, it can only be said to be weird, because these demons have no response to humans, as if they have seen through the world of mortals.

Could it be that this city looks steampunk on the surface, but is actually an underground Buddhist kingdom? The monsters living here are too orderly and Buddhist, right?

Goblins account for a large proportion of the urban population. These short-legged creatures can be seen everywhere. They are all dressed in human-like clothes, but judging from the oil stains on their bodies and the various tools they hold in their hands, they should be Belong to the working class.

The places where they work are factories with big chimneys, and when you pass by the door, you can hear the banging sound inside.

The street lights in the dungeon are all on, indicating that there is electricity. There is also a small stand with free drinking water on the roadside, which looks like the one in the human park, indicating that they have running water. These underground creatures seem to be copying the development trajectory of human society, except that the technology tree has a lot of traces of steam power.

Watching a steam car drive by, Su Ming carefully observed its production process. It had to be said that the goblin technology was still shocking. Although all parts of the broken car, including the horn, were clanking, and there was a lot of noise on the car. The boiler with white smoke looks more like a big bomb, but this car can run.

"What do these factories produce?" he asked the goblin leading the way, pointing to a family-style industrial area on the roadside.

The goblin quickly moved his two short legs and raised his hands to wipe his sweat: "We can do everything. We can also make the daily necessities that you humans have. At the same time, we also do business with some underground chambers of commerce, such as this one. The factory, I guess, produces steam flashlights. You can get a lot of food by selling them to other dungeons. You said you're here to negotiate terms, so you probably want to do business, right?"

"That's true, but steam... flashlight?" The expression on Su Ming's face was very strange. What the hell is that?

The goblin leading the way loosened his tie, and a proud smile appeared on his green face: "How about it? You haven't seen it before, everything can be steamed. Let me tell you secretly, if you want to do trade between dungeons, If you have enough capital and the ability to protect yourself, you can make a lot of money by purchasing steam wine from us and transporting it to other places to sell it."

Su Ming shrugged. He only knew that the kobolds in Azeroth had the black technology of mushroom brewing, but he didn't expect that the underground creatures here also had it.

Said to be steam wine, it was probably something between human sparkling wine and carbonated drinks, but after seeing the growing environment of these mushrooms, he felt that it was okay not to buy this wine.

“What do you want from humans if you do business?”

Su Ming took one step to close the distance between him and the goblin, looking down at the hair on its head that looked like sparse withered grass.

The goblin thought for a while and answered seriously: "Knowledge, fuel and surface food are all acceptable. Although using biogas has saved us a lot of coal and oil, the combustion efficiency of biogas is still low after all."

"Where did you learn this English? And these scientific terms." Su Ming found it interesting that a goblin who met him on the road was so knowledgeable.

The goblin shrugged and imitated the human expression of spreading his hands. This was what he learned from the book: "Some human larvae like to exchange books that inherit knowledge with us for toys. Occasionally we will leave this city and go to your human place." A stall was set up at the sewer outlet, inviting children to come and trade.”

Su Ming curled his lips and imagined that scene.

A child came home from school. In a sparsely populated alley, laughter suddenly came from behind the fence of a rain drain on the roadside. He stretched out a little green hand holding a balloon and called the child to make a deal in sewer English. ...

It almost looked like a scene from a horror movie.

Well, anyway, Su Ming already knew why there were so few people in the United States, because there was nothing they didn't dare to play.

Naughty children are the representatives of boldness. It is not impossible to make deals with underground creatures. If you can exchange a few books for a unique bicycle, the temptation is simply irresistible.

It's just that the textbooks have been replaced by a car, and the children may be beaten by mixed doubles when they go home.

Deathstroke and the goblins chatted all the way, and Casillas kept listening expressionlessly. He was thinking about where the hell creatures here came from, and why they didn't behave like demons at all.

Before he could notice anything more, the goblin brought the two of them to a gate. This gate seemed to be inlaid on the rock wall. It was antique and had a history of hundreds of years at least.

Well, at first glance, you can tell that it was dismantled from an old castle somewhere and reused, because the style doesn’t match the surroundings at all.

"Behind this door is the City Lord's Mansion. The City Lord's family is a succubus and they like to be clean, so they don't come out often." The goblin pointed at the door, and then exchanged a few words with the guard guarding the door in an incomprehensible language.

The guard looked like a troll, with a height of no less than four meters and wild boar-like tusks in his mouth.

The guard's English was worse, and his sewer English smelled like curry. Su Ming only understood it through the goblin translator. The troll wanted to go in and inform the two of them to wait.

The goblin hadn't left yet. It looked at the death knell helplessly and rubbed its fingers in embarrassment.

I understand, this is to show the way. This goblin is the legendary guide party.

Before the emergence of taxis in human society, there were many people whose job was to guide people. Generally speaking, they were children or the elderly. After all, the threshold for this industry was not high.

Even today in 1980, there is still a tradition of using child labor in the UK. Children lead the way or clean chimneys to support the family. There are not a few children who suffocate in chimneys every year.

After getting a lot of information from the goblin, Su Ming was in a good mood and took out two bags of spicy chips from his pocket as payment.

Most of the time, food is in hard currency, not to mention that peppers cannot be grown underground. After explaining to the goblin that the plastic bags outside were inedible, it happily walked away holding two bags of food with Devil's Spicy written on them.

Su Ming nodded towards Casillas, and Xiaoka began to secretly prepare defensive magic. After all, the opponent was a succubus and still needed the ability to defend against the spiritual system.

The guards came back soon, pushed the door open, and told them that they could go in. The city lord was very much looking forward to commercial cooperation with the people on the surface.

After throwing a bag of spicy chips to the guard as a tip, the two of them walked through the gate and walked into the palace.

Unlike the so-called palace in Gurna, which is actually a cave home, although this place is underground, it is decorated and arranged like a noble castle, with beautiful carpets on the floor, gorgeous crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, and unknown hangings on the walls. The author's landscape paintings appear magnificent but not so nouveau riche.

It seems that this succubus family has some foundation. No wonder they are knowledgeable in developing the city.

There are not only housekeepers but also maids in the palace. Their race is unrecognizable for a short time. They look like people but something always feels wrong.

Under the guidance of the housekeeper, the two walked through the gorgeous corridors again, passed through the doors, and came to a corridor made of black bricks. Once here, it felt a bit like hell.

Because there are no electric lights or telephones here, the decorations on the walls have become monster skulls, and the lighting tools have been replaced by braziers on the walls.

But there is no smell of sulfur in the air. Gates separate the palace from the steam city outside, and everything here is filled with the sweet fragrance of cosmetics.

The butler, whose race was unknown, held his head high and opened a golden door in front of the two of them. Then he stepped aside, bowed and signaled that they were there.

Su Ming also rewarded him with a bag of spicy strips. As a rich man, he is so willful.

The hall does not look like a living room in common sense, but more like an abyss altar. Under the light of the torch, you can only see a large inverted pentagram array in the center of the room. At this time, a demon is standing. In it, an obsidian dagger is held in one claw, and a goat is carried in the other claw, muttering something.

This is the first time I have seen a male succubus. It looks like a monster with the head of a dragon and the body of an ox, or more like the big pineapple in "Diablo", with dark purple scales and sharp claws. , and the sharp angle on the top of the head that curves forward.

It's full of majesty and looks very dark.

"It's an interdimensional summoning circle. He's summoning the same kind." Casillas whispered into the teacher's ear and asked with his eyes whether he needed to counteract this ritual.

Su Ming shook his head and said no, he was a guest to negotiate terms, and it was inappropriate to interrupt the owner's affairs.

Besides, the other party knew that a human being was coming and still allowed the ceremony to continue. He must be trying to explain something, so just watch.