Imperial Crown

When Raven and Nancy arrived at the scene, the packhorse team had been pacified, but the scene in front of them still made Raven's eyebrows jump.

A packhorse was lying on the snow, its eyes were wide open, but gradually blurred, and black and red blood flowed out of its mouth and nose, forming ice chips. It was obviously dead.

The goods were scattered on the ground.

A large piece of blood was oozing out of the belly of this packhorse, and its internal organs were spread out in a ball with steaming hot air, and they were still beating.

Its wounds did not look like scratches from a sharp blade, nor did they look like bites and scratches caused by wild beasts. Instead, it looked like an invisible big hand grabbed its abdomen and tore it open violently.

Raven was about to go up to check, but Mary jumped to the ground, turned back and whispered: "Don't come over!"

At the same time, she raised her index finger to block her lips and made a "hush" gesture.

Raven stopped Nancy who wanted to come forward and watched Mary's performance quietly.

It must be said that this "Black Pearl" has grown up to this point in the bloody highlands full of dangers, but has not become the exclusive lover of any big shot. She is really capable.

She tiptoed to the fallen packhorse, stopped at the edge of the blood, then tiptoed around behind it, suddenly pulled out the long sword from her waist and stabbed it fiercely.

The packhorse had already bled a lot, but this sword made more blood gushed out like a fountain, not like stabbing on the back, but like stabbing in the throat.

At this moment, Mary loosened the hilt and pulled out the scimitar from her waist, and jumped up.

At the same time, the packhorse's internal organs spread on the ground suddenly pulled, and a scarlet ribbon-like creature broke through the intestinal wall and bounced out, about to fall into the snow.

Once it jumps in, with its small size, it may never be found again in this vast snow.

Swish——

The scimitar wrapped in black light passed through the air, and the ribbon-like creature split into two pieces and fell to the ground, still twitching, like two long tongues.

"It's safe!" Mary wiped the sweat from her forehead, sheathed the knife, and exhaled a breath of white air.

"Remove the alert! Volaf, take people to disperse the goods!" Raven ordered loudly, then turned over and dismounted and walked forward. Nancy also dismounted and followed Raven.

Using the rapier to poke the strange creature, Raven's eyes gradually showed a trace of surprise.

The skin of this creature is not actually red, but transparent, even its body is transparent, and the red actually comes from the flesh and blood of the packhorse it swallowed.

Although transparent, its skin is extremely tough, which reminds Raven of Donald at the beginning.

Shaking his head to dispel the image of Donald from his mind, Raven continued to observe.

Originally, its total length was only about one foot, but as its vitality gradually faded, the creature limp and stretched out. The two pieces together were actually more than two meters long. If it weren't for the flesh and blood in the middle, it would be almost invisible.

Its mouthparts are oval, like a suction cup, but they are full of sharp and dense teeth, quite similar to lampreys.

"This is the larvae of the first-level monster 'Tumor-skinned earthworm'." Mary explained: "But in the Bloody Highlands, we often call them 'White Death'."

"White Death?" Attracted by this name, Nancy didn't care to be angry with Mary: "Why?"

Mary smiled: "Because the tumor-skinned earthworm will lay eggs in the rainy season and start to hatch in the dry season of the second year. The larvae will feed on their own kind. After eating a nest of brothers and sisters, they will grow to this size in winter."

"Huh, so disgusting..." Nancy frowned in disgust.

"This is the law of the Bloody Highlands. Only the strong can survive here. ” Mary sighed: “It moves quickly, moving in the snow is like swimming, and it is very sensitive to vibrations. Once a large creature passes by, it will follow the sound, quietly climb on the prey, bite the prey, and release toxins. ”

“This toxin will paralyze the host's senses, making it unable to detect abnormalities, but at the same time it will make the host's body very fragile, until a certain limit, it will strangle the host's body, and then drill into the internal organs and start eating. ”

These descriptions made Nancy feel very uncomfortable, as if there was a larva of a warty leech on her body.

Mary's voice was still calm: "After eating the host's internal organs, it will temporarily hibernate. Once a creature approaches, it will become its new host and continue to reincarnate until it reaches adulthood and grows a magic core. ”

“Why is it called warty?" Raven suddenly asked.

"Baron, look at this." Mary pointed at a bump on its skin with her scimitar: "This kind of hard nodule will grow into a tumor-like hard scale after it grows up. It is very hard and difficult to pierce with ordinary enchanted weapons. So although it is a first-level monster, the tumor-skinned earthworm is more difficult to deal with than many second-level monsters."

"It's so dangerous, why didn't you warn us earlier?" Nancy complained.

It was Raven who answered her: "There's no need. There is no way to warn of this kind of thing in advance. It's hard to prevent. Besides, we are all riding war horses and will not encounter danger directly. If it is really publicized, it will cause panic."

Straightening up, seeing that Volaf had already sorted out the goods, Raven ordered: "Everyone get on the horse and set off again!"

The group set off on the journey again.

After such an incident, Mary showed her role and her status in the team was significantly improved. The guards looked at her with less vigilance.

Nancy no longer had such a strong rejection of her.

And Mary became more active and often introduced some creatures unique to the Bloody Highlands.

For example, a very low plant that is usually buried under the snow looks like a flattened hay at first glance, but as long as it is pulled out, a crystal clear cherry-like fruit can be obtained.

The fruit is not sweet, but it has a very strong spicy taste, which can add a lot of flavor to the broth every night. People on the Bloody Highlands call it "wild pearl".

Another example is a low shrub that actually blooms in winter. The flowers are snow-white and have no fragrance, so standing in the snow and looking from a distance, it seems to be non-existent.

It has a unique habit, that is, its flowers will move in the direction of the current moon, whether it is day or night, so it is named "Moon Watching Flower", and experienced local residents can use it to identify the direction.

Not only plants, but also animals.

The most common creatures encountered were "snow clams", which were as big as fingernails and as big as winter dates. They were mottled with black and white, like pebbles covered with snow, and usually gathered in the leeward.

They were called "snow clams", and they were indeed edible, but what you eat was not the clam meat, but the liquid contained in it, which was extremely delicious. Adding one to a pot of soup was like stewing three old hens.

Not only did Mary introduce and discover the uses of these animals and plants, she also did her "main job" very well.

In just five days, Raven and his team found traces left by Eric and his team at a station, and it was only nine days since they set foot on the bloody highlands.

Under Raven's order, the soldiers began to camp and rest again.

In the tent, Raven sat in the middle, while Nancy sat not far from him wrapped in a blanket, stretching out her hand to warm herself on the brazier: "Raven, we don't have much fuel, do we really have to use it so extravagantly?"

"If you don't like it, you don't have to use it." Raven said directly.

"Really, I'm talking about business!" Nancy frowned in dissatisfaction, but her hand would never retract.

"We're about to reach Heleti's lair." Raven stared at the fire with a blank expression:

"If we can't capture his lair, there's no point in keeping the fuel."

"I understand!" Nancy's eyes lit up: "If we can capture his lair, we can get fuel from him, right?"

Raven nodded.

"But..." Nancy rubbed her hands: "When will we get there!"

"About two days." A voice came from outside the tent, and then Mary opened the curtain and walked in.

She placed the pot on the brazier: "Even if a blizzard comes tomorrow, two days is enough."

The lid was opened, and a very delicious smell filled the air. Nancy immediately picked up a bowl and served it. Just as she was about to eat it, she stopped moving her hands and put it in front of Raven.

Seeing Raven's unmoved look, Nancy stretched out her little hand and waved it in front of him: "What are you thinking about?"

"Stop it!" Raven frowned in disdain and deflected her hand: "I'm thinking about Eric."

"I don't know where he went."

At this time, Raven was not the only one who cared about Eric on the Bloody Highlands.

The base of "Sand King" Heleti is called "Scorpion Nest", located in a hill in the southeast of the Bloody Highlands.

Named "Nest", this place is not a wooden structure, but a stone fortress.

The five-meter-high and three-meter-wide city wall connects the mountain passes on both sides. There are four watchtowers on the wall, and they are burning at this moment.

Outside the city wall, every five meters, there is a row of sharp stone giant horses, like a forest of spears.

Inside the city wall, there is a wide and flat courtyard, where hay is piled in an orderly manner, with a density that ensures that it will not be hit by rockets outside the wall, and that all the hay will not be burned due to fire.

In the deepest part is a three-story castle, the wall is two colors, black on the top and yellow on the bottom. It can be seen that it was rebuilt on the original foundation after the collapse.

The city gate suddenly opened, and a galloping horse galloped in, stopped at the gate of the castle, and the horse thief on it jumped off the horse and rushed into the door.

He entered the hall, immediately knelt on one knee, and shouted loudly:

"Lord Shah! Just as you expected!"

"A team of about a hundred soldiers is approaching the scorpion nest!"

...