Arcane Journey

Chapter 96 The Council of Scholars

Jeep the Dillo dwarf felt a small hole in the stone wall. He took off the mini-dagger from the necklace, separated it, took a key from it, and inserted the key into the small hole.

A door wrapped in black light floated on the wall.

Kip rolled his pure white pupils, raised his thin lips, and walked straight into the secret door.

As his figure disappeared, the door closed immediately.

Suddenly, an ominous premonition filled the heart of the Dilo dwarf.

The moment he entered the gate, he felt something crawl in together.

wrong!

This door can only be seen with enlightened eyes, he must have made a mistake, and Jip, who can't figure it out, thinks that he must have some hallucinations due to suspicion.

He walked in the long tunnel, savoring the dark atmosphere deeply, letting the darkness wrap and engulf him.

The lingering smell of blood, sweat, incense, and rotting flesh, the air was stale with unholy rituals.

Kip knows that the steps lead to a mysterious cave, and in the cave, the ceremony will be held tonight.

"Jip, my servant." A chilling female voice came from the shadow of the cave.

A cool breath rose from the back of the Dillo dwarf, and he turned to see a curvy woman in a black cloak.

She was looking at him with scarlet eyes.

"Chosen Xinaia," he whispered, "May the Lord of Demons bless you."

"Blessings have been bestowed upon me." Shinaya showed her sharp teeth and said coldly, "You are late."

Kip looked directly into her eyes as always, and he felt his head swell and his vision blurred, and he explained with difficulty:
"Jip was caught by the dark elves, so there was a long delay, but Jip did bring back what the demon king wanted"

"It's not over yet." There was indisputable coercive force in the words of Xinaya, who was shrouded in shadows, "Continue talking, I want to hear the detailed process!"

As soon as the words fell, the Dilo dwarf was suddenly held down by the palm of his head.

Kip stared in horror, and he found himself resisting, but the allure of her touch magic invaded his soul, took hold of his mind, and turned him against his will.

He saw with horror that her face had become half human and half cat, and her eyeballs were suddenly pitch black.

He fell into the deep pool in his eyes, sank into it unconsciously, until the darkness completely enveloped him.

Jeep could no longer control himself, and told the whole story: what happened to Fansi Lane, the strange situation in the dull woodland, and the shocking changes in the Kou Tao fishman town
After a long silence, Xinaya, who was shrouded in shadows, showed a greedy smile with her eyes shining.

Although still a little dazed, Kip still felt relieved.

"interesting."

Xinaya's fingers slid across Jeep's frightened face, "Criminals, mercenaries, merchants, and maids are all good sacrifices, but for my lord, he prefers wizards with outstanding magical talents and beautiful men." girl."

She looked up and down the terrified derro again.

Jeep found a group of cultists wearing pure black cloaks with expressionless faces and surrounded him.

They were all his people, wizards from the Council of Scholars.

Xinaya's figure seemed extraordinarily tall, "However, I am very dissatisfied with your dishonesty, so you must be severely punished."

"Jip. Don't! Jeep didn't lie, you promised Jeep." Jeep's pure white pupils widened and screamed. He wanted to escape, but found himself bound by a powerful force, unable to move.

"I know, child." Sinaia smiled and said, "I never care about this kind of thing, and neither does my lord. Severil, tie him up."

As they plunged into darkness, Kip heard Sinaia humming a series of demonic whimpers.

When he opened his eyes again, he found in despair that his hands and feet were chained, and he was lying on the altar of the demons, with a quasai flying above his head.

Kip wanted to shout, but suddenly realized that he had been shouting from the beginning.

His blood seemed to be burning, and his chest rose and fell rapidly with the rapid breathing.

The chant sounded again:
"Sa, Grazte, Saza, Saza, Grazte, Saza, Ruo Saza! Saza, Ruo Saza!"

Dark, ghostly chants came from all directions.

He recognized that it was the language of the abyss, but it had been artificially modified, as if their language had been distorted by the dark shadow.

The sense of fear gradually increased, as if the executioner's machete was relentlessly pouring in, Kip exhausted all his strength and yelled the most desperate scream in his life.

…………

The eerie soft light produced by the radiation of the leylines filled the entire cave, twisted into a vortex shape and extending along the cave wall, and the shadows cast by the jagged stone pillars danced unceasingly, becoming a weird decoration on the cave wall.

Brian's fingers felt a groove and a gap in the stone wall. He took out a coil of copper wire for lockpicking from his dimension bag, and whispered a spell.

In the blink of an eye, the stone wall trembled, and the secret door slid open.

Sisaiah hurriedly leaned in front of him, admiring his masterpiece of unlocking. She saw a faint light from inside the door, but the smell of rotten flesh and dirty blood surged from the ground.

It was so appropriate, she frowned, thinking: I have to endure this disgusting nausea again.

"remember."

Brian warned her solemnly, "The Dilro dwarves here worship demons who seduce, betray, and twist. Their purpose is to gain the power of darkness and bring down the rule of the gray dwarves."

"What the Dilo dwarves hate most is humans, especially these cultists, who are the worst race you can imagine."

Hisaiah nodded and followed Brian's footsteps.

Brian took the lead in entering the dark passage, searching for traps along the way, casting detection spells from time to time.

The sword mage kept his hand on the hilt of his sword for a moment, and followed behind, vigilant and guarding.

As they got deeper, Brian could feel the temperature rising, and even his brow was sweating.

He walked carefully and slowly, checking the walls with his fingertips and eyes all the time.

After all, they went to the 'Sacred Law Auditorium'.

It's where members of the derro scholars' council meet and spies, and it's also the luxurious apartment where these scholars enjoy their lives unbeknownst to other derlos.

The Scholar's Council is the coterie of dylo dwarf scholars.

In fact, it can also be called the Council of Wizards, because the Dilro dwarves like to refer to the profession of wizards as scholars.

Although the dylo dwarves basically live in squalid conditions, the members of the council enjoy the fine clothes and privileges of the leadership.

Among the Dilo dwarf scholars, only the strongest 36 can attend the scholar council.When new members of parliament take office, they are often accompanied by the death of old members.

Worshiping demons, the Scholars try to control members of duergar clans through wicked magic and subterfuge, and then seek to expand the influence of the Council.

Therefore, evil rituals of worshiping demons are secretly held here.

While carefully checking the magic traps secretly set up around him, Brian signaled Hesaiah to avoid certain steps, or stay away from a certain wall.

Occasionally, he would stop and pull out a bunch of tools to disarm a trap or enchantment.

As a wizard, dealing with magic traps through magic is very handy for him, even better than those self-taught thieves skills.

After about half an hour, they came to the end of the cave without any risk.

Brian stood in front of the cave wall, staring thoughtfully into a tall, narrow crack, lost in thought.

"We can't even put our arms through such a small crack, so we can only rely on the teleportation spell." Hesaiah walked up to the thoughtful Brian, and muttered, "It's strange, why there are strange-shaped grasses and big mushrooms growing here. "

"This is the territory of the Council of Scholars. Blindly using teleportation spells is likely to attract their attention and lead to falling into a trap." Brian withdrew his gaze and looked down at the strangely shaped grass and big mushrooms on the ground.

"I see." Seeing the familiar plants, he nodded thoughtfully, showing a hint of a smile.

The so-called small grass in Hesaiah's mouth is pygmy grass. Its stipe is only one inch high, and there are white spots on the short and solid blue cap.

Due to the influence of the radiation of the earth's veins, this magical mushroom can shrink to a certain size within 5 minutes if you take a small bite and don't resist the force.

And those big mushrooms with thin stalks and purple caps are called giant giant mushrooms. Its effect is just the opposite, similar to the effect of the enlargement technique, and it is also an antidote to the recovery reduction technique.

Out of caution, Brian threw a detection magic towards the crack first, and after confirming that it was correct, he knelt down to pick a few mushrooms, handed two to Hesaiah, and explained the reason to her.

Hisaiah winked at him curiously, and took a small bite of the cap of the pygmy straw mushroom at Brian's command.

Work in a while.

The two became the size of a small chicken, and carefully walked through the crack.

After his body returned to its original shape, Brian immediately discovered that not far ahead, a huge stalagmite hollowed out as a whole was located in a shimmering fungal forest.

Three derro are on patrol.

Two of them were clad in black armor and held flame-shaped long swords, while the third dwarf in black robes held a dark wooden staff that gleamed with evil energy.

Brian motioned for Sisaiah to follow, preparing to deal with the three Dillo dwarves first.

　Thanks to the boss: Wei Sun Nuo Dan for the reward, thank you for your support! ! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)