Chapter 43 Inside the Fort
The thirty-degree slope is not easy to walk, but fortunately, Qin Lun and others are not ordinary people. Even though a few of them were minor injuries, they were not seriously injured with the help of their companions. The passage was not long, and the entire team could see the end of the passage without going far away.
"Extinguish the torches!" Kelly frowned slightly and waved her hand back.
Everyone extinguished the torches as they said, without much objection. At this time, as they entered the passage, there was already light in front of them, and the brightness was far beyond the previous furnace area.
The reason why there is light in the furnace area is because of the transmission of external light on the ice wall, and the light here seems to be a bit different.
"Are there still descendants of the Sannata dwarves living here?" Everyone's minds came to their minds.
"Lone, go ahead and take a look!" Stark's heart moved and he whispered to the thieves in the group.
Kelly looked back at the two of them, but did not say anything to stop her. Her strength was the strongest among all, otherwise she would not have been in the forefront. However, the martial arts profession was not as good as a thief in exploration. Since there was plenty of light here, the work of exploration naturally had to be handed over to professionals.
Of course, even so, Ronle didn't need to do the exploration alone. An elf ranger beside Milleras came forward consciously as his backup. The elf ranger not only has night vision ability, but also has the ability to detect traps to detect traps, and just learn from human thieves.
Not long after the two of them went, the elf ranger turned back with excitement, waved to the team below, indicating that there was no danger ahead.
"Wow!" Walking along the passage to the top and looking at the scenery ahead, many people in the team exclaimed amaze from the bottom of their hearts.
At the end of this passage is a huge open fort door. The fort door also has the thick and atmospheric architectural style of the Iron Star Fort, and the half-covered portal is a heavy stone door that is five feet thick.
There is a row of half-meter-high iron wheels installed under the stone door. Although it is mottled on it at first glance and it has been connected to the ground and the stone door, you can still see these things. They were originally pulleys of the stone door.
The entire fort gate is more than 20 meters high and about 30 meters wide. There is a dwarf statue more than 30 meters high standing on each side. The stone statue has a solemn face, looking ahead, with a cloak tied, naked upper body, and pressing a double-edged battle axe at the station with both hands.
Despite thousands of years, these two dwarf statues are still full of oppression, with the long beard on their cheeks and the muscle lines on their arms clearly visible. The dust on their bodies not only did not cover up the majesty of the statues, but instead set them up to make them more solemn, just like a warrior who had just returned from the battlefield. Perhaps only the mottled and fine cracks on the statues reveal some traces brought by time.
There is a starry sky carving at the top of the castle gate. Although the ancient dwarfs of Sannata lived on the abdomen of the mountain, they still seemed to worship the mysterious universe. A starry sky carving was carved above the gate of the castle.
"Iron Star!" Qin Lun looked up at the ancient stone script that was already a little broken in the center of the starry sky, and a hint of fanaticism flashed in his eyes.
Standing in front of this huge dwarf castle gate, everyone felt a heavy breath of vicissitudes coming to their faces, unable to help but hold their breath and fell silently.
After a while, everyone who came back to their senses from the shock finally remembered the situation inside the castle gate. At this time, Qin Lun and others discovered where the light source here came from.
"It is a natural luminous stone!" Milleras said, pointing to the luminous stones embedded around the Fort Gate.
Qin Lun's eyes swept around and found that the fort gate should be the main entrance of the Iron Star Fort. It was not only connected to the passage they came out of the furnace area, but also several larger and wider stone corridors next to it.
Some of these corridors are upwards, some corridors are downwards, and the corridors extending upwards are probably connecting the traffic between the Iron Star Fort and the outside of the mountains. As for the downward corridors, they should be connected to other furnace areas or ore storage areas.
"Have you two entered the castle to investigate?" Unlike the other women in the team who were addicted to the dwarf ruins, Robin's mind was still very clear, and he reached out to wave Roll and the elf ranger to ask carefully.
"No, I just looked outside the door a few times." Roner and the Elf Ranger looked at each other and shook their heads gently. "However, judging from the environment inside, there are no traces left by creatures, and there are dust and ashes everywhere. Perhaps we are the first visitors to come here for thousands of years."
"Then go in and take a look, but I'll ask you two to explore the way and see if there are any traps and defense devices inside!" Robin pondered for a moment, then waved his hand to let the two go.
Crossing the gate of Iron Star Fort, a huge square appeared in front of everyone. After arriving here, Qin Lun and others finally saw a building that matched the body shape of the dwarf.
The square is oval in shape, and rows of stone houses stand neatly around it. However, it can be seen that the stone houses here do not seem to be residential areas, but should be commercial areas in the castle. Some stone houses with complete structures are also hung in front of the door.
Some signs with not very damaged damage can be seen on them with easy-to-understand signs. For example, the signs of hammers and iron felts, the signs of swords and shields, the signs of bows and arrows and armor, etc.
What surprised Qin Lun was that he actually saw the sign of stacking gold coins on the signboard of a large building.
"Credit Institute? Or Bank? Did the Sannata Dwarfs have sprouted in the financial industry thousands of years ago?" Qin Lun curled his lips, and couldn't help but admire the brilliant civilization created by the Sannata Dwarfs.
There is a huge circular fountain in the center of the Dwarf Square. The fountain has seven layers from bottom to top, from large to small, like a small tower cake. Of course, this fountain that was thousands of years ago has long since disappeared, and now the dust accumulated inside is probably a few feet thick.
The drainage system in Iron Star Fort is very developed. In front of some complete buildings, most people can see canals covered with stone slabs passing by the house. The dome stone wall above this square is also inlaid with a lot of luminescent stones, but because the square is too large, it looks a little dim.
Thousands of years ago, there must have been other magic lights here. At least at dawn, the inside of the castle would be as bright as the outside of the mountains as the daylight.
Everyone in the team scattered and searched in this square. Milleras and several elves were exploring the history of the ruins, while the male apostle wanted to find some precious items left by the Sannata dwarves.
Of course, whether it is the apostle or the plot elves, there is another kind of character in the team that cannot be seen through. That is female creatures such as Ilistin, Nicole, and Kelly who are purely wandering and curious.
In fact, after seeing that this square was indeed not threatening, even Robin, the usually shrewd and capable leader of the lost newcomer group, began to move closer to the big-breasted and brainless attribute.
"Feral, look at it, I found a magical artifact of the Sannata dwarf!"
"Ilistin, that's just a hammer without a wooden handle, or a scrap that rusts into iron slag..."
"Feral, look at it, gem~~"
"Well, this... is not a waste! However, there is still a gap between broken glass beads and gems..."
"Feral, look at it..."
"Ilistin, you collect it slowly first. I'll watch it later. OK? Be good~~" Qin Lun felt that his skin was about to cramp, and he grinned his teeth expressionlessly, spread his wind steps, and left the group of female creatures who gave up treatment far away.
After a while, Qin Lun could finally determine that they could not find valuable items in the ruins. Judging from the several buildings he explored, the room was completely empty and clean except for the dust. It can be seen that the dwarves of the Iron Star Fort evacuated in an orderly manner.
As for the reason why they abandoned the Iron Star Fort, it was too long and it was unlikely to explore it clearly unless the written records could be found. Qin Lun thought that it was nothing more than the decline of the underground fire veins and could no longer be used for forging the dwarves, or there were more threats from foreign enemies near the Alamir Mountains.
"Hmm? No!" Kelly, who was wandering with Robin, suddenly had his ears trembling, and a strange look appeared on his face.
"Sister Kelly, what's wrong?" Robin asked in surprise with a smile on his face.
"I really wanted to hear something just now... it's gone again!" Kelly frowned and said uncertainly, "You... gather the team quickly, I heard it again!"
"Yeah!" Robin's expression quickly became serious.
Although she didn't hear anything, she had developed good habits when she got along with Kelly for a long time. The martial arts master was very smart and sharper than other combat professions without special skills. The Lost Newcomer Group has relied on Kelly's ears more than once to avoid potential dangers.
"Captain Robin, what's wrong?" Everyone quickly gathered in one place. Although Milleras and others were still a little reluctant, everyone still knew that safety was the most important.
"Sister Kelly seems to have heard some unusual movements!" Robin explained to everyone softly.
Hearing Robin's explanation, everyone calmed down, breathed lightly, and waited for Kelly's feedback.
"Over there! Stark followed me, the two elf princes and auxiliary professions were in the middle, and the thief and the ranger broke the back!" After listening for a while, Kelly's face finally changed slightly and she ran towards the southern passage of Dwarf Square.
Stark opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He kicked his foot and followed Kelly. Although he was not as strong as Kelly, he was also an old second-level strongman, and he was a MT profession with extremely strong defense, so he naturally had to play the pioneer.
Since entering the Iron Star Castle, he has now increased his exploration level by 0.005%. Although there is no mission plot, the additional reward for world exploration is not less. Moreover, this time it is a double reward, and the contribution points he can get are no less than the main plot.
Of course, it can accumulate to 0.005%, and there are also contributions from other fortress members. After discovering certain clues, they mostly let Stark contact first so that he can gain the main level of world exploration.
The sudden change surprised Qin Lun. He took a step back quietly and let Yilisten beside him block him. A black and red target and silver dial suddenly appeared in his pupils, and the perception line quickly penetrated into the corridor in front of Kelly like flying tentacles.
Countless scenery of black and white lines intertwined through Qin Lun's retina and finally stayed in a space at the end of the corridor.
Chapter completed!