Chapter 464: Stonehoof Tribe
In a silent communication, Alka and the others didn't even see where the person who came to replace Split Stone was.
In this way, he was carried by the cracked stone towards the mountains ahead in a daze.
At this time they finally understood how the cracks in the rocks normally moved, and they seemed to have melted into the rocks and rubble.
He might not even need to come out, and could just walk through the earth. If he wasn't afraid that Alka and the others would not be able to catch up and didn't know where they were, he might not even show his head, and could just dive into the earth.
As a last resort, Alka and the others could only jump around on the surface.
Fortunately, although these mountains are steep, most of the area is relatively flat and sloping and suitable for walking.
But unlike what they had thought before, the so-called stone forest was not in the central area of this mountainous area, but on the edge.
They did not walk far.
It was not far from where they had just stopped, about twenty or thirty kilometers away.
No wonder they encountered the sentry Lieshi here, it turned out that they had forced their way into the vicinity of someone else's gathering place.
As it got closer and closer to the gathering place, Riftstone no longer swam underwater, but its entire body emerged from the ground and began to walk on normal legs.
Or rather, two hooves.
In this way, we came to a steep cliff.
Alka looked up at the height of the stone wall in front of him. It was at least 20 meters high and was covered with sharp and steep stones.
It would take some effort to climb to the top of this stone wall. Of course, Alka could just fly.
However, the cracked stone did not continue to move upwards, but stopped in front of the stone wall.
"We're here."
As he spoke, he immersed himself into the stone wall.
Alka and the others were left standing there staring at each other.
Two seconds later, Lieshi walked out slowly again. Although there was no expression on his face, everyone could sense a hint of embarrassment on his face.
"Sorry, I forgot."
After saying that, he walked over and rubbed it with his clay arms that seemed to be made of mud.
Several small columnar stone pillars appeared in his hands.
Holding the stone pillars tightly, he made a sound that sounded like a spell, but it also sounded like a rhythmic sound produced by striking stones.
As the sound was uttered, Alka and the others clearly felt something different on their bodies. A simple brown totem appeared on the back of their hands.
"You can go in now. Follow me."
As he spoke, the rock split once again went straight through the stone wall.
Although Alka could have used the Earth Card to pass through directly, he still did not use it. Instead, he stretched out his hand into the stone wall, just like a hand into mud, and fell directly into the hard stone wall.
This experience made Alka couldn't help but smile: "It's interesting."
As he spoke, his whole body sank into it.
Xia Daiti and others followed closely behind.
They began to cross the stone wall, and they needed to hold their breath during the process. After only about seven or eight seconds, they saw the light, and the whole person emerged from the stone wall.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Alka stood still, and Xiadaiti and others who came out one after another couldn't help but stop where they were and look at the scene in front of them.
They were in a sunken place, surrounded by stone walls that rose to the sky, forming a sunken place that completely enveloped the place.
In the center of the depression, there are sharp stone pillars protruding from the ground and reaching into the sky.
Each stone stick is like a tree in the forest, and this arrangement forms a stone forest.
Perfectly matching the name of this place, Alka could sense the extremely strong earth elemental atmosphere as soon as he came in.
But it is not pure, because the water element that is inevitably floating in the air and spreads throughout the world, even here, the water element is still somewhat thick.
The problem is the residents of the Stone Forest.
At first they would think that the Stonehoof tribe were the same as the Stonebreakers, with an upper body similar to that of humans and a lower body made up of cow hooves and tails.
But it was obviously completely different from what they thought.
The first thing Alka saw was a resident whose lower body still had cow hooves and a cow tail, but his upper body had completely turned into stone and he couldn't even tell what his head was.
His strength is only at the third stage, and his physique is lower-middle among the residents.
There are also half-elemental creatures with strange upper bodies that look like lizards. Of course, there are also many upper bodies that are still similar to humans.
Compared with these strange appearances, the cracked rocks that had been considered strange in front of them before now seemed somewhat normal.
From this we can see that the appearance of the upper body of these semi-elemental creatures does not seem to be fixed.
Right next to them, there was a guard watching them.
Alka looked at the guard and suddenly nodded with satisfaction.
Because this was the most harmonious and normal thing he had ever seen.
The upper body of the half-elemental creature in front of him was not that of a human, but rather a half-elemental creature with a human body and a bull's head.
Combined with the ox's hooves and tail in the lower body, it looks very harmonious.
The harmonious combination makes Alka look very comfortable.
It felt like a Tauren Shaman with a strong earth elemental style, and even made Alka feel a sense of familiarity.
The intimacy that comes from past works.
Even his weapon was a totem that looked like a thick stone pillar standing next to him.
"Strange flesh and blood creatures? Did Splitstone bring you in?"
The sound produced was more stumbling than the sound of cracking rocks, and even had long intervals and the noise of knocking.
Alka nodded.
Lishi also waved his hand and had a silent communication with the minotaur in front of him.
His strength is as strong as that of cracking rocks, and the thickness of his energy may be even stronger than that of cracking rocks.
While they were communicating, A-Ka saw a semi-elemental creature that was much taller than the Stone slowly approaching.
The overall look was surprisingly harmonious, but Alka had never seen a sample of the upper body before.
It looks a bit like some ferocious beast, with three extremely thick horns on its head.
There are bone spurs on the elbows, waist and back.
This tall semi-elemental creature looked extremely intimidating and put a certain amount of pressure on Alka and the others. It was definitely not a weakling.
Alka blinked and looked over.
The energy reaction actually reached the seventh stage, which is amazing.
After he came over, he first stared at Alka and the others with his strange vertical pupils, and then nodded politely.
Lieshi then turned around and looked at him, and there was another silent exchange.
Then Lishi introduced Alka and the others: "This is our elder, Steelhorn Rock."
Alka looked at the elder named Steel Horn Rock, nodded and introduced himself.
"Humans are friends. I can sense the demon blood in you. You are a powerful friend."
Although the elder's voice still had that knocking sound, it was very smooth.
"The treasure hunters who came here before were all interested in the areas further inland. There are many abandoned mines there, but there are evil spirits in them."
The elder seemed to know clearly what Alka and his team's goal might be, and said directly. Or most of the treasure hunters who come here will look inside and will not stay here for too long.
What he said was right. Alka immediately became interested.
"Evil spirit? Can you tell us approximately what area it is in?" Alka asked curiously.
"It's all inside." The elder pointed in a direction and said.
There is the direction leading deeper into the interior of the mountains.
From the sound of it, they only knew some of the circumstances inside.
Alka thought about the information on the map. Even if there were evil spirits in there, their strength would be at most the fifth stage. Why didn't these semi-elemental creatures go in?
"Are those evil spirits very powerful?" Alka asked.
The elder shook his head: "It's not powerful, but it restrains us, so we rarely enter."
After hearing this, Alka understood and did not continue to ask any more questions. If he continued to ask, he would have violated the secrets of other people's races.
"Are you going in that direction?"
The elder asked, looking at Alka who was thinking.
Alka nodded. Although they didn't have a clear goal, they had a map after all, so they had to go in.
The situation was originally bad, and he was also worried that the indigenous people here might affect or interfere with his treasure hunt.
The good news is that the indigenous people are very friendly to humans and are even willing to act as guides and provide more information.
The result is that neither of them is touched.
"If you want to go in, please help me find out if there are any core members of our tribe inside. This is very important to us."
"core?"
Hearing Alka's puzzled voice, the elder nodded and said, "Yes, three of our tribesmen are missing in there. They should have merged into the earth, but their core should still be there.
If you find it, please bring it to us. We will provide you with some compensation that you may need.”
Hearing this, Alka couldn't help but think of the blue dots in this area.
"What does it look like?"
"It's like a crystal of the earth. I can feel the strong elements of the earth."
"How long have you been missing?"
"810 years and 13 days and nights, 723 years and 21 days and nights, 557 years and 6 days and nights."
"..." After hearing the elder's words, Alka fell silent. There was no need to remember it so clearly, right?
And has he been missing for so long?
From the elder's tone, Alka thought his people had been missing for only a few years.
It seems that every treasure hunter who explores inside will receive a mission commission from this elder.
So when Lieshi heard that they were treasure hunters, he didn't feel too much rejection.
After all, no one likes a treasure hunter, a character who will wander around his territory and look for things everywhere.
If it is emphasized that certain places cannot be visited, they will specifically go to those areas that cannot be visited.
How can you find treasure if you don't wander around randomly?
“Every time a flesh-and-blood creature like you tries to go inside, I ask for their help.
It is too dangerous in there for me and my people. My people cannot afford even the slightest loss.
Thank you very much friends, you have helped us find the core of the two tribesmen. "
The elder said.
Is this really a common mission?
Then, looking at Alka and the others, the elder said, "There are many evil spirits out there. The spirits of flesh and blood creatures are strong, but you also need to be careful."
Alka nodded. "Thank you for your suggestion. We will take note of it."
"We are not creatures of flesh and blood, so we cannot properly entertain you, my friends. Please forgive us."
After all, they don't necessarily eat.
"No problem, no problem."
Alka said quickly.
After chatting for a few words, the elder left.
Alka and the others followed Lishi as they strolled around the entire stone forest. The entire stone forest was unusually quiet because all communication between semi-elemental creatures was not through vocalization.
In Alka's eyes, he could see fluctuations that should be similar to a mental link for communication.
The entire gathering place seemed unusually quiet.
Moreover, the entire stone forest was much smaller than what Alka and his friends had seen before and had imagined. These sharp stone pillars were probably equivalent to their residence.
It was a completely solid stone pillar, but it just gathered more earth elements, which should be equivalent to a hibernation capsule. Alkabe gave a more vivid analogy.
In addition to the small gathering place, the number of people in the entire Stonehoof tribe is also very small.
A simple calculation shows that it might be just over 300.
This is only the number of a small village, too small.
These semi-elemental creatures can be roughly distinguished based on their size, with the weakest being at stage two, the strongest being at stage seven, and most of them being around stage three.
"How do you reproduce?" Lucilia, who was sitting on Alka's shoulder, finally couldn't help asking, even though it was a bit presumptuous.
But after all, these semi-elemental creatures have been here for more than 800 years, but there are only more than 300 of them, which is really shockingly small.
After hearing Lucilia's words, Stonecrack replied in a stumbling voice: "We cannot reproduce... This place is no longer our former home. We are the Stonehoof tribe, but we are only a branch left here. These are the only members of our tribe left."
Although the voice was calm, Alka and the others could feel the loneliness and desolation in it.
Simply put, they are called semi-elemental creatures, and it is obviously unlikely that they can reproduce like normal humans.
The breeding process may be more similar to the birth of elemental creatures.
And how could it be possible that this place had such a strong concentration of elements of a single attribute like the elemental interface of their former home?
Without external conditions, they naturally have no space to continue reproducing.
As time goes by, they will lose more and more people due to various accidents, until the extinction of the entire race. This is their foreseeable future.
Because they have no hope for the future.
If their thoughts are biased towards humans.
Perhaps elemental creatures don’t have such troubles, but that’s not necessarily the case.
Alka couldn't help but wonder.
As he wandered around and learned more about Alka through his own eyes, he also discovered more problems. That is, although the concentration of elements here is indeed very high, it may be too messy for these elemental creatures in front of him.
And there are also water elements that seem to be inappropriate for them.
Alka had previously thought that the cracks on their bodies were some kind of decorations, after all, it seemed that every member of the tribe had them.
But obviously, he was overthinking it.
These cracks are evidence of their malnutrition.
It is obvious that ordinary elemental creatures do not eat any food, but instead absorb elemental energy to survive.
In this boundless ocean, the concentration of water elements is much higher. Even though they have gathered so many earth elements here, it is still not enough like the world before.
This race of people, with only a few hundred left, was much more pessimistic and miserable than Alka had imagined.
I couldn't help but sigh silently.
"What's wrong?" asked Lucilia, who was sitting on Alka's shoulders.
"Nothing, just saw some problems."
After wandering around for a while, there was nothing left to do in this place.
They passed directly through the stone wall and walked out of the stone forest from the other side. Under the gaze of Li Shi, they moved towards the interior of the mountain.
"Their future prospects are pretty grim, aren't they?" Lucelia asked.
It was difficult to say just now, but now that they were the only ones left, Alka nodded and said it out.
"Ah, it's true..." Porro didn't know what to say for a moment.
But the word "miserable" can indeed be used to describe them.
After chatting for a while, they did not move forward quickly. After all, this place was not very safe.
Alka looked at the map in his hand.
Look at some blue dots of light above.
The scope of this map is so large that it almost completely covers the entire mountain range and its surrounding areas.
And there was definitely no very detailed exploration of the mountains, so the mountain areas were drawn rather vaguely, but it can still be considered a correct map.
This also means that even if the location of focus is not large, it is on such a large map.
If it is smaller, then it must occupy a large area.
In other words, the location is very vague.
It seems that when we arrive at the location, we will have to conduct some exploration around it so that Xia Daiti can draw a more detailed map.
Thinking of this, Alka stretched out his hand and touched the blue dot.
There are more than a dozen blue dots here.
Therefore, only a few of them should be their targets, if the core of the so-called semi-elemental race after death is considered a magical item.
If you click on several of them in succession, you will see a bar with no information.
Alka finally found one of the columns that displayed information.
[Stonehoof Elemental Life Crystal]
[Difficulty: Element Sensor (Phase 2)]
【Popularity: 325】
[Treasure information: The elemental crystals left behind by a deceased member of the Stonehoof tribe, a semi-elemental creature of the earth.
For them, such elemental crystals are equivalent to the core of the body, and are also very precious and rare elemental materials. They seem to be very important for semi-elemental creatures.
Under normal circumstances, it can only be obtained in areas with extremely high concentrations of a single element or at element interfaces. 】
Alka looked at the information above and it seemed that this thing should be the item that the elders asked them to find.
