Chapter 33 Chapter 27 Showdown

Drizzt and Bruno soon understood how disadvantaged they were compared to Errtu.The flames of the devil became more and more intense, and the ice cave soon became a pond.Huge blocks of ice kept falling from the roof of the cave, and the cold water almost completely submerged the adventurers. To make matters worse, Errtu quickly left them again, taking the heat of the melting ice with him.Ice water began to freeze around Drizzt and Bruenor, slowing them severely. As the two companions struggled desperately, they heard Errtu's cruel laughter. "See what torture awaits you, Drizzt Do'Urden!" the devil roared at them.

Drizzt heard the sound of stagnant water "hissing" and evaporating suddenly from behind, and felt the high temperature coming from behind.He knew the devil was behind them.Drizzt turned around, ready to block the devil's attack, but the devil just punched the electric sword into the water, and the energy released from the sword immediately began to tear every muscle of the drow. Drizzt gritted his teeth to avoid snapping his own tongue.He managed to raise the flash, blocking Errtu's second attack. The devil laughed even louder, and sent another bolt of lightning from the blade.The electric light hit Drow along the scimitar, forcing his knees to hit the ground, losing his balance, and almost losing consciousness.

He heard Bruenor growl, and the splash of water as the dwarf charged at him.Drizzt knew that the dwarves would not make it in time.Errtu's raid had defeated him. But suddenly, without warning, the devil disappeared.Drizzt immediately understood why.Errtu is playing with them!The devil had waited so many years to take revenge on Drizzt, and now he was going to enjoy it to the fullest. Bruenor stopped beside Drizzt, who had just stood up, and the two companions listened to Errtu's wild laughter echoing in the ice cave. "Be careful, that devil may appear anywhere." Just as Drizzt issued a warning.He could already hear the whistling of the whip and the cry of the dwarves.Drizzt turned to see that the bullwhip had wrapped itself around Bruenor's shin.

"Is this it?" Bruno frantically clawed around, resisting Errtu's tug. Bruno knew what kind of trouble he was in.He turned his head and saw a wall of fire blocking the way he was being dragged, and puffs of white smoke rose from the ice around the wall of fire.Errtu stood behind the wall of fire, a wicked grin on his face. Drizzt felt power draining from him.He was beginning to understand what Errtu meant by torture.Bruno was going to die. ※※※※ Unbeknownst to Regis, Katie was saved by his sudden appearance at the top of the Crystal Tower.Starbucks had reached the edge of the ice floe.To Katie's horror, instead of helping her lift her stiff body onto the ice floe, Starbuck kept pushing and kicking her, trying to make her fall back into the icy water.

Katie resisted with all her strength, but her legs were completely numb, and she would soon be unable to support herself with only her arms. But Regis rushed into the Magic Crystal Tower at this moment.The Crystal Shard had to give up long-range control of Starbord first, and withdrew her power to deal with this new threat. Starber stopped moving and returned to the statue.In a hurry to survive, Katie instinctively grabbed the dwarf's legs and dragged herself onto the ice. After another struggle, Katie finally got feeling back in her feet.Drizzt and Bruno had already entered the cave, but there were still many dead souls gathered outside the cave, and some even jumped into the water and were swimming towards her and Starber.

Katie held up the tamari. ※※※※ Bruno fought with all his strength.He hugged the stump of an icicle, but the icicle was too slippery for the dwarf to hold on to.For the huge and strong Ertu, such resistance was useless.The dwarf let out a cry of pain, one of his feet had been dragged into the devil's flames. Drizzt rushed towards the dwarf as hard as he could.Due to the electric shock and the collision just now, his knee has not yet regained the ability to move, but Zall doesn't care about the pain on his body.Bruno needed him, and nothing else mattered.He climbed up to the dwarf, and with a scimitar made of ice, cut the whip from his friend's feet.

The devil flames at the dwarf's feet were also extinguished by the magic of the machete.The two friends supported each other trying to get up.Baylor threw another bolt of lightning into the water, causing them to fall to the ground again, convulsing. "It's only a matter of time before you die!" howled the devil. "Well done, Drizzt Do'Urden, stupid drow. You've made me more happy, since..." The devil's voice was drowned out by the panther's roar.Guenhive threw himself on top of Errtu, causing him to fall to the ground on the slick ice. Drizzt rose to his feet and rushed towards Errtu.Bruno quickly untied the whip wrapped around his feet, Guan Haifa has been crazily biting and clawing at the devil.

Errtu knew the cat, he had seen Guenhwyvar when Drizzt banished him, and he hadn't expected her to come so quickly.Baylor felt a pang of exasperation at his mistake. It didn't matter though, Errtu gave the big cat a shake of his powerful muscles. Drizzt was beside him, stabbing the devil's chest and belly with a scimitar of hunger. Errtu's lightning sword blocked the attacking scimitar.At the same time a bolt of lightning shot along the scimitar into Drizzt's body, causing him to fall to the ground again. Bruno, who arrived later, slashed Errtu's leg with his axe.Errtu knocked him aside with one blow.The devil spread its wings and flew out of the range of the two adventurers.Guenhive leaped at him, but he was suspended in the air by magic, just like the magic of the crab levitating Katie.

However, Guan Haifa still helped the two friends a lot.In order to control the astral creature, Errtu had to expend a considerable amount of his magic power, which bought time for the two badly injured friends to recover. "Free my father!" Drizzt yelled. Errtu let out a strange laugh, the game should be over.The devil threw the panther aside with a spell and began to unleash all his rage. ※※※※ It was a small circular room, about twelve feet in diameter.The circular roof just fits the structure of the top of the tower.At a point in the middle of the room hovered Clinshinibon, the Crystal Shard, the heart of the tower.It is constantly pulsating between light red and deep red, as if it is a living thing.

Regis scanned the room quickly.He saw the locket and the purple gemstone ring thrown on the floor.He knew they weren't here, but he couldn't tell where they came from or what purpose they served. But he ran out of time to investigate further.Regis had had a detailed conversation with Drizzt after he escaped Keser's control, and he knew the method the drow used to defeat the Crystal Shard—just wrap the pulsating light crystal in flour up.The halfling took a small bag from his knapsack and walked confidently towards the Crystal Shard. "It's time for bed," Regis said with a smile.He's almost right.But it wasn't as correct as he imagined, so he was almost beaten unconscious.Both the halfling and Drizzt were wrong.Years ago, in that tower on the plains of Bryn Shander, what Drizzt had encased was not Crinshinibon but one of the Crystal Shard's many clones.This time, Regis faced the real Crystal Shard, a powerful and self-aware artifact.Clinshinibon only glowed in a halo, and completely burned the flour that was drawn towards it, burned the bag in the halfling's hand, and threw the halfling to the far wall.

The dazed halfling was only capable of moaning loudly.At this time, the door leading to the lower floor of the tower was opened.The stinking troll stepped in and held out a huge hand with sharp claws and festering green skin to Regis. ※※※※ Katie could hardly feel the pain anymore, her teeth were chattering uncontrollably.She knew that Tamari's bowstring had cut deep into her fingers.But she feels no pain.She also knew that, for her father and Drizzt's sake, she had to persevere. The young woman leaned against Starbucks and shot one silver arrow after another.Shoot the monsters at the entrance of the cave one by one.Her magic arrows are not exhausted.She killed most of the revenants on the beach, and started killing the ones that came up the ridge.She almost shot the Panther when Guenhhifar came running over.Seeing the mighty black panther running into the ice cave, a glimmer of hope was added to her heart. Soon, the only remaining souls that had not been expelled were those that swam towards Katie.Katie was the last to tackle them.Most of her arrows hit the mark, but one wraith climbed onto the ice floe.rushed towards her. Katie looked at Kajid, who had been frozen in the sheath, and knew that she would not be able to pull it out in time.She had no choice but to use Tamari as a stick, and bent her back and hit the enemy's face. The devil's impact was contained, and he even lost his balance.Katie slammed her forehead against his dirty nose again.The tip of the tamari poked hard into the monster's drooping jaw.The top was pierced with muddy flesh.The monster exploded into a cloud of acid, but his attack had worked.His momentum and the sudden burst of poisonous gas forced Katie to fall backwards past the dwarf and into the icy water. With her head held high, she desperately slapped her unconscious arm.Her legs have long been completely useless.She grabbed the edge of the floe and dug her fingers into a small crevasse.She knew that she no longer had the strength to climb up.She wanted to call out to Starbucks, but she couldn't even direct the muscles around her lips. Catti-brie was not slain by a vicious demon, but by the forces of nature in Icewind Dale.She has called it her home for most of her life.As her body gradually turned cold, Katie felt a hint of irony and sadness. ※※※※ Regis' back touched the ceiling of the room, lifted by the larger of the two trolls who entered the room - almost nine feet tall.The troll held him up to his pale face. "Now, you are going into my stomach!" said the terrible monster, opening its mouth full of sharp teeth. Discovering that the troll could talk, Regis hit upon an idea—a desperate gamble. "Wait!" he yelled, slipping his hand into the collar of his tunic. "I have a treasure for you." The halfling said, and took out his precious ruby ​​pendant.The hypnotic ruby ​​dangled back and forth inches from the troll's wide-eyed eyes. "This is just the beginning." Regis stammered and began to spin a flawed lie, "I have a bunch of this stuff. Look at how beautiful it is, look at that vortex inside, keep your eyes open... " "Hey, are you going to eat him or not?" Another troll gave the big troll a hard push.But the big troll has been completely controlled by magic, and he is thinking about how to take this treasure for himself. Therefore, when Regis glanced at the second troll, a strong thought popped into the mind of the big troll—"Kill him." Regis was slammed to the floor, almost trampled to pieces by the two trolls who were in a frenzied fight.The halfling hurried aside.in a hurry.His fingers touched the amethyst ring and he stuffed it into his pocket.At last Regis crawled up to the empty box, which he recognized immediately. When Regis and his companions confronted Matron Baenre in the underground tunnels of Mithril Hall, the box was carried by the crab demon.At that time, the box contained a gem that could steal all magic. Regis picked up the locket, dodged the still fighting trolls, and charged towards the Crystal Shard.A series of mental attacks invaded his mind, almost making him fall to his knees.Sensing the danger approaching, Clinshinibon rushed into the halfling's mind, intent on controlling poor Regis.Regis wanted to move forward, but his feet just wouldn't obey him. Slowly, he began to feel less inclined to move forward.Suddenly, Regis began to wonder why he would even think of destroying the Crystal Tower.This building is so beautiful and incredible.Why would he destroy Crinshinibon again?Maybe he could use this treasure to benefit himself? Does Drizzt know this? Though the halfling was bewildered and nearly lost his soul, he managed to hold his ruby ​​pendant before his eyes. Regis immediately found himself drawn into the ruby's vortex, sinking deeper and deeper with the flickering red light.Most would get lost in this gem, but deep within his hypnotic gem, Regis found himself. He dropped the chain of the pendant and sprang forward.Before Clinshinibon could shoot another death beam it was sealed with a ward. The box swallowed the crystal shard and its attack, and Regis did with the enchantment box what the flour failed to do. The phantom tower of the Magic Crystal Shard immediately began to tremble, making a "rumbling" sound that foreshadowed its collapse. "Oh, don't do that again," the halfling muttered.He's been in this situation before, when it was thanks to Guenhwyvar that he escaped; and when Drizzt was... Regis ran to the window and jumped onto the ledge.He glanced back at the two trolls, who were still twisted into a ball just now, hugged tightly again in the shock of the high tower homeland.They all looked at Regis in unison. "Maybe we can meet again." Regis said his farewell words.He jumped out of the window without looking at it.After falling twenty feet, he hit the iceberg and began to slide rapidly until he was stopped by a pile of frozen snow.The magic crystal tower collapsed beside him, and a large piece of crystal fell around the halfling who had already fallen with gold stars in his eyes. ※※※※ The shock of the iceberg stopped the fighting in the cave for a moment.It also gave the tanar'ri's scarred enemies a little respite.But the strong shock caused a crack to suddenly appear under the feet of Bruno who was standing against the wall.The dwarf fell in before he could figure out the situation.Although the crack was not deep, it only reached the dwarf's waist.But when the shaking ended, Bruno found himself firmly stuck inside. The loss of Crenshinibon did not weaken Errtu's power, and the destruction of the Tower only increased Baelor's anger. Guenhuffa pounced on Ertu again, but the devil pierced her body with the electric sword in the middle of the black panther's jump, and lifted Guenhilvar stuck on the sword high with one hand. Drizzt knelt in the puddle and could only watch Errtu walking towards him.The panther trembled and groaned on his sword, trying in vain to free itself from the edge. It was all over, Drizzt knew, and it had all come so suddenly, they had been devastated in the blink of an eye.He can't win.He now only hoped that Guan Haifa could get out of the devil's blade.If she did, Drizzt would let her grab Bruenor and send him back to the Astral.Bruno would then be safely taken by her to the hometown of the Black Panther Star Realm. But that's also unlikely to happen.Guanhiva twitched for a while again, and began to become unreal, turning into a cloud of gray mist.Her physical form left the Material Plane. Drizzt produced the panther statue, which he knew would not be called back for days.He heard the sizzle of the devil's flame as it approached him.And his scimitar extinguished these flames.He lifted his eyes from the statue to see Errtu's hateful smile hanging not five feet above him. "Drizzt Do'Urden, are you ready to die?" the devil asked. "Your father can see us, you know. To watch you die slowly before me. How he must suffer!" Drizzt didn't doubt the words, and his chest was filled with anger.But that doesn't help him, at least not this time.He was cold, tired, guilty and depressed.He knows what he's thinking. ※※※※ Errtu's words were entirely true.His prisoner was sealed in the ice wall next to the platform above the cave.He saw all this, in the light of the scimitar's blue glow and Errtu's orange flames. He scratched the ice wall helplessly.For the first time after many years, he began to cry. ※※※※ "And your cat would make a good pet for me," Errtu said with a sneer. "Never even think about it," Drow roared.On pure impulse, Drizzt threw the statue through the hole with all his might.He didn't hear the statue fall into the water, but he was sure he had thrown it overboard. "Well done, my friend." A determined smile played on Bruno's mouth. Errtu's smile twisted with exasperation.The lightning sword slashed at Drizzt's head, and Drow raised the flash to block it. A spinning warhammer slammed into Baylor's body, followed by a shocking roar: "Tampus!" Kista charged into the cavern fearlessly, through the gap made by Drizzt's scimitar, through the wall of fire, and ran straight to the tanar'ri, calling out to Aegis-fang all the way.Kista knew the legend of this warhammer, and it would automatically fly back to its master. But his expectations failed.The tooth of Aegis bounced off the devil, and for some reason unknown to Kista, it did not fly into the hands of the young barbarian. "It should come back!" Kista shouted to Bruno.But the devil's counterattack made him fly a long way, broke an icicle, and fell heavily into the puddle. "It should come back," he said again before losing consciousness. ※※※※ The Fang of Aegis did not return to Kista's hands, it flew to its true owner - Wulfgar, son of Beornegar.Wulfgar, who was watching from behind the ice wall, had been imprisoned by Errtu for six years. Wulfgar felt the arrival of the warhammer, a weapon forged for him by the dwarves who loved him so much.He recalled that period of time, all that he once had.The good memories wiped away the despair that had been building up in him all these years. True, the mighty barbarian was vanquished, but he was not yet plunged into eternal darkness.He called again to his god, Tempus.Hearing this name protruding from his lips again, the wonderful feeling made him shudder!He began to use his powerful weapons to destroy the ice in front of him. ※※※※ Regis felt a calling in his own mind.At first, he thought it was the Crystal Shard.When he was sure that the unholy artifact was still safely locked away in the warding box, he guessed that it was the Ruby Pendant that had called. After confirming his guess wrong again, Regis finally discovered the source of the call: it was the jeweled ring in his pocket.Regis took it out and looked at it desperately for a long time.Fearing it was another copy of Clinshinibon, he lifted it up to throw it overboard. But Regis suddenly recognized the faint voice. "Stabe?" He peered into the gem curiously.Kneeling down again, he took out his little hammer. ※※※※ The barbarian bombardment shook the entire ice cave.Errtu felt a twitch of nerves and looked back.He even forgot that Drizzt was by his side. The flash cut the devil's calf.The other scimitar pierced Ertu's groin upwards. As soon as the tip of the knife penetrated the target, Ertu let out a heart-piercing howl.Drizzt's arm felt the scimitar throbbing with excitement again, and the scimitar shone like a torch in the devil's life. But the favorable situation did not last long.Errtu quickly swept Drizzt aside, and the devil disappeared, reappearing among the icy fangs that covered the cave ceiling. "Get up, Bruenor," Drizzt called to the dwarf. "We must delay. Let Zaknafein join us." Drow kept looking at Bruno as he spoke, and Bruno could squeeze his way through the crack in no time. Drizzt rose to his feet, ready to fight again.But the sudden expression on Bruenor's face made Drizzt feel his knees tremble a little.He followed the dwarf's line of sight to the opposite side of the cave, expecting to see Zaknafein there. He saw Wulfgar.The barbarian's face was covered in long unkempt hair and a beard, but it was Wulfgar without a doubt.He held up Aegis' Fang, and there was nothing but pure hatred in his roar. "Child." The excited Bruno called softly, and then fell back into the crack. Errtu lunged at Wulfgar at full speed.The whip and sword are used together to get rid of this barbarian in the shortest time. Aegis-fang nearly hit the devil in the air.But Baelor dodged the hammer.Wrapping the whip around Wulfgar's ankles, he dragged him from the ledge to the bottom of the icicle-strewn hole. "Wulfgar." Drizzt couldn't help trembling as he watched Wulfgar fall from the high platform.But a fall couldn't stop the tormented Wulfgar.Now, the friends and Aegis-fang have returned to him.He sprang to his feet, roaring like a beast, and the beautiful and mighty Aegis-fang flew back into his hand. Errtu was in a rage, determined to crush this little rebellion at once.Then destroy all of Drizzt's friends, and finally Drizzt himself.Black orbs appeared in the air, blocking Wulfgar's view from throwing the hammer at the devil.The devil wields a multi-headed whip while constantly changing its position, sometimes flying on two wings, and sometimes using the magical ability of teleportation. The adventurers are in utter chaos.Every time Drizzt tried to get close to Bruenor, Wulfgar, or even the slumped Kista, Errtu would appear in front of him and knock him into the air.Drow tried his best to avoid the devil's lightning sword, but every time he collided with it with a scimitar, he suffered an electric shock.And when the drow fought back, Errtu disappeared again.As the drow seeks him out, another companion comes under his attack. ※※※※ Katie could no longer feel the cold.She is walking in the dark, drifting to the kingdom of death. A strong hand grasped her by the shoulder - grasped her physical shoulder and brought her back into her body.She felt herself being pulled out of the water. Then... the woman felt a burst of warmth flow through her body.It was a magical force that entered her body and became her life force. Katie opened her eyes slightly, and saw Speaker Reginclaw busy beside her.The priest called out to the dwarven gods, begging them to grant life to the daughter of the Warhammer clan. ※※※※ Lightning kept shooting from Errtu's greatsword.The ensuing "rumbling" thunder, the triumphant roar of the devil, the deafening sound of the flapping of huge leather wings, Wulfgar's roar to the god of war, and Bruno who was caught in the cracked ice shouted "I child!" All these voices mingled and collided, and the whole ice cave was trembling for it.And Drizzt still tried to issue orders to his companions in this chaos, so as to coordinate everyone's actions and give them a chance to defeat Errtu. But the devil will not give them such a chance.Errtu kept flashing here and there, launching a swift and violent attack, and then disappeared again.Sometimes, Baelor would fly to the ice fang bushes on the top of the cave, burn an ice fang with flames, and let it hit the adventurers on the ground.But despite Errtu's efforts to disperse them, Drizzt still tried his best to move closer to Bruenor. Wherever the devil chooses to appear, he is unlikely to stay there for long.Although the drow's movements were severely restricted by the stagnant water, and although the dwarf was still stuck in the crevices of the ice, his prisoner and the hammer posed a serious threat to him.More than once, Errtu was only able to escape just moments before Aegis' Fang hit him. But Errtu still has the upper hand, but in this frantic battle, the devil has no way to deal a fatal blow to his opponent. Baylor's victory is only a matter of time. Bruno was almost out of the crevasse, now only one leg remained stuck in it.Just then, Baylor appeared behind him. Drizzt yelled a warning.Purely on instinct, the dwarf turned and threw himself at Baelor, throwing himself at Baelor's legs at the cost of a sprained knee.Errtu swung his sword down, but the dwarf was too close to him for the devil to inflict serious damage with his greatsword.It's just that the powerful electric tremor almost dislocated the dwarf's knee, especially the twisted knee, which was more seriously injured. Bruenor hugged Errtu harder and harder.He knew he couldn't do Baylor any harm, but he wanted to stop Baylor and give his friends a chance to launch an effective attack on him.Under the smog of the devil's flame, his hair became scorched and curly, and his eyes felt piercingly painful.But the annoying flames suddenly receded.Bruno knew that Drizzt had arrived. Errtu's whip was pulled out again and again, blocking the drow's approach.Drizzt spun to avoid it, only to drop to one knee.When he was struggling to stand up, he stumbled again and fell to the ground. The whip was drawn towards Drow, but Aegis-fang smashed it on the arm holding the whip, knocking Baelor headlong into the wall.This gave the devil some respect for his prisoner.When Kista first joined the battle, Errtu had been hit by Aegis' Fang once, and he knew the power of this weapon at that time.But it never occurred to him that Wulfgar could deliver such a forceful bombardment with it.Kista's attack only scratched him, while Wulfgar did his real damage. Drizzt took the opportunity to attack.But Baylor raised his leg violently, kicked Bruno out of the crack, and flew straight to a place more than ten feet away, and he left the place by magic.When Drizzt arrived, there was only a wall left in front of him. "Stupid!" Baelor yelled at them at the exit of the cave, "I'm going to take back the Shard of Magic Crystal. I'll kill you all when you leave here. At that time, your end will come!" Drizzt chased towards the hole, Wulfgar braced for another throw of the hammer, and even Bruenor struggled to get himself to his feet.But none of them can keep up with Baylor's speed. The devil turned and fluttered away.But he was surprised to see a cloud of silver light flying towards his face, and then his face was heavily bombarded. Wulfgar threw the Fang of Aegis at Errtu, who fell to the ground with a howling sound. Wherever the hammer hit, there was a series of cracking sounds from the devil's body. Kitty shot a second arrow, and the silver arrow pierced the devil's chest.Baelor wailed again and backed into the hole. Bruenor staggered towards the devil, taking the ax thrown by Drizzt with both hands.The dwarf straightened his back, threw the ax back, and threw it with all his strength, so that the toothless blade bit deep into the devil's back. Kitty's third arrow stuck side by side with her second. Flash swiftly slashed at the devil, and Errtu reluctantly raised his lightning sword, intending to block the drow's attack, but was pierced by the scimitar of ice into the underside of the defenseless.The Fang of Aegis hit the devil's back again, and there were silver arrows attacking in front of him with the power of thunder and lightning. Drizzt firmly nailed the ice blade into the devil's body, while his other hand crazily cut wounds on the devil's body with flashes of light. With the last burst of energy, Errtu turned and charged at Bruenor and Wulfgar, only to be held back by Drizzt.The mighty Baelor stared into the drow's purple eyes.Errtu was defeated, already feeling his body melting.But he was not reconciled, at least he wanted to bring Drizzt Do'Urden back to the Demonic Abyss. The devil grabbed the flash with his bare hands and snapped it aside.The electric light sword slashed at Drizzt head on. Drizzt lost all means of defense.He let go of the two knives.Try to roll backwards.But it was too late. The gigantic sword with the jumping electric snake slashed straight at Drow's head. A strong hand stood in front of the terrified drow, grabbed the devil's wrist, stopped the devil's attack, and blocked the mighty Errtu.The electric glow giant sword stopped a few inches in front of Drow's forehead.Errtu looked up and saw Wulfgar—Wulfgar, built like a mountain, with muscles like a rock.All these years of torment are condensed in an iron fist.All the fear the young savage had suffered turned into hatred for the devil before him. It was impossible for Wulfgar or any other human to stop Errtu, but Wulfgar denied that fact.He couldn't let Errtu do more damage, couldn't let the devil take Drizzt from him. Errtu shook his half-ape, half-dog head.This is impossible! But it did happen, and Wulfgar blocked him.Soon Baylor was gone, reduced to a puff of smoke and an unwilling cry. The three friends hugged each other and burst into tears. They could no longer support their bodies and could no longer speak any words.Everyone gathered in a pile and cried for a long, long time.