Volume 2 Wandering Chapter 9 Don't Call Me Xiao Quer
Compared to the last time I came to the mine to dig for quartzite jade, the mine has become much more lively this time. As soon as I entered the mine, both sides of the cave were filled with miners working hard to dig. Whether men or women, whether humans or dwarves, whether warriors or mages, in front of each piece of ore stood a diligent figure wielding an iron pickaxe. The "clang" sound of the pickaxe hitting the ore came one after another, forming a melody of pride for the workers, and the mine presented a fiery scene of national production and steel-making.
The big bats and wild dogs that used to harass me at the cave entrance were basically gone. Occasionally, one or two hungry bats would fly out of the cave, but before they could launch an attack, they were impatiently knocked down by the miners on both sides who had no mines to mine and were searching everywhere for ore.
"Didn't you say there aren't many people here?" Niu Baiwan looked around and asked me dejectedly.
"I... I don't know... There was really no one here when I came here last time..." I was also surprised by the lively scene.
"Since we're already here, let's go in and take a look. Maybe there will be fewer people inside..." The dwarf bard named Nocturne in B-flat minor looked a little disappointed, but he didn't show too much unhappiness. Instead, he advised Niu Baiwan in an open-minded manner, "...There are so many people everywhere at this time."
As expected by the B-flat minor nocturne, as we went deeper, the ore on both sides of the cave gradually changed. The dull-colored ordinary rocks became less and less, and the precious minerals that glowed with strange luster and looked bright increased. Not only did the quality of the ore become higher and higher, but the vampire bats lurking in the cave also became larger and more ferocious, and fewer and fewer people were able to dig for ore deep in the cave.
When we turned the ninth bend deep in the cave, the people who could mine here were basically extinct, and what blocked our way were some "vampire bats" of around level eight or nine.
These winged vampires are not easy to deal with. They are even bigger, and their fur has turned red because they have sucked the blood plasma of countless wild beasts. Compared with the bats at the entrance of the cave, vampire bats are stronger and faster. Not only do they have the ability to "suck blood" to absorb the opponent's vitality, but they can also emit a sharp and piercing reverberation sound from their mouths, which makes people dizzy and weak, making it difficult for them to exert their strongest lethality.
"Ah, help me... I'm surrounded again..." Niu Baiwan's performance was as bad as ever. He was frightened by the ugly and terrifying appearance of the vampire bats, so that whenever these huge evil beasts suddenly appeared, the minotaur warrior would scream like a hysterical woman. However, although it was difficult to praise his bravery with his words, what he did with his hands was completely different:
The thick tree stump danced bravely in his hands, as if a hurricane of indestructible wind had rolled up from the ground. The vampire bats that were hit screamed miserably and flew far away, with large pieces of blood splashing on their heads. The big tree stump was like a huge roller, crushing the opponents that blocked the front into minced meat one by one. For these bloodthirsty beasts, the miserable condition of their companions would not make them timid and shrink. They still screamed and pounced on him, biting with their sharp teeth, flapping with their huge flesh wings, and using the most barbaric and brutal methods to stop the minotaur's progress, but it was useless. Niu Baiwan at this time was completely different from the clumsy big guy I knew before. The huge destructive power he showed stunned me.
Help? You must be kidding. With such a brave and powerful warrior, I almost doubt that he can flatten the entire cave and kill all the vampire bats by himself. The one who should ask for help should be his opponent.
"Niu Baiwan, how did you become so powerful?" I asked in amazement after witnessing him violently swinging a bat away.
"I have to thank you for this..." Niu Baiwan knocked a bat flying towards him to the ground, and turned to me and said, "...Since I put on that magic crystal, my attack speed has really increased a lot, and my hit rate has also greatly improved. If you hadn't given me this thing, I'm afraid I would still be struggling in the pile of level 5 or 6 monsters. Oh my god..." As he was talking, a ghost bat jumped out from the side. Niu Baiwan screamed in fear, but he easily knocked it to the ground.
Some people say that there is no strongest equipment, only suitable equipment, and this sentence is perfectly reflected in Niu Baiwan. If the same magic crystal that improves agility is equipped on me, it will never help me so much; but if it is equipped on the elf ranger Xiange Yayi, with his lightning-fast shooting speed and extremely poor accuracy, I am afraid that even a little bit of effect will not be seen.
However, Niu Baiwan had a huge change when he brought it with him. Originally, his slow speed greatly limited his fighting ability, so that he had no chance to unleash his terrifying brute force on his opponent; but now, his power had found a target to vent, and his movements were no longer as clumsy as before.
In battle , many times there is only a subtle difference between being strong and being weak.
Just like now, the 10% attack speed bonus instantly turned Niu Baiwan from a second-rate fighter fleeing everywhere into a strong man who could fight against a group of ferocious beasts.
"If I had known this thing was so useful, I really shouldn't have given it to you." I swung my sword and stabbed a bat's wing, then said to Niu Baiwan in a sour tone, half-seriously and half-falsely.
"Don't even think about me returning it to you now!" Niu Baiwan immediately shrank to the side, holding the magic crystal on his chest tightly with his left hand, and looked at me with a very pathetic and useless expression.
"Don't use that long face of yours to act like a nagging woman. Don't you look at your long hair full of lice? I'm not interested in anything that has rubbed against it." Taking advantage of the break in the fight, I kicked Niu Baiwan's butt in anger.
"Long hair? So what? That's sexy..." Hearing my evaluation of his physical features, Niu Baiwan's eyes widened in dissatisfaction, and he refuted confidently, "Haven't you heard it before? A good man is covered in hair, and a good woman is covered in ..."
I was speechless, and the image of a standard dairy cow "beauty" minotaur with a plump body, big breasts and buttocks, a waist as thick as a barrel, and black and white stripes all over her body suddenly emerged in my mind.
This is probably the unique aesthetic standard of the Tauren...
Although the vampire bats came fiercely, they could not cause us much harm, and the battle went on smoothly. Niu Baiwan's amazing performance certainly made our battle much easier, but at the same time, the new weapons I got from the saber-toothed bandits were also stained with blood.
This was my first time using the Sabertooth Ripper in combat. It was lighter, sharper, and tougher than the standard longsword I used before. It could easily tear through the rough skin and flesh of vampire bats, penetrate deep into their soft bodies, and move between bones and muscles, causing huge damage. But what I liked more was the feeling of pulling it out of the enemy's body: the sharp serrations at both ends of the blade rubbed against the flesh, and an inspiring and delicate touch was guided along the hilt into my palm, just like walking on the summer beach and touching the beach with both hands, which was intoxicating.
This is a dangerous temptation that will make you fall in love with the feeling of killing.
The existence of the "Sabertooth Ripper" made my battle much easier. As the teeth and flesh tore apart, the wounds that were not very serious at first suddenly became hideous. The blood red blood flowed out of the wounds that were difficult to heal. At this time, even if I stopped attacking, the ghost bat that was stabbed by the sword was still losing its life. The continuous damage caused by the tearing of the wounds was even higher than my straight stab. Many times, before I could even attack again, these seemingly savage but actually fragile dirty creatures fell to the ground and died in the continuous bleeding.
…
I don't know where we started from, but we seemed to have crossed an invisible threshold and arrived at a deeper section of the mine. Although the vampire bats that attacked us from all sides were still there, their levels had mostly risen to level 10 or above, and their numbers had also increased. Their bites and screams were much more powerful.
The change in the opponent made our fight more difficult. I used my shield more often instead of slashing wildly like before. The vampire bats' crazy attacks began to make me feel unprecedented pressure, and Niu Baiwan began to drink his abundant collection of life potions frequently.
"Xiao Qu'er, don't be idle, come and help us!" In the chaos, a ghost bat quickly pounced on Niu Baiwan from the left and bit his arm. He screamed in pain and finally got rid of the cunning beast. He turned around and yelled at the dwarf bard Nocturne in B-flat minor.
"Don't call me Xiaoqu'er!" The bard seemed to be very concerned about Niu Baiwan's frivolous name and immediately objected sharply.
"Who told you to give me such a difficult name?" Niu Baiwan retorted unconvincedly, "Then what do you want me to call you? Otherwise, I will call you Little B?"
“…”
"...You should just call me Xiaoquer..." After a moment of speechlessness, Nocturne in B flat minor reluctantly accepted the abbreviation of his name.
Bards are a special group of people. They are hopeless romantics, elegant fighters who fight with music, and battlefield musicians who move the soul with their songs. Although most of them are proficient in the use of short swords and daggers, their most powerful ability is to use their war songs and war dances to move the souls of others, making their companions stronger or their opponents weaker.
Just as a warrior uses his fighting spirit and a magician consumes his magic power, a bard also has his own unique source of power, which is his "sense of music". The sense of music comes from his deep understanding and perception of art, and determines the effect and duration of his war song and dance.
Despite the bickering, Nocturne in B-flat minor also found that the situation was not right and that the dagger alone could only provide us with limited help. So he continued to swing his sword to meet the enemy and sang an impassioned war song at the same time.
Inspired by his battle song, a wave of passion surged through my body. I could clearly feel a power filling my arms and body, dispelling my fatigue and giving birth to my bravery. As my heart kept beating, I felt that what was constantly gushing out of my heart was no longer blood, but pure strength and courage, and a strong desire to defeat the opponent.
This is a strange thing, a good song can directly affect a person's soul, generate strength, and rejuvenate fighting spirit. This is probably the power of art, its value has far exceeded the song itself, but is the spiritual seed implanted deep in the heart of a person.
I still remember this inspiring song, its melody is solemn and full of indescribable magnificence:
"...Xiaobaicai...Yeyehuang...Two or three years old...No mother..."
"Puff..." Upon hearing this battle song, Niu Baiwan immediately spit out the half bottle of life potion he had just poured into his mouth, and almost choked to death. He stroked his chest and coughed violently while pointing his fingers at the bard in extreme exasperation:
"...Using this tune to cast a powerful battle song, you are such a wicked person!"
He was greeted by a smirking face.
In the strange and melodious war song of Nocturne (Niu Baiwan was right, his name is really too difficult to pronounce, but he seems to have forgotten how magnificent his name is), the negative impact of the screams of vampire bats on us was suddenly reduced to an almost imperceptible level. Their screams were like a burst of ordinary noise, although harsh, but not very influential.
"Kill!" I swung my sword evenly, and a bright red light with "-5 5" appeared above the bat's head . Normally, even when I used my skills, I could never create such a strong killing force with one sword. The unfortunate bat didn't even have time to scream before it turned into a ball of white light and flew into my body.
Not only did it have a killing effect, I found that my attack speed had also been improved accordingly. The long sword in my hand swung out a brilliant light curtain splashing with blood, and the sharp sound of the sword blade tearing through the air was like the call of the god of death, sending the vampire bats in front of me into hell one by one.
The same was true for Niu Baiwan. The large wooden stakes struck the ground with a continuous "bang bang" sound, like a war drum beating non-stop. Under such a swift and powerful attack, no ghost bat could hold out for more than five seconds.
Even the bard himself, while encouraging us with his song, was also using his short sword to inflict damage. Because of his short stature, he always looked for ways to strike the bats when they swooped down, and because Niu Baiwan and I were standing in front of him, almost no ghost bat could fly low enough to threaten him.
We walked forward and soon passed through the entire tunnel of the mine. In front of us was an empty hall. The hall was thirty steps square. I couldn't imagine how much work it would take to dig such a huge hall so deep underground. What was even more amazing was that in the center of the hall, which occupied almost half of the diameter, was a large vertical hole. The four walls of the hole were built with wood to form a spiral downward suspended plank road for people to walk on.
Looking down from the hole, I could only see a dark area. A cloud of black gas seemed to be gushing out of the hole. I didn't know whether it was real or I was hallucinating because of the deep black in the hole.
Where does this hole lead to?
Could this be the legendary entrance to hell?
