Chapter 17 Chapter Sixteen The Walking Dead

Cadderly climbed down the rope slowly and carefully, using the technique he had seen in the pictures in the classics, holding the rope in front and behind, wrapping one end around his thigh, using his thigh to control the speed of his descent.When he was tying the rope, he heard the complaints of the dwarf brothers, which meant that both of them were safe and sound, which also made him feel more at ease.Standing in the light of a ring of torches as he approached the flagstones, he saw Pikel running around in circles, chasing Ivan, busily smacking his brother's smoking butt out. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Pikel yelled, patting his ass every chance he got.

"Don't move, you stupid tree fool!" Ivan snarled, slapping wildly. "Be quiet," Cadderly reminded them, landing in the passage. "Oh," Pikel replied, rubbing hard one last time.Then the dwarf noticed the stone carvings on the wall, forgot all his pain, and happily stepped aside to explore. "Someone is trying to keep us out," Ivan speculated. "His fire spell burned my brother's ass!" Cadderly agreed with the dwarf's conclusion, feeling that he should know who set the rune, but he couldn't remember, and he didn't have time now to meditate, study his suspicions.More importantly, neither dwarf suffered too serious injuries.After such a collision, Yiwen's antler helmet was cleaner.

"How far to your cursed bottle?" Ivan asked. "Do you think we'll see more of these magical obstacles?" Ivan's eyes lit up suddenly. "If you think so, you'll have to let the dwarf go first." He punched his breastplate. "The dwarves can take it. The dwarves will eat it and spit it back at the trapper! Do you think we'll meet that one? The one who cast the fire spell? I'm going to have a moment with that one. He burned my brother! I will not let the guy who burned my brother!" The more Ivan talked, the more hazy his eyes became, and Cadderly found that he was hovering on the edge of self-control.Pikel on the other side also fell into the stone sculpture on the side and couldn't extricate himself, knelt on the ground, sniffing the cracks in the wall, and let out an excited "Oh!" every once in a while.A dozen or so anxious spiders struggled to escape their webs, only to become entangled helplessly in Pikel's bristly beard.

Cadderly placed the ever-twirling crystal frisbee spindle in front of Ivan, shining a light tube on the crystal in a straight line.The dwarf gradually fell into hypnosis under the multi-faceted refraction of the crystal, and his voice gradually fell. "Remember why we came here," Cadderly reminded the dwarf. "Focus, Ivan Stoneshoulders. If we don't remove the curse, the whole library, the whole library of Moezhi, will go up in smoke." Cadderly wasn't sure if it was his words, or the light dancing on the crystal reminding him. Ivan had to fight off the stubborn curse, but anyway, the dwarf's eyes widened as if he had just woken from a deep sleep, and he began to shake his head so hard that he had to rely on his own double-bladed ax to stand upright.

"Where are you going, boy?" asked the now sane dwarf. "That's the point," Cadderly whispered to himself.He glanced at Pikel, wondering if he should use the same technique on him, but decided at once that it didn't matter.Even when Pikel was awake, he wasn't sober. Cadderly scanned the floor, searching for signs of his last visit, but could find nothing.He beamed light down both sides of the stone-brick corridor, but they all seemed the same, evoking no memory. "This way." He decided, just to get them to start moving, past Ivan. "Take your brother with you."

Cadderly heard a clatter behind him, which he guessed was the sound of an ax striking a soup pot.After a while, Ivan and Pikel followed quickly beside him. After many dead ends and countless circles back to where they started, they came to an ancient storage area lined with wide aisles lined with rotting cabinets. "I've been here before," Cadderly insisted, saying it aloud, trying to jog the memory. Yiwen lay down on the ground, wanting to confirm Cadderly's words, but as before, there was no clear trace.It was obvious that someone had walked here recently, and the dust showed traces of being disturbed. As for whether someone deliberately swept the signs away, or too many people passed by here, the dwarves could not track it.

Cadderly closed his eyes, trying to recall the previous path.Many images of him wandering aimlessly in the tunnel flooded in, scenes of skeletons and corridors full of gloomy inner rooms, but refused to piece together in a logical way, no focus, no Cadderly could discern starting point. Then, he heard a heartbeat. In the invisible distance, water droplets are dripping steadily and regularly.Cadderly knew that the voice was always with him, not coming from a specific direction, and when he first came here, he didn't use the sound of water droplets as an indicator to guide his direction, but now he found that the sound of water droplets could guide his Memory, because although the interval of water droplets is very stable, the sound will fluctuate with the corners and turns.When he walked through the cellar for the first time, he was busy paying attention to other problems, and only subconsciously noticed this matter, but it also imprinted a clear track in his memory.Now, instead of expending energy to let useless worries occupy his mind, he might as well let his subconscious guide his steps.

Ivan and Pikel didn't question him, because they didn't have any other good ideas.At last they came to a three-way intersection, and Cadderly's face lit up, even he believed that he really knew how to go. "Go left," Cadderly insisted.Sure enough, there were fewer cobwebs on the left passage than on the right passage, as if someone had passed there.Cadderly had barely passed the archway when he turned to face the dwarf with a look of alarm, even fear. "What did you see?" Ivan demanded, pushing Cadderly away and going under the archway. "Skeleton." Cadderly began to explain.

Pikel jumped behind him to guard, and Ivan held the torch forward, peering into the dusty gloom. "I don't see a skeleton!" Ivan said after a moment. This episode of the undead was still nightmarish chaos to Cadderly.He couldn't remember where he met the skeleton, and he didn't know why the idea suddenly appeared. "They might be here," he whispered. "I believe they are nearby." Yiwen and Pikel visibly relaxed, leaning aside at the same time, exchanging glances behind the young scholar. "Then come on." Ivan exhaled, and followed the bright light of the torch into the passage on the left.

"Skull," Cadderly announced as soon as he walked through the archway.He recognized the place, lined with cabinets wide enough for ten people to walk abreast, and a little further ahead there were alcoves on either side of the corridor. "Are you here again?" Ivan asked. Cadderly swung the beam toward the alcove. "There." He explained. What he said was frightening, but to the dwarf's ears was an invitation to adventure.Instead of lowering their light and advancing slowly, the two jumped forward, boldly walked in the middle of the corridor, and stopped in front of the first alcove.

"Whoa," Pikel said. "Boy, you're right." Ivan agreed. "There are skeletons." He slung the ax over his shoulder, put his other hand on his hip, and walked to the front of the alcove. "How?" he called to Bones. "Are you going to sit there and rot? Or come out and block my way?" Despite the dwarf's arrogance, Cadderly followed cautiously. "Same as you said," Ivan said when he walked up to Evan. "But I don't see them moving." "They're moving," Cadderly insisted. "Following me." The two brothers looked sideways, past Cadderly, and exchanged a look.The more they do this, the more skilled they are. "I didn't dream that!" Cadderly growled at them, stepping sideways to block their exchanged glances. "Look!" He originally wanted to walk towards the skeleton, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate, so he finally just shot the beam into the alcove. "Do you see the cobweb over there? And the cobweb on the bone? The cobweb used to be connected together, but now the web has come off. One is that this skeleton has been out of the alcove recently, or someone Come down and cut the rope so it looks like it left the alcove." "Only you have come down." Ivan said this out of nowhere, only then did he realize how much it sounded like an accusation. "Do you believe I cut the rope?" Cadderly yelled. "I don't want to go near that thing. Why am I wasting time and money doing that?" The dwarf peeked sideways again, but Ivan's expression was less suspicious as he stood up straight. "Then why are they sitting so well?" he asked. "If they want to fight, why...?" "Because we didn't attack them!" Cadderly interrupted him suddenly. "That's right." He continued, his thoughts becoming clearer. "I didn't attack me until I attacked the skeletons." "Why did you beat a bunch of bones?" Ivan had to ask. "I haven't," Cadderly stammered. "I mean—I thought it moved." "Aha!" Pikel said. Ivan further elaborates on his brother's conclusions. "The skeleton moved before you hit him, so your memory is wrong." "No, it didn't move," Cadderly replied immediately. "I thought it was moving, but it was probably just a mouse or a voles or something." "Rats don't look like bones," Ivan said wryly.Cadderly had guessed he would say that. Pikel squeaked, wrinkled his nose, and pretended to be a mouse, very realistically. "If we ignore them, they might let us pass," Cadderly analyzed. "The person who got them moving probably gave them instructions to protect themselves." Yiwen thought for a moment, then nodded.The idea sounds simple enough.He motioned to his brother, and Pikel understood his silent plea.The green-bearded dwarf pushed Cadderly aside, set down a stick as thick as a knocker, and rushed into the cave before the young scholar could stop him.Under the blow, the skull shattered into pieces, Pikel's sustained force kept him going, and the remaining bones were knocked and flew in all directions. "This one won't come to fight us," said Ivan, satisfied, snapping a rib from his brother's shoulder as Pikel exited the alcove.Cadderly stood motionless, mouth gaping in disbelief. "We gotta check!" Ivan insisted. "Would you like some walking skeletons on your back?" "Ugh," Pikel wailed.Cadderly and Ivan turned around immediately after hearing this, and the light beam in Cadderly's hand immediately showed why Pikel was anxious.As Evan said, this skeleton wasn't going to stand up and attack them, but dozens of other skeletons were already on their feet and moving. Ivan slapped Cadderly on the back hard. "Nice head, boy!" the dwarf congratulated him. "You are absolutely right! Sure enough, you have to hit it to react!" "Is that a good thing?" Cadderly asked.All kinds of images from the previous journey suddenly came back to his mind, especially the scene where he backed away from the first attacking skeleton and crashed into the waiting embrace of another skeleton, which was even more clear.Cadderly turned aside, the skeletons across the corridor were on the verge of grabbing him. Pikel saw it too.Fearlessly, he grabbed his club with both hands, held the handle low, and swung it hard, hitting the monster on the side of the head, sending the head whizzing down the corridor behind them.The remaining bones just stood there trembling, waiting for Pikel to knock them apart.Cadderly watched the shattered head until it disappeared into the darkness, then shouted, "Run!" "Run!" Ivan said as well, throwing down the torch, and he and Pikel ran down the corridor, heading straight for the attacking troops. This was not what Cadderly intended, but when he found that he couldn't make the mad brothers turn away no matter what, he shrugged, took out the Frisbee spindle, and followed them, seriously considering the burden, How much is friendship worth.The nearest skeleton had no time to react to the dwarf's impact.Ivan sliced ​​the skeleton in half with one swing of the axe, but with a backhand swing, the other end of the weapon caught in the ribs of the next target.The dwarf is not a person who pays attention to details, so with one stroke, he pulled the weapon and the tangled skeleton upwards, and threw the whole group towards the nearest monster.The two skeletons and Ivan's ax were tangled into an inextricable mass. A skeleton charged at Ivan, grabbing him with dirty, sharp fingers. "My brother, I need you!" Ivan yelled.Pikel was in better shape at first, rushing into the first group of skeletons like a boulder rolling down a mountain, breaking up three skeletons and pushing the rest back a few feet, but the charge went awry , because before Pikel had time to brake, one of his knees gave way, and the fearless undead swarmed forward.Pikel held the stick low, arms outstretched, and began to twirl quickly. Skeletons were headless monsters, not thinking warriors, so they stretched out their arms and rushed fearlessly, but foolishly, at Pikel's whirling club, allowing him to knock them down one by one, fingers, The palms and arms were broken into pieces.Every time a piece of bone hummed away, the dwarf laughed maniacally, thinking he could just keep spinning like that. However, Pikel heard the brother's cry.He stopped turning, trying to head in the right direction, his pudgy legs running in place, gaining momentum. "Ooh!" roared the dwarf, leaping up, breaking through the skeletons.Unfortunately, he was deceived by his dizzy head, and as soon as he broke through the encirclement, he slammed headfirst into the stone wall of the walkway. "Oh." There was a hollow echo under the helmet of the iron pot, and it was Pikel who was sitting on the ground. Only one skeleton slipped past the dwarf to meet Cadderly, and the young scholar thought he should be fine with him.He hopped and hopped to the left, putting his weight on the front of his feet the way Danica had taught him, throwing a few warning feints with the Frisbee spindle.The skeleton paid no heed to his footsteps or harmless throws, and charged directly at Cadderly. The Frisbee spindle hit his cheekbone and turned his head 180 degrees, looking at his back, but the skeleton kept going.Cadderly struck again, trying to shatter the thing's body.He found his mistake as soon as he threw it.The frisbee passed through the skeleton's ribs, but when Cadderly tried to pull it back, the rope got tangled up in the bone, and what was worse, when he pulled too hard, the coils on his hand tightened, tantamount to pulling him to the bone. Skeletons tied together.The monster swung blindly at him.Cadderly flung himself straight to the ground, grabbed his staff, and thrust at the skeleton's ribs, trying to retract the Frisbee spindle.As soon as the tip of the cane got caught in the back of the skeleton, the quick-witted young scholar immediately changed his strategy. The picture of the fulcrum and the lever flashed in his mind, he immediately let go of the cane, and beat down on the head of the cane with all his strength. The ribs serving as the fulcrum were still, and Cadderly's force of a dozen strikes ran up the skeleton's back, blasting his head into the air, hitting the ceiling and then rebounding to the ground. The monster's body fell apart. Cadderly busied himself withdrawing the two weapons, praising himself for the success of his plot, but he was not happy for long.He turned his head, and by the light of the torch that Ivan dropped, he saw that the two dwarves had been knocked down. Ivan had no weapons in his hands and tried desperately to avoid the skeleton, while Pikel was sitting on the other side The cauldron hung low against the wall, and a whole swarm of skeletons was advancing towards him. ※※※ In the dark and quiet altar room, Druzil poked his head suspiciously between the folded bat wings.Only embers remained from the fire of the stove, because Ba Jin would not keep the transboundary door open while he was sleeping. Apart from that, there was no other light source in the room.The little devil didn't care, after all, he spent countless years shuttling through the chaotic gray mist in the lower world. Everything seems to be normal.On one side of the room, Ba Jin fell asleep peacefully, confidently believing that success was just around the corner.Muliwei and Calif stood on both sides of the door, motionless as if they were dead objects, unless they were activated by Ba Jin's preset command, they would not move. Druzil breathed an uneasy sigh of relief that there didn't seem to be any signs of activation.No intruders entered the room, the door was securely shut, and Druzil felt no prying wizard's gaze, or Aballister's call from afar. However, the tranquility of the altar room did not dampen the imp's uneasy instincts.Druzil's sleep was disturbed by something unknown, it thought it was Aballister's persistent search for him again.Wrapping himself tightly with wings, Druzil dived deep into his heart, translating his physical senses into more subtle inner feelings, telepathy.This is as useful to imps as human vision.It imagines the area beyond the door, probing a maze of winding corridors. The little devil's bat wings suddenly opened.The skeletons stand up! Druzil summoned magical energy, became invisible, flapped his wings and flew between Mulevi and the mummy, and quickly read out the pass words to prevent Ba Jin's row of guardian runes from exploding, and then slipped out of the room.Once out of the room, it picked up speed, sometimes flying, sometimes creeping forward, moving cautiously towards the outermost tomb.Hearing has confirmed its intuition, and a big battle is going on. The little devil stopped, thinking about the problem in front of him.The skeletons are undoubtedly fighting, which means that the invaders have reached this floor.They may just be a group of wandering priests, wandering down because of the insanity caused by the curse, the undead army will soon clean them up, but Druzil is unwilling to take risks, preferring to treat them as if they came for a purpose .Druzil glanced back toward the corridor that would lead it back to Barjin, torn.If the thoughts were sent to Bajin, establishing a telepathic connection between the familiar and its master, its relationship with the priest would rise to a level of intimacy that Aballister would never approve of.If the wizard staying in Trinity Walled City found out, he would probably drive Druzil back to his original lower realm.Now that the Chaos Curse is fully cast in this world, it doesn't want to end up being driven home. However, the imp reminded himself, it was Barjin, not Aballister, who was at the forefront.The wily Barjin, the mighty priest, is the one who strikes boldly and effectively at the center of order in the Snowflake Mountains region.Druzil let his thoughts fly quickly down the corridor, into the altar room, into the mind of the sleeping priest.Barjin awoke instantly, and a moment later he understood what danger had invaded his domain. If they break through the skeleton, I'll lure them away.Druzil assured the priest.But you still have to raise your guard! ※※※ Yiwen knew he had no way out.A hand clutched his shoulder, and his vengeful hammer only paid for a torn nail.The experienced dwarf decided to use his head.He squatted up on his short, strong legs, and jumped forward when the skeleton lunged at him again. Ivan's helmet is inlaid with a pair of eight-pointed antlers, which is a trophy won by Ivan with the "Dwarf Bow and Arrow" when he was in a hunting challenge with an elf from Simista.The so-called dwarven bow is actually an ax suitable for long-distance throwing.For the horns, clever Ivan used an ancient technique of layering layers of different metals, and now he could only hope that the helmet was hard enough. He slammed his head into the skeleton's chest, knowing that the antlers were likely to be entangled in the bones, then stood up, straightened his neck, and put the skeleton on his head, but Ivan was not sure how much benefit this would bring him, because Ping The skeleton attached to his shoulder continued to grab and attack. Ivan shook his head back and forth, but the skeleton's sharp fingers found a place to hold on the side of his neck, digging a deep wound.The rest of the skeletons moved on.Ivan found the answer in an alcove off the corridor.He can pass through easily, but can the lying skeleton fit in?Yiwen lowered his head and went straight, almost laughing out loud.The skull's head and legs hit the archway at the door of the alcove, and the force of the impact only made the dwarf's steps pause.Bone dust and cobwebs flew, and Ivan's helmet nearly broke away from him as he lurched in.A moment later he emerged from the cave, half a rib and a few strands of spider web still hanging loosely from the antlers.He defeats the nearest enemy, but there are still enemies filling an entire hallway. Cadderly saves Pikel.The stunned dwarf sat by the wall, his ears humming continuously. This sound would last for a long time, but a group of skeletons still approached quickly. "Druid, Pikel!" Cadderly yelled, trying to find words that would bring the dwarf back to reality. "Think like a druid. Imagine an animal! Be an animal!" Pikel lifted the front of the soup pot head and cast a bemused glance at Cadderly. "Hey?" "Animals!" Cadderly yelled. "Druids and animals. Animals can stand up and run away! Bounce—snake! Pikel. Bounce attack like a coiled snake!" The souppot helmet covered the dwarf's eyes again, but Cadderly was not discouraged, for he heard hissing from under the helmet and noticed Pikel's muscles in his arms and legs contracting slightly. A dozen skeletons reached out to him. The coiled snake jumped! Pikel jumped up frantically, slapped his hands desperately, kicked his feet wildly, and even bit the forearm of a skeleton. Once the dwarf stood still, he grabbed his club and began the most vicious and chaotic attack Cadderly had ever seen.He was wounded in a dozen places and didn't care.Only one thought rang clearly in the future druid's mind, and that was his brother calling his memory. He saw Ivan come out of the alcove, saw Ivan's ax stuck in a tangle of two skeletons, and the skeletons were staggering towards Ivan, but before they could get there, Piquet I catch up. The trunks and clubs fell again and again, striking the skeletons as punishment for stealing Ivan's weapons. "Enough, brother," Ivan yelled happily, picking up the ax from the pile of bones. "There are other walking enemies that can be smashed!" Cadderly skirted the slow-moving skeletons and came to his brother dwarf. "Where to?" he gasped. "Go ahead," Ivan said without hesitation. "Ooh!" Pikel agreed. "You're right between the two of us!" Ivan snarled, knocking off a skull that got too close. The three of them slowly advanced in the corridor, and Cadderly's tactics became more and more refined. The frisbee spindle only focused on the head, because it would be less likely to get entangled with the bones, and then used the cane to block the monster's outstretched hand. However, it was the two fighters standing beside the young scholar who caused the greatest damage to the skeletons.Pikel kept roaring a bear, barking a dog, hooting an owl, hissing a snake, but no matter what he called, the attack of the trunk club in his hand did not weaken at all.Ivan is not bad either.Every time he struck, he was counterattacked, but while the skeletons left painful scratches on his body, Ivan could smash a skeleton to pieces with every blow. The three walked around an arch, made a few right-angle turns, and walked around another arch.Soon, most of the skeletons had fallen behind them rather than in front, and as the resistance became less and less, the gap between the two increased.The dwarves seemed to be enjoying the one-sided battle ahead, and Cadderly kept reminding them that there were more important tasks ahead, otherwise they would have gone back to punching more skeletons.Finally, they rounded the danger zone, and Cadderly had time to stop and try to get his bearings again.He knew that door, that important door with the light shining through it, was definitely not far from here, but the criss-crossing corridors had few landmarks to remind him of. ※※※ From the number of shattered skeletons, Druzil judged, the invaders were not victims of a Chaos curse dazed.It quickly approached the fleeing intruder, although it was completely invisible, it still cautiously hid in the shadows aside, while watching Cadderly and the dwarves, it used telepathy to contact Barjin, this time asking the priest for direct assistance. Give me the command line to control the skeleton, Druzil demanded. Ba Jin hesitated, his evil nature forced him to consider whether the little devil wanted to take advantage of this move to gain control. Give me the command words, or you'll have to face a horde of powerful invaders, Druzil warned.I have ways to do good things for you now, master, but you must make wise decisions. Bar Jin awoke to find danger looming suddenly, and he had no intention of risking his hard-earned achievement.He still doesn't believe in imps, a wise master would never trust an imp, but he thinks he can control Druzil after all, and besides, if the imp tries to order the skeletons to turn around and attack him, he just has to stretch his will You can take back control. To destroy the intruders, Bajin's telepathy sent an order, and then carefully repeated all the command words and sentences recognized by the skeleton army. Druzil didn't need Barjin's urging.He was more anxious than the priest to protect his beloved bottle of Chaos curse.It memorized all the correct sentences and vocabulary to control the skeletons, and while Cadderly and the dwarves were resting in an empty corridor away from the main road, it went back to gather the remaining undead legion. The next time the invaders come across them, the skeletons will no longer be a disorganized mob. "We'll surround them and attack at the same time." Druzil ordered the skeletons, but the words meant nothing to the unthinking monster.Only Druzil needed to hear himself say that. "We'll tear the dwarves and the humans apart," the imp continued, growing excited.The chaotic little devil actually wanted more, and also considered the possibility of leading the skeleton army to attack Ba Jin, but immediately thought this idea was too ridiculous.Bajin, like Aballister back then, fit his needs right now. But who knows what the future holds?