Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 143 Gruzelei
King Sanye was somewhat disappointed that he failed to obtain the mining and sales rights of Dragon Kingdom's Fire Crystal Mine, but the reason given by King Taotie was irrefutable. The cause of the turmoil in the entire world was that the Golden Shield Empire used the Fire Crystal Mine in its hands to try to challenge the World Bank's position in international trade.
If the Emerald Forest gets the Fire Crystal from Dragon Nation again, I don't know what kind of problems it will cause. The Shining Gold People will definitely be unhappy, and they may even put the Emerald Forest on the list of sanctions.
The Emerald Forest does not have the strength to challenge the World Bank, nor does it have a leader like Meteorite, so it may not be a bad thing not to touch the Fire Crystal.
Next, Luke discussed trade cooperation with Agatha and King Clover.
The dragons have a lot of treasures, but they are limited after all. Even if all the treasures in the dragon's lair are collected, it is far from enough to cover the subsequent series of expenses. This world confrontation is very different from the ancient wars. The resources and wealth consumed are not comparable to those of the ancient wars.
Therefore, we cannot exhaust all the resources in Longguo, but must establish a trade chain that can provide a steady flow of capital.
The Golden Shield Empire and the Emerald Forest have both completed their own industrialization and have a great demand for raw materials. Dragon Country has no industry, but raw materials are everywhere, and selling resources makes money quickly.
After several days of negotiations, Luke, as the King of Taotie, signed a number of trade cooperation agreements with the Golden Shield Empire and the Emerald Forest. The Dragon Kingdom can provide wood, herbs, alchemical raw materials, coal, and seafood for export. While the Golden Shield Empire and the Emerald Forest obtain raw materials from the Dragon Kingdom, they also need to provide industrialization assistance to the Dragon Kingdom.
King Taotie specially approved Jinjing Town as a special economic port for Longguo. In addition to the mining and transportation of fire crystals, the Golden Shield Empire is obliged to transfer part of its heavy industry to Jinjing Town. The factory will be jointly held by merchants from Longguo and the Golden Shield Empire, and Longguo has the final decision-making power.
It was her own business, so Agatha certainly had no objection to transferring the money from one hand to the other.
Then there is the support and cooperation between Dragon Country and Emerald Forest in the fields of alchemy and light industry. These are what Emerald Forest is good at, and King Sanye certainly has no objection.
The cooperation agreement was signed.
The Dragon Kingdom officially extended its tentacles into the world through the Golden Shield Empire and the Emerald Forest.
Agatha, who returned with a full load, reluctantly left King's Peak.
When the two were alone at night, Luke told her that he was going to visit the underground world as the new king of the Dragon Kingdom.
Agatha didn't expect that Luke would go to the underground world right after becoming the king of Dragon Kingdom. She didn't know when they would meet again after this separation.
But Agatha knew...the bigger picture was more important.
The turmoil in the world caused fierce responses from the Shining Gold Civilization, Angel Civilization, Purgatory Civilization, and Dragon Civilization.
In the Shuojin Civilization, the Council of Elders was reorganized, and Tan, who was a debt collector, took over. Many policies of the World Bank were rapidly transforming, and the Shuojin people were actively preparing for war.
In the Angel Civilization, the Sword of Oath launched a coup, killed the previous Archangel, and took over as the Archangel as the Chief Judge Angel. The Sky City was ruled by the Zealots and was also actively preparing for war.
Purgatory civilization, now the whole hell has become a mess.
The dragon civilization elected a new king after a thousand years.
Among the five ancient civilizations, only the Shadow Civilization did not seem to react much. After assassinating the elder of the Shining Gold Man, these rulers of the underground world have been silent since then.
There was news coming out of the underground world that many members of the Shadow Clan were assassinated and the assassin was never found.
Every member of the Shadow Clan is an excellent assassin.
Being assassinated without knowing who did it can be said to be a mockery of the entire shadow civilization.
Now all the Shadow Clan members are holding their breath and are determined to find the assassin.
Luke knew that Sky City was trying to connect with ancient civilizations. There were many traces of angels in Dragon Country, and they would definitely not let the Shadow Civilization go.
No matter what the Shadow Civilization thinks about the future world order, it must know what state the Shadow Civilization is in now.
Therefore, Luke had to go on this underground execution.
And go as soon as possible.
Not long after Agatha left Dragon Kingdom, Luke received a reply from the Shadow Civilization.
As an ally in the ancient war, the Shadow Civilization was quite polite to the Dragon Kingdom. The letter congratulated King Taotie on becoming the King of the Dragon Kingdom and invited King Taotie to visit the underground world.
The invitation to the underworld arrived, and Luke made a detailed form of all matters concerning the Dragon Kingdom, and then gave it to King Terran to exercise his duties as king.
After everything was arranged, Luke led the Twilight Dragon and the seven giant dragons to leave the Dragon Kingdom and head to the underground world.
The underground world has a name, Gruzere, which means "the country of the labyrinth" in the underground language.
The entrance to Gruzere is located at the South Pole of the world, where there is a deep pit covered by thousands of meters of ice and snow. Passing through the cracks in the ice and entering the deep pit is the underground world Gruzere. The entire underground world is a complex maze, and various underground creatures live in some large caves.
Some chiefs of underground tribes are from the Shadow Clan who are parasitized by the Shadow Parasite.
Before heading to Gruzere, Luke made up for his lack of knowledge about this underground world.
The social relationships in the Gruzerei underground world are similar to those of ants.
The class structure of an underground tribe is fixed from birth and never changes. The chief has absolute authority that cannot be questioned, and below him are the tribal leaders, warriors, overseers, and at the bottom are the prisoners.
All creatures have their own place and do not question the upper class.
Even if they were asked to die, they would not ask any questions.
There were players who tried to change Gruzel's social system and spread the idea that "kings, princes, generals and ministers are all born with different species"... but none of them succeeded.
There is a supreme ruler in Gruzerei.
He was the original shadow parasite. After the death of his host, he did not choose to change the host, but instead relied on the powerful mental power left by the host to survive.
Strictly speaking, all future Shadow Parasites are his separated iterative forms.
His name is Darkness.
The owner of the Gruzerei underground world.
Luke led his group of dragons south across the ocean to the coldest place in the world.
Antarctica is a forbidden zone for life, with nothing but endless glaciers. The deep pit leading to Gruzere is just below the glacier, and can be reached through cracks between some ice layers.
As former allies, the dragons knew which rifts were both safe and quick to reach Gruzelei.
The dragons that arrived at the South Pole changed their formation.
The black dragon Barle flew to the front, leading the group as the pilot dragon. The group of dragons formed a line, with the giant dragons that had been to Gruzerei flying in front, and the twilight dragons that had not been there dragging at the end.
The dragons advanced rapidly against the fierce wind. Led by the black dragon Barie, they climbed over a mountain range and immediately dived after reaching the top.
An icy canyon appeared on the back of the mountain.
The Bingling Canyon was ten meters wide at one point and less than one meter narrow at another. The black dragon Barie led the team into the canyon, and the other dragons rushed into the canyon one after another without slowing down, with a roar.
After entering the canyon, the environment inside becomes more complicated.
There were protruding icicles everywhere, and there were unexpected sharp turns. The dragons maintained their speed and flew in an extremely flexible manner, shuttling through the cracks in the glacier. Some narrow places required them to fold all their wings and use magic to help them pass smoothly.
Luke, wearing dragon armor and with his wings spread out, was in the middle of the dragons, dodging obstacles at high speed, making him feel like he was playing a dodge-and-fly game.
Fortunately, Luke's flying skills were pretty good and his human form was more agile than his dragon form, so he didn't make the embarrassing mistake of crashing into the icicles.
The flying speed was so fast that Luke had just found the feeling on the track when the group of dragons rushed through the glacier into a huge deep pit of unknown width.
The dragon summoned a fireball to illuminate the pit, but the light could not reach the edge of the pit. In this endless darkness, even the dragon seemed extremely small.
After entering the deep pit, the dragons dared not fly so fast. They formed a three-layer defensive formation, maintaining a controllable and uniform descent to prevent dangerous things from jumping out of the darkness.
The dangers in the darkness make even the dragons cautious.
After flying for an unknown amount of time, the dragons finally reached the bottom of the pit. There were countless passages extending to the underground world, most of which led to a maze with nothing and no end. The black dragon Barle followed the mark and found the passage leading to Gruzelei.
The dragons continued to shuttle through the passage.
After flying for about two more days, the dragons finally arrived at the open underground world.
There are mountains and rivers here. Above is a galaxy of glowing obsidian, providing Gruzerei with a visible glimmer of light.
In the plains between the mountains and rivers, there are farmlands cultivated by the underground race. Edible fungi and mosses are planted in the farmlands, and the prisoners work in the farmlands under the supervision of whip-wielding supervisors.
The arrival of the dragons immediately attracted the attention of the underground races.
Several harpies flew closer, flapping their wings.
The harpy has a human-like body, a human woman's head, eagle wings for arms, a slender waist, and eagle claws for feet. The harpy has no hands, but their claws are as flexible as hands.
"Dragons..." The leading harpy was very nervous facing so many dragons, but her duty made her finish her words: "This is the territory of Chief Romanchenko of the Shadow Clan. Dragons, are you intruding into Gruzerei for something important?"
Eiffel in human form flew to the front and took out the invitation letter from the Dark Chief.
"The Taotie King of the Dragon Kingdom, at the invitation of the Dark Chieftain, the ruler of Gruzerei, came to Gruzerei for a friendly visit."
"The Taotie King!"
The harpy noticed the humanoid dragon surrounded by dragons.
The news that the Dragon Kingdom had chosen a new king had spread throughout Gruzere. Naturally, some information about the Taotie King was also known to the underground world.
The harpy did not look at the invitation. As an ordinary tribal warrior, she could not recognize many words.
"Your Majesty, welcome to Gruzerei." The harpies saluted Luke together, "This is the Scarlet Banshee Tribe, a border tribe of Gruzerei, and our chieftain is Romanchenko of the Shadow Tribe.
You need to stop at the Scarlet Banshee Tribe before visiting Gruzerai. With the permission of the Dark Chieftain, you and your dragons can go to Deepwell City."
There are rules for visiting.
Luke replied, "We will stop at the Scarlet Banshee tribe and wait for permission to enter from the Dark Chief. Lead the way and go meet Chief Romanchenko."
"Your Majesty, please follow us!"
The harpies changed direction and flew towards a small town at the foot of an underground mountain range.
Luke led the dragons to follow.
The architectural style of the dungeon varies slightly depending on the main race in the city, but the overall style is similar.
A town is a single building with three internal floors.
The bottom floor is the dungeon, where the inmates are locked up when they are not working. They eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the dungeon. If they want to go out, they must get the permission of the supervisor.
In the middle is the lair, where the warrior and overseer classes live.
The upper level is the palace, where chiefs and tribal leaders live.
The town of the Scarlet Banshee Tribe also has a similar structure, an integrated enclosed building that can protect the residents inside from attacks by underground beasts, and has the same function as a human castle.
A dungeon is just a castle turned into a city.
The dragons landed on the upper level of the Scarlet Banshee tribe town. Luke let the dragons find a place to rest on their own, and he led the Twilight dragons into the palace.
Knowing that the Dragon King would stay here temporarily, the Scarlet Banshee Tribe lit up the entire palace with burning torches.
Walking in the corridors of the palace feels like walking in a maze.
The stone walls and roads were undecorated and unmarked. They were all square and looked the same everywhere. Walking inside, you had no idea which direction you were going.
The harpy leading the way walked with a jumping rhythm, shaking the feathers on her shoulders from time to time, and leaving a few claw marks on the wall, just like a canine marking the road.
After turning around and around until I felt a little dizzy, I finally arrived at a hall.
A harpy that looked very special at first glance, accompanied by a group of harpies, was waiting respectfully outside the hall.
"Respected King Taotie, welcome to the Scarlet Banshee Tribe. I am Chief Romanchenko of the Shadow Clan." Romanchenko saluted Luke. Her arms were not eagle wings, but normal human arms.
Luke stepped forward , acted like the king of the Dragon Nation, and said, "Hello, Chief Romanchenko. Please send a message to Deep Well City as soon as possible. I hope to meet the Dark Chief as soon as possible."
"The messenger has set off. Harpies are good at flying, and you will soon receive news from Deep Well City." Romanchenko made an invitation: "The banquet is ready, please come in and eat with your dragons."
The harpy warriors pushed open the door, and Luke walked in surrounded by twilight dragons.
At the same time, he said to Chief Romanchenko : "You and your tribal leaders will have dinner with me. I heard that something bad happened in Gruzere. Perhaps you can tell me some news that I don't know."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is an honor for us to dine with you. I will do my best to answer your questions."
