Chapter 2207: The Poet and the Knight (1w1)
Chapter 2207: The Poet and the Knight (1w1)
At the entrance to the depths of the Ushtalav Mountain Range, situated halfway up a hillside near Dragon Collapse Cliff, there is an explorers’ town named White Dove.
This town was initially built as a hunting lodge by the dwarf hunters of Yanjiang, targeting a unique sub-dragon magical beast known as the ’Crimson Horned Violent Scale.’ The singular horn of these beasts possesses peculiar spirit energy power, which can be used to craft various spirit energy items, hence its high value.
However, these beasts reside deep within the mountains. The Ushtalav Mountain Range is notorious for its hazardous and rugged terrain, as well as the diverse dangerous creatures and frequent unexpected weather variations. Even the dwarves, as resilient as iron, cannot hunt for extended periods and instead established estates within the mountains to monitor the surroundings, ready to mobilize when the Crimson Horn Beast appears.
Yet, long ago, a significant figure from the Yanjiang’s Dragon Worship Cult attempted a breakthrough to the Fourth Energy Level, aiming to transform into a True Dragon Bloodline. He failed, triggering an earthquake that shook the entire Ushtalav Mountain Range and even the underlying tectonic plates. Several peaks collapsed, the mountain range shifted, and the once treacherous paths became wasteland-like passages.
Perhaps the dwarves truly are the children of the earth, as their hunting lodge miraculously survived that mind-boggling tectonic upheaval. Meanwhile, a fissure stretched out hundreds of meters behind the estate, split open like the intertwined maw of a fierce beast, and at its center lay the spot where the Dragon Worship Cult figure attempted his breakthrough. The closest fissure margin to the entrance of this site was what came to be known as ’Dragon Collapse Cliff.’
Although the dwarf hunters survived, the ecosystem of the Ushtalav Mountain Range transformed dramatically, making sightings of Crimson Horn Beasts rare. In search of a new livelihood, the dwarf hunters inadvertently discovered a white dove—a peculiar specimen from the pre-Era civilization lacking magical beast bloodlines and spirit energy power—on their return journey.
If it weren’t for the old hunters, who knew every mountain creature by heart, no one could have discerned anything from that dove.
Upon first seeing the dove, the oldest dwarf hunter made an unimaginable judgment: beneath the Ushtalav Mountain Range there might be a ’Labyrinth!’ It was originally concealed deep underground, perhaps destined to remain hidden forever, until the Dragon Worship Cult’s secret ritual stirred the earth, revealing it to the world!
And that dove had flown directly from the Labyrinth!
The hunters followed the dove’s path, advancing forward, and thus the entrance to the super massive Labyrinth of the Ninasu Abyss deep within the Ushtalav Mountain Range was discovered for the first time.
To this day, the Ninasu Abyss has yet to be fully explored. It is vast, encompassing nearly half of the underground region of the Ushtalav Mountain Range, with the deepest parts extending over thirty thousand meters. Over the years, explorers have flocked here, uncovering seventeen semi-permanent subterranean ecosystems and two genetic sample repositories, indicating this site was a substantial biological sample storage facility from a pre-Era civilization.
Additionally, it was also the largest ’biological weapon testing ground.’
Within the Ninasu Abyss, many ordinary creatures like the initial dove exist, weak and vulnerable, but there are also formidable entities like the Crystal Ghost Insect Mother, akin to a Fourth Level Earth Series spirit energy giant insect. This biological weapon, bearing traits of both the Crystal Dragon and certain peculiar spirit energy beetles, is exceedingly powerful. Upon its emergence, it massacred nearly a thousand explorers and used their corpses to create numerous half-human, half-crystal ’spawn insects.’
This calamity was partly the explorers’ own doing, as the greedy Terra People sought to extract more resources from the Ruins Labyrinth by employing destructive means that damaged the Ruins’ structure to access those ’sealed’ ecosystems.
The Crystal Ghost Insect Mother, initially meant to remain dormant, awoke due to their intrusion and eradicated all destructive illegal invaders, then returned to slumber. Experiments proved that as long as one doesn’t touch the labyrinth’s warning zones or violently destroy its structure, these creatures remain asleep.
Following this, adventurers exploring the Ninasu Abyss have become more restrained, switching from short-term plundering to long-term exploration. The hunters’ lodge that discovered it first has evolved into an advance base-like rest area, serving as the last stop for many adventurers to prepare supplies and recuperate before delving into the labyrinth.
White Dove Town, Crimson Horn Tavern.
This tavern is the oldest in White Dove Town. Its original owner was one of the old hunters who stayed at the hunting lodge, intending to settle here. The tavern’s entrance displays a genuine Crimson Horn Beast head, along with its horn, as a sign.
Many thieves covet the valuable spirit energy materials, but they find it nearly impossible to escape from the hunters’ pursuit in the depths of the mountains—proof lies in the pile of skull decorations beside the tavern.
The weather is cold and damp at the moment, and few people pass through the deep mountain town.
Even adventurers are reluctant to explore the labyrinth deep in the mountains right before the looming heavy snowfall of early winter.
Yet inside the Crimson Horn Tavern, it remains lively, flickering firelight radiating from the window gaps, while a ballad poet plays his lute.
The music is melodious, the song echoing far, as an adventure group fresh out from the labyrinth, having ended their exploration with pockets full, celebrate another success at this very place, knowing they can each return home before the snow seals the mountains and enjoy a grand new year.