Chapter 136

"We've reached the safety line." The team's scout, Reid, used his spear to push aside some rocks on the roadside, looked at some inconspicuous signs in the corner, and said in a deep voice, "If we go any further, no one is sure what we will encounter."

The so-called safety line refers to the boundary line that the soldiers explore and clean up. For this cave, it is the dividing line between "safety" and "danger".

The cave they explored is located on the west side of the Desolate Mountains, adjacent to the town of Rye. In order to prevent the breeding of some dangerous things in the cave, the soldiers of Rye Town come here to explore and clean up once every three months to prevent monsters such as goblins from breeding in large numbers and to prevent some dangerous creatures from settling in.

The safety line is the mark they leave before leaving after each exploration and cleaning.

Adventurers with cave exploration experience know that before reaching the safety line, the main enemy is getting lost. After crossing the safety line, the main enemy becomes various monsters that may appear underground at any time.

After all, adventurers act in small teams, with a minimum of three or five people and a maximum of more than ten people. Compared with an army of fifty people acting collectively, their combat effectiveness is much inferior. When they encounter monsters that only the army can deal with, they can only flee in panic, or even fail to escape.

Among the four towns in the northwest, Rye Town is the only town with "elite troops". Because it is rich in grain and the main trading port between the four towns in the northwest and the Gold Coin Federation, the business is also very developed. Therefore, the various organizations that jointly rule this town can have enough income to support the elite army of fifty people.

Every soldier in this army has the same force as a regular adventurer, and can skillfully use at least two of the commonly used weapons such as spears, swords, shields, crossbows, and axes, and can ride horses when necessary. They usually train together or patrol the town. Whenever there are dangerous monsters near the town, or when they need to go on an expedition to clean up the surrounding area, they will be fully armed, wearing solid armor, and with the help of the priests and mages accompanying the army, they will eliminate anything that threatens Rye Town.

They often come to this cave called "Big Black Hole" to explore and clean up, and have wiped out the monsters living here more than once. In the most intense battle, they brought back nearly 300 left ears of goblins, more than 20 parts of other monsters, and the bodies of two companions.

It was caused by a terrifying monster. It has a cow's head and a human body. It is taller than a normal person when sitting. Its hard body is like a dried old wood. Arrows can only penetrate it a little bit. It has four arms, each of which is thicker than an ordinary person's thigh. When fighting, it wields four battle axes, which is simply a terrifying storm!

If the casters had not responded properly, the battle would have been heavy. But even with the cooperation of the spellcasters, the soldiers lost a scout and a warrior.

Not only that, after that battle, at least ten soldiers chose to retire. Some of them used the money they saved from the years of service to do some small business, and some went to the central and southern parts of the Gold Coin Federation where the security was better to buy land and become self-employed farmers. The shadow left by the terrifying monster made most of them put down their weapons forever and never dare to step into the battlefield again.

Some of them later broke through the shadow in their hearts, such as the captain of Palin's expedition team, "Earth Bear" Divol.

Divol was a very strong warrior, at least 1.9 meters tall, with a strong back and waist. He made great contributions in the battle at that time. He chopped off the left ankle of the terrifying monster with an axe, causing it to fall to the ground, which was the key to determining the outcome. But he himself was seriously injured in the monster's counterattack, broke four ribs, and almost lost his life.

After retiring, he was depressed for a while, but he finally stood up again and stepped into the battlefield again with the spoils he got - one of the four axes of the monster. But he did not serve as a soldier again, but became an adventurer.

At that time, his nickname was "Bullhead Battle Axe", and later, as his adventure experience accumulated, it was changed to "Earth Bear".

This nickname is a proof of his qualifications, because he especially likes to adventure in underground caves. Among the adventurers in Rye Town, he is also a banner-like figure. So when Palin recruited people, the waiter of the Adventure Guild recommended him.

Among the other companions, the ranger and the priest were recommended by him, and they were also experienced people who often went to cave exploration.

Red, an experienced ranger, nicknamed "Three Arrows", because the average ranger can only shoot two arrows in a row, and he can shoot one more arrow.

"Fire Hammer" Morton is a believer of the Lord of Light, the main god of the human race, a priest with strong martial arts and good spells. He is the second best in this team after Divol.

The thief in this team is called Lafor, who was recommended by Rhode. He is a very powerful thief, especially good at fighting. Compared with his peers who like to take something out of other people's pockets or sneak into other people's homes to rummage through boxes and cabinets, he is good at sneaking up behind monsters and stabbing them with his beloved long dagger. This earned him the nickname "Backstab". For a combat thief, he can turn the thief's signature skill into his nickname, which shows how powerful he is.

But relatively speaking, Lafor is not so proficient in pickpocketing, reconnaissance and dismantling traps, which are the skills that most thieves are good at. So he is not doing well, and most of the time he works part-time as a warrior - he is a firm believer in the God of Thieves and insists that thieves are not killers. He is unwilling to sell his hard-trained skills for money, and a backstab expert who refuses to be a killer obviously will not have a bright "money future".

Rhodes recommended him to Palin, on the one hand because he thought this acquaintance was very reliable, and on the other hand he hoped to guide him a little. If he could use this incident to establish a good relationship with the Church of the Void Mask, even if he is in a bad situation in the future, at least he will have a place to stay.

Of course, Lafor is not an ungrateful person. He can see Rhodes's care without saying anything. So he has been very active in the past two days, and he stands firmly on Palin's side when there is something, as if he is loyal.

So at this moment, he hurriedly stated his position without waiting for Palin to speak: "I have received the deposit. If you want to move forward, I will definitely accompany you to the end!"

Red rolled his eyes helplessly, feeling quite resentful.

To be honest, although the wizard named Palin paid very quickly, if he had a choice, he really didn't want to go deep into the cave.

This cave is bottomless, and no one has fully explored its situation until now. It's better here. If you go deeper, God knows what you will encounter!

He remembered that an adventurer who escaped from the cave claimed that he had seen a dragon in the depths of the cave!

Of course, he absolutely did not believe that there would be a dragon in this cave-Rye Town has been established for hundreds of years, but no one has seen the traces of a dragon. It's impossible that the dragon was sleeping in the depths of this cave hundreds of years ago and hasn't woken up yet?

But the corpse of the terrifying four-armed minotaur was seen by many people in the town. He asked himself, if they encountered such a monster, their team would definitely not be able to defeat it. In a hurry, no one could guarantee whether they would encounter an accident and lose their lives.

Divol was much more straightforward than him. This senior adventurer did not take going deeper underground seriously at all. He tilted his head to look at Palin and gave his suggestion: "It is not dangerous to go a little further. According to our speed, it will take at least two more days to exceed the farthest distance I have ever explored."

Palin turned to look at Morton and asked for the pastor's opinion. The taciturn Morton did not speak, but just looked at Divol and smiled.

Obviously, he chose to believe in the captain's vision.

"In this case, let's keep moving forward." So Palin also made up his mind.

Although His Majesty also said that the most important thing for this trip was to look at the situation of Frost and Slaughter, and he was just an auxiliary. But even if it was an auxiliary, if I didn't do my best, how could I be worthy of His Majesty's care!

He casually took out a lollipop and stuffed it into his mouth, and gave Reid, who was scouting in the front, a spell that could protect against long-range attacks, and then the team continued to move forward.

"Why do you always like to eat candy?" Divol asked curiously, "These two days, I saw you eating two or three sticks almost every day - is this candy delicious?"

Palin smiled, took out another one and handed it to him, thought about it, and gave one to others.

Few people hate sweets. Although it is a bit embarrassing for an adventurer to have a strange-shaped candy in his mouth, there are no outsiders here anyway, and Palin is leading the way, so no one refuses and puts this round candy connected to a thin wooden rod into their mouths.

"Hmm!" Morton was the first to discover the mystery hidden in this candy. He couldn't help but exclaimed, took the candy out of his mouth, and looked at it carefully.

"Is there anything wrong with this candy?" Divol wondered. "It tastes good, sweet, and my body feels warm all of a sudden."

"Vitality!" Morton said in a deep voice, "It can replenish vitality."

Red, who was still savoring it, quickly took out the candy in his mouth, wrapped it in oil paper again, and put it in the package.

What does "replenish vitality" mean? This means that it can treat injuries, weakness and fatigue, and can save lives at critical moments!

He couldn't help but feel a little regretful and distressed for the part of the candy he had just eaten.

Lafoll turned his head to look at Palin: "Boss, isn't this a bit of a waste?"

Palin smiled: "I'm not in good health, I have to eat this often, otherwise I'm easily tired and dizzy."

"This is not as simple as 'poor health'!" Divol looked at him worriedly, "You need to eat this often to replenish vitality. Do you really not need to recuperate for a while?"

"No, no." Palin laughed a few times and walked forward again.

He has no soul. Sui Xiong did not hide this from him, but he would never tell anyone else.

His teammates were all veterans. Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, they stopped asking questions and just quietly collected their candies and protected him in the middle.

This poor young man was so weak that he had to rely on this drug to maintain his physical strength, but he was still working hard...

Thanks to the readers enthusiastic "No Choice", "Unbridled Husky", "North Star Light", "мīss丨Half City", "Yun Zhengchen", "~(~*~)~", "Taji Fengchen" for their enthusiasm rewards. Thank you all for your support! I wish you all a happy Lantern Festival, may your family be reunited like the Lantern Festival, and may your life be as sweet and beautiful as the Lantern Festival!