Stray

    It was noon, and the darkness and lights literally turned the atmosphere into night.

    Unlike the four members of the Tumbleweed who behaved like the tourists, Godwin and Debbie stood very quietly in the shadowed corner. No matter who came to negotiate, the **** has no position to participate.

    Although the tumbleweeds don't come forward to join in the fun on such a serious occasion, their curiosity is still very strong. Oliver, who was not far away, was the first to react. He quickly retracted his gaze towards the top of the town and turned his gaze to the owner of the voice—

    Then grunted and swallowed.

    The creature who spoke out was extremely short, and Oliver almost didn't find him at first glance. The creature was less than half the height of an adult, and wore a short robe of strange decoration. Its head is twice the size of a human, shaped like a full-bodied broad bean, and its bulging back of the head hangs down toward the ground. There are no hairs and scales on the scalp, just layers of folds.

      That thing's mouth was smaller than a human's, and it was almost buried by a hard beard that was too vigorous, and it looked a little uncomfortable. Its body is not much similar to that of humans - the upper body of this creature is very long, the spine is bent like a shrimp behind the back, and the upper limbs that are bent in two almost touch the ground.

    Oliver saw this creature in the picture book.

    A one-eyed dwarf who lives underground all year round. They are extremely resistant to sunlight and generally have higher IQs than humans. Although dark-loving by nature, the one-eyed dwarves are genuine surface races, and one of the intelligent races with their own glorious civilization. If there is a race on the surface that is best suited to explore the abyss, the answer will definitely be these paranoid and xenophobic guys.

    They are not good at hand-to-hand combat, and they are also disdainful of the human adventurer system. Oliver has never seen a real one-eyed dwarf in his hotel. He held onto Nemo, who was still lying beside the fence, and concentrated on listening to the conversation in the center of the wooden platform.

    "Praise the fire." The preceptor bishop squatted down and gave a strange salute. "Dear Lord Lugo."

    "Praise the firelight." The dwarf snorted perfunctorily, half-squinted his huge eyes, and tapped the ground with the strange-looking cane in his hand. "The Humans of the Mooney Cult will be here in the morning. I know very well that you will not deal with them, but I don't want to see any stupid conflict - this is the abyss, and I am the only commander."

    "Yes." The preceptor bishop responded with a good temper.

    "I'll leave you some time for supplies and find a place to eat and rest. At three o'clock in the afternoon, select a few people to investigate the first damaged circle."

    The one-eyed dwarf's tone was harsh and unpleasant.

    "The first large teleportation formation destroyed is in the Rotten Stone Forest, not far from here, it is relatively safe. Remember, at three o'clock in the afternoon, call your chosen person here. No need for guards Too many, three is enough. The dragon family sent two dragons to participate in the investigation, and this time they will choose one to go together."

    "Understood." Bishop Felix sounded relieved.

    "Nimo, we can see the dragon." Oliver slapped Nemo excitedly, and Nemo trembled, almost throwing the dazed grey parrot on his shoulders into the abyss.

    "Seriously." Bagelmore's voice was full of tears, "What are you excited about, huh?"

    "Along with the dragon?" Nemo gasped, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.

    "...I hate you." The grey parrot murmured somberly.

    "Then you want to stay here? I think Mr. Dylan will take good care of you."

    "I'll go with you, I'll just go with you!"

    Similar to Nemo's guess, Adrian and Jesse are obviously not very interested in dragons, and Jesse seems to want to go on an adventure in Return Town. He hugged the knight commander's arm affectionately, without any intention of letting go.

    There are two less contenders for the spot, and Oliver is very satisfied.

    On the other side, after seeing the expectant and pleading eyes of the two tumbleweeds, Godwin wiped his face fiercely: "...don't look at me like that, you both go Right. I'm with you." There is a real dragon in the Horizon mercenary group, and Godwin is a little thankful that he didn't reveal it.

    "Captain!"

    "Debbie, this is only the first stop, your big brother can't be lost."

    After confirming that we can watch the dragon together, the leader of the tumbleweed found the tavern with satisfaction, and devoured a few plates of fried mushrooms with Nemo. They didn't even bother to go shopping, and they started to wait on the wooden platform after eating.

    Then they knew why the preceptor was relieved.

    In addition to the three guards, the Rad Sect only sent three more. A trial knight, a mage, and the eccentric choir. The Mooney religion only sent one knight, and the one-eyed dwarf who looked at the command obviously did not intend to let the two major religions on the surface act evenly.

    The knights of Mooney were surrounded by four or five one-eyed dwarves, and there was a hint of lovelessness in their expressions—

    The influence of the dragon is amazing, and everyone is obviously very confident about the fighting power of the dragon. The three investigation teams, which are not small in scale, only selected less than twenty people.

    The railing on the edge of the wooden platform lowered, and the dark abyss opened its arms. A hurricane rose, and a not-so-giant red-brown flying dragon rose from the abyss, turned around, and attached its tail to the wooden platform.

    The first step of stepping on the dragon's tail, Oliver's whole body was shaking with excitement: "Although the dragon doesn't seem to be as big as I thought, but this-"

    "They have shrunk their body, otherwise the pathway will be completely blocked by it." Godwin calmly pointed out, "When moving with humans, they usually shrink to three meters. about."

    Nemo carefully sat down on the dragon's back. This dragon hastily tied a few ropes around his body, which was considered to provide them with a temporary grip. Godwin's eyes always swept over intentionally or unintentionally, he didn't dare to say a word, he could only desperately express his excitement with his eyes.

    If it weren't for Godwin, he would have wanted to give Oliver a high five.

    Unfortunately, the excitement dissipated when the dragon flew up.

    The dragon's back is more terrifying than they thought, and this dragon doesn't intend to be considerate of your traveling experience at all. It flew freely, swooping close to the rock formations full of huge crevices. After diving for less than ten minutes, it made a sharp turn before the widest gap, nimbly drilled in, and then made an emergency stop.

    Oliver, who couldn't even adapt to the teleportation array, almost died.

    Considering that Godwin already knew the relationship between the two, Oliver put an arm on Nemo's shoulder without hesitation and leaned on it. He closed his mouth and tried to regain his strength, suppressing the tumultuous river and sea in his stomach.

    If it wasn't for Oliver Ramon's true strength, Godwin would have been completely misled by his useless performance. In fact, someone did get misled.

    "Unfortunate." The Radish mage jumped off the dragon's back and steadily passed the two men on the tumbleweed. He lowered his voice specially. "Don't dishonor the glory of Chenni, sinner."

    But when he turned to Godwin, his attitude was visibly softened.

    The knight of judgment who was with him took a half step awkwardly, but after all, he didn't say anything. The youth in the choir floated closer in his chair, nodding apologetically to both of them.

    "Hmm." Nemo raised his eyebrows at the back, "You're right, Mr. Lopez, we're not welcome."

    The black chapter itself is notorious. After so many experiences, they don't care about such trivial matters.

    Godwin frowned and said nothing. He looked at the back of Teacher Ladd with interest for a while: "Keep up, the investigation is about to begin."

    The appearance of the Rotten Stone Forest is not much different from its name. Black and red stalactites can be seen everywhere, and the upper and lower parts are uneven. From a distance, it looks like a blood-stained monster's fangs.

    But it's not dark here.

    The high ceiling of the cave reveals a large piece of shimmering spar, and the artificially placed magic lamp illuminates this vast space. It can be seen that there are often people walking around here, and the stones on the passage are very smooth by the soles of various boots.

    Godwin drew his holy sword and walked vigilantly in front of the group, while the two rear tumbleweeds at the back of the group—the two looked around, and occasionally looked at the shiny-scaled dragons in the group .

    "There is no demonic breath here." Nemo muttered, his eyes glued to the wings on the dragon's back.

    "Yes, I can only smell a little insect and small animals." Oliver stared at the tip of the dragon's tail on the ground. "There will be no danger."

      "Don't look at that dragon, the person in front has stopped!"

    Oliver and Nemo quickly looked away.

    At first, the two of them didn't realize that there was anything wrong with the scene in front of them.

    A circle of magnificent stone pillars surrounds a huge teleportation array, the array is sleeping, the lines are dull, and there are rough signs of damage in one corner. The ones other than the stone pillars are obviously small teleportation formations made by individuals, which are much rougher in comparison, but many still exude magical fluctuations, and they should have been functioning normally not long ago.

      There was a strange murmur from the beard. The Radish mage took out a pair of glasses and adjusted his sleeves. Making sure that the corners of his clothes would not be soiled with soil, he took off the small luggage on his back, and took out a set of tools with no discernible function next to the magic circle.

    The dragon yawned with a huge spark, and stared at the glowing spar on the rock wall at the top of the cave.

    As the dwarf in command said, the environment here is peaceful and extremely safe. But Nemo always felt that something wasn't right. It wasn't intuition, it was some kind of weirdness that really existed.

    But he couldn't tell for a while.

    Patting Oliver beside him, after confirming that his body was not affected by the abyss, Nemo closed his eyes.

    The flow of magic power instantly unfolded in the darkness in front of his eyes. Those thin, messy flows of magic power came from the self-built teleportation array, and they twisted into a ball and barely connected to a certain direction in the depths of the abyss. The magic flow trajectory of the large teleportation array is much more regular, and the loop is smooth and clear, connecting to a very distant point.

    Something is wrong.

    According to his understanding, in order to allow time for rest and replenishment, the large teleportation array will not teleport too far at one time. In a sense, this circle has indeed been destroyed - its destination has been changed to an unknown point in the depths of the abyss.

    On the other hand, the flow of magic power above the circle is also very strange. It turns rapidly, as striking as a firefly in the dark night.

    A spell is in effect.

    "Get out of there!" Nemo said immediately, "Now, now!"

    The four one-eyed dwarves turned to look at him. Although they had doubts, they undoubtedly cherished their lives even more. The four little dwarfs bounced on the spot and rushed out from between the stone pillars. The Radish mage frowned, looking like he had no intention of obeying.

    The dragon outside the stone pillar circle yawned again.

    Godwin, who was closest to the mage, reacted extremely quickly.

    "I'm halfway through my test!" the mage growled angrily, barely protecting the test tube with a little liquid in his hand.

     Nemo approached and pulled the test tube out of the mage's hand. He shook the dirt at the bottom of the test tube and handed it to Oliver beside him.

    “Testing the soil properties on the strokes of the magic circle is the first step in the safety inspection.”

    "And it's almost done." The wizard gritted his teeth and pointed to the yawning dragon. "I also didn't see any danger nearby."

    "Oli, stand inside the teleportation array and continue to heat it. If the liquid turns black, it has recently been affected by abyssal magic, and the opaque white represents surface magic. Any disturbance, it should be clear bright purple."

    "Nonsense—"

    Then the mage froze in horror, and the beards of the four one-eyed dwarves exploded in an instant, fluffy in a big circle—

    The test tube in Oliver's hand was filled with a beautiful bright purple liquid.

    "This..."

    "Because Ollie trusted me with all his heart." Nemo curled his lips, "Now you know what's circling there now. Ollie, you can come out."

    "What's the matter?" Oliver shook the crystal test tube containing the bright purple liquid.

    "I just lied, if it hadn't been disturbed, it should be clear and colorless." Nemo tapped the test tube in Oliver's hand with his fingertips and watched it become Clear water. "Wow, Ollie, you really trust me."

    "Advanced illusion." The mage's expression was very ugly, "Overlay reality with cognition, and sangni is on top..."

    "Translate." Oliver was still pinching the test tube carefully, and he bumped Nemo with his elbow.

    "The physically destroyed corner is just a cover." The relaxed expression on Nemo's face gradually disappeared, "Someone has rewritten the destination of the teleportation array and covered it with advanced illusion. Ollie, do you want to , if everyone simply repairs the teleportation array, and the experienced inspectors get all 'normal results', what will everyone do next?"

    "Start the teleportation array and teleport near the next teleportation array. Verify the availability and continue to repair the next one by the way."

    "Yes. Once the professionals are backed by a 'clear conclusion' that the repaired teleportation array is OK, and just a few of us escorts can't stop the next teleportation. This is Going back to the original question, I think the destination of this teleportation array has been changed."

    Standing a few steps away behind Godwin, he froze.

    Before Nemo made a sound, he didn't even notice anything unusual.

    "What about the real result?" The head of Horizon asked in a low voice.

    The wizard took the test tube back from Oliver. He frowned and drew a complex illusion isolation circle, and then placed the test tube in the center of the circle emitting white light.

    The liquid in the test tube was pitch black like a void.

    Black means the circle has recently been affected by abyss magic. Nemo rambles about the "unaffected" response, but it's true.

    There is no doubt that it is a demon who is doing it.